— Trustee Minutes – June, 5, 2023

Fitzwilliam Town Library Board of Trustees

Meeting Minutes for June 5, 2023

Trustees Present: Robin Marra, Beth Lorenz, Richard Marshall, Carole Beckwith, Nan Fey-Yensan, and alternates Pam Troccia and Brian Dorpholtz, Library Director Kate Thomas

Call to order @ 5:45 pm

Approval of minutes of the April 3, 2023 public meeting

  • Motion to approve –  Richard/ second, Beth / unanimous in affirmative

Approval of the manifest

  • Manifest approved (by signature)

Chair’s report

  • Brian shared that lawn was seeded and used 6 yards of fill.

Library Director’s report

  • Overall circulation rose compared to last May (+41%) – a significant change
    • Programming for the month of May attracted 405 patrons (Charlotte’s Web event was a resounding success)
    • Cindi Beede has been hired as the new full-time assistant director of the Library (as of May 22)
    • 15 community meetings occurred in the Library with 102 attendees
    • Big project with the Library’s collection was to integrate adult biographies into the content sections; work is largely complete; 1/3 of kid’s biographies completed
    • Carol will continue to work, but one Saturday a month
    • New “mascot” for the Library will be “Fitz,” the meowing cat on the front desk
    • Robotic arm for the consortium is now in the Fitzwilliam Library (Tuesday afternoons for patrons to play with); how to get kids into the Library to see it or learn about it was discussed

Old business

  • Locke Collection update: no new major information; booklets are going quickly and need to be reproduced; sharing information with other Libraries and the State Library about this unique collection
  • ALA Grant update: $10,000 check was received before the end of May and has been deposited; Kate and Nan have scheduled the automatic pedestrian doors to be installed on June 30, 2023 (this is dependent upon our selected electrician being able to do the required set-up work before then); we have tentatively scheduled the first community conversation (as per grant requirements) for Saturday, July 15 @ 2:00 pm (we are currently seeking participants and ask for Board help with this)
  • Long-range Plan update: Brian and Richard reassessing the original plan; Brian looked at the matrix that was in the original and re-configured (see handout); needs some feedback from the BoTs on how to approach some of the objectives (also see R. Marshall’s notes on original LRP); a suggestion to schedule an additional meeting to give the LRP due attention and thought was made; a meeting to do so is scheduled for Monday, June 19th at 6:00 pm.

New business

Newest Grant Opportunity – Kate and Nan are currently working on a grant to be submitted for the Jerry Kline Community Impact Prize (co-sponsored by the Library Journal); The grant is in the amount of $250,000 (unfettered funds to be used as per the Library’s needs); grant is due June 16th and we will need three letters of support by June 14th (Chair of Selectmen, Planning Board, other? – we will draft letters for each to edit at will to facilitate this process); the last winner was an urban library (Cedar Falls Iowa Public Library- we will make the case for the import and impact of our rural serving library to this community);Richard will share the Master Plan as is as a source of data; Brian will support as Selectman Chair; Nan will reach out to the Historic District Commission to see if they will support our application; Kate will reach out to the Planning Board.

Review/revision of Internet policy: Accepted with elimination of “registered users” –Motion to approve Richard / second, Beth; unanimous in affirmative

Review/revision of Social Media policy: Accepted as written– Motion to approve Beth /second, Carole; unanimous in affirmative

Ongoing business (e.g., Friends of the Library; Buildings & Grounds) and/or announcements

Buildings and Grounds: Beth has heard back from two architecture/engineering firms about the upstairs space in the Library (reached out to 3); hoping to have progress on bids/estimates by next meeting.

Carole was interested in the maker space at Keene Public Library- the Keene Library now has a rotating library of “things” display/emphasis; seed display, sell seeds; also might have a sewing machine out, cake pan display, robotic arm, etc.; New trend in libraries, but how would we store “things?” Kate highly interested in this type of novel idea.

Date/time for next regular meeting – July 032023 @ 5:45 pm

Date/time for LRP work session (special meeting)  – June 19, 2023 @ 6:00 pm

Adjournment

  • Meeting concluded at 6:59; Motion to adjourn, Beth/seconded, Richard; unanimous in affirmative

Respectfully submitted,

Nancy Fey-Yensan, Secretary, June 5, 2023