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HomeMy WebLinkAboutLibrary Board Minutes 09.12.2023MINUTES CITY OF LAUREL Library Board 09/12/2023 06:06 PM Laurel Public Library X Katie Fjelstad — via Zoom X Kate Manley —via Zoom X Nancy Schmidt, Secretary X Clair Killebrew — Foundation Liaison OTHERS PRESENT: None X Arthur Vogele, Board Chair — via Zoom X Lela Schlitz — via Zoom X Mary Nelson 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. The minutes for August 2023 were not presented for approval due to a clerical error. They will be presented next month for approval along with the September 2023 minutes. b. Correspondence — $50 donation from Ray Wells & $50 from Gail Norman c. Circulation Report — (compared to the same time period as last year) Traffic: down 17.8%; circulation: all items circulated totaled 4,591 (including 658 eBooks), book circulation was down 7.9%, media circulation was down 12.7%, eBook checkouts for this month was 15.9% of total book circulation, we circulated 915 items to partners and 297 items from other libraries; computers: internet use was up 26.8%, children's use was down 65.4%, wi-fi use down .001%; patron cards: city patrons make us 62.7% of registered users, county is 28.3% and state/out of county has 8.98% of our registered patrons. It is typical for the decrease in patronage during August because of the other activities going on around the area and the start of school. There were 39 tech assists in August. 3. New Business a. The 2nd grade students from West Elementary will be coming down to the library on September 25th & 261h for library tours. We will register those students that don't already have library cards. The librarian at West School, Anna Meadows, set up the tours with the teachers so the students can learn about how our library works and when the students can start using our facility and get their own library cards. 1 b. The Federation meeting is scheduled for Saturday, September 30th at 9:00 am here at the library. We are open to suggestions for the morning snack and lunch. Jimmy Johns catered sandwiches with chips was suggested. We will also offer coffee, tea, and sodas throughout the meeting. The training being offered in the afternoon is Prepare to Care by AARP Montana. c. Nancy will be attending a couple of meetings in Columbus in October. On the 101h there is a meeting for the Federation coordinator's at 1:00 pm along with an open house at the library to meet the state library commissioners. On October 11th there is a State Library Commission meeting that all coordinator's are required to attend and present their annual report of activities and expenses. We may want to consider changing our next board meeting to Tuesday, October 17th to accommodate Nancy's attendance at the other meetings. d. The next book sale is scheduled for October 23rd through November 4th, 2023. We are taking donations and will have signup sheets for anyone that wants to volunteer during the sale. Please let others know that we are always looking for more volunteers. e. There was an update on the use of the community room. It is getting busier again which we are glad to see happen. The guitar lessons have started up again. Pat Kukes does the lessons on Wednesday afternoon and Bob Engel has a small class on Saturday afternoon before the library closes. We have patrons using it to practice their dulcimers, tutors are using the main part of the library, bunco meets three times each month in the evenings, homeschool coop teaches a STEM class once a month, and book club also meets each month. We are busy but always will to add more to the calendar. It may be time to seriously consider finding the funding for adding some meeting rooms onto the library. 4. Old Business Kate and Nancy are planning on attending the Fall Workshop in Great Falls. They will leave on Sunday, September 17' and return on Tuesday, September 191h. They will share their experiences/trainings at the next board meeting. b. The Fall Retreat in Chico will be attended by Arthur and Nancy on October 1s1 and 2nd Lela is considering going also and will notify Nancy as it gets closer. Again, reports of the training will be shared at the next board meeting. c. The contract for reroofing has been approved by the Council and signed by the city personnel. Donahue Roofing & Siding LLC will start on the roof the week of September 18t". We are looking forward to having the roof repaired so we no longer have to worry about leaks or more shingles blowing off on extremely windy days.. d. The budget is completed and has been turned in to the Council for approval. Our budget is $300K this year which is 31 mills (no increase in mills but each mill has a higher value). Staff has an increase in wages of S% along with an extra personal day in lieu of Juneteenth not being a legal holiday in Montana. Staff also received an increase in their FLEX amount to use for medical reimbursements. Board and staff members are all pleased with the budget. 5. Other Items a. September starts the season of monthly holidays that the library will be closed —just and FYI on this. We will be having some extended closings depending upon when some of the holiday's fall. b. Nancy has asked Eli to block certain games at the library between 9:00 am and 3:30 pm so that those children that are being homeschooled aren't spending all day just playing on the computers. He will also monitor other sites as needed. c. Arthur will send to Kate the login information for both the board chair email and etimetool.com timesheet. Arthur has already approved the latest timesheet and Kate will be responsible for any timesheets after that. d. Mary asked about the progress of the snack trolley. We had some items in the snack cart but we realized that most of the items were being taken by those that don't really need them but they just don't want to go home to eat lunch. We'll keep items available when patrons need them. e. Upcoming Items: None 6. Announcements a. The next regular meeting is October 17, 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 6:57 pm. Respectfully submitted, �n 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. 3