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HomeMy WebLinkAboutLibrary Board Minutes 03.14.20231 MINUTES CITY OF LAUREL Library Board 03/14/2023 06:00 PM Laurel Public Library COMMITTEE MEMBERS PRESENT: X Katie Fjelstad Arthur Vogele, Board Chair X Kate Manley X Lela Schlitz X Nancy Schmidt, Secretary X Mary Nelson 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. Lela motioned that the minutes for February 2023 be adopted as presented. Kate seconded the motion. Motion passed. b. The library received a $50 donation from Ray Wells. c. Circulation Report – (compared to the same time period as last year) Traffic: up 2.7%; circulation: all items circulated totaled 4,048 (including 611 eBooks), book circulation was up 23.3%, media circulation was down 21.3%, eBook checkouts for this month was 16.3% of total book circulation, we circulated 836 items to partners and 155 items from other libraries; computers: internet use was up 10.1%, children’s use was down 52.9%, wi-fi use up 71.6%; patron cards: city patrons make up 59.4% of registered users, county 28.5% and out of county users make up 8.8%. There were 58 tech assists in February. 3. New Business a. We have put out the Aunt Flow products for patrons that may need them. We did have a couple patrons ask us to change our signs that offered them free to the public. The original signs stated they were free to anyone that had menstrual cycles regardless of gender or age. We changed it to say that these are free organic period products for anyone that needs them. This verbiage doesn’t appear to have any political statement attached to it. b. We will be participating in the Summer Lunch Program with the Laurel Public Schools. This is our 5th year participating (not counting COVID). We are hoping to qual ify for the program next year. We aren’t sure if it is going to be hot or cold OR is they are offering breakfast as well as lunch. Hopefully, we will have more information by mid-May. We don’t have a start date yet. 2 c. Nancy presented a Child Safety Policy for review and adoption. As some discussion and minor changes to wording, Katie motioned that we adopt the policy as corrected. Mary seconded the motion, motion passed. The Child Safety Policy was approved and will be added to our website. d. The spring meeting of the South-Central Federation is scheduled for April 1, 2023 in Harlowton. It is scheduled from 9:30 am to 3:00 pm. Anyone is welcome to attend the meeting. Nancy will be going to Harlowton on Friday to help Tina with barcoding her books to join the shared catalog. Arthur is planning on attending the meeting. Kate has also expressed an interest attending the meeting. Lunch and morning snacks are provided by the Federation. e. The annual Montana Library Conference will be held April 12 th – 15th in Billings. Nancy is registered to attend the conference. Please let her know if you want to attend the conference even if it’s for just one day. Kate has declined to attend this time since she attended the conference in Missoula in August. 4. Old Business a. The library will set up a small ‘pantry’ in the foyer of the library for anyone that needs a small bit of food to help them get by. Hopefully the pantry will be ready to go by the first week in April. Katie suggested that each board member donate an item for patrons to grab as need ed. The Foundation may also provide some small items to the pantry as well. Library staff will monitor the supplies to help keep it “stocked”. The idea of a pantry is to provide something for those that need it without making them feel like they are being policed. When the summer lunches resume, we will ask that food items not be thrown away but washed and added to the pantry. b. The Town Pump Grant Charitable Foundation gives away 650 grants statewide to public libraries each year. Each grant can be valued up to $1,000 if used for the summer reading programs. Applications are accepted March 1st – April 14th. Some of the funding will be used for the Book Buzz programming with the school librarians. Some may also be used for the pantry and the STEM training/programming for the annular eclipse. c. Nancy has created a succession planning document for the library. The question of what to do in the instance of replacing someone that may need to leave/retire in the future has been asked more than once in the past. Statement was read by Nancy and approved by the board members. 5. Other Items a. Upcoming Items: The book sale is scheduled April 24th through May 6th, 2023. Anyone that wants to help set up for sale is welcome to stop by on Friday, April 21st and Saturday, April 22nd. Staff will be unloading the shed and setting up the tables for the sale. Nancy will be attending STEM training in Glendive May 17 th & 18th. 6. Announcements a. The next regular meeting is April 11, 2023 at 6:00 pm in the library community room. Motion to adjourn made by Kate, seconded by Katie. Meeting adjourned at 7:11 pm. 3 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.