International Falls Public Library Board of Trustees Meeting Minutes
August 10th, 2022
Present: Diane Adams – Library Director, Paul Nevanen, Heather Weaver, MaryJo Winkel, Mona Johnson, and Dick Peterson
Meeting was called to order at 4:30 pm by Nevanen.
Minutes – Johnson moved and Winkel seconded to approve July 2022 minutes. All approved.
Financial Report – Peterson moved and Winkel seconded to approve August 2022 bills. All approved.
Director’s Report – July circulation was quite a bit less than both June 2022 and July 2021. We are currently 7% above year to date compared to last year. The last couple of weeks of July saw quite a drop in program attendance as well. I think summer finally arrived and people were focused on being outside and doing things that they haven’t done in a while. Swim lessons were also held the last couple of weeks of July and several people said they saw our library regulars at swim lessons. Adult and Teen take out crafts went out like gang-busters in June, almost no requests for them in July and the last week we’ve had a lot of interest again.
Planning for fall has begun. We may be moving back to take out activities for Libratory. We have had a real mix of comments as we try to figure out which will get more kids involved. We may try and tweak the publicity and label the bags as an adult/child activity and encourage an adult to do the activity with a child in their life, otherwise we are really limited in the types of activities we can safely send home, which is why we were hoping to remain in person. But the parents most in favor of having activities here are also the ones who seem least able to get to the library at a specific time.
I have finished weeding the adult non-fiction section and hope to begin the adult fiction section later in August, once we have finished summer reading activities. I have also continued going through the policy manual and pulling out procedures and figuring out if policies need adjusting. I have also started thinking about our disaster policy and will be asking several questions at the board meeting about the focus of the disaster policy.
Old Business: Summer reading programming is wrapping up this week.
We have not heard a response to the letter we sent to the school district regarding the elementary library. In talking with a variety of board members, superintendent and others, they seem to have already made a decision and are just working out specifics, but access will be limited.
Monday, August 8, I presented the proposed 2023 budget to the city council budget committee, no further information at this time.
New Business: Director presented revised Reference Service and Programming policies for approval. Winkel moved and Weaver seconded to approve the policies as presented. All approved.
Director will be applying for a Hive grant to create neighborhood games and interactive stories.
Next Friends of the Library book sale will be Friday, August 26th from Noon – 4 pm.
What are you reading? – Dick is reading The Missing Piece by John Lescroat, Heather is enjoying The Fellowship of the Rings by JRR Tolkein, MaryJo recommends Bluebird by Genevieve Graham, Mona is reading Remarkably Bright Creatures by Shelby Van Pelt, Paul recommended Inspired by Matt Rictal and Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius by Dave Eggers while Diane was ho-hum about What We Were Promised by Lucy Tan.
The next meeting is scheduled for Wednesday, September 14th, 2022 at 4:30 pm.
Meeting ended at 5:05 pm.