Ainsworth Public Library

The Ainsworth Library Foundation Board held its quarterly meeting on August 18, 2021, at the Ainsworth Public Library.  The meeting was called to order at 5 p.m. by President Marsha Fuchs.  Roll call showed four members present:  Wendy Allen, Marsha Fuchs, Traci Ganser, and Deanna Taylor.   Members that were absent included Phyllis Leach, Bill Lentz, and Teri Soles.  Library director, Gail Irwin, was also present.

The minutes of the last meeting and the Treasurer’s report were approved.  Several bills were presented for payment and approved for payment. 

The Gift Transaction List from May-August 2021 was shared. Memorial gifts were received from the Ainsworth Community Schools in memory of Mrs. Diane Daniels and Mr. Mike Max.  Donations were received from Mrs. Shirley West and Mrs. Gail Sears.  The Board was very appreciative of each gift.

The landscaping project was discussed.  It was noted that the soaker system was recently installed.  Five plants will be planted to replace the ones which disappeared.

An update was given on the summer events at the library.  It was noted that the soffit and fascia work was completed.  Other events included the Nelson-Rau Book Signing on May 25^th,  the Magic Show on June 14^th; the K-4^th Grade Summer Reading Program in June, and the Middle School and up Escape Room and STEM events in July.

Upcoming events were discussed. 

1. The Ainsworth Chamber of Commerce will hold its 2nd annual “Back to School BBQ Bash” on August 21^st at East City Park from 5-7 p.m.  The library will be there to sign-up children for the Dolly Parton Imagination Library.  This special library is open to children from birth to age five that live in Brown County.  Several foundation members said they would help with this. 
2. The Library will be hosting a 9/11 Memorial Poster Exhibition.  It consists of 14 posters featuring archival photographs and images of artifacts from the 911 Memorial and Museum.  It also has online video resources and classroom lesson plans.  The exhibit should be here the last part of August. 
3. It was noted that the Book Club would be starting up for another year of reading and discussions.   The first discussion will be held on September 20^th with the title of ‘One Thousand White Women” by Jim Fergus. 
4. The Library will have an author visit with Bob Ross and his new title “Billy above the Roofs” on Sept. 27^th. 
5. We will also have a State Poet (Matt Mason) visit on October 4^th.  Several members volunteered to provide cookies for the author visits. 

The Library has been busy applying for grants.  If the library is awarded a grant, the funds will run through the Library Foundation.

Fundraising was discussed.  An update was given on the photo contest and the sale of the notecards.  We still have some notecard packets to sell.  Marsha Fuchs has a quilt which she would like to do a raffle for.  Traci Ganser thought it would be great to work this in with another group holding an event.

 The next meeting date was set for November 17^th at 5 p.m.   Since there was no further business for the Board to handle, the meeting was adjourned at 5:50 p.m.

The Ainsworth Library Board held its meeting on August 11^th at the Ainsworth Public Library.  This meeting was advertised in the local newspaper, on the radio, on the library website as well as at the Library.  The meeting was called to order at 5 p.m. by President Phyllis Leach.   Notice was given on the posting of the Nebraska Open Meeting Act. 

Roll call showed all five members present.   They included Todd Flynn, Stacey Gilliland, Luke Hitchcock, Phyllis Leach, and Alane Lentz.  Library director, Gail Irwin, was also present for the meeting.  Alane Lentz made the motion to approve the minutes.  Todd Flynn seconded this with all members voting in favor.  Alane Lentz moved to approve the claims for payment.  Phyllis Leach seconded this motion with all members voting in favor of.  The monthly library report for July was shared with the Board as well as a list of titles purchased.  It was noted at this time that the library was closed for the funeral service of Josie Voss on August 7^th as approved by email by the board members.  A note from the City Clerk was shared that stated the 1% merit increase in wages is for full time employees only and does not cover part time employees.  It was noted that library staff are working on setting up titles for the upcoming Book Club year.

It was noted that the part-time Library Aide position has been filled by Ellen Voss.   She started her training on August 19^th.

A review was given on the Young Adult Program held in July.  An Escape Room was held on July 8^th and 9^th.   A STEM event was held on July 13^th with build a house of cards activity.    We will retry again later in the fall and see if we can generate more involvement with the middle school & older students.

Information was shared on the ARPA (American Rescue Plan Act) and the FCC Emergency Connectivity Fund Grants.  Our library will be receiving $4,196 for the ARPA Formula grant. Two other grants will be coming out soon which our library will apply for.

Randy Voss started work on the soffit/fascia on the 20^th of July and should be finished up this week.  The Board walked around the building and inspected the work.  It was noted at this time that the drip system was installed on the east side of the library.   The Library Foundation is paying for the drip system.

There was no new information on the upcoming budget.  The City Clerk said that the health insurance premiums would increase beginning September 1^st.  This may change the amount in the line item for insurance.  The budget workshop should be held later in the month.

The Library has applied for the 9/11 Poster Exhibition from the 9/11 Memorial & Museum.  This is to honor the 20^th anniversary of this event.   It will include 14 posters featuring archival photographs and images of artifacts from the Museum’s permanent collection plus an online collection of resources.   

The Chamber of Commerce has asked if someone from the Library could be at the Back to School Bash to sign-up children for the Dolly Parton Imagination Library on August 21^st from 5-7 p.m. at the East City Park.  This is open to children from birth to 5 years of age that live in Brown County.  Phyllis Leach stated that she could help with this.  Deanna Taylor from the Library Foundation thought that she could help also.

Under workshops and meetings we shared information from the Thursday Director’s Zoom Meeting on July 1^st, 8^th, 22^nd, and 29^th; and the Nebraska Library Commission’s ARPA Formula Grant webinar on July 13^th.  Director did not attend the Nebraska State Advisory Council of Libraries meeting in Lincoln on the 16^th as planned due a family member funeral service that same day.  Coming up will be the Ainsworth Library Foundation Board Meeting, the System Grant Writing Workshop on August 18^th and the Nebraska Makerspace Conference in Lincoln on Nov. 2^nd and 3^rd.

Under correspondence, we had a thank you note from North Central District Health Department, the google performance for June 2021, information on the Early Development Network Free Books Literary Project, and letters from Nebraska Congress members on investing in library facilities.   Items of interest from library newsletters and journals were shared with the Board.

The next meeting date was set for September 8^th at 5 p.m.

Since there was no further business to come before the Board, the meeting was adjourned at 5:45 p.m.

Due to a lack of quorum, the Library Board Meeting has been rescheduled to August 11th at 5 p.m.

The agenda remains the same and may be found on a previous post.

The Ainsworth Pubic Library will be closed on Saturday, August 7th, so that library staff may attend the service for Josie Voss.

The Library Board and Staff send out their thoughts and prayers to the Randy Voss family. We are so sorry for your loss! Josie will be greatly missed by all. The library patrons enjoyed her time of working at the Library. I found that Josie was a joy to work with and so glad that I got to know her.

Gail Irwin, Director

Ainsworth Public Library

The Ainsworth Public Library will be holding a STEM Event on July 13th from 7-8 p.m. for Middle School Students and up. We will be covering the engineering and art in building a house of cards. A deck of cards for each participant will be supplied. Come join the fun!

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-4^th 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 8^th and 9^th.   On July 13^th, 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 14^th.  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 3^rd, 10th, 17^th, and 24^th.  Director also attended the Bedbugs in the library webinar on the 23^rd, the Emergency Connectivity Fund Program on June 24^th, and FCC Live on June 25^th.  Director plans to attend the Nebraska State Advisory Council on Libraries in Lincoln on July 16^th. 

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 4^th 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.