Santa Fe Public Library Board

LIBRARY BOARD MINUTES November 18, 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 William Karnoscak Member Meghan McGarrity Member Tamina Painter Member Aurora Hvidsten Member Adele Oliveira Library Director Margaret Neill Members Excused: None Others Attending: Joan Marshall, Friends of the Library (FOL) President Lillian Letters, FOL Vice-President Georgina McKee, FOL Executive Director Carina Julig, New Mexican Newspaper Reporter Therese Martinez, Project Administrator, Clerk 3. APPROVAL OF AGENDA a. Tuesday, November 18, 2025. Meghan McGarrity made the motion to amend the agenda and remove the (item 8a) discussion with Maria Sanchez-Tucker and Henri Hammond-Paul since they were not joining the meeting. She wanted to add an item to discuss having a special session with them or to ask them to come to the next regular meeting. Discussion on the topic. William Karnoscak seconded the motion to approve the Agenda as amended. Unanimous approval. 4. APPROVAL OF MINUTES a. Approval of October 21, 2025, Minutes. Mark Lupinetti stated he wanted to make a correction to the September Minutes (September 16, 2025) because he wasn't present. It was in regard to a piece of writing that was offered during a workshop that was censored. In the September Minutes it was stated that the writing was not allowed because it did not conform to the prompt that the workshop leader offered. At the beginning of the workshop the LIBRARY BOARD MEETING November 18, 2025 Page 1 of 5  LIBRARY BOARD November 18, 2025 MINUTES 5:45 PM IN-PERSON MEETING the prompt that the workshop leader offered. At the beginning of the workshop the leader stated that the prompts were suggestions, they were not mandatory, therefore, there was no reason to forbid it. Secondly, the writing adhered to the prompt to the letter. The prompt was to write an abecedarian poem of 26 lines. He would like the record to reflect that. He asked to talk to Margaret later about the subject and she agreed. Discussion of clarifying this point (for approval) in December's Minutes. 5. PUBLIC COMMENT Discussion on the September event and what prompted the amendment. 6. DIRECTOR'S REPORT Margaret Neill, Library Division Director, mmneill@santafenm.gov. Margaret Neill reported that an employee was out for an extended period of time and they are back. They also have a resignation at Main Library. That position is already posted, advertised and closed. Interviews will be set up with the potential candidates. They had beautiful ofrenda displays at all three Branches. There are no budget updates at this time. As far as facilities, there are still issues at the Southside Branch with indoor temperatures fluctuating. The radiant heat flooring, the HVAC system, and all the windows are the probable causes. Facilities Maintenance had some of the windows tinted. However, the company that did the tinting broke some of the windows that now need to be replaced. The Southside Branch Manager requested that they extend the tinting to all the windows on the west side of the building. Funding will have to be found for that to help regulate temperatures. Southside was an early polling location and was pretty quiet during early voting but was very busy for voting day. There are issues with the burglar alarm at the Main Library beeping incessantly. They are working with Facilities Maintenance to update both the fire and burglar alarm systems. The systems are very outdated. The panels need to be replaced. Discussion on how maintenance issues are handled, lists that are submitted on issues that need to be addressed department wide, and Facilities Maintenance decisions on priorities, scheduling, charges from third party vendors, and finite resources. Margaret continued that they are working on the weed problem with Community Health and Safety on two contracts, one for immediate clean up, and the other for maintenance. The Library will cover the cost of the immediate clean up using money from one of the endowments that they received. She is awaiting the quotes for the work. Discussion on restrictions on the endowment. Discussion on the City holding funds for the Library and those restrictions. Margaret Neill said October was a very busy month and the Youth Programs Librarian has been doing a lot of outreach with the Kaune’s Learning Center, LIBRARY BOARD MEETING November 18, 2025 Page 2 of 5  LIBRARY BOARD MINUTES November 18, 2025 5:45 PM IN-PERSON MEETING the Community College Library, Headstart, and Many Mothers, re-establishing connections with other early childhood literacy groups. This is in addition to class visits and tours. The Great Halloween Costume Swap at La Farge was a huge success. There were 181 attendees and 250 costumes. Discussion on the event. They had activities around Fire Safety Awareness month. They have a new partnership with the Santa Fe Symphony for children’s programming through a symphony storytime. They do programs with the (Georgia) O’Keefe Museum on Sundays and Pajama Storytime is a popular program at Southside. Discussion on Pajama Storytime. They are also working on making everything bilingual for the events at the libraries. Discussion on the bilingual incentive available to City employees. They had traditional Aztec dancers at all three locations. Discussion on the event. Banned Books week had programs, discussions, and displays. Three Cups of Tea Program highlights different cultures, and Santa Fe Prep has a program called “Boomer Tech” working with “boomers” on how to use tech. Discussion on the Prep program being a community building event, high attendance program, and expanding to other school groups. The Collection Development Policy is on hold at the present because of needing to get book orders completed and processed. The statistics are in the Report, but Margaret Neill stated she provided a quarterly report to show the comparative numbers. Discussion on statistics, region to allow application for library cards, zip code map, City and County break downs, restricted (temporary) library card use, and age for getting a card. The new Library Website has been launched, and it is ADA compliant. Discussion on the Website redesign being paid by the FOL. The Library has discontinued sending text message notifications to patrons. Discussion on text messages and email notifications. Discussion on statistics 7. PRESIDENT'S REPORT Mark Lupinetti, President of the Library Advisory Board, fmlupinetti@hotmail.com. Mark Lupinetti stated that as a quick reminder, in January is the next session of the Legislature and is a great time to contact legislators about passing the Bill to ban book banning. Discussion on this being a short session, the Governor’s support, emailing, collaboration on template letters, contact emails spreadsheet, verbiage to use, the protection act, more work on the drafts, drafts being distributed, tribal libraries, history of the Bill, book banning in New Mexico, rural/tribal libraries losing funding, Representative Cates, IMLS losing funding, now being the time to set priorities with legislators. 8. NEW BUSINESS a. Discussion with City Officials-should there be a Special Meeting or an invite to the December 16, 2025, meeting? LIBRARY BOARD MEETING November 18, 2025 Page 3 of 5  LIBRARY BOARD MINUTES November 18, 2025 5:45 PM IN-PERSON MEETING Discussion on letting the City officials pick the date, cancellations by city officials, inviting the Mayor-elect and the City Manager, a sense of commitment by all, timing, scheduling the meeting during the work day, the County MOU, clarification of the LAB Charter, the budgeting process, the service contracts, current vs. previous spending, one-time spending for ongoing maintenance, no statements on the endowment account ($275,000.00), opening on Sundays, input by FOL at the Quality of Life Committee meeting in December, scheduling during a work day for meeting, gathering advocates and supporters, budget re-allocation in January from the City of Santa Fe, department heads not responding-not following through, the need for by-laws, vague Charter language, the message from the Library, collaboration of LAB and FOL, Holiday get-together. Meghan McGarrity will reach out to Maria Sanchez- Tucker and Henri Hammond-Paul with an invitation around their schedules with a sense of urgency. b. Friends of the Library Report-William Karnoscak Tamina Painter was unable to attend. The FOL are having a Story Lab/Donor event at the Gruet (Winery Santa Fe) Tasting Room on December 11th, followed by the performance/story lab at Collected Works. They have had great success with their Annual Appeal-they're $10,000.00 over their goal of $35,000.00 already, with more coming in (over $45,000.00). Giving Tuesday is still coming up, they have donor and volunteer appreciation event coming up The Holiday gathering/meeting is Tuesday, December 9, 2025, at the Capital Grill southside (5:00-8:00 PM). December 6, 2025, is the Holiday Book Sale. 9. OLD BUSINESS a. Review of completed Mission, Vision, and Values Statements. Discussion on where the statements will live on the Website or LAB Page. These will be forwarded to the Library Systems Manager for entry. b. Strategic Plan-next steps. Discussion on the responsibilities granted to the Board. Margaret Neill is required and must produce one for the State Library, along with a Community Assessment, and a Collection Development Plan by June. Clarity is needed on the Community Assessment section regarding public comment. Clarification needs to come from Maria Sanchez-Tucker and Henri Hammon-Paul. Discussion on how to measure "success" qualitatively and quantitatively. Presently success is measured by having enough staff (fully staffed, appropriate staff per capita) to do what the public wants done, staff is not burned out, and facilities that are maintained properly, that would lead to success in other areas. Discussion on Union intervention if working out of class in a job position, grant funding for special positions, contracting out, setting a precedent. c. Meeting Room Policy-discussion on revisions. Meghan McGarrity stated she had one comment on page two which states: LIBRARY BOARD MEETING November 18, 2025 Page 4 of 5  LIBRARY BOARD MINUTES November 18, 2025 5:45 PM IN-PERSON MEETING "The head librarian is granted authority to make rules, regulations and polices regarding the operation and use of the library by the City of Santa Fe." She was wondering if this is because of the Charter. Discussion on the term "head librarian". Suggestion to use head librarian/Library Director in the revision. Discussion on "Library Administration" term. Meghan McGarrity made the motion to approve the Meeting Room Policy as amended. Adele Oliveira seconded the motion. Unanimous approval. d. Update on the status of the Friends of the Library's MOU/GOA Joan Marshall contributed that the MOU is with the Friends' legal consultant making small edits to go to City legal and Library admin. staff. They want language that recognizes the Friends are contributors to all Library programs. The goal is to get that out this week. e. Update on the Library Website Covered in the Director's Report. f. Update on the Vacant Library Advisory Board position. Margaret Neill stated they have eleven (11) applicants. She has to verify that she has all the applications. She and Mark Lupinetti will look at all the applicants and narrow down the list, verify that they all live in the City, since this a City vacancy, a zoom meeting will be set up with all the Board invited to participate in the interview process, a selection will made and forwarded to the mayor for approval during a Governing Body/City Council session. Discussion on the follow up email to Maria Sanchez-Tucker and Henri Hammond-Paul, the newspaper article on Aspect Studios pivoting away from film studios to tech. studios. Discussion on Folgelson or La Farge for the meeting venue, suggestion of either. 10. NEXT MEETING a. Tuesday, December 16, 2025, at the Southside Branch Library, at 5:45 PM. 11. ADJOURN Meghan McGarrity made the Motion to adjourn the meeting. William Karnoscak seconded the Motion. Unanimous approval. Meeting was adjourned at 7:01 PM. __________________________ ________________________ Liaison/Clerk Chair LIBRARY BOARD MEETING November 18, 2025 Page 5 of 5