Board of Somerset County Library Trustees
Regular Meeting Minutes
Wednesday, February 10th, 2021 at 4:00pm Crisfield Library, Zoom option available
Present: Ann Smith, President; Lois Outten, Treasurer; Board Members: Jayna Grant, Beth Holmes-Mayson, Karen Riggin; Associate Board Members: Tim Spillane, Jennifer Timmons; Ed Goyda, Library Director; Kayla Leimbach, Princess Anne Branch Manager; Jaime Bradshaw, Crisfield Branch Manager; Nora Hoffman, Administrative Assistant
Absent: Marlena Turner, Vice President; Marilyn Cottman, Board Member
Call Meeting to Order
President Ann Smith called the meeting to order at 4:07 p.m.
Consent Agenda
Approve minutes from the regular meeting of December 9, 2020 Approve financial reports for the period from July 1, 2020 to December 31, 2020 Approve financial reports for the period from July 1, 2020 to January, 2021
President Smith asked for a motion to approve the Consent Agenda. Motion was made by Beth Holmes-Mayson, seconded by Karen Riggin and unanimously approved.
Branch Highlights
Crisfield: Jaime Bradshaw, Branch Manager
Ms. Bradshaw reported that staff members had continued to create video tutorials for the Programs to Go and
Facebook programs. She added that the Programs to Go had remained consistently popular. A local author, Pat Valdata, donated her book, Eve's Daughters for all three of library branches. At the end of January, there was a series of posts on the library's Facebook page to highlight the author and title, followed by a bingo card encouraging patrons to use library databases, submit to the Winter Zine, and subscribe to the library's YouTube channel. A winner would be randomly drawn to win a signed copy of this new book. She proceeded to state that the library had been accepting entries for the Winter Zine, and they currently had six entries. They were accepting entries until February 28th.
Regarding outreach, in December, the Crisfield Library delivered 225 gifts to the local nursing homes, and donated lights and inflatables to the local Elks Lodge for their Drive Thru Light Show. Ms. Bradshaw reported that staff finished the annual MLA virtual conference in January. Looking towards the future, spring programs had been planned, and staff had been constructing the program kits for March. Marketing Associate, Lorna Crockett created a small March booklet with the 'to go' and virtual programs, and they would be printed in house for patrons to take.
President Smith expressed concerns about the low number of entries for the Winter Zine. She stated that the word needed to be spread, and that contact should be made with the school system.
Princess Anne: Kayla Leimbach, Branch Manager
Ms. Leimbach reported that 8 patrons joined the Book Discussion Group via Zoom in January and 9 patrons joined in December. Feedback from the Programs To Go kits continued to be great, and virtual programming had been rising in popularity with views and shares from other local community organizations. She reported that Technical Services Librarian, Gabe Stuckey created videos for virtual resume and teen internet safety and uploaded them on YouTube, and they had received 10 views so far.
Both the MLA and Circulation Conferences wrapped up with staff attending their choice of virtual sessions over the course of several weeks. She stated that in lieu of the staff party this year, they sponsored residents of the Lower Shore Shelter in Princess Anne, providing gifts to 9 residents: 8 adults and 1 child. Jaime Bradshaw, Ed Goyda and herself presented at the Circulation Conference on January 26 with the presentation "Outreach When You Can't Go Out."
Ms. Leimbach discussed future happenings including planning for this year's summer reading program. Staff had begun sourcing prizes, performers and making several contingency plans for the summer so they are able to pivot with the changing guidelines and provide an awesome program for patrons.
Library Director7apos;s Report
Mr. Goyda presented his Director's Report for December 2020 and January 2021.
Core Services
Reopening Phase 3: Mr. Goyda reported that the library remained in Phase 3, with the only limitations in place being the earlier closing times to accommodate the Team A/B shifts, the meeting room closures, and the removal of toys and manipulatives from the Children's Areas. The library continued not to charge for copies and prints.
He reported that following Governor Hogan's December 17 press conference, restricting customer-facing state operations for the weeks of December 21 and December 28, the library mirrored the move and returned to Books to Go for the "two weeks" (six days).
For practical reasons, Princess Anne had returned to a three day quarantine cycle - because of patrons bringing returns in through the back door during the course of the day, "two days" was not necessarily the State- recommended 48 hours. Crisfield, with the bookdrop at the front and only entrance, did not have this issue.
The DVD limit had been put back to 10 items but left at 20 on the technology side to account for 10 items out and 10 in quarantine.
Programs to Go: The Programs to Go had been chosen through May. Construction of the March kits was underway.
Vertical File Digitization: Mr. Goyda stated that Gabe Stuckey and he were changing focus to correcting the transcripts of already scanned items to help Digital Maryland get them uploaded more quickly. Scanning and image processing were suspended until the 1,354 items currently at the final stage were finished. 95 of them currently were, and Jodi Hoover's team at Pratt was spending 20 hours per week on this project. He noted that the collection was available at collections.digitalmaryland.org/digital/collection/sovf.
Community Outreach
A&E District Calendar: Mr. Goyda reported that the library had submitted their annual events, to the best of their current knowledge, to the Crisfield Arts & Entertainment District for their calendar.
Global Z Recording Project: Global Z had received funding from Maryland Humanities for their "Living and Dying With COVID-19: The Maryland Stories" project and would be proceeding this spring.
Library Zine: The Fall Zine had been published, and Winter Zine submissions were underway, due February 28.
Program Booklets: Program booklets were being revived starting in March. They would be produced on a monthly, rather than quarterly, basis and printed in-house to allow agility regarding resumption of in-person programming.
Skipjack Run: The sponsorship for the Deal Island Skipjack Run on Labor Day weekend had been submitted.
Community Partnership
Charging Station: Work on Delmarva Power's electric vehicle charging station in the rear of the Crisfield parking lot was still pending.
Eastern Shore Regional Library: The regional directors continued to meet weekly, and a reopening tasks force had been meeting biweekly.
Library Partnerships: The library had partnered with Worcester County to promote an online workforce session (Delmarva Apprenticeships: Earn while you learn!) and Garrett County for a Zine program from Yago Cura of the Los Angeles Public Library. There was an upcoming session with Harford - a Warm, Winter Cooking Demo from John Shields on February 25 at 7:00 p.m.
Tax forms: The State had provided the library with tax booklets. The IRS had ceased their library outreach program, but we had been printing 1040s in batches and handling special requests as they came in. Mr. Goyda requested 5 copies of the instruction booklet (the maximum allowed as a regular request), intending to circulate them as, essentially, magazines, but the IRS itself was out of stock.
Internal Development
3D Printer: ESRL had repaired the 3D printer and done general housekeeping on the computers.
Computer Upgrade: Mr. Goyda reported that ESRL was advising that we were beginning to experience End of Life issues on several of the patron computers. They were preparing a figure for budget inclusion next year. At this time, we were well under budget on the Service Enhancements portion of the ESRL grant ($6,500 spent of a YTD estimate of $18,500 / annual budget of $31,250) and it was possible that we may have been able to cover a sizable portion, if not all of it, in the current fiscal year.
Delmarva Education Foundation: Funding had been received for the year in the amount of $1,843.26 to be spent on college and career readiness materials for the Children's Collection.
E-Rate: The federal paperwork had been submitted for reimbursement of Ewell's Internet expenses, directly, and the mainland libraries, via the State Library's network.
Facilities: As part of their CARES Act funds, the County had installed automated external defibrillators in Crisfield and Princess Anne. They were not proceeding on the restroom fixtures.
Library Cards: Mr. Goyda stated that the library is on their final box of library cards, which should last most of a year, and Lorna Crockett had designed a new look for the cards. This included a "Kid's Card," as a design matter, with no functional differences.
Maryland Statewide Circulation Conference : He then reported that Jaime, Kayla, and he presented "Outreach When You Can't Go Out" to an audience of 175 people at the virtual Circulation Conference. It was available online at https://www.slrc.info/circconference/. They would be presenting again at the Maryland Library Association Conference in May.
Maryland Library Association Conference: The 2021 Conference would be held virtually in the first week of May. The Maryland State Library would be issuing grants automatically based on the number of full-time equivalents, which was probably going to be detrimental. All staff was usually sent, which, on a percentage basis, greatly exceeds the larger systems. That said, the ESRL Staff Development grant is at $0 spent of $3,000 budgeted, so funds are available.
Courses Completed: Jaime Bradshaw, Legal and Ethical Environment of Business (Business Law)
Youth Services
500 by Five: This reading challenge, replacing 1000 Books Before Kindergarten as a more attainable goal, would be launching in March.
Dial a Story: Children's Coordinator, Karen Earp's first regional Dial a Story was in December. The Dial a Story line was available at 888-964-2686.
Summer Reading 2021: Mr. Goyda discussed summer reading. Orders were in for summer reading tote bags, T-shirts, and prizes. Turtle Dance Music had been scheduled, probably virtually, for a June 15 kickoff, given that he had performed enough locally that we were not concerned about the generally low attendance for live virtual programs. Reptile Wonders had been scheduled, hopefully in-person, for an August 10 closeout. Remaining summer programs would all be staff-led, and we had both on-site and To Go / virtual options lined up depending on what's feasible.
President Smith asked for a motion to approve the Director's Report. Motion was made by Karen Riggin, seconded by Beth Holmes-Mayson and unanimously approved.
Governance
Capital Budget: President Smith had submitted written testimony in support of the State Library capital funding.
Deposit Only Cards: Mr. Goyda reported that he and Administrative Assistant, Nora Hoffman, received the deposit-only ATM cards from PNC Bank.
Fine-free Libraries (SB524/HB1000): The House and Senate had overridden Governor Hogan's veto of the Fine-free Libraries Act. There were three conditions imposed by the bill, all of which we were already in compliance with. The funding increases attached to the bill (per capita operating support, an additional $2.5 million in capital funding, and operating support for the State Library Resource Center) would likely not take effect until FY 23.
High Performance and Green Buildings (HB86): A bill had been filed in the House requiring that all new construction or substantial renovations that the State provides more than 25% funding for meet LEED Silver (LEED Certified in "sparsely developed" areas) or equivalent standards.
Public Libraries eBook Access (HB518): A bill had just been filed "requiring a publisher who offers to license an electronic book to the public to also offer to license the book to public libraries in the State on reasonable terms that would enable public libraries to provide library users with access to the electronic book." Issues addressed include several publishers refuse to license ebooks to libraries at all and others that restrict number of copies or number of times the item may be loaned and set prices several times higher than the consumer market.
Executive Session
President Smith made a motion to enter executive session at 4:39 p.m., seconded by Beth Holmes-Mayson, and roll call was taken.
President Smith made a motion to exit executive session at 4:41 p.m., and roll call was taken.
Resignation of Dominique Parks, Library Assistant: Dominique Parks has resigned from her position at the Princess Anne Library. Beth Holmes-Mayson made a motion to accept the resignation of Dominque Parks, seconded by Lois Outten and was unanimously approved.
Adjournment
President Smith made a motion to adjourn the meeting at 4:43 p.m. The motion was seconded by Karen Riggin, and was unanimously approved.
Respectfully submitted, Jaime K. Bradshaw Crisfield Library Branch Manager