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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2024-10-14 Library Board of Trustees Minutes Approved Board of Trustees’ Meeting Minutes October 14, 2024 9:00 am Board of Trustees Attendees: Courtney Orrock, Briana Alzola Lindquist, Alethea Fleming, Jhana Shimizu Absent: John Shafer Library Attendees: Michelle Hanna, Stacy Paull, Trish Wilson, Diana Farnsworth, Jeff Vogel Absent: Sydney Brady Call to Order The meeting was called to order at 9:02 a.m. by Courtney. Approval of Minutes Minutes from September 2024 meeting were approved. Motion for approval by Briana second by Jhana. Manager Updates Jeff • The Teen area bids have been opened and the lowest bidder identified. The company is Regency and are based out of Bellevue, WA but their children are enrolled in the Anacortes School District. Jeff is calling references and so far is receiving good feedback. Next steps: present the bid to Council for review and approval; hold a meeting between the Library (Jeff), the architect, COA facilities (Brandon), and Regency to discuss the project needs and timeline. Once the details are settled the project will likely progress quickly. • Before the Teen project starts we will be shifting Non-Fiction and moving the teen books. Syd and Sydney will begin shifting NF this week. • The Mayor will be presenting his first Budget address this coming Monday. We are presenting an overall flat budget again. The Library will have a modest increase in ebook costs (Libby, Overdrive) as we do every year, based on the Skagit Libraries Consortium purchasing package. • The Friends of the Library approved their budget at the last meeting. They will be supporting the APL with $34,000 in 2025 which supports our collection, programs, and other special events. • The Manieri budget committee will present the budget for approval to the Manieri Committee at their next meeting. • The Foundation will be approving their budget at their next meeting. • The Mayoral budget address will be October 21st at the City Council meeting. • Jeff will be attending an Overdrive/Libby meeting with the rest of the Skagit Consortium group to discuss the pricing tiers for the ebook services. • Jonn Lunsford from Parks is working with the Library and others in the City to get the trespass ordinance changed. The current ordinance (first trespass 7 days, second trespass 30 days, third trespass one year) was created by City Council 2ish years ago to prevent potential abuse of trespass orders but APL and Parks would like to have it returned to its original state (one year trespass) because our staff works hard with our patrons to modify their behavior before it becomes a trespass issue, and use it only as a last resort or when there has been aggression or violence. • The Maritime shelving is on hold until the Facilities team has time in their busy schedules. Jeff will speak with Brandon next week to set up a new installation timeline. Diana • Tomorrow is another D&D game night. There will be one more in November. The High School is starting a D&D Club that will complement the APL group. • Teen Writing Group was visited by representatives of the Skagit River Poetry Foundation for a writing workshop with the teens. • The Haunted Walk is Saturday, October 26th. The theme is “Haunted Ocean”. Unfortunately the evening conflicts with the AHS Homecoming events so attendance may be affected. • There are separate indoor and outdoor Halloween events this year. Stacy • The Children’s department has been working hard on accessibility books. They are now all in one corner of the Children’s Library. So far there has been a good response from the parents. • October 29th is a not-too-scary Halloween party. • We will have a storytime on October 31st. • Family Place programming is set. We will be having 5 total events. • We just completed a Spooky-themed escape room and will be planning another Room later in the season. • October is Dyslexia Awareness month. We are sending out press releases to share the information with our community. Trish • Trish is applying for a digital literacy grant to focus on one-on-one help. There are less funds available for this grant but we are hopeful that we meet the criteria as we are already offering many of these services. The grant is due October 18. • Trish has been attending monthly meetings with various Skagit library groups. This month’s meeting was focused on cataloguing. • We are planning for Skagit Libraries Day on November 22. It will be at either Mount Vernon’s new facility or the Burlington Library. • Programs are going well. In October we’re hosting 2 CERT programs for community emergency preparedness. • Board Game night is on October 30th • Games and Puzzles will now live on the wall displays near Children’s. • New A/V has been moved to an endcap in the section it belongs in. • Weeding has been very productive, with over 3,000 books in Adult non-fiction weeded out. • We’ll be making “gingerbread grandparents” cookies on December 11 in collaboration with the Arts Commission, the Senior Center, and the Parks Department. The event is a companion to “draw your grandma” and is being advertised as “take a bite out of Grandpa”. Partnership Updates • Foundation o The Foundation meeting has been moved to October 24. Jeff will be out of town attending a Consortium meeting regarding OverDrive/Libby so Diana will be attending to present Hoopla budget numbers. • Friends of the Library o The sale last Saturday was well attended. Final numbers are not available yet. o The Friends of the Library approved their budget at the last meeting. They will be supporting the APL with $34,000 in 2025 which supports our collection, programs, and other special events. o They have received approximately $3,000 from their appeal letter. o They are planning ahead for Giving Tuesday. o They are amending their By-Laws regarding grants. o They created a Conflict of Interest policy, which states that FOL Board members must not be members of another similar Board, such as the Foundation or the Trustees. o Mary Fisher will be taking over for Hal as Treasurer since Hal is retiring from his volunteer position next month. o There will be another book sale in December. o They are looking into a new Open Hours sign. Ongoing Business • The Teen area was discussed earlier in the meeting. It is moving forward and should start within 30 days of signing the approval. • The Consortium project is slowing down for APL since we will not be able to make the necessary changes to join until 2026. • The Library Sub-Committee met. The only councilmember who attended was TJ Fantini. He and Jeff had a good meeting. The meeting was closed by Courtney at 9:41 a.m. The next meeting is November 18th at 9 a.m. in the Community Meeting Room. (Rescheduled to the third Monday due to Veteran’s Day)