Library Board

MORGANTOWN PUBLIC LIBRARY Approved 05/18/2022 Minutes of the Regular Meeting April 20, 2022 Present: Absent: Also Present: Others Present: Sue Carpenter Sarah Palfrey Linda Durfee Kelly Funkhouser Meredith Hartery Judy Panagakos Penny Pugh Call to order The regular meeting of the Board of Trustees of the Morgantown Public Library convened via Zoom Video Conferencing on April 20, 2022. The meeting convened at 9:02 am, Judy Panagakos, President presiding, Kelly Funkhouser, secretary. Approval of the Minutes ● March 16, 2022 - The minutes were approved as corrected. Sue Carpenter moved. The motion passed unanimously. PUBLIC FORUM – None CORRESPONDENCE AND COMMUNICATIONS – ● Sarah Palfrey received a thank you note from Marion County Public Library for participating in the panel on the Future of Libraries in conjunction with their book discussion. ● Sarah Palfrey received the annual letter from Your Community Foundation for the recommended draw. The amount is a little over $20,000. The paperwork needs to be completed by December, 2022. REPORTS OF COMMITTEES/OFFICERS A. President – Judy Panagakos will be moving out of the area next month. She will be attending the next meeting and be resigning as a board member. B. Treasurer – o Financial Statements – The financial statements were reviewed and filed for audit. ○ Approval of Checks - Penny Pugh moved to approve checks as presented. The motion passed. REPORT OF THE LIBRARY DIRECTOR & BRANCH UPDATES ● March was generally busier with visitors and circulation. ● Sarah Palfrey reported 168 new library members: 30 new cards from Cheat Area Public Library. Abigail Cyphert visited Cheat Area Elementary School: 250 children make comic strips. They have seen a marked increase in foot traffic. Some of these families had not visited the Cheat Area Public Library before this. Abigail distributed stickers to the children who made comic strips saying, “I am a CAPL Author.” ● All facilities will be closed on Monday April 25th for our All Staff training day. ● In its first 2 weeks of public access to Kanopy, 108 accounts were created and 220 items were played. ● Significant changes coming to how we apply for Grants in Aid from WVLC. Everything has to go through the Administration portal, so all money that goes to any library through the state will be visible in one database. ● Sarah Palfrey has delegated the quotes for the new phone system to Jon Barker. ● Adult book selection has been reassigned to Crystal Lang. ● Sarah Scharf has been working on book processing standards for system wide use. Board Minutes – April 20, 2022 – Page 2 ● Monongalia County Broadband initiative meetings have been on a break as they transition to the next phase, and will restart this week. ● Sarah Palfrey attended the Public Library Association Conference in Portland, Oregon. One of the seminars focused on digital equity, digital inclusion, and broadband access. Even though access will be available county wide, there also needs to be groundwork for adoption by the public. ● Sarah Palfrey met with a possible summer intern offered through the Graduate School at West Virginia University. They discussed 3 possible projects and will meet again next week to firm up plans. The intern would work 20 hours a week from mid-May through early August. ● Sarah Palfrey would like to revisit the strategic/long range plan for post-COVID changes. ● Sarah Palfrey is reviewing checkouts by location spreadsheets. Thanks to Sarah Scharf for the spreadsheets. ● Corina Chang has made accessibility improvements to the website. She is now working on the Summer Reading Program, the Big Family Book Club and a new card design. ● Ryne Faber has been hired as the Cheat Area Public Library supervisor. He has worked at Cheat for 3 years, and is currently working on his MLIS. ● The Outreach, Programming, and Experiences position has been filled by Charlotte Chung. ● Clinton District Public Library has hired 2 new employees Lisa Martinelli and Angela Ratledge ● A new Part-time employee hired at Morgantown ● Amanda Young, Teen Services has returned from parental leave. ● There will be a job posting for a new Cheat part-time position to replace Charlotte’s and Ryne’s part-time positions. Ryne has also requested that one of the part-time positions be replaced with a full time one. ● Sarah Palfrey expressed thanks from the staff for the gift cards. They are very much appreciated. ● There are still gaps in staffing, a great need for someone to manage the Digital Library, staff training, development/volunteers, more programming (Adult and Kids), working with the affiliates. Some staff have requested a dedicated human resources person. Sarah Palfrey will look into contracted Human Resources as an option. ● There has been a huge increase in outreach opportunities. This will be a very busy weekend. The library will be represented at the Handmade market at the Rail Trail, a West Virginia University event, and the West Virginia Botanic Garden this weekend. ● Four staff members attended the Public Library Association Conference. All turned in written reports of their experiences. It was a great conference as always. ● Three staff will be attending the American Library Association Conference in June. ● Charlotte Chung presented a session on the birding backpack project for WVLA’s Spring Fling program earlier this month. ● Digital statistics were presented. ● Tessa Staubly added signs into plants to tie them to the collection. Sarah Palfrey has asked programming staff to point programs back to the collection. Shelby Donnelly’s book display which included many from the Fiction 101 program has been receiving attention and many of them are checked out. ● Branch updates – 1. Arnettsville Public Library: worked with the Health Dept. to hold a vaccine clinic, noted a great need for gravel in the parking lot. 2. Cheat Area Public Library: Staff shortages are being addressed – the library is too busy to just have one person when someone calls off or has a scheduled PDO, overall need for increased staff hours. 3. Clay-Battelle Public Library: The outside steps are roped off. The Monongalia County Facilities Manager says it’s next on their list of projects which is no change from last month. 4. Clinton District Public Library: All focus is on training new employees, but they, with the help of Darrin Baker, finished up their closet project. 5. AULL: No update. Board Minutes –April 20, 2022– Page 3 UNFINISHED BUSINESS ● COVID-19 plan – Sarah Palfrey gave a review of the current policy. If a staff member tests positive or is taking care of a positive patient, no sick time used. Also, we will continue to follow CDC guidelines. The current policy stands. ● Investment Committee – Penny Pugh and Sue Carpenter will work with the Investment Committee by scheduling a planning workshop. ● FY23 Proposed Budget Review - Sarah Palfrey presented a 2nd draft of the FY23 budget based on the budgeting workshop. Discussion followed. NEW BUSINESS - None BOARD COMMENTS – ● Linda Durfee asked about safety oriented items from the Public Library Association Conference. Sarah Palfrey said that Darrin Baker attended those meetings. Sarah Palfrey will share the reports she has from staff. EXECUTIVE SESSION – Personnel ● Linda Durfee made the motion to adjourn to an Executive Session at 10:39am. The motion carried. ADJOURNMENT – The open meeting resumed at 11:02 am. No action was taken. Meeting adjourned at 11:02 am. NEXT MEETING - May 18, 2022 at 9:00am – Annual Meeting via Zoom