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HomeMy WebLinkAboutMinutes - Library Board of Trustees - 11/16/2023 - Board of Trustees Approved Minutes South Burlington Library Board of Trustees Thursday, November 16, 2023, 5:30 pm Location: SBPL - Board Room and Virtual by Zoom Members Present: Theresa Eiermann, Ted Lenski, Anne Gilson LaLonde, Kevin Morgenstein Fuerst, Stacey Pape, Holly Painter, Penne Tompkins, Margery Vagt, Rebecca Stazi Members Absent: Lauren Ballard Hatch, Donna Swartwout Staff Members & Guests Present: Jennifer Murray Friends of the Library Present: Sue Raatikainen The Chair called the meeting to order at 5:32 pm. Library exits were reviewed. Additions and deletions to the posted agenda The Chair’s report was added to the agenda. Comments and questions from the public not related to items on the agenda None Approval of regular board minutes of October 19, 2023 – ACTION Upon a motion made by Trustee Ted Lenski and seconded by Trustee Kevin Morgenstein Fuerst, the Trustees voted unanimously to accept the minutes of the October 19, 2023 Board of Trustees Meeting. Chair’s report ● Stacey thanked everyone for their hard work on the Foundation and the new plan. It’s a dedicated group. ● Reminder to committee chairs – Send draft minutes and accepted minutes to Jennifer and Mae and cc Stacey. ● We are going to have a quick December meeting on December 14 and then some holiday cheer afterwards. Director’s report (direct from Jennifer) Engaged Community Leader ● Illuminate VT is being planned for 2024, perhaps for the weekend in April of the eclipse. I will work with Ilona on that. All see themselves reflected ● Indigenous American fiction on display this month. ● Recent book discussion of She's Not There: a life in two genders. After the evening book group did this Mira had a conversation with a participant who had recently been in a group with a transgender person and she attributed her ability to talk to them comfortably to discussing this book. ● Recent book group in coordination with Williston library reading Stranger Care: A Memoir of Loving What Isn't Ours about being a foster parent. ● Successful CCS Bridging tours and an interview with Jennifer as part of their learning program. ● Mira and Amanda have developed a series of programs around the new VT Reads book, Last Night at the Telegraph Club. Introduction to Chinese Characters for teens is this month. Mira’s contact at the Chinese School of VT mentioned that in telling people about the books and the program she got a lot of resistance due to the lesbian theme. Mira will be going to an open house at the school. Meanwhile, Amanda has visited the HS a couple of times to give away books and invite teens to the programs and gave away over 20 books and had conversations with quite a few other teens who had read and enjoyed the book. ● Cookbook Club shared from Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone. Curated digital tools ● Tina simplifying the room reservation form and added calendars to web so that people could see if a room is already in use before reserving. ● Tina has updated drop down lists on the web site to combine and relocate items for ease of search. She continues to check web analytics and suggest other changes. Eliminate barriers ● The Library’s social work intern, Evelyn Monje, has an outreach table in the lobby most Tuesday-Thursdays in the morning. She greets and directs people and gets 2-4 people per day who are asking social work related questions about housing, childcare and other services. She has spoken with over 100 people. ● Champlain Services requested a weekly slot in the Digital Lab to hold a class that they are no longer able to offer at their site. In exchange for “hosting” them, the group will consider programs that we could jointly offer to intellectually disabled adults and their families. A similar ask is in the works from the Pride Center. Highlights from Children’s ● Middle School Cooking is catching on! A steady group of about 7 to 9 5th and 6th graders have attended two times a month since September. They’ve made (and eaten) pizza, jalapeño poppers, and breakfast strata in our activity room kitchen. ● Due to the wild popularity of toddler storytimes (upwards of 60 patrons), we’ve switched to a back-to-back format on Tuesday mornings: one at 9:15 and one at 10:30. Alexa is delightful and her singing enchants the wiggly groups. ● With my return from medical leave, we are wrapping up Summer Reading 23 and preparing to dive into Summer reading 24. Over 350 children registered for the reading program, and program attendance for our repeat and unique programs—including Lyric Theatre’s Elephant and Piggie, our Stuffie Sleepover, Craftytown and Family Storytime (among others) —clocks in at 899 children. ● I extend grateful thanks to all library staff for their support and flexibility during my extended leave, but most especially to Natacha and Alexa, our children’s staff. As a new hire, Alexa jumped in enthusiastically, and Natacha kept many balls up in the air while assisting Alexa with getting to know the library and department. Three Cheers! Highlights from Circulation and Cataloging ● Looking forward to beginning meetings with our subs as a group on a regular basis to check in about all things new at Circ and for them to meet other subs they may not have met in their travels. ● Trying to keep our heads above water when staff numbers are down due to absence, health … to continue great service for the community. ● Julie is working with Kelly to move books from Celebrations to World Cultures in the hope that people find the items. Highlights from Adult and Teen Services ● The Teen Specialist, Amanda, is hosting an Introduction to Chinese Characters with the Vermont Chinese School, visits the HS once a month and started one-day Dungeons & Dragons games one Saturday per month. ● Planning to write a book? Join the NaNoWriMo wave and write it in the month of November. Look for Write-Ins at the library for those who like company. ● Staff is working with the Land Trust to present a program 11/8 about where the wild things are along South Burlington's muddy brook corridor. ● Evelyn joined Mira at the Senior Center one day and hopes to go back to offer referrals as needed. Stop by and get a sticker! From Jennifer ● Jennifer has started a 4-week class, Equity Centered Library Leadership. Some excellent information about pivoting around small changes and setting goals that all staff can be a part of. ● I meet weekly with Evelyn whose focus is on the lobby meet and greet. But she will also be finding an infographic on pronouns to distribute to staff, and work on a resource list for the public bathrooms for me to pitch to City Hall. ● Performance reviews are still trickling in. ● We’ve been fortunate to have former employee, Yitzi Gittelsohn, subbing this summer. He moves on to grad school next week. ● Logan and I met with Andy, the City Communications coordinator to talk about our Mailchimp campaign. Together they figured out that our free account now sends a lot of messages to Junk. We agreed to pay for one month and review outcomes before looking at other newsletter options. ● We have had ongoing trouble with the Logitech public computers. I found some old contact information for them and Nick, the new IT Director, has reached out to them. In the meantime, we have raised one off the table to see if our log shows less of a problem if it has air underneath. ● The Library participated in a limited way at the Climate Change Fair. But an outcome is that the committee is working with Mira on a series of climate related fiction book discussions. ● Initial meeting with Dept. Heads about the draft budget was held; I was asked to reduce my staffing asks. The next meeting includes Council. I was also asked about the decision to reduce revenue on copies and prints as decided at the last Board meeting. ● I’m working with Leadership to streamline an invoice process to lighten the paperwork load. ● New staff, and those who wanted a review, participated in another Ryan Down training about de-escalation. Friends of the Library report Bookshop ● $415.99 October sales ● Booksale $2167.98 including raffle Brunch ● The Friends hosted a brunch on Nov. 2 for members of the Friends and Library staff. It was attended by 30 people (9 staff) and enjoyed by all! Friends Concert Series - 12-1 in the Auditorium ● VSO Ensemble,cello and flute, Jan 27 ● Va-et-Vientiane, Franco-American Roots, Feb. 24 ● Evans/Asbell Jazz Duo, Mar. 23 ● Caribbean Rain, Jamaica folk tunes, April 20 Reminder: Renew your Friends membership. Committee reports Finance Committee - Nothing new since last month, we are waiting for comments back on the budget from the city. City asked about printing, copying costs. Not a debate, they were just gathering information. Governance and Nomination Committee - The committee discussed the room rental policy at its last meeting with the goal of making a clear policy and reducing the number of reimbursements for cancellation. This came up in anticipation of winter weather - someone who reserved the auditorium asked if they would get reimbursed if they had to cancel their event due to weather. This will be warned at the next meeting. The committee also discussed whether there should be a limit on items that can be taken out from the Library of Things and decided not to set a limit. Margery and Jennifer will meet to determine the agendas for the next few months. Communications Committee - The committee is engaged in planning outreach for 2024, with a calendar of events such as Library Card Sign Up Month in September. Stacey connected with the Government Relations group at the Medical Center and got contact information for someone at the new apartment building down the street from the library. We should invite the group here to see the library and learn what is available. Foundation - The Foundation Board held its first meeting in its new configuration and had a good conversation about next steps. All eleven of the members will work together over the next few months with no separate committees yet except for possibly finance and grants. We’re working on a strategic plan and trying to figure out how to know what the library needs. The Board will meet monthly on the first Wednesday of the month. Trustees are always welcome, and the Board will report regularly at the Trustee meetings. The Board will plan to have their draft minutes in the Trustee packet. The prior Foundation Board (aka the Trustees) will have to meet to sign off on the October 19 Foundation minutes. The Foundation raised $13,000 so far (2 large grants, 2 large gifts) so we are on track for our $20,000 goal this fiscal year. The Foundation is almost done with the annual appeal letter, it should be in mailboxes soon. The Board will personalize some of the letters for past donors. Stacey said that she really appreciates all of Penne’s hard work with the Foundation. Other Business Birthday list (need Donna, Lauren) ● January 26 - Holly ● April 28 - Ted ● July 21 - Kevin ● August 4 - Stacey ● August 21 - Anne ● September 9 - Rebecca ● September 14 - Margery ● September 22 - Theresa ● November 16 - Jennifer ● December 27 - Penne Adjourn Seeing no other business, the Chair adjourned the meeting at 6:10 pm.