HomeMy WebLinkAbout04 AIS Bentley Library 5.2.17 AGENDA ITEM SUMMARY
WORK SESSION DATE: May 2, 2017
AGENDA ITEM TITLE: Citizen Board Interview/David Bentley—Library Board
STAFF RESPONSIBLE: Charlotte Anderson
ISSUE STATEMENT: Staff has been advertising regularly when there are any vacancies on Citizen
Boards. Public outreach is also increased during renewal season for citizen boards. Staff set a deadline to
apply by March 17th. David Bentley responded to the recent outreach and wishes to apply for a regular
position on the Pitkin County Library Board.
Jim Moran served on the Library Board from June 2011 until his death in March 2015. John Keleher was
appointed by the BOCC to complete Jim's term. John's term expired on April 1st. He submitted a renewal
application for this position and was interviewed on April 4th.
The following applicants have also been interviewed for this position:
Elizabeth Nix and Ashley Connolly - March 7th
Georgina Melbye - March 28th
BACKGROUND: Traditionally, applicants are interviewed and approved by the Board of County
Commissioners. Per the by-laws, there are to be no less than five (5)members and no more than seven(7).
Terms are four(4)years. The Library Board's role is to have supervision, care and custody of the library;
employ a librarian and other employees; submit a budget to the county commissioners; accept gifts, perform
all other acts necessary for the orderly and efficient management and control of the library. Provide an annual
report to the County Commissions on the funds expended, condition of its trust, number of books, etc.
LINK TO STRATEGIC PLAN: Core Focus Area: Livable & supportive Community. Success Factor
#5: Improved community engagement and participation
KEY DISCUSSION ITEMS: David will attend your Work Session today for an interview with the board.
BUDGETARY IMPACT: None
RECOMMENDED BOCC ACTION: Please advise staff of your choice for this position. Staff will
prepare a resolution confirming your decision for the next Regular Meeting date.
ATTACHMENTS:
Application and Resume of David Bentley
Current Library Board members
■ 20-5180 PITKIN COUNTY 01:53;22 p.m 03-17-2017 1 4
■
■ ■
■
■ ■
■
■ ■
PITKIN COUNTY CITIZEN BOARD APPOLNTMENT APPLICATION
NAME .hev1 J E
STREET ADDRESS Z tI EirKNAN3 rot S1.1-.
MAILING ADDRESS Po lox 302y •/ripe,,,, Co Qt 02.502 / —
PHONE (WK) (HM) (FAX)
EMAIL ADDRESS d skit 4 t to a cows
BOARD FOR WHICH YOU ARE APPLYING: LIAR 7 id
4V/1
Agricultural Building Review Committee Q
en/Pitkin Animal Shelter Housing Authority Board O�C VP-pie
Basalt Library Board hePitkin County Library
Board of Adjustment Open Space&Trails Board of'Trustees
Board of Appeals Planning&Zoning Commission
Citizen Grant Review Committee Redstone Historic Preservation Commission
Conflict of Interest Committee Retirement Board
Election Commission Senior Services Council
Financial Advisory Board Translator Advisory Board
Healthy Rivers &Streams Board Weed Advisory Board
HOW LONG HAVE YOU LIVED IN PITKIN COUNTY:1462-61 S) q41 }o prise►. -
STREET ADDRESS PREVIOUS YEARS: 2 ( S•'t'N 24, S�
I DESIRE THE APPOINTMENT FOR THE FOLLOWING REASONS:
a_ „ w INr�1- ec fttc' eie+trt.J C -;"1.4V1.A1.5 WA/I 1;�'e-11
9%5
aeAcli is f hwt ?IVCr, vvk g("St 01QV%WA vtrb +0 (ALES• IV- kF4ae\a Irte'W13h
boas. -�'v� �� �� PA' I.;L;�r~.,n, c A.tots t } o &WI
(00.). el.,3i;/hc342.ftig 117;-1-4 heotuentl'
t en w►cetj k;S4011641
%)
tt1ev4A* L•t tit +. fJ;}.,, See. ALAVA.t V most 11 cc. kildv, , t•
to ;sr I►.As tAter view e it+:t pa, b tlyt4-ts.40-
V understand that information provided in this application is co/sidered part of the public record
and could be available to others upon request.
Signed: vl d 64.6.111/4.at tell "4-)144
Please Return Application to the County Manager's Office at 530 E.Main St.,3111 Floor,
Aspen,CO 81611,or FAX to 920-5198,Phone 920-5200
NOTE: Please Attach Resume with Completed Application
For Office Use Only:
Interview Date Reso Not{)}?applicant Citz Bd list
G:Citizai Boards
970-920-5180 PITKIN COUNTY 01:54:01 p.m. 03-17-2017 1 4
Arach vent /3
ResumeCoverLtrFINAL071116
Cover Letter for David Bentley's resume
I wish to be considered for some kind of small part-time job at the library.I could do
back-office"paperwork,"shelving,shelf-reading and working with the public. I am no stranger
to you. I usually appear to be in a hurry because I try to read as many pages as I can during every
moment of the day. I am an intellectual omnivore.
I am a bibliophile. I cannot remember not knowing how to read. The same illness that
destroyed half my hearing at the age of six also wiped out any memory of having been an
illiterate small child. My mother took great delight in helping me read aloud with good
pronunciation and diction.She had had LOTS of speech correction herself.
My mother had experienced over ten years(1930-41)of deaf boarding school at the
Minnesota School for the Deaf and at Gallaudet College,now University,in Washington DC,
ending with a BA in Library Science.She had received a very good education in a very closed
society. Of course,she became fluent in ASL sign language.
When I was eight,and then nine years old,my mother told me that she had been offered a
job at the Minnesota School for the Deaf,saying:"If I take this job,you'll be going to school
with deaf children;do you want that'?" I said"No,"and that was the end of it. Not once in our
relationship(she is 89 and I am 66)has she ever signed a complete sentence to me.Neither of us
has ever regretted it although neither of us ever thought I would go totally deaf because I spoke so
well.
I went to Special Ed classes out of my neighborhood all the way through high school. I
had an hour a day of ear-training and phonetic spelling practice from grade two to twelve.The
ease with which later I learned to pronounce foreign languages in independent study came from
that. Last August,The Aspen Times published my essay that suggested that Special Ed for the
hearing-handicapped include ear training for the elements of tonal sound,in addition to speech
sound.
I'm totally dependent on people writing things down for me,especially the first sentence.
After I'm provided with a context,I have a chance to lip read what follows. If a Latino writes a
request for help to me in Spanish imperfectly spelled,I can probably help him or her as well as
anyone currently employed. I scored a 519 on the GRE Spanish test in 1972.I read Spanish far
better than I speak it. The vast majority of the temp work-permit people who come here are
university graduates more sophisticated than the average American.
I worked for Katherine Thalberg for about five years.Although it may not seem that way
sometimes,I've been housebroken. I'm reliable:I had a key to the Aspen Times building for 34
years.I was Editor of Climbing magazine for two years when Dunaway owned it I've not
disgraced the family on whose property I have lived since 1971.
I know the life cycle or digestive cycle of books from publication to retail to remainders
to Thrift Shops. Books in bookstores have a short shelf life. I prefer libraries and backlists. I've
always been able to spend hours at time going through book catalogs rather than watching
football. A huge percentage of good books are OP;I have bought hundreds of solid academic
books as remainders ... and have donated many to this library.
There is a lot of"paperwork,"or whatever you call it these days,related to the selection,
ordering,receiving,classification,registering and de-accessioning of books. I am genuinely
curious as to how you do it and would hie to help with various clerical stages of the process.
To conclude:it's a human waste for me to work at anything except with books.I know
the book world because I've always lived in it.
970-920-5180 PITKIN COUNTY 01:55:04 p.m. 03-17-2017 3 4
A. 213
aCVI Men
David E Bentley( )November,2007
Position wanted: General assignment Library worker
Objective:To learn much more about public library services and to provide them competently.
Formal Education:
1974-75 University w/o Walls—Loretto Heights College—Denver
UWW set me up with observation intemships at the Denver General mental
health system from the Psyche ER to long-term facilities. I was introduced to
Denver's deaf community. The experience eliminated my desire to go back to
school and to try to join the deaf world as a professional. (see cover letter)
1965-68 University of Colorado—Boulder—BA Latin American Studies—
The TESL courses in phonetics, structural grammar and general linguistics were the most
useful tools I acquired for home study of languages in the silent world that awaited me.
1959-62 University of Minnesota—Duluth and Minneapolis—Geography/Geology
Job Experience(book-related only)
1986-91 —Explore Booksellers—Aspen
I did mostly restocking five days a week for 5 years. I also did a lot of pre-Digital
Age micro-ficheing research for Kf to avoid STOP orders.
1969-1970—Ray Surguine Co.—Boulder CO
This wholesaler later became part of B 8 T. It stocked about 150 publishers ranging from
at least a dozen academic presses down to commercial houses with many colophons publishing
everything from literary fiction to GED fiction, how-to lines, self-help and children's books. I pulled
orders for tiny niche bookstores and for giant university student union bookstores. It introduced
me to vastness of the book world that supplied titles for every demographic niche. Books are not
just for intellectuals.This was long before the rise of national chains. It gave me the background,
In 1986, to have become the first person to score 100%on KT's entrance test
1965-66—Clancy's Bookshop—College Hill—Boulder CO
I was a sales clerk and STOP order writer for a much-loved crippled dwarf owner. I
discovered Surguine's working for him.
1959-68—Did book shelving off and on at
University of Colorado—Norlin Library 1966-67
University of Minnesota—Minneapolis—Wilson Library 1961
University of Minnesota—Duluth—UMD Library 1960-61
970-920-5180 PITKIN COUNTY 01:55:42 p.m. 03-17-2017 4/4
L10rdry x-iis ury iul (/wellIuiICS.CUl11 uup.Nwww.napcuuu►ca.wiunicwai y-101/
/00-c,h w,tdA 3/3
Library History 101
November 4, 2012
Dear Editor.
Seventy-four years ago, on Oct. 5, 1938, the first Aspen-Pitkin County library opened
as a nonprofit called the Pitkin County Library Association. The association was
initiated by Helen Collins, a local who had learned earlier that year that the Works
Progress Administration could pay a salary for a librarian for any town that had a
library.
The city provided the corner space of the Wheeler Opera House, which was divided
into adult and children's areas. Donations included not only the books but the potbelly
stove, the coal, the electricity and furniture. From the beginning, there were
"branches" at Old Snowmass, Meredith, Woody Creek and even Carbondale, where
patrons could choose circulating books from shelves provided in the local general
stores. The 1940 census listed a county population of 1,836, of whom 777 lived in
Aspen.
Against vociferous opposition, the library forces won tax support of"not less than
one-tenth of one mil or more than one-half of one mil per dollar of assessed value,"
which provided the grand revenue of$421.01 for the tax year 1941. From the very
beginning, the library depended on volunteers for almost every aspect of its operation.
The county commissioners began their oversight of the library board in November
1940, five years before Walter Paepcke showed up in 1945. Not everything began
with him.
In the 70 years since, the library has outgrown three locations. Each proposed
expansion went through innumerable transparent public hearings before successive
library commissions and boards of county commissioners on every aspect of finance,
architectural design and staffing. This proposed iteration has the total support of our
elected officials and of many constituencies: parents and children, people who need
meeting space and anyone hunting for information as well as the loan of books and
multimedia. Its opponents have exercised their statutory right to go over the heads of
those elected officials on an issue unrelated to the library's purpose.
Vote "yes" on 5A and 5B for a state-of-the-art expansion of our library.
David Bentley
Aspen
1 of 2 3/17/2017 12:01 PM
Term Exp. Last_name First_name Address City State Zip Office_Ph Home Ph Fax Emai
Library Board HRC/Citizen PURPOSE:To have supervision,care and custody of all property of the library;employ a librarian and other employees;submit a budget to the county
Policy/Advisory commissioners;accept gifts,perform all other acts necessary for the orderly and efficient management and control of the library.Provide an annual report to the
County Commissioners on the funds expended,condition of its trust,number of books,etc.Established pursuant to C.R.S.24 90 101.Article III of the Pitkin
County Home Rule Charter provides for the establishment of a Library Board consistent with applicable statutesAUTHORITY:The Library Board may lease,
purchase or acquire any appropriate building for library purposes;sell,transfer or convey any property of the library not needed for library purposes;borrow
funds for library purposes;has exclusive control of library fund disbursements;holds title to property;approve the purchase of library materials
Staff Liaison: MEMBERSHIP:No less than five(5)members and no more than seven(7)members.
Kathy Chandler 429-1900 TERM:Terms are four(4)years.
MEETINGS:Second Wednesday of each month from 12-1:30 PM except December.REMOVAL:Only by a vote of the BOCC upon a showing of good cause.
Good cause is defined as three(3)unexcused absences during a calendar year.
(1)Regular 1-Apr-17 Keleher John Aspen CO 81611 John has submitted an application for renewal
(2)Regular 1-Apr-18 Stitt Austine Aspen CO 81611
President(3)Regular 1-Apr-20 Wilkinson John SMV CO 81615
(4)Regular 1-Apr-20 Reid Barbara Aspen CO 81611
(5)Regular 1-Apr-19 Smith Barbara Aspen CO 81612
(6)Regular 1-Apr-18 Harris Judi Aspen CO 81611
(7)Regular 1-Apr-19 Wrigley Judy Aspen CO 81611