HomeMy WebLinkAboutMinutes - Library Board of Trustees - 03/09/2023 - Board of TrusteesApproved Minutes
South Burlington Library Board of Trustees
Thursday,March 9,2023
5:30 pm
Location:Boardroom –South Burlington Public Library
and Virtual online
Members Present:Lauren Ballard Hatch,Kevin Morgenstein Fuerst,Patrick Leduc,Ted
Lenski,Anne Gilson LaLonde,Stacey Pape,Donna Swartwout,
Penelope Tompkins
Members Absent:Holly Painter,Rebecca Stazi,Margery Vagt
Staff Members Present:Jennifer Murray
Friends of the Library
Present:
Sue Raatikainen
Call to Order
Chair Called the Meeting to Order at 5:37 pm
Review of Library Exits
The Chair reviewed how trustees should exit the meeting when the library is closed.
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 February 9,2023
Upon a motion made by Trustee Patrick Leduc and seconded by Trustee Penne Tompkins,the Trustees
voted unanimously to accept the minutes of the February 9,2023 Board of Trustees Meeting.
Chair’s Report
The Chair presented and the Board of Trustees reviewed Committee Statements of Purpose
Upon a motion made by Trustee Ted Lenski and seconded by Trustee Penne Tompkins,the Trustees
voted unanimously to accept the Finance Committee Statement of Purpose.
Upon a motion made by Trustee Stacey Pape and seconded by Trustee Anne Gilson LaLonde,the
Trustees voted unanimously to accept the Governance and Nomination Committee Statement of Purpose
with minor revisions.
The Advocacy Committee Statement of Purpose was tabled for a future meeting.
The Chair reviewed the short committee descriptions for the website and suggestions were made for
revisions.The chair will make those revisions and the website will be updated to reflect the current
descriptions.
Friends of the Library Report
Bookshop
●February Sales-$276.16
●Donations-Open again for all categories and copyright year.
Winter Concert Series
●Second Concert,Troy Millette and the Fire Below,Feb.25th (70 attendees).
●Third Concert,Jenny and the Jazz Junketeers,Mar.25 at noon.
Spring Book Sale
●April 14-15,Preview Night April 13,5-7.
●We are organizing lots of good books for our upcoming sale!
Committee Reports:
Finance Committee Report
The Finance Committee met on February 23,2023.The library’s budget was reviewed and there are not
current concerns for FY 23.Additional hours for the library are good and well received by the public.The
City Council approved the library budget with a change to a request from a part time position not moving
to a full-time position.The committee discussed the gift account to be used by the Library Director with a
cap of $1,000.The chair presented and the board discussed the idea of holiday benefits for the part time
library staff which would help with equity and hiring of staff.The Director will see if there is interest from
the city.
Governance and Nomination Committee Report
No scheduled meeting
Advocacy Committee Report
The committee reported that the tag line “Read Local”was the choice for future social media campaigns
and the window panes on the library.There was discussion on other options and interest in understanding
the need.Jennifer Murray suggested the tag line which was liked by library staff,“See YOU at the library.”
Creating rack cards with the library’s strategic plan on them and possibly a separate card that spells out
how you can help the library could be created by the Foundation’s Working Group.
Report on Culture &Rec Comprehensive Plan meeting
Trustee Anne Gilson LaLonde attended this meeting on behalf of the board.She reported a lot of warm
fuzzies for the library.Public comments were positive about the ability to check out a blood pressure cuff,
all the resources,that the library space was quiet and inclusive.There was mention of a book mobile to
increase library outreach.
Director’s Report
Upcoming Calendar:
3/8 6:30 Author Monica Guzman I Never Thought Of It That Way
3/11 11:00 There and Back:The Veterans Journey panel
3/11 1:00 Vet Town Hall
3/15 2:30 Puzzle Swap
3/18 9:30 Board Game Brunch
3/25 12:00 Winter Concert:Jenni and the Jazz Junketeers
One busy day captured,Mon.3/6/23,9-4:15:
Visitors -400
Checkouts -532
Check-ins –649
New Library cards -10
Met with Holly in Recreation about the possibility of assisting with a summer camp the two weeks before
school starts when there is community need.Rec would run the camp and Children’s would have
activities as a “field trip”every day.TBD
For Fair Housing Month,Affordable Housing Committee will collaborate with library on a display and book
discussion.CVOEO will do a Tenant Skills presentation;CORA (homeless outreach) table.Children’s will
also have a program.
Amanda Brown,our Teen Specialist,will offer another Teen Craft Cafe on No-School Friday 3/24.She
hopes to do outreach at the high school earlier that week to introduce herself to teens and invite them.If
anyone has suggestions or help to offer,Amanda would love to talk about connecting with teens in South
Burlington.
Jennifer and Mira met with Charlotte McCorkel who works at Howard and teaches at UVM about
having a student in senior year as a social work intern in the Fall.They will not be doing counseling but
will share information with the public and the staff.
Vet’s event is this Saturday.Hoping to establish March as the month when we do something similar on a
regular basis.
Charlotte Carr,Digital Specialist,is now gone,as is a substitute,Jeanne Zimmerman.I hope jobs will be
posted soon.Our remaining subs,plus some part time staff,will be covering basic desk time for the
Digital position.
April 20th we will have a ceremony to unveil the Caldecott Collection named in honor of Marje vonOhlson.
This will be a noncirculating collection for in-house use,giving people a chance to look back over decades
to compare older winners to those selected recently.We will include a page so that there is a QR code
where people can learn more about the award.
School vacation week was very busy.
Adding the second Toddler Time has been a huge success.We are up to 33 people at the earlier one and
still 66 at the later one this week.
We had 14 people attend the Braver Angels workshop and are planning the second in their series for May
13.
Come in and play some tunes on the electric piano up in the Loft.Ask for headphones if you want to.
Music history series focusing on music from Germany in WWII has a solid following.Most recently the
topic was Music in Terezin.
Kelly contracted with programmers to offer Cool Chemistry for Middle School Kids and Family Math for
preschoolers.We are looking into a Chemistry program for elementary crowd.
We will be cancelling our Tech Help in French,Swahili and Lingala due to lack of interest.
Jennifer worked with a Chinese couple with no and little English using Google Translate.We’ve been
talking about a more formal service,but if all parties can read,this did the trick.
Basic tax forms are here and staff upstairs will help print additional forms.
Managers have completed several 6-month probationary reviews.
Julie has added the subject heading of Indigenous Americans to many of the Children’s books and will
continue through the collection.She attended several cataloging workshops put on by the Dept of
Libraries.
The Baby Brunch and Book Dedication on January 28 drew a crowd of over 60 parents and
children. Baby books were dedicated to babies born from January 2020 through December 2022. Adults
and babies enjoyed fruit,quiches,quesadillas and birthday cake,and were grateful for the opportunity to
gather and meet.
Super display of buttons on the 2nd floor and of crocheted items in CH.
Women’s History information on Gallery walls,plus a Women’s History scavenger hunt on 2nd floor.
Grants team raised money for a library staff/afterschool staff/in-home daycare workshop pairing
activities with literacy.Registration is full.They also have raised $1K for summer reading.
Library has opened late or been closed due to inclement weather.
Vermont Library Association meeting is coming up in May.
Jennifer resubmitted an application for Eileen Forrester to be recognized by the Vermont Library
Association as an outstanding volunteer for her work on both moves and tasks before and after the move.
Jennifer shared the book that was purchased on behalf of Trustee Lee Freeman,The People’s Tongue.
Jennifer shared the idea that a social be hosted in the library the night before VT Library Association
Conference and the board supported that idea.
There were 55 people in attendance for a very last-minute speaker and author,Monica Guzman,I Never
Thought Of It That Way and the organizer from Braver Angels,Chittenden County.
Staff have attended preventing conflict training and Jennifer has been doing a lot of programming which
includes the Veterans Program on Saturday March 11th.
Other Business
None
Meeting Adjournment
Seeing no other business,the Chair adjourned the meeting at 6:41 PM.