The Ainsworth Library Board held its regular monthly meeting on July 7, 2016 at the Library. This meeting was advertised in the local newspaper, over the radio, and posted at the Library and on the Library’s website. The meeting was called to order at 5:05 p.m. Notice was given on the posting of the Open Meeting Act. Roll call showed three members present. They included Todd Flynn, Mark Kovar, and Phyllis Leach. Members Traci Alberts and Alane Lentz were absent. Library Director, Gail Irwin, was also present for the meeting.
Phyllis Leach moved to approve the minutes. Todd Flynn seconded this with all members voting in offer of. Todd Flynn moved to approve the claims for payment. Phyllis Leach seconded this with all members voting in favor of. The Board spent some time reviewing the budget spending for this year. The List of Titles Purchased in June was shared. The Monthly Library Report for June was shared with the Board.
The proposed budget for 2016-2017 was worked on. The City Clerk had given Director some guidelines on the increase for insurance, workmen’s comp. and etc. Wages for Wanda was discussed up the upcoming year. Mark Kovar made the motion to approve the proposed budget for 2016-17 in the amount of $122,750. Phyllis Leach seconded this with all members voting in favor of.
Phyllis Leach made the motion for Traci Alberts to be appointed to serve on the Library Foundation Board starting in August. Mark Kovar seconded this with all members voting in favor of. The Bi-Laws say that we need two library board members to serve on the Foundation Board. Mark Kovar is the other Library Board member on the Foundation.
The video teleconference unit has been decommissioned. The Mayor/City Clerk/Library Director attended a video meeting on June 6th with Ed Toner to discuss this. Mr. Toner wanted to give his special thanks for the years of service that the library did with the unit. The State of Nebraska also had sent a certificate of appreciation. The unit was installed in 1991 at the Library. The unit was removed on June 14th. The fax machine was left for us to use but we will need to install our own phone line for it. Mark Kovar made the motion for a new line to be installed.Phyllis Leach seconded this. All members voted in favor of. The unit stand was also left behind for us to do what we wanted with it. Board directed Director to check with the City Clerk and see if they would want it. If not, to place it on the Ainsworth online sales on Facebook as make an offer or free if no interest.
A review was given on the visit of Miss Abbi Jamison (World’s Pre-Teen Miss Nebraska Tourism 2016) held on June 13th at the Library. We had a total of 35 attend to hear her read stories. Since literary was her platform, she also gave away free books to the children attending. Many in the group had photos taken with Miss Abbie.
An update was given on the Summer Reading Program. We had a total of 205 attend the 18 different programs in June. (53 at Toddler Time; 48 at Preschool Storytime; 38 at the K-1st Grade Fun-Hours, 23 at the 2nd-4th Grade Fun-Hours; and 6 at the June Middle School Lunch Bunch). The ending picnic was held on June 29th with 23 attending. Prizes and awards were given out to the K-4th graders at this time. The top readers in the K-1st grade group included Erick Hitchcock with the most hours read at 19 hours and 55 minutes. Carson Koch had the 2nd most with 17 hours and 30 minutes. The top readers in the 2nd-4th Grade group included Taylor Allen with the most hours at 53 hours 6 minutes. William Biltoft had the second most with 49 hours 15 minutes. It was noted that the Middle School Lunch Bunch would meet on July 20th to discuss the title “Swindle” by Gordon Korman.
An update was given on the four week Bilingual Language Hour which Traci Alberts has been working on. This hour is open to all ages wanting to learn the Spanish – English language. Katherine Sylvester will be helping with this program which will run on July 14th, 21st, & 28th, and August 4th from 3-4 p.m.
Laurie Goodloe turned in her resignation letter effective July 31st. Todd Flynn made the motion to accept this resignation. Phyllis Leach seconded this with all members voting in favor of.
18 job applications were accepted through the June 27th deadline for the part time Library Aide and Cleaning person. The Board reviewed the applications received. Interviews were done with two people for the Library Aide positon. Phyllis Leach made the motion to hire Wanda Raymond for the cleaning position and Donna Rudnick as the library aide. Mark Kovar seconded this with all members voting in favor of. Wanda will start cleaning the first of August. Donna will be able to start training next week.
Phase Two of Library Improvements were discussed. It was noted that the ADA Check-Out Desk plans were finalized and has been ordered. The desk should be here the first part of September. We will need to remove the old desk before they install the new one. Discussion was held on what to do with the old desk. It was decided to put on Facebook Online Sales and see if anyone would make an offer for it. It was noted that they would install a new top for the work island to blend everything together. Director was been working with Tony at Glass Edge in Norfolk on the ADA Door Opener. We would need a contractor to do some work around the door to raise the box high enough so people would not bump their heads on it. Matt Pozehl has been in and working with Tony on this matter. We will also need an electrician to add a 110 voltage line from the circuit box to the door area. Travis Gilliland stated he would help us on this. Roudy Clapper is currently working on the construction of the shelfing for the Bound Edition of the Ainsworth Star Journal. Rod Worrell will pay half of this cost. The installation should be first of September. We will need to clean the room out so he has room to work on the installation. Board directed that the walls be painted before the shelfs are installed.
The Garden Walk Fundraiser will be held on July 21st from 5:30 – 9 p.m. We have six homes to visit. Board will need to help set up/decorate; bring food to serve, and to help take down/clean up after the event. Funds will go towards the shelfing for the Star Journal.
A report was given on the Gov. Pete Rickett’s Town Hall Meeting held in Ainsworth on June 24th that the Director and Library Board member Mark Kovar attend. Information was shared on the Youth Services Retreat to be held on August 25 & 26 in Ashland. It was noted that the Director attended the WebJunction webinar held July 7th titled Outreach Bridge to Engaging Latino and Spanish-Speaking Families. Library Board member, Traci Alberts, also attend this.
Under correspondence, we had a letter from Holly Woldt from the Nebraska Library Commission with information regarding our LBBNC computer grant and upgrading to Windows 10 and other software upgrades for the Assistive Technology Computer (Dragon Naturally Speaking, JAWS; Kurzweil 1000; and ZoomText). The 2016 Nebraska Rural Poll Report on Broadband was shared with the Board. Articles of interest from various library newsletter and journals were shared with the Board.
The next meeting date was set for August 11th at 5 p.m. Since there was no further business to come before the Board, the meeting was adjourned at 6:15 p.m.
