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HomeMy WebLinkAboutMinutes - Library Board of Trustees - 07/14/2022 - Library Board of Trustees Approved Minutes South Burlington Library Board of Trustees Thursday, July 14, 2022 @ 6 p.m. Location: Board room – South Burlington Public Library and Virtual online Members Present: Kevin Morgenstein Fuerst, Anne Gilson LaLonde, Patrick Leduc, Ted Lenski, Holly Painter, Stacey Pape, Rebecca Stazi, Donna Swartwout, Penelope Tompkins, Margery Vagt Members Absent: Lee Freeman, Lauren Ballard Hatch Staff Members Present: Jennifer Murray Friends of the Library Present: Guests: Jay Pasackow Call to Order Chair Called the Meeting to Order at 6:01pm. Additions and deletions to the posted agenda None Comments and questions from the public not related to items on the agenda None Approval of regular board minutes of June 9, 2022 Upon a motion made by Trustee Margery Vagt and seconded by Trustee Rebecca Stazi, the Trustees voted to accept the minutes of the June 9, 2022 Board of Trustees Meeting. There was one abstention. Chair’s Report The Chair welcomed the new trustees and introductions were made with all trustees. New Trustee Orientation is scheduled for 5:30 pm on August 9. The chair acknowledged outgoing Trustee Jay Pasackow’s ten years of service to the South Burlington Public Library. Jay has been instrumental in serving as the President of the Library Foundation and helped see the library relocations from the high school, to the mall, and now to its new beautiful location. Jennifer Murray, Director presented Jay with an inscribed book that will remain in circulation and expressed her deep appreciation for Jay’s service. Margaret Ann Cross another outgoing Trustee also had a book dedicated to her years of service. The Trustees applauded. Board Officers Proposed Slate of Officers Chair - Stacey Pape Vice Chair – Ted Lenski Secretary – Donna Swartwout Treasurer – Ted Lenski The Chair called for nominations from the floor three times. Seeing no new nominations, the Chair called the vote and the Trustees voted to unanimously accept the proposed slate of officers. At this point, Stacey Pape, the new Chair of the South Burlington Public Board of Trustees took over the meeting. Committee Membership After a review of the current committee membership, Trustee Patrick Leduc motioned that committee membership remain as is until August to provide new Trustees time to review the purpose of each committee. Trustee Ted Lenski seconded the motion. The Trustees voted to unanimously accept the current committee membership. SBPL New proposed hours Jennifer Murray presented a new schedule of hours for the library. This is a 13% increase in hours over current the schedule. The start of the new hours is contingent on hiring staff. The Trustees discussed the desire to have the library open on Sundays and this will be a goal in the new budget. Upon a motion made by Trustee Penne Tompkins, and seconded by Trustee Holly Painter, the Trustees voted unanimously to accept the new proposed South Burlington Public Library Hours. Strategic Planning update and discussion The Strategic Planning committee met on June 13 and the Trustees reviewed the draft of the 4 goals. The feedback was positive and the committee will move forward. New Trustees were encouraged to consider participation on this committee. Friends of the Library Report No Report Committee Reports Governance and Nomination Committee Report No scheduled meeting; no report Finance Committee Report The Chair reported that the committee is preparing for the next fiscal budget. Inflation costs will affect the desire to keep a flat budget for this upcoming fiscal year. Wage increases and staffing will be a focus. The City has been very generous to the library and our goals. There was a small salary study to review pay inequity at various levels and the director’s level. Library staff are not in a union. Jennifer reported that the staff received almost a 3% increase across all levels. The City continues to support the library staff. Advocacy Committee Report No scheduled meeting; no report Director’s Report (report submitted by Director Jennifer Murray) • Emily, our Teen Specialist, and Yitzi, our Adult Specialist have left the library for new locations. • Yitzi’s Poetry Club have asked to continue on their own until we have a staff person to assist. Great! We may also have a volunteer to run Open Mic night. • Managers and I have been interviewing candidates for the above jobs plus the 19-hour Circulation Assistant. We are happy to have three candidates that look good! Until then, staffing is thin as we also cover vacations. If you don’t find me in my office, check the service desks. • Mira is planning new locations where we can post our job notices and will do so for the Teen Specialist and 19-hour Adult Assistant. • New books will be coming in this week following an end of year hold. • Our A4TD trainee, Terry, left after 3 weeks. • Puzzle swap is done until September. We do not take donations of puzzles • More items have been added to the Library of Things which may be of interest including a tent, yoga mat, DVD player, an outdoor game Can Jam, and a bike pump. There is a detailed catalog of our Things on the web page. Please tell people about it, share your success with it on FPF etc. • Kids, teens and adults who love to read can join the summer program. Kids go to the Marabella KidSpace; adults and teens to the 2nd floor desk. The program ends at the end of July. • Thu. June 30 summer concert with Mikahely, a singer-songwriter from Madagascar, was fun for 30 people. • We co-hosted Sr. Lucy Kurien, an activist in India who spoke on eradicating poverty and the use of sustainable, grassroots practices to 25 people. • Sun Common continues to work to reinforce the solar panels. Hoping they will be done next week. The Terrace will remain closed until they are finished. • Excellent work from staff and the Board on the strategic plan. • End of year grant paperwork for the 1st ARPA grant is completed. • FY22 budget finalization will be ready in September. • Over 200 kids registered for Summer Reading so far; adults and teens participate without a formal sign up. • 50+ people attended the summer kick off with stories by Pirate Pete and crafts; almost 600 people attended children’s programs in June; the most recent Toddler Time brought in 33 children and 30 adults!! • As you’ll see in the statistics, circulation was up by around 2000 items in June. • Departing staff are taking time to write down what they are doing, who their community contacts are, and which participants might be interested in being volunteer coordinators for various programs. They are also writing down procedures for distinct parts of their jobs. Compiling procedures will be a vital part of our orientation and onboarding document creation. • Interesting conversation continues about diversity, equity and inclusion, recently about looking at kids’ picture books about Thanksgiving differently. Plus, changing language to be more respectful and welcoming towards non-binary people. • Library programming will be light in August and September, with a lot of planning for the rest of the year going on and outreach with individuals and organizations regarding those programs. If you know someone that would like to present a program at the library, either a one-time event or a moderate a series, let me know so that we can plan accordingly. • Rec got a grant from Rotary to put 4 Little Free Libraries in parks. I hooked them up with the Friends of the Library who will stop by periodically to drop off books. They already do this at the mall LFL and the LFL we started off Shelburne Rd. • You are all invited to visit the library during our Birthday Party 7/23, 10-2. No speeches, just cupcakes, giveaways and music. It is our anniversary of being open here one year AND this is the 50th year of the library’s existence in SB. • Storytimes and the summer reading program are over at the end of July. • Please fill out a raffle ticket for attending this meeting and put it in for this week’s prize or a surprise grand prize. • The Loft’s new mural has been completed by a community artist when the student couldn’t complete it. • We are now circulating Chromebooks in the building thanks to the first VT ARPA library grant. • The Studio is now open for reservation for 4 hr. sessions to record audio and/or video. • The display outside the Board Room is to celebrate 100 years of women’s voting. It’s on loan from the Maritime Museum. A reminder that our walls and display cases are meant for community artwork and collections – send people to the web site under services to request space. • First building wide staff fire alarm was successful with everyone getting out in 2 mins and 44 seconds. • During Banned Book Week, the SBPL will host a Drag Queen Story Telling Time. This will also be in addition to Jason Chin’s workshop, a collaboration with the Green Mountain Book Festival. During the meeting, the Board reviewed the library’s usage statistics and felt there were some very positive trends and some good numbers to share for budget presentation. The numbers indicate the library and all of its resources are being used by the community. Other Business The Chair will send out a doodle poll to determine what might be a day/time that best serves the Trustees. The August 11th meeting will remain at 6 pm. Meeting Adjournment Seeing no other Business, the Chair adjourned the meeting at 7:13 pm.