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HomeMy WebLinkAboutLibrary Board Minutes 02.21.20231 MINUTES CITY OF LAUREL Library Board 02/21/2023 06:00 PM Laurel Public Library COMMITTEE MEMBERS PRESENT: X Katie Fjelstad – via Zoom X Arthur Vogele, Board Chair X Kate Manley X Lela Schlitz – via Zoom X Nancy Schmidt, Secretary Mary Nelson X Clair Killebrew – Foundation Liaison – via Zoom 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. Kate motioned that the minutes for January 2023 be adopted as presented. Lela seconded the motion. Motion passed. b. The library received a $60 donation from the Tuesday evening bunco group and a $250 donation from Colleen Tipp. c. Circulation Report – (compared to the same time period as last year) Traffic: up 4.3%; circulation: all items circulated totaled 4,423 (including 656 eBooks), book circulation was up 14.7%, media circulation was down 11.1%, eBook checkouts for this month was 16.2% of total book circulation, we circulated 1188 items to partners and 179 items from other libraries; computers: internet use was up 13%, children’s use was down 53%, wi-fi use up 57.3%; patron cards: city patrons make up 65% of registered users, county 30.7% and out of county users make up 8.75%. There were 58 tech assists in January. 3. New Business a. Lela shared with the Board an idea that she learned about at the fall retreat in Chico last October. The idea is to have a “pantry” available for patrons to use when they need something to eat or drink but don’t have the funds available to purchase a full meal. After some discussion it was decided that we could allow space in the front foyer for a ‘Cart Pantry’ that our patrons could make use of when needed. The items would consist of simple grab-n-go type foods or drinks that wouldn’t cost the patrons anything but we would be willing to accept donation of food stuffs and/or money to supply the pantry. Kate motioned that we set up the pantry for patron use, Lela seconded the motion. Motion passed. 2 b. As part of the Summer Reading Program Nancy would like to apply for a grant from Town Pump Charities. There is a $1,000 grant available to public libraries that can be used for summer reading programming in local communities. Any monies received from the grant would be used for presenters, book giveaways, and items for the cart pantry. c. The Laurel Civil Attorney has asked that we put into writing our plans for choosing a successor to run the library in the event that some one has to step down sooner rather than later. Even though the State Library has already been working on this with all libraries across the state, it is time to share it with our local government. Nancy will draft a succession plan for the Board to agree upon and pass next month. 4. Old Business a. Nancy has started working on the budget for the library. She will draw up a tentative budget for the library and present it for Board approval in the next couple months. The union contract has expired so there is no telling what percentage will be presented for wage increases. We will be ready for changes as they come. b. The new shelves are installed in the children’s section against the north wall, next to the mural. We’ve had a lot of positive feedback from both parents and children about the shelves. We will continue to replace more as fund become available. Some of the discarded shelving is being used in the community room for book club kits. The library has over 300 titles with multiple copies that need to be organized better. Library staff will take some of the old shelves, reinforce them, and use them for the kits. Only library staff will have access to these shelves for safety reasons. c. The mill levy plans for the library have been put aside until next year. Nancy met with Mayor Waggoner and City Attorney Michelle Braukmann concerning the request to pursue a library mill levy. Nancy stated that she immediately let the mayor and attorney know that the library would step back from a mill levy this year so that the Emergency Services could pursue a much needed mill levy for the ambulance. The chances of two mill levies passing when placed against a school bond vote would see both lose. This way the ambulance levy has a much higher chance of passing this year. The Board members expressed their agreement with this assessment and stated that we could spend the next year planning our own mill levy strategy so we can have a successful mill levy passage next year. d. An online meeting with other directors has led Nancy to realize that the library has a need for a child safety policy. After discussion it was decided that Nancy would ask other librarians for copies of their policies to use as guidelines while crafting our own policy. It will be presented at the next board meeting. 5. Other Items a. Upcoming Items: The next Federation meeting is scheduled for Saturday, April 1st, 2023 in Harlowton. Anyone is welcome to attend this meeting. It is scheduled 9:30 am to 3:00 pm. Montana Library Association Conference is scheduled in Billings for April 12 th-15th, 2023. It is being held at the Double Tree Inn in downtown Billings. Registration starts in early March for anyone interested in attending one day or all week. 3 Our next book sale is scheduled for two weeks at the end of April and beginning of May. The State Library is watching two bills that may impact libraries in the next biennium. HB91 will increase the per capita amount given to libraries to $0.50 if passe d and HB234 will essentially criminalize librarian that allow children to checkout books that may be considered “obscene”. The State Library supports HB91 and opposes HB234. The end of the legislative session is in April so there should be some resolution by then on both of these bills. 6. Announcements a. The next regular meeting is March 14, 2023 at 6:00 pm in the library community room. Motion to adjourn made by Kate, seconded by Katie. Meeting adjourned at 7:14 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.