Urbana Free Library Board Meeting

The Urbana Free Library Board of Trustees Minutes of a Regular Meeting Held on Tuesday, June 9, 2020 CALL TO ORDER The Urbana Free Library Board of Trustees met via Zoom on Tuesday, June 9, 2020. The meeting was called to order by the president, Chris Scherer, at 7:00 p.m. Chris cited the State Executive Orders which temporarily suspend the in-person presence requirements and eliminate the limitation on remote access of the Illinois Open Meetings Act due to the COVID-19 pandemic. ATTENDANCE Present: Barb Bennett, Shirese Hursey, Barbara Jones, Lupe Mejia, Beth Scheid, Chris Scherer, John Thies, Michael Weissman, and Jane Williams Staff present: Becky Brown, Dawn Cassady, Celeste Choate, Rachel Fuller, Donica Martin, and Amanda Standerfer Also present: Brianna Gaspar ADDITIONS, CORRECTIONS, MODIFICATIONS OF THE AGENDA None. APPROVE THE AGENDA It was moved by Barbara Jones, seconded by Jane Williams, and passed by roll call vote to approve the agenda as presented. PUBLIC COMMENT None. PRESENTATION Donica Martin presented to the Board a report on the acquisition of the News-Gazette archival collection. The Archives just signed the deed of gift for the collection and a lease to house it at Lincoln Square. The collection contains about 1100 cubic feet of material, including over 40 file cabinets of subject and name files, nearly 350 boxes of subject clippings, and 35 bound volumes of county newspapers. There is microfilm which contains Vermilion County editions of the News-Gazette, a map case with blueprints and maps, and external hard drives with photos from the late 1990’s to about a month ago. The Archives is working with community partners by sharing duplicate microfilm with the Champaign County History Museum and bound volumes of papers with the University of Illinois History, Philosophy, and Newspaper Library. The Archives anticipates being able to get parts of the collection ready for patron use fairly quickly, and they have already had researchers asking for information. Board of Trustees of The Urbana Free Library – Minutes for the meeting of June 9, 2020 – Page 2 ACTION ITEMS (CONSENT AGENDA) Being that Chris Scherer asked and saw that there were no requests to separate the items, it was moved by Barb Bennett, seconded by Shirese Hursey, and passed by roll call vote to approve the consent agenda as presented. ACTION ITEMS (INDIVIDUAL) It was moved by Barbara Jones, seconded by Michael Weissman, and passed by roll call vote to accept the FY21 slate of officers as Chris Scherer as President, Beth Scheid as Vice-President, Barb Bennett as Secretary/Treasurer, and Barbara Jones as Secretary pro tempore. It was moved by Beth Scheid, seconded by Jane Williams, and passed roll call vote to approve the list of schedule monthly Board meetings for FY21. It was moved by Barb Bennett, seconded by Shirese Hursey, and passed by roll call vote to approve the ILLINET/OCLC Service Agreement. After discussion, it was moved by Beth Scheid, seconded by Barbara Jones, and passed by roll call vote to approve the FY20 Budget amendments. After discussion, it was moved by Lupe Mejia, seconded by Shirese Hursey, and passed by roll call vote approve the FY21 Budget amendments. DISCUSSION ITEMS None. REPORTS OF LIAISON OFFICERS Friends of the Library The book seller from LaFayette came in this past week, picked up 322 boxes of books, and wrote a check for $4000. These books were from the canceled March book sale. The Friends have decided to cancel the August and November book sales. The Urbana Free Library Foundation The Foundation had an application from a person interested in joining the Board. They will be voting on that at the meeting next week. Illinois Heartland Library System Rachel Fuller reported that IHLS is working to get delivery service back up and running. They have been offering webinars and online classes to library staff that are working remotely. ADMINISTRATIVE REPORTS Celeste reported that the Library anticipates opening the end of the month. Administration is watching the C-U Public Health data and talking with Champaign Public Library. The Library will open with Grab & Go service at first. Internet access for patrons is still being worked out. Barbara Jones commented that she has been hearing a lot of good will towards the Library in the community. Shirese Hursey encouraged Board members to put out the Summer Reading lawn signs in their neighborhoods. Board of Trustees of The Urbana Free Library – Minutes for the meeting of June 9, 2020 – Page 3 BOARD PRESIDENT REPORT Chris Scherer read a statement “Public libraries are built on a foundation of providing equal access to information. Our commitment to learning and growing is stated in our recently approved Strategic Plan. The strategic direction’s Pillars specifically refer to our commitment to this work, especially Embrace. We cultivate equity, mutual respect and belonging by learning about and responding to our community. We welcome all.” UNFINISHED BUSINESS None. NEW BUSINESS None. ADJOURNMENT The meeting was adjourned at 7:43 p.m. ________________________________________ Becky Brown, Recorder ________________________________________ Barb Bennett, Secretary/Treasurer Date Approved:___June 9, 2020_______________________ Supplementary information is available in the Board packet of June 9, 2020. This meeting was taped for later broadcast.