##VIDEO ID:odwRmPc8NF4## good evening this is a meeting of the trustees of the Franklin Township Public Library it's uh Wednesday October 23rd 2024 and this meeting is being held in person in the historical room of the main library I would like to call the meeting to order and we'll start with a pledge of allegiance to the flag I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for all okay the roll call Agnes oh she's not coming not coming okay Amy araa okay Nick Champa I'm here mayor Kramer here Zach Wickman pres Tiana here uh Aisha here Kevin mcneel yes and January Adams our director this meeting is being held in accordance with the open public meetings Act of 1975 also known as the Sunshine Law the 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 library's vestibule and are also available at the uh reference TK I would now like to open the public P the first part of the public portion of the meeting even though there are no members of the public here so open close um I would like I would U like uh an approval of the minutes from the September 25th meeting is there a motion to approve those minutes okay I'll motion to approve the minutes from the last meeting Kevin is there a second seconded is there any discussion of the motion and therefore of the minutes moving along to our director's reports we have to vote we forgot to do that I always forget something Pap okay those in favor of the motion that made please signify by raising your hand that was opposed this is uh unanimously accepted thank you Kevin for yes because mayor Kramer was gonna right tell me right away and the same okay director's reports um January would would you like to discuss first the financial reports well we're a quarter of the way through the year we're running a little bit below to 25% I don't think there's anything extraordinary on here but if anybody has any questions or concerns okay seeing none how about the program reports which we've all received and ready do the highlights the butterfly garden roof is done so after the meeting if you want you can walk down and take a look at the room it looks very nice and they finished like a d and um the the um what we decided to do was rearrange the new arrival books so now they're right when you walk in you see them first and that was a big production because all the books in the gallery had to be moved to make room to put those in the front so that's been done and we also had 50 adult programs at 607 people came to uh the youth services had 38 programs that 946 people came to and I'd like to also mention the Manhattan short film festival um we've been doing that now for a few years there was an interruption for Co and people are always interested and they like to come to that and they come from out of town and we've got regular followers on that then on Saturday September 28th uh we had staff members at a library table at a rainy Franklin day but they stuck it out they said it wasn't as popular as in previous years no surprise but they did that the only day that it's rained in two and a half months yeah yes something they had another table uh at the you at the Adaptive Outreach event at the community center on this on September 26th and that was um that had more visitors and that was well received at the branch at the Franklin uh Park Branch the school visits started on October first and so far they already had 11 classes come in and visit Elementary AG it's whatever the Franklin cor school is I don't know that's great yes it is and that's all I have to say about that if there's any questions or additions yeah I have a great yeah it's taken me nine year eight years to understand what D doting was and now you went and renamed it we no longer have the dots now there stickers stickers okay fine thank you progress any any other questions for January on here okay president's report yeah I think there is um prior to reading the report uh you're probably aware that there was a falling down of some shelves a while back and U we don't want that to happen there anyway with an abundance of caution thank you for the wording on that we have designed and constructed an 18 foot elevated rail to connect four adjacent Library shelf units this linkage will add stability as the four units will act as one installation will be completed later this week sure and Nick is the engineer and and the project manager okay and Zach became one of the laborers wow I can carry stuff that's I carry that on your resume yeah sound like me and my wife had any Supermarket or there you go BJs correspondence and communication Communications um January thank you for keeping us up to date with the Articles you sign and uh yeah I like to book bny one because it shows I think it's very um very good illustration yeah the trend yeah the trend is not good never understood how people wanted kids to have access to less right like less information less diversity I mean I always was the opposite with my children like you know I mean you think it's not appropriate fine what's appropriate for yours yeah might not be appropriate for mine what's appropriate for mine might not be appropriate for you so I I anyway it is like you said I I really don't like the way this is trending but when you see some of the books that have been banned or try to Kill a Mocking Bird come on you I've seen so and even even the ones that I thought myself that were a little vulgar right that I I would say h my daughter was in the fourth grade maybe I maybe I would I wouldn't this might not be on the uh a list of books that I that I I I mean I would make that choice for for myself and for my daughter that's like the other lady that was one lady that was telling me and I and I was she says oh you know this book was in my and I was I don't know if it mattered but I said well how did you find out about that book right and I wasn't trying to be funny I just was really curious like is did your daughter go and get this book and bring it home and then she finally had like no right somebody told her that this book was at I don't know if that makes a difference or not but I just thought it makes a difference to me you know when I'm when I'm thinking about how how sincere you are about about the subject right is is this you know you you went out and searched you know to to to find something to make a problem that wasn't necessarily a problem for you and and maybe it doesn't make it mean you know she had an argument you know that hey this book is pretty vulgar and it's in this place where children um so I mean there's a discussion maybe to have on certain things but the way that is going now it's like like you said to kill him hacking bird you know it's like it's it's it's ridiculous but thank you for the well with respect to uh how did somebody find out about it there are groups all over the country sharing their lists and that's why the list that's why the numbers have you know have grown so they probably all grew out of this little bunch and then yeah yeah and that's what it is is is is not anyway we not Banning any books here right is there any um there any other Communications that anyone has received okay is there any old business is there any new business besides our [Music] schedule so next month um do we [Music] have no well Al I'm embarrassed to say that I you don't have your list must have left my list home and I didn't memorize it yet okay so um we've all received this even though I don't know where mine is any questions about uh I was just curious and it's and and in a library do do we vote the Friday after Thanksgiving yeah we always have always yeah everybody goes away I'm Pat is there a motion to accept the proposed Library closings for 2025 uh yeah I uh make a motion that we accept the scheduled closing for 202 Kevin has a motion to uh accept the proposed Library closings is there a second I second the motion Amy has seconded and U I think we'll vote on this is there any discussion any further discussion those in favor of the motion to accept please signify by raising hand okay this motion has passed unanimously this is an easy job and I still see no members of the public so we're going to skip over the part two of the public portion of the meeting and uh will mention that our next meeting will be November 20th um going to get out of the uh fourth right because of on yeah because of Thanksgiving so this will be before week before thanksgiv I do have a question um jumping back to when Kevin you said do we ban any books you said we don't does that mean that books that some folks in some of these articles and have been banned elsewhere are accessible at different age levels or do we have like are there books that have been banned Elsewhere for kids in our kids section not in the kids section okay and you should know that when we buy books we buy books from reviews these are professional reviews and that's how that's how the Librarians select books and yes some of those some of these books are in the adult section and the children's section those Librarians are particularly careful about what they have there so children and you well we say children I mean like 17 and under is that children cuz I know we' have like teen we' have right so well the children's were even younger I would say like up to 11 so children's room do we have any books that are on these on band lists or or controversial that would be accessible to people under 18 yes do yes okay do we do we have like a a list or are there is there books that you would say yes they are banned elsewhere and they're accessible do we know what those are where those are I'd have to look them up I mean somebody would have to give me a title and I'd have to look it up to see if we have it okay just curious to see if that's something that's that's it's accessible to miners that we have so yeah I'd like to kind of see what what we have that's available that would be questionable so there was a book that um a woman in town objected to what was the name of it um was it gender queer no um let's talk about it let's talk about it okay and she wanted that the not banned but put behind the uh librarian's desk so that whoever wanted it would have to ask for it okay and January ruled on that as his rep place and she had a very lengthy response but basically said no we'll keep it in it's in the adult section or it's in the it's either in the adult section or the teen room it's EI one of those two places okay and I I thought it appropriate it's kind of a book for teenagers who are beginning to wonder about things right and there it's cartoons but some of the cartoons are explicit okay so that's why she objected right but I thought it was an appropriate book for some kids who are asking and wondering and getting locker room answers that could be wrong okay so I applauded her decision I had several other people read the book um Nick was one among them had other people yeah you you lent it to me and I I yeah I saw some of it too and it was it was some of it was yeah pretty racy and I mean but and I'm like this is the same thing I said to the to the woman what 17 year-old doesn't have a phone what 17y old doesn't have access to the internet right so if you tell me that this that that you have 17y old that you limit their access that they don't have access to the internet I'm saying that so the idea that that this book is somehow going to give them information or show them something that they haven't seen I think the positives outweigh what could happen because maybe a kid is embarrassed to go up and ask for a book like this maybe there's answers in there that they need but they're embarrassed you know so I think it was a you know I think it was a good idea but in this age I mean I see I see kids 11 and I get my guess is that these there's no uh safety I mean you probably all way like just like I feel like a book is it is it's better that they're looking into a book than the internet um and some of these kids don't have access to the internet where their peers are looking at the internet and giving feeding them the information so it's good to have access in these books so that it's not just the internet that's giving them the information that they need um it's different in society now like kids are learning young I have girls in my group who are 10 11 who's trying to understand and sexuality and it's it's like you you either try to block it off and hide it but at the at the end of the day their peers are learning that and they're going to feed them with it anyway so I feel like books being out there I feel like I mean a age limit definitely I mean I don't want my a seven-year-old from my group like trying to explore the book but I feel like at a certain age once they hit a certain age they're going to learn that anyway so learning it from a book to me is better than learning from the internet I don't know what the could be a discussion there was one other aspect to all of this there was a request that uh uh separating uh youth from uh adult U checkouts and that's not that's nothing that uh a a library is expected to do or could do practically and as far as putting a book behind the the the desk the uh circulation desk Des then someone would have to come and ask for it and without their other peers might hear them and you know there's a privacy um violation of that right I it it could be I think it's a when because when I read that book I was I was like wow I you know I I don't but I I I still wasn't like it should be banned I mean if my if if if I had a 14y old that brought me that I found with that book we would have a discussion we would have a discussion about the book we would have a discussion why I thought that why she thought that she needed this book and what was she trying to find out what she but to me and I you know my daughters are 36 and 30 and we've always you know and so I don't have to you know where but when they were that age when they were that age I I'm like I was engaged right and I'm sure I mean I find out things now that I was like yeah I'm glad I didn't know that when when it was you know when it was happening I just think that a that you know this idea that we're going to Shield them that a 17 year old and look don't get me wrong when you say the 17y old my daughter was born when I was 19 right I I was I was I got an apartment with me my daughter and my now wife of 34 years when we was 19 years old that's when we moved in together and my daughters both of them graduated from ruus University and so I'm just I'm just saying that that it's like so the idea of me at 17 somebody saying don't read this book because it has Noy pictures is you know that but that was just me I mean I grew up in in in Queens but you know so is that book um educational reference book or is it it's a circulating book you can take it out the book we're talking about yeah yeah let's talk about it it may and I'm not even sure if it's still in the collection because we weed that means we go through periodically and if books don't go out a lot we get rid of them that book didn't go out a lot actually so um it may I'm not even sure if it's still in the collection so and that book and um being in that section that's accessible to Min it's a minor section it's a a teen section when I say minors I just mean under 18 under 18 don't forget though that anybody any child who's 11 or younger needs to come to the library with a guardian so they're not wandering around the building yeah picking out books but so so 12 to 17 have access 12y old you know but but again so it's a minor legally when I say minor under 18 has access to explicit material yes okay we don't seek it out but if it gets a good review so if there are any other question if there are no other questions I'm just that I will be at League of municipalities for the next Library meeting so please forgive me I hope you find it productive so do I sometimes it isn't it's not sometimes not okay our next meeting will be held November 20th okay I think I mentioned that um is there a motion to adjourn I motion oh come on you keeping I'm waiting I'm waiting okay has moved and is there a second second Amy has seconded those in favor signif okay so without any discussion we we I passed right through discussion but it has passed unanimously we are adjourned