Jacksonville Public Library Board of Trustees met Nov. 13.
Here is the minutes provided by the board:
The regular meeting of the Jacksonville Public Library Board of Directors was held November 13, 2018 in the library’s conference room. Present were President Mary Fergurson, Noel Beard, Ted Roth, Elizabeth Kennedy, Forrest Keaton, Kevin Eckhoff, Katie Weeks, Adult Services Librarian Sarah Snyder and Library Director Chris Ashmore. Absent were Craig Albers and Robert Underbrink. Also present was guest Sarah Keister Armstrong, the consultant leading the library’s long range planning effort.
President Fergurson called the meeting to order at 4:34 PM.
President Fergurson changed the order of items on the agenda by placing “New Business” (Armstrong’s report on the long range planning community survey) first.
Armstrong reviewed her written report on the community survey with the board. Overall, she was pleased with the number of respondents and thought that the responses indicated that the library was doing a good job, with no major problems. The most recurring positive feedback was that the library staff was friendly and helpful. Of course, there were areas of needed improvement that were discussed, including the need to publicize our services and programs in different ways, the possibility of Sunday hours and developing the ability to serve parents and their children concurrently. Armstrong will next prepare a written outline of goals and objectives for a long-range plan and hold interviews with staff members about this outline. This should lead to a finished product in early 2019.
It was moved by Keaton and seconded by Beard that the minutes of the October board meeting be accepted as submitted. Motion carried.
It was moved by Beard and seconded by Kennedy that all financial reports for November be approved and that all properly approved bills for November in the amount of $59,193.48 be paid out of general funds as funds are available. Motion carried.
Ashmore reported the balance from the latest Endowment Report.
Director’s Report
October was another busy and eventful month at the Jacksonville Public Library. On Tuesday October 2, the library screened the Beethoven biopic Immortal Beloved in partnership with the Jacksonville Symphony Society. Robert Seufert and Garrett Allman were in attendance to introduce the film and lead a post-film discussion.
On Sunday October 14, the library kicked off the Music Under the Dome season with a wonderful concert by a talented trio of women – Terri Benz, Addie Gramelspacher and Katie Schuermann. Their program was entitled “Songs We Love to Sing” and featured classic songs from American musical theater. Over 85 people attended this concert.
Twelve volunteers from the student government at Jacksonville High School worked at the library for about an hour on Wednesday October 17. They split into groups and worked on preparing books for withdrawal, cleaning toys from the children’s department and performing simple data entry.
On Thursday October 18, I made an appearance on WLDS to discuss upcoming activities at the library. The monthly radio interviews are a great way to get the word out about the library and its services and events. I continued to work with both of our social work interns from MacMurray College and gave both Colton and Alejandra their mid- semester evaluations. They both have done an excellent job this semester.
The library celebrated Kim Pohlman’s twenty years working at the library by taking her out to dinner at Lonzerotti’s on Friday October 19. Some past employees were able to make it and a good time was had by all. I am very grateful for Kim’s excellent service to the library over the years.
The library book club met on October 25 to discuss Hillbilly Elegy by J.D. Vance. A great discussion was had about this best-selling look at a class of Americans often over- looked. Also on October 25, the Friends of the Jacksonville Public Library held their annual membership meeting. At this meeting, board members and officers were elected; the “Friend of the Year” award was presented and the winners of the Author of the Year contest were announced. The program for the evening was the winners of the Author of the Year contest reading their poetry and prose entries. A nice crowd attended and stayed around for dessert and punch.
On Monday October 29, a video crew visited the library to get some footage for an ad we will be running at both the Illinois Theater and South Jacksonville Theater. The theater spot will run for one year and I am excited about reaching a whole new set of potential library patrons through this advertising.
The library had the pleasure of assisting New York Times best-selling author Kate Moore (The Radium Girls) who was visiting Jacksonville all the way from London to do research for a new book she is working on. Ms. Moore was with us for most of October 29 and 30 and was very gracious for the help she received.
The big news of the month was the resignation of Hillary Peppers. Hillary gave her two weeks’ notice on October 15 and worked her last day on October 26. She will be sorely missed, as she did a fantastic job in her four years at the Jacksonville Public Library. I wish her all the luck in the world as she begins her new job in St. Louis. However, I am still very optimistic about our staff and the future of this library. Sarah Snyder, who has just completed her Master’s Degree in Library and Information Science, was a perfect fit to assume Hillary’s position of Adult Services Librarian and I was happy to be able to promote Bridget Dean from a library clerk to the new Circulation Supervisor. November will be spent transitioning these two employees to their new positions while hiring a new full-time library clerk. It is never good to lose such a quality employee, but I have much confidence in the abilities of Sarah and Bridget to perform in their new roles. The ability to promote quality employees from within is a luxury we have not always had in the past and many libraries do not have.
Adult Services
Hillary accomplished many things in October. She completed cataloging the digital yearbooks and made them available online. There are some missing years to fill in, but Sarah and I will be working on filling in those gaps. Hillary also completed the November newsletter, in both print and e-mail versions and got those sent out. She kept the library’s web site updated and made frequent posts from the library’s twitter account.
Also in October, Hillary worked with Bridget to put on two successful adult craft programs. Both programs were filled, with 25 participants signing up for each craft. Another program that Hillary arranged for in October was the first in the library’s Jazz at Lincoln Center Digital Concerts. Each month, the library will stream a jazz concert from Lincoln Center in the library’s meeting room. The first concert, featuring Wynton Marsalis, sounded very good, although there were some buffering issues with the video that will need to be worked out.
Additional tasks that kept Hillary busy in October were answering general reference questions; helping patrons working on research and genealogy; and assisting patrons with questions on the public computers.
Interlibrary Loan/Holds
In October, there were 866 items borrowed from other libraries; 944 items lent to other libraries; and 487 reciprocal circulations.
Circulation Services
The library continued to provide excellent service to every patron that walked in the door during the month of October. Sarah spent a good chunk of her time preparing for and teaching three weeks of computer classes. There were approximately ten patrons at each of the six remaining sessions. Overall, it was a lot of work preparing for two separate classes in addition to other tasks but it was worth it. Many patrons attended both classes so it was a nice continuation from night to night—she felt like she was able to cover more information and bring concepts together. This time, she made a handout based on things the class was interested in learning and gave that out at the end of all class sessions—the patrons seemed very grateful. Sarah also continued to monitor the hotspot collection each day to ensure their timely return. She had much correspondence with other libraries in the system as she contacted other circulation managers for various issues like damaged items, problems with patron accounts etc. Circulation staff withdrew over 150 items to keep the collection well maintained.
Sarah also created a custom list of bill reasons for RSA, as she removed selections that are not used and added those that were needed. She also put together a gift for educator appreciation week to be given away. She wrote blog posts as time allowed and updated patron emails as reports were sent through the system. Sarah also created promotional materials for the technology drop-in session that she will be doing at the Senior Center. She also answered a variety of reference requests via phone. She went through donations as time allowed, finding items that would be good additions to the collection. Sarah swapped “New” books from that section over into the regular section to make room for new additions. Last but not least, she had three technology appointments teaching people how to use their phones and how to upload photos to Ancestry’s website. Technology appointments are formal requests for help. However, she spends a lot of time helping patrons with impromptu technology requests in the library each day. Overall, it was a technology-filled month for Sarah and a relatively busy month at the circulation desk.
Extension Services
October went by pretty fast, ending up with lots of candy handed out to homebound patrons!
Diane represented the library at the Morgan County Professionals for Senior Wellness meeting at Heritage Health on October 4, and at the Morgan/Scott/Greene County Interagency meeting at Passavant Hospital on October 11.
The book clubs at Knollwood (October 19) and the Jacksonville Area Senior Center (October 23) both discussed "German Immigration to the United States" with several participants bringing old family photos, German Bibles, and other memorabilia to add to the conversation.
On October 22, Diane joined a host of other local businesses and social service agencies at the Prairie Council on Aging Senior Day event at Hamilton's. Over 180 seniors stopped by to view the library display and talk about our services (and quite a few more stopped by just to dip into the candy dish). There were many questions about reciprocal borrowers, Talking Books, the adult craft sessions, and downloading books and music. Almost a dozen people wanted to pick up brochures for Music Under the Dome, and said they really appreciated the free concerts.
Withdrawing from the large print shelves continued, with 153 books removed from the shelves in October. End of the year sales are helping to finish the last of this year's Lions Club donation.
Youth Services
October was a lovely month for Youth Services. Cindy offered a giveaway for the new Diary of a Wimpy Kid book, The Meltdown. The book is about a snowball war that breaks out in the neighborhood, so she asked kids how they would win a snowball fight and received some very clever responses, from hiding in a tree, to hiding inside a snowman to digging down into the ground. There were three winners, Beckham Oldenettel, Julian Antemate and Nathan Clark. Each received a copy of the new book as a prize.
Cindy applied for a grant from the Jacksonville Children’s Foundation to purchase books and prepare them so they can used at the StoryWalk© trail. She should hear the results of the grant application in December. Cindy was also appointed to the board of the Children’s Foundation. All of the regular youth services programs also took place in October. Cindy also attended the Illinois Library Association conference and took part in a bus tour of four Peoria area libraries to visit their Youth Services areas and meet the librarians there. It was a nice opportunity to network and gather ideas.
Technical Services
Lauren continued to excel in her role as cataloger. With Linda’s cataloging assistance and Heidi’s and Kim’s efficient processing of materials, things ran very smoothly in Technical Services.
COMMITTEE REPORTS
Automation/Technology
Ashmore updated the board on the Jacksonville High School yearbook digitization project. Over 70 yearbooks have been made available online. There are some missing yearbooks, but Sarah and Chris will be working to fill those gaps and to make available more current yearbooks.
Building and Grounds
Ashmore updated the board on the progress of the Facilities Assessment Report. Jamie Cosgriff has completed his walkthrough of the library, but still needs to inspect the library’s roof. Once this is done, the report should follow shortly.
Finance
None
Personnel
Ashmore reported on changes to the library staff. Hillary Peppers resigned near the end of October. Her Adult Services Librarian position was filled by Sarah Snyder. The Assistant Director position has been left open for the time being. Bridget Dean has been promoted to be the new Circulation Supervisor and Andy Mitchell has been hired as a new library clerk. Losing a valuable employee is always difficult, but Ashmore expressed his confidence in the promoted employees.
Public Relations
None
FRIENDS OF THE LIBRARY
Ashmore reported on the Friends of the Library’s annual meeting. At this well-attended meeting, new board members and officers were elected; the Friend of the Year award was presented; and the Winners of the Author of the Year contest were announced. The winners of the contest then read their entries for those in attendance. A good time was had by all.
RAILS/RSA
None
OLD BUSINESS
None
New Business
None
The meeting was adjourned at 5:50 PM. on a motion by Keaton, seconded by Roth.
https://www.jaxpl.org/ckfinder/userfiles/files/Minutes%20of%20November%20Board%20Meeting(1).pdf
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