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HomeMy WebLinkAboutLibrary Board Minutes 01.09.20241 MINUTES CITY OF LAUREL Library Board 01/09/2024 06:02 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 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. The minutes for December 2023 were presented for approval. Arthur motioned the minutes be approved as presented, Lela seconded the motion. Motion passed. b. Correspondence – the following were received this month: a $25 donation from Ray Wells, $250 donation to the foundation from Virginia Gomer, $20 from Lora Caton for the shelves and $40 from one of the groups that meets in the library every month. c. Circulation Report – (compared to the same time period as last year) Traffic: down 0.1%; circulation: all items circulated totaled 3,873 (including 795 eBooks), book circulation was down 0.1%, media circulation was even, eBook checkouts for this month was 22.4% of total book circulation, we circulated 765 items to partners and 178 items from other libraries; computers: internet use was down 6.1%, children’s use was up 12.5%, wi-fi use down 54.22%; patron cards: city patrons make up 62.8% of registered users, county is 28.2% and state/out of county has 8.98% of our registered patrons. There were 57 tech assists in December. 3. New Business a. Four library staff have an overage of allowable vacation time on the books. In the next couple of months, you may see a skeleton staff at the library while those with too many hours takes time off. We have until the end of March to use as much time as possible. b. Nancy attended an online meeting of the federation coordinator’s a few days ago. The main topic of discussion was the extra funding the Commission is sending to each federation. It is going to be used for trustee training in Billings in May while the remainder is split among the eligible federation libraries – about $300 each. Library trustees suggested brining someone in to do training on campaigning for a mill levy. 4. Old Business 2 a. The council will be approving the annual schedule of fees and charges at its meeting tonight. The main changes for the library were the standardizing of the amounts charged for copies/prints. If anyone feels that we need to make changes to our fees and/or fines charged at the library, they are welcome to bring this to the board anytime in the next year. b. The musical story time that was presented by the Billings Symphony was very well attended. We had 20 children accompanied by 15 adults attend to presentation. There were 6 performers that played four string instruments, a narrator and the leader. We are very willing to sponsor more of these story times in the future. c. The fundraiser was held on Saturday, December 30, 2023 at the Palace Lanes. Mike and Eli attended the fundraiser with their families to represent the library. The total number of attendees wasn’t shared with the library but $2, 716 was raised for the library to be used for new shelving. This amount will pay for ½ of a full shelving unit. A great shoutout to the Laurel Small Business Alliance for raising funds to help the library replace its old shelving! d. Our latest set of book shelves have been set up and put into their permanent place in the library. Mike and Eli have done most of the work in replacing the shelves. They’ve spent a great deal of time moving out unstable shelves and replacing them with thos e that can still be used for a couple more years. 5. Other Items a. Upcoming Items: 1. It is time to start thinking about the mill levy campaign. Nancy will send out an email to the City Mayor and City Attorney to schedule a mill levy meeting. 2. The final approval of the library license plates failed for the library. The MHP felt that the letters/number didn’t have enough contrast with the background. The letters will be changed to white to see if there will be enough contrast. 6. Announcements a. The next regular meeting is February 13, 2024 at 6:00 pm in the library community room. A Zoom link will be added to the next agenda. Meeting adjourned at 6:52 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.