order. Um it is Thursday, uh February 12th, 2026. We're in the uh city hall city hall council chambers and uh the library board. Welcome everybody.
We have an agenda. We have an agenda and the first thing we need to do is um approve the agenda. We've all seen it. Anybody got a motion? >> So moved. >> Second. >> Second. >> Any anyone want to add anything to the
agenda? Hearing not none. Uh no additions. Will uh all in favor of approving the agenda signify by saying I. >> I. >> Post same sign. We have an agenda and we have minutes from the January meeting. Again, we get those uh by email. Any uh
corrections, any comments? Otherwise, I'll take a motion to approve the minutes. >> So moved. >> Sec. >> Do I have a second? >> I'll second. >> Motion and a second. Uh any discussion? All in favor signify by saying I. I >> oppose. Same sign. All right. On to
money. Financial report. The first financial report of the year. >> We are 10.14% through 2026 and our budget is approximately 8.15% expended. Um, notable expenses during January
included several annual and one semianual expense. So, we paid $900 to LIB data for our printing management and mobile printing licensees. Um, the printing management is for the public computers.
And we paid $2,150 to Minnesota Elevator for our annual elevator service contracts for both elevators. $829 to the Star Tribune for our annual subscription, $7,776
to TDS for our overdrive fees. That's for um ebooks and e audiobooks. Um patrons probably would know that better as Libby. That's the name of the app that we use to access those. And that include that fee includes the um fee for
the the platform itself plus our um costs for this year's collections um that will be added to that. And then we also paid $15,797 to TDS for the first half of our annual fees to them. Um we will see the second
half later this year. services that we receive from TDS include our cataloging uh delivery uh management and use of the integrated library system which is the software we use to manage our collections and patron accounts as well as all the circulation
that happens in the library. Um those fees also include um interl loan services, some technology support and some staff training and I would be happy to answer questions. Any questions? Any questions?
Any comments? Well, we're off to a good start. Off to a good start. All right, we'll move on to your report for the month. For the first month, um we have some staffing changes. Library aid Jenny Mosendon started on Monday, January
26th. Programming and technology services librarian Leroy Harris's last day with the library was Tuesday, February 3rd. library page Sarah Wendinger has resigned. Her last day with the library was Friday, February 6th. Um, and we are
conducting library assistant interviews this week. Um, so we hope to have um made an offer in the next couple weeks here. And then the page and um librarian positions have been posted internally.
We updated the job description for um the programming and technology services librarian and we retitled that to just librarian to offer us a little bit more future flexibility with that and also to reduce the wordiness of that
title. That was a mouthful for Leroy to have to rattle off all of the time. >> Um but that person will still oversee our adult programming and technology services including the memory lab. Mhm. >> Um the hiring process for the librarian
um is very similar to um what we use for part-time positions as well or other positions in the city. Um the position is posted internally. Um that closes Monday or Tuesday of next week, I believe. >> Um and um if we don't have any internal
candidates, it'll be posted externally. Um, and then that's usually three weeks to four weeks depending on the position and um, you know, um, our estimated time needed for recruiting candidates for that. And then once we begin interviews,
um, myself, our assistant director, Megan, and then the human resources director for the city, Shauna Boomgarden, will sit in on those interviews. >> Oh, I have a question about that. Um you when you're posting that position after
the uh internal posting is closed assuming you go out um how do you post that? I mean uh is are there national library magazines or is there a search thing? Can you kind of
explain uh how how broadly that's going to be posted? There are some kind of standard sites that the human resources director uses like Indeed and government jobs and things like that. But then for a librarian, a full-time position, we
would also post on the Minnesota Library Association website, um the American Library Association website, which would be national. And then the um we would send it through our regional library, TDS, um and then Metronet, which is a library
organization that serves the Twin Cities libraries, also has a kind of a statewide job page. Then we'll also post it there. Mhm. And human resources is largely responsible for that. >> Um yes, I'll assist with the um
professional organization posting through the MLA and ALA just because we have the memberships are in my name for those but otherwise that happens with the HR. >> Okay. All right. Um now you said you changed the uh name of the position. Did
you change uh did you tweak any of the duties or responsibilities? >> The previous job description was very specific um kind of laying out line by line item of the actual um tasks and the updates that we made generalize those
tasks into levels of responsibility. So rather than saying this person will um order and weed for the non-fiction collection, we would say this par person manages a collection in the library. Um
so we updated the job description to use um language that spoke more to the responsibility level than line by line item of duties. >> Anyone else want to talk about replacing Leroy? questions, comments.
>> Is it difficult to recruit someone who meets the qualifications of a librarian in a town like ours? >> Um, it really kind of depends on who's looking at at the time that we're advertising. Um, I if I had to guess, I
would say that we may see some candidates from within the TDS region as well as candidates nationwide. Um the last four times we hired for professional um full-time positions at the library, we have hired out of state
candidates, >> big shoes to fill. Leroy will be missed by the community. >> But it's also a fun job. >> Yes, it is. Yes, it is. Any other comments? Otherwise, we'll go on move
on. >> Okay. um non-exempt library staff have submitted their annual self evaluations and their supervisors are working on um the supervisor portion of the evaluations and then we'll be meeting with their direct reports by the end of
February and this is part of our annual review process through the city. So um departments are doing this all throughout the city right now. Um the children's room shelving project is complete. I think the updates make the room feel more open and give more room to the storytime area. There was a
photo in the librarian's report of that part of the room. >> Um, library staff are currently working to determine the organization method for the library of things item that will be moving to the new shelving by the service desk, which I also think looks um nice. Um, but we worked with Library
Furniture International and they did a a nice job making that an an easy process for us. Um, and I just wanted to give an update on the Institute of Museum and Library Services funding. Um, Congress passed the final fiscal year 2026 minibus
appropriations bill that funds the Institute of Museum and Library Services and actually IMLS saw a slight increase from 270 million to 290 million. Um some of those funds are for grant
programs and some of the grant program requirements have changed. Um but as of now we are not expecting a disruption to services for um inter library loan in the state of Minnesota or our other um
programs that are funded through that. Um we may see a similar fight for 2027. We're we're not sure at this point. >> Okay. Thank you. >> Um and then I just wanted to note that the the lawsuits that were ongoing, the
ALA's lawsuit um is is still pending and then the federal court ruling um in the lawsuit by the 21 states at attorneys general um nullified the administration's actions to dismantle IMLS
and prohibited the administration from taking similar actions in the future. But the administration has appealed that judge's um decision in that case. So there there may be more news on on some of that.
>> I can continue on to stats unless there's any questions on that portion of the report. >> I just wanted to say thank you for the thoughtful update to the children's room. Um I think it looks really great and there's so much more room now on the floor for kids to play. Um, I've been to
story time a few times there and the layout seems really great. And just thank you to Miss Catherine. I know she was in there moving books and that requires a lot of physicality. So, special thanks to her. >> Yes. Um, Miss Katherine and Amy, our youth services aid, did a lot of work to
prepare the room for the bookshelves and then to um get it ready for use again afterwards. So, thank you to both of them. Thanks for bringing that up. >> Great. Okay. Um, at the December meeting, I noticed that noted that we would be
updating our reference um, statistics sheet to better reflect the state library services definition of reference questions. >> And so, you'll see in your report this month that we've eliminated several categories of stats that were not required to track for the annual state
report and that don't currently fit the definition of a reference question. And that would be things like printing help and um, that kind of thing. And then I just um wanted to note that even though the tax preparation site for
the United Way program has moved to the community center, library staff are still assisting with questions about the appointment number and directing people to the community center and um directing them to the intake forms which we do have available for pickup at the
library. So even though that those appointments aren't happening at the library this year, library staff still are helping with that process. >> And then at the end of January, we had 63 adults signed up for the winter reading program. The program will continue until the end of February. And
um adult patrons can join at any point until then. So if you haven't signed up yet and would like to, please um stop by the service desk. You can earn a free book and an entry into the grand prize drawing. And then for the first time in several
years now, our Libby circulation was down just slightly in January. So I'm curious to see >> how that trends this year. I was kind of surprised by that because it's been such a consistent >> um increase each year.
>> Interesting. >> Any other questions, comments? Things are rolling along. All right. Now, let's move on to programming. >> Okay. On Friday, February 20th at 10:00 a.m., we have special story time. That includes stories, songs, and then the
addition which makes it a special story time is the craft. We have teen video game club on Saturday, February 21st at 200 p.m. Teens in grades 6 through 12 are welcome to join. We play video games, have snacks, enjoy each other's company, and
then you can see if you can teach Miss Catherine how to play your favorite game. And then just a note on programming. While we hire for a librarian, a programming librarian, our current regular recurring self-directed adult
programs will continue. So that includes our um nipple lace work group, the needle work group, the art group, our chest club, and our book clubs. Um so we have some volunteer leaders and then some of those are self-directed. So thank you to our volunteer leaders. One
of >> I don't think Leroy was leading Canipling, was he? >> No, >> maybe I'm wrong, but >> um and then our senior movie matineese and the film society will continue. Um, but I did want to note that um, we'll be
pausing planning standalone and new programs while we hire um, just because of the the workload involved in that. >> And then um, the adult pathfinder groups, the genealogy club, and the
Civil War Roundt um, have all decided to continue as their own private groups with no library staff involvement. They may still meet at the library, but attendance in those groups was low enough that they decided that it would make sense for them to continue on on
their own. >> And the Pathfinder groups um are kind of like it's a similar platform to Dungeons and Dragons. And so when you play, you can only have so big of a group playing at the same time before it kind of
becomes unwieldy. And so there wasn't really an opportunity for those groups to grow past where they're at at this point anyway. Okay. Always something going on at the library. All right. Um anything any other questions about programming?
Otherwise, we can move on to our action item. Um this is um resolution 20263 accepting the TBS honorariums. Uh during January 2026, Traverse Doo
Regional Library Board, which is the TDS, awarded the New Public Library with two $800 honor $800 honorariums, a total of $1,600 to help cover the cost of 2026 Public
Library Association conference attendance for the library director and the assistant library director. Any costs over $600 will be covered by the uh libraryies travel conferences and school budget line. The PLA conference
will be held at the Minneapolis Convention Center on April 1st through 3rd uh 2026 and key themes uh for 2026 uh include community partnerships, innovation, and professional growth.
Attendees will have the opportunity to attend educational sessions, hear from best-selling authors, uh, network with peers, and view hundreds of vendor exhibits. So, I just have a question.
Have you The two of you have gone before, right? You gone to PLA before? >> Years and years ago, probably 15 years ago, I went to New Orleans for PLA.
I went once. Um I think it was 2022 when it was held in Portland, Oregon. >> Oh, okay. So, it's in Minneapolis. >> Uh will you be going up every day or were you going to be staying overnight or >> um I plan to to go up and stay
overnight? Megan might plans plans might differ. >> Mhm. Okay. All right. Well, um I hope you're excited about it. It sounds fabulous, >> you know. So >> I attended PLA once and I've attended ALA once which is the American Library
Association. And so that encompasses um all the kinds of libraries, academic, school and public and special libraries. And then PLA is specifically for public libraries. >> And um while I enjoyed PLA, I or while I enjoyed ALA, I thought PLA was just
wonderful. That was really a conference that I enjoyed. Um, ALA is just enormous, but with PLA focusing on public libraries, then any session you want to attend would be relevant >> Uhhuh. >> to your libraries. >> And you'll probably run into people, you know. >> Yeah, >> that's the best. That's the best. All
right. Well, I will take a motion to accept this uh uh uh honorarium u from the uh Traverse Due Regional Library Board. The motion. >> So moved. >> Do I have a second? >> Second. >> All right. Motion and a second. Anybody
else want to make a comment? Have fun, you know. Have fun. Otherwise, any Yes. Anything else, April? >> All right. Uh, otherwise, Secretary, why don't you call the role? >> Sarah, >> yes. >> Dustin, yes. Caitlyn, >> yes. >> Ruthanne, >> yes.
>> Yvonne, >> yes. >> Nancy, >> yes. >> Lynn, >> yes. Right. All right. Passed, passed, passed. And is there any other business to come before this board? Anything else? Otherwise, wait a minute. Where's my Where's my hammer? There we go.
Ajourned. See you next month.