Library Board Approved Minutes - May 6, 2021

DeForest Area Public Library Regular Library Board Minutes
Thursday, May 6, 2021 at 4:00 p.m.

  1. Call to Order and Roll Call
    • The meeting was called to order at 4:04 p.m.by President Van Iten
    • Present: Englesby, Gorres, Landgraf, Zeimet, Runez (arrived at 4:18) and Van Iten
    • Absent: Lawrence
    • Also present: Library Director Berg, Adult Services Librarian Erin Dedin
  2. Approval of Agenda
    • Motion to approve as presented: Gorres
    • Second: Englesby
    • Discussion: None.
    • Action: All approved
  3. Approval of Minutes of April 1st meeting.
    • Motion to approve minutes: Englesby
    • Second: Zeimet
    • Discussion: None
    • Action: All approved with Landgraf abstaining.
  4. Public Presentations / Communications
    • Abby Lowery was present to say goodbye. She has served on the library board for four years and still felt passionately about it. She said she would continue to advocate for the library She would now be serving on the DeForest Area Community and Senior Center. Bill Landgraf will be taking her place. Berg introduced the new Adult Services Librarian, Erin Dedin.
  5. Approval of Bills – Berg had emailed out the bill run prior to the meeting
    • Motion to Approve the Bills: Englesby
    • Second: Gorres.
    • Discussion: Berg noted that this is an extremely long bill run due to the fact that the last meeting was on the first of the month and many bills which normally would have been paid rolled into this month. Utility bills were forwarded to the village for payment. Those pre-approved bills are noted at the end of this month’s bill run. There are a number of bills for books. The annual fee for our people counter is the SenSource bill.
    • Action: All Approved
  6. Reports
    1. Director's - Plans for the Summer Reading Program and summer concert series are well underway. This year we will continue offering the concerts on Market Street rather than the park. The library is working with the high school to help promote their musical : The Naked Mole Rat gets Dressed: The Rock Experience. A couple of the performers came to help with a story time at the Rocks last Saturday and there is a story walk of the actual book around the halls surrounding the Community Room. Parks & Rec have a couple of programs booked into our space. We were finally able to let the Red Cross book the Community Room for a blood drive and then the special election and primary bumped them out. The LinkCat app will launch sometime in June – Berg has the demo version on her phone. The customizing templates that will make this app look like the library’s old Boopsie app will be coming soon thereafter. Library staff is struggling to balance in-person opportunities with PHMDC guidelines. The space required to social distance isn’t enough to get much beyond 20-30 people in the library’s biggest room.
    2. President's - Van Iten thanked Englesby for running the last meeting. She welcomed Bill to the library board.
    3. Village Update - Landgraf noted that the splash pads would be finished soon, that the 4th of July parade and celebration were still under consideration. The 4th of July is the celebration that brings the whole community together. A number of street work projects are scheduled or underway including North Street by Demco and crack filling and chip sealing in many places around the village including around the library. Video meetings will continue for now. Meetings are being recorded for later viewing which allows citizens to access the meetings at their convenience.
  7. Old Business
    1. Discussion about a post-pandemic strategic planning process.
      • Library staff will be doing some longer-range planning for programs on May 25th. This will give insights about what the library is currently doing; what staff wants to get back to (i.e. in person); what can be gotten rid of; and what staff wants to continue. Once that information is tabulated a survey can be constructed to gather feedback from the community. This survey can then inform the strategic planning by the library board. Berg will bring back the results of the staff planning session at the next library board meeting.
  8. New Business
    1. None.
  9. Future Agenda Items
    1. Annual Meeting
  10. Adjournment
    • Motion to Adjourn: Zeimet
    • Second: Englesby
    • Action: All approved.

Meeting was adjourned at 4:46 p.m. Next meeting June 3rd, 2021.

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