International Falls Public Library – Board of Trustees Meeting Minutes October 10, 2018

Present: Library Director Diane Adams, Darcy Sullivan, Paul Nevanen, Dick Peterson, Ted Saxton, Mary Jo Winkel, Lindsi Barnhart, John Dalton

Peterson called the meeting to order: 4:30 p.m.

Review of August & September meeting minutes. Nevanen made a motion to approve the August minutes, Dalton seconded, motion approved. Nevanen moved to approve the September minutes and MaryJo seconded, motion approved.

Financial Report: The current bills were reviewed. Dalton made a motion to pay the bills, Barnhart seconded, motion carried. Dalton signed to pay the bills.

Director’s Report:  Circulation continues a downward trend, although staff remain busy helping patrons with a variety of requests for service. We are currently 11% below 2017 year to date.  Storytime attendance has fluctuated wildly so far this year with somewhere between 8 and 30 in attendance. We had a good turnout at the drawing zebras program. It seems like a short month as I was gone for ten days in September.

Old Business: Upcoming Programs: Preschool book club on Tuesday, Oct. 23 at 6:30 pm. Folk singer duo Loretta & Curtis present songs about Minnesota’s unsung heroes and then hear from one of those heroes, Peter Razor on Wednesday, October 24 at 6pm.

Still trying to connect with Ted Brokaw to get his take on contractors he would recommend.

New Business: Fines and fees – after a brief discussion the library will provide two months a year in which food for the food shelf is accepted as a way to pay off fines.  We will do this in March and September. Kids fines can also be waived in September and staff will continue to consult with me on a case by case basis regarding patron fines. We want to work with patrons and make the library accessible to them, but also want the material returned in a timely fashion.

The library did not apply for a Knudson grant in October as we have the last several years, we are still working on the 2018 grant.  We are looking at applying for a grant in January 2019 to focus on the beginning of a ‘thing’ library and purchasing a ‘kitchen’ in a box so we could do some programming around meal preparation, healthy eating, etc.

Friends of Library book sale: October 25, 1 – 3 pm

John is reading The Winter Station by Judy Shields, Dick’s reading 1491 by Charles Mann, Ted is dealing with the highly technical  Packet Inspection  and Basic Electronic Inspections  while Paul is reading The Judge Hunter by Christopher Buckley and recommends William Buckley’s sailing books. Darcy is reading The Living by Annie Dillard, Mary Jo is reading Origin by Dan Brown and Apalachicola Bay by Kevin McCarthy, Lindsi is reading Little House on the Prairie with her kids and Diane is reading Enchantment by Orson Scott Card and Reader Come Home by Maryanne Wolf.

Next board meeting: Wednesday, December 12, 2018, 4:30 p.m.

Adjourned: 5:30 pm