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Home My WebLink About09-04-2024 Library Board MinutesA COLUMBIA HEIGHTS PUBLIC LIBRARY 3939 Central Ave NE, Columbia Heights, MN 55421 BOARD OF TRUSTEES: MEETING MINUTES Wednesday, September 4th, 2024 Approved 10/3/2024 ATTENDANCE INFORMATION FOR THE PUBLIC Members of the public who wished to attend could do so in-person, or via Microsoft Teams at columbiaheightsmn.gov/join-a-meeting and entering Meeting ID 258 492 181 742 and passcode GWnPxW at the scheduled meeting time. For questions, please call the library at 763-706-3690. The meeting was called to order in the Library Community Room by Rachelle Waldon at 5:32pm. Members present: Rachelle Waldon; Melanie Magidow; Chris Polley; Justice Spriggs (City Council Liaison). Members remotely present: N/A. Members absent: Carrie Mesrobian; Amina Maameri. Others present: Renee Dougherty (Library Director); Nick Olberding (Board Secretary). Public present: N/A. 1. The Meeting Agenda was approved as-is. 2. The Minutes of the August 7th, 2024, Board Meetings were moved and approved. 3. Review 2024 Operating Budget: 66.67% of the year and 58.59% of the budget expended. a. 42183 (E-Books): Anoka County would like to change to how e-Book access is billed for Columbia Heights cardholders. Renee would like billing to coincide with a single budget year. In the past, eBook charges were billed on a July – June billing cycle based on a formula calculated from the previous year’s usage. No invoice for 2024 e-Books has yet been received. Community Forum: Opportunity for public input. No correspondence and no public in attendance. The City website has a Contact Form for each Board/Commission for the public to submit questions or concerns: https://www.columbiaheightsmn.gov/government/boards_and_commissions/index.php after clicking desired group, scroll to the bottom of their page to find the contact form. New Business: 4. Staffing Update: With two of the Pages in college we are having trouble covering shifts on certain days, so advertised for an additional Page position which closed last week. Renee is in the process of reviewing and scoring the 57 applications received. We hope to interview finalists starting next week. 5. Organizational Borrowing Policy Review: The Organizational Borrowing Policy was adopted back in 1999 and has not changed much over the years. The Youth Librarian and Youth Associate believe the policy needs changes to bring it in-line with Anoka County policy, to make it more cohesive with other borrowing policies, and to remove outdated language. At CHPL organizational borrowers are school classrooms and elder care facilities who receive a bin of books referred to as a “bulk loan.” Organizations may request certain genres or subjects for deliveries, but if they want specific items, they must request and personally pick up those items. Bulk loans are selected by staff from the Columbia Heights collection only. Previously staff manually extended the due date to 45 days since bulk loans were distributed monthly and a standard 21-day checkout would result in overdue fines. However, since Columbia Heights no longer charges overdue fines and ACL and COH have implemented automatic renewal, this labor-intensive loan extension is no longer needed. The section covering deposit collections has never been utilized and has now been removed (this was intended to be a small collection of materials sent to an institution like a prison or hospital where items would then be loaned out to individuals in the facility). The Board reviewed revisions and agreed with the reasoning behind the changes. A MOTION was made to approve the revision of the Organizational Borrowing Policy, it was seconded and unanimously approved. 6. MakerSpace Discussion: MakerSpaces have been implemented in several libraries around the world. It is a space that provides the tools, supplies, equipment, and staff expertise needed so that patrons can create various types of crafts or useful items. MakerSpaces include equipment like sewing machines, 3D printers, engravers, Cricuts cutting machines, laminators, and other things. The Board asked how much demand there seems to be for this type of space at our Library, to which Nick and Renee mentioned that there is an occasional inquiry about a 3D printer, but not much demand generally. A MakerSpace can require a lot of support and staff time to implement, keep supplies stocked, equipment maintained, space monitored, patrons trained/certified on equipment, etc. How would a MakerSpace be hosted? Is it available all the time, at certain hours, or only for specific crafts with coordinated programming? We already host an assortment of craft-related programming for various age groups. Is a MakerSpace within our scope/mission? Something akin to MakerSpaces that would likely get more use is specialty computer workstations for functions like online virtual meetings, video/photo editing, resume writing, etc. We are tabling the MakerSpace discussion for the time being, but it will be revisited in the future. Director’s Update: 7. July Board Report: Provided as an FYI. a. OpenAccess: No new information from Renee, but Melanie offered to connect her with a first-hand source with information about how this is working at a library that has implemented it. b. Teen Trivia Night: Chris wanted to express his support for more of these in the future based on the enthusiasm and interest from students who attended. c. MN DNR Park Passes: This has been a very popular program and our three park passes are constantly in use. The DNR expressed appreciation to library staff for encouraging survey participation which resulted in a more diverse range of respondents in the 2024 summer survey than in 2023. d. Transportation Safety Action Plan Survey: The city has created an interactive survey to gather input on the safety of transit areas in the city; it should be available for at least another month, and can be found at: arcg.is/0CjPT5 e. Penny Press: Chris mentioned how excited his kids were to see that we had the Minnesota Artist Press Project penny press for the last couple months, it has moved on to its next location, but info can be found here: https://cargocollective.com/alyssabaguss/Minnesota-Artists-Penny-Press 8. Board Books: a. Chris: Earthdivers: Vol 1. (adult graphic novel series) Stephen Graham Jones; Slider Pete Hautman b. Rachelle: A Study in Drowning Ava Reid c. Renee: The Underground Railroad Colson Whitehead d. Justice: On Call: A Doctor’s Journey in Public Service Anthony Fauci e. Melanie: The Spellshop Sarah Beth Durst; The Tea Dragon Society (youth graphic novel series) K. O’Neill f. Nick: The Underground Railroad Colson Whitehead There being no further business, the meeting was adjourned at 6:25 pm. Respectfully submitted, Nicholas P. Olberding Recording Secretary, CHPL Board of Trustees