International Falls Public Library Board of Trustees Meeting Minutes
April 8, 2026
Present: Diane Adams – Library Director, Heather Weaver, Maggie Horning, Mona Johnson, Cynthia Adams, Will Frank, Katie Winkel, Sasha Moss
Meeting was called to order at 4:30 pm by Frank.
Minutes – Horning moved and Weaver seconded to approve March 2026 minutes. All approved.
Bills
Adams, Diane – petty cash Supplies $4.07
Travel $10.00 $14.07
Friends of the Library Subscription $11.95
Subscription $191.88 $203.83
Ingram Books $1,427.14
Marco Equip Maint & Rep $256.47
Midco Communications $378.27
Midwest Tape AV $22.49
Subscription $1,181.06 $1,203.55
Playaway AV $951.75
TOTAL $4,435.08
Frank moved and Johnson seconded to approve the April 2026 bills. All approved.
Director’s Report – Circulation of physical items continues to drop, we are 8% below year to date compared with 2025. Digital circulation is going up, Hoopla was high again in March. However, it isn’t going up enough to make up for the physical circulation drop. We are 4% below 2025 year-to-date levels. Elementary Fun only had three at their March meeting, storytime has had around 15 each week except the first week of March when I had 38. 29 attended the Flightpath and Voyageurs Conservancy program on migrating birds. It was a wonderful program with great information shared by Jesse of the Conservancy.
We are struggling with staff absences due to illness, family medical issues as well as some vacations. That has made it difficult to do much more than maintain day to day operations. Next week I am hoping to get to the Annual Action plan for the year. We are getting there with the summer reading guide. Next Friday, I am planning to attend the Director’s meeting regarding city budgets and library support, being held at the Arrowhead Library System headquarters that was delayed due to the March snowstorm.
DAR presentation has been canceled due to illness of presenter. At this point in time, she is not planning to reschedule.
I looked into the Tonies and am willing to have a discussion about adding another format but think that adding the Wonderbooks for younger kids is more beneficial. They can follow along with the text in the book and begin to learn what books are. The Tonies just read the book, they don’t provide the text to follow along. They are for ages 8 and under and seem to focus on music and TV/Disney character books
Old Business: Regular programs include storytime, a monthly Saturday storytime, Elementary Fun and Crafters’ Café. Storytime will end April 30th, Elementary Fun’s last session for the school year will be April 22nd. We’ll do an April Saturday storytime on April 11th and a May Saturday Storytime on May 9th then take a break until fall. Olivia has begun taking the online storytime class offered by the state library. The hope is to get her comfortable planning and presenting storytime. 29 attended the second Flight Path program with Voyageurs Conservancy. A great presentation and then walk down to the river to see what birds were present. No eagles or pelicans. Final paperwork has been submitted for the Flight Path grant.
Summer Reading brochure is just about completed. Waiting to hear from Snap Fitness about the possibility of offering an afternoon Silver Sneakers class here at the library, or possibly a walking class. Class visits will occur in mid-May.
New Business: The library received a $50 donation from Tucky Dill in memory of Eugenia Jauma, $1,000 from United Way in support of books to kids and summer reading, $500 from Gene and Pat Kjellgren just because. Moss moved to accept the donations and Winkel seconded, all approved.
A discussion was had about summer hours due to county funding cut. Hours proposed were Monday, Thursday and Friday 10 am – 6pm, Tuesday and Wednesday 10 am – 7 pm. That is a cut of only four hours, but it will make a huge difference in scheduling. Motion by Frank, second by Adams to change summer hours as above. All approved.
The 2025-26 action plan was reviewed. This was the first year that a fair amount of the plan wasn’t accomplished, but other tasks were done as opportunities arose.
A rough draft of the proposed 2026-27 action plan was presented. Corrections and changes were discussed. A final plan will be presented for approval at the May meeting.
Friends of the Library book sale is Friday, June 5th from 11am –1pm.
What are you reading? Cindy just got her copy of Turtle Island the indigenous cookbook by Sean Sherman. Diane is enjoying both Growing Home by Beth Ferry and the Quiet Librarian by Allen Eskens, Katie is reading The Night We Met by Abby Jimenez and Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes by Suzanne Collins. Heather is reading the first book in the Zion Covenant series by Brock and Bodie Thoene, Vienna Prelude while Will is thinking about summer adventures with Minnesota Adventure Weekends, Sasha is having fun with Peterson’s Field Guide to Birds and cried and cried at the end of The Nightingale by Kristin Hannah and hasn’t read anything since. Maggie enjoyed John Grisham’s newest The Widow and Mona just picked up The Burnout by Sophie Kinsella.
The next meeting is scheduled for Wednesday, May 13th, 4:30 pm
Meeting adjourned at 5:50 pm.