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Home My WebLink AboutDraft Minutes - Library Board of Trustees - 12/09/2021 Draft Minutes South Burlington Library Board of Trustees Thursday, December 9, 2021 @ 6 p.m. Location: South Burlington Public Library Members Present: Margaret Ann Cross, Lauren Ballard Hatch, Ted Lenski, Stacey Pape, Jay Pasackow, Donna Swartwout, Rebecca Stazi, Lee Freeman, Margery Vagt Members Absent: Patrick Leduc, Jennifer Murray (staff member) Staff Members Present: Friends of the Library Present: Sue Raatikainen Call to Order Vice Chair, Stacy Pape called the meeting to Order at 6:01 pm 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 August 12, 2021 Upon a motion made by Trustee Ted Lenski and seconded by Trustee Margery Vagt, the Trustees voted unanimously to accept the minutes of the October 7, 2021 Board of Trustees Meeting. Chair’s report The Chair has accepted the resignation of Alicia Lamonda – effective 11/1/21. COVID 19 update The City of South Burlington has decided that masks will be worn inside all city buildings. Library staff are please with this decision. Friends of the Library Report Sue Raatikainen Booksale Earnings • $2848 (raffle generated $285) Sep. 2021 • Oct. 2019 sale was $1545, Oct. 2018 was $1346. Bookshop • Sales are steady-$328 in Sep, $312 in Oct. • We just did a major overhaul of our fiction section- we removed all books that have not sold since the shop opened. They will go into our spring book sale. • Donations are coming in at a good pace. We are limiting it to 3 bags which has kept the volume under control. • We received a big donation of Civil and Revolutionary war books which are selling briskly. • We have encouraged Holiday sales on Facebook and Instagram. • Bookmarks designed by Frances Williams. Spring Book sale • March 31 5-7 pm (members only); April 1 2-5 pm; April 2 10-2 pm. Winter Concert Series • Sat., 12/11/21 @ 12:30 Connor Young Quartet, Jazz Standards. • Refreshments will be adjusted “to go”. Holiday Gift • 3 live plants, a cyclamen, a croton and a money tree. Community Involvement • Free Little Library @ U Mall • http://stepoutvt.org/ Step Out’s mission is to aid and empower women with significant barriers to employment to accomplish transformative self-change and to find meaningful work. The Friends are setting aside book donations that meet their criteria. There was brief discussion regarding the Little Free Libraries throughout the city and whether or not the Friends of the Library could provide any support. Sue agreed to look into the matter. Committee Reports Finance Committee The budget submitted to the City Council was approved. There is a 12% increase in the new budget which will support additional staff and an increase in hours of operation. There is a hope to have some hours on Sundays. New hours and staff will most likely take effective in summer. Governance and Nomination Committee Upon a motion made by Trustee Donna Swartwout and seconded by Trustee Ted Lenski, the Trustees voted unanimously to accept the proposed Policy on Auditorium Rental and Usage Policy. There was discussion by the Trustees on the Gallery and Exhibit Policy and it was agreed that the policy would be discussed again in January with the Director of Library present for further understanding and clarification. Advocacy Committee A public warning was not issued for the December meeting. Trustee Margaret Ann Cross will assist with scheduling future meetings. The Library’s website is being updated and it was noted that the page about Board of Trustees information is outdated. Director’s Report (Submitted in writing by Jennifer Murray) Budget: -Jennifer and Ted shared some information about our budget request at Council this week. Most lines in the proposed budget remain the same, with fees for janitorial going up and staffing up to allow for additional staff hours. Our hope is to open July 1 for additional hours; M-Th 9-9, F 9-5, Sa 10-2. -Quarterly budget information for the second quarter is not yet available. -Jennifer is working to spend the technology line in the budget now so that items arrive by June, and for the ARPA grant. Staffing: -We are fully staffed for the first time since we moved in! Mira Geffner moved from the San Francisco area to become our Adult Services Librarian. In the new year I plan to invite library leadership to catch you up on what they are doing. Marketing & Publicity: -Mira is collecting the marketing information from each person who publicizes their own programs so that we have a collective understanding of what is being done. Jennifer is reaching out to a marketing professional to review what we have and help us streamline and formalize a plan. -Thanks to Becky and Hall Communication for another PSA, to Charlotte for taking over MailChimp and Instagram, to all the programmers who create beautiful, informational flyers, and to Kathryn for keeping FB populated Collections, Programs and Services: -Book display units arrived so we have more formal displays upon entering (staff picks) and upstairs (new nonfiction.) -Staff proceed with selecting and purchasing. -Sue has borrowed large print materials from the state to freshen up our collection with positive public response. -We decided to continue purchasing audio books preprocessed, as they came for opening day, but a large order came in unprocessed. Trying to get the kinks out so that we are not buying supplies AND paying for processing. -Self-checkout machines are still not working. We did get a part replaced and thought we were all set, but there is a problem with communication between the circulation system and those machines. I have informed the head of service that we need it done soon or we need to return them and get our money back. -We continue to offer a wide variety of programs with various levels of attendance. For example, the poetry club averages 3 (enthusiastic) people, book groups 6-12, Great Decisions 8 hybrid, story time with Miss Emma 60. Tech assistance offers 8 slots and we have 5-8 people each time, in addition to assistance that we provide from the floor. Other successful programs have been: open mic, poetry, Mystery Night, Halloween open crafts, Essex tabletop gaming, Snakes, passive programs like jigsaw puzzles and origami. -Emily has reached out to schools, youth organizations and other librarians and is planning her first Teen Advisory Group meeting. They are looking for volunteer activities within the library. Administration: -City Council has approved a mask mandate for municipal buildings which started today. Staff are very supportive of this move. -Governance and I continue to update policies. -Leadership developed a list of onboarding/orientation topics for Mira. We have a library school student who will review the list, make suggestions, and format it into a checklist. Jennifer will take a rough draft to HR to make sure that nothing is overlooked. -Charlotte Carr has been recommended for permanent status as Digital Specialist. -The City has shared a new method of payment through credit card which we are now using. -Jennifer participated in the City’s strategies and initiatives process for the rest of this fiscal year. Staff goals for 6 months will focus on planning for a Fall street festival/book fair and reaching out to groups in the community who may not be using the library yet. -Finally getting end panel signs up so that people can find materials on the shelves. Staff are working with Penne to complete the draft versions of the donor plates so that we can get those up. -Staff will be sitting on new City committee toward equity and inclusion. -Following up on the Dr. Seuss discussion, we evaluated the picture book collection again and the diversity rating is up from 3% to 10 %. We also have the pulled Seuss books available to the public within a family antiracism box that includes a guide for parents, various web sites and a big pile of award- winning picture books depicting BIPOC children and families. -Received $90 from Hannaford’s bag sales. Upcoming: -Strategic planning -Spending out budget and grant funding -Marketing plan -Meetings with Recreation about summer and senior collaborations -Possibility of ARPA funded book/Rec van for deliveries FYI, stats to compare. Pre COVID Oct and current Sept. OCT FY19 Total Circ 10,469 Visits 9,486 Programs 30 Attendance 411 SEPT FY21 Total Circ 12,329 Visits 4000 in two weeks (Oct) Programs 49 Attendance 649 Other Business Given the recent mask mandate by the city, it was suggested that City Hall and the Library offer child sized masks in addition to the adult masks that are already being provided. Meeting Adjournment Seeing no other Business, the Vice Chair adjourned the meeting at 6:29 pm Future Items Strategic Planning