REPORT OF THE DIRECTOR

Winnefox Library System

Wednesday, July 28, 2004

 

 

BYRON OLSON FUNERAL                             As you all know, Byron Olson, President

                                                                                    of the Winnefox System Board passed away suddenly last month.  I attended the funeral on behalf of Winnefox and because I had developed a close working relationship with Byron when he was Chairman of the Waushara County Board Finance Committee and I was still a relatively new Winnefox System Director.  Byron certainly had many friends and touched many lives as evidenced by the turnout at this funeral service (see the obituary in Exhibit A).  Flowers were sent from Winnefox.  If you would like anything else to be done to commemorate Byron’s service to libraries and Winnefox specifically, we can develop some ideas for the next meeting.  We also need to hold a new election to fill the vacancy of President of the Board.  I can convene the nominating committee again for recommendations at the next meeting.  Elections would normally be held in January and I don’t think we should wait that long.  Discussion.  Action Requested: contingent upon outcome of discussion of further commemorative action and election.

 

WALS ANNUAL ASSOCIATES                                  The proposal for 2005 WALS Associates

AUTOMATION FEES FOR 2005            proposal (Exhibit B) has been reviewed by

                                                                                    WALS Executive Committee and received

consensus approval.  The fees for 2005 range from a low of $5,910 up to $8,645.  The increases are mostly in the range of 5-8%.  Over the past several years, we have passed savings along to the Associates in the form of lower fees due to:

·        A temporary reduction due to the Gates Foundation server grants permitting us to lower the amount we annually budget for a shared capital reserve account;

·        An adjustment for WCTS member libraries based upon their financial support of a PC support position within the WALS staff.

But we have always pointed out that the reductions were temporary and would be phased out over time.  As the Gates grant factor disappears and the need to replenish our Shared Capital Reserve fund for computer/network upgrades and replacement grows, the fees need to gradually rise.  Even so, the range for Associates fees in 1998 was $6,600 to $9,100.  So the proposed 2005 fees, although higher than last year, are still lower than those paid in 1998.  Since the libraries are developing their budgets for 2005, we would like to set these fees now so they know what to budget.  Discussion.  Action Requested:  approve the recommendation for WALS Associates fees as included in Exhibit B.

 

WINNEBAGO COUNTY LIBRARY                  In 2002, a change in our Agreement

REGISTRATION PROCESS AUDIT                        between Winnefox, the Winnebago

                                                                                    County libraries and Winnebago County

 

Winnefox Library System                                                                         July 28, 2004 Director’s Report                                                                                      Page 2

 

called for an audit every five (5) years of the processes used by the libraries to register patrons for library cards.  The purpose is to determine that there are no significant flaws in the process by

which we assign library card holders to a local community in the county.  That is the basis upon which circulation of materials is allocated to county rural or municipal residents and that is how we charge the county for non-resident reimbursements.  A copy of the management letter from Virchow Krause for the process audit we conducted this past year is included as Exhibit C in your packets.  In essence what we learned is that 1.1% of the sample taken were mis-registered to towns rather than a city and that 2.1% of the sample were mis-registered to cities rather than a town.  Of note is that the percentage of error affecting county payments is low and it produced lower payments by the County/towns than would have been the case if no errors were made.  Discussion.  Action Requested:  accept Virchow Krause audit report as included in Exhibit C.

 

COUNTY PLANS – STATUS                                 Mark and I will provide a brief update on the

                                                                                    status of the county planning processes that leads to the funding requests for libraries in each of the counties.  Discussion.  Action Requested: none at this time.

 

REPORT OF THE COORDINATOR – is included as Exhibit D for your information and questions.   Mark and/or I may report briefly on any of the items contained therein.

 

PERSONNEL MATTERS – none to report.

 

MISCELLANEOUS REPORTS –

 

·        Articles – I’ve included an interesting article (Exhibit E) about “NextGens” entitled “Born with the Chip.”  Interesting ideas to think about as we face the future and work on updating the System’s technology plan.  Also included is a nice photo of Cheryl Loehr (Fond du Lac PL Asst. Director) and our own Renee Miller (Winnefox Graphic Artist) with the L. Percy Award from the American Library Association for Fond du Lac’s Off the Shelf newsletter.  Nice job!  I’ve also included a nice note from Alice Sedgwick (former Library Director, past WLA President and now retired) who saw our awards at the recent ALA Conference.

·        Correspondence – Exhibit F contains a nice thank you note from Byron’s wife Genelle.

 

Respectfully submitted,

 

 

 

John V. Nichols

Director