The Ainsworth Library Board held their monthly meeting on May 5, 2021 at the Ainsworth Public Library. This meeting was advertised in the local newspaper, over the radio, at the Library as well as on the library’s website and Facebook page. President Phyllis Leach called the meeting to order at 5:05 p.m. Notice was given on the posting of the Nebraska Open Meeting Act. Roll call showed three members present: Todd Flynn, Stacey Gilliland, and Phyllis Leach. Members Luke Hitchcock and Alane Lentz were absent. Library Director, Gail Irwin, was also present for the meeting.
Stacey Gilliland made the motion to approve the minutes of the last meeting. Todd Flynn seconded this with all members voting in favor of. Todd Flynn moved to approve the claims for payment. Stacey Gilliland seconded this with all members voting in favor of. The Monthly Library Report for April was presented. It was noted that several business men have looked at the area needing repair work done and will present a bid/estimate. List of titles purchased was shared with the Board.
An update was given on the Book Club. The April meeting was the last discussion until the group restarts in September.
A review was given on Covid-19 restrictions at the library. Starting May 17th, the library will open up both restrooms, have people return items inside the building instead of using the outside Book Return, and move the two computers from the meeting room back to their regular area. We will still ask people to use hand sanitizer in the front entry. Masks are recommended but it is up to the person if they wear a mask or not. We will still social distance as much as we can. The Board decided to wait until June on the decision to open up more hours or not.
The Summer Reading Program was discussed. A flier that went home with students at the school was shared with the Board. Sign up will run from May 1st to May 15th. They may register with the form on the website or the library’s Facebook page. We will also sign children up at the library. We will be using the Reader Zone program for the grade school students to keep track of time read and titles of books from June 1st to June 30th. Prizes will be handed out after July 1st. The Atkinson Library will have a Magic Show on July 14th in the morning. Jeff Quinn has contacted our library about scheduling a show in the afternoon. After a discussion, the Board told director to contact the presenter and see if he was still available.
Katie Rau is scheduled for a Book Signing on May 25th from 3-6 p.m. with her book The Best Discovery. It was illustrated by local artist, Shelly Strand. Promotional work will be done for this event in the near future.
It was noted that the Library had several displays at the library during April. We had a display from the Bright Horizon on abuse. The Ainsworth Art Guild held their Annual Spring Art Show from April 16th to May 1st.
The proposed budget for 2021 to 2022 was worked on. We have one line item to add yet on building maintenance. We are waiting for several bids/estimates on some repair work that we need done. We will complete the budget request at the June meeting.
The letter on our State Aid for fiscal year 2021 was shared with the Board. We will receive a total of $1,238. The award was determined using the following formula:
Base amount: $565
Per Capita Pay: $163
Accreditation Bonus: $400
1% Incentive Pay: $110
A review was given on the various meetings/workshop attended by staff. This included the Thursday Director’s Zoom Meeting on April 1st, 15th, 22nd, and 29th; the Book Repair On-Line Workshop; and the Reader Zone On-Line class.
Under correspondence, a thank you note was shared from the American Legion Auxiliary on the library letting them do a zoom meeting of the District 1 Meeting on April 10th. A letter from the White House was shared on thanking the library for thoughts about the infrastructure policy. A letter was shared from Nebraska OverDrive group on using funds from the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 for adding videos to the Nebraska collection. The Nebraska Historical Society sent a letter with information on digitization of newspapers. They will be partnering with Newspapers.com to scan their newspaper for free. In exchange, they have agreed to allow this company to have the ability to make scans available on their website for the next three years. After that, the images will be given to the State Historical Society so they can make them searchable on their website for free. The Historical Society will no longer provide shipping runs of microfilmed newspapers to outside vendors for digitization.
The next meeting date and time was set for June 2nd at 5 p.m. Since there was further business to come before the Board, the meeting was adjourned at 5:48 p.m.
