West Central Reporter

The Jacksonville Public Library Board met July 11 to review the Adult and Children’s Summer Reading Programs.

Here are the meeting's minutes, as provided by the board:

MINUTES OF THE JACKSONVILLE PUBLIC LIBRARY BOARD MEETING

July 11, 2016

The regular meeting of the Jacksonville Public Library Board of Directors was held July

11, 2016 in the library’s conference room. Present were President Mary Fergurson,

Noel Beard, Craig Albers, Robert Underbrink, Elizabeth Kennedy, Kevin Eckhoff,

Assistant Library Director Hillary Peppers and Library Director Chris Ashmore. Absent

were Forrest Keaton, Ted Roth, and Katie Weeks.

Fergurson called the meeting to order at 4:30 PM.

It was moved by Beard and seconded by Underbrink that the minutes of the June board

meeting be accepted as submitted. Motion carried.

It was moved by Albers and seconded by Beard that all financial reports be approved

and that all properly approved bills for July in the amount of $50,089.94 be paid out of

general funds as funds are available. Motion carried.

Final payments were also made from the Special Reserve Fund, wrapping up both the

Front Steps Project and the Panels Project.

At this point, Fergurson also reported on the latest Endowment Fund Report.

Director’s Report

June was a busy month at the Jacksonville Public Library. Both the Adult and

Children’s Summer Reading Programs got under way and many people came in with

their summer reading lists. For the Adult Summer Reading Program, some great prizes

were given out in June – thanks to the many businesses who have sponsored the

program.

The Books on Wheels Program for Children who cannot get to the library also began in

June. With Books on Wheels, kids don’t need a library card or even a parent present to

start reading. The goal of this program is to remove all barriers that might keep a child

from reading until school starts in the fall.

Books on Wheels makes four stops each Monday between June 6 and August 15 (with

the exception of July 4). The stops are 11 AM at the Jefferson Park Community Center,

12 Noon at West Central Mass Transit, 1 PM at Greenbriar Apartments and 2 PM at

Rolling Acres. Children are allowed to “check out” two books and return them the next

week for two more.

On June 2nd, the library hosted its first Travelogue program of the summer. Dr. Pravesh

Basnet, a physician here in Jacksonville, gave a fascinating presentation on his home

country of Nepal. Thirty attendees enjoyed the program and had many questions for Dr.

Basnet. The next Travelogue program in July will be given by Andriy Chukin on his

home country of Ukraine.

On June 14th, Chris met with Samantha Sauer, the new archivist at Illinois College. She

was shown around the library and discussions were held about IC collections and

possible collaborations.

Both the Steps and Panels repair projects were completed in June. Renaissance

Architects has approved the work on the steps and Benton and Associates has

approved the work on the panels. Final payments will be made after the July board

meeting. Also in June, Turner Tree Services visited the library and made necessary

repairs to the green space fencing. The east side gate was repaired. New locks were

placed on both the east and west gates and a section of fence was re-anchored to its

adjoining pillar.

Final touches were made to allow patrons to place their library cards on their smart

phones. At no cost, the library registered with Key Ring so that the Jacksonville Public

Library and its logo would appear when patrons add their card. Downloading the Key

Ring App and scanning a library card to a phone is a very simple process that we are

advertising.

In sadder news, former library trustee and long-time Friends of the Library board

member Lois Hughes passed away late in the month. In lieu of flowers, the library staff

and board gave a cash memorial to the Memorial Home Hospice in Lois’ name.

Other tasks keeping Chris busy in June were reviewing library policies, working on the

Bookstock Music Festival, updating the library’s web site and Facebook page and

maintaining the day-to-day operations of the library.

Adult Services

In June, Hillary began talking with Oklahoma Correctional Industries, a division of the

Oklahoma Department of Corrections, about using their free service to begin digitizing

the library’s yearbook collection. At a patron’s request, she has begun researching the

women’s literary society The Wednesday Club. Officers of the club are compiling a

history of the Jacksonville chapter.

Hillary maintained the library’s website, updating it with information about Mobile

Printing, the various Summer Reading programs and the Key Ring app the library has

begun accepting in lieu of a library card. She created a Summer Reading book display.

She produced the monthly newsletter and distributed it to several media and social

service outlets in the area. She also answered several local history reference questions

in person and by email, assisted patrons with microfilm and contributed the adult

resources for the weekly Shelf Life newspaper column.

Interlibrary Loan/Holds

In June there were 840 items borrowed from other libraries; 525 items were lent to other

libraries; and there were 684 reciprocal circulations.

Circulation Services

The Circulation Department has continued to provide great customer service to all

Jacksonville Public Library patrons. After much preparation, the Adult Summer Reading

Program started on June 1. Through the month of June, the number of participating

adults is much higher than it was last year. Circulation staff have done a great job of

promoting the program when checking items out for people and there was a lot of

positive buzz about the program from patrons. Sarah sent out “thank you” letters to

businesses who donated prizes.

Circulation staff continued to help Diane Hollendonner with her project of withdrawing

large print books. Sarah also had two technology sessions in June with two different

patrons. Sarah attended a RAILS member update which is a meeting that gives all who

attend an overview of what is going on with the library system. Last but not least, Sarah

attended the first part of a five-part series discussing search engine optimization for

libraries.

Extension Services

June kicked off the Adult Summer Reading program and homebound patrons are

eagerly reading books to claim prizes. Several boxes of new large print books have

arrived to keep everyone busy.

The weeding project in the Large Print Collection was completed on July 1. A total of

854 books have been withdrawn (January thru June). Thomas Clatterbuck started

measuring the shelves to prepare for shelf shifting. A big thank you to Sarah Snyder,

Diane Hequet, Bridget Dean, and Heidi Estabrook for all their help in identifying and

processing the withdrawn books -- the shelves look SO much better!

Diane attended the Morgan/Scott/Greene County Planning Committee meeting at

Knollwood on June 9. On June 16, she toured the DeCastro Residence (next to

Northminster Church) with director Kathleen Cross to discuss delivery services to the

folks who live there.

The book club at Knollwood discussed "Illinois Disasters" on June 10. The Jacksonville

Area Senior Center book club topic for June 21 was "Cowboy Life."

Youth Services

June was very busy in Youth Services. There was a great response to summer reading

with about 240 children signed up so far. Garden club is going great. The movies are

very popular. The entertainers are filling the meeting room. Story time is filled to

capacity and the crafts are great fun for all. 121 children attended the opening party

and the first craft, making the Cat in the Hat’s hat out of duct tape, also had 121

participants. The science story times and the “Learn to Knit” session attracted an older

crowd of kids.

Technical Services

Things continued to operate smoothly in Technical Services. Diane Darnell efficiently

kept up with cataloging. Heidi and Kim Pohlman processed materials. Volunteer Linda

Little continued to work on special projects and assist where needed.

COMMITTEE REPORTS

Automation/Technology

Ashmore reported that the library registered with the “Key Ring” App and patrons could

now download the App, select the Jacksonville Public Library and scan in their library

card, enabling them to use their smart phone as their library card.

Beard remarked that both the Jacksonville, Florida and the Jacksonville, IL public

libraries looked exactly the same when selecting a library on the “Key Ring” App.

Ashmore said that he would get this fixed so that our library would specify Illinois and

include our library logo. It was also suggested that the library send out a press release

about this new app.

Building and Grounds

Albers mentioned that with Larry Quenette downsizing his business and possibly retiring

in the near future, the library will need to look at other possibilities to do the type of

things that Renaissance Architects has done for us in the past.

Finance

None

Personnel

Albers commented that the appearance of the library grounds (particularly on the west

side) did not look very good and suggested ways that the appearance be approved,

including hiring a staff member to take care of the grounds, getting better results from

City Maintenance and/or having Turner or another business visit the library more

frequently to clean up the parking lot landscaping. Albers and Ashmore agreed to meet

sometime before the next board meeting to discuss a plan of action.

Public Relations

None

FRIENDS OF THE LIBRARY

None

RAILS/RSA

Ashmore reported that Circulation Supervisor Sarah Snyder attended a RAILS member

update meeting in June.

OLD BUSINESS

None

NEW BUSINESS

Ashmore explained that the library needed to approve its participation in the nonresident

library card program and set a fee. Albers made a motion that the Jacksonville

Public Library continue to participate in the non-resident library card program and that

the fee for a non-resident card remain at $60 per year. Beard seconded this motion.

Motion carried.

Eckhoff made a motion to adjourn the meeting at 5:12 PM, seconded by Underbrink.

Motion carried.

Respectfully submitted by Chris Ashmore