International Falls Public Library Board of Trustees Meeting Minutes
April 9th, 2025
Present: Diane Adams – Library Director, Will Frank, Sasha Moss, Maggie Horning, Heather Weaver, Katie Winkel, Michelle Misner
Meeting was called to order at 4:30 pm by Frank.
Minutes – Winkel moved and Misner seconded to approve the March 2025 minutes. All approved.
Bills – Frank moved and Misner seconded to approve the April 2025 bills. All approved.
Director’s Report – Circulation for March was much better than the first two months of the year. We are still below year to date for physical circulation compared to last year, but add in digital numbers and we are just a tiny bit above 2024 year to date. Elementary Fun attendance is pretty sparse, storytime has varied widely from just over 10 to almost 30. Crafter’s Café and Silent Book Club are pretty predictable.
The last month has been busy. We have been working on summer reading plans and trying to get the main booklet completed so we can get it shipped off to the ALS print shop. We will be having the elementary students come here for the summer reading presentations and are beginning to work with the school on getting those scheduled.
I met with the city administrator at the end of March to share with her the current funding situation with the county. I met with Will to begin gathering information to present to the council about a plan for moving forward regarding county funding. We are adding to our closing procedures and beginning to track how many patrons checking out each day are city or non-city patrons.
Federal funding for libraries (and museums) has been in the news lately and we are getting a few questions from the public. The state library has been sharing information about impacts to the state’s libraries and I’ll have information to share with you on Wednesday.
Old Business: Upcoming programs include elementary fun through April 30, storytime through May 8, Saturday storytime May 10th, silent book club and crafters’ café officially moving to 2nd and 4th Tuesday due to attendee request. May 17th will be a concert with Legacy Funds by maritime folksinger, Charlie Maguire, in memory of the 50th anniversary of the sinking of the Edmund Fitzgerald and the 120th anniversary of the Mataafa shipping disaster on Lake Superior as well as family fun day which starts here with the pinwheel craft project. We will be getting Susan Hawkinson who does a history presentation on logging in northern Minnesota but not until fall – she couldn’t fit all the libraries in this spring.
Kootasca is working with area donors (PCA and Knudson) to fund the family fun day. No word on the NEA grant, but not holding my breath. We reapplied for the state park pass and have been told all first round applicants will be approved if they applied and we did. I did ask that we still have 2 passes as based on population we would only have one pass.
The director shared the photography book that another library’s patron was shocked we were loaning. Everyone agreed that the purpose of a library is to loan materials even materials that might be more expensive or rare.
We will not become a state fingerprinting location, the time and staff requirements are too much for us to guarantee we could do the job well.
The director talked about what had been accomplished in the last year and what didn’t get done using the 2024 Action Plan as a reference.
Frank and Adams will meet with the city administrator and finance director to discuss plans for moving forward with county funding of the library.
New Business: Frank moved and Moss seconded to accept the $2000 donation from United Way of Northeastern Minnesota. All approved.
A handout from the State Library was shared about how losing federal funds for libraries would impact the state. The primary concern for us would be statewide Interlibrary loans.
The 2025 Action Plan was presented. The board has chosen to delay the director evaluation until June.
Friends of the Library book sale is Friday, June 6th from 11 am – 1 pm.
What are you reading? Katie is reading Here One Moment by Liane Moriarty, Heather is reading The Odyssey as translated by Emily Wilson while Will is tackling Civilization: the west and the rest by Niall Ferguson as well as X-Men comics. Michelle is reading The Teacher by Frieda McFadden, She’s Not Sorry by Mary Kubica and sharing Holes by Louis Sachar with her class, Maggie just got The Quiet Librarian by Allen Eskens, Amber is reading Island of the World by Michael O’Brien, Sasha is reading The Death of Sitting Bear by N. Scott Momaday and The Lightning Thief by Rich Riordan with her class. Diane is prepping for class visits and read One Wrong Step by Jennifer Nielsen and Side Quest by Samuel Sattin.
The next meeting is scheduled for Wednesday, May 14th, 4:30 pm
Meeting adjourned at 5:45 pm.