Library Board of Trustees

RECEIVED By City Clerk at 1:59 pm, 1/25/22 Amesbury Public Library Board of Trustees Location: Amesbury Public Library, Amesbury Room Wednesday, October 13, 2021 7:00 PM Members present: Anne Campbell (AC), Brenda Rich (BR), Delia Rinaldi (DR), Gail Browne (GB), Nicole Harry (NH), Laurie Cameron (LC), Sarah Downs (SD) Members Not in Attendance: Bethany Sullivan (BS) Interim APL Director: Aimie Westphal I. Call to order at 7:00 p.m. by Laurie II. Secretary’s Minutes: A. (September 2021 meeting) – Typo fix in preservation committee section. Brenda makes a motion to accept the minutes with typo fix. Delia seconds. Unanimous, with Nicole abstaining. III. Budget Report: A. Everything is on track. Aimie working on setting up meetings to get better insight on the Trusts, possibly adding that in the Other Funding section. Budget line names can be changed in SoftRight for clarity. Question on overtime amount. Checking minutes from past meetings for clarification. IV. Communications: Laurie got thank you note from Erin Matlin for gift card from Trustees. V. Director’s Report: A. Staffing: Erin’s last day was Sept. 24, and Aimie started as Interim Director. Staff survey circulating for feedback on what they want to see in the Library’s next director. Aimie will pass answers along to search committee. Part-time circulation assistant resigned. Aimie looking to fill the position as soon as possible to cover night and weekend hours. Adjusting open part-time reference/local history position job description to be general librarian position for more flexibility in what they can cover. B. Facilities: Things are moving forward with back wall and tree. Meghan and Aimie met with DPW. Waiting on vendors. Will be putting everything in SeeClickFix, and DPW will deny what they can’t work on due to staffing issues. That way the library will know what to move forward with on this end. Looking at alternative solutions for the archives. C: Closings/Delays: Got approval from the City to close next Thursday to give staff time to rearrange furniture/reorganize and make more efficient use of space. Will  have handyman in that day to help with small projects. Also got approval from City to close for New Year’s Eve, like other city buildings. Program Highlights: Youth Services is now fully staffed. Winter reading will be starting soon. Waiting to hear if networking project can be covered by COVID Fiscal Recovery Funds. Will be participating in Downtown Trick or Treat. Will have table outside the library for that this year. VI. Committee Reports: A. Preservation committee: Met Sept. 21. Gail will email minutes to Trustees. Reviewed long-range preservation plan and made notes. Gearing up to match up with overall library long-range plan. New building inspector starting soon. Should request a walk through. Looking for date for October meeting. B. Director Review committee: Laurie checking with Bethany to see if the review was submitted. VII. Unfinished Business: A. Vacant positions update: See notes above. B. Phone upgrade/networking project: See notes above. VIII. New Business: A. Interim director update: Assistant Director Aimie Westphal is serving as interim director. B. Search committee: Laurie and Bethany got email from Paul that the city is putting together a search committee with representatives from the city and Friends of the Library, and they want to include three library trustees. Looking for volunteers. Gail will email the Trustees a list of questions from the last search. Meetings will start soon. Hoping interviews will start in early November. C. Library card age limits: Before Erin left, wanted to update borrowing policy to drop age limit for library cards from 3 years to 0. Aimie wanted to see if that change would need to be voted on or if the whole policy would need to be reviewed. Laurie suggests Aimie email the policy to the Trustees with the redline of the proposed changed so Trustees can vote on it at the next meeting. IX. Other: A. Hotspots – Need to pass a hotspot policy before the new hotspots can start circulating. State provided a template. Gail suggests having a meeting before the November meeting to vote on those two policies. X. Adjourn: Nicole makes a motion to adjourn at 7:59 p.m. Delia seconds. Unanimous.