The Ainsworth Public Library held its regular monthly meeting on March 4, 2020 at the Ainsworth Public Library. This meeting was advertised in the local newspaper, over the radio, posted at the library, and on the library website/Facebook page. President Traci Ganser called the meeting to order at 5:05 p.m. Notice was given on the posted of the Nebraska Open Meeting Act. Roll call showed three members present. They included Todd Flynn, Traci Ganser, and Phyllis Leach. Members Pedro Bordes and Alane Lentz were absent. Library Director, Gail Irwin, was also present for the meeting.
Phyllis Leach made the motion to approve the minutes of the last meeting. Traci Ganser seconded this with all members voting in favor of. Traci Ganser moved to approve the claims for payment. Phyllis Leach seconded this with all voting in favor of. The Board spent a few minutes reviewing the budget spending for the year. The Monthly Library Report for February was presented as well as a list of titles purchased. The OverDrive statistics were also shared and Board noted the monthly checkout of the Advantage copies. The Director noted that Clara Mae Daniels memorial had been received and different ways to use it was discussed such as a Clara Mae’s Corner with activity bags to check out. No decisions made as this is a matter to discuss with the Library Foundation. Information was shared on the Dolly Parton Imagination Library. Karen O’Hare will be placed on the agenda next month to share more information with the Board on this.
A review was done on the Blind Date with a Book promotion. It was noted that 20 books were checked out during the month of February with the theme of “Read Me if you liked”. The Rate Your Date Slips were shared with the Board. Most of the readers enjoyed their dates but several did not. The winner of the “Love Basket” was Lois Steuter.
An update was given on the Read Across America Day. Our library held a Dr. Seuss Hour on March 2nd. We had 22 children and 8 adults attend the event. The group made a craft by turning a blue paper plate into a fish bowl and gluing on pasta for gravel, pipe cleaners for sea weeds, and Goldfish Crackers.
The Nebraska Library Commission approved the Continuing Education & Training Grant for $500 for Wanda Raymond to attend the ARSL Conference in Wichita Kansas from Sept. 30-Oct. 3, 2020.
It was noted that Gail Irwin had received her Public Librarian Certification renewed till 2-1-2023.
It was noted that the Library would be holding the NET-PBS: free screening of Odd Squad: Odd Beginning on March 10th. School has an early out that date so the movie will be shown at 2:30 p.m. The group will be decoding their Agent ID number using their name and then placing it on their Odd Squad Badge.
The Book Club will be meeting on March 16th to share thoughts on the 2020 One Book One Nebraska title of “All the Gallant Men” by Donald Stratton. The Book Club will be meeting once more in April and then taking a break until the fall.
The Little Paws Preschool will start to make weekly visits to the Library during March and April. They will come at 10 a.m. and 2 p.m. each Tuesday. They had not been making their visits this year due to being shorthanded and no bus driver.
The Library just sent off 184 inkjet cartridges to Empties4Cash. They recycle the cartridges and pay us money for them. The funds will be given to the Library Foundation.
National Library Week will be celebrated April 19-25th with the theme of “Find Your Place at the Library”. The library will be holding some events during this week.
Under meetings and workshops, we had a review on the Full S.T.E.A.M. Ahead Workshop in North Platte that two staff members attended on 2-12-20 and Phyllis Leach gave an update on the Library Foundation Board Meeting held on Feb. 13th. Traci Ganser and Phyllis Leach gave a review of the sessions that they attended from the Big Talk from Small Libraries on Feb. 28th. All of the library staff attended this also. It was noted that the Library Director would be going to Lincoln on March 5th to attend the Nebraska Library Advisory Council Meeting.
Under correspondence, we had thank you letters from ALA for emailing our members of Congress to fund LSTA (Library Services & Technology); IMLS (Institute of Museum & Library Services), and IAL (Innovative Approaches to Literacy). OverDrive has announced changes to Hold functionality will take place in March. A banner has been added to the OverDrive website to explain the changes and how they will work. Articles of interest from library journals and newsletters were shared. The American Libraries magazine was full of all kinds of articles on the 2020 Census.
The next meeting date was set for April 1st at 5 p.m. Since there was no further business to come before the Board, the meeting was adjourned at 5:40 p.m.
