International Falls Public Library Board of Trustees Meeting Minutes
September 10th, 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 – Â Johnson moved and Horning seconded to approve the August 2025 minutes. All approved.
Bills – Frank moved and Winkel seconded to approve the September 2025 bills. All approved.
Director’s Report – August physical circulation was again less than August 2024 and significantly less than July 2025. Once we include digital circulation we remain a slight 1% above year to date. This week is the beginning of fall programming. Crafters’ Café continues to meet the 2nd and 4th Tuesdays of each month and we have a fun group of 5 – 8 crafters each session. The basket coiling class is being held twice today, September 10. ALS offered us two classes, each with a limit of 20 and I was initially hesitant whether or not we’d receive anywhere close to 40 participants. As of Tuesday, we have 37 signed up. It has been exciting to see so many signed up for the class.
I am back reading to the two Headstart classes every other week, alternating with Rainy River Rugrats. St.Thomas school students visit the library every other week with half the classes visiting one week and the other half the next. A storytime is provided for the preschool and Kindergarten classes. The grades 1 – 6 get a tour of the library and then each visit students are allowed to pick out books as long as they’ve returned their books.
I attended an online workshop for the Flight Path grant today and am excited to get started on that. We are hoping to partner with both the local Boy Scout troop and the Voyageurs Conservancy for programs.  The books from the Brownstone Fund have been received. We don’t have a little over half of them and will add them to the collection. The ones we already own we will giveaway in our Reading Ready program per instructions from Brownstone Fund for possible usage of donated books.
Old Business: Coiled basket making class is being held twice today and both sessions filled up. Storytime starts tomorrow and Saturday storytime this coming Saturday. The director is visiting both Headstart classes every other week and visits the Rainy River Rugrats classes the alternate weeks. St. Thomas students are coming every other week with half the students each week. Dr. Candace Gossen will talk about her research on Monday, September 15 at 6:30 pm. Saturday, September 20th will be the first Great North Star Read Together, a Minnesota initiative to promote libraries and reading.
We received the 100 books from the Brownstone Fund and are working on processing the ones we don’t have. The Flight Path grant is underway and our first program will be to build bird feeders with the community. We are working with the boy scouts to help families with the building. We will be working with Voyageurs Conservancy for a future program about birds of the area and maybe helping folks add the merlin app to their phones to identify the birds they see and hear.
I spoke with the city finance director this morning about the status of the budget and at the moment we are not looking at cuts, but the council is going to approve a very large increase and make cuts down the line. We still have not heard from the county about presenting to them about our budget request.
New Business: none
Friends of the Library book sale is Tuesday, October 7th from 5:30 – 7:30 pm.
What are you reading? Sasha is reading The Ephemera Collector by Stacy Nathaniel Jackson, Diane is reading The Lady’s Knight by Amie Kaufman and Infinite Archive by Mur Lafferty, Heather is tackling The Hunchback of Notre Dame by Victor Hugo while Katie is enjoying Pax by Sara Pennypacker and Wish by Kyo Maclear with your students, Will is anxiously waiting for the new Dan Brown The Secret of Secrets while Mona is reading Kill the Messenger by Tami Hoag and Maggie recommends The Last Twilight in Paris by Pam Jenoff and Killing Monarchs by Cary Griffith.
The next meeting is scheduled for Wednesday, October 8th, 4:30 pm
Meeting adjourned at 5:15 pm.