Board of Somerset County Library Trustees
Regular Meeting Minutes
Wednesday, June 12, 2024 at 4:00pm Princess Anne Library & Zoom
Present: Ann Smith, 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; Adrianna Warfield, Children's Services Coordinator; Nora Hoffman, Bookkeeper/Admin. Assistant
Absent: Beth Holmes-Mayson, Vice President
Call Meeting to Order
President Ann Smith called the meeting to order at 4:01pm.
Consent Agenda
Approve minutes from the regular meeting of April 10, 2024 Approve financial reports for the period from July 1, 2023 – April 30, 2024 Approve financial reports for the period from July 1, 2023 – May 31, 2024
President Smith asked for a motion to approve the Consent Agenda. The motion was made by Tim Spillane, seconded by Janet Smith, and unanimously approved.
Branch Highlights
Crisfield: Presented by Caprice Harris, Library Services Manager
Throughout April and May, staff members continued to work on completing the annual inventory process. We had relocated the Children's Holiday and Graphic Comic collection from being interfiled to having their own dedicated sections. During the month of May, our staff participated in National Pet Week by sharing photos and descriptions of our pets on the library's social media. We also celebrated Children's Book Week by posting about our favorite children's books along with brief descriptions. Various decorations and in-house displays for National Poetry Month, Gardening, Earth Day, Spring Vibes, Star Wars Day, Cinco De Mayo, Mother's Day, National Pet Month, Get Caught Reading Month, Mental Health Awareness Month, National BBQ Day, and Memorial Day were placed in the Adult, Teen, and Children's sections.
Staff Development: In April, Dani, Jaime, and myself had the opportunity to present virtually for MLA. Our presentation, Unlocking the Secrets of Customer Service Basics, was well received. In May, all staff members attended the Annual 2024 MLA Conference. Additionally, Ashley, Caprice, Jaime, and Gabe participated in the Spring 2024 SLRC Conference. Throughout April and May, staff participated in a range of training courses covering topics such as Relationship Building, Programming, Management, and Customer Service.
Community Partnerships: We now had social services visiting weekly to assist the public with any government aid they may require. Also, the Housing and Community Resource Coordinator from the City of Crisfield joined us monthly to provide access to local resources for the community. 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 had regularly been restocking the pantry.
Future Happenings: We were incredibly excited about Summer Reading 2024. We were also looking forward to all the upcoming summer outreach opportunities.
Princess Anne: Presented by Danielle Craige, Library Services Manager
In April and May, the library featured book displays on Arab American Heritage, Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage, and ALS. On April 30th, staff wore tie-dye clothing to celebrate National Tie Dye Day. The inventory process was still on-going but would hopefully be finished by the end of June. All the Princess Anne staff attended the Maryland Library Association Conference in Cambridge on May 9th. Circulation staff felt like it was a good experience and that they took something away from it. Adrianna had decorated the branch for Summer Reading. We continue to see increased use of our meeting room and the need to use our Maryland Room as a second meeting space.
Community Partnerships: The Somerset County Health Department continued to stock the branch with COVID test kits. The Community Pantry was frequently visited by members of the community. Patrons often donated to the pantry as well. The Somerset County Arts Council was still hosting a gallery in our meeting room.
Future Happenings: Summer Reading was just around the corner with Kick-off scheduled for June 22nd! With most of our staff being new, this would be their first Summer Reading with the library and they were very excited.
Administrative Report
Presented by: Ed Goyda, Director, Jaime Bradshaw, Assistant Director & Adrianna Warfield, Children's Services Coordinator
Core Services
Basic Knitting Classes: Holly had been diligently preparing for her basic knitting classes, set to commence in June and continue monthly. These classes would cater to patrons of all skill levels, offering presentations and samples to encourage participation and skill development.
Bed Bugs: Bennett Inspection was in Crisfield on June 6 and did not alert to any problems. They would be in Princess Anne the morning of June 12.
Blu-Rays: We had begun purchasing Blu-Rays when content was not available on DVD - chiefly, for serials from streaming platforms. DVD circulation continued to swing erratically from month-to-month when compared to the same period in the prior year.
Smith Island Family Frames: Dr. Jana Rehak had published a book about her work on the island, We Live in the Water: Climate, Aging, and Socioecology on Smith Island . She would be joining us for a book signing on September 28. We were also looking for funding, likely from the Community Foundation, to continue document digitization for the Family Frames project.
Community Outreach
Janes Island State Park : We had extended an offer to replenish and arrange Janes Island's Little Free Library Boxes with our withdrawn and donated materials.
LSHIAP's Resource Fair: Adri, Ashley, and Jaime would represent the library at the Lower Shore Health Insurance Assistance Program's resource fair during the Delmarva Shorebirds Stadium's Summer Reading Finale on August 18.
UMES Display Case: On April 17, Ashley and Jaime visited the University of Maryland Eastern Shore (UMES) to set up a display case outside the Frederick Douglass Library. They returned on May 22nd to create a new display for Summer Reading promotion.
Outreach Events: A list of events was provided.
Community Partnership
Chesapeake Heritage Festival: The Crisfield Library participated in the Chesapeake Heritage Festival on May 25 by offering crab-themed crafts for all ages. Plans for Saturday Crafternoons in the fall were under consideration.
Maryland Agriculture Showcase: Staff toured a mobile unit provided by Maryland Agriculture Education Foundation at the Maryland Library Association conference. Discussions were ongoing about hosting an Agriculture Showcase at the library to engage the community and promote literacy in agriculture and sustainability.
Maryland Food Bank Collaboration: Discussions were underway with the Maryland Food Bank to host a new type of community event focused on SNAP (Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program) registration and education. Events would target locations where hunger relief was needed, such as resource fairs, block parties, low-income communities, and schools.
Smithsonian Exhibit "Spark!": The library was partnering with UMES to host the traveling Smithsonian exhibit "Spark!" in 2025, making UMES the only location on the Eastern Shore to host it. The exhibit would run for six weeks, offering programming for all age groups, and highlighting innovation relevant to the community. A letter of support had been submitted, and UMES had applied for the grant, so we were waiting for confirmation.
Internal Development
Audit: Scheduling for the audit visits was complete. Rob Davis, CPA, would be on site on August 1 & 2. Jessica Shahady from UHY would complete the audit August 12 - 23.
Desk Audits: To bring job descriptions up-to-date, we had asked staff to complete "desk audits," annotating what percent of time they spend on the tasks in their job description (or possibly other tasks). eRate: We had confirmed that our Computer & Internet Policy was in compliance with federal code regarding filtering software, as part of ESRL's application to fund the eRate consultant.
ESRL CEO: Lori Milach had been named the new CEO of ESRL, beginning July 29. She's currently the Public Services Director of the Dauphin County Library System in Harrisburg, PA.
Ewell Computers: ESRL replaced the PCs (one staff and two patron) in the Ewell Library on May 21 & 23. They also installed new network hardware as part of shorewide upgrades.
Ewell Inventory: For general housekeeping purposes and to familiarize staff who had never been to the island/library before, Andrea, Holly, JoAnn, and Noah joined the island trip on May 21, and Adrianna and Meagen went on June 4.
Ewell Last Copies: Due to some unexpected behavior in the catalog, which was giving patrons an unclear error message, Ed and Michele had been working to remedy situations where Ewell had the only copy of an item in the consortium.
Maryland Library Association Conference: Caprice, Dani, and Jaime presented "Unlocking the Secrets of Customer Service Basics" at the virtual conference in April, and Lorna, with Thomas Voss from Garrett, presented "Zine-ovation! Empowering Voices through DIY Publishing of Zines."
Network Hardware: ESRL had scheduled upgrades to network hardware, including the firewalls, switches, and wireless access points, for the week of July 8 in Crisfield and Princess Anne. (Ewell had already been completed.)
Princess Anne Power Outage: The Princess Anne Library lost one of the phases on the three-phase electric line on Memorial Day, which we discovered the following morning. Princess Anne was closed for the day, and Crisfield had no Internet due to the fiber connection running through the Princess Anne server. The issue was in the on-street transformer, and Delmarva Power replaced it the evening of Tuesday, May 28.
Princess Anne Slideshow: The micro-PC for the program display behind the Princess Anne desk had been replaced with a Firestick.
State Librarian: Morgan Miller had been named the new State Librarian, beginning June 26. She was currently the Director of the Cecil County Public Library and Chair of MAPLA's Intergovernmental Relations Task Force.
Professional Development: A list of professional development was provided.
Youth Services
Lego Club: This new program began in May and occured concurrently at both branches on Saturday afternoons with a new challenge each week. Once completed, their design was displayed with their name in the children's room.
LOTE4Kids: This new children's story time resource was launched in April. Patrons would use their library card information to log in and access hundreds of titles in various languages.
Mother Goose on the Loose: Beginning in May, Mother Goose extended to the Princess Anne Library on Thursday mornings.
Outreach: Several individuals, including Jaime, Caprice, Dani, Ashley, Adrianna, Laurie, and Lorna, attended various community events in April and May. These events included the Delmarva Shorebirds Hit the Books event, Picnic in the Park, School Readiness Fair, Spring Fling, Deal Island Elementary School Sports Day, and Woodson Elementary School Sports Day. During these events, they promoted programs such as Summer Reading and distributed free books and goodies to attendees.
Summer Reading Bingo: To enter the raffle for this year's Summer Reading grand prizes, patrons must achieve at least one Bingo from their Bingo card. Ed created a randomizer to make each card unique across the age groups (Adult, Teen, Kid). The tasks on the cards ranged from reading a certain number of books to attending a library program.
Summer Reading Performers: All the performers for this year had been confirmed and the required paperwork had been received.
- 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
President Smith asked for a motion to accept the Administrative Report. The motion was made by Karen Riggin, seconded by Lynn Lang, and unanimously approved.
Governance
Confirmation of Vote - Nature Conservancy Alcohol in Meeting Room, April 19: We needed a confirmation of the April 18 vote allowing the Nature Conservancy to have alcohol in the Crisfield Meeting Room.
Confirmation of Vote - Mary Beth Bradshaw Alcohol in Meeting Room, June 9: We needed a confirmation of the June 5-6 vote allowing Mary Beth Bradshaw to have alcohol in the Crisfield Meeting Room.
President Smith asked for a motion to confirm the April and June online votes to have alcohol in the Crisfield Meeting Room. The motion was made by Tim Spillane, seconded by Jennifer Timmons, and unanimously approved.
Advisory - Collective Bargaining: Every library in the State had received a Public Information Act request for staff names, positions, salaries/wages, and any compensation studies completed since 2013. MAPLA met virtually with a labor law attorney, and the ESRL directors were meeting June 13 to discuss.
Collection Development Policy: Governor Moore signed the Freedom to Read Act on April 25. Given that it was emergency legislation, it went into effect immediately. While our Collection Development Policy was essentially compliant, some mild edits had been made to echo the language in the legislation. The regulation was currently being drafted and was expected to be available by the evening of June 10.
And since those ultimately give the State Library Board the ability to set policies for the libraries to follow, the policy may have needed to be amended two more times this year.
President Smith asked for a motion to accept the policy amendment. The motion was made by Lynn Lang, seconded by Tim Spillane, and unanimously approved.
Lynn Lang - Term Renewal: The unexpired term that Ms. Lang was filling expires on June 23. We needed a vote to recommend appointment to a full term to the County Commissioners.
President Smith asked for a motion to accept the term renewal. The motion was made by Karen Riggin, seconded by Ann Smith, and unanimously approved.
Strategic Planning: The strategic plan was nearly finished, and a version for review would be out shortly.
President Smith made a motion to table the discussion on the Strategic Plan. The motion was seconded by Janet Smith, and unanimously approved.
Executive Session
President Smith made a motion to enter executive session at 4:50pm. The motion was seconded by Lynn Lang, and roll call was taken.
Termination of Lizzy Bethard, Library Aide: Lizzy Bethard was terminated on April 29. As a non- probationary employee, she was given the opportunity to appeal and did not.
President Smith asked for a motion to accept the termination. The motion was made by Karen Riggin, seconded by Jennifer Timmons, and unanimously approved.
President Smith asked for a motion to exit executive session at 5:14pm. The motion was made by Tim Spillane, seconded by Jennifer Timmons, and roll call was taken.
Adjournment
President Smith made a motion to adjourn the meeting. The motion was seconded by Karen Riggin, and unanimously approved. The meeting adjourned at 5:15pm.
Respectfully submitted, Nora Hoffman Somerset County Library Bookkeeper/Admin. Assistant