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HomeMy WebLinkAboutLibrary Board Minutes 10.15.2024MINUTES CITY OF LAUREL 10/15/2024 06:06 PM Laurel Public Library X Katie Fjelstad X Arthur Vogele X Kate Manley — Board Chair X Paige Farmer X Nancy Schmidt, Secretary X Mary Nelson Clair Killebrew— Foundation Liaison mft,��MIq 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 September 2024 were presented for approval. A small correction was made to the monetary amount donated by Lela Schlitz. Arthur motioned the minutes be approved as corrected, Paige seconded the motion. Motion passed. b. Correspondence — $60 memorial in memory of Gail Kautz from Sharon Russell, $165 in memorial for Faye Ripley by various donors, and $850 from Faye Ripley estate sale. c. Circulation Report — (compared to the same time period as last year) Traffic: down 21.9%; circulation: all items circulated totaled 4,713 (including 597 eBooks), book circulation was up 5.1%, media circulation was down 20.23%, eBook checkouts for this month was 13.7% of total book circulation, we circulated 1,011 items to partners and 255 items from other libraries; computers: internet use was up 48.2%, children's use was down 61.1%, wi-fi use up 43.6%; patron cards: city patrons make up 61.1% of our registered users, county is 29% and state/out of county has 9% of our registered users.. There were 45 tech assists in September. 3. Old Business a. The fall Federation meeting was held at the Roundup Community Library on Saturday, September 28th. Kate, Arthur, and Paige (with her trustee -in -training, Ada) attended the meeting with Nancy. Kate was surprised that there are a number of items that were mentioned at the meeting but wasn't sure how this was relevant to her position. It was decided that Nancy would access the state library website to find training videos for trustees. It was also mentioned that we should review our policies regularly. We should also be updating our bylaws. b. The fall retreat held in October was attended by Date and Nancy. The topics for discussion were some of the hot topics in libraries today: race in libraries and books, banned books and setting policies to cover challenges, and social justice book clubs. We had some training on legislative actions that libraries may be facing in the next session. Two speakers from Humanities Montana gave a keynote presentation at dinner about Beowulf and English literature. There are a number of grants available to present programming from Humanities Montana to our libraries. Nancy attended the Federation Coordinator's and Commission meetings in Helena October 8th & 9th. The coordinator's discussed the different ways they are trying to serve their libraries. South Central is now doing regional meetings to try to get more trustee trainings completed. Some libraries are doing watch parties to make sure that trustees are getting trained. Kate suggested a link to a training video provided by the state library be sent out to trustees so they can watch them in their own time but still get credit for that time. It was also recommended that generic emails be set up for each board member and auto -forward to set up for whomever is in that current position. Nancy will get with Eli on this. Hot spots were on topic at one point. It may come in the future that we stop supplying the hot spots to our patrons. We, as a library, are experiencing library fatigue. The last topic of discussion at the Commission meeting (for coordinators) was the $4,000 that each federation receives for trustee training. This funding will continue until the legislature decides that it no longer applies. d. Nancy attended the MT Arbitrators Association & Labor Relations conference in Butte October 15t — Yd. She attended 12 sessions covering topics from labor disputes, collective bargaining, determining external factors that are affecting job performance, arbitration Dos and Don'ts, key prejudicial items for a case, employee burnout, contract law principles, past practices and how they effect currant cases, "Just Cause" (definition), how Montana Human Rights Bureau can help protect from discrimination, and marijuana use & permissive testing. e. The update on the soffit & fascia is that the representative from Donahue Roofing had not signed the contract as of this date. Nancy stated that she will give it a couple of weeks and follow through on the progress of the contract. f. The large pine tree hasn't been trimmed yet. A phone call to Matt in the near future concerning the limbs resting on the roof and getting it trimmed. Report to follow next month. 4. New Business a. The book sale is scheduled for Monday, October 28th through Saturday, November 9th, 2024. Sign up sheets are ready if anyone wants to volunteer to work the sale. Election Day the library will be closed but the back room will be open for the book sale. Paige suggested that we try a doing a "mystery bundle" if time would allow. She also asked if it would be possible to sell through www.thriftbooks.com or some other online sellers. The goal isto get more books out the door without putting more pressure on library staff. b. The open positionatthe library has been excused from internal posting bythe union members. Itwill beposted via the library vvebpageand Facebookpages. Nancy will also ask the City of Laurel to post the opening on their FB page and website. It is a 12-18 hour per week position that starts about $I3.5Duntil the probationary period ends. 5. Other Items a. Upcoming Items: What policy dovvewant tVlook at? The biggest item bthe collection management policy. This has our book challenge statement included. Nancy will send this out for review. b. The board gave permission for the library tobeclosed for the 4-dayThanksgiving weekend. It will be a good time for staff to take some vacation days. 6. Announcements a. The next regular meeting is November 12th, 2024 at 6:00 pm in the library community room. A Zoom link will be added to the next agenda. Meeting adjourned at 7:25 pm. Respectfully submitted, Nancy L Schmidt Library Director Secretary for the Board NOTE: This meeting isopen tothe public. This meeting isfor information and discussion mflisted agenda items.