Winooski Memorial Library Committee

3/3/2022 - Minutes I. Call to Order Members Present: P. Doherty, A. Hurd, J. Wignall, C.N. Khajehali, C. Moore City Staff Present: R. Coffey, N. Eddy Call to Order by: N. Eddy Meeting Start Time: 6:36 PM Minutes Recorded by: J. Wignall II. Approve Previous Meeting Minutes Decision: Approved Motion by: A. Hurd Second: n/a III. Public Comment None IV. Committee Member Updates A. Hurd has won their city council seat and will be sworn in next month as a member of the Winooski City Council. The City's budget has also passed, including a $2000 increase in the materials budget to $16,000. The construction of Butternut Station is continuing and continuing to impact visibility and parking. V. Library Updates Programming l The library resumed in-person programming in February after pausing in January. Children’s programming included story time, yoga, Arabic/English storytime, and other programming activities. Adult programming included book club and writing group, and participation increased with virtual access to those activities. Continuing English language learning, citizenship, and tech assistance. l Spectrum had been offering after school tutoring but was interrupted by covid-related impacts. Those sessions will start back up shortly. l Next Monday will be the virtual Dome presentation, which will include a panel presentation. l The library will be doing a seed swap on March 12 and will help kick off community garden registrations. The library will be giving away seeds from High Mowing and American Meadow. P. Doherty previously raffled items and will get items for that again. Monthly Stats l About 35% of circulation is ebook and audiobooks. Stats remained about the same,  garden registrations. The library will be giving away seeds from High Mowing and American Meadow. P. Doherty previously raffled items and will get items for that again. Monthly Stats l About 35% of circulation is ebook and audiobooks. Stats remained about the same, with an increase in in-person programming. Friends of the Winooski Library l N. Eddy solicited for new members over social media and did not receive any response. He will do another push on Front Porch Forum and on social media, as well as direct emails to individuals. l The group discussed potentially hosting an event to generate interest in the Friends, such as a book sale, book swap, trivia night, or table at the farmers market. In the past the committee did some activities outside of the scope of the committee responsibilities, such as hiring muralists and hosting book sales. The group agreed to do some outreach with community members to increase potential engagement with the Friends. Vermont Department of Libraries They are creating their own ebook and audiobook platform using ARPA funds, using software from Lyricist. The app is called Palace. The aim is for Palace to become a single access point for online content, including OverDrive and other sources. Using the ARPA funds, the state will be buying content. The state has also developed relationships with Baker and Taylor and Amazon that libraries can leverage to purchase content. This will be slowly rolled out over time and there will be a marketing campaign. It would not replace the Libby app, but you could use the Palace app to access the OverDrive content. The goal is to provide broader access to audiobooks and ebooks to Vermont state libraries. VI. Active vs. Inactive Patron Counts The library has 4,898 registered card holders, though this data goes back to 2005. Of those card holders, 3,387 are expired. Of expired cards, 50% of those cards have been expired for more than 5 years (1,930). If patrons try to use an expired card in person, the library will renew the card for 2 years. Expired cards cannot be used to check out online resources; the patron would need to call the library to renew the card. 1,511 have unexpired cards. Cards are valid for 2 years before expiring. 914 of unexpired cards are considered active, which means that they have checked out material in person or online. P. Doherty suggested promoting card renewals through online posting. N. Eddy has been playing with automatic renewal notifications for patrons with emails on file. R. Coffey asked about the option of a digital card, to facilitate online check outs or check outs at other libraries. N. Eddy confirmed it is not an option at this time. P. Doherty asked N. Eddy to review the card eligibility language in the online renewal form to confirm the language aligns with current library policies. Certain online resources charge per registered card holder. Cleaning out the patron list would save costs and lead to a more useful dataset about patrons. In recent library discussions, a lot of libraries indicate they clean up patron lists after 2 years of inactivity. The group agreed that online engagement counts as engagement. If patrons are purged they would need to re-sign up for a card. Those who participate in programming but do not check out materials would appear as inactive users.  The group agreed that online engagement counts as engagement. If patrons are purged they would need to re-sign up for a card. Those who participate in programming but do not check out materials would appear as inactive users. The group agreed that the cut off should be more than 2 years, especially in light of covid. With a cutoff of 5 years, about half of the expired accounts would be purged. Prior to any purging of accounts, the library would solicit renewals through automated messaging. If any of the patrons in the 1930 accounts have materials checked out, upon purging that information would not be trackable. The group discussed asking patrons who might have materials still checked out to return materials with a reminder that there are no late fees. P. Doherty noted that leveraging non-digital means to communicate the planned library card updates would help reach other users. N. Eddy agreed this would make sense. P. Doherty asked about the possibility of putting all patrons on the same schedule for card renewals. The group discussed doing the update of patron lists once a year on the same date, for patrons who have not used the library in more than 5 years. The library will consider doing open house events to solicit new library card holders when covid permits. VII. Updated Materials Selection Policy: Review & Approval Decision: Approved Motion by: P. Doherty Second: A. Hurd N. Eddy updated the Materials Selection Policy with suggested changes from our last meeting. P. Doherty moved to vote for approval; A. Hurd seconded. The group voted to approve the policy. VIII. Other Business The library committee will aim to replace A. Hurd on-cycle aligned with the fiscal year. P. Doherty suggested updating the bylaws to include details around the process of replacing members who resign or leave. IX. Adjourn Decision: Adjourned at 8:02 PM Motion by: J. Wignall Second: P. Doherty