Library Board of Trustees

MEETING MINUTES OF THE BOARD OF TRUSTEES MARY RILEY STYLES PUBLIC LIBRARY Held in the Mary Riley Styles Public Library 120 N. Virginia Avenue Falls Church, VA 22046 April 20, 2022 1. CALL TO ORDER Chairperson Stephanie Oppenheimer called the meeting to order at 6:01 p.m. 2. ROLL CALL AND INTRODUCTION OF GUESTS The following Board members attended the meeting: Stephanie Oppenheimer Jeff Peterson Bizzy Bracken Patrick Cronin Chrystie Swiney (Participated electronically) Molly Novotny (Participated electronically) Janice Johnson Absence Excused School Board Liaison Sue Dimock was not present Youth Representative Erin Tarpgaard was not present Ms. Chrystie Swiney and Ms. Molly Novotny participated in the meeting via cell phone. Ms. Swiney stated that she was at home with a bad cold and Ms. Novotny was also at home since she tested positive for COVID. Upon a motion duly made by Mr. Cronin and seconded by Ms. Bracken, the Library Board unanimously moved to allow Ms. Swiney and Ms. Novotny to participate at tonight's Board meeting by conference call under the resolution adopting the policy for electronic participation in meetings. Others present for the meeting included: City Council member Marybeth Connelly, Youth Representative Raissa Borges and Mary Riley Styles Public Library Foundation Treasurer Jess Sabo. Library Director Jenny Carroll and Administrative Assistant Claudia Gutierrez were also present. 3. APPROVAL OF MARCH 16, 2022 MEETING MINUTES Upon a motion duly made by Ms. Bracken and seconded by Mr. Cronin, the Library Board approved the March 16, 2022 Meeting Minutes. 4. LIBRARY REPORT AND ANNOUNCEMENTS • Library staff and volunteers will be participating in the Memorial Day Parade. There will be no book carts this year. The Library Foundation can join library staff and volunteers. Former Library Board member Chet DeLong will be the Grand Marshal this year. 1  • At the April25 City Council meeting, the City's Emergency Management Coordinator Joe Carter will recognize contributions to the City of Falls Church during the COVID Pandemic. Ms. Carroll is one of the people to be recognized. Ms. Carroll will ask that library staff is also mentioned. EQUITY UPDATE A former Library intern and current Library Assistant I Substitute, Paula Hawkins, has been researching library history regarding access and segregation. She has encountered Board minutes as early as 1953 stating that the library operated on a non-segregated basis. Staff are discussing how to disseminate the research. Her report is expected to be finished at the end of the month. LIBRARY PROJECT UPDATE • Awaiting replacement tile for the staff restroom • Awaiting new exterior light fixture • PM Lionel Mallard will do a walk-through with The Mathews Group for added scope items. One of the items is the dumpster enclosure. They will also be reviewing the pricing for replacement ofthe RTU3 unit. • Assisted listening system installation is in progress for the conference rooms. Ms. Carroll showed pictures of the City Hall LEED plaque demonstrating how it might look once the library' s plaque is ready. Management Team is working on forming a volunteer group for doing some gardening in the rear of the library building. Ms. Sabo offered to delegate a volunteer group from the Foundation to help with it. Ms. Carroll will pass along the offer to Ms. Ripy and Mr. Ingeman. Ms. Carroll mentioned that the lightpole banners along Virginia A venue will be ordered by the end of June. 5.- COUNCIL LIAISON REPORT Ms. Connelly reported that Council is working on the budget. After discussion and deliberation, the full-time technology librarian position is included in the budget. There is no additional funding at this time for more positions. The technology librarian position will provide relief to overburdened staff. Primary responsibilities and projects for this position may include working on the new library website, maintaining the integrated library system, the catalog, self-check outs, catalog stations, print and time management system, data analysis/statistics, managing e-resources, and troubleshooting computers. The director and management team staff will continue to evaluate staffing and library hours. 6.- LIBRARY FOUNDATION REPORT Ms. Sabo presented the 2021 annual foundation financial report. The report included expenses and revenue results of the annual campaign. It also included the monetary support that the Foundation provided to the library. There was a considerable growth in revenue and a strong response from new donors. Ms. Carroll remarked on Ms. Sabo' s hard work including tripling the digital donations and 2 increasing volunteer support. Ms. Sabo reported that long term Library Foundation member Ed Rose is stepping down after many years of service (since the early 2000's). In May, there will be an election to replace Mr. Rose. There were suggestions on how to increase the contributions among community institutions including the new developments (e.g. Broad and Washington). Currently, the Foundation receives contributions from local business through sponsorships. However, it is important to recruit a corporate Sponsor Chair with experience in fundraising to reach out to area businesses. For the last couple of years, the library Director has requested Foundation funds to cover Freegal services, adult and teen book clubs, volunteer appreciation, and summer reading prizes. This year, she will request funds for additional adult programing that the library operational budget cannot cover. The Foundation will have a permanent place in the library building to promote the Foundation. A display will be installed near the main entrance. It will provide information about the Foundation and a QR code for easy access to donate. 7.- ARTS AND COMMUNITIES COUNCIL REPORT Ms. Swiney reported that at the March meeting they discussed the program Beyond Our Walls. It was mentioned that the library is working with American University on a pilot program to create learning opportunities in the community. This council will be meeting tomorrow. There are no items relevant to the library on their agenda. 8.- REVIEW OF CHAIR AND VICE-CHAIRS ROLES A library Board business meeting will be held in July/August. As per City code, Chair and Vice Chair will be elected within two months following annual appointments of new full-term members. The role of the Chair is to work with the library Director on planning the Board's monthly agenda and facilitates and ensures that the agenda is followed and items completed. The Chair works to make sure that all Board member participate in the meeting and discussions. The Chair also works as a liaison between Board members and the library Director. The Chair supports, counsels, and acts as a sounding board for the Director. The Chair also helps with team building within the Board, and acts as the spokesperson in front of Council and other entities. The role of the Vice Chair is to back up the Chair. 9.- FY2023 BUDGET DISCUSSION The Director reminded the Board ofthe upcoming event dates: April21 virtual public Budget Town Hall Meeting, April 25th budget public hearing in person and online as well, and May 2, Council will adopt the FY2023 budget. The Board discussed library operating hours and the impact of data including door counts and community use of the conference rooms. 10.- ON-GOING EQUITY DISCUSSION The new Collection HQ software implementation is in progress. This will be a tool for assessing 3  the collection including diversity and inclusion. The strategic planning request for proposals has been sent to five vendors. The scope includes a request for special attention to diversity and equity issues and methodologies to broaden feedback to include groups who may not participate in typical data gathering activities such as surveys. The Director reported that the circulation of the physical collection is increasing and e- resources, while still elevated, may return to prior COVID use levels. Programs and services have been increasing. Staff is working on creating more activities and building partnerships through outreach with schools and other community groups, including adults, seniors, children and teens. Story times are set to pre-register, with limited seating. 11. ADJOURNMENT There being no further business, upon a motion duly made by Mr. Peterson and seconded by Mr. Cronin, the Board of Trustees voted unanimously to adjourn the meeting at 7:29p.m. Respectfully submitted, Approved: Copies: Board ofTrustees, City Manager, Library Reference Desk, Staff Bulletin Board, City Clerk, Library Web Page The City of Falls Church is committed to the letter and spirit ofthe Americans with Disabilities Act. To !request a reasonable accommodation for any type of disability, call 703-248-5032, TTY 711. 4 Annual Donor Summary: MRSPL Foundation In 2021, we sent to 7,960 people: 667 donors and 7,291 patrons. We had a 1.4% return on the mailing to patrons . In 2020, we sent to 4,000 people : 540 donors and 3,460 patrons. We had a 3.2% return on the mailing to patrons. 2021 2020 2019 Expense $7,067.10 $5,058.44 $3,542.00 Printing $5,736 $2,673.96 $2,042.00 Postage (first class stamps) $1 ,331 $2,262.83 $1 ,500.00 Banners (2) $0 $121.65 Income $42,502.00 $39,711.57 $29 ,230.00 Checks $28 ,359 $26,724.62 $23,865 .00 Online $14 ,143 $12,986.95 $5,365.00 Net Revenue $35,434.90 $34,653.13 $25,688.00 2021 Info: Overall *345 total donors, 112 new (20 more donors total , but 10 fewer new donors than 2020.) * In 2021 our overall retention was 52% from 2020 (182 donors) . In 2020, we a/so had 52% retention. The industry average is 43% . * In 2021 ,we retained 32 % of the new donors from 2020. The 2020 retention of new donors was 20%. The industry average is 27% . • For Giving Tuesday, our PR chair spent $75 on bookmarks calling for donations. There were 7 brand-new donors for Giving Tuesday , who gave $285 . 2021 Campaign Report Total 342 donors, 99 new donors. About 40 more total donors than 2020, but 23 fewer new donors. For the 2021 Annual Campaign, 99 new donors gave $8722. That means that we did recoup the cost of the mailing, which technically makes it a success. However our returns on the patron mailing were way down from last year. Even personal leads, which had a 16% return last year, were at 2% From Patron List: 310 pieces of undeliverable mail (4%) (Same percent return as in 2020) From Donor List: 20 pieces of undeliverable mail (same increase as last year) We add'ed 156 emails to our list (70 of those were people who bought logo items). Conclusions & Suggestions for 2021 1. Over the course of the whole year, we made 20 ,000 more than in 2020: from total donations of 37,000 to 57,000. This was technically a very successful year! However, there was a slight downturn in the success of the 2021 Annual Campaign . A big chunk of our donations in 2021 came in before March , which means our success this year overall is due to a very strong 2020 Campaign. The 2021 Campaign met the bar of fundraising success, as we got a 1% return on the patron mailing , made back the cost of the mailing from those donations , and saw decent donor retention . However, we did not see any of the gains we hoped for from doubling our mailing to new donors. So far, we've made $4,000 less in 2022 than at this time in 2021 . I believe that we would need to focus on PR and donor retention efforts in the spring & summer of 2022 if we want to continue to grow. 2. Three theories for why the 2021 campaign wasn't as strong as 2020: we were not able to complete our plan for grassroots PR in December, because all three volunteers who run those projects had weeks of family illness. I think we might be looking at the impact of neglecting those efforts! The Foundation should build out its PR Committee, so that there are more volunteers to lean on. If the Board member overseeing PR becomes ill during the Campaign , they also need to be able to reach out to the rest of the Board to keep at least some PR projects going. Secondly, in 2020 we sent a donor retention mailing (the thank-you postcard in August). Perhaps we should try having at least one non-fundraising positive "touch" again this year, to see if it boosts retention . Third, a donor database linked to the library's patron records would mean that letters could be addressed to donors by name. This is proven to increase the number of letters that reach donors. and the rates of people open ing the letters. 3. This was our first year using an indicia . We saved lots of money, and I think we should try it again. But people do supposedly open letters more if they have stamps. Maybe a thought for 2023? 4. COVID and fa tigue were still a factor this season. I keep hearing from Welsh Printing that some fund raisers are really suffering . This may have been a factor. Returns rom the different categories of the patron mailing Leads- Card Recent Foundati Leads- 2016 Born 50-65 Patron Logo on Trustees Plus Totals % return 0.72% 1.08% 0.00% 1.96% 1.82% 0.53% 0.97 % #sent out 276 5543 49 51 55 1317 7291 #responses 2 60 0 1 1 7 71 Total$ 101.99 5185.2 0 100 50 430 5867.19 *not all donors from these lists were trackable, so these are part1al results 2021 Donation Amounts 2020 Donation Amounts • Donations $1-25 • Donations $1-25 • Donations $26-50 • Donations $26-50 • Donations $51-100 • Donations $51-100 • Donations $101-500 • Donations $101-500 • Donations $501-1000 • Donations $501-1000 • Donations $1000+ • Donations $1000+  Budget 2020 2020 Budget 2021 Income 0.00 81,805.65 0.00 116,100.19 Contributions at Fundraising Events 0.00 Donations 37,087 .00 56,112.94 Noncash contributions 0.00 0.00 Sales of Items 1,324.24 Investment Income - Dividends 12,167.09 1 11,999.15 Investment Income- Capital Gains Distributions 46,663.86 Expense (85,936.49) Mission to Library (16,716.00) (68,205.92) Operating Expense (11,743.10) (17,730.57) Contributions to MRSPL (67,300.00) Donations to Other Organizations (905.92) Grants to Individuals (1,700.00) {2,796.02) Fee for tax preparation 0.00 0.00 Advertising and Promotion (7,647.63) (7,671.47) Office Expenses (272.44) (666.45) Information Technology o.oo 1 0.00 State filing fees (75.00) 1 (75.00) Postage for mail solicitations (325.53) 1 {1,331 .10) Legal Fees (1,249.so> 11 (4,497.00) Miscellaneous (473 .oo> 11 (693.53) II Year-End Expense Total (28,459.1 o> 11 (85,936.49) Year- End Income Total 81,806.00 116,100.19 Budget Balance 0.00 53,347.00 0.00 30,163.70 Bank Balance Checking Endowment 12/31/2021 $ 16,025 .00 $ 730,785.00 Money to Vanguard Date Amount !rred from Vanguard to checking 12/31/2021 -$10,000  MARY RILEY STYLES PUBLIC LIBRARY BOARD OF TRUSTEES MEETING April, 20 2022 SIGN-IN SHEET NAME ADDRESS EMAIL ·ye~s SClJJ(', :301 R_,\~ · r o;;;LstJ.:> c (@) r~ '-'' ,cc.~ "_) J j Page 1