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HomeMy WebLinkAboutLibrary Board Minutes 07.12.20221 MINUTES CITY OF LAUREL Library Board 07/12/2022 06:00 PM Laurel Public Library COMMITTEE MEMBERS PRESENT: X Katie Fjelstad X Arthur Vogele, Board Chair X Kate Manley X Lela Schlitz – via Zoom X Nancy Schmidt, Secretary Vacant X Clair Killebrew – Foundation Liaison OTHERS PRESENT: None 1. Public Input Citizens may address the committee regarding any item of city business not on the agenda. The duration for an individual speaking under Public Comment is limited to three minutes. While all comments are welcome, the committee will not take action on any item not on the agenda. a. Addressing the Board - None 2. General Items a. Minutes for May and June 2022 were presented. Kate motioned to accept the minutes as read, Katie seconded the motion. Motion passed. b. The library received two donations last month: $25 from Richard Klose and $500 from an anonymous donor. c. Circulation Report - Traffic: down 43%; circulation: all items circulated totaled 4,421 (including 518 eBooks), book circulation was up 15.6%, media circulation was up 16.8%, eBook checkouts for this month was 12.8% of total book circulation, we circulated 862 items to partners and 233 items from other libraries; computers: internet use was down 3%, children’s use was up 105%, wi-fi use up 3%; patron cards: city patrons make up 66.4% of registered users, county 30.5% and out of county users make up 3%. There were 57 tech assists in June. 3. New Business a. Officer elections were held for Chair, Vice-Chair and Federation Representative. Kate motioned that Arthur Vogele stay as Board Chair and Federation Representative, & Katie Fjelstad become the Vice-Chair. Katie seconded the nominations. Nominations passed by all members present. b. Samantha Barnhart has completed her term on the Board and indicated that she didn’t want to serve a second term. Nancy will let the City Mayor know of this change and ask that the open seat be listed on the City website. We will also add it to the library website and Facebook page. 2 c. Nancy completed the budget using the figures that were presented last year with a few tweaks to the final numbers. She asked that the Board members review the budget and offer any changes that they feel we needed to have. Arthur questioned if the library staff are budgeted to receive their 2% raise as per the union agreement. Nancy stated that yes, it was included along with any other increases that are allowed per the union contract. He asked h ow much of a pay increase was included for Director Schmidt. Nancy stated that she budgeted the same increases for herself as she did library staff – 2%. He stated that he felt it should be higher for the director but would accept what was already budgeted. The rest of the Board members concurred with his opinion. Nancy stated that she felt she shouldn’t receive a higher increase than her employees since she couldn’t run the library without their help and input. Board members present at the meeting agreed that the Director’s wage should increase 2% with the start date retroactive July 1, 2022. d. The Library Standards have been completed for Board review. The library has met all requirements for certification through the Montana State Library. This will allow t he library to continue to receive state and federal funding via MSL. e. The summer reading program has been a great success so far this year. The Laurel Public School librarians have partnered with the public library to present Book Buzz. This program is an interactive, hands-on activity that lasts about ½ an hour on Wednesday mornings. The participants receive a book to take home with them. They are also here to receive free lunches on Wednesday mornings. Our attendance for June was 177 littles and 114 bigs. f. The number of meals served during the lunch program wasn’t as high as last year partly because of the way they are serving the meals. Last year we had a grab -n-go system and this year they are required to eat on the premises. Attendance for June lunches wa s 509. 4. Old Business a. The final numbers are in for the book sale at $3,313.26. This was the highest grossing sale to date. Library staff have recommended that we purchase a DipJar help increase donations. There were a few times that customers didn’t have cash on them so had to come back to pay for their items. A DipJar will let them use a credit/debit card to make their donations right away. The Foundation will look into making this a possibility for the next sale. The next sale is tentatively set for the two-week period of October 24th – November 5th. b. The City/Library MOU is being revamped to meet the language required by the State Library and will need new signatures as soon as it is completed. The final copy should be available at the next Board meeting. c. Nancy attended the Directors Leadership Institute in Great Falls. The premise was fostering collaboration between libraries across the state. Nancy reported that it was a very interesting conference with some surprising tension arising between the presenters and some of the library directors. It was educational for everyone that attended. The state library personnel felt that they had achieved what they set out to accomplish which was direction for future trainings of library personnel. d. MLA is sponsoring the annual conference in Missoula August 3rd – 6th, 2022. Arthur and Kate expressed interest in attending along with Nancy. If available, the City car will be used, otherwise Nancy will drive her car to the conference. Hotel rooms will be reserved at the 3 Holiday Inn – Downtown to allow for attendance of programming at the new library. We will report at the August meeting on the workshops, etc. that we attended. 5. Other Items a. Upcoming Items: Federation meeting in Red Lodge – September 10th, 2022 Coordinator’s/Commission meeting in Helena – October 11th/12th, 2022 MLA Fall Retreat in Chico – October 2nd-3rd, 2022 6. Announcements a. Next regular meeting is scheduled for August 9, 2022 at 6:00 pm in the library community room. Kate motioned that meeting be adjourned, Lela seconded the motion. Meeting adjourned at 7:11 pm. Respectfully submitted, Nancy L Schmidt Nancy L Schmidt Library Director Secretary for the Board NOTE: This meeting is open to the public. This meeting is for information and discussion of listed agenda items.