Library Board

MORGANTOWN PUBLIC LIBRARY Approved March 14, 2024 Minutes of the Regular Meeting February 1, 2024 Present: Absent: Also Present: Others Present: Sue Carpenter Sarah Palfrey Linda Durfee Kelly Funkhouser Meredith Hartery James Spears, V Amy Loomis Alexandria Svolos Call to order The regular meeting of the Board of Trustees of the Morgantown Public Library convened on February 1, 2024. The meeting convened at 9:04 am, Sue Carpenter, President presiding, Kelly Funkhouser, secretary. Approval of the Minutes  Regular Meeting December 7, 2023 - The minutes were approved as presented. Linda Durfee moved. The motion passed unanimously. PUBLIC FORUM – None CORRESPONDENCE AND COMMUNICATIONS - None REPORTS  President – None  Director – See Director’s Report – Additional information o Storyfest – Abby is primary coordinator and is on target for scheduling speakers and highlighting library resources. The West Virginia Library Commission will attend to highlight state resources. Also, Ashley Bellotte from Preston County – author of Valenslime, will be present. o Thank you to James and Shelby for overseeing completion of the public services handbook. o Strategic Plan included in Director’s Report has been filed with the West Virginia Library Commission. o Jenean’s Taylor Swift Party was a hit. 43 kids attended. They were able to get a lot of library information into kid’s hands. o Leftover Start up Award monies will be used to purchase a DVD/Blu-Ray kit for each library. o WV Legislative Session – HB4654 removes exemption from criminal liability for displaying or having obscene matter appears to be moving in the House. The West Virginia Library Association is keeping us informed.  Treasurer – o Financial Statements – The financial statements were reviewed. The financial statements were discussed and filed for audit. The motion passed. ○ Approval of Checks – Alexandria Svolos moved to approve checks as presented. The motion passed. Board Minutes – February 1, 2024 – Page 2 REPORTS OF COMMITTEES A. Investment Committee – None B. Facilities Committee – o The elevator was completed on schedule – thanks to Darrin for seeing that through. o Emergency lights and Exit signs are currently being replaced. o The grinder pump alarm system is being replaced so that we will get alerts when the pump is not working. A replacement pump is being purchased so that one is on hand to minimize restroom down time. o The West Virginia Library Commission’s Facility Improvement Grants has $600,000 left to grant. If awarded, it is a 50/50 match. Darrin is working on estimates for tile for the basement restrooms for the April 30, 2024 deadline. o The telephone system has fully switched to VOIP through Ford Technologies. Thanks to Kelly F. for staying on top of all the paperwork. UNFINISHED BUSINESS - None NEW BUSINESS -  Adjustment of Board Meeting Schedule for Regular Meetings – Alexandria Svolos moved to make the Board of Trustees meeting on the second Thursdays at 9 am. The motion passed. BOARD COMMENTS – Sue Carpenter – noticed the Dominion Post mentioned the levy in the paper this morning. Sarah Palfrey reported that she had filed information for the levy to be on the ballot. A levy committee is being formed. EXECUTIVE SESSION - Personnel  Linda Durfee moved to enter into Executive Session at 9:52 am. The motion passed.  The Board reconvened at 10:03 am. ADJOURNMENT – Linda Durfee moved to adjourn. The motion carried unanimously. The meeting adjourned at 10:05 am. NEXT MEETING – March 14, 2024 9:00am FEBRUARY 2024 BOARD MEETING DIRECTOR'S REPORT Sarah Palfrey FEBRUARY 2024 BOARD MEETING DECEMBER 2023/ JANUARY 2024 HIGHLIGHTS Front p a g e p h o t o - MPL’s Readin g Dragons l aunc h p a r t y . The Cheat Branch held their second annual Very Merry Christmas Bash party with 125 visitors! It was a great evening and all staff pitched in for a truly successful event. Jenean (Youth Services at MPL) hosted an amazing Taylor Swift birthday party for the tweens and teens and had a record breaking 43 attendee! Reading Dragons has launched and by all accounts is performing better than expected. As of 1/23/24 there are 123 registered participants. All branches have registered readers. All Monongalia county elementary schools are represented except 2, and there are participants from 2 middle schools. 40 readers are outside of the county public school system. All grades eligible to participate are represented with the highest numbers in Kindergarten and fifth grades. Jenean and James finished their collection evaluation of the young adult collection. Their primary goal was to establish parameters to evaluate the collection and create a framework that would be replicable for other collections. The evaluation did not have any surprises about the collection and did help narrow down what information is most useful when performing an evaluation. The Cozy Reading Challenge is underway! This year anyone who logs 2 hours of reading for the month of January will receive a coupon for a free cinnamon roll from Sugar Bar located in the Suncrest Town Center.  FEBRUARY 2024 BOARD MEETING DECEMBER 2023/ JANUARY 2024 ADMINISTRATION Decem b e r i s a l w ays a difficult m onth The C i t y o f M o r gantown change t o na v i g a t e w i t h increased sick c all over t o a n e w h ealth insurance offs, s c h e d u l e d time off, holiday s, provi d e r a n d t h ird party benefit s and c h a n g e s i n weather. Having two provi d e r h a p p e n ed on January 1 , part- t i m e p e o p l e resign after 2024. B e n e f i t s cards and inform ation vacat i o n s h a v e been approved w as were n o t d i s t r i buted before that an ad d e d b u r d e n for public serv ices t i m e a s i n d i c a t ed. Sarah and Kel ly F. at MP L . J a m e s h andled it well w ith worke d t o g e t i nformation and t he h e l p o f m u l tiple part-time resou r c e s f r o m the city. As of th is empl o y e e s w i l l i ng to work addit ional week, e v e r y o n e has received the ir shift s . cards . Janua r y i s h o m e to multiple The A p p l i c a t i o n for City Funding for quart e r l y m e e t i ngs. WVLN FY 25 w a s s u b m i tted on time. circu l a t i o n c o m mittee and the Execu t i v e b o a r d met. No action was All r e q u i r e d W e st Virginia Librar y t aken a t e i t h e r m eeting, discussion Comm i s s i o n e n d of year reports were was h e l d a b o u t the yearly traini ng submi t t e d o n t i me. sessi o n s a n d t h e mandatory ann ual meet i n g i n l a t e S pring. The W V D e l i PERSO N N E L - conso r t i u m m e t as well and Erin - M PL p / t h i r e d conti n u e d d i s c u ssion on what a Emily Y . - M P L pt/t hired singl e s t a t e w i d e Overdrive Emily Y . - M P L r e signed colle c t i o n c o u l d look like. Conve r s a t i o n s s o far have been Facil i t y U p d a t e s - produ c t i v e b u t nothing is set ye t. Eleva t o r p r o j e c ted is completed and Janua r y a l s o s a w the start of th e passe d i n s p e c t i on on Dec. 20 as 2024 l e g i s l a t i v e session. I have once antic i p a t e d . again b e e n a s k e d to be the chair of Movi n g o f f i c e s in preparation of the t he l e g i s l a t i v e c ommittee for the new g r i n d e r p u m p alarm and set up is West V i r g i n i a L i b rary Association. curre n t l y u n d e r way.  FEBRUARY 2024 BOARD MEETING Digital Highlight MANGO Mango Languages is an online and app language learning platform. From January 1 - March we have a trial of the additional American Sign Language (ASL) module. The initial response from the public has been very positive. Sign language classes, and resources are one of the most requested services. Additional information on the next page. From a cost per use perspective, Mango is currently our most expensive digital asset. Last year’s cost was $5699.51 and there were 900 total sessions with a combined learning time of over 156 hours. There is no clear metric to determine value for a resource like this. What is encouraging is that over the past 6 months, both overall use and the average learning time have increased. Top languages for 2023 N OW AVA I L A B L E ! American Sign Language (ASL) We are thrilled to announce our partnership and collaboration with ASL Inside to bring American Sign Language (ASL) to the Mango Languages platform. Patrons launch lessons right from the Mango app and Get Started by modeling native ASL signers. Self-paced courses are designed to meet every patrons’ learning speed. The Magic Mirror feature enables instant visual comparison for accurate sign modeling. Multiple sign models help learners experience a variety of ASL accents. Practical lessons quickly enable patrons to carry on basic ASL conversations. Content includes Cultural and Grammar Notes, Vocabulary, and Automatically-Graded Review. (see second page) Together, let’s break down barriers and expand the accessibility of ASL education worldwide! Interested in learning more? For further information on the availability of our new ASL partnership and how you can include it in your account, please reach out to a Mango Languages representative today at: libraries@mangolanguages.com mangolanguages.com/libraries ASL Inside brings American Sign Language (ASL) to life reflecting aspects of Mango Languages’ methodology throughout its lessons. Native Signer Comparison Initial Conversation Culture Notes Grammar Notes Vocabulary Intuitive Language Construction Chapter Recap Automatically-Graded Review mangolanguages.com/libraries  Morgantown Public Library System Strategic Plan 2024-2027 Overview During the summer of 2023 the Board of the Morgantown Public Library System participated in a strategic planning program with Terri Cutright and Associates. Terri performed a small community survey, board retreat, and incorporated staff feedback to identify the following focus areas and tasks. Summary Focus Areas All timelines are subject to change Form a Facilities Task Force (community members with specific expertise) Q1- 24 Issue a RFP for a Master Facilities Plan with the support of the City of Facilities Morgantown and the Monongalia County Commission. Q1-24 Participate in Master Facilities Plan - 2024-2025 Create timeline and tasks once plan is completed, update strategic plan. Establish regular meetings of the Friends of the Library Q1-24 Library Membership campaign Q2-24 Development Capital Campaign committee - post Master Facilities Plan Explore new revenue streams, review holdings - Q4-25 Full revision of website with a focus on accessibility form committee and establish timeline Q1-25 Marketing and Signs for branch locations Q2-25 Branding New wrap for vehicle with stronger system identity Q3-24 Explore seasonal banners for MPL - Q1-24 Create standards in the following areas to provide framework for decision making and the allocation of funds. staffing and total compensation ongoing - complete Q4-24 Systemwide programming Q1-25 spaces Q1-26 Growth and digital library Q3-24 Innovation StoryFest - community building event to celebrate the library system and our community of creators. Planning has started, implementation Q2-24 Review Start-Up Awards program for effectiveness and future implementation. Review committee Q2-24 December 2023 Morgantown Public Library System November Visits 2023 9,567 13,549 ITEMS BORROWED 43 PROGRAM ATTENDANCE PROGRAMS 604 COMPUTER SESSIONS NEW CARDS 841 141 723 17,298 ADDITIONS TO THE COLLECTION DIGITAL 346 WITHDRAWN BORROWS Morgantown Public Library System December Visits 2023 9,442 13,549 ITEMS BORROWED 42 PROGRAM ATTENDANCE PROGRAMS 638 COMPUTER SESSIONS NEW CARDS 746 175 644 16,226 ADDITIONS TO THE COLLECTION DIGITAL 487 WITHDRAWN BORROWS APL December 2023 Branch Report Time flies when you’re having fun and this month just flew by. December is always busy with the holidays and folks trying to use up their time before the year ends so it was a one woman show for most of the month. Lots of Christmas books and movies were checked out during the month plus we had the opportunity to hand out Christmas Baking Mixes to our patrons courtesy of the Extension Office that helped spread holiday cheer. For the monthly Senior Lunch & Learn, we had 19 folks in attendance. Everyone looks forward to the Christmas gathering where we shared a holiday feast of roast and mashed potatoes and lots of other yummy dishes. We shared Christmas memories and traditions and learned a lot about our friends and neighbors. We discussed our menu and themes for the next year and are looking forward to spending time together in 2024. Craft NIght had 7 folks in attendance with a new person traveling from another county to attend. We made 4 different holiday ornaments including a button Christmas tree, felt Christmas tree, log slice snowman and a beaded snowman. Our little crafter boy wasn’t able to attend that but his mother stopped by the library a few days later and said that he was mad at his Grandma and Aunt for not bringing him to the class. He went to a 4-H Cloverbud meeting and said he would have rather went to Miss Cathy’s craft class. That made my day!!! Movie NIght had 6 folks in attendance. We had a wide variety of Christmas movies to choose from and we voted on and watch “Last Christmas.” I myself love this movie and watch it every year before Christmas but most folks in our group had never seen the movie before. It is a tear jerker but also really good. Everyone loved it even if they had a tear or two in their eyes when they left. We moved the date of the movie up one week so the movie group could go on a field trip to a local steel drum concert that one of our craft night lady’s participates in. Love our group of library activity participants and how we have all bonded. Visited the Pre-K classes at Mylan Park in December and wow were they excited for the holidays. Read them a book or two and then gave them two holiday books to take home for their home libraries which grow each month with each visit from Miss Cathy. Lots of used book donations during the month of December due to the library elevator downtown being repaired and their book sale folks not taking donations downtown at that time. One family that cleaned out their mother’s home after her passing brought what felt like 50 boxes of books to the library. The daughter was in from California after her mother’s passing and needed to get rid of the books that her mother had accumulated over the yearsand only had a few days to do it. After two trips to the library with their rental car packed like a sardine, we are truly overflowing with books but they were so appreciative of us taking the books that it was worth it. Goals: 1) Get back to weeding process. 2) Organize craft supplies and overstock from craft classes. 3) Get copier on line and set up for public. 4) Steam clean rugs and switch to new areas. CAPL Manager’s Report December 2023 December was a fun holiday-themed month at Cheat! We had a very productive month, highlighted by our annual holiday party! Even though everything slows down during the holiday period, we still found ways to improve our space by working through shifting and weeding. Also, of course, we kept our weekly programs going! Our second annual holiday party was one of the best things we did in 2023! We had a really great turnout, with 125 people attending. Abby suggested holding the party in the afternoon on a Saturday as opposed to our usual evening time, and it really worked! We had a cookies and milk table, a movie watching area, a craft room, and crowd favorites, a scavenger hunt and a holiday crime scene! The holiday crime scene was my personal favorite, and Abby did a great job setting it up after Sarah P. said it would be cool to do! Kids got to look at the “crime scene” and determine what they think happened, from guessing that it had something to do with Santa, or various other culprits. It was a really neat, interactive addition to the party, and we ended up setting up a smaller “crime scene” for everyone to enjoy for the duration of December! I love when we have such interactive activities, as they end up being fun for kids and their parents to be creative with. Overall, I think this was our best and most successful party that we’ve done. I have personally had a few different new patrons tell me that they saw pictures from the party on social media, and that it made them want to come see our library and get library cards! As far as an event goes, if it’s pleasing current patrons and getting new ones in our building, it doesn’t get much better than that! I appreciate Abby’s work in planning the party, and everyone else’s willingness to get excited about working the parties and making them so fun! With the week before and after Christmas being rather slow, we made the most of it by shifting, weeding, and deleting! Hayley and I shifted and weeded, and Jessika did most of the deleting. We are working to give room for our mystery, fiction, and large print sections to expand, and to potentially have face-outs in all sections. Another idea I came up with was to turn the first bay of fiction into a “popular” face-outs only section. I stole the idea from “bestseller” sections at bookstores, but I think it looks nice as a “most popular” (that isn’t brand new) area at the beginning of fiction. We’ve also been working on giving our sci-fi section more room, which required moving non-fiction books. We found a lot of titles that were just outdated while moving the books down, which is one of my favorite things about shifting! Shifting makes it very easy to come across books that you don’t need on the shelf anymore, but you may have not noticed otherwise. Getting time to work on these different areas made the time pass quickly, even when patrons were spending time at home with their families. Once again, I really appreciate the effort our staff gave during the holidays! Holidays can make everything around them stressful, but our staff had fun and so did our patrons! We are looking forward to the new year! General Administration  - Weekly programs are still going strong! Michelle continues to do a fantastic story time each week, and we see new faces at playgroup nearly every week! - We will continue to do Stress Free Book Club and Artist Collective in the New Year, along with a Tween/Teen Anime and Ramen Club! Goals 1. Continue to weed and shift as needed. 2. Plan programming! 3. Work on spreadsheet of possible furniture for review! MONTHLY Clay Battelle Public Library REPORT DECEMBER 2023  We were able to participate in the Blacksville Christmas parade. Kelly co- chaired the parade committee. The parade grew by 45 participants this year! We also went to Mason Dixon Elementary School for a nest night. Molly and Kelly talked about mindfulness, read a story and watched several videos of the mind- yeti to learn breathing exercises. We also talked about healthy eating habits. December was a very busy month of storytime activities with Sam. The kids read stories about Santa, pigs, bears and snowmen. Several games and crafts were completed this month. Our Yearning for Yarn group decided to take December and part of January off to spend time with family. Looking forward to them starting backup soon! Facilities Update New outlet post installed Planning and Organizing Moving of computers Summer Reading Education None Goals Winter event planning Weeding All of the following goals we are continuing to complete. Continue to grow my partnership with community involvement CDPL Monthly Report December 2023 Manager’s Report ● Pre-School Storytime - If I Lived in a Snow Globe by Chelsea McGlothlin and Snow Globe craft ○ We had 4 kids, 3 adults and 3 staff ○ The Snow Globe craft was a HUGE hit ○ With the 5 snow globes we have left over we will be creating snow globes for each branch ○ We used our new instruments for the first time and sang Feliz Navidad and Jingle Bells and there was much dancing! ● Library Lattes and Laughs ○ We read Migrations by Charlotte McCoughy, Caleb lead the discussion ○ We received SIGNED autograph books from Cynthia, we handed out cards, stickers and a homemade tree ornament, Emma (Miller) made an amazing Gingerbread bundt cake, and we had cranberry bar cookies ○ Caleb created a new LLL social media post ○ ● Angela did Dial A Story for January General Administration ● New to our Collections ○ Adult Fiction 25 ○ Adult Non-Fiction 3 ○ YA 2 ○ Graphic Novels 3 ○ Childrens 6 ○ Children Non-Fiction 7 ○ ER 1 ○ E5  ○ Boardbooks 1 ○ VOX Books 11 ○ DVDs 12 ○ Ridgedale CEO’s donated the following books: ○ Planning, Organizing, Processes, and Evaluation ● A draft version of a 2024 social media spreadsheet has been created, we will share it with Kaylar, Emily and the branches ● Reorganize the front corner of our building to better highlight our new shelves ● Angela has begun ordering, printing and design of the art wall ● Delete DVDs to create more room in DVD collection Personnel: Community and Professional Development (3 CEs required yearly for all staff working more than 20 hours a week) Top Three Goals for January 1. Finalize 2024 SRP Plan 2. Submit of Plan of Action for the 1KBBK display to Sarah to be approved for additional hours for Caleb 3. Contact businesses for prizes for 2024 SRP Morgantown Public Library Monthly Report December 2023 Although the number of visitors this month was slightly lower, December was still a busy month for Public Services. Between navigating the elevator installation project, hiring new staff, covering staff vacation, and working on several projects around the library, staff in Public Services had more than enough work to keep us busy. Everyone pitched in to help keep the library running smoothly especially as we approached the holidays in late December. The elevator installation project, which began in late November, was forefront in the minds of Public Services staff this month. Overall this project went very smoothly from a Public Services perspective. We anticipated some patron frustration due to the elevator being out of service, but we were all surprised by many patron’s understanding and excitement about the upgrades. Public Services staff handled the challenge wonderfully and adapted quickly to temporary changes in our workflows including moving one public access computer to the first floor and temporarily storing branch and Book Dash items on the first floor. Seldom did staff encounter a patron angry about the elevator but in all instances with patron staff did a wonderful job of meeting their needs by offering to retrieve items for patrons or offering alternative solutions. Staffing In early December, Interlibrary Loan Coordinator Crystal L. and Assistant Director James S. held a round of interviews to fill two vacant library assistant positions. Two offers were made in mid-December and both were accepted. Due to the time of year, scheduling start dates proved a slight challenge but new Library Assistant Emily Y. began in late December and new Library Assistant Erin P. will begin in early January. We are excited to have these two new staff members join our team. Public Services operated short staffed mostly every day this month. A huge thank you is owed to everyone who pitched in to help make sure that the library ran smoothly while we all took well earned vacation time and dealt with inevitable winter illness. Library Director Sarah P. and Outreach Coordinator Emily S. both pitched to help while Assistant Director James S. was out. Additionally, Library Assistants Dan L., Kelly W., La’Shelia W., and Austin-David R. all picked up extra hours and shifts when asked to help keep the library running smoothly. Children’s Librarian Ruth G., Evening Supervisor Shelby D., Youth Services Specialist Jenean S., and ILL Coordinator Crystal L. also all covered many hours at public desks this month when needed. Programming Library programming this month was overall successful, especially given the time of year and the challenges presented by the elevator installation. Evening Supervisor Shelby D. reported on two programs she presented this month, Craft Night: Candle Making and Come “Hygge”. Both programs were well attended and Shelby continues to gain more insight into which types of programs will best engage our adult patrons. She reported many of her program’s participants expressed interest in “more programs that emphasize coming together to spend time together.” Shelby’s adult programming continues to demonstrate two important things. First, there is a group of adult patrons that are interested in and will attend the library program. Second, Shelby has managed to engage a group of adult patrons that value the library as a community space to share with others and will attend library programming that emphasizes that aspect. Shelby’s “Come Hygge” program especially demonstrates this as she reported that “Some patrons brought books and read quietly, a couple worked on a puzzle. There was an easy craft out and multiple people made ornaments or colored coloring sheets.” From Shelby’s reports and participant feedback, it appears that Shelby is on the right track for her adult programming. Youth Services Specialist Jenean S. reported that teen and tween programming was hit and miss this month. Jenean’s “Swiftie Party” was huge success but other teen and tween programming saw generally low attendance. Jenean reported that she now knows better “what to expect for program attendance in December and will plan accordingly for next year.” Jenean has presented a wide range of programs in the past year and has done a great job of taking note of what has been successful and incorporating more aspects of those programs into her overall programming schedule. It will be exciting to see what work Jenean is able to do programming wise now that she has a full year of experience in Public Services. Staff Contributions, Projects, and Other Updates Staff also made progress in several other areas this month. First, many staff were involved in completing a shifting project on the second floor which resulted in about two ranges of free space now available to use for the young adult collection and the manga/graphic novel collection. Staff worked basically nonstop to complete this project before Christmas and a big thanks is owed to Library Assistants Austin-David R., Tessa S., Kelly W., Libby P., and Youth Services Specialist Jenean S. for their contributions to this project. The next steps in this project include working with Jenean to determine our priorities for using this newly freed space. One already identified priority is moving the manga and graphic novel collection into a larger space in the stacks so that this collection has room to grow. In progress already is a plan to relabel these items with consistent and more informative spine labels. Progress was also made this month on a collection management project in the adult fiction collections. We were able to temporarily move the general fiction paperback items to the second floor so that we are able ultimately to relocate them to the end of the adult fiction section in ranges 12 and 13. This a part of a larger project to relocate all paperback items into the main adult fiction stacks and away from their current freestanding shelving boarding the children’s area. While we are still a little ways away from completing this goal, proactively moving the general fiction paperback collection closer to its final location will help us continue to weed and shift. This is also a step towards relocating shelving in the children’s area which has been a long term goal of Public Services. This month, ILL Coordinator Crystal Lang began tracking staff picks that she selected for patrons for delivery through the Book Dash services. Crystal has mentioned to her supervisor that this is a goal of hers to capture and report more of her daily work outside of her interlibrary loan duties. This month Crystal reported that based on previously requested titles, authors, and subjects she selected 135 staff pick items that were delivered to patrons. Lastly, Youth Services Specialist Jenean S. gave two tours this month to high school students from the Monongalia County Technical Education Center (MTEC). These students, from MTEC’s Early Childhood Education class, visited a local preschool in downtown Morgantown and stopped by the library to learn about the resources available to them with a library card. Jenean did a great job of welcoming the students into the library, showing them around the building, and introducing them to all the digital resources available to them with a library card. Several of the students also signed up for library cards while in the building and many more took applications home with them to compete with their parents or guardians. Goals ● Continue weeding in adult fiction to produce more free space and move the paperback collection. - in progress ○ Currently shifting adult fiction collections to move general fiction paperbacks. ○ Further steps include continued weeding to create more space for the remaining paperback collections ● Coordinate with Ruth Godfrey to reorganize the children’s area into a more distinct and open area within the library. - in progress ○ Made progress towards this goal in December by temporarily relocating the fiction paperback collection and shifting. ○ Ruth will continue weeding in the easy books to make it easier to move shelving when that point arrives. ● Replace existing public computer furniture on the 2nd floor and better organize PACs - in progress ○ Preliminary discussions with Director Sarah P. and Facilities Manager Darrin B. have taken place about purchasing new computer furniture and other needed changes. ○ Potential furniture and arrangements have also been identified.