International Falls Public Library Board of Trustees Meeting Minutes
June 11th, 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 Misner seconded to approve the May 2025 minutes. All approved.
Bills – Winkel moved and Frank seconded to approve the June 2025 bills. All approved.
Director’s Report – May circulation was a very disappointing 26% lower than April and 21% lower than May 2024. Adding in digital loans we are just under 1% above year-to-date compared to 2024. The last Thursday storytime had 35 in attendance, the last Saturday storytime had 12. Approximately 40 people, 12 families participated in the craft on Saturday with 64 attending the marvelous Charlie Maguire, Going to Bartalina concert. The next week we had 60 2nd graders volunteer at the library to help us prep for summer reading, followed by 25 adults attending the workshop on “Getting Your Ducks in a Row” and leaving with a personalized and notarized advance directive. The next day I was able to visit two sixth grade classes and leave summer reading material for the rest of the sixth grade as well as 7th and 8th grade students. The week after Memorial Day we had 9 for crafters’ café and then on Wednesday I visited the final two first grade classes and let them pick out their “Welcome to the World of Reading” book and distributed summer reading information.
Summer Reading began last week on Monday. Tuesday we had 71 attend the comedic magic show with Brodini, 15 attend Libratory on Wednesday, 41 attend storytime on Thursday and I’ll have Big Play numbers for you on Wednesday. All this without our intrepid summer help, who is enjoying (we hope) her graduation present of a 2 week trip to Italy. Thank you to Missy for stepping in and helping us survive the first 2 weeks of summer.
Midco decided the first week of June was a good time to implement upgrades to their system, so wireless and phone access has been spotty both Wednesday and Thursday. Horizon (our integrated library system) and citrix (a platform they use to send us the ILS) were having issues and we ended up on Wednesday having two of our three circulation computers not working the first couple hours of the morning while a fix was worked out.
I am also on the last month of a four-month jury stint. I haven’t served on a jury but have had to report three times and have been warned that one more jury trial is expected before the end of the month. But we are adapting and coping to whatever each day throws at us.
Old Business: Summer is here. Regular programming includes Libratory, storytime and Big Play each week. We are also providing a different community word or math game each week. The library has put together takeout crafts for teens and adults in June and July, August’s takeout craft is being provided by ALS.
No word has been received yet on the NEA Big Reads grant. We have signed the contract for the state Parks pass and we will be keeping our two passes (even though based on population size, it was indicated we now only qualify for one pass.)
We have heard that the county releases its Funds Application forms on or about June 16th. We are supposedly on the list to receive the forms and will work on getting them filled out and returned to the county to be included in the list of organizations requesting funds from the county.
New Business: Frank moved and Johnson seconded to accept the $250 donation from the Bond Skrief fund to purchase award winning children’s books.
The board conducted the director’s annual review and it was signed by the president and the director.
Friends of the Library book sale is Monday, July 7th from 5 pm – 7 pm.
What are you reading? Mona just picked up Misery by Stephen King and several of us said, not something we’d ever read, while other’s said he is a good author. Diane is really enjoying The Briar Club by Kate Quinn. Katie is balancing her reading between My Friends by Frederick Backman and The Women by Kristin Hannah and Sasha is tackling All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr.Heather is reading Between the Sound and the Sea by Amanda Cox and finished He Should Have Told the Bees by the same author and Keeper of the Bees by Gene Stratton-Porter. Will is reading Surrounded by Idiots: the four types of human behavior and how to effectively communicate with each in business and in life by Thomas Erikson while Maggie just picked up The Aviator’s Wife by Melanie Benjamin and is hoping it will jolt her out of her reading slump.
The next meeting is scheduled for Wednesday, July 9th, 4:30 pm
Meeting adjourned at 5:20 pm.