Library Board of Trustees

RECEIVED By Ellie at 10:54 am, 4/9/21 Amesbury Public Library Board of Trustees Amesbury City Hall Auditorium Wednesday, March 11, 2020 7:00 PM Members present: Anne Campbell (AC), Brenda Rich (BR), Bethany Sullivan (BS), Delia Rinaldi (DR), Gail Browne (GB), Laurie Cameron (LC), Michelle Lamott (ML), Nicole Harry (NH), Sarah Downs (SD) Members Not in Attendance: None APL Director: Erin Matlin I. Call to order at 7:03 p.m. by Laurie II. Secretary’s Minutes: A. (February 12, 2020 meeting) Bethany motioned to accept the minutes as presented. Delia seconded. Unanimous. Sarah abstained. B. (February 11, 2020 meeting) Bethany motioned to accept the minutes as presented. Nicole seconded. Unanimous. Sarah abstained. C. (February 26, 2020 meeting) Bethany motioned to accept the minutes as presented. Brenda seconded. 6 ayes, 3 abstentions. III. Budget Report: 1. Only line item that is over is training, which was anticipated. 2. Focus is on materials spending now as the end of the year approaches because it is part of meeting state aide requirements. IV. Communications: A. Laurie was able to get into Trustees email and had a few emails from Caitlin Thayer (communications director for the city) that Erin had already responded to B. Brenda received an informal communication from ACT asking about a grant they said they had received from library in the past. Erin is unfamiliar with what that grant might have been. Gail and Delia suggested it might have been from the cultural council, not the library. Erin will ask Clare Dombrowski (children’s librarian) to see if she knows anything about it. V. Director’s Report: A. A new page was hired and will be starting next week, so there are currently no open positions. The staff has started to prepare for summer reading. Tax forms are starting to come in.  B. John, the IT director for the city is leaving for a new job. Don’t know who his replacement will be yet. He will still be working for the city a few hours a week, but his availability will be limited. Asst. Director Aimie Westphal has been working with John to get information before he wraps up. C. Problems with the library server last week. John’s assistant came and inspected it. Goal is to get the library on the city’s network. Erin encouraged staff to move everything to Office 365. Server is still running, but Erin hopes to get John to look at it before his last day. Concern because the library’s internet stops working if server is off, which could be an issue if the server goes down. Gail asked Erin to ask mayor if we could get help from CommSat in the short-term if there is a problem. VI. Committee Reports: A. Preservation Committee: Met Tuesday, March 10. Discussed: 1. Friends of the APL proposal to provide funds on a yearly basis for programming and one big project that’s visible. 2. LSTA grant: Trustees will write a letter of support, like what was written for MCC Capital Fund grant. 3. MCC Capital Fund grant outcome expected in June. It is a matching grant. Trustees will need to provide some from state aide/trusts and get city organizations to donate. Might need up to $20,000. 4. Mayor asked library to put in requests for capital project. Committee suggested mirroring grant projects and including larger items from building inspectors review 5.Will be coordinating maintenance plan/preservation plan with long range plan. B. Long-Range Plan Committee: Met Wednesday, March 4. Discussed: 1.Approved moving forward with proposal from Patty DiTullio, Director of the Ipswich Public Library to act as a consultant for new long-range plan. 2.Will update Board in June after focus groups and community survey are complete. Vote needed on final plan in September so it can be submitted by October 1, 2020. C. Finance Committee – Met Monday, February 24 and Monday, March 4 for follow-up review of budget recommendations. Erin, Laurie, and Gail met with Mayor Tuesday, March 10. Found out she wants the entire budget in the new format, not just new requests, and union increases do need to be included even though the contract hasn’t been signed yet. Erin is working on an updated budget and will review with finance committee and ask Mayor/CFO to review before we vote again to make sure it is in the right format. Planning to resubmit in April. VII. Unfinished Business: None VIII. New Business:  A. Library Card, Purchase Approval – Had to buy more library cards. Cost will come out of state aide. No need for Board to approve. B. LRP Consultant, Vote needed for payment – No need for vote. Cost for long- range plan consultant was approved by Laurie. IX. Other: 1. Laurie confirmed that Sarah knew she had been added to the preservation committee. 2. Laurie got an email from the mayor about public meetings and making sure all boards and committees are meeting in a public space (either city hall or the high school library). Laurie submitted the calendar of Library Board meetings for the year and is getting confirmation on if subcommittees can still meet at library. 3. Erin will be holding staff meeting tomorrow on coronavirus, as well as the 2020 Census. There will also be a department head meeting tomorrow, and Erin will bring list of programming for guidance from Mayor’s office on how to proceed. Current guidance from Mayor: hand washing, social distancing, and stay home if you feel sick. Library may cancel programming because many of the main audiences are elderly or young children. Erin spoke with cleaner about additional sanitization. MBLC is only holding virtual sessions, rescheduling and cancelling programming. Deliver service has not been cancelled yet. Children’s room is putting away stuffed animals and some other puzzles and toys. Friends are looking at whether or not to keep accepting donations. Erin expects there may be staffing issues, so there might be times the library will have to close. Library is extending loan periods, clearing fines, and reminding people about OverDrive. Erin will speak to state aide specialist about if these closings would affect hours open. 4. Census employee coming on March 17 to set up table and inform patrons about the 2020 U.S. Census. X. Adjourn: Bethany made a motion to adjourn at 8:03 p.m. Nicole seconded. Unanimous.