International Falls Public Library Board of Trustees Meeting Minutes
March 12th, 2025
Present: Diane Adams – Library Director, Will Frank, Sasha Moss, Maggie Horning, Mona Johnson
Meeting was called to order at 4:25 pm by Frank.
Minutes – Moss moved and Johnson seconded to approve the February 2025 minutes. All approved.
Bills – Horning moved and Frank seconded to approve the March 2025 bills. All approved.
Director’s Report – February was another disappointing month for physical circulation but digital circulation was enough above 2024 to put us at a bit less than a 1% drop over 2024 combined circulation to date. Storytime attendance is fairly stable at 15 – 20 each week and elementary fun has somewhere between 5 – 10 most weeks. Crafters’ Café had 2 on the brutally cold morning and 9 at the second session. The Silent book club was also on one of the really cold days and we also only had 2. Saturday storytime in February had 8 in attendance. Skis and snowshoes had a couple of busy weeks with many of the sets being loaned out.
Winter reading response from the elementary school was very disappointing with only 18 students in 10 classes completing the challenge. The response from grades 6 – 8 was a bit better with five classes participating and only one class had less than half the students record at least 7 days of reading and the winning class had a completion rate of 48%.
Old Business: Upcoming programs include elementary fun, storytime, Saturday storytime, silent book club and crafters’ café. May 17th will be a concert from Legacy Funds by a maritime folksinger in memory of the 50th anniversary of the sinking of the Edmund Fitzgerald and the 120th anniversary of another shipping disaster on Lake Superior.
Kootasca didn’t get the April Child Abuse Prevention month grant. A meeting was held on Friday, March 7 to explore options and consensus was to move to May 17th (hope for better weather, we have a concert from ALS that morning) for a family day with information about resources and other tools for preventing child abuse while providing families with a fun day around town. Some Minnesota Department (sorry don’t remember) is offering some other grants to promote their services and Kootasca thinks they will be able to get one to provide funding for food and bike helmets.
No word on the NEA Big Reads grant.
Mollie Stanford, ALS director shared that the ALS board chose to provide us with $11,854 from the amount that the county provided them. The director will work on meeting with the city administrator in the next month to begin the discussion about how to proceed.
New Business: Johnson moved and Frank seconded to accept the $50 donation from Lori Walz in memory of Gene Skoglund. All approved.
The director shared a copy of the annual report for the state and Will Frank signed. Submission form will be forwarded to the state library.
The director received an email in late February from Grand Marais Library that one of their patrons was appalled that we had a copy of a rare book just sitting on our shelves. It is currently out but general discussion was that that is the point of libraries.
The library has been approached by Super One to participate in their PinPad donation program in May, but haven’t connected yet with the Super One manager and will ask them to work with the Friends of the Library. The library has been asked to consider being a state fingerprinting locale. An email is out to the sheriff, but he is on vacation. Johnson mentioned that KEDA use to do it, but doesn’t anymore. The director will reach out to Paul Nevanen to see why they no longer do it and get back to the board next month.
Friends of the Library book sale is Tuesday, April 9th from 4pm – 6pm.
What are you reading? Katie emailed that she was taking Rose Code by Kate Quinn and Out of My Dreams by Sharon Draper on vacation with her. Mona had just picked up Grave Secrets by Kathy Reichs, an author she really enjoys. Will is reading Revolution 1989: the fall of the Soviet Empire by Victor Sebestyen. The Folly of Realism: how the west deceived itself about Russia and betrayed Ukraine by Alexander Vindman was recommended, but no one has managed to get their hands on it yet. Maggie is reading The Serviceberry by Robin Wall Kimmerer while Sasha enjoys Stillwater by Nicole Helget and Out of My Heart by Sharon Draper and Diane is escaping with Sorcery and Small Magic by Mai Dooey.
The next meeting is scheduled for Wednesday, April 9th, 4:30 pm
Meeting adjourned at 5:10pm.