Library Board of Trustees

Library Board of Trustees Meeting Thursday, March 26, 2020, at 3:30 p.m. Conference Call Minutes Roll Call – Kelly Kirk, Chris Davis, Josh Horak, Sheleen Bauer, Ron Edstrom, Larry Klarenbeek, Amber Wilde Approval of Agenda Josh moved to amend the agenda by adding a public comment period. Chris seconded. Approved unanimously. Public Comment None Consent Agenda Approval of previous meeting minutes – Chris moved to approve the January meeting minutes. Josh seconded. Approved unanimously. Financial report and bills – Ron moved to approve the financial report and bills, Chris seconded. Approved unanimously. Check # Payee Amount Reason 4004 ALA/Booklist $169.50 Collection Development 4005 SDLA $350.00 Membership renewals 4006 RC Public Library $60.00 Lost/Damaged ILLs Discussion Items State Level: We officially received our Exemplary Accreditation for the next 3 years. The State Library and nearly every major library in the state is shut down on some level at this time and communicating by e-mail or phone, offering limited services. Courier service and state-wide interlibrary loan is shut down until further notice. Black Hills Library Consortium: We are working together to adjust some settings due to our inability to move materials between libraries and some of us being completely closed. We are also working to provide greater access to our patrons online by monitoring our digital collection closely and temporarily removing blocks on cards for digital services. Local Projects: We are working on cleaning, weeding, and catalog clean up and expect to move into a lot of backburner projects this next month. Staffing: We recently hired Lee Ann Kostur as a page and have been training her for the last couple of weeks. We are now in a hiring freeze at the city until further notice. Training: We will be catching up on a lot of online trainings and webinars during our closure this next month. Circulation Statistics: January 2020 Total Total Loans Renewals -------- -------- 6,120 1,534 February 2020 Total Total Loans Renewals -------- -------- 5,774 1,536 Strategic Plan Update - Staff will be working on developing a social media plan and policy during our closure for approval at our May meeting. Technology Plan Update – We will be working on developing some computer classes for future implementation during our April closure. Items from the Board – None Action Items Ratify change in terms for microfilm equipment – The equipment purchased had a 3 year warranty instead of a 6 year warranty as previously discussed. The president approved the purchase due to the need to complete it in a timely matter, and that decision needs to be ratified. Sheleen moved to approve. Ron seconded. Approved unanimously. Approve State Annual Report – Josh moved to approve. Chris seconded. Approved unanimously. COVID-19 Library Response – Amber proposed a document outlining limited services and projects to be continued during closure due to COVID-19. Ron questioned whether the limited computer access outlined would be sufficient. Amber explained that the demand had been minimal since closure but the topic could be revisited if demand became too high. Larry suggested some wording changes if the document was to be made public. Larry moved to approve the document. Chris seconded. Approved unanimously. Grace Balloch Memorial Library response to COVID-19 At this time the library is to remain closed until May 4 with all due dates extended until that time. Staff availability will be 9-5 Monday through Friday, with limited evening and weekend service. Wi-Fi will continue to be available 24/7 from outside the building. Staff will reset the router daily to maintain the best possible connection and will refrain from parking just outside the library on Illinois to allow patrons to park as close as possible. Online resources including e-books and downloadable audiobooks from OverDrive/Libby, research databases, and educational resources for kids will continue to be available from the website. Staff will monitor usage and purchase additional titles to maintain availability as needed; work to lift the blocks on cards to allow all to use these resources regardless of fines during this time; answer calls with questions about how to log in and use the resources; and prepare posts on social media to help increase awareness of these options. No-contact pickup of materials will be available. Staff will check online holds daily, answer phone requests to pull items, inform patrons of the procedure for picking up materials, create signage to facilitate, and check out materials, place them in a bag, and place them on the staff entrance doorstep when the patron notifies us of arrival. (No contact delivery for those who are homebound could be considered). No-contact computer/printing access will be available by appointment only. Staff will set up a station with computer, scanner, and printer between the doors of the main library entrance (with assistance from our IT provider). Staff will take appointment requests by phone, e-mail, or Facebook messenger; 2-hour appointments will be scheduled at 9 am and 3 pm on weekdays to allow for preparation of taxes, filling out the census, filing for reemployment and other benefits, printing documents, and other essential tasks. Staff will instruct users not to open the inner doors or open the external doors for anyone else, and to call the library phone if they need assistance. Staff will allow at least a 3 hour quarantine period after the completion of each appointment before putting on rubber gloves and sanitizing the space. No-contact material returns will continue. All returns must be made through the external book drop. Staff will wear rubber gloves to empty the drop and put all items on a cart. The cart will be labeled for 4 days later and pushed to an unused area of the library. Once that date has arrived the cart will be taken to circulation for check-in, cleaning, and shelving. At that time, those books will be available to those placing holds and not before. Social media usage will be increased. Staff will work to provide daily posts regarding available services, helpful resources, and uplifting messages. Volunteer and supply coordination is now being handled by the library. The library will take form responses from the website as well as phone calls regarding needs of individuals in the community and services available and will match those individuals with services and resources as appropriate. The library will serve as a drop point for supplies needed by critical agencies with storage/quarantine happening in the library meeting room. Additional precautions being taken by staff: All staff are allowed to take leave or work from home as their tasks permit during this time if desired. Staff are staggering schedules and spreading out work spaces around the library to reduce exposure. All staff are instructed to use their own work stations or if they must use one of the shared spaces they must sanitize the space immediately after use. All high-contact surfaces are sanitized regularly. Projects to be worked on during this time in addition to providing the services outlined above include: cleaning, updating signage and displays, and collection maintenance for those at the library; online catalog maintenance and record improvement; viewing online safety and other training videos and webinars; updating policy and procedure manuals for both the library and the consortium; planning for future programs; improving web and social media presence; and evaluating and potentially expanding our digital resources. If working from home, the employee will be required to submit a report at the end of each work day detailing the projects worked on for that day. Staff will also provide resources and assistance to other departments as needed, as qualifications permit. The meeting was adjourned at 4:10 p.m. Next meeting: May 14, 2020 at 3:30 p.m.