Library Board

MORGANTOWN PUBLIC LIBRARY Approved September 12, 2024 Minutes of the Regular Meeting August 8, 2024 Present: Absent: Also Present: Others Present: Sue Carpenter Sarah Palfrey Linda Durfee Kelly Funkhouser Amy Loomis James Spears, V Dennis Smith Alexandria Svolos Call to order The regular meeting of the Board of Trustees of the Morgantown Public Library convened on August 8, 2024. The meeting convened at 9:05 am,. Alexandria Svolos, Vice-President, presiding. Linda Durfee, President, joined the meeting and began presiding. Kelly Funkhouser, secretary. Approval of the Minutes ● Regular Meeting July 11, 2024 - The minutes were approved as presented. Sue Carpenter moved. The motion passed unanimously. PUBLIC FORUM – None CORRESPONDENCE AND COMMUNICATIONS – Gary Friggens passed away last week. He was instrumental in helping to shape the course of the Aull Center in its early days. REPORTS ● President – Linda Durfee distributed the director’s review to the board members. ● Director – See Director’s Report – Additional information – Tim M., our custodian, has left employment with the Morgantown Public Library. He brought a lot of joy to the library. There was never a task he wouldn’t take on, didn’t shake his head at it, and never grumbled about it. He always said he was grateful to be here and grateful to do it. Clay-Battelle Public Library’s Kelly S. and Molly S. are always willing to show up for community events. They won an award for Best Community Service during the Battelle District Fair. ● Treasurer – o Financial Statements – The financial statements were reviewed. The financial statements were filed filed for audit. ○ Approval of Checks – Alexandria Svolos to approve checks as presented. The motion passed. REPORTS OF COMMITTEES A. Facilities Committee – None. UNFINISHED BUSINESS – ● Facility Study – Sarah Palfrey distributed a rough draft of an RFP to the Board via email. Discussion followed. Dennis Smith moved to approve the RFP pending the changes the board discussed. The motion passed. ● Director – The yearly review was discussed. NEW BUSINESS – None. BOARD COMMENTS – Board Minutes – June 13, 2024 – Page 2 ● Dennis Smith is willing to attend the All Staff meeting on September 13. ● Alexandria Svolos resigned her board position. She will be moving out of the area. ● Sarah Palfrey has been nominated to run for West Virginia Library Association’s ALA Councilor. ADJOURNMENT – Sue Carpenter moved to adjourn. The motion carried unanimously. The meeting adjourned at 9:50 am. NEXT MEETING – September 12, 2024 9:00am AUGUST 2024 BOARD MEETING DIRECTOR'S REPORT Sarah Palfrey AUGUST 2024 BOARD MEETING JULY 2024 HIGHLIGHTS C o n gr a t ula t i o n s t o Ke lly S. a n d t h e C la y-B a t t e lle t e a m o n be i n g r e c o gn i z e d by t h e B a t t e lle Di s t r i c t Fa i r . C B PL w o n t h e “B e s t C o mmun i t y Se r vi c e ” a w a r d fo r pa r a d e pa r t i c i pa n t s . W e ll d o n e C B PL! W e lo ve t o s e e a ll o ur lo c a t i o n s o ut i n t h e c o mmun i t y a n d a d d i n g t o t h e la r ge r q ua li t y o f li fe fo r o ur c o r n e r s o f Mo n o n ga li a C o un t y. T h e Mo r ga n t o w n Si le n t B o o k C lub me t a t MPL! C r ys t a l L. a c t e d a s t h e c o o r d i n a t o r t o br i n g t h i s gr o up i n t o o ur s pa c e . T h e r e w a s gr e a t a t t e n d a n c e a n d pa r t i c i pa n t s w e r e e xc i t e d t o be i n t h e li br a r y. Ar n e t t s vi lle PL h a d a gr e a t t ur n o ut fo r t h e i r mo n t h ly Se n i o r Lun c h a n d Le a r n . T h e SR P ki d s j o i n e d t h e gr o up fo r h o t d o gs a n d c o n ve r s a t i o n . T h i s s umme r SR P pa r t i c i pa n t s c o uld pi c k up t h e i r pr i z e a s s o o n a s t h e y me t t h e go a l. I t h a s gr e a t ly i n c r e a s e d t h e pi c kup r a t e .  AUGUST 2024 BOARD MEETING JULY 2024 ADMINISTRATION T h e ye a r ly r e po r t t o t h e Li br a r y Se c t i o n o f Ar t s C ult ur e a n d Hi s t o r y Aft e r a n umbe r o f pla n n e d po w e r ( fo r me r ly W e s t Vi r gi n i a Li br a r y o ut a ge s by t h e e le c t r i c c o mpa n y t h a t C o mmi s s i o n ), kn o w n a s B i bli o s t a t n e ve r h a ppe n e d a n d o n e t h a t o pe n e d o n J uly 1 . T h e a n n ua l s ur ve y h a ppe n e d by s ur pr i s e w e h a ve i s d ue by Augus t 1 5. Ke lly a n d I a r e d e t e r mi n e d t h a t t h e y h a d us o n t h e w o r ki n g o n i t a n d i t w i ll be w r o n g n o t i fi c a t i o n li s t . Kr i s s y Mi c h a e l c o mple t e d o n t i me . T h e r e w e r e s o me a R e gi o n a l C o n s ult a n t w a s w o n d e r ful s i gn i fi c a n t a n d t r o ubli n g c h a n ge s i n h e lpi n g t o ge t i t s o r t e d o ut . T h e ma d e t o t h e r e q ui r e d q ue s t i o n s t h i s ma i n pr o ble m fo r t h e pla n n e d o ut a ge s ye a r . I n c lud i n g t h e e xc lus i o n o f h a s be e n r e s o lve d r e ga r d le s s o f w h i c h s t a t i s t i c s fo r a ll d i gi t a l bo r r o w s . li s t w e a r e o n . FY24 w a s t h e fi r s t ye a r t h a t o ur d i gi t a l bo r r o w s e xc e e d e d o ur Mo r ga n t o w n C i t y C o un c i l i s t r a d i t i o n a l pr i n t a n d ph ys i c a l me d i a c o n s i d e r i n g a bud ge t a d j us t me n t fo r c i r c ula t i o n s . T h i s e xc lus i o n i s o f c a r r yo ve r fun d s t h a t i n c lud e s gr e a t c o n c e r n t o me a n d ma n y $6 8 , 0 0 0 t o c o ve r o ur s e c ur i t y Li br a r y Di r e c t o r s . A s ma ll gr o up o f s e r vi c e s c o n t r a c t . Aft e r a d i s c us s i o n us h a ve be e n w o r ki n g w i t h t h e St a t e w i t h a C o un t y C o mmi s s i o n e r , I Da t a C o o r d i n a t o r t o fi n d a w a y t o w i t h d r e w o ur a ppli c a t i o n fo r t h e i n c lud e t h e i n fo r ma t i o n i n t h e o pi o i d s e t t le me n t gr a n t s fo r t h e s a me o ffi c i a l s t a t e s t a t i s t i c a l r e po r t . W i t h pur po s e . s o ma n y n e w e mplo ye e s a t t h e Li br a r y Se c t i o n t h e pr o gr e s s h a s P ER S ONNEL - be e n s lo w go i n g. C a mi lle - r e s i gn e d PT MPL An ge la - r e s i gn e d PT C li n t o n F ac i li t y Up dat e s - Pe s t r e mo va l a t C li n t o n Fi xi n g s e a l o n gr i n d e r pi t i s s t i ll a n i s s ue Morgantown Public Library System Visits July 2024 12,752 17,765 ITEMS BORROWED 47 PROGRAM ATTENDANCE PROGRAMS 824 COMPUTER SESSIONS NEW CARDS 987 260 926 17,765 ADDITIONS TO THE COLLECTION DIGITAL 1,145 WITHDRAWN BORROWS APL Branch Report July 2024 July has been a hot and happening month at the Arnettsville Public Library. Temperatures have been very high this month and the humidity has been high so that equals one hot library. With our window air conditioner, ceiling fans and a few fans throughout the area, we have survived. This month has been pretty busy at the library thanks to the summer reading program and the weekly programs that keep the kiddos coming thru the doors. We have our weekly programs for children on Wednesdays at 2:00 p.m. On July 3, the summer reading program children were invited to join the seniors at the Senior Lunch and Learn for the hot dog dinner and there were 7 children plus 4 adults from the children’s program in attendance. They all had a good time and the seniors loved seeing the kiddos. On Wednesday, July 10, we showed the movie “The Wish” and there were 4 children and 3 adults there. The ladies from the 4-H and WVU Extension Office visited us on Wed., July 17 for Big Top Circus Fun and there were 6 children and 6 adults. On Wed., July 24, we took a field trip to the Mason Dixon Historical Park for a picnic and play time at the park with bubbles. We had 3 children and 2 adults. For the last program in July , we had a Go Glow Dance party. We moved to the meeting room because the gym was too hot. We had 11 children and 7 adults. Check out the dance party post on Facebook to see all the fun. Senior Lunch & Learn was the day before the July 4th holiday so that might have kept a few away but we had a grand total of 24 folks including the kiddos and parents from the Summer Reading Program. Mark Musick from the assessor’s office has been coming to our luncheons as well as Todd Forbes from the Sheriff’s Department. We had hot dogs and all the fixins plus lots of fruit and veggies. We also discussed what makes us proud to be Americans for the holiday. Craft Class had 15 in attendance with at least 2 new folks who had never attended before. We made Lavender bath bombs and Tropical Sugar Lip scrubs and Lemon Body scrubs. It was a lot of fun and the meeting room smelled so good that night. Movie Night was moved to a Sunday this month, but we still had 5 show up for the new Ghostbusters movie. GOALS: *Get rid of some of the books in the used book sale area by taking to Goodwill and giving to local rehab center. *Set up kitchen like area in second library room with Keuring and mini fridge donated by patrons and friends. *Shelf read and remove date stickers on books over one year old. CAPL Manager’s Report July 2024 July was a really fun and busy month at Cheat! Along with the obvious uptick in patrons for the Summer Reading Program (and summer in general), we had a lot of NEW things happening at Cheat, too! Jessika had her first full month of full-time hours and Caleb finally joined our staff! With these changes, our usual weekly programs, and our SRP programs, July proved to be a very full month! With staffing changes, there is usually an expected period of time where everyone is getting used to new hours, a new place, or new responsibilities. I am very happy to report that this time, that has not been the case at all! Jessika has taken so well to increased responsibilities and full-time hours. I could not possibly be more proud of how much she has done. She has constantly come up with new things to work on, discussed new ideas, and worked tirelessly on SRP events, all while handling regular desk responsibilities. While I was on vacation, Jessika was essentially in charge, and handled asking for different things from downtown, as well as ensuring that we had our outside AC unit looked at. Every week, Jessika has impressed with me with how much she is able to do and think of to improve our library. I am thrilled to be working alongside Jessika so much, and I am lucky to be able to hear all her ideas and encourage her to see them through. I can’t wait to see what she does going forward with more time to work on projects and all of her ideas for Start-Up Awards! As said above, sometimes starting at a new place can take some time to get used to. Again, I am happy to report that Caleb was immediately excellent from the start of his first day. It genuinely feels like he has always worked here with us! Caleb’s creativity and attention to detail has impressed me so much, and those skills are such a massive help here. Caleb has created displays and made some excellent social medias posts to showcase our new materials, which we’ve really never done before. His willingness to do anything that needs to be done, along with his customer service skills, have also really impressed me. I feel really lucky that Caleb wanted to make the switch to work at Cheat and that he fits in so perfectly with everyone here. I really couldn’t have wished for a better person to join us at Cheat, and I can’t wait to see what else Caleb will do with different projects and more time here with us! As the SRP winds down, I wanted to mention that we’ve had a few great events in the last month! Jessika and I worked really hard on making our programs fun and interesting, and I think we definitely succeeded. In July, we did a scavenger hunt week with a make-your-own puzzle prize, a wax-dipped pinecone fire starter craft, a carnival day, and made a take home s’mores and stargazing kit! While it was a lot of work, it was really rewarding for both of us to see kids coming in and enjoying all the things we created and set up. I know that I personally have learned a lot from working on the events, and it’s something I hope to do more of in the future! General Administration - Hayley is going to begin working on cataloguing! Sarah Scharf sent here some notes and webinar links so she can begin practicing. Hayley is really excited to work on this and learn some new skills! - Michelle’s weekly events are STILL going strong! Storytime and playgroup have loyal followings, and have allowed us to create many new connections and library lovers! Goals 1. Work on cleaning up various sections after our busy summer winds down! 2. Revamp the sensory space 3. Plan our annual Halloween party!  CLAY BATTELLE PUBLIC LIBRARY BOARD REPORT JULY 2024 July has been exciting month at the library! We have been very busy with summer reading events. Community events in full force. We participated in the Battelle District Fair parade, donated books for every participant in the baby show, face painting at the farmers market, and we also hosted two different book signing events.  CLAY BATTELLE PUBLIC LIBRARY BOARD REPORT JULY 2024 FACILITIES UPDATE: We are hoping to get a few new lights installed in the library to help with a few dark areas in the book stacks. Also, new microwave is causing some havoc in the kitchen area. So hopefully new outlets will solve the problem. PLANNING AND ORGANIZING: Fall Storytime Back to school-open house events Battelle District Fall Festival Tree Lighting EDUCATION: None GOALS: Continue to grow with in the community Weeding CDPL Monthly Report July 2024 Manager’s Report ● Library Lattes and Laughs ○ Because of an in person off site SRP program, we rescheduled LLL for Thursday, August 1st. ● Parents’ Place Sponsored Story Times ○ Kelly Gillespie , CDPL Patron and recently hired Kindergarten Readiness Teacher asked if she could host Story Time at CDPL and we were thrilled to have this opportunity to partner with Parents’ Place. ■ Monday, July 15th at 11a ■ 8 children, 7 adults ■ ■ Ms. Kelly attended our SRP program at Toms Run Preserve ● Book Trail ○ We were contacted by the Mountain Harvest Farm on Goshen Road to see if we could provide a book trail for the farm crawl. With A LOT of help from Cathy McMaster, we were able to provide a book trail for them. Mary learned about our book trails at Mulkeen’s Tree Farm. ○ ○ Monday after the farm crawl, Mary stopped by CDPL to thank us for the book trail and they hope to participate in the farm crawl again next year, and we can provide another book trail for them. We will also be discussing additional  partnerships with Mountain Harvest Farm, maybe planting pumpkins in Spring 2025????? ● SRP ○ Paint your Own Puzzle ■ 5 kids, 3 adults, 2 staff ■ The kids were given a blank white puzzle and glow in the dark paint to create their own special puzzle. The creativity was amazing, we especially liked those who chose to paint each piece in a different color. ■ The leftover puzzles are now downtown with hopes of using them for our Staff Day in September. ○ Toms Run Preserve Hike ■ ■ Despite the rain, we had two children and two adults (Kelly was the guest reader) and had a really fun hike! We saw two salamanders and one baby toad. Then made fun bookmarks with dried flowers. The leftover dried flowers will be used in the Library, Lattes and Laughs craft next month (August). ○ SRP Constellation Jars ■ 7 Children, 4 adults, 2 staff  ■ A super fun craft using pins to poke holes in aluminum foil for the stars of constellations, the aluminum foil is placed in a jar with fairy lights. The kids did an amazing job with this craft. ○ Take Home Kits ■ Treasure Map and Bee House kits, all kits picked up ■ MARS light sickles, all kits picked up General Administration ● New to our Collections ○ Adult Fiction 15 ○ Adult Non-Fiction 2 ○ YA 4 ○ Graphic Novels 3 ○ Childrens 6 ○ Children Non-Fiction ○ ER 1 ○ E 13 ○ Boardbooks ○ VOX Books ○ DVDs 5 ○ Audiobooks Planning, Organizing, Processes, and Evaluation ● CDPL has a new branch associate, Leslie Wilber. With this in mind we are looking at redistribution of tasks based on employee interest. Leslie has already joined a special graphic novel committee led by Sarah Palfrey. ● CDPL has a presence in all but one new committee formed through downtown: ○ Staff Engagement Committee ○ Branch Meetings (will always be branch manager) ○ Programming ○ All Staff Day ○ 2025 SRP/BFBC ○ DEI ○ Currently Janet is attending all but DEI, however as staff continues to shift hopefully some of the committees will be attended by other staff members. Leslie has expressed interest in programming and DEI, as well as her current responsibilities with Graphic Novels. ● Social Media posting has slowed down without Caleb to do our new books posts, but as we all adjust to the new dynamic, hopefully posts will become weekly again. Personnel: Community and Professional Development (3 CEs required yearly for all staff working more than 20 hours a week) Top Three Goals for August 1. Janet, stop missing deadlines 2. Finalize restructuring of book club and who will be leading discussions with change in staff 3. Finalize design around our new door 4. Finalize and order materials for fall preschool storytime. Angela has chosen crafts for September through December. Morgantown Public Library Monthly Report July 2024 July was a busy month for Public Services. There were a higher number of visitors to the library and notably increased foot traffic due to the Civil Right Act Exhibit that was on display on the 2nd floor most of the month. Summer Reading work continued throughout the month and staff were often busy distributing more craft kits, SRP buttons, and program completion prizes. Staff Changes Library Assistant Camille G. resigned her position this month. Camille had only been with the library for a short time but had fit well into the Public Services team. We will miss her in the position but wish her all the best. The position is still vacant and we will evaluate scheduling needs as we look forward to filling this position. Staff Contributions and Projects Despite the busyness of this month, several staff members made great contributions in a number of areas. Evening Supervisor Shelby D. reported that her adult fiction display this month was all about beach reads and was one of her most successful recent displays. Shelby has been considering how to quantify the success of her displays so this was the first display for which she tracked the number of items checked out from the display. She reported that 57 items were checked out from the display. Shelby and I had a discussion this month about standardizing display building in Public Services by developing standards for display success, display diversity, setting display goals and outcomes, and defining target audiences (among other ideas). We are drawing inspiration from the Diverse Display Guide from the Tulsa City-County Library. Youth Services Specialist Jenean S. reported this month the YA programming has remained steady throughout the month. One event of note she mentioned was the Teen Lock-In. This was the first lock in event hosted by the library since the COVID pandemic. Jenean reported that engagement at the program was strong and the program attendees enjoyed the chance to be social with each other and “were really amazed that they had the whole library to themselves.” Jenean also reported that some new teen faces have appeared at library programs this month who have just moved into the area including one homeschooled teenager. Jenean was excited to see them interacting together at her programs. Interlibrary Loan Coordinator Crystal L. reported this month that she helped present the Silent Book Club program with community member Nada Aboraya and the local Silent Book Club chapter this month. This is an existing community program that meets monthly at different locations throughout Morgantown. Participants at the program bring their own book and read together in silence in a low pressure environment. The program at MPL was well attended and the chapter coordinator usually does a prize raffle at the end of the reading hour. For the meeting at the library participants who showed their current MPLS library card or signed up for a card that evening were entered twice into the raffle. Crystal has spoken to Nada about making the library a regular location in the chapter’s various meeting locations. Currently we plan to host the Morgantown Silent Book Club chapter quarterly starting in November and Crystal will be the program facilitator. Evening Supervisor Shelby D. completed a long running project to update the new adult fiction shelving location this month. Shelby implemented dynamic shelving changes in this area previously and these changes have been well received by patrons and staff. Part of this project included improving the signage for this area. Shelby settled on large wooden letters which she finished with orange adhesive vinyl. The letters are mounted to the top of the new fiction shelve and have done a lot to improve the visual appeal of this area. Facilities Updates Progress continues with the new computer tables and chairs that we ordered at the end of June. Currently they are in manufacturing and slated for shipment at the end of October. J.P. Jay has scheduled MPL for installation on November 2. Other Updates Several other notable developments happened this month. After much work from Technical Services Manager Sarah S. and Assistant Cataloger John F. we completed the graphic novel relabeling project. This project began in January. Public Services staff began relocating this collection at the end of the month and it should be completed by the first week of August. Completing this project is an exciting development and along with new computer tables should go a long way to helping improve the teen space and make more effective use of space on the second floor. Jenean and I are also having ongoing discussion about the YA collection and specifically about the physical arrangement of this collection. We have the goal of making this collection more visually appealing and browsable to help increase circulation. This month Public Services began using the new Square point-of-sale systems. Staff were trained and the systems were implemented in late July. So far it seems that staff have taken well to the new systems and they have allowed us to now accept card payments. We have already seen the benefits of these new systems as more patrons have opted to pay for lost/damaged item bills with their credit cards or make a small donation to meet the library’s minimum card transaction amount. It is exciting to see another barrier to library access removed. This month we replaced the old and slow hard drives in the reference desk staff computers with new and more responsive solid state drives. This is a similar upgrade that we have made to other computers around the library including to the public access computers and some of the public access catalog computers. This upgrade makes the staff computers faster to start, more responsive, and improves that staff experience at the reference desk. This month Assistant Director James S. started a project to inventory and update directional signage around the building. Many of the current directional signage is old, in bad condition, or just outdated. This project should improve signage around the library, make signage more consistent in appearance and language, and make the library space feel more modern and cohesive. Goals ● Continue weeding in adult fiction to produce more free space and move the paperback collection. - in progress ○ Shelby is continuing to weed in adult fiction at a notable pace. We are hopeful that the weeding portion of this project will be completed in a reasonable time. ● Coordinate with Ruth Godfrey to reorganize the children’s area into a more distinct and open area within the library. - in progress ○ Ruth is continuing 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 ○ Installation scheduled for November 2, 2024 ● Expand Teen Area on 2nd floor ○ Graphic novel relabeling and relocating project completed. ○ Installation of new computer tables will contribute to the completion of this goal.