Library Board Approved Minutes - March 2, 2023

DeForest Area Public Library Regular Library Board Minutes
Thursday, March 2, 2023 at 6:00 p.m.

  1. Call to Order and Roll Call
    • The meeting was called to order at 6:01 p.m.by Secretary Gorres.
    • Present: Gorres, Landgraf, Lawrence, Toetz
    • Absent: Van Iten, Zeimet
    • Also present: Jan Berg, Library Director
  2. Approval of Agenda
    • Motion to approve as presented: Landgraf
    • Second: Lawrence
    • Discussion: None.
    • Action: All approved.
  3. Approval of Minutes of the February 2nd, 2023 meeting
    • Motion to approve the minutes: Landgraf
    • Second: Lawrence
    • Discussion: None
    • Action: All approved.
  4. Public Presentations / Communications
    • None.
  5. Approval of Bills – Berg had emailed out the bill run prior to the meeting
    • Motion to Approve the Bills: Lawrence
    • Second: Landgraf
    • Discussion: Berg pointed out the annual fees for the scan/fax/email service from Today’s Business Solutions and the annual fee for the Comics Plus subscription. Otherwise the bills are the normal utilities, books and media, and supplies.
    • Action: All Approved
  6. Reports
    1. Director's - Berg noted that the Summer Concert Series has been set and that the call for sponsors is going out. Staff is in the stealth phase of fundraising for the story hour room. People who have previously given to the library or who have an interest in early literacy are being approached for bigger donations. Once this phase is finished a more general phase for donors will go out possibly with pennies from kids, etc. We have gotten trees to give away for Earth Day/ Arbor Day. A plant program about starting seeds gave away seeds from a Wisconsin Heritage tomato.  The Trinity Irish Dancers are coming on the 14th and Lilies of the Midwest will be doing an Irish folk music concert on the 19th. The candidate forum for the DeForest Village presidents is scheduled for the 23rd and the Village of Windsor is on the 28th.  Planning for the Summer Reading Program is underway.
    2. President's - None. Van Iten is in Tennessee on a business trip.
    3. Village Update - Landgraf had spoken to the Village of Windsor President, Bob Wipperfurth, about recommending a
      Windsor resident to fill John Englesby’s spot on the board.  He talked about Bucc-ee coming to DeForest and that it was going to be controversial. He mentioned that Director Berg had served 35 years and how much the library had meant to his family and his kids’ successes.  The board saluted and gave Berg a standing ovation – at least those who were present and seated did.  Pinseekers is selling memberships and the nets are up. There was some discussion of Frisbee golf in Western Green. The village is beginning a strategic planning process. Berg was asked to send a copy of the library plan to Bill Chang.  The village is zooming all their meetings and archiving the recordings so that citizens have asynchronous access.
  7. Old Business
    1. Staff Showcase – Jessica Svetlik, Digital Librarian
      • Jess gave a tour of the new website. Noting that this newer version of Drupal allows for so many improvements such as the hero image, that it works well across all platforms, displays well on mobiles, has a better calendar, and can use forms. The library now has a web library card application form with secure photo –ID uploads. The work on the new website began a year ago. The migration was supposed to occur in August but didn’t actually go live until January. Superintendent Toetz complimented Jess on the website. The school district will be undertaking a website redesign and she knows how much work went into it. She was really impressed.
    2. Discussion and possible approval of the 2022 Annual Report for the Department of Public Instruction. 
      • Berg gave a overview of the report.
      • Motion to approve the Annual Report: Landgraf
      • Second:
      • Discussion: None
      • Action: All approved
  8. New Business
    1. Review of side-by-side Annual Report
      • Berg walked through the data in the spreadsheets. Upward trends were noted in number of programs and number of participants. Circulation of physical items is still losing ground but digital use has a strong upward trajectory.
  9. Future Agenda Items
    1. None.
  10. Adjournment
    • Motion to adjourn: Lawrence
    • Second: Landgraf
    • Action: All approved.

Meeting was adjourned at 7:14.  Next meeting April 6th, 2023. 

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