Cleveland Heights-University Heights Public Library Board meeting highlights [9-19-11]

SEPTEMBER 19, 2011

• The LIT summer program
• Dobama Theatre begins third season
• Personnel changes
• New security camera aids police
• Changes in state support to libraries.
• Senate Bill 5
• Friends of the Library
• July, August Public Service Reports highlights

Board Member James Posch was absent.

The LIT summer program

The Leader in Training Program (LIT) is a summer collaboration among the library, the schools and Open Doors Academy, with the work component at the library. The overall program included volunteer projects at the Providence House Crisis Nursery and Kick It, a national boys’ kickball program raising money for cancer research. Cindy Schmidt, school social worker, introduced the students and gave a talk with slides.

Dobama Theatre begins third season

Dianne Boduszek, Dobama’s managing director, talked about this 50th season, the third in the library’s Activity Center. Dobama is a professional theater that hires union actors. A major program, Playwrights’ Gym, allows local playwrights to workshop a play in order to get direction and comment from experienced writers. Another program, Dobama Emerging Actors, is a teaching program geared to college students. Boduszek is the only full-time employee for Dobama, but there are two part-time employees, one assigned to development. Ticket sales cover 35 percent of the budget and the remaining amount comes from grants, such as those from the Ohio Arts Council, Cleveland Foundation, and Cuyahoga Arts & Culture. Ticket sales were $111,000 in the first season and $101,000 in the second season.

Personnel changes

Forty-four people applied for the young adult associate position, which was filled with a new hire, Nicole Watson, who has seven year’s experience with the New York Public Library and is currently earning a library degree.

Six of the 18 applicants for the deputy director position were interviewed. Two finalists will continue interviewing, and the final appointment will be presented to the board at the October meeting.

New Children’s Services Librarian Kornela Bogdanowicz will begin work Oct. 3.

New security camera aids police

The new security camera covering the front porch of the Lee Road library helped identify a purse thief on the first day it was operational. The library called the police, and the camera footage aided their investigation.

Changes in state support to libraries

The state biennium budget bill affects the Public Library fund (PLF) by reducing the FY11 monthly distribution by 5 percent. PLF money will also be transferred to fund Ohio Public Library Information Network (OPLIN) and Library Services for the Blind and Physically Disabled, reducing the PLF by an additional 1.5 percent each month.

Senate Bill 5

Opponents of Senate Bill 5, known as the collective bargaining bill, gathered over 1.2 million signatures, more than four times the number necessary for placing the issue on the November ballot. The Ohio Library Council legal counsel believes that some of this legislation does not apply to public library employees because they are not covered under Ohio’s civil service statutes. The bill requires that salary increases be performance-based through rules established by the Ohio Department of Administrative Services.

Friends of the Library

The group is defining the roles for its board members and planning to fill four board positions. The book sale over the Labor Day weekend garnered $1,200, and the plan is to hold four sales per year. Friends annual meeting will be Nov. 11 at 7 p.m. at the Lee Road Library. Bonne De Blass, local book artist will be the speaker.

July, August Public Service Reports highlights

• Circulation staff is helping with the library garden by harvesting ripe items and adding them to the display from which patrons can choose produce.
• The Home Repair Resource Center in-house library has been donated and will be available at the Lee Road Library.
• Brian Sweigart of the Cleveland Institute of Music offered a free program of Dalcroze Eurythmics at each building during a preschool storytime.
• Sarah Biscuso planned a storytime for summer lunch attendees, which attracted a number of new families.
• Henry Drak made a guest appearance offering his Shadow Puppet Theater to 35 children and their parents. Noble’s PLAYroom averages 40 visitors daily and hosts six to eight daycare visits each week.

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.