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Home My WebLink About05-05-2021 Library Board Minutes COLUMBIA HEIGHTS PUBLIC LIBRARY 3939 Central Ave NE, Columbia Heights, MN 55421 BOARD OF TRUSTEES: MEETING MINUTES Wednesday, May 5th, 2021 Approved 6/2/2021 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 5:31pm. Members physically present: Tricia Conway; Teresa Eisenbise; Carrie Mesrobian; Gerri Moeller, Nick Novitsky (Council Liaison). Members remotely present: Christopher Polley. Also present: Renee Dougherty (Library Director); Nick Olberding (Recording Secretary). Members Absent: N/A The Minutes of the April 7th, 2021, Board Meeting were moved and approved. Gerri abstained due to absence on 4/7. The Bill Lists dated April 14th, and 28th 2021, were reviewed; moved and approved unanimously via roll-call vote. General questions and discussions on Bills, Accounting, and Miscellaneous: • 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). The Board asked about how this will be promoted, and if there will be orientation material for patrons to get acquainted with the new platform, and how to get set up on it? There have been articles about it, and promotion through our normal channels. Tricia would like to test out the process if there is a set-up guide provided. Renee mentioned that there are only about 150 CHPL patrons who have been actively using our CloudLibrary E-Book service. • Downloadable Video/Kanopy: Kanopy service started for CHPL patrons in January, and includes 10 streaming videos per month/per cardholder. We had budgeted $2500 for the service for 2021, but ACL is offering it to us for free on a trial basis; they will assess our usage in order to charge us a fair share in future years. Gerri loves Kanopy, and so does Chris (who is able to use it in his classroom because Kanopy includes public viewing rights). • Automated Circulation System Supplies (2025): This line item is already 62% spent for the year; is this a concern? The largest expenditure for this line was already purchased this year (material RFID Tags), and there are not that many other costs that will apply to this line (mainly just $100/month to ACL for patron notices/mailings). • 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 maintenance is a large portion of this budget, and has already been paid for the year so there shouldn’t be much concern of going over-budget for this line item. Oath of Office: Gerri Moeller recited the Oath and signed; Renee Dougherty served as the Witness. New Business: 1. Fine Read Down Program for Summer 2021: This summer, along with Anoka County Library, the CHPL would like to offer a Youth Fine Read Down from June 1st – August 15th (ages 17 and under), during the entirety of the Summer Reading program. The Board asked about including adults, and promotion of the program: a. As an independent Library/Library Board we could opt to include adults in the program, but administratively it could cause issues between ACL/CHPL (ie…there may be complaints from their adult patrons, or their adult patrons may swamp CHPL in an attempt to bypass ACL restrictions). Renee had asked ACL to include adults in this Read Down, and tried to extend the time period through the end of August, but Anoka County rejected the suggestion. Adults have been offered their own Read-Down during the Winter Reads program for the last several years, so they are not completely excluded. b. Promotion of the Read-Down includes press releases in Life/Northeaster, inclusion in the Library’s Summer Events Calendar, the CH Newsletter, City website, City/Library Facebook Pages, the Library’s electronic Sign, Library Cable Channel, Posters, and verbally by Library Staff. c. MOTION: Approve Fine Read Down for youth as part of the Summer Reading Program from June 1 – August 15, 2021; the motion was moved and approved unanimously via roll-call vote. 2. Resolution 2021-2: Recognizing Years of Service by Library Employees Graduating in Spring 2021: This spring, two of our Library Pages (Samuel Rinne & Yuliana Morocho-Calderon) are graduating high school, and one supervisor (Katherine Estall) is graduating with a Library Sciences degree; Renee wishes to acknowledge their work at the Library and honor their educational accomplishments, as we used to in the past, with a Board Resolution and Certificate. The Board agreed! MOTION: NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED that the Columbia Heights Public Library and the Board of Trustees wishes to recognize the outstanding service given to the library by Mr. Rinne, Ms. Morocho-Calderon, and Ms. Estall on the occasion of their graduations; the motion was moved and approved unanimously. For Your Information: 1. Staff Day: In previous years Staff Day was a joint meeting between full-time staff from all branches of the Anoka County Library System; since the pandemic began ACL has adopted a remote strategy with separate branches doing their own Staff Day activities. Staff Day is May 13th; the Library will be closed, and full-time staff will be meeting at Murzyn Hall (because the library will have its annual cleaning of carpet/selected upholstered furniture). Staff will be presenting information on e-books, integrated library systems, and reader’s advisory, as well as some Library Database BINGO, and evaluating ourselves with the Clifton Strengths. 2. 2022 Budgeting: It is already that time…proposed budgets for 2022 are due to Finance by June 15. Renee is working on it now, and will bring it to the June Board Meeting for evaluation before submission. 3. Laserfiche: archival content management software which the City is in the process of overhauling in order to house documents and adhere to a retention schedules for public information. The next meeting to review the Library’s file structure and retention schedule is on May 12. 4. ACL Hours Extending June 1st: Extending to 46 hours/week, and a more consistent schedule across all of their branches. CHPL extended its hours in February, but should we again (currently open 40/wk)? We’ll see what the Governor says tomorrow, and re-assess at the June Board Meeting (Renee would prefer any changes to hours to wait until July). The Board expressed interest in more open hours--potentially beyond pre-pandemic hours (possibly 10pm, and/or greatly expanding weekend hours including Sunday). Discussion to be continued; considering two-thirds of the budget is personnel, expanded hours would have associated costs. 5. Patron/Citizen Poll & Feedback: The last time the public was formally asked for input was during planning for this building back in 2013/2014. The Board has tasked themselves with compiling potential survey questions in which they would like local residents to answer (both patrons/non-patrons). 6. Promotion/Marketing: Request for Facebook Analytics data, and a meeting with City Communications Coordinator (Ben Sandell) about new ways we can promote the Library and its programs/services to boost circulation and attendance in the digital, post-pandemic world. Board members were tasked with researching websites and marketing of other Library Systems and independent libraries like South St. Paul. 7. Library Friends vs. Library Foundation: Who are they, and what do they do? How can we work together? There being no further business, a motion to adjourn was made at 6:31pm, and seconded. Meeting adjourned. Respectfully submitted, Nicholas P. Olberding Recording Secretary, Library Board of Trustee