HomeMy WebLinkAbout09-03-2025 Library Board Minutes
COLUMBIA HEIGHTS PUBLIC LIBRARY
3939 Central Ave NE, Columbia Heights, MN 55421
BOARD OF TRUSTEES: MEETING MINUTES
Wednesday, September 3, 2025
Approved
10/1/2025
ATTENDANCE INFORMATION FOR THE PUBLIC
Members of the public who wished to attend could do so in-person, or via Microsoft Teams by entering Meeting ID 254 921 776 562 0 and passcode
QP35BK9R at the scheduled meeting time. For questions, please contact Administration at 763-706-3610.
The meeting was called to order in the Library Community Room by Melanie Magidow at 5:31pm.
Members present: Melanie Magidow; Chris Polley; Olga Herrera; Theresa Strike; Amina Maameri. Members remotely
present: Amáda Márquez Simula (City Council Liaison). Members absent: N/A. Others present: Renee Dougherty (Library
Director); Nick Olberding (Board Secretary). Public present: N/A.
1. The Agenda was approved as is.
2. The Minutes from August 6, 2025, Library Board Meeting were moved and approved.
3. Review of 2025 Operating Budget: 66.6% of the year completed and 60.4% of the budget expended.
a. 44020 (Building Maintenance Contractual Services) will be overspent by the end of the year due to boiler
and air conditioning repairs, but the overall budget will remain aligned.
Community Forum: Opportunity for public input. No correspondence and no public in attendance. The CHPL website
now has a contact form to submit questions or concerns: https://chplmn.org/board
Old Business:
4. Staffing Update: An offer was made to Brent Buchanan (currently a Page) for the Library Aide position, and he
accepted. He will transition roles soon and do some additional training with Eliza and Farrah (who was most
recently the Aide). Just posted today was a part-time Library Page position open externally for the next week.
5. Great North Star Read-Together Planning: This event is coming up soon on Saturday, September 20th. We have
registered with the planners as a designated Read-Together location, and sent out press releases to the local
newspapers, as well as posting to social media and added the event to the digital signboard rotation. It was agreed
that homebase for the event will be in the Community Room and will have some refreshments available there, but
once the reading starts people may spread out to wherever they feel comfortable (inside and out). We will try to
track attendance and take photos in the hopes of a follow-up news story, the suggestion board will be re-
purposed to allow visitors to post their library stories, and Mayor Amáda will say a few words to kick-off the event.
Some additional ideas were floated around during the meeting, including creating flyers for posting at local
businesses, creating a selfie station with a background and props (and a cart of popular books to pose with), and
inviting a food truck or Dairy Queen. In addition to our mayor, we should invite the City Council and other local
representatives. Olga and Renee will attend next week’s City Council meeting to make an announcement of the
event.
New Business:
6. Library Usage: The Board was provided with some graphs of annual data on visitor count, computer use, program
count, and circulation totals for 2023-2025. Visitors and computer usage are both up by a significant amount, but
circulation is slightly down. The library is the go-to place to get on the internet, as well as the most convenient
place to print and make copies. Even with increased outreach we are not sure about the cause of the decrease in
material circulation (both physical and digital).
7. Review Proposed Revision to Data Privacy of Library Records Policy: Renee presented a revised policy that
clarified language and removed portions that were more procedure than policy. The Board weighed in on whether
to keep or remove the highlighted text referencing parent/guardian access to a youth account; it was decided to
keep it. A MOTION to approve and adopt the revised Data Privacy of Library Records Policy was made,
seconded, and approved.
Director’s Update:
8. July Board Report: Provided as an FYI.
a. Melanie shared that Connecticut state has adopted trigger legislation (to go into effect after enough
additional states sign on) meant to nudge publishers toward fair pricing of digital material for libraries.
We don’t know all the details, but Minnesota is considering similar legislation.
b. We will do a Library tour during our October meeting.
9. Board Books:
a. Chris: The Great Cool Ranch Dorito in the Sky Josh Galarza
b. Olga: The Shipping News E. Annie Proulx
c. Amina: Safiyyah’s War Hiba Noor Khan
d. Theresa: The Serviceberry Robin Wall Kimmerer; Monstrous Regiment (Discworld series) Terry Pratchett
e. Melanie: The Spell Shop and The Enchanted Greenhouse Sarah Beth Durst
f. Renee: 1984 George Orwell
g. Nick: Ordinary Grace William Kent Krueger; Oregon Trail (PlayStation 5) Gameloft (available via ACL)
h. Amáda: Braving the Wilderness Brené Brown
There being no further business, the meeting was adjourned at 6:36 pm.
Respectfully submitted,
Nicholas P. Olberding
Recording Secretary, CHPL Board of Trustees