Board of Somerset County Library Trustees
Regular Meeting Minutes
Wednesday, February 12, 2025 at 4:00pm Princess Anne Library & Zoom
Present: Ann Smith, President; Beth Holmes-Mayson, Vice President; 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; Ashley Gilson, Crisfield Library Services Manager; Adrianna Warfield, Children's Services Coordinator; Nora Hoffman, Bookkeeper/Admin. Assistant
Absent: Tim Spillane, Treasurer
Call Meeting to Order
President Ann Smith called the meeting to order at 4:00pm.
Consent Agenda
Approve minutes from the regular meeting of December 11, 2024 Approve financial report for the period from July 1, 2024 - December 31, 2024
President Smith asked for a motion to approve the Consent Agenda. Motion was made by Lynn Lang, seconded by Beth Holmes-Mayson, and unanimously approved.
Branch Highlights
Crisfield: Presented by Ashley Gilson, Library Services Manager
Branch Highlights: At the beginning of December, staff were excited to start decorating the library for the holiday season. Our first community event we participated in was the annual Crisfield Christmas Parade. Despite the cold, we were able to construct our float and enjoy the parade. The judges liked it so much that we were awarded the trophy for best float. We also participated in Staff Spirit Week where we spread holiday cheer with our Christmas accessories, ugly sweaters and cozy pajamas. This was photographed daily and posted on the Library's Facebook page. In January, we started the annual weeding process and had shipped 22 boxes to Better World Books. Throughout the library we had various decorations and displays for Christmas, Winter Vibes, New Year's Day, and MLK Day.
Staff Development: In December & January, staff participated in various training courses on topics such as Mental Health, Inclusive programming, and Youth Leadership. We also had a few staff attend Tech Connect. The theme this year was "AI and Emerging Technologies". It covered the ways in which Artificial Intelligence and other emerging technologies influence and interact with library technology.
Community Partnerships: In December, Santa and his elves visited the Developmental Center and Tawes Nursing home where they made a craft and took photos. We still had a Navigator provided by the Lower Shore Health Alliance Program coming weekly to provide the public with insurance assistance. The free COVID-19 test kits were briefly unavailable in December, but they had now restarted to supply them. We also had a new Outreach specialist from the Somerset County Health Department as well.
Future Happenings: This spring we would be having our first Spring Fair. It would be similar to the Fall Festival but with more community partnerships. We were already looking forward to all things spring and Summer Reading 2025.
Princess Anne: Presented by Danielle Craige, Library Services Manager
Branch Highlights: In December, staff enjoyed participating in Spirit Week which included themed days such as pajama day, character day, and an ugly sweater day! In January, the library had book displays on Martin Luther King Jr. and National Hobby Month. Our annual weeding process has begun. The teen fiction collection had been fully weeded as had the adult DVDs, and we hoped to finish up adult fiction soon. We rearranged the Teen Area in January with some of the collection being shifted to create more space for teen fiction. The Fantasy Book Club had been going very well! We had three regulars that attended each month and so far. We had seen a recent uptick in meeting room bookings, particularly people interested in recurring bookings. We regularly used our Maryland Room as a secondary space. Staff continued to do well with shelf-reading and their daily tasks.
Community Partnerships: The Health Department has begun dropping off COVID tests again. The Community Food Pantry recently received a large donation from a member of the community and most of it had already left with patrons in need. Most Fridays, we had a health insurance navigator in the office.
Future Happenings: Staff were excited for upcoming spring conferences such as SLRC and MLA. We were also having Spirit Week in February beginning on the 7th.
Administrative Report
Presented by: Ed Goyda, Director; Jaime Bradshaw, Assistant Director; Adrianna Warfield, Children's Services Coordinator
Collections
Newspapers Database: We had 86,442 pages of 1,912 months of newspapers in a locally hosted database. Work on a patron interface was underway.
Statewide Databases: The State Library Resource Center was currently accepting feedback on trials of databases for their FY26 - FY29 contract.
Programs
Adult Programs: Adult program attendance was starting to increase as spring approached. Unfortunately, seven programs were cancelled in January due to the weather conditions, so we did see a slight decrease.
- December 2023 & January 2024- 456 attendees
- December 2024 & January 2025- 396 attendees
Charity Sew: "Charity Sew" would be taking the place of the former Block of the Month program. A small group met in January & February and would continue to meet one Monday per month. This would be opened to the public and advertised starting in March. This group would meet to sew items to donate to Somerset County Social Services.
Spring Programs: Andrea was embracing her new role as a Program Assistant and had many great things planned for both adults & teens this spring.
Community Outreach
ALS Awareness Month: We would once again be partnering with I AM ALS for ALS Awareness Month in May.
December Outreach: Our outreach visits in December were a huge hit as we took Santa Gabe with us to the Center, Manokin Manor & Tawes Nursing Home with 80 in attendance. We were unable to visit the Developmental Center in January due to a maintenance issue at their facility, but our nursing home visits still went well.
Legislative Day: Ed would be at Library Legislative Day on February 11 (weather dependent).
Maryland Food Bank: The Maryland Food Bank has continued to bring their truck to the Crisfield Library every other month and was always well received by the community. The next visit would take place February 18.
Rotary Dictionaries: After multiple weather delays, Rotary dictionaries were delivered to the third graders at Greenwood and Woodson on February 5.
Spring Resource Fair: We would be hosting a Spring Resource Fair with LSHIAP (Lower Shore Health
Insurance Assistance Program) and other local partners on Saturday, May 3, at the Crisfield branch. Jaime was meeting with the Director & Program Coordinator on Wednesday, February 5, to further discuss planning & execution.
Children Services
Current Programs: Mother Goose, STEAM, and Lego Club were doing well with attendance. In those programs, there has been a slight decrease in attendance, most likely due to the holidays and weather. Family Paint Night and Crafternoons had been consistent with attendance. Holiday themed crafts were put out in the children's room during the holiday break in December and were enjoyed by the children. In partnership with the Judy Center, Toddler Art Class started in January. Despite the snow days, we had a good start with attendance and were looking forward to February's.
Noon Years: We had a great time at our Noon Year's parties at both branches on December 31st. Cumulatively, we had 47 kids and 37 adults attend them. Everyone was excited to take part in our activities (photo booth, bingo, coloring) and enjoyed the balloon drops Ed constructed.
Outreach: We had not had any outreach over these winter months but were looking forward to some opportunities in March.
Upcoming Events: In March, we were having a Stuffed Animal Sleepover at both branches. Children would bring their stuffed animals to the library to do a craft and have a snack. We would have a goodnight themed Storytime before they part ways. Staff would then pose the stuffed animals around the library and take pictures so that we can make booklets of their adventure. Another program starting in March was Discover 4H at the Crisfield branch. Once a month, staff from Somerset County 4H would come down to do a different activity to showcase what they have to offer with the hope of forming a club in Crisfield.
Teen Services
Somerset Intermediate School: Ashley attended the Winter Concert at Somerset Intermediate School in December and visited with over 120 community members.
Teen Programming: Teen program attendance increased in January as the Winter Wonderland party in Crisfield was a success as well as Snack Attack at both branches.
Facilities
Crisfield Shade: We added a shade to the nook in Crisfield after noticing that the Xbox crowd was using their bodies to shield the TV screen from glare.
Crisfield Office Rearrangement: The workroom in Crisfield was shifted to free up more workspace.
Princess Anne Meeting Room: The Princess Anne Meeting Room (/ Art Gallery) had been repainted courtesy of the Arts Council.
Warming Centers: The libraries' role as warming centers was featured on WBOC on January 14.
Financial
Delmarva Education Foundation: We had received the DEF grant disbursement, in the amount of $2248.53, which would be held for FY26 expenditures. (As would the Buell grant funds when they arrive in April.)
Staffing
Ewell Hours: Ewell's schedule had been adjusted to daytime only. It was nominally a staff accommodation, but the daytime hours were much more active.
OSHA Survey: We had been randomly selected for the 2025 Survey of Occupational Injuries and Illnesses.
Staff Development: We would have staff in attendance at:
- The State Library Resource Center's Circulation Conference on February 25
- The State Library Agency's Emerging Adult Summit on April 1, and
- SLRC's Disability, Inclusion, and Accessibility Conference on May 27.
The Maryland Library Association Conference would be May 7-9 in Ocean City. The early bird registration rate was available through March 24; we would have our registrations in shortly after the February staff meeting.
Technology
Envisionware: ESRL was planning an upgrade to the Envisionware PC Reservation software at the end of the fiscal year.
Out-of-State Loans: We discovered a glitch in the interlibrary loan software that was leading to out-of- state requests going unprocessed. We had a workaround in place, and the backlog had been remediated.
Princess Anne Patron PCs: The Town of Princess Anne applied for and received a grant for computer labs that we were not directly eligible for. Those funds would be used to replace the public PCs this spring.
Somelibraries.org: Given that the newspapers database was a couple of orders of magnitude too large to go on ESRL's server, we now had Somelibraries.org up and running as the database host. That also gives us a back-up option if there's a prolonged network outage, although the site currently only refers back to the main website.
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
Advisory - Legislative:
Funding: The anticipated increase to operational funding was included in the Governor's recommended budget. The legislated $7.5 million for capital grants was funded, but the State Library had typically been receiving nearly double the mandated account, so it was functionally a decrease. The State Library Resource Center was currently level-funded and was the major push for Library Legislative Day on February 11.
SB 812 (2022) Maryland Cybersecurity Reporting Requirement: We were unaware of this until Talbot Emergency Services contacted the Talbot Library about it. This bill, from 2022, requires County governments (explicitly including libraries) to report any breach or attempted breach of IT systems to both County and State Emergency Management.
Fortunately, it excludes phishing attempts. There was potentially some complication here because ESRL manages most of our IT systems and was not a subdivision of a County government.
HB 254 - Individuals Experiencing Homelessness - Address Requirements - Prohibition: HB 254 would prohibit address requirements for library cards (among other things) for individuals experiencing homelessness, which was close but not perfectly aligned with our existing Easy Access Card Policy.
HB 863 - Libraries - State Policy – Alterations: HB 863 would have expanded the Freedom to Read Act to apply to programs but has been withdrawn.
SB 355 - Family and Medical Leave Insurance Program - Delay of Implementation: SB 355 would delay (for the third time) the implementation of the payroll tax from July 2025 to July 2027 and the implementation of the leave benefits from July 2026 to July 2028.
SB 369 - Public Libraries - Automated External Defibrillator Program: SB 369 would require AEDs in public libraries. We had them, via the County, in Crisfield and Princess Anne. We were investigating whether there was one in the school on the island.
Advisory - Federal Funding:
Funding Freeze: The federal freeze on disbursements may have affected the $11,400 in professional development funding, but the freeze was lifted so quickly that we never got an answer on whether those funds were already in the State Library's hands.
Interim Report: Our interim grant reports to the State Library were completed.
Advisory - Maryland 250: Ann, with Gina Gerhard and Betsy Thornton, was working on crocheted afghans with a flag design, featuring key words: Equality, Life, Liberty and Happiness. They would be displayed at the libraries and raffled off, with proceeds going to the library.
Collection Development Policy: The State had begun a review of Collection Development Policies in accordance with the Freedom to Read Act. We had a small addition to reflect the specifics of the regulation: "Employees will not be dismissed, suspended, disciplined, demoted, reassigned, transferred, or otherwise retaliated against for performing their job duties consistent with these standards or for acting in a manner consistent with the library's written policy implementing the State standards for libraries."
President Smith asked for a motion to accept the Collection Development Policy update. Motion was made by Lynn Lang, seconded by Beth Holmes-Mayson, and unanimously approved.
Heat Illness Prevention Plan: To comply with COMAR 09.12.32, a proposed policy was attached.
President Smith asked for a motion to accept the Heat Illness Prevention Plan. Motion was made by Janet Smith, seconded by Lynn Lang, and unanimously approved.
Makerspace Policy: This was driven by an FBI presentation at MAPLA regarding 3D printed firearm parts, which included relatively simple shapes such as cylinders and a three-dimensional "5". It also accounted for the newer devices in the makerspaces - while the price list was modified in October 2022, the policy was not.
President Smith asked for a motion to accept the Makerspace Policy. Motion was made by Beth Holmes-
Mayson, seconded by Jennifer Timmons, and unanimously approved.
Meeting Room Policy: A modification of the meeting room policy - to raise the cleaning fee to $100 and reserve the right to deny future use of the room in case of damage/mess regardless of whether related fees have been paid – was proposed.
President Smith asked for a motion to update the Meeting Room Policy. Motion was made by Karen Riggin, seconded by Beth Holmes-Mayson, and unanimously approved.
Promotion of Ashley Gilson, Library Services Manager: We had promoted Ashley to the Crisfield Library Services Manager position.
Promotion of Andrea Garrison, Programming Associate: We had promoted Andrea to a new full-time Programming Associate position.
Related to these two moves, we were not filling the Teen Services position at this time – Ashley was going to maintain the collection development responsibilities, and programs were going to be handled by topic rather than age group.
Also connected to this as well as the fact that Tabi Roessler was departing for California in two months, we had moved Meagen Boyce to full-time Library Assistant.
Appointment of Scott Timko, Library Assistant: We had appointed Scott Timko to a part-time Library Assistant position, in Crisfield.
President Smith asked for a motion to accept the promotions and appointment. Motion was made by Janet Smith, seconded by Beth Holmes-Mayson, and unanimously approved.
Executive Session
President Smith made a motion to enter executive session at 4:50pm, and roll call was taken.
Board Evaluation: A copy of the Board Evaluation was provided.
Director's Evaluation: Lynn Lang provided the Director's Evaluation.
President Smith made a motion to exit executive session at 5:02pm, and roll call was taken.
Adjournment
Lynn Lang asked about travel arrangements for the August meeting in Ewell. Ed Goyda stated that the Library would pay for the boat tickets, and that the Board would meet at the boat in Crisfield, tour the Ewell Library, and hold the meeting in the restaurant.
President Smith asked for a motion to adjourn the meeting. Motion was made by Beth Holmes-Mayson, seconded by Lynn Lang, and unanimously approved. The meeting adjourned at 5:05pm.
Respectfully submitted, Nora Hoffman Somerset County Library Bookkeeper/Admin. Assistant