Board of Somerset County Library Trustees
Regular Meeting Minutes
Wednesday, April 10, 2024 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; Nora Hoffman, Bookkeeper/Admin. Assistant
Call Meeting to Order
President Ann Smith called the meeting to order at 4:01pm.
Consent Agenda
Approve minutes from the regular meeting of February 14, 2024 Approve financial reports for the period from July 1, 2023 – February 29, 2024 Approve financial reports for the period from July 1, 2023 – March 31, 2024
President Smith asked for a motion to approve the Consent Agenda. Motion was made by Tim Spillane, seconded by Karen Riggin, and unanimously approved.
Branch Highlights
Crisfield: Presented by Caprice Harris, Library Services Manager
In February, staff members finished the weeding process and have now started to work on the annual inventory process. We have also implemented an opening and closing procedure list to ensure efficiency and better organization of the library. During the months of February and March, staff have been brainstormed ways to address and prevent uncomfortable conversations with patrons. On February 28th, in honor of Pink Shirt Day, which promotes anti-bullying, staff members wore pink, and on March 21st, in honor of World Down Syndrome Day, we wore our crazy socks. This was photographed and placed on the Library's Facebook page. Various decorations and in-house displays for Valentine's Day, Black History Month, Women's History Month, St. Patrick's Day, Easter, and Spring Vibes were placed in the Adult, Teen, and Children's sections.
Staff Development: In February & March, staff participated in various training courses on topics such as leadership, career development & social media.
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 Somerset County Health Department continued to provide free COVID-19 test kits for the community and was restocking the food pantry regularly.
Future Happenings: We were planning to relocate various collections around the library to accommodate more space. We were also looking forward to all upcoming outreach opportunities and Summer Reading 2024.
Princess Anne: Presented by Danielle Craige, Library Services Manager
In February and March, we celebrated Black History Month and Women's History Month with book displays provided by Michele. On February 28, staff wore pink shirts in recognition of Anti-Bullying Day. Gabe and Michele finished weeding early in February and began the inventory process shortly after. Gabe has been working on inventorying the nonfiction collection, and Dani has been inventorying the Adult DVDs. We continued to see an increased interest in booking the meeting room to the point of needing to utilize the Maryland Room as a second meeting space.
Community Partnerships: The Somerset County Health Department had been keeping the branch stocked with COVID test kits. The Community Food Pantry had been an asset to the community and frequently needed to be restocked. The Somerset County Arts Council continued to host a gallery in our meeting room, much to the community's delight.
Future Happenings: Circulation staff members would be watching selected Niche Academy training courses starting this month to develop their skills further. The Maryland Library Association Conference was coming up and our new members of staff are excited to be participating this year.
Administrative Report
Presented by: Ed Goyda, Director and Jaime Bradshaw, Assistant Director
Adult Crafts: The alcohol ink scarf craft in February broke our regular adult craft attendance record with 35 attendees.
Bed Bugs: Bennett's first set of biannual inspections was being scheduled.
Collections: Ed and Michele reworked the non-fiction tracking spreadsheet and tracked fiction circulation by genre to better align purchasing with patron interests.
Community Outreach
Adult Library Learners (ALL): Visits were introduced to the Crisfield Library in March, and we had a great response with 28 attendees for our St. Patrick's Day Celebration. We sent out invitations for our next special event in April for a spring-themed bingo with snacks & prizes. These visits likely continued monthly.
Delmarva Shorebirds: We attended the Delmarva Shorebirds Hit the Books Night with information & swag on Friday, April 12th.
Library Legislative Day: The Lower Shore directors met with Senator Carozza, and Ed met with Delegate Otto's staff, at Library Legislative Day on February 13.
National Library Week (April 7 - 13): This year's theme was Ready, Set, Library! The theme promoted the idea that in our always-online world, libraries gave us a green light to something truly special: a place to connect with others, learn new skills, and focus on what matters most.
Spring Fair: Due to the Somerset County Health Department hosting an event very similar to the Spring Resource Fair we were planning with the Lower Shore Health Insurance Assistance Program, we decided to table the event until next spring.
UMES Library: Jaime and Ashley had a few meetings with UMES faculty regarding National Library Week & a new partnership. Our library utilized a display case on campus to market our services, resources & events. Staff also attended their Library Live event on April 11.
World Down Syndrome Day: World Down Syndrome Day was March 21 and every year, people all around the world came together to celebrate World Down Syndrome Day by wearing brightly colored, mismatched socks, and some of our staff participated in that trend. March 21 is symbolic because people with Down syndrome have 3 copies of their 21st chromosome. Socks were chosen because the karyotype of Ds chromosomes looks like mismatched socks.
Wowbrary: Jaime & Gabe linked the library's weekly newsletter from Wowbrary to the Facebook page. Every Sunday, the newest materials & best sellers were displayed on a looped video.
Outreach Events: A list of community outreach events was provided.
Community Partnership
Department of Social Services: The Department of Social Services began using a Crisfield Study Room for client visits.
Housing and Community Development: Crisfield's Housing and Community Development Coordinator also reached out about using the Study Rooms.
Lower Shore Autism Community Listening Sessions: We hosted listening sessions for the Lower Shore Autism Community on February 10 and 17.
Internal Development
E-Rate: We filed our request for reimbursement of the Starlink service on Ewell, as well as the supporting documentation for the mainland fiber optic connections that are paid for and managed by the State Library Resource Center.
Lights: Mid-Atlantic Energy Solutions, with efficiency funding from Delmarva Power, installed motion sensors to control the lights in Princess Anne.
Maryland Library Association Conference: We registered for the MLA Conference, May 8 - 10. Caprice, Dani, and Jaime would present "Unlocking the Secrets of Customer Service Basics" at this year's virtual conference in April. At the in-person conference, Lorna, with Thomas Voss from Garrett, would present "Zine-ovation! Empowering Voices through DIY Publishing of Zines."
New PCs: We were still waiting on ESRL for the new PCs for Ewell.
Social Media Conference: Caprice & Jaime attended the Social Media Conference at DelTech on March 21. They attended a variety of classes and had a blast listening to author & keynote speaker, Andrew Davis.
Website: Ed updated sizable parts of the code on the website to make it compatible with an ESRL webserver upgrade.
Professional Development: A list of professional development was provided.
Youth Services
LOTE4Kids: Adri researched LOTE4Kids (Languages Other Than English, in Australian) to provide online read-alongs of picture books in more than 50 languages, including Sign Language.
Summer Reading - Performers: The Summer Reading Performer Schedule was (mostly) set, with:
- Saturday, June 22: Kickoff
- Tuesday, June 25: Nathalia (ESRL sponsored program; Princess Anne only)
- Tuesday, July 2: Chesapeake Bay Field Station
- Tuesday, July 9: Turtle Dance
- Tuesday, July 16: The Amazing Josini
- Thursday, July 25: Reptile Wonders
- Tuesday, July 30: Extreme Balloons
- Tuesday, August 6: Janes Island State Park
- Saturday, August 17: Finale
We reached out to a Crisfield native author about a program to counterbalance Nathalia on June 25.
Summer Reading - Sign Ups: Custom merchandise and the statewide shirts were on hand. We elected not to order the national Collaborative Summer Library Program shirts due to a warning that their sizing might be up to three sizes off.
We emphasized reading logs for the weekly prizes, raffles at the programs, and a Bingo Card for the Finale drawing, with the print items mirrored online.
Summer Reading - State Library: We had small batches of tickets to the Science Center, Aquarium, and State Fair coming from the State Library. (Interest from our patrons had typically been minimal.)
President Smith asked for a motion to accept the Administrative Report. Motion was made by Janet Smith, seconded by Beth Holmes-Mayson, and unanimously approved.
Governance
Executive Session
President Smith asked for a motion to enter executive session at 4:39pm. Motion was made by Beth Holmes-Mayson, seconded by Janet Smith, and roll call was taken.
Resignation of Karen Earp, Children's Services Coordinator: Karen resigned effective March 8 to take a position with Wicomico.
President Smith asked for a motion to accept the resignation of Karen Earp. Motion was made by Lynn Lang, seconded by Beth Holmes-Mayson, and unanimously approved.
Promotion of Adrianna Warfield, Children's Services Coordinator: We promoted Adrianna Warfield to the Children's Services Coordinator position.
President Smith asked for a motion to approve the promotion of Adrianna Warfield. Motion was made by Tim Spillane, seconded by Karen Riggin, and unanimously approved.
Appointment of Andrea Garrison, Library Assistant: We requested approval of the hiring of Andrea Garrison to a Library Assistant position in Crisfield.
President Smith asked for a motion to approve the hiring of Andrea Garrison. Motion was made by Jennifer Timmons, seconded by Tim Spillane, and unanimously approved.
Appointment of Jo Ann Strouse, Library Assistant: We requested approval of the hiring of Jo Ann Strouse to a Library Assistant position in Crisfield.
President Smith asked for a motion to approve the hiring of Jo Ann Strouse. Motion was made by Tim Spillane, seconded by Jennifer Timmons, and unanimously approved.
President Smith made a motion to exit executive session at 4:49pm. The motion was seconded by Janet Smith, and roll call was taken.
Advisory - Legislative:
HB 489 / SB434: Funding for the State Library Resource Center passed, although the ongoing increases were amended to only extend through 2027, not 2030.
HB 609 / SB 591: The Collective Bargaining Bill also passed, with none of the MAPLA- recommended amendments, mirroring last year's Public Employee Relations Act.
HB 785 / SB 738: The Freedom to Read Bill passed. The Governor's bill signing ceremony for April 9 had been rescheduled. This would require some minor adaptations to the Collection Development Policy.
HB 1325: A bill regarding individuals experiencing homelessness, that might have required some minor changes to address verification requirements for new cards, did not make it out of committee in the house.
Auditor Approval for FY24: We needed to confirm our selection of auditor (UHY) to the State Library Agency by May 1.
President Smith asked for a motion to confirm the approval of UHY as this year's auditor. Motion was made by Karen Riggin, seconded by Beth Holmes-Mayson, and unanimously approved.
Advisory - Strategic Planning: Final versions of the vision, mission, core values, and analyses were attached. Ed was still underway on the planning portion.
Adjournment
President Smith asked for a motion to adjourn the meeting. Motion was made by Karen Riggin, seconded by Lynn Lang and unanimously approved. The meeting adjourned at 5:08pm.
Respectfully submitted, Nora Hoffman Somerset County Library Bookkeeper/Admin. Assistant