LFNAC Minutes February 16, 2008

The Library Facilities Needs Assessment Committee met at the Town Hall at 10:00 a.m. Present were Martin Antonetti, Dodie Gaudet, Sue Gaughan, Harold Green, Milton Howard, Sheila McCormick, Lynn Omasta, Mike Paszek and Mary Williams. Also present was Anne Larson of the MBLC.

Anne stated that her job is to help us build a good library. If we have a methodical plan, we are more likely to succeed, although success is not guaranteed regardless of how well the committee does its job.

Anne outlined our tasks, some of which have been completed: write a Long Range Plan, and create a Needs Assessment Committee. The next step is to write a Building Program which consists of looking at what we have and seeing what is possible based on what other libraries have done. The Building Program document will express what we want in a library. We have copies of the Building Programs from Boxford and Bolton to use as examples. For the Program, there has to be a Needs Analysis, a Collection Analysis and a Literal Area Description (which we have begun with our Wish List on the flip chart).

Other comments made by Anne:
Don’t base the Program on the existing building; the architect will help decide whether to use the existing building or build new.
MBLC does not make its decision on funding based on reno/add vs. new; review is based on town population.
LFNAC does not make the decision on location; that is the architect’s responsibility, although we should be thinking of all possible locations.
Private fundraising is a must. We need to begin now to think of people who can make up a good fundraising committee. There might be some other grants available, also.

There was some discussion of joining the library with another town building (e.g. town hall, school, senior center, historical society). This is very difficult to do. All of these organizations have somewhat different missions. MBLC would only fund the portion that is the public library.

Timeline: Anne does not know when the next construction grant round will happen. There are 29 libraries still on the list, waiting for money, that were approved from 2005. There cannot be another round until these libraries’ projects are funded. It’s a hard sell to go to the town for money without already having approval from MBLC. We can ask for approval in concept at Town Meeting although few Needs Assessment Committees pursue this course. Anne recommended that the Town Meeting vote and the ballot vote be as close together as possible.

Project Manager: Anne outlined the duties of the OPM: Helps hire the architect; Works with the architect at the level we want; Keeps project moving; Can save us money in the long run; Can help us make decisions, but should not make final decisions for us; the OPM is our voice. Anne does not recommend a project manager as long as the committee members can remain neutral and objective. A weak committee needs an OPM; OPM duties should not fall to the director.

Other comments: Anne stressed having accurate cost estimates and reminded us that costs will go up. We don’t want to have to go back to the town to ask for more money. Cost alters the exteriors of buildings more than interiors.
Once a site is chosen and that plan submitted to MBLC, the site cannot be changed unless it is totally unusable.
If the MBLC reviewers reject our application for a construction grant, we have 6 months to revise our plan.

Architect: We need to do research before selecting an architect. Anne recommends going peer-to-peer (director to director; trustee to trustee, etc.). An important factor is chemistry: how well does the committee get along with the architect. If we want to continue with the same firm through the building phase, we want to meet the entire team as it will likely be a different person for planning than for building. Anne recommended that we videotape the briefing sessions.

The Building Program must be written and approved by the Library Trustees before an architect can be hired. A Building Program takes about 100 hours to write. We can use our grant funds to pay Sheila outside of her regular work hours. If Sheila spends 10 hours/week she can have a very rough draft by April 1. We have a recent Long Rang Plan, and parts of that can be used. Other information needs to be gathered and organized. The biggest driver is the size of the collection.

TO DO: Sheila will make an outline of what she can delegate to committee members and what she must do herself.

TO DO: Harold will update the Wish List information from the flip chart.

TO DO: All committee members should
Read the Long Range Plan
Read the Grant Application
Read the Building Programs from Boxford and Bolton
(all of these were sent via email and are also available at the library)

MOVED, SECONDED and VOTED: For hours worked beyond her normal working hours, Sheila will be paid her base hourly rate through the grant until that allocation is exhausted.

The next meeting will be Saturday, March 1 9:00 at the Town Hall.

Meeting adjourned at 12:20 p.m.

Respectfully submitted,
Dodie Gaudet,
Secretary