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Home My WebLink About09-02-2020 Library Board Minutes COLUMBIA HEIGHTS PUBLIC LIBRARY 3939 Central Ave NE, Columbia Heights, MN 55421 BOARD OF TRUSTEES: MEETING MINUTES Wednesday, September 2nd, 2020 Approved 10/7/2020 The meeting was called to order in the Library Community Room by Chair, Catherine Vesley at 5:30pm. Members physically present: Catherine Vesley; Patricia Sowada; Teresa Eisenbise. Member remotely present: Tricia Conway and Christopher Polley. Also present: Renee Dougherty (Library Director), and Nick Olberding (Recording Secretary). Absent: Nick Novitsky, City Council Liaison. Due to the current Coronavirus COVID-19 public health emergency and remote meeting capabilities, Catherine Vesley started the meeting by reading aloud the “Notice of Conducting Meeting by a Combination of In -Person and Electronic Means”, pursuant to MN Statute §13D.021. The Minutes of the August 5th, 2020 Board Meeting were moved and approved unanimously via roll-call vote. The Bill Lists dated August 5th and August 19th , 2020 were reviewed; Both were moved, seconded, and approved unanimously via roll-call vote. Questions and discussions based on Bills and Accounting:  E-Books: Columbia Heights contracts with Anoka County Library to provide e-books, e-magazines, and e- audiobooks (CloudLibrary/RB Digital), and pays them for the percentage of use by Columbia Heights patrons (which is generally less than 5% of the county’s usage). Our budget for e-books this year was $8,000; the assessed cost has been estimated to be $7,267 for the period of July 2020 to June 2021.  Pet Language: This was an event we were going to offer, but was cancelled due to COVID -19.  Alarm/Sprinkler Inspection: Annual fire emergency systems test and inspection ($825).  Door Schedule: When we re-opened to the public the door locks needed to be reprogrammed to reflect our adjusted hours. LVC came in to make the changes ($265), and trained Eric Hanson (Facilities Maintenance Supervisor) on how to make adjustments in the future.  Chemicals (Line 2161) Overspent : The allocation for this budget line is $0, but Public Works purchased sealant ($459) for the parking lot permeable pavers. They are waiting for the right time to replace the broken pavers with new ones, and then all will be seal-coated. Replacement pavers were covered by the library construction budget. Old Business: 1. Introduction of New Library Supervisors: Two new Library Supervisors started on August 31st: Alex Adrian and Kaytee Estall stopped in the Board meeting to introduce themselves. The Board was happy to welcome them to their new positions, and is glad to have them onboard. a) Alex graduated from Carlton in 2010, and has been back in the Twin Cities for about a year; he will continue his subbing position at Dakota County Libraries. With Columbia Heights, he likes the idea of working for an independent library (as opposed to a county system), and is looking forward to more responsibility and advancing our collection development. b) Kaytee was a Page here at Columbia Heights up until receiving the job of Library Supervisor; she is also a sub at Dakota County Libraries (her and Alex’s paths may have crossed at one time or another). She is currently enrolled in a Library Sciences program, and anticipates on graduating in the spring; here at Columbia Heights she is looking for new experiences and more responsibilities. 2. Update on Progress of PC Management Implementation : Comprise (a N.J. company) was chosen by Anoka County to replace the curre nt PC Management software (Cybrarian), which has been in use since public computers were put in place in the early 2000’s. The Comprise solution will cover management of public workstations, printing (including wireless), printing/account payments (including via credit cards), and statistics. The County will be covering the upfront costs for the system with MELSA Funds, and then Columbia Heights would only be responsible for annual maintenance and licensing for our equipment going forward. The implementation will commence soon, and should take between 8 -12 weeks (Cybrarian will continue up until the new solution takes over). New Business: 1. Memorandum of Understanding for Access to Electronic Resources for Columbia Academy students: As a pilot project, CHPL will be extending digital library cards to all students of Columbia Academy for the 2020 -2021 school year. Bri Belanger had worked with ISD -13’s Director of Teaching and Learning, Tara Thukral, and identified Columbia Academy as the school that would benefit the most from this pilot and the resources it provides. ISD-13 will receive 755 digital library card numbers to distribute to the students; digital cards will provide access to all the available online databases (Britannica, Ancestry, Ebsco, and other research), e-books, and live online homework help (this will supplement the devices and WiFi hotspots the school district has provided to the students that need them). Bri will record some instructions/demos for students or may have Zoom Meetups with some of the classrooms to explain what they will have access to, and how to use them. We will evaluate this pilot during the school year, and could expand if it proves useful. Depending on how many e-book checkouts this adds, our share of the e-books cost could go up next year. 2. Summer Reading Overview: Participation in this year’s Summer Reading Program is understandably low; even with Anoka County moving it online for ease of access, participation across the county (and the state/country) has been affected by the COVID-19 pandemic (with just about everything going digital, screen fatigue is likely a contributing factor, along with the abundance of content out there). In Columbia Heights 20 participated from Grades 1-6, and only one teen (a total of 18 prize books were given out). Digital and virtual programs also lack in participation (compared to in-person attendance from before the pandemic), but we continue to create these options for those that do want to participate. One program that did see positive numbers was youth summer lunch (in partnership with Youthprise); 1500 free lunches were provided to the community over the course of the summer. Fall will see the return of some in -person programs (mainly outdoors) li ke Stroller Storytime, Story Strolls, Poems in the Park, a Bike Fix -It Clinic, and a teen-painted Mural which will later be displayed in the library. Items from the Floor:  Library Hours: Since the Library Board did not get a chance to weigh in on the modified open hours at re-opening, they were asked how they feel about them. Currently the hours are: Mon-Wed (1pm-7pm), Thu-Fri (11am-4pm), and Sat (11am-3pm). Renee expressed that she would like to continue having one hour of time after closing for staff to clean/sanitize the building. It sounded like most would like Renee to make the final call, b ut some did express that the 1pm opening Monday thru Wednesday seemed a bit late, and maybe Saturday should remain open until 4pm (but that would not allow an hour to sanitize, unless staff extended their time). It was also expressed that families would appreciate maintaining our weekday evening hours now that school is about to start. We are currently open for more hours than any other Anoka County Library; neighboring counties have more limited services than us, and some are not even open to the public yet.  Be well, and stay safe . There being no further business, a motion to adjourn was made at 6:13pm by Catherine Vesley, and seconded. Respectfully submitted, Nicholas P. Olberding Recording Secretary, Library Board of Trustee