Present: Library Director Diane Adams, Paul Nevanen, Dick Peterson, Ted Saxton, John Dalton, Darcy Sullivan
Peterson called the meeting to order: 4:35 p.m.
Review of January meeting minutes. Saxton made a motion to approve the minutes, Nevanen seconded, motion approved.
Financial Report: The current bills were reviewed. Saxton made a motion to pay the bills, Dalton seconded, motion carried. Dalton signed to pay the bills.
Director’s Report: January circulation was close to 1,000 items higher than December and within 9 items of January 2018. February has been slower but hopefully not too bad. Storytime attendance has been pretty low, but the weather worked against us. In fact, this morning after only one child last week and the high snow levels today (Thursday) we decided to try a Facebook live storytime and when I checked there were three Facebook accounts watching. We had 39 attend the Supernatural Lake Superior which was very nice and a wonderful program. 41 attended the Preschool Royalty party for Reading Ready and we got three new kids signed up and 9 attended the preschool book club the following Tuesday in spite of record breaking cold weather.
The library received the Knudson Grant we applied for in December. We will now have to work on building a library of things for checkout and research oven options. We would really like to work with the Falls Hunger Coalition, Community Gardens, Community Wellness Action Council to provide some basic cooking classes on healthy cooking.
Old Business: Upcoming Programs: Storytime continues on Thursday mornings at 10:30am. Preschool bookclub on Tuesday, Feb. 19th at 6:30pm. Handiwork Night is scheduled for March 4th and 18th from 6 – 8 pm
Anna Meyer Bequest – I am meeting with Eric Kulig this afternoon and will have his work to present on Wednesday and then we can work on taking the next steps.
KTI – Koochiching Technology Initiative – meeting on Feb. 12, 4 – 7pm, to talk about first round of funding, I attended the meeting and am hopeful the library will receive some funding.
New Business: Annual report data has been entered, but I am questioning some of the numbers so will talk with Mollie at ALS before submitting. We won’t seek IMLS funding for the digitization project but will look at working with city hall and Koochiching museum to use existing funds to purchase a scanner large enough to handle the newspapers and look at budgeting staffing to scan the newspapers beginning in 2020.
Election of officers – Nevanen moved to re-elect same slate as prior year – with Peterson serving as President and Saxton as Vice-President, Dalton seconded, motion passed.
Friends of Library book sale: February 26, 3 – 5 pm
John is ready to begin The Removes by Tatjana Soli, Dick finished up My Dear Hamilton by Stephanie Dray and is starting Rainy Lake House by Theodore Catton, Paul is reading Cabin at the End of the World by Paul Tremblay, Ted is reading and listening to Road to Character by David Brooks, American Creation by Joseph Ellis and This I Believe: personal philosophies of remarkable men and women. Darcy is rediscovering how much she enjoys Annie Dillard and Pilgrim at Tinker Creek and Diane is reading A Flag Worth Dying For by Tim Marshall.
Next board meeting: Wednesday, March 13, 2019, 4:30 p.m.
Adjourned: 5:25 pm