International Falls Public Library Board of Trustees Meeting Minutes
August 13th, 2025
Present: Diane Adams – Library Director, Will Frank, Sasha Moss, Heather Weaver, Katie Winkel, Maggie Horning, Mona Johnson
Meeting was called to order at 4:30 pm by Frank.
Minutes – Weaver moved and Frank seconded to approve the July 2025 minutes. All approved.
Bills – Moss moved and Horning seconded to approve the August 2025 bills. All approved.
Director’s Report – July felt busy. Physical circulation was 10% above June 2025, but 6% below July 2024. When we add in the digital year-to-date we are 1% above 2024. Attendance at programs has been fairly good, but not always consistent. Libratory had definitely dropped off, but the final one on Wednesday, August 6 was a nice dozen. Storytime has ranged from 25 – 50, while Big Play has ranged from 15 – 45. 59 attended the Dinosaur program from the Science Museum of Minnesota.
I spent quite a bit of time working out budget options after being notified by city hall that the mayor is planning a 3% levy increase and for that to include putting $1 million back into the general fund reserves or the city needs to find a million in cuts. I will have several options to talk through with you at our meeting.
Planning for fall has started. We are still working with other regional agencies on how to make a book discussion work around Lief Enger’s book I Cheerfully Refuse as the Boreal Waters Community fund declined to fund the request along with the NEA Big Reads program. We did receive the Flight Path grant and are looking at doing a program with the boy scouts helping families build a bird feeder and then a program with adults focused on local bird identification. We also received through a grant several copies of the new game Nube which teaches about clouds that we’ll use in fall programming.
I will be out of town from August 26 – September 5th. The board packets will be prepared ahead of time, so adjustments to agenda might need to be made at the meeting.
Old Business: Summer programming is done, we finished up yesterday with 20 at the Will Sings concert. We are still taking reading logs and providing free books to those who bring them in. We have had a total of 45 people use the logs to get free books. Some of my biggest readers aren’t interested in doing the logs, they just want to read, but still not a great response.
The region did not get a Boreal Waters grant to host book discussions around Lief Enger’s book I Cheerfully Refuse. The group is looking at ways to host just discussions using library funds and trying another year for something larger as presented in the initial grant. No further word on steps in the Brownstone grant of children’s books. We did receive the Flight Path grant and are slowly moving ahead at offering a handful of bird related programs this fall including a bird feeder building program for families working with the boy scouts.
Given the nature of the 2026 budget discussion we moved it to the end of the meeting.
New Business: Johnson moved and Winkel seconded to accept the $100 donation from Tucky Dill in memory of Carlene Blair Johnson. All approved.
The director presented a series of budgets, each more drastic than the last. The board recommended that when the director presents to the city council that the budget with no pay increases and modest supply and materials cuts be proposed although they’d prefer the ideal budget.
Friends of the Library book sale is Thursday, August 7th from 11 am – 1 pm.
What are you reading? Katie is reading The Briar Club by Kate Quinn, Sasha is reading Killing Moon by N.K. Jemisin which is the first book of a series, yeah! Heather is preparing for the homeschool year to start by reading Call of the Wild and Free by Ainsley Arment, Will is starting Greater Journey by David McCullough while Mona picked up The Lager Queen of Minnesota by Ryan Stradel, Maggie got her hands on The River is Waiting by Wally Lamb and also recommends The Lost and the Found: a true story of homelessness, found family, and second chances by Kevin Fagan a reporter who has worked with the homeless for years. Diane just finished The Unboxing Libby by Steph Cherrywell, a youth science fiction title and is starting James by Percival Everett.
The next meeting is scheduled for Wednesday, September 10th, 4:30 pm
Meeting adjourned at 5:30 pm.