Library Board

MORGANTOWN PUBLIC LIBRARY Approved December 16, 2022 Minutes of the Regular Meeting November 18, 2021 Present: Absent: Also Present: Others Present: Sue Carpenter Penny Pugh Sarah Palfrey Linda Durfee Kelly Funkhouser Meredith Hartery Judy Panagakos Call to order The regular meeting of the Board of Trustees of the Morgantown Public Library convened via Zoom Video Conferencing on November 18, 2021. The meeting convened at 9:01am, Judy Panagakos, President presiding, Kelly Funkhouser, secretary. Approval of the Minutes  October 21, 2021 - The minutes were approved as corrected. Linda Durfee moved. The motion passed unanimously. PUBLIC FORUM – None CORRESPONDENCE AND COMMUNICATIONS – None  Thank you note from Spruce Street United Methodist Church for help after their flooding. Darrin Baker was mentioned by name. REPORTS OF COMMITTEES/OFFICERS A. President – Judy Panagakos is continuing to work on the Memorandum of Understanding for the Appalachian Book Project. B. Treasurer – ○ Financial Statements - Financial statements were distributed via email, discussed, and filed for audit. ○ Approval of Checks – Meredith Hartery moved to approve the check report as presented. The motion passed. REPORT OF THE LIBRARY DIRECTOR & BRANCH UPDATES  October library usage was improved over September usage. 144 new cards were issued; this number includes 13 digital cards. Digital resources continue to be popular. The Clay-Battelle Public Library (CBPL)usage is slower than anywhere else and is not reviving. A new employee, hired for CBPL, is a college student and available limited hours. A staffing concern that we are facing is that coverage is difficult when one person is on vacation and one calls in sick.  There are a lot of potential changes in the upcoming budget. Sarah Palfrey is requesting a budget work session or a budget committee appointed. Judy Panagakos and Sue Carpenter will meet with Sarah Palfrey on December 3, 2021 for discussion.  The quarterly affiliate meeting will be held December 2, 2021. To be discussed is collection development policies and reconsideration of materials procedures. This discussion was part of the branch meeting this month. There have been wide spread calls for book banning and burning across the country. The main focus has been school libraries, however Sarah Palfrey is wanting all front line staff to know how to deal with this and how to answer question. Ryne Faber (Cheat Area Public Library staff member) is a current Master of Board Minutes – July 15, 2021 – Page 2 Library Science candidate, and is currently taking a children’s librarian class. The class is talking about this topic every week. Ryne Faber, Lynda Lukenbaugh, and Jon Barker are working together to put together a packet including Morgantown Public Library System’s policy, our mission statement, our vision statement, and the American Library Association’s Freedom to Read Statement, plus the Request for Reconsideration of Library Materials form. They will also put together some role play verbiage so frontline staff is made more aware. This will be shared at the affiliate meeting. Someone has casually questioned a new picture book on how babies are made. The person was offered the Request for Reconsideration of Library Materials form and they just walked out.  Sarah Palfrey received notification from Steptoe & Johnson of the final settlement of the Estate of Eva Jane Hudkins. The library will receive a check in the amount of $53,602.05.  There is grant money available from everywhere at the moment. Sarah Palfrey is currently interested in two. o American Rescue Plan: Humanities Grants for Libraries through the American Library Association for $10,000; 200 grants are available. o American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) grants through the West Virginia Library Commission have $600,000 available. There is no cap on the amount of the grant request. The Library Commission will be taking on a couple of state wide projects. This is a reimbursable grant and cannot be used for building. Ideas were discussed.  Robin Hess, the city grant administrator, and Sarah Palfrey discussed fundraising. Robin believes that the Friends of the Morgantown Public Library, because of their 501(c) (3) designation, could have a 1 to 2 year fundraising project making foundation grants more available. Corina Chang is working on a Giving Tuesday promotion. The Board urges Sarah Palfrey to hire a volunteer and outreach coordinator. UNFINISHED BUSINESS  COVID-19 plan – The library system will be having December in-person programming with limited numbers and social distancing.  Investment Committee – Since the last meeting, the Wells Fargo CD portfolio has been moved to United Brokerage. The Huntington portfolio will be moved on November 22. NEW BUSINESS  2021 Holiday Revision – Staff is hired to work specific or rotating Saturdays. Sue Carpenter moved that regularly scheduled part-time staff be paid for the two holiday Saturdays. The motion carried.  2022 Holiday Approval –After discussion, the Good Friday holiday is changed to Juneteenth Day holiday to be observed on Monday, June 20th in 2022. EXECUTIVE SESSION – Personnel Linda Durfee moved that the Board move in to Executive Session. The motion carried. The Board entered Executive Session at 10:10am. The regular meeting resumed at 10:21am. BOARD COMMENTS - None  Sue Carpenter wished everyone a wonderful Thanksgiving. ADJOURNMENT – Sue Carpenter moved to adjourn. The motion carried unanimously. The meeting adjourned at 10:25am. NEXT MEETING - December 16, 2021 at 9:00am