The Ainsworth Library Board held its monthly meeting on September 7, 2022 at the Ainsworth Public Library. The meeting was advertised in the local newspaper, local radio station, at the Library, and posted on the library’s website. The meeting was called to order at 5 p.m. Roll call showed four members present (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 Lentz made the motion to approve the minutes of the last meeting. Stacey Gilliland seconded this with all members voting in favor of. Luke Hitchcock moved to approve the claims for payment. Todd Flynn seconded this motion with all members voting in favor of. The monthly library report for August 2022 was presented as well as a list of titles purchased this month.
It was noted that the Youth Grant for Excellence ARPA Completion Report was submitted on 8-16-22. The report was shared with the Board. A summary was presented on the four grants the library received this winter/spring. It consisted of the amount of the grants ($7,224), where items were purchased and invoice numbers plus item cost ($7,260.73), shipping/handling ($606.93) and total cost ($7,867.66). All funds were run through the Library Foundation. The Foundation also paid for the cost of shipping/handling.
The Board discussed the projected budget for the upcoming year. The budget hearing will be held soon.
Update was given on the Makerspace Resources on the Nebraska Library Commission’s website. The Ainsworth Public Library page that list our equipment was shared with the members.
A partnership between the Nebraska Library Commission and the Nebraska Commission for the Blind and Visually Impaired will be providing one 20” ONYX Deskset CCTV (electronic video magnifier) to each public library location in Nebraska at no cost. The unit will remain the property of NCBVI so the agency can repair, replace, or dispose of when or if something goes out on it. Each device comes with a two-year warranty and lifetime tech support from the vendor. Their goal was to order the equipment in August and receive/install all devices in the next few months.
A review of meetings/workshops attended by staff was shared on the Nebraska Open Meeting Act on August 5th; the 2022 Public Library Accreditation Workshop on August 6th; and the Thursday Directors Zoom Meeting on August 4th, 18th, and 25th. The Ainsworth Library Foundation Board held a meeting on August 17th. They are planning on doing a Book Basket Fundraiser this fall. The theme will be “Light up to Reading”. Proceeds will go towards the outside lighting project of LED lights around the windows and doors plus a new pole light. The Library director attended the Nebraska State Advisory Council on Libraries Meeting on August 19th.
Correspondence was shared with the Board. Information from OverDrive was received that informed us that Libby now has tags for users. These tags can organize books however patrons like, from making lists of books to share with friends or tracking books they want to read to subscribing to favorite magazines. Information was received on the revamping of the NebraskAccess site that went live on August 26th. To better serve the research needs of K-12 students, two databases and a new Explora interface have been added to the lineup. There will now be three different passwords for the databases. The passwords will be good for one year. Business cards with all the needed information has been made for patrons to take with them. The ALA Public Policy & Advocacy Office reported advocacy success with Congress. The Senate Appropriations Committee’s proposed budget for fiscal year 2023 includes the first dedicated federal funding for library facilities in 26 years. Articles of interest from Library Journals were shared on the topics of fine free libraries; censorship challenges in libraries across the country, and the importance of good Library signage.
The next meeting date/time was set for October 5th at 5 p.m. Since there was no further business to come before the Board the meeting was adjourned at 5:40 p.m.
