Library Board

MORGANTOWN PUBLIC LIBRARY Approved November 2, 2023 Minutes of the Regular Meeting October 5, 2023 Present: Absent: Also Present: Others Present: Sue Carpenter Linda Durfee Sarah Palfrey Meredith Hartery Amy Loomis Kelly Funkhouser Alexandria Svolos James Spears, V Call to order The regular meeting of the Board of Trustees of the Morgantown Public Library convened on October 5, 2023. The meeting convened at 9:05 am, Sue Carpenter, President presiding, Kelly Funkhouser, secretary. Approval of the Minutes  Regular Meeting September 7, 2023 - The minutes were approved as corrected. Alexandria Svolos moved. The motion passed unanimously. PUBLIC FORUM – None CORRESPONDENCE AND COMMUNICATIONS - None REPORTS  President – None  Director – See Director’s Report – Sarah Palfrey highlighted the book trails. She gives a shout out to Cathy McMaster who has stepped in and managed our book trail system. She has helped every branch put one together and implement it in their communities. City Council loves the book trails and has received comments from their ward constituents. The Monongalia County park system says yes without hesitation when asked. A couple of schools have had book trails fairly regularly. There have been pop-up book trails in conjunction with one day festivals. Ruth Godfrey plays a large part by assisting Cathy. StoryFest is planned for April. This is a system wide event to take place downtown Morgantown. The budget proposal for StoryFest is targeted for the November meeting including goals for sponsorship. The estimate is for 500-1000 to attend.  Treasurer – o Financial Statements – The financial statements were reviewed. Sue Carpenter moved that the financial statements be filed for audit. The motion passed. After discussion, it was decided that interest income over and above the budgeted amounts would be reflected in the Morgantown Public Library operating budget. This way a lump sum could more easily be identified for use in additional board approved projects. ○ Approval of Checks –Meredith Hartery moved to approve checks as presented. The motion passed. REPORTS OF COMMITTEES A. Investment Committee – None B. Facilities Committee – Sarah Palfrey will update Darrin Baker’s facilities improvement document. Sue Carpenter looked at the City of Morgantown’s Comprehensive Plan which includes a possible facility plan for the Morgantown Public Library. The library is listed as an action item. UNFINISHED BUSINESS - None Board Minutes – October 05, 2023 – Page 2 NEW BUSINESS -  Unattended Children – Sarah Palfrey asked for questions, comments, or changes. Linda Durfee is proofing it. This is a new policy. The updated policy will be presented as old business at the November board meeting.  Budget Adjustment – The Clinton District Public Library has begun updating/replacing the walkway/ramp. The request is to use fund balance to pay for this project instead of using the current operating budget. Meredith Hartery moved to approve the funds as requested for the Clinton Branch project. The motion carried. BOARD COMMENTS – Sarah Palfrey – Resting Bookface image bags have been received and are to be used as a fundraiser. Sarah has venues to offer them. Meredith Hartery – mentioned possible sponsors for StoryFest. ADJOURNMENT – Alexandria Svolos moved to adjourn. The motion carried unanimously. The meeting adjourned at 9:44am. NEXT MEETING – November 2, 2023 9:00am OCTOBER 2023 BOARD MEETING DIRECTOR'S REPORT Sarah Palfrey  OCTOBER 2023 BOARD MEETING SEPTEMBER 2023 ADMINISTRATION The W V U H a c k i ng the Library exhibit WVLA : opene d o n S e p t e mber 12, 2023. Legis l a t i v e C o m mittee continue s Servi n g o n t h e committee was a t o me e t m o n t h l y . We continue to wond e r f u l l e a r n ing experience f rom work w i t h W V L C to explore begin n i n g t o e n d. The opening d ay avenu e s t o i n c r eased funding fo r consi s t e d o f h o sting a meeting WV’s p u b l i c l i b r a ries. betwe e n A m e r i can Library Assoc i a t i o n P r e sident Emily Servi c e C e n t e r : Drabi n s k i a n d t he current and All a f f i l i a t e s r e quired expenditure i ncom i n g P r e s i d ents of the West repor t s f o r W V L C were reviewed Virgi n i a L i b r a r y Association. I t was and t u r n e d i n o n time. a gre a t d i s c u s s i o n about the stren g t h s a n d c hallenges of pub lic Huma n Resou r c e s C o n t r act - K ell y l i b rar i e s i n W e s t Virginia. Sarah , a n d J a m e s are meeting w ith Align H R r e g u l a r ly. Work on Ryne F . a n d I w ere invited to join revis i n g t h e e m ployee handbook is Emily a n d W V U L ibrarians for a progr e s s i n g . N e xt project is job discu s s i o n o f c r i tical librarianship class i f i c a t i o n s a nd salary and w h a t t h a t m eans to our libra ry sched u l e s . setti n g s . I a l s o had the pleasure to i ntro d u c e E m i l y at the exhibit PERSO N N E L openi n g a n d c e l ebrate the succe ss Kelly H MPL PT - hired of ev e r y o n e ’ s h ard work at dinne r after t h e e v e n t . The W V U P u r p o se 2 Action intern has b e e n a s s i s t ing with data visua l i z a t i o n p r o jects, editing video, and w e e k l y n e w s letters. As time has allow e d h e h a s also been scanni ng old d o c u m e n t s f or storage.  OCTOBER 2023 BOARD MEETING SEPTEMBER 2023 ADMINISTRATION Annou n c i n g S t oryFest! Book Trails! We ha v e b e e n working on an idea We don’t have an exact count of f or a l a r g e c o m munity event for how many book trails we’ve some t i m e . T h e goal is to have a installed since 2020, but our best f un, f e s t i v a l s t y le, all ages event guess puts it’s in the t hat i s c e n t e r e d about stories, neighborhood of 50, and that’s t heir c r e a t o r s , a nd our experiences worth celebrating! After the first few team efforts at book trails, as re a d e r s . A b b y C. has taken th e Cathy McMaster took over as the l ead a s c o o r d i n ator. Save the da te lead coordinator. Ruth, Janet, April 1 3 , 2 0 2 4 ! Kelly S. and more have all pitched in and helped take the books a Septe m b e r l e a r n ing initiative: part, clean the boards, laminate, This m o n t h w e t ackled the assemble and install these diffe r e n t t y p e s o f holds that occur wonderful experiences across the i n th e O v e r d r i v e/Libby platform . county. There a r e m a n y factors that can l ead t o l o n g w a i t lists for readers t hrou g h L i b b y . I broke down the diffe r e n t t y p e s f or staff to get a bigge r p i c t u r e understanding of how t o s h a r e t h e information wi th patro n s . T h e r e ’ s no easy solutio n t o th e l o n g w a i t times, but being able t o k e e p o u r patrons inform ed helps k e e p f r u s trations mana g e a b l e . Addit i o n a l c o m m ents and q u e s t i o n s s howed a deep le vel of un d e r s t a n d i n g. In November w e will t a c k l e p a r t two, the variety of purch a s i n g m o dels Overdrive uses.  SEPTEMBER 2023 ADMINISTRATION City of Morgantown Comprenhsive Plan The City has completed the revisions on their plan and is going through the approval process. There are two distinct mentions of partnering with the Library included in the plan. You can access the plan here: https://www.morgantownwv.gov/652/Morgantown-2033 Morgantown Public Library System August Visits 2023 11,349 17,029 ITEMS BORROWED 46 PROGRAM ATTENDANCE PROGRAMS 727 COMPUTER SESSIONS NEW CARDS 938 274 722 16,839 ADDITIONS TO THE COLLECTION DIGITAL 773 WITHDRAWN BORROWS Arnettsville Public Library Branch Report August 2023 The end of August means summer is almost over and summer sure did fly by. School has started and fall is right around the corner and time to plan for all the festivities of fall. We kicked August off with our Senior Lunch and Learn on August 2nd. We celebrated our luncheon with gifts from the garden with a giant Salad Bar. Folks brought goodies from their gardens like cucumbers, peppers, lettuce and cherry tomatoes. Everyone looks forward to our Super Salad luncheons in August. I heard someone say that this might be the only time we all eat healthy at our lunches. We also discussed fundraising ideas and brainstormed about future programs at the library and community center. On Friday, August 4th, we wrapped up the Summer Reading Program with a System Wide Pool Party at Camp Muffly. I was so excited to see one of my Arnettsville families attending the party with the whole family, Mom, Dad and their three sons. They had a great time. I think we should have an end of summer pool party every year for the families that use the libraries during the summer. Craft NIght on Wednesday, August 9 was a big hit. We made tea cup bird feeders and they turned out so nice. We had almost 10 folks show up for this craft plus our little guy who comes with his grandmother and aunt. Easton is in second grade and comes to craft class “to make pretty things for his mom.” Movie NIght was Friday, August 25 and we were scheduled to show A Good Person featuring Morgan Freeman and Florence Pugh. I didn’t realize that it was only coming out on Blu-Ray and it was not ordered so I had to scramble and try to find a copy to buy. No one had a copy so I had to come up with a new game plan. I had several new releases for the folks to choose from and the winner was……Cocaine Bear! Never in a million years, would I think that the group would want to watch that movie. It really wasn’t that bad of a movie, but I would not have picked that one. Outreach…..Went to a Safety Fair sponsored by Unicare and Early Head Start on Saturday, August 26 from 10 - 12. It was in a new location this year at the County Building at Mylan Park. It was a nice location, but I think that there were so many events that day that might have limited the folks in attendance. There were about 25 children and 30 adults that visited the library table for books, craft kits, Seuss pens and general info in goody bags. Been busy getting ready for upcoming Book Trails. Enlisted the help of Tracey Willis at Arnetttsville to help prep books for lamination. Have had book trails over the summer at Mason Dixon Park, Krepp’s Park, Blueberry Farm and a local Farmer’s Market plus Mylan Park Elementary and Mason Dixon Elementary. Upcoming Goals: *Start weeding for the new year. Pick a different section each month. Start with Children’s Fiction in October. *Begin visits to Pre-K classrooms at Mylan Park Elementary *Prepare for Trunk or Treat events at Mylan Park and the Community Center *Get copier hooked up and running *Get receipt printer hooked up to computer *More Boxes of Books for World Better Books. CAPL Manager’s Report August 2023 August was a great recovery month at Cheat! Since summer reading ended, I feel like our staff had a chance to finally recover from what was a pretty crazy summer. Heading straight from all of the renovations into summer reading was definitely difficult, but I am proud of everyone for pulling it off! With all of that being said, even when things slow down a little, there is always more work to be done. In August, we tried to finally get to some important tasks that we just couldn’t keep up with over the busy part of the summer! Michelle and Abby have worked diligently on rearranging the new children’s area in a way that will help kids and parents know where to put things when they are done playing with them! Michelle created a list of toys to be ordered with some of our grant money for children’s materials, and they were ordered and delivered this month! Michelle worked really hard on the list, and took recommendations from parents, especially those who attend our weekly playgroup. After the toys arrived, Abby and Michelle started to reorganize where we store toys on the shelves. They added pictures to bins of toys that correspond with the same picture on the shelf, which is where the bin will go when clean-up happens. In addition to making clean-up instructions clear, Abby and Michelle have added different displays and materials to the area. Abby has used some shelf space to create a couple different rotating displays, including one for dinosaurs, one about dogs, and one for general back-to-school books! Michelle has been adding some children’s non-fiction that appeals more to younger children to the area, and we have been stickering those books to indicate that they belong in the new area, versus where children’s non- fiction would usually go. All of these things are improvements to help with the general flow of the area, but also to make it bigger and give the area its own identity! I appreciate all the work that Michelle and Abby have done to build upon our new space! In addition to that, Abby started and finished her project regarding the children’s non-fiction area on the other side of the library. The section tends to get messy despite our best efforts to keep it straightened up, and it also has never really looked as appealing as we would like. With increased requests and questions regarding our children’s nonfiction books, Abby decided to change the section up by creating labeled inserts to put in the section that help show patrons what subjects are where! (Pictures included below). Now, for example, if a patron comes and asks for books on horses, there is a picture included with the numbers that let you know exactly where to look. If a patron is more independent and doesn’t feel like asking a question, they could still navigate the section! Not only do these labeled inserts draw the eye and make the section look more interesting, but they also help keep the section straightened, show us where we are lacking materials in certain subjects, and help make shelving easier for us! Thanks to Abby for taking the initiative to help make the section more accessible! As a last note, I want to thank my staff for a great summer. It was difficult with renovations and constant projects, but everyone pulled together to make everything great for our patrons! I can’t wait to keep improving our space as the rest of the year goes on! General Administration - Our weekly events (storytime and playgroup) are still going strong! Thanks to Michelle for making them excellent each week! - We’re still gearing up for our October events! We are all super excited for the Halloween party! - We are once again entering the Scarecrow Spectacular at the Botanic Garden! Our Scarecrow will be on display after the last week of September! Goals 1. Determine how we can move around different sections to provide more room for proper display and growth. 2. Determine how we can make each section of the library feel unique, whether that be through display or extra decorating. 3. Finish deletions of materials that we did not get to over the summer. Clay-Battelle Public Library Monthly Report August 2023 Molly and Kelly attended Mason Dixon Elementary School’s open house. We signed up several families for library cards as well as discussed available items for checkout, programs, available library recourses. Kelly also attended the farmers market children’s day which she had a button station. Children could make a library button or design their own button. I also handed out headphones to any child who could show me their library card or signed up for a new card. We donated more books from our book sale cart to the Blacksville senior center. Kelly personally purchased and made basket donations for the following events Mason Dixon Rotary Night at the Races, Battelle District Fall Festival, CBHS Class of 2026 Bingo, and CBHS Pink Out. These items will be donated by Kelly and the library. Molly is back to college classes so she only has Saturday availably. She is going to continue to offer Saturday story times. Sam is also starting to have Tuesday story times in September. Facilities Update ✓ Bench permanently installed ✓ New outdoor light installed ✓ Outlets sticking out of the floor have been removed Planning and Organizing • 1st Christmas Tree Lighting in Blacksville (December) Goals • Winter event planning All of the following goals we are continuing to complete. • Weeding young adult and children fiction sections. • Boxing books for Better World Books CDPL Monthly Report August 2023 Manager’s Report ● Anecdote(s) from August: ○ Comment from the Farmer’s Market, when the person noted we were Clinton, they thought I was from the downtown library, but how do we communicate with the population of Mon County, we are all the same library with multiple locations? ● Sarah P. has requested stories read for Dial A Story from each branch. Janet did August with the following stories: ○ Bad Pirate by for September 19, talk like a pirate day ○ Goodnight with the Very Sleepy Caterpillar ○ Remember ● CDPL Prizes for SRP were handed out and the winners were: ○ Lego Recycle Truck Pierce Rhodes (total number of tickets collected 181 = 2715 minutes of reading) ○ Flower Pots Callie Wilson (total number of tickets collected 233 = 3495 minutes of reading) ○ Dog Rescue Bike James Bowen (total number of tickets collected 117 = 1755 minutes of reading) ○ Total number of MPLS prizes handed out: ■ Plus Plus kits 11 ■ Lego kits 1 ■ Umbrellas 6 ● Library Lattes and Laughs ○ We read Firefly Lane by Kristin Hannah, and the book was very much enjoyed by all. Snacks were Lemon Blueberry Muffins. ● We put up a Book Trail at the Grafton Road Farmer’s Market, again thank you to Cathy McMaster for making this happen. As well as attended the Grafton Food Market with a craft, pens, calendars, bookmarks (thank you Emily) and left over prizes from SRP. ○ Adults 6 ○ Children 5 ○ Staff 1 ○  ○ General Administration ● New to our Collections ○ Adult Fiction 37 ○ Adult Non-Fiction 1 ○ YA 3 ○ Graphic Novels 3 ○ Childrens 5 ○ Children Non-Fiction ○ ER 3 ○ E7 ○ Boardbooks 1 ○ VOX Books ○ DVDs 7 Planning, Organizing, Processes, and Evaluation ● Caleb has redesigned our graphics for Storytime and Library Lattes and Laughs. They are fantastic! ● ● Caleb and Angela continue to delete adult fiction, we had 140 adult fiction deletes and 11 children ● We have finalized book club for 2024!!!! YAY US!!!!  Month Book Title Author Requested By January The Glass Castle Jeannette Walls Janet February The Storied Life of A.J. Fikry Gabrielle Zevin Angela March Homegoing Yaa Gyasi Caleb April Where'd You Go Bernadette Maria Semple Janet May The Dictionary of Lost Words Pip Williams Angela June Into the Water Paula Hawkins Caleb July The Sanatorium Sarah Pearse Janet August Hester Lico Albanese Angela September There There Tommy Orange Caleb October Hotel Nantucket Elin Hilderbrand Janet November Deacon King Kong James McBride Caleb December Our Missing Hearts Celeste Ng Angela ● 8 new patrons signed up in August! ● Caleb has inquired if he and/or Angela could become notaries, as well as Janet ● Effective communication is an ongoing process Personnel: Community and Professional Development (3 CEs required yearly for all staff working more than 20 hours a week) Top Three Goals for September: 1. Put the cork boards on the door and wall 2. Create and finalize a design for 1KBBK to be placed on the cork board on the wall 3. Create display areas with our bulletin board and empty shelving through December Morgantown Public Library Monthly Report August 2023 This month continued to be a busy one for Public Services. We saw a slight increase in the number of visitors compared to July and a higher number of programs presented in the building. Thankfully, there were fewer staff vacations on the calendar last month and with a full staff, we were better able to manage the slight increase in summer business. Also this month, bouts of sickness made their way through the building which placed a strain on staff in the building. A huge thank you is owed to staff both in Public Services and Administration who pitched in to help keep the doors open and patrons served. Staffing Changes There were several staffing changes in Public Services this month. Firstly, we were able to fill two vacant library assistant positions near the start of this month. Library Assistants Austin-David R. and Cathy O. both started in early August. Both are learning quickly and settling into their position well. Library Assistant Ashley R. resigned from her position in late August. Currently, Public Services has one vacant position once again. This position was posted in late August and I hope to have it filled in early September. Interlibrary Loan Coordinator Crystal L. has agreed to serve on the hiring committee along with Assistant Director James Spears. Staff Contributions There were several very fun and engaging displays created by staff this month. First, Library Assistant Tessa S. created a fun and interactive “Grow Your Green Thumb” display on the 2nd floor. This display makes use of the house plant clippings that Tessa was already placing out for patrons to take. Several patrons have asked this summer about taking the clippings and Tessa felt that it made sense to turn this into an interactive display. Tessa’s display consists of the plant clippings in small cups, care guides that Tessa created with information about the plants, and books pulled from the collection with additional information about houseplants and houseplant care. Second, Evening Supervisor Shelby D.’s monthly adult fiction display theme for this month was “I Spy With My Googly Eyes”. To go along with this theme, she created a fun display of books with covers that featured faces and eyes that she put googly eyes on. This display received a fair amount of attention this month and more than once patrons noted to staff that someone had put googly eyes on the books! More than once, I saw staff enjoying a good laugh with patrons about books from this display. Lastly, thanks to Children’s Librarian Ruth G., MPL is ready for Mountaineer football this fall. Ruth created a WVU football-themed picture book display in the children’s area. This display is a mix of fiction and nonfiction books all about football. Programming  We saw great success with library programming in August for all ages. Youth Services Specialist Jenean S. reported that she had good attendance at her teen and tween programming throughout the month and was able to make some good connections with several teens and their parents. Jenean’s first Beyond The Book program this month was also a success with her tween patron. Jenean reported that she had a good number of tweens attend the program and she was able to speak to several kids and their parents. It looks like Jenean has also been able to drum up interest among tweens, teens, and their parents in upcoming programming this fall according to her report. We were also successful in our children’s programming this month. Ruth G. reported that there were several new children and families in the library this month. Ruth noted one interaction with a family that was new to the library and brought their two daughters to a library program. The family was excited to find out about all the children’s programs that the library offers. This month, Ruth co- presented the program Learn All About Bees with Jenean S. Ruth reported that this program was a great success with 14 children attending. Given the success of this program and the general interest in elementary-age programs from parents, Ruth has reported that it is one of her goals to plan and present more programs for elementary-aged children in the future. Lastly, Library Assistant Libby P. presented the first session of our new adult nonfiction book club. This program replaced the virtual adult book club that was placed on hiatus earlier this year. Libby reported that this program was a success and three adults attended the program. We struggle to bring adults into the library for programming so it is exciting to see interest from patrons in this book club. Libby hopes to build on this interest for future sessions. Challenges Public Services faced one interesting challenge this month. In early August, the WV Office of Technology installed two new access points in the building to improve our WiFi and internet access. We have a total of three access points in the building now and they all work together to create a single unified network. This replaces the collection of access points and networks that we previously used to cover all of the dead spots in the building. However, our WiFi was down for around a week due to issues with the new access points. Public Services staff throughout the building stepped up to help patrons troubleshoot network issues and access the internet via our public access computers. Several patrons were very appreciative of the help they received from staff. These issues were resolved this month and our WiFi coverage should be improved going forward. New and Ongoing Projects This month several staff members continued and began new projects throughout the building. Weeding continues throughout the collection. Jenean S. completed her initial wedding project in the YA collection. The next steps in this area will most likely include an evaluation of the YA collection to determine areas of growth, decrease, and change. Shelby D. reported that the weeding in the mystery section was slowed this month but has a tentative end date near the end of September. Library Assistant Rob M., Crystal L., Library Assistant TyeAnn P., and Ruth G. continue to weed in the DVDs, nonfiction, and children’s areas respectively. Libby P. has expressed interest in assisting with weeding in adult nonfiction. She and Crystal plan to meet in early September to colaborate.  Crystal also has set out to develop a formal set of interlibray loan procedures that will help serve as a reference for staff and patron. Currently all ILL question are directed to Crystal when staff need help. Having set of procedures to refrerence means that staff would be better able to answer patron questions on their own especially when Crystal is off work or otherwise unavailable. She is reaching out to other WVLN member libraries for a starting point. We have been troubleshooting our CircTrak Inventory Wand this month. Thanks to Shelby D., Rob M., and Library Assistant Dan L. for testing the wand and helping pinpoint areas of trouble. The goal of this small project is to get the wand working consistently so that we are able to quickly scan the shelves for items that are marked missing, in transit, checked out, and other statuses other than available. Shelby D. continues to experiment with the new adult fiction shelves and dynamic shelving. She reported that she is now taking advantage of our new collection newsletter Wowbrary to make weekly lists of new items in the collection and advertise the service on the display. She also reports that she has begun to advertise flyers for upcoming adult programs. Shelby also reported that planning has begun for a local author fair at the library in November in coordination with Outreach and Programs Coordinator Emily S. According to Shelby, eight local creators have already agreed to attend the event. I am excited to see this event come together because we have seen past interest from patrons in other similar events like the art exhibition that was displayed this time last year. Lastly, I conducted check-ins with all members of Public Services this month. These check-ins function as a way to touch base with each staff member individually and learn more about how they are experiencing their jobs. In each check-in we discussed their recent progress and accomplishments, challenges they have faced, and what they would like to accomplish in the next three to four months. While they take a large amount of time to prepare for, I always feel that these check-ins are well worth it as they are a good way to get a better understanding of the overall satisfaction or dissatisfaction among staff. I plan to look more in-depth at the results of these meetings in early September. Goals Continuing Goals ● Implement Live Chat virtual reference service - in progress ○ We are scheduled to begin internal practice in early September. ○ Ideally, we will be ready to present this publicly by the end of September. ● Continue weeding in adult fiction to produce more free space. - in progress ○ Shelby has indicated that weeding in Adult Mysteries should be complete by the end of September. ○ After this, we will need to measure the amount of available space but hopefully, we will be able to begin shifting and moving items. ○ Timing will be essential because we do not want this project to overlap with the ongoing elevator project at MPL. ● Coordinate with Ruth Godfrey to reorganize the children’s area into a more distinct and open area within the library. - in progress ○ Ruth continues weeding in the Easy Books to create new space and identify any items that should be reordered.  ○ This goal is still dependent on our ability to create space by moving our paperback collection from its current location. Images WVU football themed display created by Evening Supervisors Shelby D.’s “I Spy With Children’s Libraian Ruth G. My Googly Eyes” display. “Grow Your Green Thumb!” display created by Library Assistant Tessa S.