Russell Library Board of Trustees

Governance Committee of the Russell Library Board of Trustees Regular Meeting, March 03, 2021, 5:00 PM (Online meeting via Webex) Minutes Present: Brandie Doyle (Assistant Director for Administrative Services), Jennifer Hadley (recorder), Bryan Skowera (chair), Alison Williams Absent: Gregory Harris, Thomas Russell IV 1. Call to Order: Chair Bryan Skowera called the meeting to order at 5:04 pm. 2. Approval of Minutes from February 3, 2021 Governance Committee Meeting Jennifer moved and Alison seconded the motion to approve the minutes. The motion passed unanimously. 3. Public Comment No public present. 4. Old Business a. Board Orientation Materials We reviewed the revisions of the Dear Incoming Trustee letter that Greg had volunteered to work on. Jennifer agreed to incorporate comments from the meeting into the letter prior to March 9. Bryan moved that the Orientation Packet be sent to the Board of Trustees for review on the 9th in advance of the regularly scheduled meeting in March, including any edits Jennifer makes to the Dear Incoming Trustee Letter. Alison seconded. The motion passed unanimously. b. Personnel Policy No updates. Brandie has not had the opportunity to meet with Ramona to review the policy. She doesn’t anticipate this will be ready for the April meeting, but we will leave it on the agenda. c. Collection Development/Material Selection Policy Brandie has made requested changes replicating language that Children’s and YA will follow general policies as well as special policies and inserted a line that people who want to make an objection may ask for assistance. The policy is timely because of the news that several Dr. Seuss titles will no longer be published due to problematic content. Based on Russell’s policy, the one title that is currently in the collection will not be removed, but it will not be replaced when it is worn out. Jennifer moved to approve the draft policy and advance it to the Board of Trustees. Alison seconded. The motion passed unanimously. Brandie will finalize all changes in the document and add it to the full board packet. The entire youth department has been going through a course called Project Ready, which covers the history of racism and how to provide more equitable resources and services in public libraries. She expects the department will conduct a full diversity audit. There is no coursework specific to the adult collection, but they will make use of as much of the curriculum as possible. d. Potential Engagement for Anti-Racist Policy Review Brandie reported that the library doesn’t have the funding to engage the Middletown Racial Justice Coalition this fiscal year. However, the staff has begun Awake To Woke To Work: Building a Race Equity Culture (https://equityinthecenter.org/aww/), which will provide some scaffolding to begin self-reflection and analysis about what the library is doing well and what needs improvement. The Equity and Justice team will draft an anti-racism policy based on the samples that Brandie included in the packet, and then the library could hire the MRJC to review that draft. Russell Library has signed onto the Urban Library Council’s statement against racism, which can serve as an interim guide. Two of the sample libraries have both anti-racism statements as well as goals on how they will be applied. There is no firm quote from the MRJC, but Brandie anticipates a policy analysis that will include some interviewing of staff and patrons will cost about $5,000. Brandie will bring the draft to the Governance Committee. It would not be issued until the MRJC has a chance to review. Alison offered to help review. She will send her guidelines for setting those policies. Brandie noted that this is a good chance for staff to learn how policies are formulated and to participate in their formation. Bryan will send the framework Awake To Woke To Work to the Board of Trustees so we can be on the same page as the staff. e. Meeting Guidelines Bryan suggested we review samples in the committee packet for the next meeting. Alison will share her powerpoint on setting meeting standards and demonstrate how to conduct the governance meeting following those types of guidelines. 5. New Business - none 6. Discussion of Items to be Placed on Next Agenda Personnel Policy Anti-Racism Policy Meeting Guidelines 7. Additional Public Comment - no public comment. 8. Meeting Adjournment -- Alison moved and Jennifer seconded the motion to adjourn the meeting. The motion passed unanimously. The meeting was adjourned at 5:57. Respectfully submitted, Jennifer Hadley