Santa Fe Public Library Board

LIBRARY BOARD MINUTES August 19, 2025 5:45 PM IN-PERSON MEETING 1. CALL TO ORDER Meeting called to Order at 5:45 PM 2. ROLL CALL Members Present: Member Mark Lupinetti Member Tamina Painter Member Meghan McGarrity Member Adele Oliveira Member William Karnoscak Library Director Margaret Neill 3. Members Excused: Member Aurora Hvidsten Member Rose Cowan 4. Others Attending: Therese Martinez, Project Administrator, Clerk 5. APPROVAL OF AGENDA a. Tuesday, August 19, 2025. Meghan MGarrity made a motion to approve the Agenda. Tamina Painter seconded the Motion. Unanimous approval. 6. APPROVAL OF MINUTES a. Approval of July 15, 2025 Minutes. William Karnoscak made the motion to approve the Minutes. Tamina Painter seconded the Motion. Unanimous approval. 7. PUBLIC COMMENT No comment initially. Mike Harris arrived later and was allowed to comment. Please see PUBLIC COMMENT below. 8. DIRECTOR'S REPORT a. Margaret Neill, Library Director mmneill@santafenm.gov LIBRARY BOARD MEETING Tuesday, August 19, 2025 Page 1 of 6  LIBRARY BOARD MINUTES August 19, 2025 5:45 PM IN-PERSON MEETING Margaret Neill stated that as promised last month, she put together metrics for the Libraries' fiscal year July 1, 2024, through June 30, 2025. For the most part everything is moving forward and is continuing its trajectory. It maybe plateauing a little which is to be expected. The only place there was a big drop was in circulation. After doing some math, talking with staff, and reflection, there were two contributing factors to the drop. The first was the procurement process, and Contract Admin. staff turn-over. This led to issues with getting contract approved in a timely manner. The other issue is that the Library's primary vendor Baker & Taylor had a really difficult time supplying materials. The Library was up to 500 items that were either back ordered or canceled. The back orders were canceled and smaller purchases were made through Collected Works and Barnes & Noble locally. Circulation began to improve in March. Discussion on the procurement process, staffing, this being an election year, and this drop being an anomaly. Discussion on other factors on the rise such as new card holders, programs, etc. Discussion on teen and tween programs increasing and every other metric being stable. PUBLIC COMMENT: Mike Harris stated his name and said he had attended one other meeting previously. Mike Harris stated he just came from the Metropolitan Planning Organization (MPO) meeting at the Southside Branch Library. He used to be on the Santa Fe City Council. He’s very much engaged right now working and talking with people. He and his wife recently hosted one of the mayoral candidates at their house. At MPO he is interested in projects, Arroyo Chamiso Crossing Project and projects of the $25,000,000.00 Bond that the City just sold. He was a Councilor from District 4 (four). Midtown Campus is in his district. As a result of redistricting, he is now in District 2 (two). Midtown is very important to him. He worked on the initial resolution which was a lot of work. He is finally seeing some activity. He worked on Midtown in 2016-2017. What the future is of Fogelson is of interest to him. He served with Ron Trujillo (the mayoral candidate hosted), and they agreed at the time (2016) that the La Farge Branch Library was functionally obsolete. He got the most heat/static from this comment than the entire four years he served on the Council. He understands how important this Library is. He loves the Library system and will be attending a program, the International Author’s Book Club. Congratulations to Ms. Neill (Margaret Neill) on the library system. He thinks the library system is one of the strengths of the City right now. The future of Fogelson is what he came to hear about. Mark Lupinetti explained that Daniel Hernandez is now gone/left the City. The Board is now waiting to see who is going to be the person they touch base with about ongoing things at Fogelson. Mike Harris said he knows most of the players on the MPO and others. Margaret Neill stated that she understood that the City manager will be stepping into Daniel’s role and will be working with Community Development employees to oversee it. Mile Harris said that he understood there is a design for the renovation of Fogelson Library. LIBRARY BOARD MEETING Tuesday, August 19, 2025 Page 2 of 6  LIBRARY BOARD MINUTES August 19, 2025 5:45 PM IN-PERSON MEETING Margaret Neill said there was a study done by an Architectural firm, RMKM, an assessment of the commissioning of the building. Discussion on a program document. Discussion of Construction management. Discussion of the assessment being the very preliminary stage of the entire Midtown project. 7. PRESIDENT'S REPORT a. Mark Lupinetti, President of the Library Advisory Board, fmlupinetti@hotmail.com Mark Lupinetti stated that on July 24th there was a meeting in Albuquerque to discuss legislation that would protect libraries and library personnel. Representative Cates was there as well as Senator Sedillo-Lopez. There were people from all around the state, many of whom were librarians. Some were school personnel, a bookstore owner, friends of the library members, etc. Probably about 30 people all together attended. The Representative and Senator provided draft legislative proposals and were very receptive to suggestions for changes. None of the current proposal language is cast in stone. Discussion of deadline for suggestions. Mark Lupinetti stated proposals are open for suggestion up until the legislation submittal period. The plan is to submit the legislation early. Last year it went in after the session started which made it hard. This year they want it in as soon as possible. The governor has expressed her willingness to sign when it comes to her desk. It’s really the legislative branch that needs to get onboard such as the Speaker of the House, and the President pro tem of the Senate. It’s important how the legislation gets assigned to committees. There are already efforts being made for committees to line up what they want to do. It’s not too early to write to representatives and senators and say, “get behind this”. It will have an influence right now. Discussion on the implications of the proposals and safety and security of library staff. Discussion of various incidents that have recently occurred at the library branches. Mark Lupinetti stated that some members of the Legislature do not believe that library staff are threatened. Discussion of hate mail and threats to librarians. It would be very helpful to hear from people. Some people wish to remain anonymous because of the worry of backlash, but this will make it possible to show that these experiences are real and staff need to be protected. Discussion on current Santa Fe Public Library incidents, banning of volatile patrons, escalation, and staff involvement. Discussion of other incidents around the country. Discussion of proposals for public and school libraries and opposing groups. Discussion of local controls and protected classes. Discussion of proposal language of “laundry list” of protected classes. 8. NEW BUSINESS a. On the new/revised Library Website, Library Advisory Board Members' information supplied - preference for public display: profile pictures, bios, email addresses, etc. Make a group decision on what is displayed. LIBRARY BOARD MEETING Tuesday, August 19, 2025 Page 3 of 6  LIBRARY BOARD MINUTES August 19, 2025 5:45 PM IN-PERSON MEETING Margaret Neill stated that it is entirely up to the Board how they want the (Library Advisory Board) page to look and how much information is put on there (examples sent to the Board). There is a lot of room to do decide how they want to be presented. Some members may not be comfortable with having their information online. There are options on how the page can be set up. William Karnoscak had some concerns for consistency, and being presented in a way that is in compliance with what the Library website standards are. Discussion on that there is no generic email address for the Board and that that would feel more comfortable than personal email addresses. Discussion on a form/Google doc form that anyone could fill out and that would go to the Board President. Discussion on the Board being identifiable with pictures of the Board members and a small bio(graphy) that gives the public the sense that communication is possible. Discussion that there are community members that are advocates for libraries, the need for diversity, collaboration, engagement by stating what each Board members’ favorite book is, names and terms are presently the only information for the web page so far, Margaret Neill can create some prompts to help the process, consistency in bios, the giving out of personal information online, patron complaints and they’re being more vocal. b. Discussion on policy regarding free expression in library-sponsored events- Mark Lupinetti Mark Lupinetti stated there was an event sponsored by the Library in which attendees were invited to submit creative work and a piece was censored because of its political content. It was stated that while Library Rules allowed discussion of political subjects in the abstract, naming individuals and organizations were forbidden. He emailed Margaret (Neill) to ask what are the rules of political expression. The occurrence was not about a political disagreement, it was more about that this is controversial, we can’t do controversy. His greatest concern is that if you are running a program, and you don’t want politics, you don’t want particular political subjects discussed, that is their prerogative, but to blame it on Library Rules was inappropriate. Discussion on Library Rules, allowable meeting events, moderated sessions, teachable moments, totalitarian environments, censorship, variations in the different Branches, that the program was poetry related, the right of expression, hate speech vs. artistic expression, staff decisions, trigger warnings, content notes being more neutral. Margaret Neill will look into the LIBRARY BOARD MEETING Tuesday, August 19, 2025 Page 4 of 6  LIBRARY BOARD MINUTES August 19, 2025 5:45 PM IN-PERSON MEETING issue. c. Friends of the Library Report - Tamina Painter. Tamina Painter stated last month there was not anything truly substantial. They were reviewing the MOU/Operating Agreement. They have gotten closer to completion with that. She did have a concern that the Friends really want to drive a more programs than the Library staffing can handle. There needs to be a balancing act there. There are a lot of creative ideas. For example, the Genealogical Society would like genealogy “how to” sessions. There are a lot of different types of programs as well as limitations as to what staff is already doing. Maybe the Library can tell the Friends where there is bandwidth. Discussion on non-library programs hosted by the Friends, Woman’s Club events on closed day (Sundays), Genealogy events reserving meeting rooms vs. library sponsorship of the event, payment of program contracts by the Friends group, spending out the Friends/Library budget, the Avizeh Collective-Three Cups of Tea-outside event, as an example still taking up staff time in the organization, advertisement, set up process for the events, staff burn-out, library staff needing help at events and outreach, assistance asks only to the Board and not extended to the volunteers, new Friends volunteer coordinator to mobilize more effectiveness, the Friends’ executive director, admin. assistant, and bookkeeper staff. 9. OLD BUSINESS a. Update on compilations of anecdotes for the Librarian Protection Act, HB27. Already dealt with previously in Presidents Report. b. Update on Board Members' reappointment to serve another term (Mark Lupinetti, Adele Oliveira) Margaret Neill stated that Mark Lupinetti was approved by the County. She was waiting for that approval to send both his and Adele Oliveira's renewals together to the City Council/Governing Body. She just needs to provide a Memo with the renewals and send it to the City Clerk to have the Mayor put it on the agenda. Discussion on the process. c. Update on the status of the Friends MOU/General Operating Agreement. Item was discussed in the Friends of the Library Report. d. Update on the Vision and Values Statement Survey. Meghan McGarrity stated that she received two responses to the survey. She has taken all the statements that the Board has worked on together along with the two librarian responses and discussed with William Karnoscak the formatting and created the best of survey. She will then ask for votes for the favorite, so in September decisions may be made. Discussion on the three terms selected: Access, Intellectual Freedom, and Community. A decision was made that Meghan will send out a "pick your favorites" and finalize with the Vision and Values in September. Discussion on Vision and Values. LIBRARY BOARD MEETING Tuesday, August 19, 2025 Page 5 of 6  LIBRARY BOARD MINUTES August 19, 2025 5:45 PM IN-PERSON MEETING e. Update on the Library Collection Development Policy Revisions. Margaret Neill stated that the policy is about halfway completed on the revisions. Discussion on a deadline, work already completed, the legislation issues, and compliance. f. Update on the Library Printer's replacement. Margaret Neill stated that that the system they currently have in place dictates work-arounds for it to function. Discussion on what works on the new printers system. Discussion on bequests to use for printers, funding for updates, vendors involved, coin-ops, etc. 10. Next Meeting: a. Tuesday, September 16, 2025 at the Southside Branch Library at 5:45 PM. 11. Adjourn Meghan McGarrity made the Motion to adjourn. William Karnoscak seconded the Motion. Unanimous approval. Meeting adjourned at 7:09 PM. _________________________________ flavian mark lupinetti ___________________________ flavian mark lupinetti (Dec 12, 2025 20:12:44 MST) Liaison/Clerk Chair LIBRARY BOARD MEETING Tuesday, August 19, 2025 Page 6 of 6 LAB Minutes-08 19 2025-Clerk Signed Final Audit Report 2025-12-13 Created: 2025-12-10 By: Therese Martinez (txmartinez@santafenm.gov) Status: Signed Transaction ID: CBJCHBCAABAAxfmo8F_W0a1GqOh8N3G9-45o-CIi3ZUp "LAB Minutes-08 19 2025-Clerk Signed" History Document created by Therese Martinez (txmartinez@santafenm.gov) 2025-12-10 - 11:51:52 PM GMT- IP address: 63.232.20.2 Document emailed to fmlupinetti@hotmail.com for signature 2025-12-10 - 11:52:52 PM GMT Email viewed by fmlupinetti@hotmail.com 2025-12-11 - 0:40:26 AM GMT- IP address: 146.75.203.0 Email viewed by fmlupinetti@hotmail.com 2025-12-13 - 3:11:57 AM GMT- IP address: 50.202.175.74 Signer fmlupinetti@hotmail.com entered name at signing as flavian mark lupinetti 2025-12-13 - 3:12:42 AM GMT- IP address: 50.202.175.74 Document e-signed by flavian mark lupinetti (fmlupinetti@hotmail.com) Signature Date: 2025-12-13 - 3:12:44 AM GMT - Time Source: server- IP address: 50.202.175.74 Agreement completed. 2025-12-13 - 3:12:44 AM GMT