Southeast Kansas Library System

Southeast Kansas Library System System Plan for 2015 Adopted 5/19/14 1

Part 1: Description of Southeast Kansas Library System The Southeast Kansas Library System (SEKLS) comprises 15 counties, as shown in the map below. The population of the region is 211,940. by: SEKLS has 104 member libraries and one contracting public library. Membership is held 54 public libraries 41 school districts (including one private school system) 7 academic libraries 2 special libraries It should be noted that one public library and one special library no longer operate, but have never been legally removed from membership. SEKLS is headquartered in the Iola Public Library. Office space is rented from the library, and two positions are shared positions. Both the Director and Administrative Assistant work 2/3 time for SEKLS and 1/3 time for the public library. There are 17 employees with an FTE of 14.68. As provided by law, the SEKLS board contains representatives of all member libraries and appointees by the governor from each taxing county, residing in the area which levies the system tax. This makes a 118-member full board. Actual responsibilities other than approving the annual budget are delegated, as also provided by law, to an Executive Board. The SEKLS Executive Board consists of nine members, including three public library representatives representing various sizes of communities, two school library representatives, one academic or special library representative, one governor s appointee, and one additional member and a president, both elected at large from any category of membership. The current board is: Andrea Sobba, Garnett Kathy Hale, Savonburg Elizabeth Turner, Oswego Karen Miller, Garnett Janea Lawrence, Chanute Susan Messer, Fort Scott Connie Mitchell, Eureka Lily Morgan, Independence Janet Reynolds, LaCygne President Vice President Secretary Treasurer 2

Part 2: System Programs Consulting (General consulting) SEKLs provides individualized consulting on a range of topics to staff and trustees of member libraries. There is a full-time Consultant, and the Director also provides consulting services. Continuing Education SEKLS typically offers 20-25 continuing education events annually with some oriented towards each type of library (public, school, and academic). This includes two signature events, an in-service day held at Westminster Woods campground near Fredonia and our Annual Meeting and Continuing Education Day in Iola. Some of our training has been recorded and made available on Youtube. Grants Grant programs include Allocations (extended service grants for public libraries) Academic/school extended service grants for qualifying libraries Continuing education Programming Materials delivery (courier and postage) Competitive: the focus varies, following a 3-year cycle. For 2014, this will be a Collection Development. For 2015, it will be a Facility Improvement/ Furnishings Grant. Except for the first two, the grants are available to all types of libraries. Allocations consist of a base grant for each library, with the ability to increase the grant by up to 85% above that amount by meeting certain criteria. For 2015 we will increase our base grant for most libraries from $2600 plus 74 per capita to $2700 plus 76 per capita. Miscellaneous Two short-term makeover projects we began in 2014 will continue in 2015. Unanticipated additional LSTA funding for our technology support positions freed up other funds, making these projects possible. We selected one library with a service population of 2,000 or less, and one library with a service population of over 2,000 for the project. We made $12,000 available to the smaller library and $20,000 to the larger ones to a makeover project to be developed by our Makeover Committee and the local library staff and boards. These plans will be developed over the summer of 2014, with implementation of the plans by April of 2015. This will be followed by an SEKLS-sponsored bus tour of libraries, which will include the two makeover libraries, in 2015. This will be in time for librarians who visit those libraries to think of possibilities for their own libraries and apply for our 2015 competitive grant (a Facility Improvement/Furnishing Grant) in the fall of 2015. We are still considering further development of a graphic design service and a new SEKLS web site. Resource Sharing 3

The Resource Sharing Department handles interlibrary loans and purchases for Digital Book elending. The department orders purchases made from both the SEKLS budget and the pooled contributions of member libraries. SEKLS highly encourages public libraries to contribute money for Digital Books elending, but only about 40% do so. Rotation Books About 8 times per year, a selection of books is rotated to 59 sites served by Rotation. SEKnFind SEKnFind is a service offering a shared regional integrated library system (ILS) using Koha open source software. There are currently 40 active members (39 public libraries and one community college) and one will be added late in 2014. SEKnFind was inaugurated in November 2008 with 8 members. There are four remaining public libraries which have not automated, and five already-automated libraries on legacy systems which do not meet state standards and are not preparing to do that in the near future. However, the remaining libraries are reluctant to automate or migrate to a new system. Special Needs Services SEKLS serves as a regional outreach center for the Kansas Talking Books Service. In addition, the system maintains several special needs collections. Technical Services/Cataloging Primary services in this area include management of the bibliographic database for SEKnFind, doing original cataloging for SEKnFind members, and consulting, assisting, and training libraries with cataloging. An online SEKnFind Cataloging Manual was written in 2013. This department also repairs and polishes discs and does laminating for member libraries. Technology Services Technology consultants assist libraries in acquiring and using computers and other technology, help with computer problems, etc. Most public libraries are visited at least quarterly and other libraries upon request. SEKLS maintains technology standards for libraries to use as a guide when evaluating old or purchasing new equipment. Additional devices have been added to our SEKLS sample collection, and this will continue. Youth Services A Youth Services Consultant assists libraries in improving children's programs, collections, and services, and visits public and school libraries upon a regular basis. She also manages distribution of 6 x 6 Ready to Read. 4

Part 3: Long-Range Plan SOUTHEAST KANSAS LIBRARY SYSTEM LONG-RANGE PLAN Background A long-range plan was adopted in September 2012. It was decided to try a continuous revision process, with annual reviews followed by plan revisions as deemed necessary each year. This is the 2013 revision of the plan. Consulting No further changes are planned. Continuing education The consensus continues to be that there can be no one best approach, and that a mixture of various formats should be pursued. Primarily, these should continue to be of three types. 1. Online, either streaming or archived audio or video. Some face-to-face workshops should be recorded and archived for the benefit of those who could not attend. 2. Face to face, with at least 4-5 hours of instructional time, often combining two or more different classes on one day to maximize the value of travel time. 3. Courses taught more than one time in multiple locations, so travel is minimized. There is a need to develop more online training, including making more use of the video equipment to record and archive some of the face-to-face workshops. For trustee continuing education, SEKLS will take steps to encourage libraries to register for and take advantage of the resources available through the statewide membership in United for Libraries. Training on e-content should remain a focus. One additional possibility is to offer SEKLS staff to provide training on Kansas Digital Book elending (formerly Kansas EZ Library) in schools. SEKLS will seek to make it easier for school library media specialists to submit SEKLS education to their Professional Development Committees. Specifically, the CE certificate format will include the course description and allow space for notes regarding what the participant learned or took away from the session. Grants No major changes are planned for grant programs, although small year-to-year changes in the allocation base figures or criteria will be made. Resource Sharing Some additional staff time may be shifted away from Resource Sharing as SEKLS implements a Graphic Arts Service, as outlined later. More follow-up will be provided to small libraries joining KICnet. Rotation 5

SEKLS is committed to having all Rotation books which are sent out from headquarters being barcoded, and anticipates that by 2015 99% of books in libraries will be barcoded. This was made a priority because the upgrade to Koha 3.8 eliminated barriers to Rotation book checkout via the Koha ILS in SEKnFind libraries. SEKnFind SEKLS will customize the Koha interface to make it more useful and easier to use. SEKLS will produce patron training videos, and encourage SEKnFind libraries to do more training of end users. Ways to generate more traffic for the SEKnFind OPAC will be investigated, including making sure participating libraries have search boxes or links on library web sites. SEKLS will explore and promote means of public library-school library cooperation using SEKnFind. It is thought that many school libraries could benefit from joining SEKnFind. SEKLS will raise awareness that schools may join, pursue school memberships, and explore the best ways for that to work. Talking Books/Special Needs No changes are anticipated for this service unless driven by changes in how the State Library offers this service. Technical Services/Cataloging MARC records for Kansas Digital Book elending materials will be added to the SEKnFind catalog when available, and cataloging staff will assist libraries not in SEKnFind with adding these records to their catalogs. A SEKnFind cataloging roundtable will be established. Cataloging staff will work on authority record cleanup. Technology Services SEKLS will maintain up to date technology standards to serve as a guide when evaluating current technology, purchasing new equipment and software, and evaluating donated equipment. SEKLS will help libraries adapt to the mobile device environment. Staff will maintain an awareness of the costs and availability of mobile apps for library web sites, and will educate and assist libraries in better serving mobile device users as practical possibilities arise. Libraries are increasingly being asked to help patrons with technology. While this could be any technology under the sun, it is not realistic to expect that any individual or library can be an expert on everything. SEKLS will concentrate on making sure librarians are prepared to give patrons extensive help on library-related or reading-related technology ebooks, ereaders, other reading devices, use of library web sites via computer or mobile devices, connecting to the library through social media, etc. In regard to other uses of technology, librarians should be able to give general guidance (not in-depth help) and then refer patrons to appropriate web sites, written material, companies, or people for more in-depth help. To accomplish the first of these, SEKLS will increase training opportunities on reading devices and Kansas Digital Book elending, possibly with quarterly tech afternoons in various regions of the system. The collection of ereaders, tablets and other devices which are available from SEKLS for staff and public training will be increased and kept up to date. 6

With the increasing importance of ebooks, mobile devices, etc, it is vitally important for all SEKLS staff who regularly visit libraries to be knowledgeable about using these tools and the Kansas Digital Book elending service. They must all be able to answer questions and help library staff at the point of need, and not usually have to refer librarians to another SEKLS staff member. For this to be a reality, time will be dedicated to helping all relevant SEKLS become proficient with the most common devices and services. Occasional (perhaps even quarterly) tech afternoons will be implemented to help keep libraries apprised of current technology trends. Web site Options will be investigated for a different web site offering the best flexibility and ease of use consistent with the ability to submit reports and applications online. Content which makes the web site more relevant and useful to member libraries will be added. Content ideas will be garnered from the SEKLS services survey and the long-range planning committee. The ability to share photos and other information from member libraries, particularly feeds from their Facebook pages, is one desired feature. Youth Services There is a desire for sharing ideas, such as program ideas, among school librarians, or perhaps between school and public youth services librarians. SEKLS should arrange some online conferencing for this purpose which school librarians (and perhaps public youth services librarians) could participate in without leaving their buildings. SEKLS also will attempt to establish a presence at Greenbush s annual face to face meeting for school library media specialists. The Youth Services Consultant will encourage school librarians to use SEKLS continuing education grants, especially for Kansas Library Conference. SEKLS will undertake a project to acquaint school administrators with the research showing the strong positive impact of school library media specialists. Restructuring/Repositioning SEKLS will participate in Recollections Kansas, a digitization initiative originating with the Northeast Kansas Library System. SEKLS staff will train member libraries how to digitize materials for this project. Equipment to support the project will be acquired as needed. Staff will actively promote digitization. SEKLS will further explore the possibility of providing graphic arts services by the use of pilot projects for selected libraries. During 2014, options for restructuring of departments or staff necessary will be identified. 7

Part 4: Budget 2014 2015 Revenues Contract--Coffey County 10,186 10,490 Interest 320 150 Materials replacement grant 4,000 4,000 Miscellaneous 400 400 State Aid 63,300 63,333 Talking Books grant 20,500 22,658 Tax receipts 1,426,381 1,461,701 1,525,087 1,562,732 Expenditures Academic/school extended service grants 6,000 5,000 Accounting/Audit/Budget 14,000 14,500 Allocations 382,500 390,000 Automation/catalog 32,000 32,000 Building & grounds payments 8,200 8,200 Competitive grants 30,000 36,000 Computer software and services 5,500 7,500 Continuing education grants 4,500 4,500 Courier 5,150 5,150 Employee benefits: Insurance 113,500 128,000 Employee benefits: KPERS 54,848 58,689 Employee benefits: Payroll taxes 44,565 44,711 Employee benefits: Unemployment 582 582 Employee benefits: Workers' comp. 2,200 2,300 Equipment lease & maintenance 5,000 5,000 Equipment replacement 20,000 25,000 Insurance 8,000 8,400 Legal services 300 300 Materials delivery grants 53,000 53,000 Materials replacement distributions 4,000 4,000 Materials: Audio 3,000 3,000 Materials: Books 49,000 49,000 Materials: DVD 3,500 3,500 Materials: Downloadable audio 6,000 6,000 Materials: Ebooks 6,000 6,000 Materials: Miscellaneous 2,100 2,100 Miscellaneous 9,500 9,500 OCLC 8,000 8,000 Postage 6,000 6,000 Programming grants 1,000 1,000 Rent 17,800 22,230 Salaries 582,548 584,463 Service development 31,000 31,000 Supplies 16,000 16,000 Telephone 1,000 1,000 Travel and professional development 15,000 15,000 Vehicle expense 16,000 16,000 1,567,293 1,612,625 Transfer to capital improvement fund 4,000 4,000 8