The Ainsworth Library Board held its regular monthly meeting on March 6, 2024 at the Public Library. This meeting was advertised in the local newspaper, over the radio, and posted at the Library and on the Library’s Facebook page/Website. The meeting was called to order at 5 p.m. Notice was given on the posting of the Nebraska Open Meeting Act. Roll call showed three members present (Todd Flynn, Stacy Gilliland, and Luke Hitchcock). Members Phyllis Leach and Alane Lentz were absent. Library Director, Gail Irwin, was also present for the meeting.
Luke H. made the motion to approve the minutes which Todd F. seconded. Vote showed all members voting in favor of. Luke H. moved to approve the claims for payment after a correction was made to show Literary Guild with $59.88 instead of $249.12. Stacy seconded this with all members voting in favor of. The list of titles purchased was also share with the Monthly Library Report for February. The Board discussed the need to train someone to work at the library occasional when other library staff cannot. Our one helper passed away and our other helper is not able to do this due to her job. Director will contact a person that staff feels would be a good worker and see if she has an interest. The Board discussed the cost of having an ad in the Ainsworth Senior Center monthly newsletter. It was decided that we could not use tax money for this. The road construction has started on North Main Street. They will move one block at a time. It is not known when they will be working in front of the library, but it will be soon. The City said it would be ok to have people park in front of the library until the crew is on the 5th-6th street block. At that time, people will need to park along 5th street just north of the library. The library will have the back door open in case people want to enter that way. The front door will also be open. There will be some temporary interruptions to sewer and water services while they disconnect/reconnect the service lines-but those will be short lived and the City will let us know before that happens.
Blind Date with a Book was held all of February. We had 23 books selected for this program and all 23 were checked out by 12 different readers. Winner of the “Cozy Up & Read” Basket was Jean Pinney. This basket was donated by Wanda Raymond.
Book Club was discussed. A review was given on the February selection of “Here’s to Us” by Hilderbrand. The March selection will be “Educated” by Tara Westover. The April selection will be “Lessons in Chemistry” by Garmus. The Book club will be taking a summer break and will not meet from May-August. The group will restart in September.
Read Across America Week will be honored from March 4-9th. A Dr. Seuss Hour was held on March 4th. We had several girls attend. They had fun reading Seuss books, making a Cat in the Hat craft, and playing Seuss Bingo. They loved the Bingo prizes.
A Poison Prevention Education Class will be held on March 12th for the preschool to 2nd grade children. The Nebraska Regional Poison Center supplied the material for this class. Pinky the Elephant will help us teach what is poison, where is poison, and medicine safety. We have a Pinky Coloring Book to hand out in Spanish and English as well as material for the parents, and stickers/magnets with the Poison Control phone number.
It was noted that the Community Blood Pressure Monitor has arrived at the Library and being used. We have two sizes of blood pressure cuffs to use with the machine. This inventory was given to the library by the North Central District Health Department and American Heart Association HeartCorps.
National Library Week will be celebrated April 7-13th. The library plans to hold a special storytime, hand out solar sunglasses for the total Solar Eclipse on April 8th and hold training on the telescope. D.E.A.R. Day (Drop Everything and Read Day) will be observed on April 12th.
It was noted the Art Guild will hold its Spring Art Show at the Library from April 12-29th. Judging on art work will be done on April 13th with winners moving on to the State Art Show.
An update was given on the workshops/meetings attended by library staff. It was noted that our Director had attended three Thursday Morning Zoom meetings on Feb. 1st, 8th, and 15th. Topics covered included performers for summer reading programs, author talks, and Word Press. The Ainsworth Library Foundation Board held a meeting on Feb. 21st. Several memorial funds were discussed and spending approved of. The library was closed on the 23rd so staff could attend the all-day conference Big Talk from Small Libraries. It was noted that the session titled “Accepting Credit Cards with Payport” was interesting and that board members should watch the recording of this. The Board needs to get 6 more CEU’s to be recertified by 9-30-24. Director will be in Lincoln on March 20th for the Nebraska State Library Advisory Board meeting and the Nebraska Legislature Day.
Under correspondence, the board was shared information on Nebraska’s new Voter ID law. Fliers have been posted on the bulletin board in both English/Spanish on voter ID. Articles of interest from various library newsletters/journal were shared with the Board. A discussion was held on the world of AI (artificial intelligence) and how librarians reflect on uses, ethics, and implications.
The next meeting date was set for April 3rd at 5 p.m. Since there was no further business to come before the Board, the meeting was adjourned at 5:43 p.m.
