HomeMy WebLinkAboutLibrary Board Minutes 03.11.2025 MINUTES
CITY OF LAUREL
03/11/2025 06:08 PM
Laurel Public Library
COMMITTEE MEMBERS PRESENT:
X Katie Fjelstad Arthur Vogele
X Kate Manley—Board Chair X Paige Farmer
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 2025 were presented for approval. Katie motioned the minutes be
approved, Kate seconded the motion. Motion passed.
b. Correspondence— None.
c. Circulation Report—(compared to the same time period as last year) Traffic: down 11.5%;
circulation: all items circulated totaled 4,433 (including 589 eBooks), book circulation was
down 4.5%, media circulation was down 7.16%, eBook checkouts for this month was 14.8%of
total book circulation, we circulated 902 items to partners and 276 items from other libraries;
computers: internet use waw down 34.7%, children's use was up 7.7%, wi-fi use 11%; patron
cards: city patrons make up 62.1% of our registered users, county is 28.76% and state/out of
county has 8.89% of our registered users. There were 36 tech assists in February.
3. Old Business
a. The Collection Development Policy was completed with just one minor correction. We will add
some verbiage about including books for all demographics including LGBTQ+ patrons. We will
work on a new policy next month.
b. The future of a mill levy was discussed by board members. The consensus is that waiting was
the best for the library. They expressed concern over how the economy was going to affect
taxes overall. Board members were concerned with the number of residents that have lost their
jobs from the mine.
c. The board members were sent a fresh link the MSL Learn YouTube video Let's Talk About It!
Library Safety and Security. Kate asked if we had an Emergency Action Plan for the library.
Nancy will ask City personnel if there is any type of emergency action plan available to place in
the library and see if there is any training for the action plan. Lela Schlitz is working with Nancy
to prepare a Disaster Preparedness Plan for big disasters.
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4. New Business
a. Montana Library Association is early this year. It is March 26th—29th, 2025. Nancy will be
attending the conference but it is open to anyone that wants to attend the learning sessions.
Early registration has passed but you can still register for the conference.
b. We have rehired Stacie Stocks as our part-time library clerk. She scored highest on the
interview scoring between her and two other candidates. She stated that she is glad to be back
with the library.
c. The spring South Central Federation meeting is being held Saturday, April 12th, 2025 in Big
Timber. Anyone that wants to attend is welcome. Kris Goss will be giving training on open
meeting, public comment, and public record laws in the afternoon.
d. The Book Buzz is being planned to go forward as it has for the last few years. Nancy has applied
for a Town Pump grant to help with expenses. There is some question as to whether the school
librarians will be paid through the district. Once we have more information, we will pass it
along.
e. We're not sure what is going to happen with the Easter program this year. The Laurel Women
in Business group has disbanded so they won't be doing a program this year. If we are able to
get something together, we will do so the week before Easter. Kate and Paige offered some
suggestions for activities for that week.
5. Other Items
a. Upcoming Items: Book sale—April 215Y through May 3rd. Sign up will be available early next
month.
b. Board Concerns:The future of the foundation was discussed. It might be time to think about
what we want to do with our funds. New shelves were discussed as well as fundraising to add
on to the library to create meeting rooms and more space overall.
6. Announcements
a. The next regular meeting is April 8th, 2025 at 6:00 pm in the library community room. A Zoom
link will be added to the next agenda.
Meeting adjourned at 7:34 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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