Pollard Memorial Library Board of Trustees

POLLARD MEMORIAL LIBRARY BOARD of TRUSTEES Minutes Meeting took place on May 5, 2021, by conference (Zoom) call.  Call to Order o Meeting was called to order by Donna Richards at 5:33 pm.  Attendance: Present: Excused: Victoria Woodley, Director Christine O’Connor Donna Richards, Chair Anne Mulhern, Vice Chair Linda Kilbride, Secretary Suzanne Frechette Syed Hasan Helen Littlefield Sara Marks Muriel Parseghian Katy Aronoff (Associate) Amy Watson (Associate) Guest: Belinda Juran  Acceptance of / Amendment to Agenda o The agenda was unanimously approved on a motion by Linda Kilbride and seconded by Donna Richards.  Meeting Minutes – April 7, 2021 o The meeting minutes were unanimously accepted on a motion by Suzanne Frechette and seconded by Donna Richards. Correction to minutes prepared April Directors report, not March  FY22 Budget Update o Victoria Woodley informed the group we have a budget that finance department is giving to city council on May 25th. The budget is $1,379,653. It is less than asked for and does not meet municipal requirement by $62,000. It is a cut of 3.7% cut from FY21 budget.. We should be able to get a waiver. There were no full-time vacancies approved and we cannot hire coordinator of tech services. It will fund part time vacancies. o We are meting state aid requirements for open hours. o The June 8 City council meeting will be a public hearing. o There was a discussion about city comparisons for funding and how to address the city council.  Ethics and Open Meeting Law follow up o The website has been fixed and the trustees can now take the training for ethics and open meeting laws. o Vicky will send out the link.  CARES Act Update o No responses from state about CARES act. We will not be able to use a lot of this money.  o Have $44000 worth of items to purchase but we cannot get approval. o Donna will email Conor and Shad and say we are concerned about the Cares Act. Will list all names of Trustees.  Strategic Plan Update o There was a meeting today to review stakeholders. 58 identified, focus groups to be held, one on one interviews, 160 surveys received, send out survey to people you know At least 2 weeks until focus group starts, Katy asked that Vicky send out link to public survey.  Developing Leaders – Outreach Committee Report o Muriel Parseghian and Donna Richards as members of the Trustee Outreach Committee were invited by Belinda Juran and Niki Tsongas, two members of the Foundation Outreach Committee to brainstorm ideas to enhance awareness and advocate for the library. This was an exploratory meeting. o Next steps will be to have the Trustee Outreach Committee meet. Muriel Parseghian, Donna Richards (PML Foundation), Helen Littlefield (Friends of the PML), Katy Aronoff. o And from this same meeting we talked about the value of having a library staff member participate in the Lowell Plan Public Matters class annually. Public Matters is a leadership initiative of The Lowell Plan conducted in partnership with Lowell National Historical Park. We thought that representation from the library would be a way to bring about awareness of the library, establish relationships in the community, and perhaps inspire a fellow attendee to join one of the boards. Participating in continuing education is its own reward. o We have reached out to Victoria Woodley about this idea, and she supports it. o Amy expressed interest in going to Public Matters  Chairperson’s Report o I have requested to present the Annual Report, on behalf of the trustees, at the May 18th City Council meeting. My concern is not receiving adequate funding in the FY22 budget to meet the MAR. Is there anything you think we should focus on, highlights, concerns, etc. o Please complete the survey sent specifically geared to us.  Governance Committee Report - By-Laws Update o We do not have the revised By Laws to present tonight. The Governance Committee (Suzanne Frechette, Anne Mulhern, Sy Hasan, and Muriel Parseghian with Chair Donna Richards) met via Zoom on March 18th to review the bylaws. We have requested that Christine O’Connor meet with the subcommittee to review our edits. We feel it will save time if she reviews it first for anything we added / deleted that is not compliant with the City Ordinance. Once that is done the bylaws will be sent to the full board for review / comment (at least 30 days in advance of a meeting). o The Legal Department has been short staffed, and Christine O’Connor has apologized for not being able to attend meetings or get back to us. I understand these are unprecedented times. At this time, it is not critical that we have these changes made so I think we can be patient.  Art Committee Report o At the April meeting Sara Marks raised the question ‘what do other libraries do regarding display/acceptance/safety of art’. o It was determined that based on research from the American Library Association and the history of the Pollard Library that art is an important part of the library collection, and all communities and points of view should be considered when including art selections.  o Part of our website includes the art collection at the library. There was a brochure created in 2012 which needs to be updated. o In December of 2012, a fabulous brochure was created. It does not have the Audubon prints, restoration of GW, or the purchase the Trustees made for the YA area ‘Bookworms”.  Materials Selection Policy and Reconsideration Form Discussion o The question was “Is there anything that needed to be added or changed in this policy?” It was agreed that the policy does not need to be changed.  Directors Report (Victoria Woodley) o Victoria prepared the April Director’s Report and distributed by email. o There were no questions. o As of April 30th, we are no longer quarantining materials and libraries are now at 50% capacity, o We will be stopping appointments in a couple of weeks but will keep occupancy at less than 100 people at a time. o Capacity limits in rooms will be posted. o Open the stacks. o First floor and children’s area will be opened. o More seating o Monitor time spent per person. o Disinfecting and cleaning will be done less frequently. o Target beginning of August for 100% capacity. o Requesting new security person for July  Foundation Report (Donna Richards) o March - There were the usual updates and follow-ups BUT as the Foundation is focusing on our goals, we reviewed a report which looked at 21 MA libraries, selected for similar size, geographic location to PML, or being a gateway city. We specifically wanted to know what other Foundations do. There were only 7 of the 21 with Foundations, many libraries have only a Friends group. It was a fruitful exercise as we found opportunities to enhance our visibility and fundraising efforts. We will use this information as we move forward and think about our own goals. o April – The Author Night Event went quite well. Fiona Davis was engaging, informative and entertaining. She talked about how she wrote and researched her books. Fiona shared her story of continually reinventing herself at different times of her life. It made me think how we had to reinvent this event!! We received many positive comments. o The next meeting is scheduled for May 19, 2021, at 8:30am via Zoom.  Friends of the Library Report (Helen Littlefield) o The next meeting this coming Saturday, 10am Boarding house park  Adjournment o The meeting was adjourned at 7:07 PM on a motion by Donna Richards and seconded by Suzanne Frechette, all in attendance were in favor. o The next meeting is scheduled for Wednesday, June 2, 2021at 5:30pm. o We take July and August off. We meet again Wednesday, September 1, 2021 – let’s hope in person.