Board of Trustee Meeting Minutes of March 19, 2024
Board members present in-person: Craig Beals, Michael Garrard, Todd Liston, Rhonda Moade, Debbie Scott and Debbie Walls
Board members absent: Guy Rumler
Total board members present: 6
Library staff present: Doug Roberts, Director; Janice Shick, Bookkeeper; Mindi Williamson, Children’s Librarian
Library staff absent: None
Guests present: None
Public Present: None
Meeting called to order at 5:41 p.m.
Action Items:
- Approved to accept the February 20, 2024 board meeting minutes as written, with no changes. A roll call of six approved.
- Approved the February Check Register results as presented by bookkeeper, Janice Shick. A roll call of six approved. Board was also provided with a brief review of the month/year-to-date balance sheet results and the aged payables report.
- Reviewed the submitted lawn care bids for the summer of 2024. A motion to approve the bid by Parkhurst Landscaping was made. The motion was approved on a tally of five yes votes to one no vote.
- Approved the naming of Doug Roberts and Mindi Williamson as Freedom of Information Officers (FOIA) for FY25. A roll call of six approved.
Discussion Items:
President’s report highlighted the following:
- No report
Board heard Director’s report which highlighted the following:
- T-Graphics recovered the bookshelves that changed from non-fiction to fiction; updated the individual shelf markers based on our recent weeding efforts; added a covering to the newly revised south shelf; and added graphics to the wall above the computer workstation that is adjacent to the public access computer area. The work was completed on Thursday, February 29.
- Installation of new meeting/study rooms began on Monday, March 11 and were completed on Wednesday, March 13. We already had several uses out of both larger rooms as well as a number of individuals utilizing the newly constructed privacy pods.
- Was a panelist at the quarterly Crawford County Community Leaders Alliance meeting on Friday, March 1. Informed the group about the different children-related activities at our individual libraries in the district.
- The new electric panel in the west furnace room and the wiring for the new meeting/study rooms was installed on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday, March 6, 7 and 8. Also, identified a couple of additional panels that also need to be replaced at a later date.
Board heard the Children’s Librarian report:
- Mindi and Doug conducted STEM projects with Lincoln Grade School 4th Grade classes on Wednesday, March 13 and Thursday, March 14. In all, we had 75 children over the five different classes. The program was a reward for the kids achieving their Accelerated Reader (AR) goals.
- Mindi will be attending the Family Night at Washington Grade School later in the week. She will have a table with an craft activity, along with library information, for those in attendance.
- The cast of “A Year with Frog and Toad” did a reading of the play that will be performed at Lincoln Trail College April 12-14 and 19-21, on Saturday, March 16 at 2 p.m.
- We will have an Easter Egg hunt following story hour on Wednesday, March 27. Miranda Waddell will be filling in for Mindi that week.
Debbie Scott summarized upcoming events and Michael Garrard made a motion for adjournment. All were in favor.
Meeting adjourned at 6:23 p.m.
Respectfully submitted,
Michael Garrard, Secretary
Deborah Scott, President
Board of Trustee Meeting Minutes of February 20, 2024
Board members present in-person: Michael Garrard, Todd Liston, Rhonda Moade, Guy Rumler, Debbie Scott and Debbie Walls
Board members absent: Craig Beals
Total board members present: 6
Library staff present: Doug Roberts, Director; Janice Shick, Bookkeeper; Mindi Williamson, Children’s Librarian
Library staff absent: None
Guests present: None
Public Present: None
Meeting called to order at 5:01 p.m.
Action Items:
- Approved to accept the January 16, 2024 board meeting minutes as written, with no changes. Roll call of six approved.
- Approved the January Check Register results as presented by bookkeeper, Janice Shick. Roll call of six approved. Board was also provided with a brief review of the month/year-to-date balance sheet results and the aged payables report.
- Approved the six months Statement of Receipts and Expenditures for the period of July 1, 2023 to December 31, 2023. Roll call of six approved.
- Approved the estimate from First Choice Electrical to replace the old Federal Pacific electrical panel in the west furnace room and run electric from that new panel to, and through, the southwest wall for the new study/meeting rooms. Roll call of six approved.
Discussion Items:
President’s report highlighted the following:
- No report
Board heard Director’s report which highlighted the following:
- Submitted the FY24 Per Capita Grant Application along with the FY22 Per Capita Expenditures report on Friday, January 5. Also submitted was our signed Illinois State Library Certification of Eligibility for Grants form along with our Anti-Censorship Policy, which was adopted on June 20, 2023.
- CTI installed our new digital sign at the Robinson facility on Friday, February 2. We had some difficulty with getting the sign online initially, but we are running well now.
- The “Vault” was completely torn down on Friday, February 2. We are still in the process of weeding and moving books. These are the current tasks associated with the installation of our new meeting rooms.
- Scheduled Mindi Williamson and the three branch managers to attend the Reaching Forward South Conference, which is a professional development event for library support staff in central and southern Illinois. The event is sponsored by the Illinois Library Association and will be held on Friday, April 19, 2024 at the Doubletree Hotel in Collinsville.
- Director scheduled to attend the Solar Science for Librarians workshop on Thursday, Mar. 7, 2024 from 10:00 am to 4:00 pm at SIU’s Dunn-Richmond Economic Development Center in Carbondale. The event is sponsored by The Illinois State Library, in collaboration with Star Net and SEAL (Solar Eclipse Activities for Libraries).
- Board member statements of economic interest forms are due at the Crawford County Clerk’s office by Wednesday, May 1, 2024.
- Attended the James Jones Society zoom Meeting on Tuesday Feb 20, 2024 ⋅ 10 am – 11 am. There is interest in improving the visibility of the James Jones collection and the group is looking for library assistance.
- A majority of library staff was able to attend one of the two scheduled Aspen Discovery user experience sessions via Zoom on either Tuesday, January 30 or Wednesday, February 7. Mindi and I attended a meeting on February 20 that delved into additional customization of our new site.
- Hired Trevor Poorman for the janitor position, replacing Don Shick. His start date was January 29. Also hired Christine Cornwell as a substitute, primarily for Flat Rock. Her start date was February 6.
- Submitted the lawn care bid for the coming mowing season to the Daily News on February 14. Sealed bids are due on Friday, March 15 by 4:30 p.m.
Board heard the Children’s Librarian report:
- No report.
Debbie Scott summarized upcoming events and made a motion for adjournment. All were in favor.
Meeting adjourned at 5:54 p.m.
Respectfully submitted,
Michael Garrard, Secretary
Deborah Scott, President
Board of Trustee Meeting Minutes of January 16, 2024
Board members present in-person: Michael Garrard, Todd Liston, Guy Rumler, Debbie Scott and Debbie Walls
Board members absent: Craig Beals, Rhonda Moade and Guy Rumler
Total board members present: 4
Library staff present: Doug Roberts, Director; Janice Shick, Bookkeeper; Mindi Williamson, Children’s Librarian
Library staff absent: None
Guests present: None
Public Present: None
Meeting called to order at 5:02 p.m.
Action Items:
- Approved to accept the December 19, 2023 board meeting minutes as written, with no changes. Roll call of four approved.
- Approved the December Check Register results as presented by bookkeeper, Janice Shick. Roll call of four approved. Board was also provided with a brief review of the month/year-to-date balance sheet results and the aged payables report.
Discussion Items:
President’s report highlighted the following:
- No report
Board heard Director’s report which highlighted the following:
- Scheduled Friday, February 2, 2024 as the date for CTI to come out and install our new digital sign at the Robinson facility.
- Scheduled Monday and Tuesday, March 11 and 12 as the install dates for our new meeting/study rooms. We have started weeding efforts and moving books and DVDs to make space for the new rooms.
- This year’s statements of economic interest forms are due to the County Clerk’s office by May 1, 2024.
- Provided key dates for Aspen Discovery, our new online card catalog. Our tentative ‘Go Live’ date is February 20, 2024.
- Finalized details with Newsbank on Wednesday, January 10, 2024. We are now ready to implement on our website.
- Participated in first Continuing Education Advisory Committee on Wednesday, January 10, 2024. Committee membership is for a three-year period.
- We received a sizeable donation to our genealogy department from the wife of a former Crawford County resident. Part of the donation will be used to digitize 14 microfilm rolls of the Robinson Constitution. We will also explore digitizing some bound editions of the Oblong Gem, provided that the process to digitize them will not jeopardize the quality of the documents. All of the digitized material would be included on our library website.
Board heard the Children’s Librarian report:
- We Santa and the reindeer at the library on Tuesday, December 12. We had over 300 people in attendance for the event.
- We submitted our order for Summer Reading 2024 materials. We have lined up all of our performers for this year’s dates.
Debbie Scott summarized upcoming events and made a motion for adjournment. All were in favor.
Meeting adjourned at 5:35 p.m.
Respectfully submitted,
Michael Garrard, Secretary
Deborah Scott, President
Board of Trustee Meeting Minutes of December 19, 2023
Board members present in-person: Craig Beals, Michael Garrard, Todd Liston, Guy Rumler, Debbie Scott and Debbie Walls
Board members absent: Rhonda Moade
Total board members present: 6
Library staff present: Doug Roberts, Director; Janice Shick, Bookkeeper; Mindi Williamson, Children’s Librarian
Library staff absent: None
Guests present: Jodi Truitt, Kemper CPA Group
Public Present: None
Meeting called to order at 5:27 p.m.
Action Items:
- After hearing the presentation of results concerning the library’s FY23 annual audit by Jodi Truitt of Kemper CPA Group LLC, the board approved to accept the findings of that audit. Roll call of six approved.
- Approved to accept the November 21, 2023 board meeting minutes as written, with no changes. Roll call of six approved.
- Approved the November Check Register results as presented by bookkeeper, Janice Shick. Roll call of six approved. Board was also provided with a brief review of the excess of accumulated funds report in addition to the month/year-to-date balance sheet results and the aged payables report.
- Approved the FY2023 Annual Treasurer’s Report. Roll call of five approved.
- Approved the quote for new meeting rooms to be installed along the southwest wall in the adult reading section of the Robinson Public Library. Roll call of five approved.
- Approved the adoption of a new paid time off policy for the district, effective January 1, 2024. Roll call of five approved.
- Approved a quote for implementation of Newsbank products America’s News & Heritage Hub on the Robinson Public Library website and on district public access computers. Roll call of five approved.
Discussion Items:
President’s report highlighted the following:
- There was no report but Debbie summarized a conversation that she had with the library’s social media support person, Paige Hensley, at the staff Christmas party regarding television marketing of the library.
- Recounted the nice time that was had at this year’s Christmas party and thanked everyone for their part in this year’s event.
Board heard Director’s report which highlighted the following:
- Robinson Public Library District has been selected to participate in the second Aspen Discovery implementation cycle. The second cycle will start training in late January with a tentative ‘Go Live’ date of February 20, 2024. Aspen is a new technology, called a “discovery layer” that will integrate with Polaris, our integrated library system (ILS), and replace our existing Online Public Access Catalog (OPAC).
- Scheduled Friday, February 2, 2024 as the date for CTI to come out and install our new digital sign at the Robinson facility.
Board heard the Children’s Librarian report:
- We participated in the mother and baby expo sponsored by the Crawford County Health Department.
- We hosted students from Mrs. Valerie Vermilya’s special needs class. The group participated in a story time and a craft during their visit.
Debbie Scott made a motion for adjournment. All were in favor.
Meeting adjourned at 7:01 p.m.
Respectfully submitted,
Michael Garrard, Secretary
Deborah Scott, President