MEDIATECH FOUNDATION 2012 MINUTES
Meeting 1 of 4: February 20
Filed by Warren Buckleitner, Acting Executive Director
Members Present: Lou Hosta, Sandy Borucki, Ellen Wolock, Shawn Armington, Chris Crowell and Warren Buckleitner.
The meeting was called to order at 2:00 PM by Warren Buckleitner. We started by looking at some slides from YouMedia, the Macarthur Foundation funded initiative at the Harold Washington Public Library in Chicago. While there are major differences in our programs, there are some lessons to be learned and the presentation started a discussion about the mission of Mediatech. We talked in general about the need to skip Mediatech 2.0, and move to Mediatech 3.0 — a mobile/tablet-based context that is better for socialization and supports the town and library. Reaching this goal will require an active, supportive board and some creative fund raising. There was a general consensus on the following points:
• The “olden days” of Mediatech (when there were a lot of kids) is not necessarily the goal to have in mind. It was not orderly, and supervision was not well matched to number of visitors we were getting.
• The current Mediatech is safe, orderly and well supervised, thanks in large part to the extraordinary efforts by Carol Wachter. In addition, we now have an integrated circulation system. We don’t want to do anything to slide back to a chaotic and potentially unsafe state that might put us all at risk and give the library a black eye.
• The Mediatech 3.0 model builds on Carol’s orderliness, and layers over carefully constructed programming, special events, high school interns to serve as role models and longer hours. This is dependent on the ability to find funding, and on having a staff person to create these events.
Treasurer’s Report
I did not have a complete treasurers report although I have been keeping Mike Holk updated on current bills. We have $10,761.90 in our account, although I have to pay the phone bill. All 2011 donation receipts have been sent, along with thank you notes.
Supervisor’s Report
We talked about declining enrollment, aided by Carol’s reports. In January 2010, attendance was 223. In January 2011, it was 176. This past month, it was 83. Possible reasons were discussed:
• Reduced hours: We’re open just 42 hours per month (about 1 1/2 hours per day). This isn’t long enough to “hang out.”
• JP Case: Before JP Case opened we had more traffic from middle schoolers.
• Summer: There is more demand in the summer.
• The need to update equipment. Warren suggested purchasing some HD monitors for the Kinect and PS3. We decided that it would be good to get rid of some of the older desktop computers, and replace them with MacBooks and tablets that can be checked out one at a time, providing a membership card is given up.
• But we decided to put off any large purchases until we could get the whole board to vote.
• Special programming. Most of our attendance comes in the summer, especially when we have such things as Scratch classes.
• I talked about bringing more specialized technologies into Mediatech such as a 3D printer and/or some music production hardware; bringing unique capacities to our town that does not currently exist.
• We could have classes and small group tutorials given by high school students.
Ideas for Future Events
1. 5 K Run
2. Wine run
3. Friday night lecture series
4. Dixie Band in courtyard
5. Classes, with “pass the hat” revenue.
6. FAME and/or documentaries
7. Classes in the summer
8. Lindbergh flight simulation
9. Holiday concert by the WWS
New Business: 2012 Board of Trustees
Ellen Wolock suggested that we look for a person to take on a paid position to coordinate fund raising and staffing. This type of leadership is essential to the success of the Mediatech in 2012. This person would work with Warren and the board to follow through on some of the goals. Pay rate would be determined by the board pending her decision. Ellen made a motion to approve the following board positions, Lou seconded:
Current Board
President: Lou Hosta
Vice President: Chris Crowell
Secretary: Sandy Borucki
Treasurer (temporary): Mike Holk
Other voting members: Will Richardson, Shawn Armington, Sue Ann Barrow.
Need: FRSD Rep ________________
Need: HCRHS Rep ________________
Need: Borough Council Rep _______________
Need: Accountant __________________
STAFF
Acting Supervisor: Carol Wachter
Acting Executive Director: Warren Buckleitner
Suggested Director: ______________ (suggested).
Please let me know if you have thoughts about the board membership.
The next meeting will be Monday night, March 5 at 8 PM in Warren’s office.