Board of Somerset County Library Trustees
Regular Meeting Minutes
Wednesday, December 13, 2023 at 4:00pm Crisfield Library & Zoom
Present: Ann Smith, President; Beth Holmes-Mayson, Vice President; Tim Spillane, Treasurer; Board Members: Lynn Lang, Karen Riggin, Janet Smith, Jennifer Timmons; Ed Goyda, Library Director; Jaime Bradshaw, Assistant Director; Danielle Craige, Princess Anne Library Services Manager; Caprice Harris, Crisfield Library Services Manager; Karen Earp, Children's Services Coordinator; Nora Hoffman, Bookkeeper/Admin. Assistant
Call Meeting to Order
President Ann Smith called the meeting to order at 4:00pm.
FY23 Audit
The audit had been completed, and it had been submitted to MSLA by the deadline. The results were presented by Audrey McKenrick, CPA/Partner from UHY LLP. The Library received the "best report" possible. Overall, there were no weaknesses, concerns, suggestions or any significant changes. There were also no issues to report regarding compliance and internal controls. The auditor, Jessica Shahady, provided good feedback that the library is easy to work with. All board members received a hard copy and an electronic version of the reports entitled "Audit Communications" & "Component Unit Financial Statements".
President Smith asked for a motion to approve the audit report. Motion was made by Tim Spillane, seconded by Jennifer Timmons, and unanimously approved.
Consent Agenda
Approve minutes from the regular meeting of October 11, 2023
Approve financial reports for the period from July 1, 2023 – October 31, 2023 Approve financial reports for the period from July 1, 2023 – November 30, 2023
President Smith asked for a motion to approve the Consent Agenda. Motion was made by Beth Holmes- Mayson, seconded by Janet Smith, and unanimously approved.
Branch Highlights
Crisfield: Presented by Caprice Harris, Library Services Manager
During the month of October, staff members had been busy preparing for the upcoming Halloween season. Multiple staff members had participated in special events around the community, such as the Friday the 13th Trunk or Treat at the Health Department and Crisfield Chamber's Halloween Parade. In November, we had hosted our 2nd annual Fall Festival in the parking lot of the library. We had almost 30 vendors, a turnout of close to 500 people, and since the event was so well attended, we had also received media coverage. Staff members had continued to improve their personalization/customer service skills by becoming familiar with the updated policies and acting out scenarios. Various decorations and in-house displays had been placed around the library for Halloween, Fall vibes, National Pizza Month, Veterans Day, and Thanksgiving in the adult and children's sections.
Staff Development: In October and November, staff had participated in various training courses on topics such as Customer Behavior, Leadership Training, and Community Outreach.
Community Partnerships: We still had a Navigator provided by the Lower Shore Health Alliance Program coming weekly to provide the public with insurance assistance. The Lower Shore Health Alliance Program had hosted an Open Enrollment Event on Saturday, December 16th, where they were available to assist with health insurance enrollment through Maryland Health Connection. The Somerset County Health Department had continued to provide free COVID-19 test kits for the community. The Community Food Pantry had gotten restocked as needed.
Future Happenings: Staff members were excited to participate in all the holiday festivities, including the upcoming Crisfield Christmas Parade.
Princess Anne: Presented by Jaime Bradshaw on behalf of Danielle Craige, Library Services Manager
In October, we held our annual Halloween Block Party, and it was a huge success. Despite the day being rainy and cold, we had more than 500 people show up for trunk-or-treating, games, and snacks. In the week leading up to Thanksgiving, staff had enjoyed decorating the library and getting in the holiday spirit. Shelf-reading among staff had consistently improved, with many sections having little to no mistakes. We had continued to see community members and groups utilize our meeting room space on a regular basis.
Community Partnerships: The Health Department had continued to stock the branch with COVID tests on a weekly basis.
Future Happenings: We would have a float in the Princess Anne Christmas Parade on December 9. Staff Spirit Week would start on December 11; keep an eye out for our festive looks!
Administrative Report
Presented by: Ed Goyda, Director; Jaime Bradshaw, Assistant Director; Karen Earp, Children's Services Coordinator
Core Services
Career Success Month (1/22 - 2/23): In November, Ashley, Gabe, and Jaime had attended the Workforce Community of Practice Meeting to discuss collaboration between libraries for Career Success Month that would run from January 22 to February 23. During that period, classes and programs would be focused on Business and Career resources and skills to assist jobseekers and entrepreneurs with navigating the rapidly changing work environment. Gabe would offer one-on-one appointments for general tech help, pre-employment readiness, and job skills for both adults and teens.
Music CDs: Given continually declining usage, the music collections had been weeded.
Fall Events: We had a great turnout for the Halloween Trunk or Treat in Princess Anne and the Fall Festival in Crisfield.
Jennings Evans Collection: Work on metadata was nearing completion.
Polaris: Compatibility issues with Chrome continued, but the system was fully operational in Firefox.
Program Booklets: The January/February booklet had been completed and submitted to ESRL's printer.
Community Outreach
Manokin Manor: We had been unable to visit Manokin Manor for two months due to their COVID cases but had been averaging 25-30 residents during past visits. We were able to return on December 12th and had 27 residents participate.
Community Partnership
Crisfield High School: The Crisfield Library hosted a gift drop for Crisfield High students.
Laptop Grants: The City of Crisfield had been granted a third batch of laptops, for City residents only, that was anticipated to arrive the week of December 18th. We had received $3,000 from the City as the administrative fee on the first two rounds.
I AM ALS: I AM ALS had requested a partnership during ALS Awareness Month in May 2024 as well as for Lou Gehrig Day on June 2, 2024. They would be providing materials for table displays and social media posting.
Maryland Commission on African American History and Culture: The collection for MCAAHC of books with a focus on culture and perspectives from across the African Diaspora would continue through February 29, 2024.
Rotary Dictionaries: The Rotary Club of Salisbury, with Ed, had visited the six third-grade classes at Greenwood, four at Woodson, and one at Deal Island to distribute dictionaries on December 8th.
Internal Development
Email: All data had been transferred to the new server, and Crisfield and Princess Anne had independent generic accounts up and running. A rewrite of the timeclock code that automated leave request emails was still pending. In the interim, staff had been told to email requests directly.
E-Rate: Given that Starlink had not filed to be a recognized service provider and that ESRL and the State Library Resource Center handled all of the network hardware, there would be no requests to the federal E- Rate telecommunications program for the near future.
Ewell: Ed had been on the island on October 10th. The new printer had been installed, and Anita had been transitioned to the email server. The combination of a VOIP (Voice Over Internet Protocol) phone line and Starlink Internet was not stable enough for the branch to continue faxing in time sheets and statistics. They had been set up to scan and email, but Anita seemed to be having trouble with the process. There was a planned Ewell trip for this month (see below under new PCs), and Ed would remediate on that trip.
Homeless Training Institute with Ryan Dowd: ESRL had added the Homeless Training Institute to their professional development resources.
Maker Day of Exploration: Ashley, Jaime, and Lorna had attended Maker Day at the Exploration Commons in Carroll County and had taken various classes to learn about new equipment & machinery for possible future programming. Jaime highly encouraged future attendance.
Maryland Association of Public Library Administrators Strategic Plan: The MAPLA Strategic Plan had been completed.
New PCs: Nora's desktop and Jaime's laptop would be replaced shortly due to age (and battery life, or the lack thereof, in the case of Jaime's laptop). Given that the facility issue in Ewell looked less urgent, at least, new PCs had been ordered for staff and patrons. ESRL also wanted to have their new tech staff in its entirety visit the branch. The target was December, although it was getting close to the holidays.
Office 365: ESRL had installed Office 365 on staff and patron computers during the week of October 23rd. There had been two follow-up visits due to licensing issues on the patron computers.
Server Maintenance: Sailor (statewide) technicians had upgraded hardware in the Princess Anne server.
Staff Day: Staff Day had been held on October 9th, with reviews of updated policies, rarer front desk situations, customer service training, and the children's STEM manipulatives.
Translation: As a follow-up to a demo at Tech Connect, which had been held in Anne Arundel, options were being explored to have AI translation devices on the front desks.
Youth Services
Programs: Two preschool and two school-aged programs were being offered in both branches each week, with participation varying greatly. The Mother Goose on the Loose partner program with the Judy Center had regular participation in Crisfield and none in Princess Anne. Hatchlings would be dropped, and starting in January, only Mother Goose would be offered at both branches for Storytime, with marketing to daycares. Storytime had regular participation in Princess Anne and none in Crisfield, and it would be changing to a registration model to help with preparation. Homeschool STEM had steady participation at both branches, with themes for each month. Creation Station (after school) had regular participation in Princess Anne and none in Crisfield, and it would also be changing to a registration model.
Outreach: Regularly scheduled storytimes at Crisfield Head Start had approximately 8 children monthly. Regularly scheduled storytimes at a Princess Anne daycare center (Kidz in His Hands) had approximately 12 children monthly. Holiday STEM was planned for the Kidz in His Hands school-aged children during the school break. Classroom visits and field trips for pre-K and kindergarten classes would be scheduled after the holidays.
Partnerships: Karen's presentation proposals for the 2024 Kids are Customers, Too, and MLA conferences had been accepted. BEBS (Building Equity-Based Summers) training continued, managed by the state youth services coordinator, Carrie Sanders. The Project Enable statewide training was ongoing, and Somerset was in the first cohort, learning how to deliver "effective, inclusive library and information services and programs to students of all abilities."
Governance
Advisory – Dorchester Hours: A memo from Dorchester Library regarding the difficulties with patron, particularly teen patron, behavior was provided.
Advisory - Free Public Library Services Survey: Ann had signed this basic report for the Maryland State Library Agency that mostly concerns fees, or the lack thereof, for services.
Advisory - Legislative: Work was proceeding on the priorities to increase SLRC's statutory funding, add Freedom to Read legislation, and clarify language in the Regional Libraries Bill and the Building Lifelong Learners Act. The situation with collective bargaining was changing weekly, if not more often.
Advisory - Regional Library Board: The ESRL Board had officially transitioned to eight Library Board representatives and three representatives of the public at the fall meeting. Ann was at the first meeting under the new structure on Tuesday, December 12th.
Advisory - Scams: We had seen a sudden uptick in patrons requesting technical assistance in transmitting gift card codes to scammers. All of the anti-scam resources available seemed focused on either personal awareness or using familial trust to intervene, with nothing addressing this situation. We had material on the way from the FTC for distribution; Mr. Goyda's current inclination was to forbid staff assistance and have them refer the patron up to administrative staff if the patron took issue with this.
Advisory - Time to Care Act: There were no updates at this time, with potential private insurance options still unannounced.
Policy Review Committee: Most of the Policy Review Committee work had been in bringing procedural documents - Employee Orientation Manual, Volunteer Orientation Manual, and Communications Guidelines - in line with revised policy. (The Communications Guidelines were included; the two Orientation Manuals were still underway.) However, there was a sizable section regarding social media in the Employee Handbook that needed revised to match the Social Media Policy (and to be less procedural). Also stemming from the Communications Guidelines, the current Employee Handbook restricted all media inquiries, regardless of subject matter, to the Director, and, while we had it posted in the facilities, a Media Release Policy (clarifying that photos of library programs, etc., can be taken for promotional purposes) was not currently in the Policy Manual.
President Smith asked for a motion to approve all Governance items. Motion was made by Janet Smith, seconded by Tim Spillane, and unanimously approved.
Advisory - Community Foundation: We had received the Agreement to set up the "David Fisher Somerset County Library Fund". Board President Ann Smith had signed the agreement and the funds from the David Fisher Trust had been sent to the Community Foundation of the Eastern Shore.
Executive Session
President Smith asked for a motion to enter executive session at 4:45pm. Motion was made by Janet Smith, seconded by Tim Spillane, and roll call was taken.
Appointment of Sonya Boyce, Library Assistant: A request was made to approve the hiring of Sonya Boyce to a Library Assistant position in Princess Anne.
President Smith asked for a motion to accept the appointment. Motion was made by Karen Riggin, seconded by Jennifer Timmons, and unanimously approved.
Board Performance Review: Lynn Lang presented the results of the Board Performance Review.
Director's Performance Review: Lynn Lang presented the results of the Director's Performance Review.
President Smith made a motion to approve the performance reviews. Motion was seconded by Tim Spillane and unanimously approved.
President Smith made a motion to exit executive session at 5:00pm. The motion was seconded by Beth Holmes-Mayson, and roll call was taken.
Adjournment
President Smith asked for a motion to adjourn the meeting. Motion was made by Karen Riggin, seconded by Tim Spillane, and unanimously approved. The meeting adjourned at 5:00pm.
Respectfully submitted, Nora Hoffman Somerset County Library Bookkeeper/Admin. Assistant