Library Board of Trustees

RECEIVED By City Clerk at 1:46 pm, 1/25/22 Amesbury Public Library Board of Trustees Location: Amesbury Public Library, Amesbury Room Wednesday, November 10, 2021 7:00 PM Members present: Anne Campbell (AC), Bethany Sullivan (BS), Brenda Rich (BR), Delia Rinaldi (DR), Gail Browne (GB), Laurie Cameron (LC) Members Not in Attendance: Sarah Downs (SD), Nicole Harry (NH) Interim APL Director: Aimie Westphal Head of Archives and Special Collections: Meghan Fahey I. Call to order at 7:00 p.m. by Laurie II. Secretary’s Minutes: A. (October 2021 meeting) – Brenda makes a motion to accept the minutes as presented. Delia seconds. Unanimous. III. Budget Report: A. New line for library sick-leave buyback from two librarians who retired. Added a note on the other municipal funds that are encumbered. Meghan and Aimie met with CFO about trusts, and that will be reflected on the next report. IV. Communications: Laurie got a thank you note from Erin, the former director. V. Director’s Report: Got notification from the state that the library has been certified. A. Staffing: Filled part-time circulation position. She started Nov. 4. Changed other open position to a general librarian position. Posted externally today. Got permission from the mayor to hire two pages to help keep up with shelving. Had been using volunteers for shelving. Will keep that program but needed more regular hours. B. Facilities: Architect and engineer did an onsite visit on Nov. 3. Had space planning day last month, and it went well. Sourcing some new furniture for a few spaces. New inspector is coming to do an annual inspection next week. C. Closings/Delays: Closing for Veteran’s Day, Thanksgiving. D. Program Highlights: Outdoor craft program went well. Head of Youth Services has been doing school visits. E. Technology: MVLC helped fix broken switch ports. Working on getting additional public computers set up. Waiting to hear from Mayor if networking project qualifies for COVID Fiscal Recovery Funds. F. Aimie met with Mayor about goal setting. Each department needs 3 to 5 fiscal goals for the year. Trustees suggest making investing in what we would need to do to  start preparing for a potential building project one of the goals. VI. Committee Reports: A. Preservation committee: Met October 19. Minutes in packet. Tree that needed to be removed was taken down. Still looking at options for where historical collection should be stored while basement is closed. Recommend adding a facilities person on staff at least part time. City went to bid for new cleaning contract, and library was included in the bid. Discussed which capital improvement project to include. Meeting again next Tuesday. VII. Unfinished Business: A. Phone upgrade/networking project: See notes above. B. Library card age limits: Aimie reviewed policy and feels it needs a lot of work. Suggests holding off until the new director starts so we can review full policy instead of just the age limits. VIII. New Business: A. New acquisition: Another CH Davis landscape painting, this one of a Merrimack River scene, to add to the collection. Library has the largest accumulated collection of his work. Offered as a donation without restriction by an Amesbury resident who had it in his collection for 15 years. Meghan recommends accepting it. Suggested placement in the Amesbury room. Recommends getting it appraised, which would cost about $150. Gail makes a motion to accept the painting, Anne seconds. Unanimous. IX. Other: A. Election results. Still waiting on official results for the three write-in candidates. Laurie will check with clerk on Friday. B. Director search committee. Met last week. Six candidates being interviewed in first round. Gail shared questions from previous director search, some for search committee, some for Trustees to ask. Laurie suggested moving up Trustees regular meeting to 6 p.m. instead of 7 p.m. Discussed questions and the order we’ll ask them. X. Adjourn: Bethany makes a motion to adjourn at 8:03 p.m. Delia seconds. Unanimous.