MISSION STATEMENT:
The Somerset County Public Library System promotes learning by providing materials, services, and access to information that enrich our community and excite the imagination.
Board of Somerset County Library Trustees
Regular Meeting Minutes
Wednesday, June 10, 2020 at 4:00pm Princess Anne Library via Zoom
Present: Ann Smith (President), Marlena Turner (Vice President), Lois Outten (Treasurer), Marilyn Cottman, Father Rob Laws, Beth Holmes-Mayson, Ed Goyda (Director), Jaime Bradshaw (Branch Manager), Kayla Leimbach (Branch Manager), Nora Hoffman (Admin. Assistant/Bookkeeper).
Absent: Karen Riggin
This meeting was held electronically via Zoom. Notification of the meeting was posted to the Library website including a statement that the Zoom link would be available at 3:30pm. The link was published and staff were at the Princess Anne Library to watch the doors for any public attendees. No members of the public joined the meeting via either method.
Call Meeting to Order
President Ann Smith called the meeting to order at 4:02 pm.
Consent Agenda
- Approve minutes from the regular meeting on April 15, 2019
- Approve financial reports for the period from July 1, 2019 - April 30, 2020
- Approve financial reports for the period from July 1, 2019 - May 31, 2020
A motion to approve the Consent Agenda was made by Marlena Turner, seconded by Lois Outten and unanimously approved.
Branch Highlights
Princess Anne: Kayla Leimbach
Ms. Leimbach reported that the Library was offering no contact pickup of books and programs in the lobby of the branch. Staff had been working in two teams to provide these services to our patrons and had received positive feedback from the community regarding "Books to Go" and "Programs to Go." Deliveries from our vendors had resumed and Technical Services Librarian Gabe Stuckey & Technical Services Associate Michele Henry were hard at work cataloging and getting items available quickly. Staff had been photographing new items and posting them on Facebook to help patrons decide what to ask for in their pickup orders.
Outreach: Staff had been posting regular online content to social media and the new YouTube account, including story times and video tutorials for our program kits. During the closure, the Library had done some weeding of materials and had been doing a "free book" box on the sidewalk in front of the building as well as in the vestibule for patrons, and items had been moving quickly.
Future Happenings: Virtual Summer Reading 2020 preparations were underway. The Library would be using a free app "Beanstack" to allow our patrons to log books and participate in activities to earn tickets & badges as well as enter into weekly raffles. The Library would also be doing virtual field trips, bingo, fairy tale trivia and more programs on our Facebook Page to coincide with Beanstack. Youth Services Coordinator Becky Pratte, Ms. Henry, and Ms. Leimbach had been working on increasing the Homeschool Collection to include more resources for parents and children of all grade levels.
Crisfield: Jaime Bradshaw
"Books to Go" and "Programs to Go" started in the front lobby at the end of May. The Library had received good feedback from the community in regards to organization and safety. Video tutorials for our June programs had been uploaded to the library's YouTube account.
Outreach: The Crisfield High School had requested that businesses decorate their facilities for the graduating class, and the Library had put up purple and gold ribbons to show our support. The Library had also placed a quarter page ad in the 2020 yearbook.
Future Happenings: Marketing Associate Lorna Crockett had started taking submissions for a "Quaranzine". This would be a small online publication to document the unconventional time spent during the pandemic, showcasing the artwork of the Somerset County community in a digital zine. The end date for submissions was June 30 and the online publication would be on our website for download sometime in early July.
Library Director7apos;s Report
Mr. Goyda presented his Director's Report for April and May 2020.
Core Services
Beanstack : Ms. Leimbach was preparing Beanstack for a virtual summer reading program.
Books to Go : Books to Go started May 20 for patrons with existing holds. It was advertised publicly on May 22 and officially started on May 26. The public was also informed that the bookdrops were "opened" on May 22, although they were never actually locked.
Collection Orders : Ms. Henry deployed all withheld orders on May 14, and informed vendors to ship orders that had been previously placed but not delivered.
Ewell Library : Supplies were sent May 29. Ewell reopened June 2 with a simplified version of Books to Go (phone orders to parking lot).
Fine-Free Libraries: S.B. 524 (Building Lifelong Library Learners Act) was vetoed, as were all other bills with a fiscal impact.
Inventory : Inventory had been completed.
Polaris (Lending software) : All due dates for material that was checked out before the shutdown had been extended to July 31. This was supposed to have been automated by Polaris itself, but there were roughly 200 patrons who did not have items renew and ended up being billed for lost items as soon as the software was turned back on. An email update was sent out as soon as the problem was detected to tell patrons to disregard notices. Polaris customer support was unable to determine what the issue was. The affected patrons were manually updated May 30, resolving the issue.
Programs to Go : Programs to Go were also advertised on May 22, with distribution starting June 1.
Staffing : The Library would be remaining in Monday - Wednesday and Thursday - Saturday teams for the foreseeable future, with no crossbranch shifts.
Vertical File Cataloging : Roughly half of the vertical file catalog and a little of the scanning were completed during the shutdown. It would be continued as a long-term project.
Community Outreach
High School Yearbook : Ms. Bradshaw had been approached about placing an ad in the Crisfield High School yearbook, and Ms. Crockett had designed one.
Program flyers : Given that most of the June programs were not date-dependent, the Library had prepared one flyer each for adults, teens, and children rather than individual program flyers.
Quaranzine : Ms. Bradshaw and Ms. Crockett were taking submissions of art, poems, songs, essays, etc. created over the quarantine for a digital magazine.
Community Partnership
Electric Vehicle Charging Stations : County Engineer John Redden was working with Delmarva Power to install charging stations in the back of the Crisfield Library parking lot (as well as the County Government Offices in Princess Anne and the Sports Complex in Westover).
ESRL : The regional directors were continuing to meet weekly, and a reopening tasks force had been meeting biweekly.
Maryland Back to Business Pledge : The Department of Commerce's Back to Business Pledge had been posted at the entrances to the libraries.
One Maryland, One Book : The OMOB book for 2020 would be
The Island of Sea Women by Lisa See - "the story of the complex and decades-long friendship between Young-sook and Mi-ja, two women living on the Korean island of Jeju. Readers can follow their journey from the Japanese occupation of the 1930's to the 21st century."
Rural Maryland Council : Somerset, Wicomico, and Worcester had submitted a Letter of Intent for a $40,000 grant request to maintain Wicomico's Job Center and establish a rotating staff position for
Somerset and Worcester Libraries. The grant would be administered by Wicomico.
Internal Development
Audit : We had begun working on the audit. TGM had transmitted the internal controls checklists, and Rob Davis was scheduled for the week of July 27. TGM had requested a list of procedural deviations during the pandemic and noted not to include them on the checklists.
CARES Act : We had received $19,505 from the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act (via the State Library, administered by ESRL). Our first priority was to stock up on supplies and expand self-check capacity. Once critical supplies and equipment were in, the remaining funds would be designated for expanding staff work from home capacity, public workforce development, and circulating technology.
ESRL Staff Day : ESRL's Staff Day, planned for Columbus Day, had been pushed back to 2021.
MLA Conference : The MLA Conference remained scheduled for its new dates of October 19 - 21.
Princess Anne Feasibility Study : The grant window for the State LSTA (Library Services and Technology Act) window was open through June 5. We had submitted for funding for the following studies:
- Study 1 : Existing Facility Evaluation - A detailed building condition report of all areas and systems by a team of engineers and architects, reviewing and updating previous assessments conducted in 2006 and 2013. The report should include: short and long term repair and upgrade needs and estimates for those needs.
- Study 2 : Existing Site Evaluation - A site land use analysis report with recommendations as to what type and size of building could exist on the current site, considering the Facilities Master Plan's recommendation of 20,496 square feet and the Building Program's functional needs.
- Study 3 : Library Needs Assessment - A detailed Needs Assessment report including results of the two previous studies, a community/demographic assessment, and a spatial matrix based on the Building Program's functional needs.
- Study 4 : Initial Design – Programming and Schematics - A detailed building program to include schematic floor plans and elevations for the concept selected as well as a preliminary cost estimate and timetable.
Youth Services
Dial A Story : The regional group for Children's Services had created a Dial A Story line with weekly, recorded storytimes accessible by phone. The eight counties would be taking turns uploading content.
Summer Reading 2020 : The Library would be kicking off early bird Summer Reading on June 15 and the full program July 1, using Beanstack to track activity and have weekly prize drawings.
YouTube page : Ms. Pratte had created a YouTube page for storytime sessions and walkthroughs for Programs to Go.
A motion to accept the Director's Report was made by Beth Holmes-Mayson, seconded by Marilyn
Cottman and unanimously accepted.
Governance
Confirmation of Online Vote - Pandemic Recovery Plan : A motion to accept the online vote of May 6 to accept the Pandemic Recovery Plan was made by Lois Outten, seconded by Beth Holmes- Mayson, and unanimously accepted.
Policy on Suspension of Privileges for Health and Safety Reasons : This policy had been created in 2018 due to bedbug infestations, or potential infestations, at several libraries. While the title and preface both reference "health and safety," the policy itself deals almost exclusively with bedbugs and other insects. Contagious illnesses are covered, briefly, in the Rules of Conduct. ("Staff may ask patrons to leave if adults or children exhibit symptoms of flu or other contagious illness.") In light of the pandemic, a proposed revision to the Health and Safety policy was proposed to cover contagious illnesses in that policy.
A motion to accept a contagious illnesses revision to the Health and Safety Policy was made by Beth Holmes-Mayson, seconded by Marilyn Cottman, and unanimously accepted.
Retirement of Catherine Doyle : Ms. Doyle had formally retired from the Children's Assistant position. This did not create a vacancy - Dani Craige had been moved into the position when Ms. Doyle began her leave of absence in Fall 2019, and Brittany Jackson had been hired to fill Ms. Craige's position on the circulation desk.
A motion to accept the retirement of Catherine Doyle was made by Marilyn Cottman, seconded by Beth Holmes-Mayson, and unanimously accepted.
Vacation Rollover : Typically, vacation time over a cap (150% of annual earnings) and all comp and personal time would be wiped off the books on July 1. Given the shutdown, there had been discussions among the directors about how to handle time that was earned but was not able to be used. Mr. Goyda requested that the Library follow a model that ESRL had created:
- On July 1, vacation time over the cap, as well as all comp and personal time, would be moved to a new "Paid Time Off" category.
- Procedurally, this time would be treated the same as vacation time during FY 21. Fiscally, this time would not be payable on resignation, allowing the Library to disencumber the liability. 3.) On July 1, 2021, any remaining time in this new category would be converted to sick time, which is uncapped and does not expire.
A motion to accept following this model was made by Marlena Turner, seconded by Lois Outten, and unanimously accepted.
Adjournment
A motion to adjourn was made at 4:32pm by Marlena Turner, seconded by Beth Holmes-Mayson, and unanimously approved.
Respectfully submitted, Nora Hoffman Admin. Assistant/Bookkeeper