The Ainsworth Library Board held its regular monthly meeting on July 7, 2021 at the Ainsworth Public Library. This meeting was advertised in the local newspaper, on the radio, and at the Library. The meeting was called to order at 5:02 p.m. Notice was given on the posting of the Nebraska Open Meeting Act. Roll called showed four members present. They included Todd Flynn, Stacey Gilliland, Luke Hitchcock, and Alane Lentz. Member Phyllis Leach was absent. Library Director, Gail Irwin, was also present for the meeting.
Alane made the motion to approve the minutes of the last meeting. Stacey seconded this with all voting in favor of. Alane moved to approve the claims for payment. Luke seconded this with all members voting in favor of. The Monthly Library Report for June was presented as well as the list of titles purchased. It was noted at this time that the City had placed a new trash can out front of the library. The City Clerk’s Office had called and said that the library could be closed for Juneteenth holiday as it was a federal holiday on June 18th. Director did not close as the Board did not know about it and there was not time to properly notify the public. Mayor stated that we could take off another day for it. It was noted that the State Aid check had arrived and been deposited. The Board spent time reviewing the budget spending.
Since the Governor of Nebraska has declared the Covid-19 emergency over at the end of June, the Board approved of putting the children’s puzzles, puppets, games, and Lego’s back on the shelving for people to use. All the computers will be turned on also. There will be no increase in the hours open at this time due to staff shortage.
A review of the Summer Reading Program was done. It was noted that we had 11 preschool children signed up and 41 in attendance at the Fun-Hours. In the K-4th grade group we had a total of 37 children signed up and attendance of the Fun-Hours came to 140. We had 29 readers out of the 37 sign up for Reader Zone. They read a total of 12,150 minutes during the month of June. The goal was to read a total of 500 minutes. Top readers included Kristofer Hitchcock with 1240 minutes and Mason Winters with 1100 minutes. We have prizes to hand out to the readers. We plan to do some young adult programs in July. We will have an Escape room from 1-5 p.m. on July 8th and 9th. On July 13th, we will have a STEM event building a house of cards. This will cover engineering and an art challenge.
An update was given on the Jeff Quinn’s Magic Show held on June 14th. We had over 80 people here for the show. Magic books and magic tricks were sold after the program. Everyone seemed to have a great time.
It was noted that the Library Foundation is currently doing a Notecard Fundraiser. They held a photography contest and then voted on five to use for the notecards. They are now available for purchase at $10 for a packet of five.
Information from the ARPA Grants and FCC Emergency Connectivity Fund Program was shared. The Board gave approval to run the grants through the Library Foundation. The Board will be notified by email on what we propose the funds being used for and won’t submit until Director gets Board approval. The Formula Grant is non-competitive and available to all legally established libraries in Nebraska. The amount for our library comes to $4,196.
The Library repair work was discussed. No other estimates/bids have been turned in. Discuss was held on the importance of getting the repair work done before winter. We should have funds in this year’s budget to cover it. Luke made the motion to go with the Randy Voss quote and see how soon he could do it. Alane seconded this with all voting in favor of. Director will contact him on this matter.
It was noted that the 2021-2022 budget proposal has been sent to the County. No word has been received yet on this matter.
The Board reviewed the job applications for library aide position. They said to go ahead and do an interview and then go from them. Board will be notified once an appointment is set up in case they want to attend.
Director had attended a webinar on Bedbugs in the Library. Many libraries have a policy of how to handle such a situation. Some include bedbugs, lice, fleas, cockroaches in their Safety and Health Policy. Director will start to write up an update in our policies to handle this. Board will review and approve at a later date.
Workshops and meetings attended by library staff were shared. It was noted that the Director attended the Thursday Director’s Zoom Meeting on June 3rd, 10th, 17th, and 24th. Director also attended the Bedbugs in the library webinar on the 23rd, the Emergency Connectivity Fund Program on June 24th, and FCC Live on June 25th. Director plans to attend the Nebraska State Advisory Council on Libraries in Lincoln on July 16th.
Under correspondence we shared information from the Nebraska Library Commission on changes to the next Public Library Survey on how to collect programming statistics, that the Overdrive Nebraska group is using ARPA funds to purchase children videos, eBooks, and audio titles, plus the update on Library Innovation Studio (Makerspace) Grant. It was noted that advocacy for proposed accreditation rules in the State Department of Education on school librarian staffing. Items of interest from library newsletters/journals were shared.
The next meeting date was set for August 4th at 5 p.m. Todd and Stacie will not be able to attend on that date so we may have to reschedule if we do not have a quorum. Since there was no further business to come before the Board, the meeting was adjourned at 6 p.m.
