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Home My WebLink About04-07-2021 Library Board Minutes COLUMBIA HEIGHTS PUBLIC LIBRARY 3939 Central Ave NE, Columbia Heights, MN 55421 BOARD OF TRUSTEES: MEETING MINUTES Wednesday, April 7th, 2021 Approved 5/5/2021 NOTICE THAT THIS MEETING WAS CONDUCTED BY A COMBINATION OF IN-PERSON AND ELECTRONIC MEANS Following a determination by City Manager Kelli Bourgeois, and emergencies declared by the United States, The State of Minnesota, and the Columbia Heights Mayor & City Council, this meeting did, pursuant to Minn. Stat. § 13D.021, occur by a combination of in-person and electronic means. In all meeting formats whether solely in- person or a combination of in-person and electronic means, members of the public who wished to attend could do so by attending in-person or by calling 1-312-626- 6799 and entering meeting ID 832 1433 7849 and passcode 654514 at the scheduled meeting time. If there are any questions about this notice or attending/calling in to a future meeting, please contact the City Clerk at (763) 706-3611. The meeting was called to order in the Library Community Room by Secretary Tricia Conway at 5:32pm. Members physically present: Tricia Conway; Teresa Eisenbise; Carrie Mesrobian; K.T. Jacobs (Council Liaison substitute) Members remotely present: Christopher Polley. Also present: Renee Dougherty (Library Director); Nick Olberding (Recording Secretary). Members Absent: Gerri Moeller (previously planned family vacation); Nick Novitsky (Council Liaison). Oath of Office: Tricia Conway recited the Oath and signed; Carrie Mesrobian, arriving a few minutes later, also recited the Oath and signed; Renee Dougherty, Library Director, signed off on both as a Witness. Coincidentally upon reviewing the Oath, both members joked that it’s difficult to say “I solemnly swear” without following it up with “…that I am up to no good”; a reference to the incantation from the Harry Potter series which reveals the Marauder’s Map--an indication that they both truly belong on the Library Board :) The Minutes of the March 3rd, 2021, Board Meeting were moved and approved. The Bill Lists dated February 3rd, 17th, and 31st 2021, were reviewed; moved and approved unanimously via roll-call vote. General questions and discussions on Bills, Accounting, and Miscellaneous: • Newspaper Subscriptions: $580 for the Star Tribune seems overpriced; but it’s the Pioneer Press that’s overpriced at nearly double (although both are for a full year of every day delivery). The New York Times is $500 just for the Sunday edition. • Kirkus Review: Annual renewal at a cost of $200 (24-issues/year); this is one of the literary review journals which we use to inform our book purchase decisions. • ACL Notices: Anoka County Library charges us $100/month to cover all notices sent to patrons (i.e. automated overdue/lost item notices). • 21st Century Learning Center Grant: Currently in the 4th year of a 5-year grant cycle, and helps fund youth programs. This was granted to the ISD-13 School District in partnership with the CH Parks & Recreation Department, but in recognizing that they would struggle to expend the grant money, the Library was invited to join. In the future the Library will be a partner in applying for the grant. • Binge Boxes: DVD Collections now offered by the Library (curated by Midwest Tape…our DVD Vendor). Each Binge Box contains 4-6 DVDs based on a common theme (i.e. Disney princesses, Tom Hanks, viruses), and are loanable for 21-days. CHPL has 20, while another 80 collections may be requested through the County. • Programs: Both Tricia and Teresa praised our Bike Clinics; Tricia was surprised to see the large turnout at the clinic held last summer, and Teresa has our upcoming clinic (May 22, 10am-noon) marked on her calendar. Our Birdscaping classes were also appreciated; Teresa attended a past class, and had only positive things to say about our instructor Amber Burnette’s knowledge, visual aids, and overall presentation—she will be attending future iterations…although they will be virtual for the foreseeable future (Beginning Bird Identification: April 20, 6pm; Planting for Pollinators: April 27, 6pm…hosted by the Mississippi Watershed Management Organization). • CHPL Foundation: Currently no scheduled meetings due the pandemic. • Overdrive/Libby App: Will be our provider of e-books, e-magazines, and e-audiobooks going forward in a collaboration with other metro Library systems (allowing resource sharing). Magazines and audiobooks have already been migrated from RBdigital, and e-books will be migrating from CloudLibrary in June following the end of the current school year (to not disrupt students using who might be using their CHPL-issued digital Library Cards). Also, Tricia stated there were articles about this in the Star Tribune (Feb 18; Mar 27). • Columbia Academy Digital Cards: We still don’t have statistics on this; we’re under the impression that the cards were distributed to students, but we haven’t seen significant increases in e-book usage, and Columbia Academy’s unexpected loss of their Assistant Principal, Rick Ostby, may have affected data collection on the school side. • Repair & Maintenance (4000): 63% spent--this mainly covers annual service agreements on technology like the Automated Materials Handler, Self-Checks, and Security Gate, Printers and Copiers. The AMH counts for a large portion of this budget, and it has already been paid for the year ($9,180 paid in February). Old Business: 1. Checkout Limit Increasing to 100 Items (effective May, 1, 2021): The Board already moved and approved this action in January in anticipation of Anoka County Library making this change. The checkout limit per card will be increasing from 50 to 100; most users will not need 100 items at-a-time, but it is useful for home-schooling and families using a shared Library Card. Item Hold limits remain the same: 30 concurrent requests per card. New Business: 1. Library Board Orientation: The Board Members were presented a Board & Commissions Orientation video produced by City Clerk, Nicole Tingley; followed by a PowerPoint Presentation by Renee Dougherty. 2. Nomination and Election of Officers (effective April 2021-March 2022): And the winners are: a. Chair: Teresa nominated Tricia Conway for Chair; all ayes; Tricia accepted. b. Vice-Chair: Tricia nominated Christopher Polley for Vice-Chair; all ayes; Chris accepted. c. Secretary: Tricia nominated Teresa Eisenbise for Secretary, all ayes: Teresa accepted. Tricia suggested that if other members are interested, during some of the future meetings they could rotate taking the lead in order to get comfortable and gain experience in the meeting procedure. 3. Review/Approve 2020 Minnesota Public Library Annual Report (MPLAR) Data: Board Members were presented with the Library’s MPLAR submission for review. 2020 consisted of a lot of changes; data has become more segmented in order to account for virtual programming, self-directed activities, and curbside services due to the pandemic. Although gate count, circulation, and program attendance were down across the state’s libraries, CHPL still adapted pretty well to changes, and strived to reach the community in new ways (i.e. virtual storytimes, outdoor activities, take-home crafts, remote programs, recorded tutorials, story-strolls, poems in the park, curbside pick-up, computers-by-appt (while closed to the public), and extending Wi-Fi range. A motion to approve the MPLAR Data for submission was made; it was seconded and approved via roll-call vote. As the new Library Board Chair, Tricia will sign off on the MPLAR data submission. 4. National Library Week—Mayoral Proclamation (City Council Meeting-April 12): Although this week is National Library Week, a mayoral proclamation has been submitted for next week’s Council Meeting in order to continue raising awareness of the resources and services the Library has to offer. Tricia will try to be in attendance to accept the Proclamation. There being no further business, a motion to adjourn was made at 6:45pm, and seconded. Respectfully submitted, Nicholas P. Olberding Recording Secretary, Library Board of Trustee