Library Trustees, Board of

City of Beverly, Massachusetts Public Meeting Minutes Board: Library Trustees Subcommittee: Date: October 26, 2021, 4:00 P.M. Place: Remote Meeting on Google Meet Board members present: Margaret Altman, Mary Behrle, Marshall Handly, Ivy Mahan, Colleen Michaels, Kevin O’Reilly, Joanne Panunzio Board members absent: Cathryn Keefe O’Hare, Myron Schirer-Suter Others present: Allison Babin, Meghan Karasin Recorder: Meghan Karasin Kevin O’Reilly presided. Meghan Karasin stated that the meeting was being recorded. Mary Behrle made the motion, seconded by Ivy Mahan, to accept the minutes of the meeting of September 28, 2021. Roll call vote approved, 6 to 0. Motion passed. Public Presentation None. Committee Reports Personnel: No report. Administration: No report. Finance: No report. Long Range Planning: No report. Report of the Library Director 1. Fiscal Year 2022 Budget: Allison Babin shared an update on the Fiscal Year 2022 budget. Everything is on target. Allison Babin explained that the holiday line is a new budget line this year, for custodians’ holiday pay. Funds will be moved from the custodian salary line to cover this. The custodians’ uniform stipend has been authorized and this payment should be reflected in the next month’s budget. Marshall Handly asked if they are required to spend it on uniforms Allison Babin explained that they are not, and it can be used for replacement cost of other clothing. Kevin O’Reilly asked about the computer maintenance line. Allison Babin explained that this covers the North of Boston Library Exchange (NOBLE) membership and technology support. The funds are encumbered at the start of the year and paid bi-monthly. 2. Building Issues: Joe Bonaiuto recently refinished the doors and they are beautiful. He’ll incorporate this maintenance into his yearly workflow. Joe and Mike Spiridigliozzi have initiated cleaning the carpets in the entire building. The 3rd and 4th floor have been completed to date. The carpet still needs to be replaced in the near future. There are no updates on the Heating, Ventilation, and Air Conditioning work at this time. Kevin O’Reilly asked to be at the meeting with Mike Collins when he shares updates. 3. Community Engagement: Kate Carpine, Children’s Librarian, made her first in-person visit to a 5th grade classroom since the pandemic. It was incredibly successful and she will be visiting an additional class in the coming month. Allison Babin read an excerpt from a note from a bookmobile patron in appreciation of Katie Marsh and the Bookmobile. Allison Babin joined the Council on Aging for their Walk in the Woods program, sponsored by Beverly Hospital. The Bookmobile will be part of downtown Trick or Treat on Thursday October 28. Katie Marsh and Allison Babin will dress in costumes and pass out coupons for free books at booksale. The Beverly Holiday Parade will resume this year and the Bookmobile, with Katie Marsh and Allison Babin, will be part of the parade. Ivy Mahan praised Katie’s work and welcoming nature on the Bookmobile. 4. Friends of the Beverly Public Library: The fall book sale will be Friday November 19 - Sunday November 21, with a preview night on Thursday evening for Friends members. The sale will be indoors in the Barnet Gallery only. Joanne Panunzio asked who is in charge of the book sale and if they are needing volunteers. Allison Babin explained that Beth Murphy, President of the Friends and Amy Whelan are managing the sale. Meghan Karasin will ask them about the need for volunteers. The Friends received over $36,000 in donations in honor of William G. Reinecke for purchase of nonfiction books in the areas of philosophy, science, and history. 5. North of Boston Library Exchange (NOBLE) Updates: NOBLE has prepared and approved their budget for Fiscal Year 2023. The library will see a 1.8% increase in the membership fee (from $58,879 to $59,939). The library’s OverDrive assessment is increasing by .1%. Beverly patrons are the highest users of the OverDrive collection but our additional purchases through the OverDrive Advantage program help to level off the assessment. Mary Behrle asked if the Reinecke donations could be used for OverDrive collection. Kevin O’Reilly asked if it can be used for online databases. Marshall Handly asked if it can be used for Beverly Room materials. Meghan Karasin and Allison Babin replied that it could be used for materials for the Beverly Room. It’s not clear if purchasing electronic resources would fit with the donor’s wishes. The Evergreen system is currently housed at NOBLE’s Danvers site but will move to cloud hosting this year. This move will give NOBLE greater flexibility with long term staffing and the ability to move to a smaller office space and will improve security. This change should be seamless to member libraries. 6. Holiday Closings: Because Christmas and New Years fall on Saturdays, the library will be closed Thursday December 23-Saturday December 25, and open on Sunday December 26. The library will be closed on Friday December 31-Saturday January 1, and open on Sunday January 2. The librarian’s union has signed a side letter agreeing that this satisfies the obligations for the holidays. 7. Personnel: The library has hired Jianna Christopher as a part-time reference librarian and Jillian Parson as an on-call substitute reference librarian. There are plans to hire one additional on-call substitute librarian. 8. Programs: For adults, Living Room Conversations will discuss race on the north shore, Monday Mornings has a program on owls, and author John Young will do a reading of his newest book. For teens, there is a halloween party, a downtown cleanup, and crafts. Childrens have a Halloween party at the Farms branch, lego club, and a new story time (Fran’s Frantastic Storytime) which is a collaboration with the Children’s Center for Communication/Beverly School for the Deaf. Communications None. Unfinished Business None. New Business None. The next regular meeting of the board will be held virtually on Tuesday November 16, 2021 at 4PM. The Fiscal Year 2023 Action Plan will be presented at the November meeting and a quorum will be needed to vote on it. There being no further business, the meeting was adjourned at 4:35 PM.