HomeMy WebLinkAboutLibrary Board Minutes 03.12.20241
MINUTES
CITY OF LAUREL
03/12/2024 06:02 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 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 February 2024 were presented for approval. Arthur motioned the minutes be
approved as presented, Mary seconded the motion. Motion passed.
b. Correspondence – the following were received this month: a $25 donation from Ray Wells, the
VA Center sent a letter thanking us for donating paperbacks to their waiting room. The patients
and those waiting for appointments really enjoy having something to read while they are at the
clinic.
c. Circulation Report – (compared to the same time period as last year) Traffic: up 20.3%; circulation:
all items circulated totaled 4,645 (including 634 eBooks), book circulation was down 10.7%,
media circulation was up 65.8%, eBook checkouts for this month was 15% of total book
circulation, we circulated 1120 items to partners and 277 items from other libraries; computers:
internet use was up 24%, children’s use was up 62.5%, wi-fi use down 53.3%; patron cards: city
patrons make up 60.75% of registered users, county is 26.7% and state/out of county has 8.9%
of our registered patrons. There were 29 tech assists in February.
3. New Business
a. The annual Montana Library Conference is being held in Butte this year. It is scheduled for April
17th to 20th. If anyone is interested in attending, Nancy needs to have your information by the
end of March. Arthur stated that he is interested if he can get the time off from work. Further
information can be found at www.mtlib.org.
4. Old Business
a. The board members spent quite a bit of time discussing the pros and cons of putting a library
mill levy to a vote by the residents. They discussed the fact that they could put 45 mills on the
ballot but we can opt to ask the county to assess only a large portion of the mill request the
first year. The mills can then be increased incrementally until the full value of the levy is
reached. Some of the needs of the library discussed were opening another day per week,
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increasing one part-time employee to full-time, increase the book budget by at least 25%,
increase budget for training needs, updating public access computers, plan for more children’s
programming including more user-friendly educational software on our computers. They also
talked about creating a memorandum of understanding with the City stating that we would not
request any general fund mills for running and maintenance of the library. We would, however,
be willing to accept any funds the city would like to supply towards the needs of the library.
Arthur motioned that we move forward with a mill levy resolution in the amount of 45 mills.
Katie seconded the motion. Motion passed.
b. The spring federation meeting is being held Saturday, April 6 th in Billings. The meeting is
scheduled 9:30 – 3:00. We are having some difficulty finding someone to offer training to the
directors and trustees. The meeting may be a day-long business meeting. Anyone that wants to
attend the federation meeting is welcome to attend. There will also be a trustee training on
local government on Tuesday, May 14th at the Billings Public Library. This training is paid for by
the federation.
5. Other Items
a. Upcoming Items:
1. Lela will be ending her term this year on June 30, 2024. Lela stated that if she
continues for another term, she will be 86 so she would like to respectfully decline
the next term. She has offered her time and efforts to help us move forward with
the mill levy in a volunteer capacity. We will take recommendations for a new board
member.
6. Announcements
a. The next regular meeting is April 9, 2024 at 6:00 pm in the library community room. A Zoom
link will be added to the next agenda.
Kate adjourned the meeting at 7:20 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.
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