Cleveland Heights-University Heights Public Library Board meeting highlights [5-16-11]

May 16, 2011

• Freegal trial membership
• Noble Neighborhood Library news
• Home Repair Resource Center (HRRC) library
• Summer Lunch Program
• Sustainable activities
• Friends’ book sale
• Ohio library levies
• Public service report April highlights

All board members were present.

Freegal trial membership

The board discussed a proposal for a trial membership to the music downloading service, Freegal. The trial membership, involving 12 other Clevnet libraries, would last for six months, at a cost of $12,016.67. Each library cardholder could download three songs a week from the Sony Music catalog. The downloaded songs would remain indefinitely on a patron’s device. Board Member James Roosa asked that the board’s approval be conditioned upon review of the contract by the library’s legal counsel, and that motion passed.

Noble Neighborhood Library news

Director Levin and Board President Audrey Cole discussed their experiences with Noble’s reopening celebration. They thanked the Friends for an incredible effort put into the fundraiser held May 12.

The board approved a budget for Phase II of the Noble Neighborhood Library renovation. The initial budget of $216,881.56 includes architect fees not to exceed $18,000 plus expenses. Studio Techne will continue as architectural firm.

Home Repair Resource Center library

The library will partner with the HRRC to house the repair library developed by HRRC over a number of years. In addition to books and DVDs, a vast collection of handouts from the classes will be posted online. The HRRC collection will become part of the adult collection and will feature home repair experts appearing on a regular basis to help with queries from the public. Target date for completion of the project is January 2012.

Summer Lunch Program

For the second year, the library will host the Summer Lunch Program with the help of the Cleveland Foodbank.

Sustainable activities

The library has prepared a four-page outline of its sustainable activities. This was shared in a community forum in April, and the list is available on the library website.

Friends’ book sale

President Adoara Schmiedl pointed out the book sale that begins this week and indicated that 53% of the Friends’ revenue is from book sales. More volunteers are needed, especially for the bookstore on the second floor of the Library.

Ohio library levies

Sixteen of the 17 Ohio libraries that had levies on the primary election ballot were successful. Only Darke County’s levy failed.

Public service report April highlights

• With the Cuyahoga County Board of Health, Children’s Services offered five weeks of the Explore Your Neighborhood program. Over 50 children were involved in activities involving gardening, composting, water quality, and soil.
• The Cleveland Museum of Art’s Art to Go program came to Lee Road with a program on ancient Egypt. Nearly 30 children learned about the Nile and mummification.
• Jane Kessler of Appletree Books and Suzanne DeGaetano of Mac’s Backs will join Coventry Librarian Pat Gray in planning the 2011-2012 Local Author Series.
• Coventry has begun a series of ASL (American sign language) classes as a result of a $6,000 grant from the Cleveland Hearing & Speech Center.
• The University Heights City Beautiful Commission will be providing advice and volunteers to help with planting and maintaining the front yard of the University Heights Library.
• Kent State library and information science student Nancy Mocsarin is continuing a practicum project at the University Heights Library to review archival materials to digitize for the Cleveland Memory Project database.

LWV observer: Anne S. McFarland

These meeting summaries are abstracted from LWV observers’ written reports. The summaries have been edited and prepared by Anne McFarland, Charlene Morse and Maryann Barnes. To receive e-mail postings of full reports, send an e-mail to mbarnes9515@gmail.com or join through Google groups using “lwv-chuh observer reports” as a search phrase.

These reports contain member observation and selected highlights of public meetings and are not official statements of the Heights Chapter of the League of Women Voters Cuyahoga Area. This disclaimer must accompany any redistribution of these reports.