this is the Franklin Township Public Library Board of Trustees meeting it's January 22nd and uh I will call the meeting to order we will start with a pledge of allegiance to the fly which is
right corner pledge allegiance to from the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for
all Agnes kvan Amy araa here Aisha Ali she's not here right okay keev mcneel yes okay Z lickman yes Tiana
gram yes mayor Kramer yes Nick Champa that's me I'm here and January Adams our director thank you this meeting is being held in accordance with the open public meetings
act also known as the Sunshine Law schedule and notification of this meeting have been provided to The Courier News the home News Tribune and the Franklin Township Clerk copies have been posted in the libraries vestibule
and and are available at the reference desk I would like to uh now turn the meeting over to January for the election of officers and um as I mentioned in a
uh email a couple weeks ago um offices are open and uh I would encourage people to self-nominate if they are willing to hold an office are there any nominations for the position of
President I'm going to nominate uh Nick continue on as president I will accept that nomination was there second no you don't need a second for nominations don't need a there's no need for discussion well you have are there any
other nominations yes okay all in favor congratulations thank you thank you would you like to continue now it's you okay
the uh the office of vice president and no it's treasur Treasurer is uh open are there any nominations including self- nominations for this
Fus I retain my position I nominate myself and to retain the position great Agnes okay are there any other nom nominations nominations shall be closed those in favor of uh electing Agnes
kabana to continue as Treasurer as she has done for good while signify saying I I those opposed I find this
unanimous thank you Agnes and uh um let's see we have another office secretary SEC yes very important uh are there any nominations for the office of secretary
including our current Secretary okay no nominations I will nominate Kevin mcneel second
that okay any other nominations those in favor of having Kevin continue as in this office secretary signify by raising their hand
or okay uh again January I find this unanimous and uh so we have officers i' like to open the meeting to the public first part of the public comment uh is there any member of the public who would like to speak at this
time seeing none uh I will close this first part of the public comment session um and uh is there a u motion to approve the minutes of October 24th
which was our last meeting I motion Kevin has made a motion to approve the minutes of October 24th 2024 is there a
second Zach Zach has seconded um is there any discussion of any part of the minutes or any part of the minutes people like minutes okay uh those in favor of accepting the
minutes as presented signify I okay uh this is unanimous the minutes are accepted and uh like to move on to the director's reports first of all the financial reports then this encompasses
U three months o October November and December since we missed start with oober by the way has everybody received their packet I didn't get mine yeah I got mine today usually I got it I didn't
get any mail yesterday though so May okay I I left home around 4:30 and my mail hadn't come yet for today no mail had come yet for today but we yeah does anybody
need I did look I did look these over do you want January perhaps do you have any particular comments on the uh Financial October I could just say that we will be at the
33.3% of the budget year and um overall we we were at 28.75 I don't think there's anything on here that I was no they nothing particularly outstanding okay give everybody another minute or so
to see if they can find any glaring uh no not errors but uh regular no truths that might be uh okay would anyone like more
time no no okay let's uh move on then to the operations report no no you have to do November and December the financial um no I like people were looking at oh they wereing you thought they were looking at
all of them were you were you looking at all of them yeah yeah everybody's done with all of them yeah okay okay did I no oh wait a minute oh wait it's there it's there
it's here yes again so we got a very nice review in go Google that's very nice this is a person he also a big reviewer included a lot of photographs of the library it was very nice and the Adult Services Department
had four uh 50 adult programs that 558 people came to the Adult Services had 35 and 770 people uh enjoyed those programs and you probably noticed that in December um the attendance usually goes down this is not unexpected people have
other things they want to do the uh all of the libraries winter reading challenges started on December 23rd that's going full steam ahead and um I would just mention that the uh for the last 18 months we've been
a host location for the first steps basic English it's a course that course is over with now that was a collaboration between the literacy Volunteers of Somerset County the greater Raritan Workforce Development board ritan Valley Community College and
the 100 County Educational Services Commission and it's I'm happy to report that several dozen students were able to improve their English by virtue of attending this course I have a question did did the
library Supply just the space or did they Supply instruction just the space just the space okay and this uh did this have to do with the Bound Brook building being closed no no was something else [Applause]
okay oh um at Lou Street The Librarians over there attended the very popular jingle and mingle event and they had an Outreach table and spend to win holiday fund wheel that was on December 13th and they considered this to be a huge
success because they gave away free books and Treasure Chest prizes and um the table got featured on the youth center J video because the staff members had really great Christmas outfits on and
um the um the librarian that's in charge of historical room that's been contacted and has been working with the um various members of the um Somerset County Historical Society and they've
been working on a program about the history of western western Mill so that's that's been going on too and that's it okay thank you and to to add a little bit I was
there I was at the center in Louis Street in November uhhuh I spent an hour and a half there hoping that I will see some kids coming to do some reading or to do some research but I was really
disappointed I walked around looked at the books had to resare some of the books and uh only one person one person was there that day but um the staff there are doing a great job
it's just I don't know how we're going to encourage the students to use the the library they have been working very hard to try and get people to come in there I will tell you and it's showing some progress um especially with the um mothers with the young children the
teens boy they're they're tough to get in there no yeah yeah but we keep trying or they keep it is hard hard it's hard it's hard to even get them I mean my my granddaughter now is a teenager and they don't go outside
they they don't go outside and I mean all of her friends are online they just she they just want to uh said she's editing right she make videos of creating content right and
it's like and and it's and it's like the most ridiculous things like you know they watch somebody play a game and then they make a video about watching somebody play game and I'm saying and and I mean
it's anyway like I so right it's just hard it's just hard and then when I cuz I thought something was you know cuz my children are grown I don't you know this and so I'm asking my you know a cousin who has a teenager and my my my brother
who has a teenage Grand son and he's like yeah they don't like me at 13 we had to cold in house we had you know we need the street lights we were running to beat the street lights so to
add this point I I and to your point I can see how it would be would be hard to get them to come to the and they've even had some great movies they had barie yeah um would it be beneficial or
possible to do some surveys at the schools to ask kids like what do you want to see the you know content would you like there but also what classes or workshops or if there's tutorials about making films or editing like that's
what that studio there upstairs yeah I you could do that so just find out from them what do you what would you like to see but don't forget that when the when the librarian is there she's out there talking to the kids asking what they want right and then they say well y would like this and then when she has it
it show up they don't show up yeah okay and that's only for the kids that are there we want to bring more inreach maybe to the schools if that's possible to do surveys well find out uh I I've thought about this and actually
January and I have discussed it also but I recall very early in the planning stage for the uh for that facility uh the library was supposed to have its own entrance somewhere along the line during
the design that changed so the library does not have a dedicated entrance people have to go through the main entrance when the main entrance is open go through aigar roll I don't know whether they sign up or what happens but it's not convenient at all for uh U so
you have to sign in before you go to the library no no you have to sign in before you go the main building but to go into the library uh you could you can you have to walk through to the main front door and then hang a left and you go into the library okay I got you but it
still would have been better it would have been better it would have been better if there is a dedicated uh entrance so people mothers with children and all that can just park and there's only one area that looks to me like it
would be a candidate for a new for for its own entrance and that's right opposite the two uh uh handicap par parking places very near the building um I think it's worth looking into whether
it's at all feasible now when I say feasible there are two issues here one is physical how do you cut a hole in the in a building and put a door in the other is procedural with the um the way
they the way they um have people come into the building and if they came into the library's own build own door then could they go into the main yeah Security main thing so there's some security issues there security so there
there are some issues but I think it's probably worth finding out what they are um you know what are the issues and are any of the programs that's planed going to be at that library or is it only at this library and the other
Library have they're progress like as in like some of the stuff planned in the calendar yeah you should have the Louis Street calendar yeah it's this one oh yeah I see it
and we have data on like how many people come to the library so maybe it's just a matter of time looking it over it hasn't been a whole year has it oh yeah it's been a whole year oh my God fine yeah it's good morning yeah so maybe just and
seeing if like certain months have more traffic than others and then we keep statistics on everything yeah sure winter months are tough too nobody wants to get out in the cold so is cold we'll keep at it yeah I both I
also thought about maybe sending out a dedicated postcard just to that immediate area letting people know library is there it's for everybody a lot of people think it's only for teenagers it's only for going into that
building that's that's a problem trying to get through people no it's for everybody anybody can go in right so we try we s we sent out a postcard when we first opened but we can do it again yeah that's a good idea there's a lot of
residential units in that probably within walking distance almost walking distance have the auers that's right down the block yeah and they have they got to have 400 300 units a big there and then there's
Parks side which is not um not far from from from there those are heavily populated a lot of them in a in a small space more so than you see a lot of places in Franklin you know that have so
many people in such a in such a small place it kind of reminded me of New York you to see you know just to you know to have that many people there should be more um
traffic and that library in talking to people in various places in Somerset County there's a lot of uh desire to have a library within walking distance of people now in
Franklin you know we have 44 square miles of land yeah that doesn't happen yeah very many places but here is a place where it can happen and uh it can happen yeah we should work on it one of
my suggestion was that uh before the end of the school year the library has to write a letter to each parent give to each of his students to take home so that they don't stay in the house during um summer let them go out it's walking
distance all around that area is walking distance let them go out and utilize the library I sest said that to um Mrs Cesar and she said they will look into that the schools don't hand out um don't they just post it they can post messages
though but but I thought May the school discontinued sending stuff home with kids I haven't seen at the elementary they sent out flyers just for reducing paper but um they can definitely send messages out yeah um they they changed their protocol and but I still got
Flyers so from time to time I still get them from at least Elizabeth half school um not off not is what it used to be but it's still something that happens okay so I think you know you um I don't know if you talk to like the staff at the youth center about the
uh Library being open to all the ages and stuff like that but maybe you can talk to them about letting parents know because a lot of drop off and I see parents all the time with their little ones and they're like oh I guess we'll come back in an hour instead maybe they go in the library with their little ones or things like that when they're
dropping their heads off of the program so maybe you could talk to the staff there and see if they could like kind of start getting that message out there that's open to all ages because I know my parents from my program they usually take their kids and they go and then they got to come back in two hours or
whatever so I'll definitely put the word out there for my parents um and let them all know that you know heads up if you guys don't want to take a drive back to wherever you can go in the library yeah that' a good time to capitalize on if
there's a certain timing that the way comes like after school hours like that's when we should be saying oh there's a mommy and me whatever class right then or somewhere around there so capitalize on that it's a good idea I'll have my media specialist at clont and
Franklin Park just remind the students just talking about it ever so often okay thank you all and Tiana you you see pretty much what the activity is in that building guess yes yeah and I know like
during the weekends it's not I go there on Saturdays but I also do weekdays like sometimes it'll be like a Tuesday Wednesday it could be any day sometimes I'll be there and I can tell like what times it's it's it's very popular around like
5:00 and between like 5 and 7ish that's when it's a lot of kids there and they have different programs like basketball programs things like that I see a lot of parents with their little ones dropping them off and um dropping off while dropping off their teenagers and then coming back um yeah so I think having
like maybe a weekday thing also for like that age population will also be beneficial um teenagers are all for incentives it was another program that I worked with there and it was hard to get the teenagers to come I had I literally
am walking around the whole building like come to the program you know it's it's very hard but when they know it's like oh it's an incentive if you consistently um come to this program for this amount of time at the end it's an incentive you know like um it's
different ways like you know we just got to think of ways to catch their attention and even like I said the parents I think that's going to be a good way to get the crowd coming in with the parents and their little ones and things like that so thank you thank
you okay so president's report I have none at the moment so let's move on to correspondence and communication okay the weekend hours this is a hold over
from months and year past um and uh I think we've probably all seen the request and January's response to it
um January do you have have any comments on I really don't have anything to add to what I wrote um you wrote A Very Yes I I didn't a goodness of that was just for for the board I hav't right I've only contacted the person to let her
know that um we hadn't forgotten the board hadn't forgotten there just hadn't been a meeting so okay so was um I mean I don't see I don't know if anybody sees it it seems to me that not a reason for it to be I just don't think
there's a need I just right I mean she's whoever wrote this is talk I mean I'm sure they have a a need and well it would be nice if if you know
the library could cater to everyone's need it has to be weighed against the practicality of the um you know keeping the building open an extra hour or an hour or two when was is it two people
you know one day and and I don't know if if it's a you know makes sense logically economically or any other way to uh no it just doesn't to that unfort because are there
are there are there like a lot of people here like at the end like you know where you're saying hey we're closing you got it you know it depends some days yes but um it drops down as the day as the day of the evening goes on it drops down
especially like I said um people are not going to go to the library on a Friday Saturday or Sunday night they're not right right so um I guess that's the all the discussion
I need I would like to suggest that that that your analysis is correct and that you f continue to follow it and uh if the if the person who requested wants more information I think they
should probably see the the full the full thing the full analysis okay right say that this is not you know something that just pulled out of here actually you know it's actually data behind the
decisions that are being made about the Library hours okay and then uh the two articles that uh we've received um any comments
on first of all the U one in the library Journal um our library is the key to living your best life any comments on no I got my packet L I just got it okay couple and then the
uh but I will read it I enjoy the next one is by a uh Museum director director of the New York museum and uh she's talking about how good libraries
are so uh I would say January thank you for including these for us um I had missed it in the Star Ledger so is there any old business just the comment on libraries
are good I guess in the third world countries we we love libraries because not all kids are can afford a phone an iPhone or we don't have not everywhere has electricity not
everywhere has so when you have a library I remember going to library most of the time and then in those days we had encyclopedias you know those big books that's where we took all our knowledge from we the third world nation really
needs good libraries some countries some areas don't have Library I know we only have one in my city but in all the other towns there are no Library just like everything else when you have so abundant here and sometimes you
don't you don't realize and you don't appreciate you know something about missing that water um you know it's um they say you don't miss the water till the well runs dry but I don't know if that I don't know if that applies in
this you know that saying or whatever but you know what I'm saying it's like we take it for granted and and here is thank you Agnes for reminding us that um not everybody
uh has these uh places like this and just like she said it's to go even further it's because everybody here has I mean now what are the kids now 10 when they have a phone I mean I mean I I
don't know I mean you work in a school right I mean do you work do you work with which the ages of the children in the schools do you work in I'm an administrator so all but I mean you see kid with but so I'm saying like you you see kids get a pH
yeah SE deps the Trinity has Trinity has a phone but it doesn't have service okay yeah my 10-year-old is not getting ping it cuz we made a mistake with the older two getting it in middle school so we're just ping it as much as we can and and
because they act like they act like it's a necessity I mean yeah because you know my daughter was telling me about my granddaughter about what if it's an emergency and I'm like okay I mean
but how many like how how many kids I mean if you look at the statistics right like how many kids like use their phones uh for an emergency and I mean screen help like where you like what kind of emergency are you are you talking about
right you know like if I mean you say help you you you you you you you call a poli I mean I guess it's different for us because growing up you probably don't remember this but they there were uh
payones on every corner yeah right so there were payones in every corner and then there were fire boxes where you where you at least in New York you know you can call the police or you can call the the fire you you know it was it was just different so
but now I don't think a six-year-old you know needs to but anyway they they have them they they have them but anyway yeah thank you agress for reminding
us okay is there any other old business moving on to new business uh we have a proposed uh schedule for meetings in uh 2025 starting with tonight's
um I don't have my copy in front of me I memorized it you did yeah sure okay I I remember IED the the First Column they were all on a Wednesday W yeah so uh pretty much uh sticking to
the third Wednesday fourth W fourth Wednesday uh until we get to uh November and December uh November 19th December 17th and they're all scheduled to be at 5:45 in this room um does anyone see any
objection to any of these is there a motion to accept the proposed uh meeting dates for 2025 second and Kevin second those in favor of accepting this
schedule signify by this is unanimously approved okay well the next item on new business it seems that we've already discussed
um I guess what I would look for here is a motion to uh endorse January's study and response to the request the request about extending the hours oh yes yes okay so what it we just
maybe authorize me to respond that okay we can't do it right I I I make a motion that we authorize January to respond to request um for extending the library hours and respond negative okay is there
a second a second Agnes seconded it uh is there any further discussion on this issue thinking about um today's uh what should I say how should I put it safety issues you have to consider
safety issues you cannot open the extend the library for one person or person because you don't know what their intentions are so that the hours of the library is five that's five s that's seven nothing else you come the next day
if you want to library but we have to consider safety issues for the workers in the library okay did we vote okay all in favor of
the motion signify by okay it's unanimous again okay H the third item under new business and I'll read what I have on
the agenda here should the library ensure that any book placed in the youth room or other designated youth section meet an equivalent rating of PG13 or lower put another way should the library
ensure that any book that would be rated R or nc17 not be placed in the youth room or other designated youth area this is a question a couple of qu yeah this is one this is a question what is
the age of that you expect children in the um I think we're talking about the the young adult room that's open to anybody 13 to 17 as opposed to the children's section which is babies or anybody babies up
until 12 13 with the ya room young adult room is 133 to 17 any I mean would anyone like to speak on this I I brought up the question um and and posed it this way for discussion to try
and make sense of it there were some concerns brought to me privately by residents uh on the topic and and I just I'm I'm Young on the board here and I understand there was a book prior to me joining that was brought up as a concern
that was in the youth section um and so I thought it would behoove us to think candidly and and openly about what we would choose to put into a section for
youth miners um if that text was known if there were content in it that would equivalently rated to an R movie for example or an nc7 movie um you know if we knew that that text had material in
it that would be rated that such should we not put it purposefully in where we know youth have access to it but instead for instance have it available at the library you know not restricting it but not placing it purposefully in the youth
section that's kind of the okay here's the when you say I I think I think Philip well wanted to say something first are books rated that's what I was going to ask no yeah but that and that's that brings up the challenge you know if
we if we read a text that that's what I was I was okay okay Philip Philip uh that was your question yes okay uh does anybody know whether books are rated January January you had they they are
not rated not with any place that I know how would we decide would be okay there's the r there's the r it depends on the reader yeah exactly does it depend on the reader I'm asking candidly
if we have content wait a minute wait a minute let's go around first before we uh is there anybody else Uh Kevin did you want to say anything else you you you were I was saying I was
saying when when when when when films are rated right I mean I don't I don't know the process that uh that they use I don't know if if if is it just the you
know like on on on television the the seven words that you can't say that I won't repeat now that I know them so there's seven words so like how would how would that happen How
would how how would you look at something and say this is nc17 or this is um and and who who was qualified um to do that who would be qualified to uh to do that and what
would qualify someone to be able to to to say what was suitable for someone 17 and and like you said I'm just asking the questions I don't know the answers that's the questions that I would want to know before I would try to make a decision with something like
that okay I would add that um the books that we buy here are all from professional reviews in library journals that's how we buy books here they're they're all reviewed peer reviewed books
and just as an aside the book or books that the question was about earlier in the year those books are no longer in the ya room those are the graphic novels and manga they're now in the adult section so the only books
in the ya room are fiction you know regular text print those books are there if if I oh I'm sorry okay AG if somebody reads the book you know everybody has their own form of comprehension when you read
something how you comprehend it and you find out that one sentence there is out of place bring it to the notice of the light the person Li the library Bo um the person in charge of the library and
if they have to put xrate it or whatever it anybody who wants to read that book has to sign for it you sign for the book that you are responsible to read that such that type of book problem slow 17 years old they read
it they read it on their phone they read it everywhere yeah so why the library has to get a problem with that I mean I don't I sorry are you advocating that they have to sign for the book or you're saying no if they want to read it this
to the person who wants to read it you sign for the book and you'll be resp possible to to youan check it out check it yeah check it check it when you want to read it you check side for check it out with that's slippery slope to
censorship um is it I mean some parents are becoming too sorry I get it okay Tiana you you you work with a lot of young
people how do you feel feel about this um I think signing for a book is a lot that's how I feel honestly well actually anyone can pick up a book off the shelf and and and look at it and read it and then put it back on a table don't
re yourself kids they um they know what expectations they have from their parents and whether it's a book whether it's the internet whether it's this or that if they're curious about something thing they're going to go and do it
they're going to find a way to get to it like you just said the book could be out here they can go pick it up find the book read it real quick see what they need to see and put it back so even if you separate the books they have all access to the library so I don't know
how unless but and putting the books what behind behind the shelf or and in a private place or whatever I don't know how that's going to work um that's but not Library sorry I'm just going to add that point to to yours from having children
to I think that and I have to leave right that sorry but um having children too I mean up until a certain age you're dropping your child off at the library so you should be involved in you know what your children are doing whether it's the phone watching TV and
stuff and I think that that's the big thing is always going back to like the family and as a Mom myself I should be if I'm concerned about what my children doing or whatever I should be involved in what they're maybe checking out you know I mean I wouldn't most of the time
when I'm in the library or when I've been in the library I've been with my kids and I'm seeing what they're um checking in and out so I mean I don't see the need to I just have different section are are are are teens not allowed in the adult section no they are
allowed they can I mean anybody can walk into the library anybody can walk the library yes yes okay that's what a library is okay yes is that so the the question
stemming not just from you know us having it in the library anyone can come in and access it but it's the decision you know the question around the decision to place a book into the youth section as opposed to placing it in an adult section so it's accessible
um and and to your point you know like your parents being you know if you want to bring a child here to access anything you would like to access but the idea of a librarian selecting a book or El you know putting a book into a youth section versus
another section how do how does that decision how is that decision made now okay we have a young adult librarian provides the books for the young adults provides for reviews reviews generally say age what age they're appropriate for
and and that's how they're selected can you you say a young adult librarian are you describing the age of the librarian or you describing job I know that's funny but I'm not them fun you're describing her task okay she's in charge
of the young adult she's in charge of the young adult she does the programs for the young adults she buys the books for the young adults and there are books as you probably know written especially for young adults well we're we're a we're a Board of Trustees and
um traditionally we don't delve deeply into the everyday workings of the library but we do have the responsibility of making sure that
our Personnel are qualified sensible and responsible and uh we are an independent library now what does independence mean well there's a Somerset County Library System we're not a member of that there are several
reasons one of them is financial of course but other other reasons are that uh we feel that our Personnel is best suited to make decisions for our
population and um and I I believe that that's the way it should be and to ask somebody to and and the key here the word here that uh is a little bit upsetting should the library ensure
well how is the library going to ensure that any book you know it means interpreting whole sections of whole book and uh determining what part
whether any part of that book might be objectionable to any part of the population that's very difficult that's that's that's well beyond uh what I think is uh something the Board of Trustees should be concerned
with when when when when you were um approached about this was it what were they what were it concerns and I'm just curious like language um content so you know if a book um a book
that was found that was read by a young person brought to you know an adult their their parent um had content in it that the parent thought was well that's like you know R cont do you remember
what it was I i' prefer not to say because they came to me in confidence but it was about content I mean but the book is in here um it was at one point so they didn't sell me the title of the book and I can go back to that person privately and ask and we can find out
what you know what it was but it it made me kind of go down a line of of questions of you know if if we come across a book resident brings a book to our attention because the idea of ensuring all books that go in that's a different you know scenario but if a
resident comes to us and say Here's a book that if it were a movie would be rated R and I think that's how I came up with that language because the motion picture academ they you know they have designated and designed their systems to say here's how we rate it this level
here's how we rate it that level yada y yada um so if it were to be rated that level would we then take that book and put it back into a youth section knowing it has content that would equivalently be rated
are um and I would I've been learning from one of our Librarians who who gave me some great thought and and uh CU his background is strong in this that my understanding is a librarian as an individual couldn't take a book that
had for instance explicit material in it and hand that and say into an individual Patron who was a youth a child and say here you should read this book I think you'd like this that that would not be um acceptable or legal as my understanding though I'm not a scholar
on that so my thinking was well if we can't as an individual as an individual librarian take this book that would be explicit and hand that to a youth how is that different than us taking the book if we know that this book has content that's explicit and putting that in a
youth section so that that's the kind of question I thought well we should spend some time thinking about this talk that's where that kind of came from I I I get what you're saying but I just I just don't you
know i' I've I've heard about too many um uh instances where there are small uh groups of people who Target you know and who say
you know hey you know am I and like I've I've seen it um and and read about it so if it's if it's true or not um you know that they get uh letters from other people to say hey these are the books that we want you
know uh that we that we have a problem with and then all of a sudden somebody's do and I'm definitely not saying that this is the case would and I don't know that that's the case not you what I'm saying is that if somebody when we had a
book here the other the other day at the last meeting that we had that I read some excerpts from and I am probably one of the I am if I had to put a tag on myself I
would say I was liberal I say I I was for you know you know free thinking and and and you know so I read that and I and I had a little problem I mean I I looked and I was like oh you know this this I I had a little problem with that
but even even with me having a a a problem with that you know I don't know if if if I'm the one to uh you know to to make that uh choice or that decision or we should even start doing that if if
these if these were books written for young adults and and they're on um you said that you you you you buy these according to the uh reviews and they're reviewed and when you say they're reviewed they're reviewed in
professional Library journals okay yeah right yeah there's School library Journal there's Library Journal there's publishers and profession in a sense they are rated they're categorized maybe it's a better way to put it's a review it's a it'll
tell whether or not what they think of it if the library should buy it or not I think if if if at best um if somebody had a specific U
example right if somebody said that this is totally you know then they could they could bring that up bring that up to the uh to the board but I don't think my opinion that we should start you
know um you know doing it any other way than than how it's uh than how it's do we have a proc like is that a process now that so if a if a parent says we found objectionable material in this book in the youth section then what do
we do there's a complaint form form and then there's a committee it goes to a committee which which you have done the book came before us last year or was it the year before last year and um it was
a sexually related book educational and it was the kind of thing in my my opinion which is not necessarily of importance but in my opinion it was if a kid is asking these questions this
is a great book for them they're not asking these questions they probably don't care about the book but they were they were questions that are difficult to ask the request was that it be put behind the counter and you have to ask librarian for it okay and the problem
with that is was an educational text it was it was a kind of a cartoon type book okay with educational text and pictures that were graphic they were they were drawings they were cartoon like but they were
graphic um and that the person who might be questioning and trying to figure the world out in my estimate would be very reluctant to go to an adult standing behind a counter and ask
so I my opinion was that we should allow the book to stay out there I took the book home and I looked that I didn't do the decision L you mean available available in the section in the stacks
yeah but that same book like I say that was a graphic novel those have all been moved into the adult section okay so they're not in the young adult room anymore yeah yeah I think that's a Phil I think
you made a good point earlier maybe not realizing what it was if a kid is asking the questions he's going he he needs to know and if if he's not asking the questions he probably doesn't care he or she probably
doesn't care about the book anyway that was that I think that was a very Salient point I ask a question I don't know if it his old age so no schools teaches biology anymore physiology
Anatomy or whatever I'm assuming they do do they school still because if that be the case then books like that should be we this was more than that though this was
relationship yeah it's a lot and I think it is it's it's a because it's a generational thing because you know me having daughters my daughters are 36 and
30 well you know was very different before they went off to college and and and and and came back and um there things that were acceptable the things my mother you know as far as um you know
people's sexual preferences things that are were you know just totally taboo to her and like my uncles who changed their minds you know over you know over the
years but sometimes it's it's you know generational sometimes it's geological you know depending on where you're you're from but um like the mayor said I think that um you know the library is here for
everyone right and we have to think about those types of people who are asking those questions and maybe can't um ask ask their parents or or other adults you know I don't
know you said they're not in the youth room anymore right so I don't I don't so there that's not a problem anymore assum it the graphic novels are not but if but if there's a text that has you know a description or in text that can still be
placed in the youth section well um Kevin you mentioned various groups that might view something differently you didn't mention economic yeah and in this community we
have a large range of economic uh uh diversity yeah yeah I mean even even certain words are very different in different yes economic uh environments you know so
well I think this is this is going to be um more than one meeting I mean I I I I well I think that what we have in place and now I didn't I didn't even I wasn't even aware that there was an apparatus for
parents to use if they find something uh objectionable that is in a place where they where they think that it's you know you know maybe doing harm you know whatever to their to their
child there steps that they could there steps that they could take you know um so I don't know if we need to do what anything else and that's just my op well it seems that uh moving the graphic novels to the
adult section is already a way of ensuring at least that those books um are not plac to need of them so I think uh yeah I think because I I mean I would have to see it I would have to see you
know if and I think that're responsible people we we' be able if someone came and said hey you know look at this and maybe look at it you know in the whole context you know a lot of things taken out of context is is is um you know to
to look at it in the whole context of of it and to make a decision based on that I just don't think that any like sweeping changes is is necessary or even or even good in my opinion okay well I would like to say
first of all thank you Zach for bringing it up I agree with that and making and and putting the inputs that you had uh reported from others and I'd like to thank uh everyone who participated in
this um I pick Zach for his position because I think he's a think you always I don't think I know he's a smart guy and he um is puts a lot of thought into
things and he's from a party other than mine um so there's things we probably disagree about because I don't want to surround myself with people who just agree with me so I'm I'm glad you're I'm glad you brought it
up that's very important my my daughter when she graduated from rers it was on the 250th uh graduating class and that was when Obama was the keynote speaker and
he came there and he he he started speaking and he said that [Music] um what was the woman's name it just escaped me um the Secretary of State for
Bush condesa rights cond of rice he said I heard you guys was going to have cond of rice here a couple of years ago and you guys uh protested so much that she withdrew her name and you
know everybody thought that you know he was going to say you know right on you know for your and he said what is the matter with you he said this woman was was the Secretary of State she's held the highest position in the
land up until that point and what did you think that you wouldn't be able to learn something from her did you think she he said you you you you you you you watch only the news that that agrees with what you say you you listen to only
the only discussions you have people who agree with you and that you how how are you going to better yourself you know and and I was so surprised and these and all of these people thought they were about to get this big you know pat on the back was like Wow and it made me
really think about yeah it really made me think about and it's just what you said that you have to have opposing views because I thought I was all the way one side I thought I was all the way one
side and you brought up some points that made me start to think that okay it you know maybe it shouldn't be just you know let everything you know maybe maybe we do need to take some uh you know Common
Sense uh a common sense look at at at what goes in here so I guess the may already said it but okay thank you may I have permission now to open the second part of the public portion of the meeting
anybody anyone no and uh i' like to uh confirm our that our next meeting date is February 26th this year is that Valentine
no 14th come on you're going to be late giving your wife when did they change it last year Co okay okay is there a motion to a is
there a motion to a journ a motion to a journ i i second okay this motion okay any discussion about adjournment no seeing none those in favor of adjourning please indicate by some way all thank you I'll see you on see you on
Valentine's Day