Monday, October 26, 2009

Roof Replacement This Fall - Weather Permitting

During the heavy rains last week, the Board of Trustees voted to accept the bid of National Roofing to replace both the flat roof and shingles on the inner half of the pitched roof. No sooner was the decision made, the roof sprung new leaks! The flat portion of the nearly 20-year old roof leaks in new places with each heavy rainfall, even as each leak is patched. Though Head of Maintenance Chuck Peterman and his crew are good at making the library look clean and well-kept, the recurring water stains on the ceiling tiles may have caught your eye. We'll be trading our annual roofing maintenance contract for a 15-year warranty on the new roofing system.

A pre-construction meeting will be held tomorrow, after which I hope to have a better idea of when we might have this done! Of course, any schedule we may make is completely dependent on the weather...

Wednesday, October 14, 2009

Apologies for neglecting you!

With finalizing roofing project specifications, the Illinois Library Association conference, staff In-Service Day, and the audit all occurring within the last 10 days, I did make it back to update you on what's going on. Suffice to say: A LOT!

The Illinois Library Association conference was held in beautiful downtown Peoria. I learned something new at every session I attended. Two of our Trustees attended the Trustee Day for training. Board President Sharon Kinley had a list of question for me before lunch that day! :-) Quite a few of our fabulous staff participated on panels, at Talk Tables and made presentations. Lousie Svehla presented our Text-a-Librarian service. Michelle Roubal moderated a panel, and Kara Kohn participated on that panel, about revitalizing adult reading programs. I think I'm missing at least one more, so staff will have to harass me later about my lack of memory. Staff also did the best they could to economize, since we had so many attending. We carpooled, shared rooms, and took advantage of vendor-sponsored meal events to keep costs down.

The Library's auditors are here an wrapping up the in-house portion of the annual audit. With a temporary person from May through July and a new Accountant coming in, it's a little more complex than past years. Everything is there, it's just under someone else's filing system so each piece takes just a bit longer to find.

Staff enjoyed an In-Service training day on Columbus Day. The Library does two In-Service training days per year: Columbus Day and Martin Luther King Day. These are mandatory for staff and can cover anything from how to use a the MyMediaMall downloadable collection to reviewing policies.

The bid opening for the roof replacement project is this afternoon. Representatives from roofing companies interested in bidding have been all over the roof for the past 10 days. Keep your fingers crossed that the bids are lower than expected!