Library Board

Agenda Royal Oak Public Library Board of Trustees Tuesday, May 26, 2026, 7:00 p.m. Royal Oak Public Library Friends Auditorium 222 East Eleven Mile Road Royal Oak, MI 48067 Royal Oak Public Library 248-246-3700 Anyone planning to attend the meeting who has need of special assistance under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) is asked to contact the city clerk’s office at 248-246-3050 at least two (2) business days prior to the meeting. Pages 1. Call to Order 2. Announcements/Communications 3. Public Comment 4. Approval of Agenda 5. Approval of Minutes 2 6. Financial Reports 7 7. Director and Staff Report 11 8. Subcommittee/Program Reports a. Friends of the Library - May Liaison report b. Library Director Evaluation Sub-Committee Update on the process. 9. Old Business None. 10. New Business a. Update to the Board Planning Calendar The Board Planning calendar calls for a vote on part-time pay for FY 26/27. However, full-time staff negotiations are still ongoing. The Director is requesting to move this item to the June 23, 2026 meeting. 11. Adjournment  Minutes Royal Oak Public Library Board of Trustees Subcommittee Meeting April 28, 2026, 6:30 p.m. Royal Oak Public Library Friends Auditorium 222 East Eleven Mile Road Royal Oak, MI 48067 Present: Shannon Carlson Shannon Tierney Amanda Cleghorn Taylor Franklin _____________________________________________________________________ 1. Call to Order 2. New Business 2.a Review policies 2.a.1 3.20 Free Literature and Bulletin Board Postings Moved by: Amanda Cleghorn Seconded by: Shannon Carlson Motion to recommend to the Board to update language to match the strategic plan. Motion Adopted 2.a.2 5.40 Internet Use Policy Moved by: Shannon Carlson Seconded by: Amanda Cleghorn Motion to recommend to the Board to update language to reflect the correct name of Policy 3.30 Patron Behavior referenced in this policy. Motion Adopted 2.a.3 4.10 Materials Selection Moved by: Amanda Cleghorn Seconded by: Taylor Franklin 1 Page 2 of 19  Motion to recommend to the Board to update policy to include section VII. Artificial Intelligence. Motion Adopted 2.a.4 New Policy 5.60 Programming Moved by: Amanda Cleghorn Seconded by: Shannon Tierney Motion to recommend to the Board adoption of Policy 5.60 Programming. Motion Adopted 2.a.5 New Policy 5.70 Volunteers Moved by: Amanda Cleghorn Seconded by: Shannon Tierney Motion to recommend to the Board adoption of policy 5.70 Volunteers, with the change of the word "mission" to "purpose." Motion Adopted 3. Adjourn Meeting adjourned at 6:40pm. 2 Page 3 of 19  Minutes Royal Oak Public Library Board of Trustees April 28, 2026, 7:00 p.m. Royal Oak Public Library Friends Auditorium 222 East Eleven Mile Road Royal Oak, MI 48067 Present: Elaine Asher Shannon Carlson Amanda Cleghorn Michelle Cook Taylor Franklin Christine Jones Joshua Sipes Shannon Tierney Amanda Woods _____________________________________________________________________ 1. Call to Order The meeting was called to order at 7: pm. 2. Library Board of Trustees and Friends of the Library Board Joint Discussion Friends of the Library President and Treasurer shared an update on Friends activities and finances. 3. Announcements/Communications 3.a Strategic Plan - Year One 4. Public Comment 5. Approval of Agenda Trustee Tierney requested to add Sunshine Committee discussion to Old Business. Moved by: Amanda Cleghorn Seconded by: Elaine Asher Motion to approve the amended agenda. 1 Page 4 of 19  Motion Adopted 6. Approval of Minutes Moved by: Amanda Woods Seconded by: Elaine Asher Approve minutes of the March 24, 2026 Library Board of Trustees meeting. Motion Adopted 7. Financial Reports 8. Director and Staff Report 9. Subcommittee/Program Reports 9.a Policy Subcommittee 10. Old Business 10.a Sunshine Committee 11. New Business 11.a Policies - Review and Approval 11.a.1 3.20 Free Literature and Bulletin Board Postings Moved by: Shannon Tierney Seconded by: Elaine Asher Motion to appove the revision to 3.20 Free Literature and Bulletin Board Postings. Motion Adopted 11.a.2 5.40 Internet Use Policy Moved by: Elaine Asher Seconded by: Shannon Tierney Motion to accept the revision to 5.40 Internet Use Policy. Motion Adopted 11.a.3 4.10 Materials Selection Moved by: Shannon Tierney Seconded by: Michelle Cook 2 Page 5 of 19  Motion to accept the revision to 4.10 Materials Selection policy to include section VII. Artificial Intelligence, with a request to reevaluate the policy in one year. Ayes (8): Elaine Asher, Shannon Carlson, Amanda Cleghorn, Michelle Cook, Taylor Franklin, Christine Jones, Joshua Sipes, and Shannon Tierney Nays (1): Amanda Woods Motion Adopted (8 to 1) 11.a.4 New Policy - 5.60 Programming Moved by: Christine Jones Seconded by: Shannon Tierney Motion to approve the new policy 5.60 Programming. Motion Adopted 11.a.5 New Policy - 5.70 Volunteers Moved by: Shannon Tierney Seconded by: Elaine Asher Motion to approve the new policy 5.70 Volunteers. Motion Adopted 12. Adjournment The meeting was adjourned at 8:27pm. 3 Page 6 of 19  FY 2024-25 Final Report FY 2025-26 Monthly Financial Reports Sandy Irwin, Library Director April 2026 Revenues  271-000-69946 TRANSFER FROM ARPA – 460 o Will be transferred before the end of the fiscal year. o We will also use $70,000 from the fund balance for the donation we received from EBSCO. Expenditures  As of 4/30, we are $1.1 million under in expenditures o This will change before the end of the fiscal year. o Any savings help with the upcoming capital improvement projects.  271-790-96400 BANK SERVICE CHARGES & FEES o Are higher since we had to lease a new cash register. o We budgeted for this next year. FY 2026/27 – Change in Electronic Resources 271-790-79003 LIBRARY ELECTRONIC RESOURCES  We are canceling Morningstar. We do not get enough usage to justify the cost, and we only get 2 simultaneous seats. Here are some comparisons: o $9.77/use - Morningstar o $0.41/use – ValueLine o $0.48/use - PressReader o We are using some of the savings to purchase The Economist on PressReader, which has been requested multiple times by our patrons.  The savings are more than what we need for the Economist, and with our budget cushion, if a great resource comes out, we will have funds to purchase it. Page 7 of 19 05/19/2026 REVENUE AND EXPENDITURE REPORT FOR CITY OF ROYAL OAK PERIOD ENDING 04/30/2026 % Fiscal Year Completed: 83.29 *NOTE: Available Balance / Pct Budget Used does not reflect amounts encumbered. ACTIVITY FOR 2025-26 AMENDED YTD BALANCE MONTH BUDGET VS ACTUAL % BDGT GL NUMBER DESCRIPTION BUDGET 04/30/2026 04/30/2026 - DIFFERENCE USED Fund 271 - LIBRARY FUND Revenues Dept 000 - NON-DEPARTMENTAL 271-000-40200 PROPERTY TAX REVENUES 3,977,000.00 3,939,217.87 0.00 (37,782.13) 99.05 271-000-57300 LOCAL COMMUNITY STABILIZATION 50,200.00 34,917.30 0.00 (15,282.70) 69.56 271-000-57403 STATE - AID TO LIBRARY 62,400.00 63,231.56 0.00 831.56 101.33 271-000-57405 STATE - LIBRARY PENAL FINES 75,000.00 86,758.27 0.00 11,758.27 115.68 271-000-64201 LIBRARY COPIER CHARGES 7,000.00 7,617.51 869.60 617.51 108.82 271-000-65701 LIBRARY SERVICE CHARGES & FINES 5,700.00 7,044.61 400.00 1,344.61 123.59 271-000-65702 LIBRARY REPL MATERIALS FEES 3,000.00 1,610.98 184.76 (1,389.02) 53.70 271-000-66500 INTEREST 126,120.00 88,595.36 0.00 (37,524.64) 70.25 271-000-67100 MISCELLANEOUS REVENUE 1,000.00 3,018.69 483.53 2,018.69 301.87 271-000-67501 DONATIONS 20,000.00 6,415.95 105.00 (13,584.05) 32.08 271-000-67503 MEMORIAL BOOK FUND 5,000.00 790.00 0.00 (4,210.00) 15.80 271-000-67570 DONATIONS - MISC LIBRARY 7,000.00 15,437.32 2,380.40 8,437.32 220.53 271-000-69946 TRANSFER FROM ARPA - 460 362,000.00 24,561.00 0.00 (337,439.00) 6.78 Total Dept 000 - NON-DEPARTMENTAL 4,701,420.00 4,279,216.42 4,423.29 (422,203.58) 91.02 TOTAL REVENUES 4,701,420.00 4,279,216.42 4,423.29 (422,203.58) 91.02 Expenditures Dept 790 - LIBRARY 271-790-70203 WAGES - PERMANENT 1,335,817.00 1,047,549.65 111,500.95 288,267.35 78.42 271-790-70204 WAGES - TEMPORARY 273,900.00 180,402.40 17,028.52 93,497.60 65.86 271-790-70300 WAGES - OVERTIME 2,000.00 1,099.94 0.00 900.06 55.00 271-790-70401 LONGEVITY PAY 5,719.00 5,712.35 0.00 6.65 99.88 271-790-70402 SICK LEAVE PAY 1,200.00 3,991.00 164.38 (2,791.00) 332.58 271-790-70404 SHIFT DIFFERENTIAL PAY 350.00 376.42 39.50 (26.42) 107.55 271-790-70407 DUPLICATE HEALTH CARE BENEFITS PAY 4,800.00 4,342.83 600.00 457.17 90.48 271-790-70500 DEFERRED COMP - EMPLOYER CONTRIBUTION 4,091.00 6,059.30 677.54 (1,968.30) 148.11 271-790-70601 RETIREMENT CONTRIBUTIONS - GENERAL 16,172.00 4,915.86 508.70 11,256.14 30.40 271-790-70604 PENSION - UAL - GENERAL 5,619.00 15,904.19 1,645.81 (10,285.19) 283.04 271-790-70610 DEFINED CONTRIBUTION 115,077.00 90,177.12 9,820.30 24,899.88 78.36 271-790-70620 RETIREE HSA 51,146.00 39,753.15 4,262.04 11,392.85 77.72 271-790-71101 FICA 123,949.00 92,516.22 9,602.98 31,432.78 74.64 271-790-71102 UNEMPLOYMENT COMPENSATION TAX 940.00 325.08 8.52 614.92 34.58 271-790-71201 GROUP MEDICAL INSURANCE 197,851.00 153,577.11 14,894.19 44,273.89 77.62 271-790-71203 GROUP DENTAL INSURANCE 17,110.00 12,237.87 1,268.40 4,872.13 71.52 271-790-71204 GROUP LIFE INSURANCE 2,040.00 2,050.16 192.76 (10.16) 100.50 271-790-71205 VISION INSURANCE 1,621.00 1,197.26 103.54 423.74 73.86 271-790-71206 WORKERS COMPENSATION INSURANCE 1,420.00 894.09 85.29 525.91 62.96 271-790-71207 SHORT AND LONG TERM DISABILITY 7,956.00 6,759.97 664.66 1,196.03 84.97 271-790-72701 OFFICE SUPPLIES 7,000.00 2,806.33 306.43 4,193.67 40.09 271-790-72702 OFFICE EQUIP/FURNITURE (NON-CAPITALIZED) 15,000.00 10,688.87 868.96 4,311.13 71.26 271-790-72800 COMPUTER SUPPLIES & PARTS 49,500.00 35,747.06 74.28 13,752.94 72.22 271-790-73200 CLEANING & JANITORIAL SUPPLIES 10,000.00 4,480.75 423.48 5,519.25 44.81 271-790-73300 BUILDING REPAIR & MAINTENANCE SUPPLIES 1,000.00 113.81 42.52 886.19 11.38 271-790-73800 ELECTRICAL & LIGHTING SUPPLIES 1,000.00 560.15 0.00 439.85 56.02 271-790-74500 TREES, SHRUBS & PLANTS 500.00 0.00 0.00 500.00 0.00 271-790-78900 PROGRAM SUPPLIES AND RELATED EXP 56,000.00 38,371.53 5,298.73 17,628.47 68.52 271-790-79001 LIBRARY BOOKS 176,100.00 115,339.29 11,011.33 60,760.71 65.50 271-790-79002 LIBRARY VIDEO & AUDIO RESOURCES 40,000.00 28,453.35 2,251.85 11,546.65 71.13 271-790-79003 LIBRARY ELECTRONIC RESOURCES 35,800.00 22,995.94 0.00 12,804.06 64.23 271-790-79004 LIBRARY SUBSCRIPTIONS 14,450.00 12,168.14 123.78 2,281.86 84.21 271-790-79011 MEMORIAL BOOKS & RESOURCES 5,000.00 409.86 0.00 4,590.14 8.20 271-790-79012 REPLACEMENT BOOKS & RESOURCES 1,000.00 0.00 0.00 1,000.00 0.00 271-790-79102 DOWNLOADABLES - AUDIO, VIDEO, ETC. 211,000.00 121,768.07 8,921.24 89,231.93 57.71 271-790-79900 MISCELLANEOUS OPERATING SUPPLIES 21,000.00 10,957.96 2,435.82 10,042.04 52.18 271-790-80301 DATA PROCESSING SERVICES 55,000.00 52,818.76 13,293.18 2,181.24 96.03 271-790-80302 TELECOMMUNICATIONS SERVICES 10,450.00 6,242.66 512.47 4,207.34 59.74 271-790-80800 AUDIT SERVICES 1,610.00 1,328.40 0.00 281.60 82.51 Page 8 of 19  ACTIVITY FOR 2025-26 AMENDED YTD BALANCE MONTH BUDGET VS ACTUAL % BDGT GL NUMBER DESCRIPTION BUDGET 04/30/2026 04/30/2026 - DIFFERENCE USED 271-790-81201 PROPERTY & CASUALTY INSURANCE SERVICES 55,600.00 47,309.55 0.00 8,290.45 85.09 271-790-82500 MISC CONTRACTED SERVICES 38,500.00 30,879.37 1,253.40 7,620.63 80.21 271-790-82801 COMPUTER EQUIP REPAIR & TECH SUPPORT SVC 500.00 0.00 0.00 500.00 0.00 271-790-83200 CLEANING & JANITORIAL SERVICES 61,500.00 48,425.34 5,104.02 13,074.66 78.74 271-790-83301 HEATING/COOLING REPAIR & MAINT SERVICES 40,000.00 12,025.50 962.50 27,974.50 30.06 271-790-83302 PLUMBING REPAIR & MAINTENANCE SERVICES 8,000.00 0.00 0.00 8,000.00 0.00 271-790-83303 ELEVATOR REPAIR & MAINTENANCE SERVICES 26,000.00 3,831.00 0.00 22,169.00 14.73 271-790-83399 MISC BUILDING REPAIR & MAINT SERVICES 35,000.00 31,322.86 392.00 3,677.14 89.49 271-790-85101 ELECTRIC 70,000.00 51,361.48 4,455.28 18,638.52 73.37 271-790-85103 GAS 19,000.00 15,102.20 1,608.72 3,897.80 79.49 271-790-85105 WATER 7,000.00 4,855.65 0.00 2,144.35 69.37 271-790-85200 TAXES 10.00 76.93 0.00 (66.93) 769.30 271-790-85300 BUILDING SECURITY SERVICES 3,600.00 2,331.36 0.00 1,268.64 64.76 271-790-85600 PRINTING & DOCUMENT DUPLICATING 5,000.00 463.27 0.00 4,536.73 9.27 271-790-85800 POSTAGE & MAILING SERVICES 6,500.00 1,760.19 0.00 4,739.81 27.08 271-790-86101 TRAINING & EDUCATION 16,000.00 3,721.20 450.00 12,278.80 23.26 271-790-86300 TRAVEL COSTS 5,000.00 4,642.44 2,626.10 357.56 92.85 271-790-86500 DUES & MEMBERSHIPS 7,065.00 3,011.00 0.00 4,054.00 42.62 271-790-87501 ADVERTISING & LEGAL NOTICES 11,180.00 9,336.96 500.00 1,843.04 83.51 271-790-92200 MOTOR POOL VEHICLE RENTALS 3,639.00 3,032.82 303.33 606.18 83.34 271-790-92600 ADMINISTRATIVE CHARGES 113,410.00 94,508.30 9,450.83 18,901.70 83.33 271-790-92800 INFORMATION SYSTEMS SERVICE CHARGES 80,990.00 67,491.70 6,749.17 13,498.30 83.33 271-790-96400 BANK SERVICE CHARGES & FEES 2,500.00 4,627.20 275.52 (2,127.20) 185.09 271-790-96800 MISCELLANEOUS EXPENDITURES 12,000.00 6,754.85 146.54 5,245.15 56.29 271-790-96901 INCREASE IN FUND BALANCE 155,173.00 0.00 0.00 155,173.00 0.00 271-790-97000 CAPITAL OUTLAY 681,515.00 186,114.20 0.00 495,400.80 27.31 271-790-97001 CAPITAL OUTLAY-NON-QUALIFIED 0.00 54,149.38 0.00 (54,149.38) 100.00 271-790-99131 PENSION PRINCIPAL 56,230.00 56,224.49 0.00 5.51 99.99 271-790-99136 OPEB PRINCIPAL 156,080.00 156,071.43 0.00 8.57 99.99 271-790-99531 PENSION DEBT INTEREST 38,200.00 38,198.97 0.00 1.03 100.00 271-790-99536 OPEB DEBT INTEREST 106,040.00 106,033.93 0.00 6.07 99.99 Total Dept 790 - LIBRARY 4,701,420.00 3,178,756.47 252,909.56 1,522,663.53 67.61 TOTAL EXPENDITURES 4,701,420.00 3,178,756.47 252,909.56 1,522,663.53 67.61 Fund 271 - LIBRARY FUND: TOTAL REVENUES 4,701,420.00 4,279,216.42 TOTAL EXPENDITURES 4,701,420.00 3,178,756.47 NET OF REVENUES & EXPENDITURES 0.00 1,100,459.95 BEG. FUND BALANCE 1,785,409.42 END FUND BALANCE 1,785,409.42 Page 9 of 19 Page 10 of 19  Board Subcommittees Board Officer Nominating Tierney, Carlson, Woods Budget/Finance Jones, Franklin, Sipes, Purpose Statement: Facilities/Space Utilization Cook, Asher, Jones, Sipes To empower our community to learn, Policy & Bylaw Review Tierney, Carlson, Cleghorn, Franklin connect, create, and grow through Strategic Planning Asher, Sipes, Tierney welcoming and inclusive spaces, diverse Director Goals and Evaluation Carlson, Asher, Cook, Woods resources, and meaningful experiences. DIRECTOR REPORT May 2026 Strategic Directions Cross-departmental teams are meeting and starting to work on their projects.  Foster community connections and provide valuable experiences. 1.1 Connect with our community and engage local partners to better reach new audiences.  Develop a partnership and community outreach plan that is guided by data and evidence.  Coach: Leah  Team: Erin, Donna, Gabby, Jennifer 1.2 Implement new communication and marketing strategies to better inform the community of all the library offers.  Redesign the website (waiting for the city contract)  Coach and Team Leader: Sandy  Team: Ed, Trevor, Emily, Gillian, Danis, Leah, Bray  Develop a marketing and communications plan, plus a branding guide, in line with industry standards, to ensure consistent procedures and expectations across departments.  Coach: Sandy  Team: Trevor, Becca, Danis, Gillian  Champion ease of access and inclusion through evolving services and spaces. 2.2 Develop ways to make our collections and services more intuitive to navigate.  Coach: Sandy  Team: Erin, Nancy, Megan  Cultivate an internal culture of growth, learning, creativity, and innovation. 3.1 Provide professional development and learning opportunities that enhance skills and facilitate growth.  Establish core training and refresher training schedules for each department.  Coach: Danis  Team: Erin, John, Gabby, Ben, Kathy Page 11 of 19  3.2 Leadership empowers staff development and well-being through ongoing evaluation, support and engagement.  Core competencies for each position are defined and shared with staff.  Coach: Trevor  Team: Donna, Andrew, Danis, Leah 3.3 Decision-making is aligned with usage data and patron feedback  Build systems to gather patron feedback.  Coach: Sandy  Team: Andrew, Gabby, Ben, Jennifer Strategic Directions – Director Updates  Foster community connections and provide valuable experiences. o 1.2 Implement new communication and marketing strategies to better inform the community of all the library offers.  The city recently signed a contract for website redevelopment. I am waiting for further instruction from the city.  The cross-departmental team is looking at other libraries’ websites that were designed by this company.  Champion ease of access and inclusion through evolving services and spaces. o I am working with American Marketing and Publishing to have panoramic photos taken on June 10 of the library and published to Google, similar to street views.  This will help people with accessibility needs preview the building before they come in.  Cultivate an internal culture of growth, learning, creativity, and innovation. o April 2026: Staff participated in 37 hours of training. o May: Staff who were available to attend received Narcan training via Wayne State.  We will be obtaining a freestanding box for our vestibule with Narcan. General  I spoke with a community member who wants to make a significant financial contribution to youth services in honor of his late wife. o I will need to meet with the Facilities Committee to discuss this further. Statistics  Library use is growing each month.  This is a testament to the hard work of the staff. They truly make the library a welcoming place for everyone. Facility  Some lighting needed new wiring. o When the fixtures were changed to LED in 2021, the wiring was not changed out.  Solar: Page 12 of 19  o Everything was loaded onto the roof by Wed 5/20, which re-opened the parking garage entrance off 11 Mile Rd. o The combination of equipment malfunction and thunderstorms delayed completion of the rooftop installation.  We will still switch the electrical over on Thursday 5/28. We plan to open by 1pm that day.  We are waiting for the final approval by the Universal Service Fund for the network upgrade. Outreach  4/30: At the invitation from Commissioner Bastian, I attended the faith leaders meeting at Welcome Inn and learned more about what they are doing to help our unhoused population. o A follow-up meeting will be held in June between the faith leaders’ group and the government group to merge the two projects. Professional Development  I am in the midst of two American Library Association courses: o Data-Driven Library Decisions o Bridging the Gap: Communicating Across Generations in the Library Workplace Security Issues/Suspensions  April had 12 incidents o One potential suspension (if he returns) for having his pants down to the ground while standing in the men’s restroom by the urinal, reading the newspaper for an extended period of time. Administration Staff  Stephanie has taken on the distribution of processed volunteer applications to the appropriate persons: the Friends, Gabby in Adult Services, Emily in Youth Services, and Sepi with the Butterfly Garden.  Ed made changes to our print station to allow public printing up until 5 minutes before closing. ACCESS SERVICES April and May 2026 Strategic Directions  Champion ease of access and inclusion through evolving services and spaces. o After the last CARL update in April, we discovered that a crucial reporting function no longer worked. Ben and Ed worked determinedly with TLN staff to find a workaround for the broken reports function. We have since learned that this is a widespread problem in the Shared System and will have to use the workaround indefinitely. It is a bit less efficient than the normal system, and it affects several librarians as well. Page 13 of 19  o I have been working with Leah to develop a schedule for reassigning some Access staff to the Youth Desk during the super busy Summer Reading program. Even with the staff shortages in both departments, we still hope to be able to provide circulation and Beanstack assistance to the Youth librarians during busiest shifts of this hectic season.  Cultivate an internal culture of growth, learning, creativity, and innovation. o Having been short-staffed for most of the past two months, there has been little time for individual professional development efforts. However, several members of the Access team did attend the Narcan staff training on May 12th. o I attended the monthly TLN SAS Executive Committee meeting on May 7th and Ben attended the quarterly TLN Circulation Committee meeting on May 14. Both of these meetings addressed some significant changes o The Core Competencies team (Leah, Donna, Andrew, and me), one of our cross- departmental Strategic Planning teams, has met twice this month and we have already identified our expected results and gathered a great deal of information to guide our work. We are a well-matched group of extremely detail-oriented professionals, and this work is fun for all of us. As an experienced manager/information organization nerd, it is also exciting for me to watch the less experienced librarians embracing the new skills involved in project management. Program and Outreach Highlights  Circulation Aide Mac assisted the Youth Department with their Pokemon program on April 23rd and joined Youth librarians in representing ROPL at the ROHS Spring Fair on May 5th. Staff News  Circulation Aide Retha graduated from OCC on May 16th – Congratulations, Retha!  Angela, our second newest Municipal Clerk I, has been with us for nearly six weeks and is already an invaluable part of the team! She has completed most of the training for her day-to- day duties and is continuing to learn new procedures and processes each week.  Our newest Municipal Clerk I is Alex, who started on May 18th. She joins ROPL from outside the library world, so her training includes learning about the intricacies, quirks, and jargon of public libraries, along with all of our policies, procedures, software, hardware, collections, etc. It’s a lot, and she’s already succeeding admirably.  Less cheerfully, Olivia, Municipal Clerk II and essential part of our team, has endured a serious medical emergency and will be out for at least two months. We wish her a full and restful recovery and look forward to her eventual return. ADULT DEPARTMENT May 2026 Strategic Directions  Champion ease of access and inclusion through evolving services and spaces. Page 14 of 19  o Goal 2.3: Evaluate and reimagine programs and events to meet evolving community needs and interests. This is a department-specific goal, and because Gillian has expressed interest in doing more outreach and being more present in the community, they will lead our department’s efforts to reach this goal.  Staff Professional Development o Donna completed training focused on Narcan (as did most of the adult department), Implicit Bias, and webinars from Hoopla and Kanopy. o Gillian completed a Mental Illness Short Course (as did Bray), plus webinars focused on Beanstack and graphic novel updates in Booklist. o Trevor attended another session of the Middle Management Cohort sponsored by the Library of Michigan. The next session is in person at the state library on June 2. These sessions will continue throughout 2026; about 35 librarians are participating. Program and Outreach Highlights  Andrew and Gillian met with Christina at the Farmers Market to discuss specifics for hosting our 2026 Art Fair at that location, during a Food Truck Rally in October. Using the market will allow us to invite more artists to participate and hopefully increase attendance at this already popular event!  Gillian’s Yemeni Coffee Tasting with Rehla Coffee was a big hit! It’s always fun to introduce patrons to new food or drink from across the world.  The April Queerdos event was well-attended, with a lot of excitement around reading the Great Michigan Read selection.  Gabby reintroduced the Local History Room to the community by hosting an Open House on May 11. She introduced the room to some, and for others who had visited in the past, they experienced the new layout which will make it easier to locate what we stock.  LEGO are more popular than ever with adults, and Gabby and Megan’s LEGO competition for adult was a hit!  The culmination of our annual poetry contest led by Andrew is the Open Mic Night, which was attended by 22 people; winners were announced and everyone was welcome to read their work.  Andrew’s Shakespeare Improv night in honor of the bard’s birthday, was led by Shakespeare Royal Oak on April 30. The troupe involved the audience of 30 and everyone had a great time. Home Delivery, Makespace, & Local History Room  Gabby had six appointments in the Local History Room and mailed items to 23 home delivery participants.  Megan had 37 appointments in the Makerspace in April! This continues to see very high usage. Most popular equipment is the Adobe suite PC, button makers, and recently, the Cricut. Page 15 of 19 Staff & Volunteer News  Andrew is chairing the cross-departmental strategic planning group which will focus on creating core competencies for each position. Donna, Danis, and Leah are also members.  Since Gabby has taken over the volunteer program for the adult department, she has onboarded 14 people interested in helping us with events and program preparation. Volunteers spend 23 hours assisting us in April and May.  Gabby is chairing the cross-departmental team focusing on devising ways to gather patron feedback for continuous improvement. Patron Feedback  Bray received a compliment from a patron who appreciated our programming and computer lab equipment. She received another specifically about her excellent customer service; another person expressed their appreciation at our free printing credit.  A lot of positive feedback in the Seed Library comment book from local gardeners.  Gabby has completed her reorganization of the Local History Room and has already received praise for her efforts.  Patrons of Welcome Inn that Gillian spoke to while they were restocking the library complimented the library and Megan specifically for her kindness.  Several patrons have passed along their compliments to John as well, for his helpfulness in the computer lab.  Gabby received a nice compliment for our Queerdos events led by Gillian. YOUTH SERVICES April & May 2026 Strategic Directions  Foster community connections and provide valuable experiences. o The team has been busy preparing for our Summer Reading Program. o Jennifer connected with local businesses, and many are donating coupons for free kids’ meals, treats, and pizza. Our summer reading participants will earn their choice of coupon when they complete the program. o We’ve ordered all our small prize giveaways including nearly 500 dino-themed prizes and almost as many new books. o Jennifer, Erin, and Becca purchased our grand prizes for the four different age groups of our summer reading program. We’ll have around fifty grand prizes to give away. The prizes will be on display in the glass display case near the terrace entry. o Emily, Erin, and Becca created our four summer reading challenges in Beanstack and the team will start to test and edit them next week. o We’re developing our Take & Make crafts and instructions. We will have 150 kits available for six weeks and each week will feature a different craft. Most of them will be dinosaur- related and on theme with our CSLP summer reading theme, “Unearth a Story”. Page 16 of 19  o The team has been in communication with local business and community groups who are participating in our Summer Reading Kickoff Party on Friday, June 12. Trader Joe’s, OUR Credit Union, the Balloon Guys, Goldfish Swim School, Ray’s Ice Cream, Oakland County Parks, Annabelle’s Entertainment, and the Friends of the Library will all be here for the fun! o I delivered 5,400 postcards, 40 posters, and 9 yard signs to Samantha Jones, Director of Communications, at Royal Oak Schools. She will be distributing the items so everyone attending Royal Oak Schools will be encouraged to sign up for the Summer Reading Program. We will also continue to promote our programs through Peachjar. o Erin and Andrew developed a Summer Writing Challenge. The challenge is open to everyone, ages 10 and up. The challenge is open until Monday, June 29 and will culminate with a celebratory Ice Cream Social on Friday, July 17.  Champion ease of access and inclusion through evolving services and spaces. o All team members have been busy finalizing their collection purchases for this fiscal year. We’ve met with a couple of book vendors to review and select a lot of our nonfiction materials. By purchasing through these book vendors directly, we’re able to purchase materials at a better rate and many of the items also come with a lifetime replacement warranty. o Erin added new clip-on book support signage to her nonfiction collections and added a suggestion box to the World Language Collection. o Volunteers are helping us with our collection maintenance by completing inventories, pulling weeding lists, and doing shelf checks for lost, missing, and not on shelf items. They also help us with program supply preparation and cleaning toys. Over the past month, volunteers finished thirty-four shifts for a total of seventy volunteer hours. We have eight regular volunteers who are here eighteen hours a week and we’ve added one new volunteer, Ailese. o We finished the inventory of the YA Nonfiction and are weeding J DVDs, J Biographies, J Fiction, J Series, J 600s, J Board Books, and J Graphic Novels.  Cultivate an internal culture of growth, learning, creativity, and innovation. o Erin attended the World Language meeting for International Collections Librarians at Farmington Community Library on Monday, April 14. She met with other TLN libraries to discuss vendors, programming, and other challenges and ideas for international collections. o Erin attended the TLN Youth Services meeting and Becca attended the Teen Services meeting on Friday, May 8. At our monthly department meeting, they shared with the youth services team what they learned while attending. Becca’s term as Secretary for the Teen Services committee ends in September. o Erin attended MI Financial Wellness Network’s, “Smart Money Kids Read” meeting in preparation for her Smart Money Kids Read Story Time on Wednesday, April 22. We’ve partnered with OUR Credit Union for years to offer this interactive and educational story time in April during National Financial Literacy Month. o Emily completed her second session of MLA’s Leadership Academy. In this session, they focused on advocacy, legislation, and intellectual freedom. Page 17 of 19  o Jennifer attended Penguin Random House’s Spring Book & Author Festival, a day-long virtual event hosted on Thursday, April 16th. o All full-time team members have been busy attending meetings, researching, and creating plans to address their strategic goals for their year one strategic plan committees. Program and Outreach Highlights  Becca’s started a partnership with Royal Oak Chess Club to offer drop-in programs. Both events so far have gotten nearly 20 attendees of all ages. This partnership allows us to provide highly requested chess programming with the resources and expertise of the chess club.  We hosted our 3rd Annual Royal Oak Schools Art Show on Saturday, April 18. Our collaboration with the Royal Oak Schools Art Department was once again tremendously successful. Approximately 800 people attended the Opening Party we hosted with Alesha Beistline, Alicia Duncan, and many other art teachers. The show featured nearly 400 pieces created by students of all ages from every school in the district. The response from both the community and our staff was overwhelmingly positive. Each day, visitors stopped by to admire and celebrate the children’s artwork. The art show truly transforms the library space and highlights the meaningful partnership between Royal Oak Schools and the library in creating engaging, community-centered experiences. We look forward to hosting again next year.  Becca, Barb and Mac attended Keller Elementary’s International Food and Fun Festival on Friday, April 17. The event drew a strong crowd, and throughout the two-hour program they stayed busy creating country flag buttons for students and promoting our upcoming Summer Reading Program.  Becca and Erin attended the student-led U-Matter Club event at ROHS on Wednesday, April 29. The club is dedicated to promoting positive mental health and well-being among the students. Each year they host U-matter week, a week-long series of school wide activities focused on self- care, kindness, and mental health awareness. Becca and Erin were excited about the invite and helped support the event by making affirmation buttons with the high schoolers while promoting summer reading.  Becca, Erin, and Mac attended Royal Oak High School’s Spring Fling Carnival on Tuesday, May 5 to connect with the high schoolers and promote all our upcoming summer fun.  Jennifer visited over 400 students at Oak Ridge Elementary on Tuesday, May 12 to promote our summer reading program and events. Page 18 of 19  Monthly Statistics April 2026 Apr 2026 Apr 2025 % change Year to Date 24/25 YTD 24/25 Year-End % of total Visits 17,909 16,513 8.5% 172,997 157,438 192,211 90.0% # of cardholders 25,027 24,599 1.7% 25,032 Circulation (includes renewals) Children 16,376 16,321 0.3% 168,230 162,393 193,575 86.9% Teen 1,453 1,265 14.9% 13,836 12,798 15,805 87.5% Adult 11,627 11,555 0.6% 116,660 110,996 133,153 87.6% eMaterials 11,893 19,478 -38.9% 116,440 204,239 249,183 46.7% Other physical items (Library of Things) 601 439 36.9% 5,612 4,679 5,567 100.8% Internet devices (hotspots, laptops) 328 155 111.6% 3,187 1,539 1,869 170.5% Total 42,278 49,213 -14.1% 423,965 496,644 599,152 70.8% Database use 1,477 1,207 22.4% 16,222 15,413 18,603 87.2% Inventory Physical Items 118,778 124,618 -4.7% 124,088 Reference Transactions 2,637 1,608 64.0% 24,453 14,551 17,915 136.5% InterLibrary Loans Lending 2,003 2,232 -10.3% 23,588 22,929 27,293 86.4% Borrowing 6,117 5,848 4.6% 57,975 55,110 66,352 87.4% Public Internet, Wireless & Website Uses (sessions) of public PCs 1,202 996 20.7% 11,334 13,222 15,225 74.4% Uses of wireless logins 1,950 1,804 8.1% 18,456 17,005 20,574 89.7% Website hits 11,254 12,261 -8.2% 113,878 114,548 137,466 82.8% Library App # of new devices 86 62 38.7% 920 882 1,059 86.9% Launches 8,901 7,501 18.7% 86,189 71,002 86,816 99.3% Programs & Outreach # of Programs & Outreach Ages 0-5 14 12 16.7% 123 93 111 110.8% Attendance Ages 0-5 503 490 2.7% 4,843 3,786 4,539 106.7% # of Programs & Outreach Ages 6-11 3 2 50.0% 42 36 45 93.3% Attendance Ages 6-11 158 16 887.5% 459 282 1,234 37.2% # of Programs & Outreach Teen 5 2 150.0% 34 21 27 125.9% Attendance Teen 75 39 92.3% 592 421 785 75.4% # of Programs & Outreach Adults 16 16 0.0% 156 103 145 107.6% Attendance Adults 205 253 -19.0% 2,097 1,002 1,541 136.1% # of Programs & Outreach All Ages 8 6 33.3% 58 48 62 93.5% Attendance All Ages 969 219 342.5% 6,336 4,095 5,467 115.9% Volunteers # of Volunteers 48 37 29.7% 417 329 449 92.9% # of Volunteer Hours 384 299 28.4% 3,226 2,097 2,885 111.8% Room Reservations Study Rooms 415 365 13.7% 3,849 3,076 4,114 93.6% Small Conference Room 62 54 14.8% 539 471 620 86.9% Friends Auditorium 0 5 -100.0% 31 29 38 81.6% Makerspace 34 16 112.5% 178 37 72 247.2% Local History Room 5 n/a n/a 54 n/a n/a n/a Woodward Corner Market Circulations *service began in December 2024 58 61 n/a 675 251 342 197.4% Home Delivery # of patrons 23 20 15.0% 230 142 184 125.0% # of items delivered 35 83 -57.8% 540 503 644 83.9% *began tracking in October 2024 Page 19 of 19