Library Board of Trustees

The Woodstock Public Library Board of Trustees met on Thursday, April 10, 2025 at 7:00 p.m. MINUTES CALL TO ORDER: Robert Laurie called the meeting to order at 7:01 p.m. ROLL CALL: PRESENT: Robert Laurie (President), Mary Beth Urbin (Secretary), Mary Ann Lenzen, Sarah Parisi, Susan Gullotto, Mary Sugden, Gabi Ordóñez, Al Fyfe OTHERS PRESENT: Paul Christensen (Deputy City Manager), Nick Weber (Library Director), Tiara Thayer (Library Assistant II) ABSENT: Christy Johanson (Vice President) APPROVAL OF MINUTES: Discussion and Vote on approving the Regular Minutes from the March 2025 meeting as presented. Al Fyfe moved to approve the minutes of the March 2025 regular meeting as presented, Susan Gullotto seconded, and the motion passed with unanimous ayes. PUBLIC COMMENT ON NON-AGENDA ITEMS: Robert offered his apology to Tiara for an ill-timed joke that was made near the end of last month’s board meeting. The board acknowledged room for improvement, and Tiara wholeheartedly accepted the apology. Robert requested that the board review the following items at future meetings: • The library board’s authority as outlined by the state and within their bylaws. • Proper conduct in regards to communicating with each other and the library staff. • Regular review of the library’s policies. Paul interjected that he will work with Nick to bring relevant City policies to the board as well. COMMUNICATIONS: None. LIBRARY EXPENDITURES: Discussion and Vote on the March 2025 Building Fund and Operating Fund Expenditures • Nick explained the price structure for Hoopla, which is becoming increasingly more expensive to offer to patrons. Nick and Martha spoke with representatives from Hoopla and opted to put a price cap on the daily usage of Hoopla; any unused funds will roll over to the next day. • There is still one final payment left to make to Johnson Controls, which will be paid once the library staff has received training on the system so that the library can actually regulate the building’s temperature. 1 Mary Ann Lenzen moved to approve the March 2025 combined Warrant of operating and building expenditures, as presented, Al Fyfe seconded, and the motion carried with unanimous ayes. LIBRARIAN’S REPORT: Nick Weber presented the librarian’s report, a copy of which is attached. Highlights include: • The fiscal year ends this month, and the new fiscal year begins on May 1, 2025. • Library representatives participated in monthly outreach meetings with the Rec Center and the Opera House to collaborate on how best to serve the community. • The Library Lover’s Expedition has ended, but once again was a great success. Over 3,100 people participated across McHenry County. • The Local Authors Showcase was another big success, featuring more authors and attendees than last year. • Digital checkouts were slightly lower than last year and physical checkouts were slightly higher than last year. • The City Council and Mayor Turner recognized the library during National Library Week with a proclamation. • The D200 Spring Art Show starts Monday, April 14th and runs through May 5th. • Mini Links is this Saturday, April 12th. A City staff preview event will be held tomorrow after the library closes. • The library will be closed May 2nd for a First Friday meeting to talk with Paul and Roscoe. NEW BUSINESS: • Statement of Economic Interest Update o Nick reminded the board to double check that they have submitted their forms as there are a couple still missing from the trustees. • Discussion: City Proposal for Paid-Time Off for Part-Time Employees at WPL and the City o Nick briefly reviewed the Official Memo from HR that outlines the new policy, the staff’s response, and the City’s reply to the staff. o The part-time library staff have received a breakdown of their individual accruals based on their tenure at the library and hours worked. o Paul clarified that this policy applies only to part-time staff, not limited part-time. o Paul noted that this policy came as a pleasant surprise to the rest of the City’s part- time staff, as this initiative was spearheaded by four part-time staff members at the library. Paul and Nick both commended the library staff for achieving this improvement in benefit time. UNFINISHED BUSINESS: • Building Updates o Parking Lot Update  The staff parking lot repavement project has been slotted for FY25/26. o Landscaping/Bayton Space Update  The RFP has not gone out, but should be soon.  There will be a concerted effort to ensure all local businesses receive the RFP, so they have a chance to make a bid on the project. o Pneumatic System  Discussed during the library expenditures. • Staffing Update o Leticia Goluba has been hired to fill the reference librarian vacancy left by Lisa Rossi-Moser. Leticia came over from Harvard Public Library and has been acclimating well. o Interviews were held for a children’s librarian today, and three candidates will be brought in for a second, in-person, interview to conduct mock story times. 2  o Sarah Jane Campbell will be departing from the Children’s Department later this spring. This vacancy will be filled by Tiara Thayer, moving her from part-time to full-time. • Friends of the Library Update o There will not be a spring plant sale this year. o Mini Links is this Saturday. EXECUTIVE SESSION Personnel Open Meetings Act (5 ILCS 120/2 (c)(1) The appointment, employment, compensation, discipline, performance or dismissal of specific employees of the public body, including hearing testimony on a complaint lodged against an employee to determine its validity. (Director Evaluation) Al Fyfe moved to enter into an executive session in order to conduct the director’s evaluation, Mary Sugden seconded, and the motion carried with the following roll call: Robert Laurie Mary Beth Urbin Mary Ann Lenzen Sarah Parisi Yea Yea Yea Yea Susan Gullotto Mary Sugden Gabi Ordóñez Al Fyfe Yea Yea Yea Yea Christy Johanson ABSENT Executive Session entered at 8:05 p.m. Tiara was excused from the executive session at 8:05 p.m. RETURN TO OPEN SESSION Mary Beth moved to reenter open session, Susan Gullotto seconded the motion and it carried with the following roll call: Robert Laurie Mary Beth Urbin Mary Ann Lenzen Sarah Parisi Yea Yea Yea Yea Susan Gullotto Mary Sugden Gabi Ordóñez Al Fyfe Yea Yea Yea Yea Christy Johanson ABSENT Returned to open session at 8:40 p.m. Tiara returned at 8:40 p.m. ADJOURNMENT Mary Ann Lenzen moved that the meeting be adjourned at 8:40 p.m., Mary Beth Urbin 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 April 2025 and Fiscal Year 2024-25 Summary DIRECTOR’S REPORT April is the end of the fiscal year. All ordering for the year is complete, and we begin to compile and analyze our year-end statistics and evaluations. May is all about Summer Reading preparation, and a fair bit of April is as well. This April saw a slightly lower attendance level, but a higher checkout total than last year, after factoring in digital material use. The library held more events and presentations in April than in past years, including the Friends annual Mini-links Fundraiser. Staffing remains lower than it should be, but progress is being made to fill the remaining vacancy and to recruit for a forthcoming one. Outreach and collaboration with other agencies remained a focal point for the staff, with multiple connections with D200, the Rec Center, the Opera House, and local businesses occurring. Progress was made on the Landscaping project, with the RFP posted. Saturday, April 12 was the twelfth annual Mini-links Fundraiser, held in the library in conjunction with the Friends of Woodstock Public Library. As in the past few years, there was a city employee-only event the night before. Both the staff event and the public event went extremely well, with some great new sponsors, holes, and raffle prizes. When the dust had settled, the Friends again raised over $5,000 to benefit the library. Other programs included the D200 Spring Art Show, featuring art from district students from kindergarten all the way through senior in high school, MCDH Wellness Screenings, a compost program, and a chicken party. The search for our new Children’s Librarian is nearly complete, with an offer made, and accepted by the search committee’s preferred candidate. Provided we hit no snags, our new Children’s Librarian will be joining us in June. Unfortunately, our staff will be taking another blow on May 16, when Sarah Jane Campbell leaves the library due to a move to Wisconsin. Tiara Thayer will be taking on Sarah Jane’s hours when the latter departs, and we have started the process of replacing Tiara’s existing part-time role. Things are moving forward with the landscaping project, with the RFP posted and six local landscape/nurseries contacted about it. The library’s old pneumatic control system project is complete except for the promised staff training on the new system. The library and the city’s IT department are coordinating a project for FY2025/26 that will upgrade and expand the library’s Wi-Fi access points. The newly relocated, expanded and reorganized Older Adult Area has been receiving good reviews. Our patrons appreciate the larger space, and the location nearer to the windows. CIRCULATION & BUILDING USE April 2025 Circulation was up slightly in April compared to 2024, with digital downloads up significantly, and physical check-outs declining by a small amount. In-person use of the building was down by 3% compared to last year. 12,311 people came to the library in April, compared to 12,739 in 2024. Year-end totals aren’t available quite yet, unfortunately, so those numbers will be included in next month’s report. FINANCIALS Spending out of the old fiscal budget is complete, and we ended the year with a small surplus, mostly due to savings from staff vacancies, and also from larger donations than budgeted. The new budget is complete, and spending from it has commenced. The budget includes raises for all staff, ranging from 3.5-5%, with most of the other budget lines holding steady, or getting small increases. MEETING/ORGANIZATION SUMMARIES City Meetings/City News The City Council meetings in April and early May were mainly routine, though the May 6 meeting did feature the seating of the three elected council members—incumbents Tom Nierman and Robert Seegers, and newcomer Gregory Hanson. Searches to replace Daniel Campbell, the recently departed Opera House director are underway. A search for Deb Schober’s replacement as HR Director is also underway, though Deb will remain with the city through July. CIRCULATION SERVICES Spring has sprung and patrons are hopping into the library! Mid-term voting, the D200 Student Art Show, and Mini-Links brought lots of visitors in April. Additionally, some exciting programming facilitated by Circulation staff saw even more patrons through our doors. Our partnership through McHenry County Libraries United brought world-renown bird photographer and author Stan Tekiela to MCC. Over 200 McHenry County residents attended this program which also featured table displays from nine local environmental groups. In celebration of National Poetry Month, we hosted “Sunny with a Chance of Poetry” a very special evening that featured a visit with Sunny the miniature therapy horse, a gallery display of photographs by Sunny’s “mom” Diane Wlezien of a variety of her rescue animals, and a reading of poems about animals. It was a touching event about the joy, laughter, and healing that animals bring into our lives. Carrie also facilitated the adult fringe wreath craft while showing new reference librarian Leticia Goluba how the program works so that she can take over this programming in the future. Katie led the House of Children and Crystal Lake Montessori school story times again this month with stories and crafts about bears. Katie and Reference Librarian II Austin Nord attended the PrairieCat Resource Sharing Summit at DeKalb Public Library with the theme Marketing Your Library: Strategies for Success and Accessibility. They both brought back lots of ideas on marketing our services and planning for accessibility, which all agree will be a significant topic in the upcoming months as federal legislation mandating further ADA compliance for websites is coming up in 2026 and 2027. We have been issuing repeat bills for about a year. These are printed, mailed, and emailed notices for long overdue items, and we are having an excellent response. Paired with being fine free we are seeing significant progress in reducing the number of items that are never returned. And lastly, the City helped us implement new point of sale software at the front desk. It was a steep learning curve, but all agree that it is a vast improvement for accuracy and accountability for our money handling. YOUTH SERVICES The youth services team has been busy preparing for summer reading challenges and programs. Our theme this year is Color Our World which focuses on the different types of art. The kick-off event will be with Andertoons, showing kids how to draw Dragons, Krakens, and Unicorns. Other programming will be weekly drop-in craft projects for grade school as well as young adults. Favorite programs like the Garden Railroad and the Splash Party will be back again this year. Kate is working with the Rec Department on the Touch-a-Truck event which will now be at Emricson Park instead of the library to allow for more/bigger trucks. Kate and Sarah Jane have tried to make planning pretty easy since Sarah Jane is leaving and we’re waiting for the new children’s librarian to start, as well as transitioning Tiara into the Youth Services team. When they aren’t planning for summer reading, Kate and Sarah Jane have been babysitting the chicken eggs. We again have 24 eggs from the Umlands in Marengo which has provided the eggs the last few years. The eggs should start hatching on the 12th. Kate will be working with IT to get the live stream up on Saturday. The YS team is still figuring on a naming scheme for this year. They’re open to suggestions. ADULT SERVICES 2024/25 Fiscal Year Summary Programs for adults were highly successful this past fiscal year, with a 48% increase in attendance from the previous year with a total of over 2,700 participants for our in-person and online programs. Please refer to the attached adult programming information sheet from Austin Nord for additional details. The new Older Adult Area in the Fiction area by the windows has been very well received since it was created in April. The shifting of the shelving units has eased the overcrowding of the Large Type collection. This move was overseen by Matt Wier and Austin Nord and will allow for much needed growth of the Large Type collection. In December the e-newsletter service used by the library was switched from BookLetters to LibraryAware, an EBSCO product. The new version of the monthly e-newsletter has been well received with currently more than 3,700 subscribers. In addition to the monthly WPL e-newsletter, there are 293 subscribers to the nineteen monthly genre e-newsletters offered by LibraryAware. The newest member to the adult services team, Leticia Goluba, has transitioned very smoothly to the team and has been assisting in the adult craft classes led by Carrie Zamorano and Katie Bradley. Leticia has also been handling much of the children's outreach programming like the cooperative programming we are doing with the University of Illinois Extension Office. Leticia has highly accomplished graphic arts skills and is working on creating slides for the library's three electronic signs and for social media. Library of Things continues to be very successful, especially following the switch to loaning items through Lending Key rather than Sierra. Kirk Dawdy oversaw the switchover and reports that the 31 items in the Library of Things have been checked out 140 times in the past year. The most popular items in the collection this year were: the Metal Detector, Bluetooth Speakers, and Auto Code Reader. This year we introduced Memory Kits to the adult collection which allows for loved ones of those with memory impairment to have guided interactions with them. The kits were implemented by Bailey Rewoldt and there are plans to roll out more in the coming year. CALENDAR (https://woodstock.librarycalendar.com/) Upcoming Events & Dates of Import: • Through May 19: Graduation Gown Steam Station • Saturday, May 10, 1:00pm-2:00pm: Rescue Readers @ HAHS • Sunday, May 11: Library Closed for Mother’s Day • Thursday, May 15, 6:30-8:00pm: Bad Art Night • Monday, May 19, 1:30-6:00pm: Versiti Blood Drive • Sunday, May 25: No Sunday hours until after Labor Day • Tuesday, May 27: Registration for Summer Reading Begins • Monday, June 2: First day to redeem Summer Reading logs for prizes • Friday, June 6, 9:00-12:00pm: Library Closed for First Friday Staff Session • Saturday, June 7, 1:00-2:00pm: Summer Reading Kickoff Event—The Andertoons!