Um, hi. We're going to call the to order the uh the meeting of the Ruben Library uh library trustees on Thursday, September 11th, 2025. It does say 24. Um,
any correspondence? No. Um, any public comment? Doesn't look like it. No. Okay. Um, did everyone have a chance to look over the meeting the meet the minutes of prior meetings from July 31st? No.
Any edits? It looked okay to me. Could I get a motion to approve the minutes? I move to approve the minutes of July 31st, 2025. I second that. Okay. Thank you. Uh treasur report
on this. Oh, sorry. So, we need to vote on the um motion. Everyone in favor? I. All opposed. Motion has passed. All right. Treasures before. All right. State aid is $15,76244.
The gift fund has $42,19762. MMDT has $25,326.33. Building gift has $35,8826. The MBLC grant continues to have $686,44. Lead grant continues to have $116,895
and the Barmon ending statement balance is 1,828,356.74. Thank you. That is fun. Thanks. David, when you're ready, is there a friends record? Yep. And David, are you taking us or doing
I'm taking Okay, I'm just making sure. No, I'm just terrible. I always I do it regardless. The friends met on August 20th. Uh it was a relatively longer meeting and so I have a bunch of things that I
can mention. um requests for friends to authorize $5,000 for teen children and adult programming and for the friends to authorize $5,000 for museum passes will both approve with no objections.
The membership of the friends is up to 160 members and I was reminded to join so it's at least 61 now. I think I remember to turn mine in this. And there were a couple of um families
that are making um extraordinarily generous monthly donations like 100 a month. Wow. 75 a month. That's amazing. Cropped up in there in there. Yeah. So they're excited about that.
They are organizing for the October 15th and 16th um setup days for the book sale and for the Sunday the 19th cleanup. Um they are
planning the logistics of the staff appreciation meal on the 30th 29th 30th 30th and they're doing a um what they call it
southwest buffet something like that. Oh fun. So I'm going to make some vegan potato salad. You don't need to We're getting the vegan potato salad from the storage trailer epic continues and
um they're now settled on a new delivered 20 foot beige storage trailer for a price of $5,886. And as of August 20th, that seemed like everybody was good with that. So, it
could be going ahead as far as I know. And then, um, there was a longer discussion about how to take advantage of the timing of Friends of the Libraries Week in October, which happens right after the book sale.
And so, they were talking about different possible ways to tie in to that, whether they would do something on the last day of the book sale or whether we would do something during the following week. and they started getting excited about um
putting together maybe a Friends basket raffle that's going to end. So those were um there was a little talk about the good is gold coffee service thing but not because there's any decisions at any point but just because they were getting
a heads up that they might be able to they would be instrumental in funding it and that's the friends report unless you could think of anything I missed and I believe they're looking at dates in March or mini golf they approached you um
just ask what those dates will Thank you, David. Uh, Bill, updates. Um, so the gates, no wonder. Uh, so it came off of the track, um, I guess like a month ago now. Um, at least
three weeks ago. Um, so Eric refuses to call the company to come and fix it because they charge like $4,000 each time. And the last time they came out, he was the one who actually fixed it. Mhm.
So, um, the problem, the new problem. So, he came the next day after I asked him, I told him it was broke and the lift wouldn't lift. It wasn't, it wouldn't charge. It wasn't charged. So, we tried charging it. it won't charge beyond like 10%. Um, so
then he got another lift from the school, but that lift wouldn't go high enough. So then they came out and fixed the first lift as far as I know, but it's still not fixed. So, um, yeah. So, Eric
is Yeah, Eric is trying to get the lift fixed so that he can go up there and fix it. So, he's trying really hard, but he's also been busy with a million other things in town. So, he's he's trying. So, um that's that's where we're at at right now. He's he's we're just waiting
on someone to actually fix the lift or to get another lift from the school of other schools using all of their lifts. So, yeah. I mean, so that's about it. Any questions? Securing the building meantime? Um just
the stansion so far it's been working. No one's been doing anything but um that's the only thing we can and there's been no concern or no nothing you guys have seen that you're
concerned that that is no longer working. Okay, great. I'm glad people are respecting the building. Okay. Okay. assistant director's report. Uh the only things I have to report aside from the stuff that Sam talked about his report are uh I attended an
MDLC tech services user group meeting on October 12th October August 12 and we're up to the TE's in our audiobook section. So we're done with that and hold on to after that.
This is not important with my sons. We've been um alphabetizing all his baseball cards and if something's so satisfying it's good like that. We hit the T's too. The T's are like a good when you're doing that task. Ses are
a lot of books. Sam director's report. Sure. Uh so there are three big staff updates this month. Uh Tracy um was promoted to head of circulation. Alpha Julian left it like a week or two ago. Uh she started on September 2nd.
Jennifer Hamilton has been promoted to the new head of the children's department once Diane leaves at the end of the month. And um we also backfilled Jennifer's current position with Seth. He's going to be the new assistant services librarian for the children's
department. Um, so today we got all of the applications for Tracy's old head of uh old position. She was she had a 30 hour per week library tech position. We got 35 applications.
So uh Mike and I and uh Tracy and Jennifer have gone through them and we've chosen a few candidates and we're going to start doing interviews hopefully weeks. Okay. Um, today they posted the Steph's old position for his 19 hour
a week library tech position. And so that's going to be an internal um position. So hopefully we'll hire from one of our staff, one of the library assistants. It's probably going to be someone who just got hired as a library assistant a few weeks ago actually.
So welcome to the staff. Yeah, now you're perfect. And I'm trying to get them to agree to post library a library assistant position as well because I know that we're gonna hire a library assistant so we might as well get started on that now. So anyway, that's
it's very confusing, but it's it's on the way. It's in process. It's in process. Um I concluded the financial portion of the errors. I was hoping to get Kimberly to sign today, but I can actually get one of you to sign it. We can sign. Um and we're doing fine. there were no issues and it looks like we've been
certified but it won't be um we won't get official confirmation on that for a few months from the NLC. Um the representative from Boston contacted me a few minutes ago. Um they they told me that um apparently the
Littleton Select Board owned a share in Boston Anthony going back to 1854. Um and so they want to know what we want to do with it. Do we want to um keep it or not? And if we do want to keep it,
then they recommended that um the select board um choose a representative. So the representative gets a library card. They get free access to an am along with uh the ability to invite guests and they get voting privileges. Um,
so on September 8th, this lock door met they agreed to keep the share and they named me as the so it's pretty cool. Yeah, it's pretty cool. Um, on August 29th, Mike, Susan, and I attended an accounts payable training for the town
finance department. Um, basically they wanted to make sure that if Susan ever gets sick or anything that you know she has backup so that we can um do payroll or invoices. Appreciate the redundancy. Yeah.
Um the library will open late on September 30th for a staff meeting. Um so that day Michelle Ely from the Mass Library system will be here to talk to the staff about um strategic plans process and to get their input. and the friends will also hold their
annual staff appreciation lunch and as David said and I attended an MVLC meeting on August 13. Um the main topic of discussion was um so our integrated library system is about to um our contract the vendor is about to expire
and so um for those those who don't know the ILS is basically the system we use for checking in books and software and the catalog is also part of the ILS and cataloging is part of that. So, we're looking at different vendors um to see
if we want to stay with Cersei Dynx or if we want to launch some things. So, um for Who's the current vendor? Cersei Dinex. S I R Si T Y N I X. Okay.
Okay. It's all in Sam's director's account. So, Chris can just pull it from there. Okay. Okay. So, that's it. Uh other than stats and financially, we're doing well. We're on track for the year. Any questions?
Um, is the staff day there with the strategic plan meeting, is that something open to us to come listen to as well or is it just for staff? It's just for staff. that the person that's coming for the strategic plan is
that's from the library system. So that's not consulting. No, they're um so Michelle is a free consultant um from the state. Um she can really only come to one meeting. So I asked her to come to this meeting to get
staff input. And um she said she might be able to come to another one if we wanted to do with somebody else because she lives in air. So, it'll be easier for her to get her, but um yeah, mostly it's going to be for staff that day. Okay. All right. Old full old business.
Sure. So, um after our last meeting, I reached out to um I had gotten in contact with Michelle. Michelle had six so quite a few different also library consultants. So, I reached out to six of them. Um, three basically uh told me
they're too busy, they can't uh and then I zoomed with three other consultants and after I zoomed that uh one of that one of those consultants also contacted me and said uh we don't think we can work with you right now. We're a little
too busy. It's all as much right now. So I got um proposals from two consultants. One is uh Maxine Weiss and Associates and the second is Barbara Freriedman Consulting. Uh MBNA is a mother daughter
team. Um the mom is has been a director at multiple libraries in the past. Um she's been on multiple library boards. Um and then her daughter um works as a like a strategic planning consultant for
companies. So they decided to put their powers together and become a library consulting group. So um they live in Connecticut. Um well the daughter lives in Connecticut, the mom lives in New York City. Um but they're both from this area so they're familiar with Littleton
all that. Um and then so yeah, so their proposal is in here. Uh and then Barbara is also a former um librarian, library director. She's been on multiple boards as well. She's done multiple she's a client for other
libraries. Um and she's also local. She lives in Ashraham. Um so yeah, so they're both pretty good. Um from the Zoom meeting, they both can do basically the same thing. As you can see, the fees are vastly different.
Um but you have eight. Yes. So, um I think Barbara seemed a little more um she's the cheaper one. She seemed a little more she she seemed like she could do it, but she was a little more
whitey to be honest when I was speaking to her. I think she seemed a little I think she felt like yeah, she probably has it in the bag, so she didn't really try. Basically, uh MBNA, they were very professional. they were um they listened
to everything I had to say. They basically said they could do a lot for us, but as you can see the prices are up. Um obviously if we also went with MBA MBNA due to procurement um rules, we would
have to create an RFP because it's way over the $10,000 threshold. So that's another thing to consider. So, um, given that I don't know that we even really have to create a street figure plan. I don't know if
$28,000 is really or whatever it was. 24. Yeah, 24,000. Um, yeah. So, it's it's up to you guys. Um, any questions about either group? So, the situation at the state level is not changed then.
I haven't heard anything new since what I told you last time. So, I don't have I'm meeting with Michelle next week, I believe. So, I might find out. Um, did you happen to call any of the libraries
that specifically knowing that it's under $10,000 for uh Barbara's who she's recently worked with? I mean, she has worked with Rutland Lunenberg. Yeah, I just received both of these so I didn't have a chance to contact either
they or consistent. I mean it might be worth asking about those libraries experiences from the director before we jump ahead. True. Given we don't have a timeline, it's not like Yeah. Yeah. We still have quite a while.
Anyone else? That's That makes sense. I wish it had been swapped to the lady. Yeah. But but we need to determine our first. Yeah, I'm going like I said I think on Tuesday.
I mean our strategic plan could just be for us like it doesn't have to be for the state. So given we haven't our last one has perhaps not served us the way we'd hoped it would. It does feel like a time for new building. It was the last one was really focused on the building.
It's probably time for a new check-in with our community. Um but to go 24,000 it's eight the eightfold difference was mind-blowing. Um, but I do want to hear it would be great to hear from the directors of
Rland and Lunenburgg and whomever there to see what their feedback was libraries. I also don't know how big those libraries are given the um they're in New York and Connecticut and New Hampshire for the DNA.
Yeah, I'm not sure. I can't tell. Like I know Lunberg similar to ours. Yeah. but in Rutland but like I'm not so sure about the other. Yeah. And I think the other um the opportunity we have is we can define our
own strategic plan goals. What do we want? And then if we have to turn one in, we have it. and and even if she's um I don't know less focused if we have a clear idea we want we can direct that in
the collection and if we're using it as a road map for ourselves as well I think it does help us back up any requests to from those like if we are budget seasons up or the select board has a question where we have a document in our and that said this is plan this is where we're going
and this is why we're doing it um that it just backs up any requests we have for staffing or etc. as requests need to be going to the town funding or whatnot. I also I like that Barbara is from you know is
she's here but also she worked with Massachusetts libraries because I mean I know every town is different but we're all in Massachusetts whereas the other consultants have worked for libraries like out of state and so it's going to be different. So, I mean it is important
for sale, you know, to like find out feedback from the other libraries cuz maybe she is very flaggy and wasn't helpful. Who knows? But, you know, I do like that she is local and has worked with like area libraries. It would be interesting if they're willing to share what their strategic plans that came out of that process with
her. Yeah. Right. If that's available, it'd be great to maybe look at a few and just see what what does $3,000 buy, right? Because also on on both resume or both sets of resumes that were attached to the proposals, the part of the
experience was sat on a board. So at some point we're sitting on the board, can we create our own some guidance versus getting official consulting? Yeah, we don't need an official info statement. This makes sense to me at least to investigate a little bit further before.
Sure. So tableabling until next month. Okay. All right. Thank you, Sam. Thank you. All right. Yes. Uh public uh library policies. So, we have a few to review. Hopefully,
everyone was able to access them. Um the first one we'll look at is public comments, which is a new policy that we drafted. So, right. And because it's new, we didn't say track changes or anything like that.
It's new, but the highlighted sections were just we were unsure if that was correct or still going to be correct or if we wanted to. Did you guys base this off of something that we based it off of? Um, was this the water? Watertown. There were two I think I
pulled from, but yes, I looked at area libraries, existing policies from other libraries. Yes. Yeah, I looked at a couple and just merged the two into this. So I question whether we even need the looking at your first highlight. Um
if we need to specify when our meetings are held given that's there. Um it's probably a good thing not to have it because if we're meeting then you have to change the policy. Yeah. And you put the period at the end of the first line.
Um and then I will say that on the top of our agenda I think we say so this blurb for about public comment that got added to our agenda was being added during the time period where people were coming and um there was a lot of public comment and
like what is a public forum the open forum situation and these are the reasonable limits we can put on public comment um so it becomes a limited public forum. So, we previously decided 2 minutes and no more than 10 minutes of
time. Um, I don't know what we could do 3 minutes and 20 minutes of public comment if we wanted which is written in the policy. I don't know. We should just align the two. So, statement that's why they Yeah, I think we Yeah, we didn't think to look at the agenda. This was from the other policy that I did. So,
makes sense. So, I think if we have it on our I think we should change it to two minutes and 10 minutes to be in keeping with what we've been saying historically. It's probably better to go low anyway because we could change it to be more lenient, but you wouldn't reduce it, you know,
like if if on the fly it's a minimum. Yeah. Yeah. Actually, it says 2 minutes or less. So the So what Sorry, my brain is a little scattered today. But when I was learning doing all those um workshops on the open forums
and limited open forums and all of those things, this is that's one of this is one of those um things we have to be really careful with. And so whatever we set here we have to really stick to. It's what we do at this
point. It becomes the policy not what we say we are going to do. So like if we don't adhere to our own policy here in our own meetings then it's mood point like we can get ourselves into big trouble but we can't say something like speakers may have only two minutes they can
that's like we literally will need a stopwatch to like somebody started times before each comment so they know they're two minutes like they do in town meeting. Yeah. Which is I think great. Yeah I think that's fine. makes it every makes it really clear even the speaker
knows oh my time is dwindling and it helps them I mean I was a moderator for seven years and the people who con always lost the people that they had persuaded during the first two minutes right so it really helps to be there are people who time their speeches
right to that last second can you do that so I think if we want to be in keeping with what we have it we should say no longer than two minutes or no It says it says so the bullet bullet 2 minutes or less. So Okay. All right. So 2 minutes or less is in both places.
It's consistent that way. Okay. And then 10 minutes. Mhm. So that means that if we're sitting in front of a million people, I guess it's the chair's discretion if we open back up another 10 minutes, but we should be
very clear about the time we're setting for the next block if we're doing. So essentially we're saying five people can speak at each meeting, right? And then um is that true that we will only recognize people whose names are on
the list or or walkins allowed? That's the seventh. So we've never used a list. So again, this is the like whatever we do is actually what matters situation. So the first one seemed hard like any petitioner is encouraged to place their
name on the list. That's fine. But then we will only recognize speakers who are on the list or in the order that they're on the list or are walk-ins. They can get on the end of the list if they're still spots. Yeah, I think that's the implication of that one. And when the public comment section is
closed, it's closed. I guess unless the chair decides to recognize people in a section of the meeting on which we're talking about something. Is it better to add a line the chair reserves the right to recognize blah blah blah something that gives us that option or is that kind of
assumes that it's a plot? Do you know did you see anything like that in some of the other policies? No, I don't think we need to explicitly say I'm trying to think of what like is there another group in town that has a
public policy? School board. Think so. Public comment. It's probably at select board and definitely for a town meeting. Yeah. So maybe we could align our this policy to local
existing examples. Mhm. So do not approve tonight. You check, right? I think we table this for now and we look at, you know, the other boards in town that have public comment and make sure that we're in line with those. I'm watching.
Do you want to there time meeting guidelines on the website? Great. I knew there was some somewhere. They're recognized by the chair name and address. It's a little different in town meeting
because town has a lot of discretion. That's true. Yeah. Their chair probably has discretion too. It does, but in that case, you don't need to state that they have the discretion in the policy. I don't think this is a pressing policy.
I think we can, you know, I think we just wanted it for the right, but I'm saying like I I'll look at, you know, we can look at the BOS um school board, school committee, whatever it's called, you know. Yeah. And then we can just table this one until the next one.
Yes. Okay. Looks good, though. Good start. Public programs also was something that we created previously and we looked at Am I still? Yes. Wilmington and Somerville. They pulled from
what does on site at any library location mean? Is that because they have satellite sites like multiple sites in these the library systems you used as examples? December room like any
like Actton has two great like right but it can also be like any site within the library. Yeah. M room service room out of the patio out front maybe. I don't know. Or if you what like say the library one program at like third Thursday or skate
park or something, right? Like if you want to do a program at state park. It's offsite. It's offsite, right? So I guess the any library to me makes me it sound like there's more than a library. Buildings. Yeah. Buildings. Thank you. That we are working with.
Offsite to me means everything outside of this. Right. So, we can change that wording if it just said on site at the library. Yeah. Or offsite. Okay. That wouldn't be ambiguous. Correct.
I can't remember if I remember those two libraries. I think it does. Pretty sure they do. Wilmington has done. Um the only other thing I saw here is the section on age
um I don't know if you see my comments but the age six to nine there's a lot of language in here that does not align with our current children's in the library policy like we use the language 11 and under and 12 or older sorry 11 and under
yes and 12 or older I don't know why it's and there but um so I think we just we we as we consider this policy, we should either make sure this one aligns with our children in the pol in the library policy or we need to amend our children library policy to
make sure they're consistent between the two. I think we we'll the children's policy and amend this one. Okay. Since this isn't even published yet, yeah, this it's and I don't know when the next one's up for review, but maybe we could we just need to make sure they're aligned and we want to change the other
one. We should move it up in the order of review. I think that this will check. I think it does align now with your changes, but I don't think that we say that children 11 and under need to be attended by a a 16 year older. We do not. We say 12 or above. They were
very clear that the 12 and above cannot the 12 could supervise the 11. My very clear that they go with their friend Maggie. She watches Yeah. She's like six months old. Yeah. I mean, we're trying to allow for those middle schoolers who are coming as peers before they turn 12. But
um I just want to make sure that as we edit this we are aligned with our current policies so we're not contradicting ourselves and causing confusion would ever require fee requirement. Okay.
No fee. Yeah. Yeah. I was wondering felt like he was there to cover your butt. But yeah, we are reviewing the children in the library policy in October. Okay. But I think it's important that you know we make sure that they align. So
so we can review them together. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. So if you defer this one, right? Yes. Other items for discussion. I want to discuss those. So as you're finalizing this,
you said you don't charge for the program. I guess just wouldn't if we did. It just says in rare instance may require so it's probably okay. And it celebrates alliance with the ones we use
for our other policies like the collection development and the freedom to view and the what's the other one children in the library. Yeah, we refer to these ALA policies in
multiple or they're not policies. They are guidelines on guidelines statements multiple places. I just want to make sure we're using they're all saying the same thing. Mhm. And then there was a at the very bottom
is a request for reconsideration. Do we need that Sam? And if Yeah. Um if yes, we would want to look at which form we want to use. Yes. So my understanding is again this is a public form. So much like our collection development um people have
the right to ask for reconsideration of any program and so as long as we've outlined the procedure by which it needs to be go through must be D&D pickup because my husband just came. Do we already have that reconsideration
process? We have it for the materials, right? Yeah. So, is it adaptable, do you think, for the programs? I'm sure. So, I'm also really curious what the stas have the staff had a chance to review this policy.
Would this be something that I think maybe they should have feedback on? Please. Yeah. Right. Because like registration begins at least three weeks before the program might not always be true. They want to make sure the process the policy is set up so they can actually do do it
or make amendments if not feasible. Yeah, I can share with them. That would be great. Thank you. Okay. And then the other um yeah, this brought up so this brought up a couple issues just about the weight list and um and like publicizing within Littleton only
up until a certain point and then coin broader and again that's more your preference. So, I don't know if that like I I it reminded me to bring up that I do have a couple friends with young kids who were like, "Why is there not preference to little residents over others?"
And are there programs that are blocked out often? I don't know that we could do that in ASME. That's another question. Yeah, I don't know that we could do that. Not really allowed to do. Yeah. I can't believe that other libraries limit popular events to their town only until a week before the event.
Says that their craft programs specifically um you're not supposed to register if you're out of town until a week before, but I don't know if the like they say it, but I don't know if the policy if the computer system will stop you from registering.
There's two different Yeah. And I think this was both people had really little kids, so I think it was stuff that they had just been and they were like the summer reading stuff. Yeah. I mean, I feel like I'm struggling to get people to come to our stuff. Your adults definitely are not having this trouble,
right? So limited that way. It I mean unless you're teen teens actually might be a problem. The teen and children's room are probably the programs that are the most popular and at risk for but I also don't
see many out of town kids here when they're here. So well yeah we've been getting a lot of whispered adults. Well, and that's the other thing is their library is closed. It was a little and we were getting a lot of kids from back to
so they even had to stop accepting registrations because we had some kids. Is that in part because they're closed for renovation or Yeah. So there's they have another space but it's not anything like a library basically. They didn't have programs if families were coming here.
I if they had programs very limited. I feel like that's a time limited issue, but I think that a lot of people are discovering like I'm getting a lot of people say, "Oh, I like better."
So, all right. Well, problem. Yeah. We do have weight lists for popular programs because I've been on a wait list before. Yeah. And the staff has been pretty like Jennifer has started new classes like Yes. She's been very good about Yeah. opening our sessions
and she Yes. And she writes like she'll let you know right away if there's an opening like do you want to take this spot or do you pass on it or something? Yeah. Okay. So tableabling that both because we need to align it with the age and for the staff to make sure that it reflects
what they're actually doing or what they want to do. It does feel like this policy might just in general for every two-year review. This one maybe should be paired with children in the library. Yeah. Just to make sure it's consistently It's consistent across when it changes
one, we know that the other one is being reviewed at the same time. Sam, do you want us to draft the reconsideration form or do you want to look at that? Yeah, I can do it. Okay. Okay.
That is your procedure. What is that on the highway? That's what it sounds like. It is very mechanical. Okay. Next is nonprofit collection box which is an existing policy that we just need to
review and update if needed. May I ask a question? This just this is more backing up to the list of policies we have. This one says it's been last approved in July of 2024, which if we're doing two-year cycles,
puts it nearly a year. Yeah. From its expiration. Um, I'm just looking. Everything has been updated since 2024. July of 2024.
I haven't. Yes. Do you think when I started we did all we went through all, but maybe not. Right. That was like my first thing. We didn't do Did we do all the policies? We've done them over the last Everything has been last updated since
everything is 2024 and above like or newer. So, right. My understanding was that we were doing a two-year cycle. Okay. Is that is that not the cadence we wanted to continue? I guess um I think it was every year, but you could be right. Let me see. There may I think there are
policies every two years. I do think there may be some policies like collection development meeting room all the open forums hitting them right now that those maybe we want to just quickly review on an annual basis but um I'm just
No, you're right. That was that was my mistake. So we we can skip that one for now because it I was just saying that the edits are more wording. I don't think it changes the nature of the Do you want should we these are all like little grammatical ones. Do we accept it
and change the date to allow or we just we don't even need to look at it because it's but we did look at it. We could either leave. So the options are we just approve it and then we can set a new caden but and schedule and just make sure we're scheduling out what I'm what I think policies can be really
hard because they're like I just don't want to overwhelm any one meeting with policy. Okay. Um no I wasn't and I just want to like set here's the two-year flow and we'll just and then it becomes every January we do January and first year we do these
February this you know like if we set the cadence then we won't ever forget to I totally agree I just didn't know if we want to so our 2025 and it's that is I mean the edits are definitely grammatical but not changing
the nature of the content in my opinion. So I could go either way. I think if you if the edits clarify the wording, there's no harm in we can approve it now. Approving it and then just remembering that it doesn't really need to go with
that for two years now. So maybe maybe my recommendation is if we Paul, you guys do a lot of work and so I don't also don't want to overwhelm the subcommittee, but maybe we can take that list. I just saw your your spreadsheet Sarah and like print it out so everyone has it next
time and you guys can propose a schedule for the every twoear cycle kind of thing. But I I apologize. It does say on there two years and I think I just got ahead. I'm going to be productive. But so yes, I will print it out for next time, but I will also I'll print out a proposed schedule for every two years and bring
it to the next meeting. That'd be great. And then we can always move if we think two policies should be done at the same time, we can Yeah. schedule them. Yeah. And then I think we're just setting up the future boards to have a good cycle and no subcommittee to feel overwhelmed
because we happen to approve six in this or five in this meeting or something, right? Or at this time of year we didn't that would be hard, right? So does anyone have any issues with the proposed grammatical changes? No. For this policy, so we can just accept them all.
You want a motion? Yeah. Make it a motion to approve the nonprofit collection by else so moved. I second. Everyone in favor? I. Any opposed?
The motion carries. Easy peasy. Thank you. Um, so we can skip borrowing privileges because that was also that was updated a year ago. Um, and we I do want to look at the art exhibit and display policy because we
are looking to merge um the public posting and display policy and the art exhibit and display policy into one policy. So, can why just help me understand the reasoning for the
because I feel like there was duplication. If you look at the policy, uh, so I'm actually would like to debate merging them. Okay. Um, in part because again, we're back to the open form situation. So the
posting areas, the bulletin boards, the screens, those things are actually limited public forums as well, which is different than the art exhibits and displays, which is a jured selection, which has a different Okay. Procedure. Yeah. And so to I I
well I understand the thought to merge them to simplify and reduce the number of policies. I I totally get that instinct. I think unfortunately because they have two different forums that we might end up confusing things and maybe not protecting ourselves the way we would hope.
Okay, that's fair. But we did we did so we should be but we probably have the originals. We have different well because we were just not accepted any of these changes. I I think there's some great questions here if you want to talk them like in the
You guys have questions on the site. Well, I think the big question was um do they only like when do they do the selection? Isn't that right, Steph? We had a question about when they do the selection. Usually in um
June. So there's only like one call for ours. There's a window. There's a window. Yeah. Okay, that's fine. And people come else other times if you're with interests can be informed that there's a window
and they can get into it the next time. Yeah, they that's happened. It's usually local. Yeah. Like they'll come here and they'll see it and like, oh, how do I do that? And they think that it's just they can just do it next month, right? And from now let's we'll do it in June and choose it for the whole year
and why you can do it next June. Okay. Does anyone have any other thoughts on not merging or merging? Is everyone okay with not merging? Okay, I'm okay.
Okay, we'll leave it as is. And um so the edits that pertain to evil one part of the one policy or the other well really the first policy right okay it's still approved
um I'd rather not because not tonight I mean yes okay so we'll bring these back yes we will preserve the can preserve the editorial effort that you made yeah don't for the respective policies right and for the barring privileges I know now it's at the time. But since
it's also editorial, are we changing the date and approving it today or we're pretending we didn't? Which one? No, the borrowing privileges is is waiting a year. No, we're not doing anything with that. I since we already did, so we're just leaving. You can hold your editing for now. Great. Okay. Vending machine proposal.
Okay. So, um, did we do the collection books policy? Yep, we did. Okay. We actually that was when we realized it was July. Yeah. Okay. Sorry. Thank you. Okay. Uh, so local patron Litty Turner,
she um patron and she also owns Munchies. The point Munchies. Yeah. So anyway, she she uh came in to me um a couple like maybe a week ago and mentioned that she owns a vending machine business as well and she wants
to know if we had any vending machines at the library. I told her we did not. Um she said that she'd be willing to put one here for us at no fee. that you cover the maintenance and servicing um and give us a donation of 3 to 5%. Um
so I spoke with the staff um everybody's kind of mixed about it. Um Megan and James and Jennifer seem to think it's a good idea that the kids would use it. Even though Jennifer uh I mean Megan does put out free food that's provided by the friends. She said that
the kids still walk up the street to the gas station to get things. So, if it was here, then maybe it'll be good from here. If my kids can choose free food or food they have to pay for, they always choose food they have to pay for, even if they like it less. Always. Um Tracy's concern was that
Yeah. Tracy's concern was that if a patron puts money in and they don't they're something goes wrong that they're going to go to staff. Um so that's another concern to have. Um, so my feeling on that is that's kind of
comes up with every I mean if you go to a hospital the nurse doesn't give you your money back. They you call the number on the side of the vet. So um but you know it's still a hassle because I I know patients who don't step. So it's just training the staff to know we're
sick. Um and then as far as the location so we discussed it um some possible locations were all down here. Um, one was right here, right outside this door in between um this wall, along this wall. Another was in the corner where
the coffee machine is, and the other was in that little nook between the stairs and the um Yeah, there's up there. Um I'm kind of
I could kind of go either way with it. I don't know how. So, I want to bring it here to get your thoughts on it. see what you all think, who controls what is in it. Um, so she would work with us to do that. She said she could put healthy
things in there. She put chips, drinks. Um, basically she would work with us to figure out what we want in there, what the patrons want. And do you have to commit to a certain time frame like time period or can you
do it can you do it for like three month trial and see how it goes? Yeah. So, I would recommend that if we do decide to do this that we would get a contract. So, I would speak with the town council about creating a contract that would address that. As a patron and a board member, I feel
like it's a really good idea because it's a trial basis. What do you have to lose? There's a 3 to 5% and she's going to handle everything. As a parent, I will I'll have to give my kids money to go to the library. So, I'm also split. But if kids are already going to the gas station anyway, like mine haven't done.
But other if Exactly. Sam is hearing and then the li if if they're here anyway and they have money and they want to spend money on snacks the library I mean again it's a trial right we try it and if it doesn't go well then we can say no but if the library could get some money I just I am also concerned about you
know like oh the machine ate my money we have a vending machine at the discovery museum but it's right near the admissions desk so it's you know if someone says oh it ate my money they have a special step but like if it's down here then any kid can say oh it ate my money and you have no way of knowing So, like that would be there would have
to be a sign on this machine. If they eat your money, contact this person. You know, would not go to the staff. Like, it's interesting that James and Megan are not as concerned about that though because I feel like that the machine my money will be the adults. They'll like stupid stuff of like jamming too much money in or like getting six snacks that
you don't need or something. And if they're not I I feel like they have a a good read on the vibe of like how how it could cause chaos. So, if they're willing to try it, I tend to defer to that. But I don't I do feel like the kids will be the power.
Do we need a bidding process or opening this up to others? No, she's doing for free. So, okay. If we were doing like if we're trying to like pay for this then yeah, it would depend on the cost. It was more than $10,000. Mhm. But since she's doing this all on
her own, um then no, I foresee lots of soda being spilled on the floor. Lots of stuff is spilled on these floors anyway. I know. Yeah. I mean, that hot chocolate's always on the floor. Yeah. So, and again, if they're buy, you know,
they if they're not buy water so it cleans the way, but if they're if they're not going to buy the snack here, they're going to walk to the gas station, buy a soda, and bring it back and spill it on the floor. So, there are many a morning that I come to. It's I don't think, you know, having it
is going to add more or less of a mess. I don't I personally don't see that as a problem. It's also one concern I do have is the this is the gallery space. That's what I was imagining. Yeah.
But like you said, if you put it down like maybe even on the other side of the stairs, you were saying like if it was somewhat hidden then I would, you know. Yeah. It would. You mean less obtrusive? Yeah. Yes.
There's a way to do like vending machine all with the coffee area like one like unit of stuff that that is where the food and the trash are, right? And we can move those art pieces to really down here, right?
I don't I want to keep I like the art gallery. I don't want it to become a hodgepodge of stuff. Oh, it's not what you'll She will definitely Yeah, I think if we could make a little cafe area right where that table is right now of things if we wanted to try
out this. Mhm. I would like to see a contract before we officially approve and make sure the town like is not something that I mean the schools have vending machines so it's not like it's the only thing town hall used to have vending machine but I think nobody ever used it.
Okay. So they covered a bit, but they they had one at one point a long time ago. I definitely think it would get used here. I know patrons are up even not just kids and teens, adults. Once they find out there's a vending machine, they
would definitely use it. Yeah, I think it's worth a try. Do other libraries have vending machines? Some do, some don't. Yeah, in Shbury, they have one. Oh, do they? Remember we went to It wasn't Shbury. We went to the retreat or something. Yeah, the trusty thing. Yes, there was
one there. I forgot about that. They had that little copy area in that and they Yeah. Was it all in the same area? The fact that you can do the hot drinks here that the friends provide already opens up. Yes.
Most of the issues would ever happen. I mean, the mess is going to be the same. It's just what it's changes, right? I mean, I can foresee a little like area. Maybe move that table so it's not so congested. But there's space to move that too. Would it help the friends in any way? I
mean, they like this is separate from that. There's nothing hot in the vending machine. The friends would still do. Yeah. I don't think the friends are jealous of and I think they might just call the hot coco not just disappearing if that's what I mean. I help it only in that like
this is all there is for the diversifying as it is. I have to remind my kid if you're taking hot cocoa, you have to put money in the thing. Yes. He's like, "Oh, right." Sometimes he just comes with 10. He's like, "My next 10 rhymes are covered." Okay. Maybe five times.
He's getting used to it. Yeah. I think maybe I can try. Okay. So, you want to see like six months? Yeah. Yeah. Okay. I'll um talk to town council, see if we can come up with a contract. I'll share with all of you first and then
I'll share it with the RA. Okay. Yeah. Do you need a vote? No, just No, you were just consulting. Yeah. Yeah. This is your perview. Yeah. Yep. Okay. All right. Okay. So, the last agenda item is the early planning for town
meeting on Tuesday, October 28th, 2025 at 5:00 p.m. Is this likely to be a two-day meeting? I don't think so. I'm not sure. Has anyone seen the warrant? Uh, I don't she's going to be on the war, right? Yeah. Do you I know last time for town meeting
you proposed to close early two nights in a row. Just do you want to propose that just as a backup? Sure. Let's say October 28th at 5 and Wednesday October 29th at 5 town meeting second. So moved.
I can't make a motion. Yeah. Early closing in for a town meeting. on Tuesday, October 28th, and if needed, Wednesday, October 29th at 5 p.m.
I second. All in favor? I Any opposed? Motion carries. Thank you. Now, anyone have any trusty updates? Business or trustee updates? Sorry, other business.
Trustee updates. I have almost 400 hours of reading, so I'm very excited. That's amazing. When does adult read ends next? It ends on o on September 20th. Susan, I asked like three times. I'm like, really? That's the date? And Susan said yes. She wanted to give us extra time.
So, yeah. So, you still have time to earn some rap. It's actually still summer. Yeah. Yes. So, all right. Can I get a motion to adjurnn? Move to second. All did someone second?
I Okay. All in favor? I. Any opposed? Meeting is ajourned. Thank you.