Andrew, we're here. Can you hear us? >> Yep. Can you hear me? >> Yes, we can. >> Recording in progress. >> Sorry about being remote tonight. Our extensive votes will just have to take a lot longer with those roll calls. So, yep,
>> not a problem. All right. 7 o'clock call to order the uh February 9th, 2026 meeting of the library board of trustees. A pretty short agenda. First thing is
public comment. There is nothing from our inbox other than spam. Anyone online? Okay, hearing none, we can move to the next item which is the technology update.
Okay. Uh, so this is the 2026 technology plan update. Um, I'm going to go over what our highlights were for 2025. Um, and first of all, I just want to make this is what um, our mission, our
technology mission is. The library is committed to staying current with technology and providing resources for the reading community to bridge the digital divide. Uh, next slide. Okay, so here are two of our biggest
highlights from 2025. Um on the left you see our new website and on the right you see the Aspen Overlay library catalog. Uh the library launched the new website using communico uh which is something we also use for our app and for our um
meeting room bookings and our calendar um as well as I think that's it. Yeah. Um, and so the new platform offers enhanced features and a more user-friendly interface which we believe will benefit our users. Um,
and Communico is our new host and it has been um a fairly seamless transition. Uh, the public seems to um like it. We haven't heard anything about it. Um, and that's the new website and then we have
um the overlay. So, we have what Aspen is is a it's an added overlay on our library catalog. Um, library staff still see Evergreen on the background, but um the public is seeing this more seamless search experience includes uh access to
all the streaming resources that we have. So, if you're searching for a title, you will um and if it has something in Libby, if it has something in Hoopla, uh it'll show up here and
then it'll link to it. Um the so and staff searching and other functions in Evergreen are not affected. Uh it's just strictly public facing. Um and this benefits pum patrons and includes a better, more flexible search. So, that's what you're seeing there. Um
and then we have other things but those were I just wanted to highlight those. So staff have launched a a technology tutorial program that includes individual training and classes covering topics from basics to navigating AI tools and other emerging technologies. These are both staff facilitated and um
we are partnering with local organizations and we are going to we plan to expand that outreach to serve uh under serve underop to underserved populations. Um we've talked about having um staff go into the people who
are um housebound and helping them access um technology and learn it. Um we are also going to be even though I just said look at our new website. We just uh found out that we will be updating the website again to a new version um
sometime within the next year. I'm looking at Amy for that. I'm not really sure when that's going to happen. Um, and we believe that it'll be the rebuild will be straightforward. We don't have as many pages on our website now. Previously, we had a lot of information on there that people weren't accessing,
and this is much more um structured. Um, and the website and all of our public facing digital content and services must comply with the ADA title 2 digital accessibility rule. Uh this establishes clear compliance uh requirements and requires that all
digital content and services conform to WC A2.1 level AA by April 26, 2027. And we're working with the town on this. So it's basically so that everything is going to be accessible um with anything that you
um that you use. Um and I can explain more if you want me to. Um we're also looking at our automated materials handler, our return. Um and that has been in use now for 10 years and um has been we are seeing increasing maintenance on it. Um I have reached out
to uh Baycan who services it and Lynxo who is actually Lynxo services it and Bascan is the person we brought it from and we are going to be working with them to see how we can um move forward with it. Are we going to be replacing just parts?
We'll we'll see what happens um with that when we have a conversation. We are also gradually replacing our older RFID pads. These are the selfch checkout pads that you see um at selfch checkckout and at the service desks. Um again, those are getting older as well. We are also
considering adding a second scanner um to uh our ground floor print release station to reduce any kind of backlog that we have at the main print release station on the first floor. um for both the automated and materials handler and for the RFID pads. Uh I'm going to be
going to the public library association conference in April and I plan to talk to different vendors about what the options are. Um we are also upgrading the public computers to Windows 11 as Windows 10 is no longer supported. Um
but town it has extended the Windows 10 certificate so we'll have additional time or it will have additional time to complete the project. Does anyone have any questions? We have a lot of public computers.
I think it's more than that. Yeah, I don't have that open. Hold on. I am gonna answer that question. >> If you have if you do have questions, you can send them to Michelle. If you have specific questions about the holdings of what we have um and um you know, specific data, specific
statistics, then Michelle will be able to answer this, but this is just a rough overview of the big things we see coming down. >> We have 25 >> We have 25. We have 25 publics. >> Thank you. Any questions? >> All right. Thank you very much.
I worried. I checked. We're under five 50,000 population. So I thought the deadline was this April for ADA, but um that's come up in other worlds. So we have an extra time. Uh, next item
is the patron selfservice report. >> Yeah, that's that's me. First, I want to say thanks to Michelle for putting that together. um the managing the and trying to plan for technology is just has gotten a lot more complex in the last couple years as things have changed so
rapidly and um uh so just keeping on top of making sure everything we have is up to date IT and town you know our our cyber security which town the town it manages you know we work with them but still we have to be cognizant of it we have a lot more of
that going on so there's just a lot more labor intensive stuff on managing both the software the hardware and then the cyber security of everything and Michelle's um works really closely with it on that. So, thank you Michelle. Related to that, I just wanted to give you guys a an update. Michelle manage
mentioned the automated materials handling system, what we call our AMH. This was brand new. Um I think we're still the only library in the Noble Network that has an automated return system. Um, if you're interested in the reasons why this is helpful, I can I I
can definitely do another presentation on that. But in summary, it does save time and it really reduces um repetitive stress injuries and is much healthier for the staff and um but it is not a small investment. It was about a quarter of a million dollar investment back in
2010. So when Michelle talks about I'm sorry, 2016, thank you very much. 10 years ago. Um, so when Michelle talks about like, okay, we're at 10 year lifetime, you know, what's our next step? Um, there will definitely be some discussions. Can we just replace this,
you know, pieces by pieces? Is it CPUs? Is it is it just, you know, a whole thing of of conveyor belts or something like that? If it obviously if it ever got to the point where we needed to go about to bid to replace this, um, that would be a much larger discussion. We
would probably be looking to something like the foundation for a capital expense. um we don't want to do that. But one of the key things is during that when we got the AMH um we RFID our entire collection. There are now several other
libraries in Noble that do have RFID. So whatever we do it's in it's important that we continue to have systems that can track and turn on and off our RFID system which is part partly about security but a lot more about inventory control. So it's a very important system
to have. of it helps us keep track of a lot of things. Um, due to the placement of it, um, in in in the dream world when we were designing this building, we wanted to have something from the outside where you could just kind of throw in a bunch of books and it would magically go around the building and the books would end up where they're supposed to be. And we we couldn't do
that just simply because of the structure of the building. So, um, we have an interior book drop where people have to come up into the building, we have to go up a set of stairs, which is a little bit of a barrier, and they go around the corner and find it. So um about 42% of our returns are done by
patrons. The other um 58% are things that come in through the book drop. Um people who don't have the patience to sit there and just drop off a bag of books at them at the front desk. And amazingly um a large number are them that come in the bins in the morning every day. We get a delivery of shipment
from Optima. These are interl loans or network transfers. And we can have anywhere from seven to 10 bins and each of those bins carries anywhere from 20 to 40 items. Um, so we process a lot of items every day and those have to be
handfed. Um, on a on a Thursday morning or when it's not too busy, you will see a staff member on the other side feeding it into the automated materials handler system because it's faster than check this book in, check this book in. So it it does speed up the process and it it is much healthier for the staff. Um, we
wish it could be closer to 75%. Um, but just due to the placement of the of the machine, um, we're it's not quite as as much as we'd like to, but as you can see, it it generally stays pretty steady. Um, it's generally around 40
40%, 42% sometimes. I think at one point it peaked at 45%. Um, but people do like it. And I will say um when it's working and it works beautifully, it's makes sorting the number of I mean what do we save about a quarter of a million items coming in and out of this building and getting them
back in the shelf it does a it does a rough sort and at least allows us to to get quicker um returns are, you know, while our physical circulation goes down ever so slowly, there's still a lot. So we appreciate having this um having that
device. Selfche stations are closer to 70% which is great. Um we're in the process um because of the ADA requirements, we're actually redoing all of our screens and they will be more ADA compliant both with font and colors. Um
we're trying to re refine that. Now the tricky part is um we have to look at the screen and we can't we can't see it live basically because if we see it live then that's what the public sees. So um we're working with the vendor to um make those
screens a lot easier. So we have one selfch check on the ground floor, two on the second on the main floor and two on the second floor. As Michelle mentioned, we also have to keep those RFID pads in tip-top shape. They do get a lot of use
um and are we continue to have um a number of people though that really just like to go up to a desk and that could be the ground floor desk or the children's desk and they just want someone to check it out for them and we don't mind doing that. Um, Reading is one of the few Hubbleite places that when you call, um, unless we're closed,
you get a human being. And so, we are a little old school in that we don't mind talking to people and we like giving people that personal touch, customer service. Um, it does take a little more time, but we appreciate doing that. But, um, we also want to encourage self-service as much as possible. Um, for those of us who don't like talking
to somebody at the checkout, um, and go to work a basket at 7 a.m. or stop and shop at 7 a.m. so we don't have to talk to anybody. um locker usage. We're very excited. It's going up finally. Um it's been working. We're um we've had some
really good um uh responses lately. We've been hearing more and more people I think it's kind of trying to get a ground swell here. We're hearing more people saying things like, "I can't get in there by, you know," because we'll say, "Oh, you wanted this book? Yeah, I have it right here in the bestsellers. You know, you want to come pick it up today?" And they're like, "Yeah, but I
can't get there until, you know, after whatever time after 5 on Friday." and we're like, "Oh, did you know you could use our pickup loggers?" I'm like, "Really? They had no idea." So, we're trying to get the word out about that. And the and the people once people start using it, they seem to really you find there are some hardcore users that are just like again, they don't want to come
in the library. They just want their book. They want to get it. They want to leave and then they want to drop it in the outside book drop when they're done. It's fine by us. So, we're very excited to see that going up. More and more items coming through that way. The other self-service I just wanted to remind people that we have is you do not
have to come into the library to get a library card. You can register for an ecard. Part of the significance of this number one, it's a service that we get through uh Noble. Um and Noble, I believe, is I believe it's actually funded through the state of Massachusetts. It's a sort of like a an
e-card kind of statewide thing. But we're um it it gives us a service that allows us to offer this service in multiple languages. So we have it in Spanish and Portuguese, Mandarin, Haitian, Vietnamese, uh, Russian and Arabic, which are the which when we did
a poll of of noble, those are the most common uh, uh, languages in in our collections in our in our patrons patron base. So, um, it's a it's small use, but basically you could have just an e-card and never get the beautiful little red
card that you get when you sign up for a card. You could sign up for an ecard and if you have the verification um proper proper verification you can just use an e-card for the rest of your life and just use our digital services. Um but it is considered a provisional
card for um uh a couple weeks and then you do have to provide some proof of identity. The service does check it against mailing lists and they have a um very wonderful computer program that that checks it and verifies addresses.
um it's called Kipoo e-card service and uses a database using the US post office. So um but it it is a handy thing and it's something that um we just feel each of these things these self-service things um are they're meant to reduce a
barrier to using our service. So if there's a line or if you're not comfortable speaking to someone or if you don't speak the language, if you don't speak English there these are all sorts of different ways that you can use a service. So when we talk about tracking these services, it's not just for
efficiency numbers and data statistics on how many people are reading books, it's it's more than that. It's to us, it's some a way that we can be improving access to to all of the things that we have in the library um for as many people um as we can.
So that's the self-service report. And if there's any questions, it's it's not something we normally report on, but after 10 years, we figured, well, you paid all this money for this equipment. You might want to know how it's working. So, >> thank you. Any questions, comments,
followup? >> Get those percentages up. Next item is library card design contest. >> So we would like to do a library card design contest. Um and the reason why I'm bringing this to your attention is
because we would like you to be the judges. So this would be something that we would do in the spring. Um the people who will be be participating would be reading residents uh from kindergarten to 7 and we would group people um we would do age
groups um for this and we would only do internal judging and it would be the trustees. Uh staff would decide on the top 10 submissions and then we would bring them to you to vote for the final winner.
The prize would be um you're if I don't know if you've seen it, but we have a um a really large uh prototype of the card um upstairs in the children's room. And so if you get your card, you get to hold that. So that would be what their prize would be. Um
Yes. Uh and so um >> active and they'd have to carry in every time. >> Yeah. Yes. Um so we would have um they would have a release form for giving rights to
the library to use the card. Um we would not allow any I art ai art. Um we would post the finalist on social media to showcase everyone's work. Um and then we would probably do something where we would do an art gallery style to show off the um art as well. Uh the theme is
going to be reading is um I'm sorry reading is revolutionary. Um, and that's I think that's going to be the summer reading theme, too. But it's also um basically what is your thought on reading being um revolutionary. Um how
does books inspire you? How do libraries inspire you? Um things like that. And there'll be one entry per person and you would include a short bio to post alongside your artwork. So um I wanted to bring it to your attention to see if
that would be something that you would be interested in doing. And then um we would hold the contest in spring and then finish it up in think July. I'm not sure if that's
right. Oh yes, that would be July. And then we would um have it available for September which is library card signup month. All all library cards Do you want >> I asked if it was for all library cards or just children's library cards?
>> All cards. >> And if you wanted to replace your card because you liked it so much, it would just be a dollar to replace it. >> Any real opposition? perhaps have it uh the final submissions be somewhat blind
because you know we are open to corruption and bribery. >> I guess I guess I have a question. Um wouldn't this need to be fairly simple like like a logo like this? You know what I mean? >> Uh yes, that's a good question. Um
>> this big vast art project like >> So I should have sent you the picture of it. It's basically I don't know if you've seen it. We did something like this before where we have a picture of um the of the library um and so on one
side. So we would give them a template to do >> basically you have a 2 by3 canvas to fill out and if you just wanted to >> do a pen and ink over the whole thing. I mean >> obviously we'd probably want to have reading or reading in there somewhere.
Um, but um, on the back could just be the logo so that you know in the in the event the library card is lost, people know where it belongs. >> Um, but it's a way to customize. I think if it's something they do regularly, you could maybe perhaps like a stamp collector, you could collect different
library cards, but then you're going to have people like me that are like, "No, I know my library card number and I've had the same library card number for 20 something years and I don't want a new library card." That was my question. If you were to get an if you were to say, "Oh, I really like this library card and I want one." You have to give up your number.
>> Yes. >> It's a very tough decision. So, but it's it's a lovely idea and I think it's a way to engage in um you know get people I think you know the RMLD does a an art contest every year
and they get a lot of um uh a lot of people get excited about it and they get excited about particularly with RMLD, you know, the theme is usually like you know how to save energy or how to better the climate or something like that. So I think
having people think about you know what does the library mean to you? what is reading you know this year uh we're going with the revolutionary theme because of the um the whatever number birthday two 250 >> 250 >> 250 >> I get confused because writing is 375 so
um but the the um those historic times and you know another year might be like imagination or it might be you know space or it might be you know like so I think helping people think about what or what freedom means to them or what you
know um community means to them. So I think it's just nice to have a theme and we don't have to do it every year. It's first year for everything. We love pilot projects. You know only one of so many pilot projects ever continue on. So thank you for willing to be willing to participate in that.
>> Great. Thank you. All right. Next up for discussion is the building plaque and land acknowledgement. And I see that >> you have some papers in front of you which were not in the packet. They will be concluded in your minutes. >> Right. >> Um >> Andrew, you don't have this. >> Andrew, you don't have this. I will make
sure you get a copy of this. >> Um >> was this I see three or two documents. One is the actual land acknowledgement. >> Correct. >> That uh Bolt um endorsed or uh published
in October of 21. And the next document are these two proposed >> they're slightly shorter like more like public things. So the background to this is for the last 10 years I've had this um 10 pound I'm not kidding you 10 pound
plaque bronze plaque that says um this property has been placed on the National Register of Historic Places by the United States Department of the Interior. Um, and it is approximately 12 by just eight, maybe 11 by eight, something
like that, about the size of a piece of paper, a little smaller. Um, it it should be mounted. It should be because the original Highland School is on the National Register of Historic Places. Um, it was it was uh mounted
inside the building. It was inside the original vestibule that was uh built by Mike Deborard. um when you came into the old building, you came up this really long ramp or up these steep steps and then there was this little tiny tiny little lobby and then that's where the that's where the plaque was. So, we have this we want to put it up somewhere on
the original building. Um probably put it up inside um because otherwise if it's outside you have to take it down every year and clean it. Um does get messy. Um, but at the same time, we wanted to put a plaque of the same size um, but with a totally different media
that that took our land acknowledgement and and at least gave a starting point for people to be curious. So, you know, um, yes, this place is on the historic register. Doesn't say why. Doesn't say when it was put on there, who put it on
there. Just says, "Hey, somewhere there's this register. Go look up why this this building is important. Um, so to that to keep it sort of parallel, um, I didn't necessarily want to I worked with Desiree on this. We didn't necessarily want to put in the
exact full wellressearched detail oriented land acknowledgement. We wanted to say like, hey, and so there's two um, one is one is two sentences and the other is three sentences. Um, and the
the you'll you'll get it when I read them, but the the shortest one just says, "The Reading Public Library acknowledges that it stands on the ancestral lands of the Pucket Band of the Massachusetts Tribe, descendants of the region's original inhabitants. We honor the land and generations and
generations who have cared for it, and we encourage everyone to learn more about the indigenous peoples who first called this area home." And the second one or is very similar. Um, oh actually the second one does include the word seas. The writing
public library is located on the seized ancestral lands. Um, we can definitely, you know, edit this as you want. And just that this one says talks a little bit more. It's a little more instructive and it says the Massachusett tribe are the descendants of the original people
that the English first encountered in what is now the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. and we encourage everyone to learn more about the indigenous people that originated on the land. So those were just two examples. Obviously you could take this and you could turn this into 16 paragraphs, one paragraph, one sentence, something. But I think
what we wanted to get across is just that we acknowledge that um we weren't the first ones here and um that other people lived here before um English folks came um and and settled the lands and that we acknowledge and honor it and that we actually really want people to learn more about it. And that kind of
goes, you know, I think, you know, the reason I presented the first one first is because it's the shortest and it doesn't give again a whole lot of detail and hopefully it says to you it's a historic place. Go look it up. This was somebody else's land. Go look it up. Go learn more. Um, but we um and
it's up to the trustees. Um, we do not have to put this up. Um there would be a minimal cost to have um and I would work with Desiree and the designer to have we would want it to look very different. We would want it to be very specific and separate from this National Historic
Register of Places. Um and we could put it I was looking around the library. Um one thought was when you go into the big reading room, if you go into the reading room and turn around, you can see the original exterior of the building. There's the yellow brick there. So, first of all, this thing does have to be
mounted on brick or on its own like metal plinth because it's so heavy. It won't go into wallboard. Um, or it would require some really serious anchors. But, um, it would be a way to put it on the old building, but then section into
the new building, but also just sort of talk about the history and just give, you know, I'm sure we could put this up. I'm spending 15 minutes talking to you about it and like two people are ever going to look at it. But it's something that meant a lot to at least the staff that I've spoken with and a lot of the
work that we've been doing with trying to reconcile and understand where we are, who we are, where we come from, and what makes us a community. So, we wanted to present it to the trustees as an option. You didn't have to vote or decide tonight. It's something we just wanted to bring up for discussion. You
could have one or more people choose to take what desert I went and make it different. You can do whatever you want. So it is now on the table for you to discuss. >> Great. Thank you. any um initial questions or comments
any >> I mean I I personally like the the first statement I think it's succinct short to the point >> one at the corner >> the out of the two, I preferred that one as
well. Um, >> I agree. I like one. What I do like about the second one though is how the we encourage everyone to learn more about the indigenous people is its own sort of little paragraph. I just feel like it's a little more of a call to action like inviting in that we invite
you to learn more. So I like the wording of one but maybe suggests that we make that its own sentence. Okay. >> Right. >> So wherever this eventually goes there could be a table placement of a few resources. >> Right. Yeah.
We could also put it by the I don't think it would I don't know if it would mount on the thing. Yeah. Anyway, Michelle and I could talk about placement before. They don't have to go together. I I thought it would be nice to have them together and we could we can play around with that. Um and we can also play around with placement. Um, I
did feel that they should probably be the same exact size just um as we're acknowledging history. Um, and when we first started doing the acknowledgement, I think one of the things we would talk about is like, "Oh, thanks." When we first opened the building and actually no, it was when we first when we first
had the acknowledgement, we talked about like, "Oh, yeah. You're in this great building. Isn't this a great building? Did you know it used to be a school?" And you know, you know, well, first it was first you're in this great building. it was a library and then you know it was an old library and then it was an old school and then
before it was an elementary school it was a high school and we kind of go back to the history and say you know before it was even a school there were other people that use this space. So it it does it does um segue nicely and I think it could be presented in a positive way. So, if the if the board is generally in
favor of including a a statement like this and is willing to just um approve a final statement based on the feedback we have here, um I think that's all we're looking for is a is an okay it's okay to put this stuff up. >> Sounds good. So, that would be like a
future item. So, >> yeah, I think I would I would I would maybe bring it back to the March meeting with a final, maybe possibly maybe maybe with a a design like a materials design because I might be able to talk to somebody between now and then. Um, and then present you with maybe a visual to
vote on. >> Good. And totally minor, but to the extent the land acknowledgement that exists was printed out, looks like the un the under hyperlink for the uh originated on this land. >> Yeah. >> Is a little ends before at the end.
>> Oh, got it. I get it. Yep. The lining up of it. >> Yeah, I think it's a PDF and we can fix that pretty easy. >> Got it. >> Yep. >> Excellent. Okay. So, we can move on to item seven or uh from our last discussion, tying seven and eight together, the financial and director's
reports. >> Okay, we'll keep it short and sweet. There really wasn't that much to report. Um, it was, you know, it felt like a a big month, but >> recording stopped. >> Andrew, are you there? >> Yep, I'm here.
>> Okay. Um, can you try recording again? I'm going to hit record again. Okay. Record >> recording in progress. >> Okay. So, we'll we'll have a split thing. >> Um Megan's Megan's internet went down. This why we have three, five, five, six,
seven computers in the room. >> We just had about a 30 second gap where the recording stopped and there were no discussions. So, continue on on the >> Yeah. And I believe I believe RCTV is on there and hopefully they're they're getting the whole thing. Um, so it felt like a um it it felt in some ways like a
very long month, but it was also a very short month. I don't not quite sure it got to be February. Um, there's really nothing outstanding to update on the F FY26. Honestly, we're very focused on FY27 and getting the next year's budget um budget entered into FINCOM in March
and then off to town meeting in April. We have $46 in cash donations for general use, which is about typical. And um does anyone have any questions about FY26 or FY27
the future budget back down there place um statistics or the statistics the snapshot um we uh we had a lot of circulations again locker use is up really well. Overdrive
continues to kind of knock it out of the park. Um, we're getting a lot of interesting questions these days. Um, we we do see an uptick in our technology questions and I'm not sure if this is because we're offering more of the technology assistance and people are looking to us or um, but we are getting a lot more people asking for things
about um, either using their devices or questions and guidance about using technology in general. And the visitors were we were we had a pretty busy January month considering the all the weather that we had to go through. I just want to touch base and just say that Albert has um been really busy.
He'll probably come up. I think I have him on tap for maybe April or May to to do a to do an update, but we had a great um uh MLK day and again there was snow this year. Um but we had a really good turnout and it was a really great um
cross departmental and across and cross community um event and a good speaker lots of music and um he is working on relaunching the pair group um with some new goals for them. They're still going to be the partners and allies for inclusive writing will still be working
on things like Junth and MLK day but um they're also looking into doing additional programs if you're available on the 26th. the second annual Black History Month will be in this room and um Black History Month trivia night will be happening and he's had a lot of fun
working with volunteers on getting that program going as well. Um he's also been extremely busy as the ADA coordinator for the town. It's a role he's taken over and has taken over on with two hands. um we do not have currently have a grievance policy in
place and so he's working on that and he has to work with the select board on a lot of this and with the town manager and they will be working also on the new newly adopted ADA commission for the town which is a really big step and I think a positive step for um many of the folks in our community will find it very
helpful. We had a smattering of some really interesting things going on. Um it's been really exciting to see where our local history uh use has been going. Um, Jocelyn had worked with the honors women's rights class and they all came
to the history room and they did some research and she got to see their presentations and there those presentations will be going live later in the spring in some form and um they used primary and secondary resources from Reading Public Library. She also has a a library information science
class from Simmons that comes in in the spring and they do a archives project and they and she's where one of the spaces where they come in. So, she's done a really great job of helping people get to know and understand what we can do in our in our history room. Um, so it's a it's a very valuable
thing. Uh, the one-on- ons that she does um are very popular and sometimes, you know, she gets booked pretty much full every every month. And, uh, occasionally she has some real doozies of a interesting I try to include them in the in the in the uh, reports. Sometimes she'll, you know, like, yes, we found
that I think last month was something about the people that escaped Boston during a fire like oh no during the revolution that they they left Boston and they came out to the to the suburbs um because they were unhoused. They they
they they were fleeing and so she was doing research on that. So we get some really interesting um history questions. Um, we're expanding. The Studio 64 book group is our um,
I guess older adults, for lack of a better term, um, book group. It's actually for adults, most of whom happen to be over 65. Um, but they meet in the studio. And, um, we're hoping to be able to offer that out on multilingual copies and just get more people involved. And
we'll be targeting our multilingual groups that we work with regularly for that. Um, the community clothing swap was a great success. They're going to follow it up with an accessory swap in April. So, if you're looking for some hats, purses, jewelries, I think there are no
shoes involved, but um, no shoes, but uh, they'll be having an accessory swap. This is part of our ongoing sustainability programming. Um, what can you do um, without having to buy new things or throw things away? So, they're testing out a whole bunch of things.
They've done obviously the puzzle swap, they've done game swaps, they've done craft swaps, they've done plant swaps, and we're just sort of um trying out all sorts of different ones to see what the community seems to really react to and that we can manage as well. If you haven't been to the second floor
to see Shelvis's new enclosure, it is a condo that you just to die for. It's about six feet by five feet and with like a two or three foot height with some plexi on one side and some screens on the other, custom lighting. Um it's a
really nice place for our tortoise to hang out. Um and um it's solid and it was built by one of our um Megan White, one of our librarians and her family. So we thank them very much for that. It's uh much healthier for Shelvis and it's much safer for our little friends.
there's fewer, you know, tapping on glasses and trying to lift the tanks and so um it takes a lip a little bit of space, but it's it's really lovely. And I think that's it. We have a fincom budget review coming up. Uh we have a general meeting, local elections. We
have two people who have pulled two incumbents who have pulled for papers for that. Um but it is um coming up on April 7th is our election. We'll have a general meeting in April and then town meeting in in late April as well. We're really Do you want to talk about
Cheyenne a little bit? Uh, so as you know, Louise Heatherington um retired and we hired Cheyenne Smith um who's most recently was working at Disney um and doing um it's like a college um customer service
thing. So, um they are super excited and really enthusiastic. Have already talked about wanting to do things with um our 3D printer that we haven't done anything with. Super smart. Um loves working with the public and um has
just really just fit right in. And you will see Cheyenne um taking the minutes. So, at our next meeting, um Cheyenne will be um here for Megan. >> Megan's tired of hearing me say this, but it does take six people to do the
things that Megan does as we have discovered. So, um you know, we are excited for Megan and her family, and we're also um so if you see like, you know, more overtime hours on the payroll, that's probably all it is. It's just we're just making up for Megan not being here. So, um it's all good. It's all good. But yeah, Cheyenne's a really
nice addition. And um I this will probably show up on the I guess I don't know what day it is. Um yes, it'll show up on the February report, but we just have two internal we got um Lucy Lee who was a library
associate in b services apply for our children's services position. And so they started just today um and that's a full-time position now. So they went from a part-time to a full-time position. They had finished their library degree in January in December. So, it was timely and we're we always love it when we can give folks that
we've been coaching along in the profession an opportunity. It doesn't always happen. Um, and then, uh, we have an offer out for our reference position, which is, um, a 32 and a half hour position. And hopefully by the time we
next time we meet, we'll either be well, we'll have only one position that we're filling. Um, and that will have finished out our dominoes of of succession planning at the library. Um, but it's going very well. Um, professional development is coming along. Um Megan
has a um Megan creates a midyear report for us so that we can get a sense of how many hours we've been doing, who's been doing what, memberships, conferences. It's good time. So she just submitted that to me. Looks really good and we're all prepared to send Michelle and Kate
and Sarah to Minneapolis to Public Library Association, which only happens every two years, but they are going forward with the um with the it's it's really big. There's like I think there's like eight or nine thousand librarians that go. It's big. Um so it's a lot. Um
I could be making that number up though. Um and it's they have a lot of vendors and they it's a really exciting it's a really exciting conference to go to. So I'm really pleased for them. And then I know I mentioned this before, but in May we'll be closed on um Tuesday. I think it's the 19th of May for our staff day
as our staff will be invited everyone will be invited to attend the Mass Library Association conference. So, so that's our professional development and that's it. >> Any questions on that? >> Not hearing any. Michelle, happy anniversary.
And moving on to the minutes. We have the uh January 12th 26 minutes are in the packet. Uh if anyone's had a chance to review them, any questions or comments? They look fine to me. Not hearing anything. Is there a motion
to approve? >> Motion to approve minute. >> Second. >> I second the motion. >> Roll call vote. All in favor? We'll start on Zoom. Mr. Grimes. >> Yes.
>> Andrew. >> Yes. >> Yes. >> And I'm a yes. carries. And now I think it's future agenda items. So in March we'll look at the spring programming update and probably
perhaps discuss the uh land acknowledgement plaque and April is the OESJ annual update from Albert. One thing I forgot to mention in my director's report, I just wanted to let you guys know that we're um planning for
our sparkly story story time this year. Um our sparkly story time will be on March 7th. So this before the next meeting when you would have gotten the spring update. So I just wanted to bring that to your attention so that you knew um what that was and or when that was coming. And um we will be meeting and
doing our planning and safety and security and all of that in next week. So we're very excited to bring that back. We do it usually once a year and it's always a really fun event. We we're usually it's to capacity. So you let me know if you have any questions. >> Anything else on future agenda items?
>> Do we need to um consider the makeup of the board with the election? Does that need to be on the April agenda? >> Oh, it's June. I think it's always the June meeting. >> Anything else? >> Just a motion to
>> It's not a future agenda item, but I just have a question. >> Amy, could you take a picture of the whole staff when you're together? >> Yes. Yes. >> Years ago, you had labeled everybody. >> Yeah. Oh, I have that. We have We have the Facebook and we'll get that out to you. We have a digital version of that
with everybody's face in it, but we will also get a staff picture for you as well with everybody together. But we have a book. We have a an actual you can either print it out or look electronically that has everybody's picture. It actually has all of your pictures too, just so you know. >> Okay. >> Not most people picture. Not everybody
said if you sent in a picture, we have a picture of you. Um um but just so that they know when you come into the library who you are. Um so we do we do share that. We have a kind of it's one is digital and it's on our internet and then we have a print version that we can or a digital version we can send you that um >> that would be great. I just feel like
there's been some turnover. >> We don't know to put faces with names for new people. That'd be great. >> And and roles have changed too. You know, like someone who wasn't in charge of anything is now in charge of everything. So >> that'd be great. >> Absolutely. >> And the kid who comes up with the idea for the special gold card for trustees
is definitely going to get be moved to the front of the line. >> Gold card. I like that. I'm not giving up my number. >> I get to take out >> and I Yeah, when I are the same family, it's like I'm not giving up my number. >> Okay. Um, anything else? If not a
motion, >> I move to adjourn. >> Motion to adjurnn. Do we have a second? >> I'll second the motion. >> All again, uh, same order. Mr. Grimes, >> yes. >> Andrew, >> yes. Ellie >> Monette. >> Yes.
>> And I'm a yes. Thank you all.