President Marsha Fuchs called the meeting to order at 5:23 p.m. on November 20, 2024. Roll call showed four members present. They included Wendy Allen, Marsha Fuchs, Teri Soles, and Deanna Taylor. Members Traci Booth, Bill Lentz, and Luke Hitchcock were absent. Library director, Gail Irwin, was also present for the meeting.
Wendy Allen made the motion to approve the minutes with the change of library certification to library accreditation. Deanna seconded with all members voting in favor of. All members voted in favor of.
The Treasurer’s Report was presented. Deanna Taylor made the motion to approve the report. Teri Soles seconded with all voting in favor of. There were no outstanding bills to be paid at this time.
The Gift Transaction List from August to November 2024 was presented.
Discussion was held on the purchase of fall items for display around the fireplace. Teri Soles made the motion to purchase the white vase/flowers and birdhouse stick; two candles, and two pumpkins from Willow Creek. Deanna Taylor seconded this with all members voting in favor of. It was noted that Willow Creek would be decorating the fireplace for Christmas right after Thanksgiving.
Traci Booth had provided the Board with information between the Chamber and herself on the Dolly P. Imagination Library. She noted that the Chamber would be doing the Giving Tuesday Facebook Fundraiser on Dec. 3rd. We have a local $500 matching donation for this. The plan is to have several book baskets at the Chamber Gala celebration on January 25th to help with funding for the Imagination Library. Last year’s basket made a total of $450 for this project. Plans are being made to work with the Sandhills Care Center in March with a reading time with residents. Details aren’t finished yet on this. Dolly will be having a 30th year celebration June 16-20th. Traci may do something special on the 19th to celebrate this event. It was noted that we had a total of 8 children sign up at the Back to School Night. Ainsworth currently has 82 active children with 62 children aged out of the program for a total of 144 kids in Brown County having received free books. Each child now costs just over $2.25 a month, so we need to raise roughly $2,250 to cover 2025 expenses.
An update was given on the Library Accreditation. We are now accredited at the silver level through October 2029. The five-year plan was approved by the Nebraska Library Commission.
The board decided not to plan any fundraising event right now because of Dolly P. Imagination Library fundraising events.
The next meeting was set for Feb. 19th at 5:15 p.m. Since there was no further business to come before the Board, the meeting was adjourned at 5:59 p.m.
