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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2022-02-14 Library Board of Trustees Minutes Approved ANACORTErr PU BL IC LIBRARY Board of Trustees' Meeting Minutes February 14,2022 9:00 am Board of Trustees Attendees:Nancy Fisher-Allison,Alethea Fleming, Christina Hansen,Courtney Orrock,John Shafer Library Attendees:Diana Farnsworth,Michelle Hanna,Jeff Vogel, Leslie Wilson Absent: Sydney Brady Call to Order The meeting was called to order at 9:01 a.m.by John. Approval of Minutes Minutes from January 2022 meeting were approved with one minor word change. Motion for approval by Courtney, second by Christina. Manager Updates Jeff • We have not seen any updated masking mandates from the City yet in response to Governor Inslee's announcement that mask requirements will end March 22na • The financial auditors would like to see procedural changes in the way the City handles donations from outside organizations(Friends of the Library, Library Foundation). Jeff will be meeting with Steve Hoglund and the FOL/Foundation treasurers to discuss what processes need to change. One recommendation is for each organization to have their own credit card for purchases made for the Library, rather than the Librarians using their City card for purchases and getting them reimbursed from the Friends/Foundation. Leslie • February is off to a roaring start with our Blind Date with a Book program for teens and adults and Surprise Book program for children. 130 books were gift-wrapped so far and people are loving it. One young family reported that they found a Surprise Book that their reluctant reader engaged with and loved,which led to that dormant reader becoming an active and engaged reader and the Mom is going to continue the Surprise Book program at home. • The Take and Make crafts have been a huge success for all ages. Every month we give them all out by the middle of the month and still have folks asking for more. We will probably begin tapering those off as we add and increase live programming again. • We have received a quote from WorkPointe for the Children's area remodel. We have a few more changes to make to the plan and then hope to begin moving forward soon. • We plan to resume limited in-person story-times in March. Diana • The Humanities of WA program is this week and we are excited about it. • The ASD Student cards for elementary students will be distributed during parent-teacher conferences. • Teen Manga section has moved to the shelves in front of the study rooms. • We have new Teen and Manga spine labels that are being applied to new books. We will change out the labels on older books in the coming months. Committee Reports • Foundation o The Foundation has a new Board member, Kay O'Connell. Kay is a retired librarian and has been active with the Friends of the Library for several years. • Friends of the Library o The FriendShop sale on February 4 and 5 was a success,with several hundred dollars being raised during the sale and 2 unsolicited donations received from private donors. • Manieri o Second Sunday at Buxton's in Anacortes is going well.It was very well attended,and the group is looking forward to another performance March 13. Unfinished Business: • Courtney: Data collection report o Some initial data has been collected and put into a spreadsheet and a visual graph. It shows that collection use has gone up steadily since the Library re-opened and our last quarter of the year surpassed our previous 2019 stats. Michelle will continue to populate the data spreadsheet with new information so that Courtney can refine it into a visual story that Jeff and the managers can use as talking points as needed. • Christina:Archive project o Christina continues to sift through the Board archive documents and synthesize the relevant information into one cohesive and readable document for our information and retention. New Business • Social Worker: The discussion continued from last month regarding the role of a social worker in the Library to reach vulnerable populations. Jeff reminded us that the City does pay part of the salary for the social worker who is employed at the Family Center. APL Managers have contacted her and requested her assistance with reaching out to certain patrons who appear to need services. One reason the patrons might not seek out services at the Family Center is the requirement for accountability(employment, sobriety,etc.). This requirement also prevents the Family Center from receiving state funding, so they rely solely on private donations. Seeking more clarification,the Board will invite Dustin Johnson,Director of the Family Center,to attend one of our Board meetings when we resume in-person. Other options for a social worker include the Community Resource Officer on the Fire Department. o It was widely acknowledged that the Family Center cannot serve everyone for a variety of reasons, which leaves a lot of people unserved. We may benefit from researching more inclusive social services. It was also unclear what the actual volume of need is at the Library specifically, so we will focus on tracking the needs that we see presenting themselves at the Library,whether they come in looking for social services or are found outside the library,as with the people who we find camping at the front door. • Nancy Fisher-Allison:WA Library Legislative Week. Nancy met with Legislative Assistant Amanda Hubik who works for Representative Alex Ramel. Rep.Ramel co-sponsored HB1723,aimed at closing the digital equity divide by increasing the accessibility and affordability of telecommunications services,devices,and training. The meeting was closed by John at 10:06 a.m. The next meeting is March 14 via Zoom. At the March meeting we will discuss the timing of resuming in-person Board meetings.