The Ainsworth Library Board held its regular monthly meeting on April 5, 2017 as advertised in the local newspaper, over the radio, and posted at the library and on the library website. President Mark Kovar called the meeting to order at 5:01 p.m. Notice was given on the posting of the Open Meeting Act. Roll call showed four members present (Traci Alberts, Mark Kovar, Phyllis Leach, and Alane Lentz). Member Todd Flynn was absent. Library Director, Gail Irwin, was also present for the meeting.
Alane Lentz made the motion to approve the minutes which Traci Alberts seconded. All members voted in favor of. Phyllis Leach moved to approve the claims for payment. Alane Lentz seconded this with all members voting in favor of. The Board reviewed the budget spending sheet from the City Clerk’s Office. The Monthly Library Report for March was shared as well as a list of titles purchased. It was noted that the puppet stand and the wood book case was sold for a total of $25. We still have the metal stand and coat rack to sell. Director had attended the City Council Meeting on March 8th. The Mayor was doing a report on the Library Board and asked the Director to attend and give an update on the library and what is currently going on.
A review of the Winter Toddler Time was given. Several board members attended with their special children and also shared about the program.
Plans for National Library Week (April 10-15th) were discussed. A Story Time will be held on Monday from 4-5 p.m. A Relax and Color a Bookmark will be held all day on Tuesday. A No Fine Day will be held on Thursday. A Lego Time will be held on Friday from 2-3 p.m. A “Guess How Many Contest” will be held on week long. Since Nebraska is celebrating its 150th birthday, we will have patron guess how many items we have in our library collection that pertains to the state of Nebraska (Fiction and Non-Fiction). The person with the closest guess will win a special Nebraska prize.
Discussion was held on the “Build a Better World” Summer Reading Program. Sign up for the Toddler Time, Preschool Story Time, and the K-4th Grade program will be from May 1 to May 10th. Registration may happen in person at the Library or by way of the On-Line form. Toddler Time will be from 4-4:30 p.m. and Preschool Story Time from 1-2 p.m. on Tuesdays in June. The grade school program will not keep track of time read this year. We will be doing Bingo sheets instead. The Bingo page will be due back by June 26th in order to qualify for the bingo or black out prizes which will be handed out at the ending picnic on June 28th. We will have K-1st grade from 1-2 p.m. and 2nd, 3rd, 4th grade from 3-4 p.m. on the first four Thursdays in June. The flyer which will go home with students from school was shared with the Board. Middle School activities will be held in July this year.
The Ainsworth Area Art Guild will hold its Spring Art Show at the Library from April 8th-22nd. The pieces of art will be judged on April 8th to see which pieces get to go to State. The group will also feature the work of former member, Ardith Coleman, art by the fireplace.
Board member Traci Alberts shared information on a Signing/Bilingual Language Class to be held in July on Thursdays at the Library from 4-5 p.m. Julie Mizner will be doing the signing part and Traci Alberts will be handling the bilingual part.
Discussion was held on work that needs to be done outside of the building. Director has contacted several people and asked them to do an estimate on cost. So far, no one has returned a quote. The Board listed names of people that they knew for Director to contact.
Information on the digitization project was shared. More information will be coming for other libraries that have completed this progress. No action was taken.
Information was shared on the Nebraska State Library Advisory Council Meeting that the Director attended in Lincoln on March 21st and on the Summer Reading Program Workshop that library staff had attended in St. Paul on the 27th. Information was shared on the Trustee Academy Webinars which board members can do for continuing education.
Under correspondence, the new password for NebraskAccess Databases was shared. The password will be good for six months. Information was shared on the Nebraska Archive of Children’s Books held at Calvin T. Ryan Library at UNK. A letter from ALA requesting help to save federal library funding and IMLS was shared. It was noted that Director did contract our elected officials asking for continued funding. A letter from NLC on the upcoming Nebraska Makerspace Workshop in Lincoln on April 17-18th was shared as well as an update on the grant for makerspaces in rural libraries. Information on grant funds for bilingual material was shared. Traci Alberts will check into this grant and see if we would qualify for some funding. Articles of interest from various library newsletters and journals were shared with the Board.
The next meeting date/time was set for May 4th at 5 p.m. Since there was no further business to come before the Board, the meeting was adjourned at 5:50 p.m.
