HomeMy WebLinkAboutLibrary Board Minutes 08.08.2023MINUTES
CITY OF LAUREL
Library Board
08/08/2023 06:08 PM
Laurel Public Library
X Katie Fjelstad — via Zoom
X Kate Manley
X Nancy Schmidt, Secretary
X Clair Killebrew — Foundation Liaison
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X Arthur Vogele, Board Chair
X Lela Schlitz
Mary Nelson
1. Public Input
Citizens may address the committee regarding any item of city business not on the agenda. The duration
for on 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. The minutes for July 2023 were presented for approval. Kate motioned the minutes be
approved as presented, Lela seconded the motion. Minutes were approved.
b. Correspondence — $50 donation from Ray Wells & $100 from Eileen Burton
c. Circulation Report — (compared to the same time period as last year) Traffic: up 13.8%;
circulation: all items circulated totaled 4,563 (including 677 eBooks), book circulation
was up 16.7%, media circulation was down 30.6%, eBook checkouts for this month was
15.3% of total book circulation, we circulated 798 items to partners and 243 items from
other libraries; computers: internet use was up 51%, children's use was down 34.2%, ori-
fi use down 17%; patron cards: not available at this time, the system was down. There
were 44 tech assists in July.
3. New Business
a. The Board of Trustees held their annual election of officers. Our new Board Chair is Kate
Manley, Vice -Chair is Arthur Vogele, Arthur has also put his name in as Federation
Representation. Katie motioned that the slate of officers be accepted as presented. Lela
seconded the motion, motion passed.
b. According to the State Library Public Standards each board member should have 3 hours
of training each year. We have a DVD that is available for watching. If a DVD player isn't
available there are links that Nancy can send to each board member for extra training.
These hours will all count toward library certification for the board member.
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c. Sign up for the MSC Fall Workshop should be starting soon. Nancy will send the link to
library personnel and board members when it is available. Fall workshops will be in
Great Falls on September 18th & 19tH Anyone interested in attending should let Nancy
know so she can help with registration and motel rooms. You may want to sign-up for
Wired -MT to get email notification of upcoming events.
d. The Fall Retreat at Chico Hot Springs is scheduled for October 151 & 2nd. Again, once
registration training is open Nancy will send out the information to board members.
Please let her know if you would like to attend the retreat so she can book a room for
you.
4. Old Business
a. The roof repairs have been submitted to MMIA for approval but the claim has been
denied. The mayor stated that he will ask the city attorney to contact MMIA to
determine if the claim can be reevaluated for payment considering the extent of the
damage from wind and hail.
b. Our summer lunch program was very busy this year We served 701 hot lunches in July.
Our contract ends this year so this may be our last year serving lunches at the library.
We have to requalify for the program next year. We will need to reevaluate to impact
that the program has had on the library each summer. During COVID the number of
meals served was impressive. Since that time, the numbers have steadily fallen. Serving
the lunches creates a slight increase in general traffic but not a significant increase for
amount of prep required to serve the meals. Library staff have expressed the feeling
that the program was better when it was a grab -n -go lunch rather than a hot lunch
because of the amount of waste they see every day. Marcie Hilliard will be contacting
the library next spring about the lunch program.
c. The summer reading program was done in partnership with the Laurel Public Schools
librarians. We had 415 young patrons attend our Book Buzz and library programs. We
didn't have any programming the week of July 4th
d. The Library Use Policy and the Computer Use Agreement have been completed. The
only thing left to add to the policies is the code for MCA and dissemination of
pornography to minors. It is listed under MCA 45-8-206 (1)(a). Nancy is still looking for
demographic information to list for the Collection Management and Development
Policy. Demographics are used to make sure we are serving the needs of all Laurel
residents.
5. Other Items
a. Upcoming Items:
Nancy may have to leave for a trip to MN for a possible funeral. Her mother is
very will from cancer.
The Union members will be voting soon on the CBA. Hopefully, this will be
completed before the end of the month.
6. Announcements
a. The next regular meeting is September 12, 2023 at 6:00 pm in the library community
room. A Zoom link will be added to the next agenda.
Lela motioned that the meeting be adjourned, Kate seconded the motion. Meeting
adjourned at 7:11 pm.
Respectfully submitted,
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.
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