this is a recording of East southi Public Library Board of Trustees it is February 11th at 7:08 PM this meeting does not have a quorum um so anything that needs voting on will be tabled until next month and I'll do an
introduction uh Lyn Blair Michael mcmah Cindy Warner and I will just briefly talk about um start following the agenda uh we have no public comments so
Communications um the so January was a busy month um we circulated 5,316 physical items um compared to January 2024 this was up
19.76% um so really good increase our program numbers we had nine adult programs 71 attending five kids programs 59 attending three General audience 31 attending Ing and for teens with 29 attending um each department hosted its
own winter reading program I had 35 adults that participated children's room had 16 kids and there was five teens um notable programs in January we had the rescheduled musical instrument petting zoo which was very fun um Breeze
balloons did a very nice balloon twisting story time um we did two adult crafts and a class on edible gardening and we had the first session of the evening knitting group um January 8th I visited the South Village and I brought
the Perkins Library materials um to demonstrate for them um events calendar for winter spring is shaping up we've got a lot of really good events planned I listed them here um I attended the January meeting of the Agriculture Commission to discuss a p potential
plant swap for the spring um we discussed the results from the homesteading session in December and we've got a bunch of like gardening programs lined up for um we did one this month we have one in March and then we have one in April and I met with the greater
Westfield Chamber of Commerce um we're hoping to work on a little bit more collaboration um we are going to have a table at the health fair in May and we'll also have a table at the uh senior Center's open house in June our teen
department is running a survey about Teen Services until February 28th to kind of get some feedback from teenss on what they want to see for resources events whatnot um and then yeah we have do have a staff member on leave so we're operating a little bit short staffed but
I think we're doing just fine um the only other thing I'll mention that's not on here as far as my communications is I don't think with us being short staffed and we did one last year I don't think there's a need for us to do an annual
survey again this year it's just kind of another thing on the plate that we have to worry about so I think instead of trying to bombard people with a survey every year maybe we do it every other year or every couple years um because even a year isn't a long enough time to
kind of get some good ideas and actually make them happen um so I'm just going to try to maybe space them out a little bit more all right I was meeting last week and a person I didn't identify myself being a trustee or anything but a
person who was lavishly talking about the library oh the this was a Democratic town committee meeting woman was there she apparently lives at South Village but she was talking about the library
comes to South Village when she comes into the library she's kind of astonished that you have the whatever the latest books is are for whatever she's interested in and you've got more magazines and some
new subscriptions starting in the next month or two and she was very happy with that that's wonderful to hear yeah thanks for sharing I love to hear hear good things about what we're doing um I have the January minutes
which I will table until next month because we can't vote on them um and and here are January statistics I already detailed um the
program numbers in our um monthly report but overall a good month a lot of programs I think we're especially the upcoming months we have a lot going on thank you to Cindy for helping take over our evening book club I think that was a lot of fun surprised with the number of
people that attended and I hope that we can keep keep that was fabulous it worked out really well yeah so Cindy Cindy and her sister are helping um lead the evening book club um
after we didn't hear from our volunteer so um they're attending the book club just to help prompt the discussion and that'll be really good um as far as the regular statistics again you'll see a pretty high circulation um High
reference question numbers we had 41 new cards made in January which is amazing um a lot of computer use um and then of course you'll see that our our EC content usage is is still going up so there's a lot going on
um I'm surprised the winter months are always kind of a tossup but it's been really busy so it's been really great to see did anybody have any questions questions on either of those reports then I will move on to uh old
business for uh the CPC project update still no update as of yet um I think my goal now is to try to hopefully get a new application in for um either the March or April
meeting um to kind of revise our ask and what we're looking for um I did I did hear that April may be a little bit too late to try to get it onto the Maytown meeting but being short staffed I have not had the time to kind of really put a
lot of work into it it's just kind of keeping our head above the water on the day to day so I mean I think if if all else fails and we can't pull something together before then if we have to wait until September they meet in September for a town meeting usually like you
usually sometime in late while early winter yeah so we'll try for May um and hope for the best so that's kind of in the works right now
um budget discussions we covered um the fiscal year 2026 budget submission that was already submitted we voted on it last time I sent around um I did send it earlier today or last tonight I believe this little
infographic um is something to hand out at the budget meeting um I thought it kind of put a lot of our numbers into perspective because I think you know just somebody saying it is one thing but actually seeing it um pict yeah exactly
exactly um so I didn't know if we feel like this is enough if there's you know I kind of put it out to the group to see if if there was something else you could think of if something really sticks out to you you know what else do we want to present to the finance committee about
what we're doing um I may have one or two more things I'll put together but this is at least the start of it so I know if either of you had any thoughts on that well Le this is giving you the
aggregate number of people that came through yeah this past year 36,000 yep that's a significant number yeah and I mean 61,800 items circulated of just the physical items not the ebooks or anything like that I mean
that's a pretty good number or the other way looking at the 36 that's 3,000 people every month yeah that's a that's a large number for any Department yeah certainly now that's this is great L
okay thank you yeah if if I I'm I'm not going to make like any promises because like I said we're short staffed so I'm kind of doing two jobs at once so I'm I want to try to put together maybe a few other things but if we just have this then I think that's a good start um yeah
I think this is great and I did hear that the budget hearings are gonna be March 1st and March 8th I don't know which one we're at but as soon as I hear I'll let everybody know um and then the master plan action
items um that was under the old business I did submit that um we're kind of starting to think about a couple things that we can do on the action items that I shared last month that the master plan committee wanted the library to participate on so um and to start things
off I I did have our reference Librarians kind of take a look at our reference collection and see you know one of their goals was to kind of promote um you know knowledge and education about you know Native American culture history in our area so um Andrea
so we had our reference Librarians take a look at the collection see what we have so that if anybody came in looking for information we could direct them in the right direction and just for the reporting um Andrea bugby just joined the
group okay um the next order of business on the agenda was the collection development policy um I like to present this every couple years just to have everybody take a look through it um see if there's anything you had questions or
concerns about because as we know you know the book Banning and challenge things are still going on but I think we do have a really solid policy here um and actually when I was reviewing it the only thing I noticed that we needed to change is on page 13 where we said that
people still need to be a resident of Southwick to check out the library of things obviously we changed that months ago um but I think since we don't have a quum tonight then what we'll do is we'll just give people a little bit longer to read the policy and then we can table
that for next month and then I forgot that I had the annual survey on here too um Andrea what I said earlier was I think being short staffed number one this would be one less thing off the
plate to have to do the annual survey and number two we if we do it every year it's not enough time to kind of start acting on what people suggest because sometimes things take time to make happen so um I'm thinking maybe like an
every other year type of thing people are really surveyed out they're very tired of of surveys and this and that um so I'm thinking probably kind of on an every other year basis would be ideal
um and then lastly on here so we have hoopla which is one of our digital libraries and how hoopla works is that it's a pay by use service so we only get
charged for the items that people check out which is which is good um but as more people are noticing it our bill each month is is going up um
so holding steady through 2024 the the first half of 2024 it was about I'd say an average of like $350 when we start to look into June of 2024 we're starting to get up into
$400 per per month yeah and then and in January we our bill was $520 which is great people are using it um but and the fee has not changed it's the usage yeah it's it's the usage that's changed I think Heather ran the
numbers um usually the price per circulation is between like $2 and $2.33 depending on what the type of item is some things are cheaper than others um so
what our circulation has been going up in January we had 258 circulations um a 58 patrons were checking out items which is really good um 11 new patrons were using the
service so what I'm kind of looking into right now and what a lot of other libraries have done is we allow people a limit of 12 circulations a month through the service because it is a pay by use we have to get set some kind of limit on it otherwise people could just be
borrowing and we have no control over the bill you know so what I'm looking into is um and what I think a love a lot of other libraries are looking into as well is
kind of limiting the checkouts there's a bunch of different things you can do um hoopla allows you to set like a certain number a certain amount you can spend through the whole month and once that's spent there's no more checkouts that month or I think they can do it by like
by day or by week um or by restricting the number of items that people can borrow so I was toying with the idea of um decreasing the number of items that people can borrow and maybe lowering it down to seven to eight items per month
which is still you know a good amount um because a lot of other libraries have started to do this just because more people are using it and the prices are going up and we don't get the bill till the end of the month so we
can't you know we can't predict what it's going to be until we see you know our final bill that we're due um so yeah I mean and and they've kind of put it as the framework as you know one
Library kind of worded it really nicely and that they're limiting checkouts so there's more to go around for everybody um so I think I think that's what we may try to do is try to just decrease the number of checkouts per
month um or you know see I think that would make it a lot more fair because if you say you know okay we're only going to spend we're g to cap it at $300 a month that's all we're going to spend you know one one person can go in and you know one
person could go in and check out all kinds of stuff you know but if if it's somebody that doesn't kind of you know they don't look to later in the month then they're out of luck but if we limit it to a certain number per person then that kind of makes it a little more fair to go around okay at the beginning of of
the year what did you anticipate you SP you know we were we were kind of anticipating we we noticed it had been going up um you know and I think like $400 a month is a reasonable amount I think when Heather
did um it was on here yeah so Heather did the math um and she went through and she made she found all these nice reports for me um so from January to December of 2024 we spent um $4 4,858
47 on borrows which came out to be about 5.28% of our materials budget not bad um you know I I would say that I really wouldn't want to spend more than
$55,000 for the year maybe six um but I mean the good news is more people have been noticing the service just great and we want to keep people using it but you know we also get
charged per use it's just you're still buying DVDs and books absolutely magazine subscriptions yeah and generally I mean the costs of cost of everything have I mean we still get a really good discount on books through our vendor but the cost of everything as
a whole is is increasing so is there a limit on it now on hoop on hoop yeah we have it limited to 12 checkouts per month per person and do you have an idea of like a number that would kind of get you because the
thing is HOA boy it's convenient and it's a it's like the gateway drug to online loads like because it's so easy to use and maybe just a little trickier and you got to wait a while for the stuff you
want yeah and you yeah but then once you're used to hoop you're like oh you mean it's 1:00 in the morning and I just want something to read and there it is abely and so it's a really good resource so I hate to see it go yeah
just you just just no I don't think we would get get rid of it all together although some libraries are just because they can't handle the cost um I was thinking of reducing it to maybe seven to eight borrows borrowers per month seems like it and I think I would I
would think that seems like obviously I'm going to when I have the time try to run the numbers and just kind of get it to where I want it to be per month knowing that the cost will still probably go up because more people are
discovering it um but I think and you know I don't want to be like well if we're going to change you know the number of checkouts I'd like to change it and stick with that number I don't want to keep giving extra checkouts and then taking it away but the nice thing with hoopla is they do certain times
they do like bonus borrows so they have like special days that you know people that it doesn't count for like their checkout limits or whatever so we could start kind of advertising that more and that sounds like Kmart or Amazon special
days yeah yeah so um you know we could kind of Market those more on like hey today's the day if you want something on Hoopa now's a good time to kind of go in and and borrow it and explore um but as you say initial looking at it and saying well I don't want to spend more than
five or 6,000 a year out of my whole budget just like that yeah so is there a way is there a way of understanding sorry sorry Cindy what was that is there a way of understanding if somebody borrows something do they
actually see it through to the end or is somebody seeing it as a good idea my mind yeah so so somebody could essentially check something out and then not even use it and we wouldn't really know you know just like if somebody
borrows a book from here and they take it home and then they don't use it you know yeah because if somebody I don't know God bless the person who can get through eight books in a month you know that has that kind of time but I I'm just wondering if it's
somebody who's borrowing something and kind of reading a couple pages and going nah and then borrowing something else you know not realizing that the library is getting charged for everything that you're borrowing yeah exactly we would have no way of knowing so if if we do
decide to decrease the borrows you know obviously I'd make a really good case with pretty clear explanations as as to why you know and then maybe that would get people to kind of recognize that oh if I do borrow something you know even if it's just $2 I mean it adds up right
because it would be it would be interesting to see if you reduce it how many people then come into the library and raise their hands saying wait a second why am I being shut off I'm getting to the 15th of the month and I'm you know getting shut off of my book allotment and I read
you know 20 books a month absolutely well then here let me show you this other thing called Libby you know so I could also be a good like you know her into into something else because um you know Libby's great and so like on my
phone you know I have Libby that I use um through cwrs but any Massachusetts resident can get a Boston Public Library e card so you can you can have the the CW Mars's checkout limit you can hit up the Boston Public Libraries ebooks you
know there's there's still a bunch out there um did you have a question Michael I'm sorry okay um yeah so I'm I'm kind of toying with with the idea I think that's going to make the most sense for
us is to decrease it per person as to just decrease it across the board because then you know we would have no control over you know person one goes in there checks out all the stuff you know maybe if we put a kind of a a limit on
you know the number of the number of you know the amount of money we would spend per month people would be more inclined to oh my God I got to get in there right away check out all the stuff and you know will they get to it maybe maybe not who knows um but if and when we do decide to do this um I will make sure
that it's communicated very clearly um with very clear messaging and in ways that hope I would think people can understand you know because it's tough with this type of service because you want to be in control of the money you're spending but at the same time
it's kind of hard to be so right right okay yep um so I may come back with more for next month on kind of what we decide I may try to to see if I can call somebody from hoopla directly and kind of discuss
our options more in detail ask around other libraries see what they've done as well to just kind of get a feel for what's worked for people who have made the change and set more restrictions on that that that sounds like a good way of
solving problem yes yeah I think so I mean but even still you know if we had X number of users and sudden 20 people discovered hoopla in February you know still going to go up too B book
y EXC me so yeah I mean because we couldn't vote on a few things um and we met actually not too long ago for the budget meeting that is all I have for tonight other than to just leave you with that I
know I said it but I'll say it again um the budget hearings are going to be either March 1st or March 8th and I will let um everybody know which day and what time the library is at so we can try to get as many of us
as there as possible is there refund yes I've they haven't changed it no I I saw Nancy on Monday and she said see you Wednesday sir we'll be here tomorrow night y so I have a I have a new topic to kind of bring up it's based
off of a conversation that we had last month and just want to float this idea out to you so we had talked about the outdoor space and we had talked about possibly doing the outdoor space as a fundraiser so I kind of came up with an
idea that I wanted to run by everybody and see what you think so you you met my sister Diane her mother-in-law was Irene wolf who was a long-term volunteer with the library her
father-in-law Charles wolf was chief of police in the town of Southwick for years so I talked with my sister and brother-in-law to see what they thought about it and I'm wondering if the library
would be interested if the wolf family kind of ran a fundraiser to raise money for that outdoor space in honor of Charles and Irene wolf whether there was a plaque
dedicated or a bench with their name on it or something with the outdoor space the wolf family is very still very involved in Southwick my brother-in-law worked for the DPW you know his sisters and stuff you
know the family's well known and stuff in town so I just didn't know if that was something that the library would be interested in and I could work with my sister and brother-in-law's family to try to do a
fundraiser to raise some money for it the town has done that in the past the animal uh controls center was built by some guy and his wife poer yeah right you know so it's not like the town never
does that in fact they've got the guy's name on the side of the building y yeah I think the only thing we just have to make sure of is um and I can double check with the CPC to make sure that um you know because they've already funded
part of it to make sure that that's no issue with you know the contract we have with them for the project okay but I I can talk to um Sabrina I can give her a call tomorrow and just kind of push that idea
along um because that I mean if if if they said yes that's fine then that would mean that you know we wouldn't have to go back to the town meeting put in a new application um go back to the town meeting for the extra
costs and whatnot so then you could actually do it this year this calendar year versus not doing it till the following well I mean yeah we still have to have the time to do the fundraising right me both thing's not delayed until
yeah Special town meeting next winter or the annual town meeting next May yeah yeah yeah so let me let me check in with Sabrina and I'll pass that idea along and see if they have any issues with that or if there's anything we're not thinking of um right right yeah no it's just something that I thought of as an
idea I spoke to my sister and brother-in-law um I know that Chuck's sister ERS would probably you know be thrilled and kind of be all over it and make sure that they you know got friends out my brother-in-law knows a lot of people that are in the trade so who
knows maybe he could you know get a Mason to donate some time to do any brick work or anything like that so I think that we could get it done yeah there'd be a pretty easy divide in the project
because basically what's holding us up now now is um you know we had the the prior maintenance director you know was going to do all the groundwork for it so we do have the application in for all the yard ornaments the benches the
tables all that is approved through the grant already it's basically what we need is just the cement the groundwork um all of that done so you know they it could be a pretty easy divide between the two aspects of the project you you
know and if right right yeah okay yeah yeah because I mean yeah I mean there's there's companies in town that my brother-in-law is very close friends with with you know a builder and a plumber and you know Crest View and and
all the different companies and stuff around in town that who knows I I'm not promising anything from anybody but who who knows maybe there's time or material or things like that that they could donate towards the project or what have
you um you know I just know that my sister and brother-in-law just were they thought that that would be really something wonderful that would they know would mean a lot to their parents the library meant so much to Irene yes yeah
I remember I meene yeah yeah so the library meant so much to her so it would be just kind of a a nice memorial type thing for them as well so absolutely all right I just wanted to throw it out there as an idea if you could find out let me know I'll I'll check in with them
tomorrow and I'll hopefully get an answer by the end of the week as to whether that's that's a possibility and we can go from there that'd be great okay were you able to speak to maintenance and ask if they're willing to help out I have not heard a response
so I just think that they're very they're very busy no response is a response in itself yes what what I really need right now is just is just that is somebody to kind of help with the aspects of like you know
if something is a certain amount you know I'm sure we have to have bids on it and people have to submit proposals and things like that um but I really really don't want to hold this project up any
longer and just you know trying to so maybe this if this works out maybe this is an ideal solution in that we can keep the application that we already have and the funds that were already granted to us and then have this other aspect you know just every time you have to pass it
on six six months or a year the costs go up with the items you're buying cost cement goes up yeah cost goes up and you know we it's a three-year project and in May it'll be a year so it's not I think that the pickle ball
Courts at where Wally Wally Park or town hall wherever they are those those are taking a while so it kind of makes me feel a little better that if you know they still have we'll get there yeah exactly exactly yeah so you know I mean obviously this is on a much smaller
scale so it should be in theory it should be much easier to complete but but yeah so that's that's kind of where that stands so yeah I will follow up um and I'll let you know what I hear Cindy okay all
right and did anybody else have anything else before we close out for the evening our next meeting would be oh there's a paper it's in magnetic um
March March 11 wow so we've got the budget meeting before that so yep yep so we have the budget meeting before that um so I'll be in touch with everybody when I hear hopefully soon which day and time
at and then just encourage everybody to to just show up usually it's pretty quick usually get it 10 or 10 minutes slot or 15 yeah usually it's pretty quick and then we can and then I'll bring our I'll bring our infographics do do other departments like hand out their
infographics to everybody at the table oh some of them okay so yeah no I think I think that'll be good all right we're ready for it if there's nothing else tonight um then I will see everybody March 11th at
7M and somebody has to do I hear a motion to a chair so moved all those in favor Michael Yes Andrea yes Cindy yes right good night Cindy good night