##VIDEO ID:5ZodRHxRtRU## well welcome um I'd like to call the meeting to order at 611 and today is January 15th we are the board of Library can you speak a little louder pleas I don't think so but I'll try okay I we're the board of Library Commissioners and the I mean the board of Library trustees and this is on my right I'm Katie mcgonagal Library director Jean santolo trustee Nancy o Conor trustee Larry Balman secretary Amy Paul Vice chair and Cindy MCN chair um on the agenda today we have public comments and seeing no public I think we can proceed to the meeting minutes um have we looked over the minutes of the December 23rd 2024 meeting and if you've looked them over I need a vote to accept on a different day I was about to say we didn't meet at 307 but we definitely did because it was a different y thank you Larry exent minutes do I hear a vote to accept the minutes I'll make um yes I'll make um oh my God you want to accept I now to accept the minutes thank you sorry hear a second thank you Amy all right now um yes go ahead oh let's vote on this do we have a vote to accept the minutes yes I the minutes are accepted thank you Larry and U now we'll move on to the director's report we have updates on program collection Development building needs and professional development what do you have for us I got it all she's done it all hi thank you all right so as usual I'm going to start with children's highlights um during the month of December there were 32 programs there were 441 program attendees in the children's Department there were 21 reference transactions and there was passive programming in the children's Department there were 218 kiddos that participated in the scavenger hunt and 156 guesses went into the guessing CH uh children's Department continued their busy programming schedule through the month of December they also rotated several displays throughout the department offered passive programming and added new items to the collection a new and exciting addition to the collection is what's called a Woodle um and I have an image here it's like a little device that folks can check out and it's it's a pre-loaded audio that has stories and songs and activities that kids can enjoy and follow along oh that's pretty for mother's no I mean it's like this big and it comes in case but it's pretty small Y and then on the next page you'll see some pictures that I included of their scavenger hunt and some of the displays that went up in the department did they make the store yeah it's cute cute really cute um and they'll do display several areas throughout the department so on top of the new books in non-fiction um they're on top of where like the pre-loaded audio materials are over by the board book so there's lots of displays to kind of hit different age ranges and genres and interests for teen highlights there were 10 programs during the month of December and 179 program attendees teen spot really took off during the month of December in the library teen spot was held on three Fridays and the attendance numbers were 30 34 and 37 uh we moved it here to the library from across the street um just du to scheduling between our two sites um and Erica reported having it on site allows for more teams to attend um it provides them quick access to a place to eat talk relax do crafts dance and play games and Library staff are reporting that being able to redirect teams to the community room and Conference Room is really helpful so what happened is initially Erica had both the community room for the program but because there were so many teens attending she ended up booking both of these rooms and now the teens are going back and for between the two which is great that's really good I saw some coming over the other day yeah it's been a full programming schedule there's lots of options I'm really amazed that teens come it's very busy we're very busy we're within walking distance to two of the schools so we get a lot of folks that come over um for that teen spot on Fridays that's still in partnership with Park and rck and we really appreciate their partnership on this much needed program um another program that Erica is offering is the winter crafter noons um and the f on in December was giftgiving but it was still applicable for those who do not celebrate certain holidays the month started with a DIY holiday wrapping paper and greeting cards and then moved on to Sharpie mugs and it ended with last minute gifts prior to their school break leftover pieces from crafts throughout the year were used for the DIY gifts and the teens made many things for their families and friends really cool this was the highest attendant crafternoon with 17 team participating so the DIY one to get 17 teams is amazing yeah it's great and so then Erica provided pictures for some of the things that the kiddos that the teens created I have my eye on that one right in the middle in the center which is like a Pokeball from Pokemon a big hit um so Erica has really done a great job with the team programming moving on to adult highlights um there were seven programs 87 program attendees there were 130 reference transactions up at the information desk there was 121.5 hours of study room use and 21 requests went unfulfilled the library recognized the winter and celebratory season with a winter Celtic music program with Jeff snow as well as make your own wrapping wrapping paper craft programs uh these programs were well attended and received many positive comments from program participants from the circulation department there were 13,490 of 403 items from November and an increase of 444 items from December of 23 there were 37 new Patron registrations there were 81 reference transactions at the circulation desk there were 12 non- Library meeting room uses 40.25 volun shelving hours and the door count was 7,620 um the library has added a new museum pass to the collection to Riverside reptiles Education Center in Enfield and you can see we did a the team did a fun socials post to publicize that and you may have noticed a little bit of dip in our volunteer hours in December so the senior workof abatement program which we call swap their volunteer session ended in uh for 2024 but another cohort of volunteers will begin in 2025 the library definitely noticed their absence and greatly appreciated all the work that they did for the library on a weekly basis the swap volunteers help with shelving shelf reading organizing and pulling pre-selected books from reports that Library staff run how many how many are you getting in 2025 in 2025 they've already started and we have three three that's y um um the COA coordinates the swap program great questions we're very grateful for our volunteers yeah um in tech services there were 438 items added to the collection 703 items were deleted from the collection and tech services reclassified 196 items it's so base St books with the approval from the town manager and with assistance from the board Health has installed a book bin on property for Library use only libraryi and friends discards will be deposited into the bin which will be and these discards will be repurposed or recycled by Bay State books Bay State books excuse me this bin provides a necessary and easy way for Library staff to discard materials so it's actually if you go out this set of doors and kind of follow around there's a very large bin right there and B state has already come to empty the bin at can you explain U what B State books is for people who might not know they're just an organization that has partnered with the town they also have a book bin over at the COA okay in that parking lot so what do they do empty it every day every so often they'll come no not every day every so often they will come we don't know their schedule okay um and they will take our discarded books and then they can either redistribute them or they will recycle them or somehow reuse them in some way that's really good which is great um our items that added to the collection dipped also in December but that's kind of just a delay in shipping from our book vendors but that's okay because you have to keep to do you have to keep ahead of what that's deled exactly and they are very busy in Tex usually it's the other way around you you add more than you delete yeah and then you get overthrow it correct um for professional development during the month of December um staff attended the following professional development sessions libraries Foster social connction ctions this was through web Junction supercharge story times crash course through the Massachusetts library system seeking clarity about Municipal digital Equity through the alliance for digital Equity employment law overview for managers through Ean and aset interactive settings through aset interactive and misinformation disinformation and Mal information a guide through Princeton life Library that's like fake news from the friends just some updates on the friends the Friends board has an opening and they are actively recruiting for a new member especially from their full membership of their their friends um the friends are now accepting applications for the vinck Memorial Scholarship Awards the friends will present three scholarships each in the amount of $1,000 to three High School graduating seniors preference will be given to students who have volunteered or worked at the library or who have participated in library programs more information about the scholarship is available on their website and I've listed the web address with the direct link to their scholarships and for the friends they have some upcoming events coming they are going to run their winter raffle baskets from January 27th to February 18th they're going to have a bake sale on February 8th and they're going to have a Friends Day at the Springfield Thunderbirds on March 17th oh yeah that's so to kind of connect um some of the friends events their raffle baskets and their bake sale are going to overlap and I brought the um uh the bake sale yeah I I went to the Friends Meeting so this has changed this was yes that was a discussion that they were having they're not going to do this they're going to do the sale but I don't know if that's the exact thing that they're going to be doing okay all right they're still working on that piece okay okay I met with um Diane today to kind of work on um kind of like their their volunteer piece like how they're going to recruiting volunteers for the big sale but they do have some publicity up already they've got a sign over in the Friends book sale area they have it posted to their website and they' started sharing out on the socials so the friends organization created a Facebook page and so they're sharing information on their own page as well as the town Forum the East Long meow town but Nancy attended our last Friends Meeting I was very surprised at how much work they have to do really and these are all volunteers they do a really J I mean they have to even I mean they have to they have to go out and approach so many people asking for so much stuff to even do things you know to collect money I was I was really I was astounded at how much work they do yeah it's great really and it's good work yeah yes it is yeah um question just on the format usually we get a separate report from the friends are you incorporating because they changed their meeting schedule so I had I contacted Diane I had been adding friends information to my past few report but I had contacted Diane to see about just um I feel like we're doing duplicating efforts between having a board member attend their meetings I'm attending their meetings I'm already reporting out what they're doing so Dianne and I were happy to come to the decision that she will not be sending a monthly report anymore and I just report out what You' seen and I sent her right I just think it's streamlines it a lot yes you know so I sent her here's what I'm going to put in my report she was fine with that so I think that's probably what we'll do going forward yep and for the library to kind of piggy back off and compliment each other with some of these upcoming events on Tuesday February 18th 18th um just want to double check that day excuse me pretty sure it's February 18th yes on Tuesday February 18th in the evening the children's department will have um Mrs o the school librarian and Boomer from the Springfield Thunderbird come to do like a story time and activity to kind of complement the upcoming friends at the Springfield Thunderbirds day which will be on March 17th so we're very excited about that so what day is she coming Tuesday February 18th which is also school vacation week oh okay so that'll be great an update for on DPW here in the building um if you get time after our meeting ends please take a little peek around the building um we had both study rooms repainted which also impacted our study room use because we have to close one room for them to work on and then close the other room for them to work on but Patrick from DPW did a fantastic job he painted both of those rooms he put chair rails in along the rooms ni nice I look so nice um so those came out great and then um this actually happened in January but I'll probably put it in my next report but he also painted as you're going up the stairwell he painted the right side of the stairwell which definitely needed a touch up and it looks fantastic so we're very excited to have a few areas that got touched up and we'll also be having the community room painted which I'll fill you in on next month um for policy review we're I've made the changes we discussed at the last meeting to our borrowers policy I um brought in Christina she and I Christina's a circulation supervisor we went over the suggestions and then the draft and so I've got that to present today and then just a reminder our next meeting will be the fourth Wednesday of the month and not the third due to it being um vacation okay I have a schedule yes instead of the because of vacation yeah also before I forget at the end of your packet I did tuck in information about the Massachusetts Board of Library Commissioners budget request for FY 2026 um empowered by libraries and and you have that tucked into the the end and I did email the board and the friends information about the upcoming Library legislative breakfast I will be attending two of them on behalf of the library you are all welcome and encouraged to attend um legislative breakfast if that works for your and that's what I have okay well thank you I to get to the policy well thank you thank you Kati for all business we have the borrows policy yes and so your next little bit in your packet here is the updated policy with the suggestions from our last meeting I just ask question AB under um 3 week loan period it says books does that include ebooks no physical books so where do ebooks ebooks are determined by when you get into Libby or hoopla or another service it depends on either the purchase agreement or the loan agreement so it could be 21 days 14 days s days so that goes that's that's not part of our policy not for this no but our ebooks counted in our statistics yes they're separate but yeah okay I just wondered about the ebook yeah great question thank you y otherwise do you want to read through it do you want to read I can read it thank East Long Meadow Public Library borrowers policy East Long Meadow Public Library is a member of the Central and Western Massachusetts resource sharing CW Mars Consortium and aderes to the system's recommended guidelines and policies for issuing library cards loan periods and limits and lending library materials Library registration one any Resident of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts May obtain an East Long Meadow Public Library par the patron will have one CW Mars card which will be good at all public and some academic libraries in the CW Mars Network for an adult to obtain a library card the individual must complete a registration application and provide one of the following forms of identification driver's license massachusett identification card passport military identification card School identification card work identification card B for a minor aged 17 and younger to obtain a library card a registration application must be completed and one and one of the following forms of identification need to be provided identity confirmed by the presence of a parent or legal guardian who presents their own identification student identification card other local forms of positive identification applicants see sorry applicants can provide the following for address verification recently received piece of mail with the current address personal checks with the printed current address a utility bill El internet energy for the current address a rental or lease agreement out of state residents May obtain an East Long Meadow public library card or re-register by presenting their home States version of the acceptable forms of identification listed for Massachusetts residents and paying a $38 yearly fee per card this fee may be waved under the following circumstances provided proper documentation is presented at the time of registration current employee of the town of East Long Meadow may be required to show a payroll stub Current East Long Meadow taxpayer who presents a copy of their current East Long Meadow tax bill loan periods and limits patrons may borrow a maximum of 50 items at one time there may be limits placed on borrowing certain types of materials due to limited availability patrons may have a maximum of 20 items on hold at one time 3 week long period material books CDs audiobook CDs adult pre-loaded audio with one renewal each two week loan period material type new adult books one renewal Wi-Fi hotspot zero renewals outdoor games one renewal one week long period material type magazines one renewal DVDs one renewal video games one renewal board games one renewal children's preloaded Audio One renewal children's tablet one renewal Chromebook zero renewals other library of things items [Applause] one one to 3 day long period material type of Museum passes with zero renewals can I just explain this piece right here I just did a terrible job reading it it's hard to read a table you did great great perfect it was great for this piece here I changed this from a 3-day loan period to a 1 to 3day loan period because we are now moving forward with that new um aset interactive museum pass module which I'll explain a lot more in detail in our next meeting when it's actually up and running um but with this new module through aset interactive we will be able to provide printable Museum passes so it will list the museum our institution name the date of the museum pass and it it'll print on there the exact date that they can use it okay so they don't have to return it they don't have to come here to get it they can just print it or show it on their device when they go to the museum or park or what have you so we changed that some of the Museum passes have to physically circulate through the building um so you have to come in and get it and then return it so we wanted to provide a three-day loan for those ones so that's why it's one to three days for the Museum passes is is the lul no does that have to be in that will be under the children's pre-loaded pre because it's preloaded and you can borrow it okay so that will be included in that okay yep thanks sorry to interrupt not at all uh Library accounts for the protection and security of all patrons a library card is the preferred way of accessing a library account all libraries will be allowed to update Patron accounts to reflect accurate information with verification patrons can update their own information in their CW Mars account or notify Library staff of changes to name address phone and email the Home Library location code in the patron account will reflect the town in which the patron resides non CW Mars and outof state patrons will have separate location codes these Home Library codes will provide non-resident circul statistics one patrons are blocked sorry patrons are blocked by the system when their their registration expires Patron owes $10 or more in fines replacement costs fees Patron has lost has one lost item Patron has 50 or more items checked out two patrons assume responsibility for all items borrowed libraries agree that the overdue notice will be issued when an item is two weeks overdue and the billing notice will go out when the item is four weeks overdue overdue notices are sent via email patrons will receive email reminders two days before items are due and overdue reminders two weeks after an item's due date has passed eligible items will renew automatically three overdue notices are sent as a courtesy only patrons are responsible for returning their items on time and paying Their fines and fees regardless of whether or not the notification is received four lost materials are items that have been overdue for more than four weeks or that cannot be found and returned by the patron patrons will be charged for each lost item on their account in accordance with CW Mars policy East Long meow items that are lost will be subject to a charge for the full replacement cost of that item no refunds will be issued once the item is builded and paid East Long Meadow does not accept replacements for losts for items belonging to other libraries patrons may log into their account and pay with a credit card or pay in person by check made out to the own owning Library the check payment will be mailed to the owning Library patrons will have to contact the owning library in the event they subsequently locate a lost and paid item each lending institution has their own policy and procedure in place and patrons may or may not be issued a refund five there is no initial charge for a library card lost or misplaced cards will be issued after showing proper identification and paying a $2 replacement charge six overdue fines lost fees or damaged item fees may be waved at the discretion of the library director or design seven any Patron that is a registered borrower at a certified CW Mars member Library can log in to their account and review their Library record online while logged in the patron will see a list of materials borrowed outstanding requests for Library materials and any fines owned owed patrons will ALS also be able to request items from other libraries through their account online each time a patron accesses their account online they will be required to enter a library card number and personal identification number pin patrons can request a new PIN by either selecting forgot your PIN button and the pin will be emailed to their address on file or patrons may contact the circulation desk for assistance in resetting a pin at 413 52554 400 extension 1511 eight patrons may give permission for another individual to pick up their items on hold Library staff will make a notation in the borrower's record noting permissions the person picking up another Patron's items on hold can also present the receiving Patron's library card library card number or a picture of their library card to library staff nine Library accounts and their associ ated personal information are confidential East Long Meadow Public Library is constrained by the requirements of chapter 66 section 10 of the Massachusetts general laws dealing with access to public records and to the extent that records maintained by the East Long Meadow Public Library are public records under said law however chapter 78 section 7 of the Massachusetts General law addresses borrower confidentiality it states Ates that part of the records of a public library oh I should sorry it states that part of the records of a public library which reveals the identity and intellectual Pursuits of a person using the library shall not be public record therefore confidential Library records will not be released or made available in any format to a federal agent law enforcement officer or other person unless a court order in proper form has has been entered by a court of competent jurisdiction 10 only the library director is authorized to accept and respond to court orders or other requests for circulation or registration records the end sorry than more administrative stuff administrative thank you Amy you wrote something that I couldn't read because it's upside down to me no it's it's all minor stuff um um I have a correction also okay so a couple of edits still to go okay on Library registration number one there should be a period at the end of that I don't even know how spell check didn't CCH that it's because of the um bullets um I don't think there should be colon after the headings well that one's underl the other one isn't exactly so I think we need to agre look at the other policies they all have underl I'm pretty sure that's just whatever they are we should just I think should just be bolded and I had to should bolded not underlined and not colon but as long as I'll go back and we have three options in one so let's just go well underline the first one so at least and then did you write something um did you write uh we have a rental or lease agreement we want to add a SL morgage defense oops sure under under which one we have uh C Rental or relase agreement or mortgage is said I think it falls in the same category wouldn't it be a bill like a utility bill if you bring in your mortgage bill I I couldn't hear what you said I just want to add mortgage to it would be a bill the fourth but we have utility bill which you can get if you have a rental agreement or if you have a lease agreement so I don't why would why would you want this is for address verification yeah your the person's mortgage purely for covering all bases if you offer the rental release agreement why wouldn't you also say you can provide a mortgage Bill a mortgage comma rental mortgage or well actually you're saying it's the agreement so it would be like the mortgage document oh or maybe deed would be better then I don't know but then maybe it's not because they're just a taxpayer I don't know just want to raise the question but you could have a mortgage Bill if you had a mortgage I think we would accept yeah I just so so that would come under with aage Bill find I I would I would if somebody said let me see if your mortgage payment or your mortgage bill first of all I'd say if I didn't know my mortgage what are you talking about it's in a big about from the other direction though right if you say I don't have like I went to adopt a cat once yeah and I didn't have a utility bill I didn't have anything else but I did have my mortgage statement why would we limit it artificially if that is also available I'm not it doesn't say they have to provide it this is just another option you could just add or mortgage statement sure if you want if you I tobly agree though n no one's going to come in with their like big pile of closing documents I'm gonna say all I want to do is get a book statement at least that's what I would say I I I I understand what you're saying but um well I yeah we're trying we're trying to wouldn't even have it Avail part of the reason we redid this policy whenever we just did it last it was the last update was to make it easier for people to be able to bring in different types of identification to kind of expand it out to make it easier for folks to be able to um prove Pro where they live that they live in yep on page [Applause] two it's towards the top under B yeah present a copy y oh yes that presents and I think there should be never mind we're good okay on page three um under Library accounts the second paragraph where it starts all libraries will be allowed I'm sorry scratch off the word all and put CW Mars libraries oh okay sorry where's this under what right here that should say CW Mars libraries yeah I think the transition is awkward because we go from paragraphs to a bulleted listed without a an explanation of why this is a list I noticed while reading it might not be a problem but I did notice that the transition from the top three paragraphs under Library accounts to the bulleted list seemed awkward it might not be relevant but uh even something like what did we do before one two and three change that to four oh yeah that work so the heading is the first sentence and then the requirements are essentially starting with the first the second paragraph it's just a formatting thing it's not a Content yeah whatever leave that one two and then that's three two I think that would work better okay what is the current three which will turn into five okay overdue notices are sent as a courtesy only can you change scent to mailed we still do mail some overdue notices but CW Mars automatically generates notices if a patron has provided like text messaging options or email options so patrons will be notified I think it's like two days in advance when their items are upd yeah they get notified when their items are due they get notified when their items are overdue so they CW Mars automatically sends these out I no I see what you're doing however why would you exempt that first line or maybe just it's introductory first line is introductory okay and then the requirements for the card okay are underneath great thanks thanks for letting me run on your so you want to change under under three that's five from mailed from sent to mail ma because patrons are being notified yeah are there are there still some ptients that don't have email May sure so we can still mail that's what I said instead of saying sent mailed as a courtesy we will mail that yeah that's not the only way they receive the notice no that's why I wanted to say that because as a courtesy we're still mailing them but CW Mars itself will automatically email this is a different way of saying um if you don't have an email address if you don't have and you don't get the the notification you still have to pay your fines even if we have sent you a mail in the past oh yeah regardless if you got the notification or not you're still respons but it's not patrons are able to get in and see their own account and they can see what items they have checked out when they're due anything that's overdue anything they've been build for Courtesy that that they do that they don't that that doesn't exempt you from having to pay something in other words they can't come in and say I didn't get a notice therefore I'm not like something could get lost in the mail you know something could happen we could decide to stop mailing them um is there is there anything in here that says that we don't pay fines now no I didn't specifically state that we're fine free because we're not totally totally fine free okay yeah I was having the same thought oh but wait we do charge for some things it's very little compar you know very little are charging for and could other libraries at any time too not all libraries are totally fine free and you might lose a piece of an item for example like the kids backpack kits if you lose part of that kit then you have to pay to replace that piece mostly replacement a lot of it's more replacement cost than than anything else yeah then a fine punishment yeah that going to jail is there anything else Jail libr jail so what are we alter doing well so so the this is still a draft that's going to have minor changes and you'll bring it back again at the next meeting or I'm hoping that you all will vote on it with you want to vote on it now accept it with the changes yeah all right do we have anything on board or no do we have anything on page four no okay the numbers continue if I'm correct so then do I have a motion to accept the borrower policy um draft with with the um changes that have been noted I'll make a motion to thank you do I have a second I'll second it okay so the Bor policy is passed oh after we vote have toote let's have a vote to accept the bar's policy hi and now that we have voted let's let's um say put the B's policy to bed and a second thank you Kate thank you all very much I appreciate your input very that was good apprciate you were sitting here last time oh you sitting here forgotten all about it all right now uh so let's see our next meeting um will be February 26 2025 at 6 o'clock due to the not March February we've got to get to February oh I next meeting March 3rd what that wasn't for I thought you said our next meeting is February huh February because this is January I didn't say March 3rd today I don't think you didn't get that either might have been a boomer like a no that was February 18th next meeting March 3rd I wrote down 2025 that be friend meeting oh that's the friends oh that might be the Friends Meeting okay y That's okay mystery solved yeah our next meeting is February 26 2025 at 6:00 okay AE all right so February 26 okay at 2025 at 6 o' all right so do I have a motion to adjourn second [Applause] I the last one