International Falls Public Library Board of Trustees Meeting Minutes
September 14th, 2022
Present: Diane Adams – Library Director, Paul Nevanen, Heather Weaver, MaryJo Winkel, Mona Johnson, Ashley Kostiuk and Darcy Sullivan
Meeting was called to order at 4:30 pm by Kostiuk.
Minutes – Nevanen moved and Weaver seconded to approve August 2022 minutes. All approved.
Financial Report – Winkel moved and Johnson seconded to approve September 2022 bills. All approved.
Director’s Report – August circulation was 7% more than July and 4% more than August 2021. We are currently 7% above 2021 circulation to date. We wrapped up summer reading programming in August and allowed residents to turn in books read for free books through the end of the month. We officially only had 43 people sign up for summer reading, but I in mid-August I discovered that two staff members who spent a considerable amount of time in the junior room decided it wasn’t important to register kids for summer reading and just let them have the books they earned without registering them. One of them thinks she had at least ten kids and the other wasn’t sure. So while numbers were pretty abysmal for participation, they weren’t as bad as I first thought. But given we gave out about 1,000 summer reading booklets, we need to figure out how to get kids involved in summer reading again. It is very important for overall learning progress.
We had a wonderful time with authors Lorna Landvik and Sarah Stonich on Wednesday, September 7th with 16 people including two teens laughing together and learning about the writing process and more. I have not heard more about Legacy programming for this fall and winter.
The focus for staff in August was on catching up and preparing for fall. I have prepared a draft of the disaster plan and we’ll go over it at the meeting. Our main book vendor suffered a ransomware attack in late August and was down for over two weeks. We finally got our September order placed on Thursday, September 7. We will be behind on getting new books out this month.
Old Business: Fall programming began this week with Libratory bags available each Tuesday and storytime on Thursdays. No word yet from ALS about Legacy programming this fall and winter.
We didn’t receive a Hive Community Grant to do some online programming with our statues and history walk, but will try again this winter. They received a much larger response than anticipated. Adams will try and take a look at the new Geocaching option called Adventure Labs and see if we can do something with that new program to encourage the community and more to get out and enjoy our local history and artwork.
The 2023 budget process continues, each department was asked to make a few cuts totaling $40,000. The library share was $3,682. Most of the cuts were made to the book budget.
We are on task with the annual action plan. Progress continues to be made on weeding the adult fiction collection.
New Business: A draft of the proposed disaster plan was distributed. Board members were encouraged to read and make notes for a discussion next month.
Next Friends of the Library book sale will be Friday, October 7th from 3 – 5 pm.
What are you reading? – Ashley is reading A Cricket in Times Square by George Selden and Part of Your World by Abby Jimenez while Mona finished Blue Moon by Lee Child, she recommends both Emma in the Night by Wendy Walker and Terminal List by Jack Carr. Heather is reading the very comforting At Home in Mitford by Jan Karon and MaryJo read Rogues: true stories of grifters killers, rebels and crooks by Patrick Radden Keefe and Fishing by Sarah Stonich. Darcy just started Murder at Minnesota Point: unraveling the captivating mystery of a long-forgotten true crime by Jeffrey M Sauve, Paul continues in The Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius by Dave Eggers and Diane is working to get through Minnesota 1918: when flu, fire and war ravaged the state by Curt Brown.
The next meeting is scheduled for Wednesday, October 12th, 2022 at 4:30 pm.
Meeting ended at 5:20 pm.