Library Board of Trustees

The Woodstock Public Library Board of Trustees met on Thursday, May 9, 2024 at 7:30 p.m. MINUTES CALL TO ORDER Robert Laurie called the meeting to order at 7:30 p.m. ROLL CALL PRESENT: Robert Laurie (President), Christy Johanson (Vice President (arrived at 8:22 p.m.)), Mary Ann Lenzen, Sarah Parisi, Susan Gullotto, Mary Sugden OTHERS PRESENT: Roscoe Stelford (City Manager), Nick Weber (Library Director), Tiara Thayer (Library Assistant II) ABSENT: Mary Beth Urbin (Secretary) APPROVAL OF MINUTES Discussion and Vote on approving the Regular Minutes from the April 2024 meeting as presented or corrected Robert Laurie moved to approve the minutes of the April 2024 regular meeting as presented, Mary Sugden seconded, and the motion passed with unanimous ayes. PUBLIC COMMENT ON NON-AGENDA ITEMS: • Robert Laurie stated that since Jim Hurley has resigned, the role of Treasurer is now vacant and should be filled as soon as possible. • The Masked Courthouse Singer will be hosted at the Opera House on May 11, 2024. This fundraising event will feature multiple talented voices, including the library’s very own Nick Weber. COMMUNICATIONS: None LIBRARY EXPENDITURES Discussion and Vote on the April 2024 Building Fund and Operating Fund Expenditures. Susan Gullotto moved to approve the April 2024 combined Warrant of operating and building expenditures, as presented, Mary Ann Lenzen seconded, and the motion carried with unanimous ayes. 1 LIBRARIAN’S REPORT Nick Weber presented the librarian’s report, a copy of which is attached. Highlights include: • April was the end of the fiscal year, and the new fiscal year begins this month. • The library continues to increase the number of items circulating to the patrons each year. Physical checkouts are holding steady, while digital materials have increased by roughly 40% in this fiscal year compared to last. • The 18,000-piece puzzle was completed, with avid puzzlers opting to take time off of work in order to ensure they were present to help finish the puzzle. • The children’s department is incubating chicken eggs, which will soon be hatching. • Outreach efforts have been steadily improving, and the partnerships between the library, MCC and other local educational institutions have been growing stronger. • The library will be closed on May 12th for Mother’s Day and May 26th for Memorial Day. Sundays will then be on hiatus until after Labor Day on September 2nd. NEW BUSINESS • Discussion and vote on approving Americans with Disabilities Act Compliance Policy o Nick relayed that a couple libraries have recently received federal lawsuits against them due to ADA violations on their websites. This has prompted the library to review the WPL website and amend any oversights. o The board was presented with the library’s updated Americans with Disabilities Act Compliance Policy. Robert Laurie moved to accept the proposed Americans with Disabilities Act Compliance Policy as presented, Susan Gullotto seconded and the motion passed with unanimous ayes. • Discussion and vote on approving Lobby Table Space Policy o Nick proposed adjusting the policy name to Library Lobby Space Use Policy. o After reviewing the policy, the board determined that it needed to include more specific guidelines. The board requested to view a revised version of the policy at their next meeting. • Summer Reading Club Update o The summer reading club begins on Saturday, June 1st. This year’s theme is Adventure Begins at Your Library. o The adult reading club will use Beanstack to better track engagement levels. • Budget Review/Update o Due to the children’s librarian position remaining open for a substantial duration of FY23/24, the library ended the fiscal year with a surplus. o The FY24/25 budget accounts for an increase in materials and staff salaries. UNFINISHED BUSINESS • Building Update o The library will be receiving quotes for carpeting replacements in the areas around the service desks and the basement bathroom hall. o The library is also looking into replacing the generator for the building. The new model will be able to maintain all essential equipment throughout the building (the current generator does not power HVAC or library outlets, only overhead lights). This model would cost an estimated $300,000. 2  • Staffing Update o The new children’s librarian, Sloane, has been doing good work in their position. Sloane will have earned their degree by the end of this fall. o The library is recruiting for a new limited part-time shelving position. Many applications have already been received and more are expected until the position listing closes next week. Interviews will be scheduled after the applicant pool has been reviewed. o Lauren (LA II) will be moving from youth services to tech services and Jessica (LA I) is being promoted to LA II and will be moving to youth services. • Friends of the Library (FoWL) Update o Mini Links was very successful and raised over $5,000. o There were some new sponsors this year and they voiced great interest in returning next year. o The Friends are developing an ambassador’s program to assist with advocating for the library and promoting the vast services public libraries provide for their communities. o The Spring Plant Sale will be May 18th. o The Culver’s fundraiser will be on May 24th. • City Update o The Riverwoods Subdivision proposal was passed. o OpenGov is being implemented in an attempt to streamline permit paperwork and other similar clerical work. o Dave Zinnen retired from his position as Parks and Recreation Director and has been succeeded by Mark Pentecost. o The Opera House will be closed for a couple months this summer for renovations. This means the Opera House will focus their programming at Stage Left Café and outdoor venues. ADJOURNMENT Mary Ann Lenzen moved that the meeting be adjourned at 8:51 p.m., Mary Sugden seconded, and the motion passed with unanimous ayes. Respectfully submitted, Tiara Thayer All meetings of the Library Board are open to the public. In compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), they are fully accessible, and if any further accommodations are needed, please contact the Library Director 48 hours prior to the meeting. 3  Woodstock Public Library Administrative & Staff Reports – May 2024 DIRECTOR’S REPORT May is the first month in the fiscal year, and the month where we finish all the planning for summer, our busiest time of the year. The library continued to see strong daily use, up 6% over last May-- at or surpassing pre-COVID-19 levels. Spending out of the new budget has begun, and all the previous budget has been fully settled out, with a small surplus in hand for the library. Staffing was adequate in May, with interviews with the finalists for the shelver position being arranged. The pool for that role was very deep, and we will likely be hiring more than one of the candidates on a Limited Part-Time basis (less than 20 hours/week). Unfortunately, Youth Services took a hit at the end of May, as Kate Tripp, Head of Youth Services, broke her ankle while hiking, making her unavailable for the start of Summer Reading. All of the remaining Youth Services staff have stepped up to cover Kate’s absence, as have the rest of the staff. Our in-person and virtual events continue to be well attended, though May tends to be a slower month for programming as we get ready for summer. Illinois Libraries Present continues to bring top-notch authors to their virtual “meetings” every month. We had an author visit by Susan Friedland, writer of Marguerite, Misty and Me, and the Friends of the Library held their annual Spring Plant Sale, raising nearly $1,000. The library again offered free steaming for graduation gowns using our Library of Things steamer, and over 40 gowns were steamed. Things are moving forward with the landscaping project, with a Request for Qualifications being prepared to get proposals for a landscape design for the entire property. Grants are being pursued for the Bayton Space project, and it is being included in the landscape design plans. The library is moving ahead with eliminating its old pneumatic control system for the HVAC units in the old building, replacing them with modern, digital controls which can be monitored and changed remotely. CIRCULATION & PROGRAMMING May 2024 Circulation was up in May compared to 2023, and in-person use of the building was up significantly from last year as well. We had 21,816 items, both physical and digital, checked- out, a 9% increase from 20,093 in 2023. 10,530 people came to the library in May, up 6% from 9,895 in 2023. FINANCIALS Spending out of the new fiscal budget is underway, and the totals for FY23/24 are nearly complete. Salary costs were lower than anticipated in FY23/24 because of several positions being vacant during recruiting, and our income was higher than budgeted because of larger donations than expected. The FY24/25 budget includes the addition of at least one LPT shelver in FY24/25, likely two or three. The new budget also includes raises for all staff, ranging from 3-5%. MEETING/ORGANIZATION SUMMARIES City Meetings/City News The City Council meetings in May and early June were mostly routine. The June meeting was somewhat contentious with a very vocal anti-Pride visitor interrupting the Council’s proclamation in honor of Pride month. The June meeting also included extensive discussion by the Council regarding the legal situation involving the Public House and the Old Courthouse. Community Outreach During the month, the library staff engaged in several outreach and community support activities, including several visits to D200 schools. CIRCULATION SERVICES Patrons continue to express positive feedback to circulation staff when receiving the new rural full-service card. The Circulation Team congratulates Jessica Winship on her promotion to Library Assistant 2 and is excited for her to add the Children’s Department to her duties. Applications closed for the shelver position with 9 final candidates chosen from the 71 applications received. Martha, Carrie, and Katie attended the PrairieCat Member Update in May. PrairieCat staff provided an update on Vega, the new public catalog, and other Innovative products. They also talked about upcoming PrairieCat events like their annual PUG Day conference taking place in September where Ally, Katie and Carrie will be presenting. As part of the Year of the Book programming series, we participated in Free Comic Book Day on Saturday, May 4th. While supplies lasted, patrons were able to choose from 7 free comics and various swag items (stickers, lanyards, buttons, etc.). Photographer and WPL volunteer Gail Moreland was the featured artist in the gallery. YOUTH SERVICES Kudos to the Youth Services team for pulling together in the absence of Kate, who broke her ankle at the end of May, right before the busiest time of the year. The Youth Services team was able to finish up preparing for summer reading with the help of the WHS Seniors for their Senior Service Day. There were 15 teens helping prep crafts, stuff summer reading folders, and make pins. Summer Registration kicked off on May 29th, and the children’s department was hopping. Kids could start redeeming prizes on June 3rd and families were there bright and early to pick up prizes. Stats from the end of the first week show that we have 340 readers and 1,028 hours read. This is quite the improvement over week one from last year, which was 211 readers and only 576 hours. There was some rearranging of the staff at the end of May, with Lauren moving from half- time Youth Services to half-time Technical Services, and Jessica moving into a half-time Youth Services, half-time Circulation role. Luckily, the chicks went to the farm shortly before summer reading officially started. We ended up with 13 chicks. This year’s naming theme was Sesame Street characters. We had a list of 24 names, and then drew names out of a small bin to pick the names. We had Big Bird, Bert, Ernie, Mr. Snuffleupagus, Baby Bear, Grover, Zoe, Cookie Monster, Rosita, Elmo, Harry Monster, Abby Cadabby, and Oscar the Grouch. Kate got a “growth picture” from the farm and will be posting it to social media. TECHNICAL SERVICES In May we added 521 items and withdrew 114 items. This is a more normal distribution of addition vs. subtraction numbers, although there will be more withdrawing happening once Summer Reading is over. The lower volume of withdrawals means Ally can focus on mending and other processing tasks. She is working with Bailey and Lauren on the long-languishing series-relabeling project, primarily the Large Print titles, as well. Mary Ann continues to move through all the labeling as quickly as possible. She is also fixing labels from items that somehow got onto the shelves incorrectly. Valeria has been deluged with audiobooks and music CDs this month. She’s working through them as fast as possible. She is also involved in the series project, relabeling the audiobooks series. Shawn has caught up with all the end-of-year orders and is working on multiple other projects as well (donated DVDs, tracking returns to vendors, etc.). Bailey has taken on the oversight of training Lauren in relabeling and organizing the adult series in regular print (Ally is doing the Large Print, Valeria the audiobooks). This is a project that was started at least 6 years ago, but there hasn’t been enough time to focus on it and get it done. Kudos to Bailey for taking on the extra responsibility of getting Lauren up to speed. Lauren is moving fast, and will be working on taking the Item Entry courses for PrairieCat to get access to more of the Sierra database. In addition to training Lauren, Bailey continues to work on her projects in Reference, and she will continue to track series and work with Lora on the Tech Serv workflow description. She has a full plate between all of these responsibilities and won’t be able to add anything more for a while. Austin is keeping an eye out for new ways to keep the magazine collection feasible, among the very many other projects he has going for the Reference department. ADULT SERVICES The Library of Things continues to be popular, and the library has begun to use the new LendingKey software to reserve LoT items and to track use. Only a few LoT items will be available through LendingKey to begin with, while we work out the bugs. Lisa Rossi-Moser has been busy with school outreach, and since Kate broke her ankle, her time in Youth Services has increased to help fill-in during Kate’s absence. In recognition of all her work, and willingness to take on new projects, Lisa was recently promoted to Librarian II, a well-deserved promotion. May Adult Programming Statistics: Technology Assistance Appointments • 1-on-1 Appointments Requested: 9 • Resolutions: 6 • Cancellations: 3 • Most Common Consultation Subject: Computer • Average Number of Days for Resolution: 18 Programming • Total # of Adult Programs: 15 o 13- in-person o 2- virtual • Total Programming Attendance: 151 • Top-Performing Programs by Attendance: o Free Comic Book Day- 25 o Hollow Tree Spinners- 20 o Memory Makers - 13 Misc. Stats • My book display celebrating Teacher Appreciation Week had 2 checkouts. Next month's theme is LGBTQ literature in observance of Pride Month. • The library hosted outreach table events from two organizations: The McHenry County Fair Association and Warp Corps. LIBRARY OUTREACH Lisa Rossi-Moser and Kirk Dawdy hosted three Local History Tours with the 4th grade classes from Dean Street School on May 6th, 8th and the 15th. Lisa and Katie Bradley went to Verda Dierzen End-of-Year Bash on May 11th and promoted the library, offered a raffle for young children’s books and issued 14 library cards. Pioneer Center for Human Services joined us on May 14th to volunteer. Hoc Academy came in on May 7th for their storytime. Menta Academy, a special education school in Woodstock, came in on May 15th for an individual story time with Lisa. Woodstock High School Service Club came in on May 17th for their service hours. We had 15 kiddos join us for about two hours. McHenry County Community College, Marla Garrison and Tressman Goode met with Lisa and Katie to continue their collaboration for the Escape Room at the library to be held in October 2024. Austin Nord Adult Programming Librarian Outreach Programs SOAR @ Dorr Presentation (5/22/24): I presented a program, Cut the Cable Cord, to the SOAR @ Dorr members. The program covered various streaming services, streaming devices, their costs, and other information related to ditching cable service for streaming content. Ten people were there, and the presentation lasted about 45 minutes. Audience feedback was very positive with a lot of engagement from the crowd. Walden Oaks Presentation (5/23/24): Bailey and I went to Walden Oaks to present a program about the library. The program focused on the library’s free resources such as mobile hotpots and the food pantry. Nine people were there, and the presentation lasted roughly 45 minutes as well. Audience engagement was strong with several attendees expressing interest in our 1-on-1 Technology Appointments as well as our upcoming programs. Homebound update: Bailey Rewoldt, our Homebound Librarian, has reported the following: • Homebound visits 49 • Homebound Items delivered 335 • Wonder Lake Book drop 73 CALENDAR (https://woodstock.librarycalendar.com/) Upcoming Events & Dates of Import: • Mondays, 5:30-6:00 pm: Cuentos en Espanol/Spanish-Language Storytime • Tuesdays, 10:15-11:00 am: Babies and Books Storytime • Tuesdays, 11:00 am-12:00 pm: Storytime at the Farmers Market • Tuesdays, 3:00-4:00 pm: Teamwork Tuesdays • Wednesdays, 10:15-11:00 am: Toddler Storytime • Wednesdays, 3:00-4:00 pm: YA Wednesdays • Thursdays, 3:00-4:00 pm: Rhythm and Tales • Fridays, 10:15-11:00 am: Preschool Storytime • Saturday, June 15, 11:00 am-12:00 pm: Heroes, Villains, and the Physics of Storytelling • Saturday, June 15, 1:00-2:00 pm: What the Dinosaurs Did Last Night: Authors Refe and Susan Tuma • All of July: Illinois Art Education Association Student Show • Thursday, July 4: Library Closed • Saturday, July 6, 3:30-4:30 pm: Preventing Food Waste in the Home • Thursday, July 11, 6:30-8:00pm: Adult Craft—Japanese Herbarium Bottles