The Jacksonville Public Library Board of Trustees met Sept. 12 to discuss the yearbook project.
Here are the meetings's minutes, as provided by the board:
The Jacksonville Public Library Board of Trustees meets at 4:30 a.m. on the second Monday of each month.
MINUTES OF THE JACKSONVILLE PUBLIC LIBRARY BOARD MEETING
September 12, 2016
The regular meeting of the Jacksonville Public Library Board of Directors was held September 12, 2016 in the library’s conference room. Present were President Mary Fergurson, Noel Beard, Craig Albers, Katie Weeks, Elizabeth Kennedy, Adult Services Librarian Hillary Peppers and Library Director Chris Ashmore. Absent were Robert Underbrink, Ted Roth, Forrest Keaton, and Kevin Eckhoff.
Fergurson called the meeting to order at 4:30 PM.
It was moved by Albers and seconded by Beard that the minutes of the August board meeting be accepted as submitted. Motion carried.
It was moved by Kennedy and seconded by Weeks that all financial reports be approved and that all properly approved bills for September in the amount of $52,552.55 be paid out of general funds as funds are available. Motion carried.
At this point, Fergurson also reported on the latest Endowment Fund Report.
Director’s Report
August was another great month at the Jacksonville Public Library. I spent quite a bit of time working on ways to improve the appearance of the library grounds, first meeting with Mayor Ezard and Head of City Maintenance Terry Chumley on August 10th. It was a very productive meeting where it was decided that City Maintenance would do a better job of responding to requests for repairs; visit the library on a regular basis to ask if anything needs done and to walk the perimeter of the grounds; attend to the weeds around the library building, especially the brick patio and do a better job of picking up trash in the library’s parking lot.
I inquired about the possibility of City Maintenance helping with the library’s landscaping cleanup, but they cannot take on this extra time-consuming task. This answer was expected, as the City mows the library’s lawn but has never taken care of the library’s landscape cleanup. The Mayor and Terry did give me some suggestions as to who to contact about doing the landscaping cleanup at a much more reasonable price than Turner Tree Services.
I then contacted four landscaping companies, based on various recommendations, and spent time with each company walking through the library grounds and explaining the work to be done. At the time of this writing, three of the four companies have submitted
bids for 2017. All three are good bids and each company could do the job well, with one standing out in particular. Chris will be contacting the chosen company in September.
I also spent quite a bit of time advertising and planning for the library’s Bookstock Music Festival to be held on October 1. I created a Facebook page for the event, as well as a Facebook invitation for the event. Press releases were sent to the Jacksonville Journal- Courier, The Source, WLDS, the State Journal-Register and the Illinois Times. The Jacksonville Journal-Courier is planning an article and WLDS has done an interview with me and plans have been discussed about appearing on “What’s On Your Mind?”.
Fliers for the event were distributed at the Clayville Music Festival and both Tom Irwin and Ben Bedford gave Bookstock a “shout out” from the stage. Fliers and posters are being distributed around Jacksonville and Springfield and ads will be placed in the Jacksonville Journal-Courier and The Source. Hillary has helped greatly with the advertising by having the fliers, posters, ads, and logos designed at no cost. These same images have been used on Facebook and our website. A “buzz” is starting to spread about the concert and I am very hopeful that we will have a great crowd, despite the other events in town on October 1st.
The first Book Club meeting of the year was held on August 18th. The purpose of this meeting was to make selections for the upcoming season – September thru May. The meeting was very efficient due to a prior ranking of book suggestions made by regular members of the Book Club. Everyone seemed happy with the chosen books.
The Butterflies, Bees, Gardens and Trees lecture series continued with a program about weather and its effects on Monday August 8th. A great crowd of around 25 people attended this lecture by Duane Friend of the University of Illinois Extension Office. The last Travelogue program of the summer was held on August 11th. Thomas Estabrook, a senior at Grinnell College, gave a fantastic presentation on the Czech Republic, where he studied this spring and summer. I believe we set a Travelogue attendance record with this program, as more than forty people enjoyed the presentation.
August events were promoted in a variety of ways, including my appearance on WLDS to discuss things happening at the library. I also spent time planning other library events such as the upcoming Music Under the Dome concert series and the upcoming Humanities Film Series, as well as working with the Friends of the Library in planning their annual meeting which will feature a talk by Mike Fenner on his successful book Crossing Denali. Other tasks keeping me busy in August were collection development, Facebook maintenance, attending meetings and maintaining the day-to-day operations of the library.
Adult Services
In August, Hillary advertised the upcoming Yearbook Project, the library’s effort to collect local high school yearbooks for the purpose of scanning and making them available online. Between a generous private donation and cooperation with the Jacksonville Public Schools Foundation, the library has quickly secured nearly all the JHS yearbooks it needs to complete the project. She is still working on obtaining Routt Catholic High School yearbooks.
Hillary and Children’s Librarian Cindy Boehlke concluded the first year of the Books on Wheels summer bookmobile and consider it a success with more than 62 hours reported read and students from 10 different schools reached. They are in the process of evaluating the program to determine what changes will be implemented for an even greater success next year.
For the second year, the Antiques Appraisal program with Antiques Roadshow appraiser Mark Moran was very well received. Hillary organized and executed the program, with the much appreciated assistance of staff who registered participants and answered questions in the weeks leading up to the program. She also produced the September newsletter, updated the website and continued to promote the library’s collection, programs and services through social media. Hillary also performed several general reference requests as well as specific genealogy and local history queries.
Interlibrary Loan/Holds
In August there were 840 items borrowed from other libraries; 481 items were lent to other libraries; and there were 659 reciprocal circulations.
Circulation Services
The Circulation Department continued to provide great customer service to all Jacksonville Public Library patrons. The end of the Summer Reading Program usually marks a slower time for the adult circulation desk, but many patrons were visiting the library to get ready for school and teaching jobs. Sarah had three one-on-one technology sessions and started planning for the next round of computer classes which will take place in October. There will be a larger group for this round of classes and she plans to slightly modify the courses to suit the needs of the patrons. Sarah has also started to get ready for a presentation that she will be doing for a group of retired teachers. The teachers requested that the library provide an overview of our services that would be helpful to them.
Sarah compiled a couple of weeding reports for Cindy and Hillary to aid them in their efforts to sort through the collection. Library Page Thomas Clatterbuck worked his last day in the month of August and Melissa George will be coming back in September. Since this is Melissa’s last semester at Illinois College, the library will be preparing to hire a new page before the end of the year. Sarah investigated a scanning option with CDS that would allow the library to utilize its copy machine for scanning purposes without having to set up a separate scanning station. Sarah and Cindy wrote a press release for the Jacksonville Journal-Courier that detailed the events of the Summer Reading Program, giving special thanks to all of the sponsors. All in all, it was an unexpectedly busy month.
Extension Services
Homebound patrons continued to enjoy reading stacks of books, even after the Adult Summer Reading program came to an end. Several are making plans to move from home into Cedarhurst but were glad to hear that regular deliveries from the library would follow them to their new residence.
Diane represented the library at the Morgan County Professionals for Senior Wellness meeting at Heritage Health on August 4 and at the Morgan/Scott/Greene County Planning Committee meeting at Passavant Hospital on August 11.
The Knollwood Book Club met on August 12, followed by the Jacksonville Area Senior Center Book Club on August 16. Both discussions focused on the role of "Women in Wartime" and included reminiscing about serving as nurses overseas, Victory Gardens, working in local factories to produce war materials, war brides and much more. No matter what the topic, it is very satisfying to find such a wide variety of books and DVDs in our collection to illustrate the discussions. Often, items are checked out to patrons immediately following the sessions!
The weeding/shelf shifting in the Large Print Collection is "simmering" for a couple of months as books are checked in and out and new books are added. So far, the new arrangement seems to be working, but may need a little adjusting in the future to even out the number of books on each shelf.
Youth Services
August is always a really nice month in Youth Services! The craziness of summer reading ended but there were still a lot of patrons coming in before school started. Garden club finished up another great year! Most of the produce from the garden was harvested before the Garden Club stopped meeting. The tomatoes took a while to ripen, but the kids got to pick everything else. This was a great year for the Garden Club kids. They were so smart
and eager to help. Several children came in with their families to show mom or dad what they did. It’s great to see the pride in their faces.
Lap Sit returned after a summer hiatus, making for many happy families! Several new families have joined lap sit and several moms who have had another child are able to come back to play. As her normal routine returns, Cindy is looking forward to fall events and thinking about next year’s summer reading already!
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
None
Building and Grounds
Albers and Ashmore reported on steps taken to approve the appearance of the library grounds. Ashmore met with Mayor Ezard and Head of City Maintenance Terry Chumley. City Maintenance will make regular stops at the library to see if anything needs taken care of. They will also do a better job of spraying for and pulling weeds on the library’s west side brick patio and picking up trash in the library’s parking lot.
Ashmore took bids from several different landscape companies for the cleanup of the library’s landscaping, including the library’s parking lot. The best bid was from Sam’s Mowing. Ashmore will accept this proposal for 2017 landscape cleanup and, at the board’s suggestion, inquire whether Sam’s Mowing would like to start right away this fall.
Finance
Ashmore produced a form from US Bank, seeking signatures of those authorized to make any changes to the library’s Endowment Fund’s investment policy. It was agreed that Fergurson, Keaton and Ashmore should sign. Fergurson and Ashmore signed and Ashmore will get the form to Keaton for his signature.
Ashmore asked to set a date for a Finance Committee meeting to approve the library’s 2017 budget and 2016 (payable in 2017) levy request. Since Keaton was not present, Ashmore was asked to speak with Keaton and set up the meeting via e-mail.
Personnel
None
Public Relations
Ashmore reported on a possible collaboration with Illinois College students on a public relations project for the library that would satisfy a course assignment for the students. Ashmore and Peppers spoke to the public relations class, but had not heard back whether the library would be chosen by any students.
FRIENDS OF THE LIBRARY
Ashmore reported on the August Friends of the Library board meeting.
RAILS/RSA
None
OLD BUSINESS
Ashmore gave a progress report on suggested improvements from his 2015 performance review. The board had suggested improvements in supervisory skills, delegation, staff empowerment, creativity and change facilitation. Ashmore’s report explained how progress was being made in all of these areas.
NEW BUSINESS
Ashmore reported that three trustee’s board terms will be up on October 1, 2016 and that these three Trustees (Fergurson, Beard, Weeks) should be hearing from Mayor Ezard.
Ashmore reminded the board that election of board officers will be held at the October board meeting.
Albers made a motion to adjourn the meeting at 5:30 PM, seconded by Beard. Motion carried.
Respectfully submitted by Chris Ashmore
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