The Ainsworth Library Board held its regular monthly meeting on September 11, 2024 at the Ainsworth Public Library. This meeting was advertised in the local newspaper, over the radio, posted at the library, and on the library’s website and Facebook page. The meeting was called to order at 5:02 p.m. Notice of the posting of the Nebraska Open Meeting Act was given. Roll call showed four members present (Stacey Gilliland, Tammy Hancock, Luke Hitchcock, and Alane Lentz). The board welcomed Tammy Hancock to the board. We are still short one board member. The Mayor/Council is currenting working on appointing a person.
Stacey G. moved to approve the minutes from the last meeting. Alane L. seconded this motion with all members voting in favor of. Alane L. made the motion to approve claims for payment. Luke H. seconded this with all members voting in favor of. The monthly library report for August was presented as well as a budget spending sheet and list of titles purchased. It was at this time that the board discussed what to do with the old computers and tv set. A person is interested in taking them. There really is no place to recycle them here. Places out of town will take used technology items for a recycle fee.They are currently sitting around taking up space. The board said to let the interested person take them after they are cleaned off. We would then be done with them and not have to pay a recycling fee.
We had an update on the budget for the new year from the City Clerk. She stated that she had incorporated the budget we had proposed and that is what is slated for the budget adoption on September 11th.
A change in the NebraskAccess Authentication was received from the Nebraska Library Commission. IP authentication and Nebraska driver’s license/state ID authentication are no longer available. Users are now required to enter the password assigned to our library. The library has business cards available with all the needed information.
A review was given on the Smokey Bear Reading Challenge held from July 21st to August 31st. We had a total of 17 readers in the program. Each reader was challenged to read 720 minutes during this time. The group read a total of 19,732 minutes. Each reader was invited to the birthday party on the 10th of September and received a Pizza Hut certification. Smokey the Bear was present at the party with several other firemen with tools they use to fight fires. They had the water fire truck at the library and kids were able to climb inside. We had a total of 27 people attend. They listened to several stories on Smokey, played a bear game, handed out reading certificates, did a drawing for several prizes, and enjoyed some birthday cake. Each person was able to take home a party bag filled with Smokey items.
Upcoming events were discussed. Book Club will be held on September 16th with the title of “Destiny of a Republic: A tale of madness, medicine, and the murder of a president” by Candice Millard. Storytime will restart for the school year with a fall theme on September 17th from 4-5 p.m. We will try to hold a story two times each month. It was noted that September is National Library Card Sign-Up Month. The library will promote this in hopes of getting some new library card holders. Banned Books Week will be held from Sept. 22nd-28th. Wanda is making a special display to highlight this issue.
It was noted that Andrew Sherman from the Nebraska Library Commission was at our library on August 13th. He completed a Technology Review of our library. He reported that we have a good network in place. He had stated that the three white all-in-one public pc’s are not Windows 11 compatible and will need to be replaced by October 20225 due to the end of life of Windows 10. He cleaned up and reconfigured the public pc’s with identical staff and patron logins. He also installed DeepFreeze (a reboot/restore system) on the five public pc’s. The Commission had received a grant to place these in public libraries to help with fraud issues and the public downloading information on our computers. Mr. Sherman also installed Office 2021 on the Director’s pc and the two new public pc’s in the addition. He will install the UPS on the network equipment next time he is in the area. He recommended installing a DNS Filter for cybersecurity protection. He will need some information from the library’s provider before doing this.
Linda Moody, a Tax Consultant with IRS was at the Library and was wanting to start doing a tax assistance program for our local people. She has three volunteers to use as instructors. They need a place to meet and internet/computers/printers to do this. She was wondering if the library would be interested in this program. They would also need a greeter, maybe a Spanish translator, and someone to watch children if they can’t find a sitter. Tax service would be free. No income restrictions or requirements to use this program. The proposed program would run from February to March (maybe into April if there is a need). Ms Moody will also be visiting with the school and NCDC on this program. The board felt that it would be ok for the library to host this program if needed and to offer help with it.
The board did a review on the collection development policy, duplicates and replacements, weeding, book sale, and the reconsideration policy on challenged materials. The board did not make any changes at this time.
Library accreditation was discussed by the board. It was noted that two members completed the last two continuing education hours needed for the Board Certification. Library director also has completed her Librarian Certification. We now meet all ten of the basic requirements for accreditation and can now complete the Accreditation Form online. It looks like we will be at a silver level. The form is due by October 1, 2024. The Community/Library Survey was reviewed. We had a total of 42 respondes Copies will be shared with the City Office, Chamber of Commerce, and the North Central Development Center. A review of the survey and the strengths/weaknesses of the library was done. The board worked on the community needs and how the library could help with them. Goals for the five year library plan were developed. They include the following goals:
Goal 1: Economic growth of our community
- Work with Northeast Community College and/or Nebraska Extension to hold workshops on how to start a business and how to do a business plan
- The Library will purchase five new titles to promote starting a business, hiring practices, resumes, and bookkeeping/record keeping.
- Workers need childcare in order to go to work and there is a shortage for this. The Library will provide information on requirements to start a licensed in-home childcare and how to start the process. If there is enough interest shown, the library would be willing to hold a class from Northeast Community College or Nebraska Extension at the library for this process
- Work with various groups to help provide a Tax assistance program for the public in our community.
Goal 2: Extending library services beyond current users to those who can not get to the library
- Take box of reading material to the nursing home and assisted living each month
- Do special programming with these older citizens once a year such as a craft project or humanities program
- Since it is hard to travel the library with their charges due to safety in traveling, the library will provide boxes/activity bags to be delivered to the preschool schools/Headstart and/or daycare centers.
- Traveling Reading Service (reading a story, singing a song, or action play) would be provided to the young children at the time of box delivery to promote literacy.
Goal 3: Increase hours of operation
- The library will increase morning hours by one-half hour by opening up at 10:30 a.m. on Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday.
Goal 4: Cultural and entertainment programming for adults in the community
- Provide two programs per year such as author visits or humanities programs.
- Start a multi-generational game night during the winter
- Hold events such as adult coloring or a puzzle night several times during the year
- Provide Makerspace classes as needed to meet the needs of adult population
Reviews were given on workshops/meetings attended this last month. Director attended three Thursday zoom meetings on 8-1-24, 8-8-24, & 9-5-24 plus NCompass purchasing computers for libraries on 8-21-24 and Handling library complaints on 8-22-24. A Library Foundation Board meeting was held on 8-14-24. Upcoming events include PRT17 Meeting in Valentine on Sept. 13th and the 2025 Nebraska Makerspace Conference in Lincoln in November 2025. Three board members reported on the continuing education hours they recently viewed.
Articles of interest from library newsletter/journals were shared with board members. No other correspondence was shared. The next meeting date was set for Oct 2nd at 5 p.m. Since there was no further business to come before the board, the meeting was adjourned at 6:25 p.m.
