Board of Somerset County Library Trustees
Regular Meeting Minutes
Wednesday, December 10, 2025 at 4:00pm Crisfield Library
Present: Beth Holmes-Mayson, Vice President; Tim Spillane, Treasurer; Board Members: Lynn Lang, 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; Nora Hoffman, Bookkeeper/Admin. Assistant.
Absent: Ann Smith, President; Karen Riggin.
Call Meeting to Order
Vice President Beth Holmes-Mayson called the meeting to order at 4:00 pm.
Audit
Audrey McKendrick from UHY, LLC presented the Library's FY 2025 audit.
Motion to approve the audit was made by Tim Spillane, seconded by Janet Smith, and unanimously approved.
Consent Agenda
- Approve minutes from the regular meeting of October 8, 2025
- Approve financial report for the period from July 1, 2025 – October 31, 2025
- Approve financial report for the period from July 1, 2025 – November 30, 2025
Vice President Holmes-Mayson asked for a motion to approve the Consent Agenda. Motion was made by Jennifer Timmons, seconded by Tim Spillane, and unanimously approved.
Branch Highlights
Crisfield: Presented by Ashley Gilson, Library Services Manager
Branch Highlights: In October, we participated in the Halloween parade and the school trunk or treats. We had a couple of dress up days in October like National Cowboy Boot Day, National Color Day, Wear It Pink, and Halloween Spirit Week that staff enjoyed participating in, and we posted photos to our social media. Patrons really enjoyed our inflatable Halloween decorations as well.
Throughout the library we had various decorations and in-house displays for Breast Cancer Awareness Month, Family History Month, Spooky Reads, Mystery Series Week, Native American Heritage Month, Picture Book Month, Veterans Day, and Thanksgiving.
Staff Development: Over the past two months, staff had participated in a range of training courses covering topics such as communication skills, after-hours safety, and mental health and well-being. Lorna and Ashley attended the Delaware Tech Social Media Conference at the end of October as well.
Community Partnerships: Gabe, Jaime, Ashley and Andrea had very successful visits to the Developmental Center and Tawes Nursing Home. Social Services still visited weekly to assist the public with any government aid they may require.
We had more patrons donate/restock the pantry lately, which is great for the community during the holiday season.
Future Happenings: We were excited for all our holiday activities. Staff were looking forward to participating in the Crisfield Christmas Parade and Noon Year Eve's Party.
Princess Anne: Presented by Danielle Craige, Library Services Manager
Branch Highlights: In October, we held our annual Halloween Block Party. We had an amazing turnout for the event with more than 900 people attending! In October and November, we featured several displays including a display from the Life Crisis Center and a fall themed book display. We welcomed a new staff member early in October; she had been a wonderful addition to our team. In the week leading up to Thanksgiving, staff enjoyed decorating the library and getting in the holiday spirit. Staff had been doing well with their weekly and daily tasks. We were continuing to see steady interest in the use of our meeting room and continued to utilize the Maryland Room as a secondary meeting space.
Community Partnerships: The Somerset County Arts Council continued to host a gallery in our meeting room. The Community Food Pantry continued to do well with members of the community regularly donating food.
Future Happenings: We would have a float in the Princess Anne Christmas Parade on December 12th. Staff Spirit Week started on December 15th; staff were very excited for the upcoming festivities.
Administrative Report
Presented by: Ed Goyda, Director and Jaime Bradshaw, Assistant Director
Collections
Collection Purchases: We had completely decoupled from Baker & Taylor, with all outstanding item orders canceled and submitted to Ingram. We were still waiting on the setup of item processing (spine labels, mylar jackets) from Ingram, but in the interim, doing it internally was only a mild burden. Amazon is also trying to push into the library space. On the plus side, we now had a designated sales representative at Amazon. Otherwise, they were largely still trying to figure out what services (processing, catalog records, pre- release shipping) that they'd need to offer.
Hoopla: ESRL wa s finalizing a plan to switch over from Hoopla's pay -per-use model to flat-fee subscription services at the end of the fiscal year.
Marina ShareIT: The setup of the new statewide interlibrary loan system, including both establishing the loan rules for each collection in each branch and setting up the interface with the regional catalog, was underway. The setup documents contained some requested information that is clearly the responsibility of the individual libraries, some that is clearly ESRL's responsibility, and some gray areas. We've requested that ESRL parse the responsibility before we risk ed duplicating (or octuplicating) efforts.
Newspapers Database: We were continuing along with adding the remaining newspapers into the database.
Programs
Adult Library Learners (ALL): We continued to see great attendance at our special events. Halloween was a big hit with 84 in attendance for our Costume Party.
Fall Festival: The event was very successful! 15 trips were made for the hayride, copious amounts of apples were served, and we ended up with 25 vendors. We had almost 300 in attendance.
Smithsonian Traveling Exhibit: SPARK!: Jaime attended a virtual meeting in November regarding the Spark Exhibit that will be taking place January 17-March 1, 2026, at UMES. Gabe & Jaime attended an in-person meeting on campus on 12/2. The kickoff/opening event was to be determined. We would be promoting our STEAM, Technology, and Genealogy programs with the addition of their logo. We would also be acquiring rack cards to display from the Smithsonian.
Community Outreach
Delmarva Shorebirds: Ed & Jaime met with Ben from the Shorebirds in November to discuss placing an ad for Summer Reading 2026 in their Fan Advantage. We renewed our partnership for another year and would be participating in future events at the stadium beginning in the spring.
Children's Services
Current Programs: Mother Goose and STEAM were doing well with attendance. Lego Club had been very low with attendance. Family Paint Night and Toddler Art had been consistent with large attendance. Holiday themed crafts and a scavenger hunt were put out in the children's room during the holiday break in November with an average of 20 families in attendance. We would repeat these programs in December during the Christmas break.
Halloween Events: We had a great increase in numbers from last year's events. During the school trunk or treats we attended, we encountered about 1,100 kids and 700 adults. At the Crisfield Chamber Halloween Parade, 375 kids and 300 adults visited our table to receive a logoed cup with a bag of treats. The Halloween Block Party was a hit with 13 trunks and 512 kids with 401 adults who stopped by to enjoy the festivities.
Ewell: We we re now offering a few children's programs at the Ewell branch. As of November 4th, MGOL, Toddler Art and Lego Club were being offered to the local families on the islands. Our volunteer, Elley, had been hosting these events with supplies we sent over. It was well received with the community on the island.
Outreach: Adrianna, Andrea, Ashley, Dani B., Dani C., Ed, Gabe, Jaime, Jenna, Noah, Scott, and Yakelin attended community events in October including the SIS P&T Conference, Crisfield Chamber Halloween Parade and the Trunk or Treats for Deal Island, Princess Anne, Greenwood, Woodson and Somerset Intermediate schools. During these events, they promoted programs for all ages and distributed library swag and candy to attendees. Adrianna also continued with monthly Storytimes Princess Anne Kidz in His Hands Daycare.
Upcoming Events: In December, staff would be attending the Christmas parades in Princess Anne and Crisfield, weather permitting. In late December, the Noon Years Eve party will run concurrently at both branches to offer a fun time for children to celebrate the new year with crafts, food, and a balloon drop at Noon.
Facilities
Princess Anne HVAC: The County was notified of another HVAC issue, in the Children's Room, on November 17. One of the two ceiling units was diagnosed as needing replacement on November 18. We were waiting for the installation.
Princess Anne Parking Lot Lights: The County was notified that most of the Princess Anne parking lot lights - the post next to the dumpster, all three exterior lights on the south side of the building, and the light above the front entrance - were out on October 30.
Financial
Patriotic Afghan Raffle: The raffle was underway as we headed towards the semiquincentennial, with one on display in both Crisfield and Princess Anne (and a flyer showing all four).
Staffing
AFLAC: Kris Elliott from AFLAC met with staff on November 6 to discuss potential policy changes.
A list of professional development activities was provided.
TECHNOLOGY
Polaris Upgrade: The November 8 Polaris upgrade went smoothly. The only significant change was an unanticipated benefit: it had drastically sped up the processing time on statewide loans.
Vice President Holmes-Mayson asked for a motion to approve the administrative report. Motion was made by Janet Smith, seconded by Lynn Lang, and unanimously approved
Governance
Policy Changes: There has been some rather intensive discussion between the Attorney General, the State Library, and the individual libraries about patron and staff privacy, largely driven by HB 1222- Public Safety- Immigration Enforcement/Maryland Values Act and its intersection with the existing Maryland Code, Education § 23-108 on the confidentiality of library records.
Some of the larger systems had a sizable issue, due to using a particular vendor that copied the entire patron database for use in demographic reports, without required explicit permission from the patron. Our patron database was much more isolated, with patron data only ending up in the hands of a third party when the patron opted to use that service (e.g., using any online resource that requires an account to be set up, signing up for the Constant Contact newsletter, or making meeting room bookings through the Google Form).
That said, there was some mild cleanup needed in the Privacy and Confidentiality Policy and Security Camera Policy. Proposed changes were presented.
Vice President Holmes-Mayson asked for a motion to approve the policy changes. Motion was made by Tim Spillane, seconded by Janet Smith, and unanimously approved
Executive Session
Vice President Holmes-Mayson asked for a motion to enter executive session at 4:34 pm, and roll call was taken.
Appointment of Kristin Shockley, Library Assistant: We had appointed Kristin Shockley to a part-time library assistant position in Princess Anne.
Vice President Holmes-Mayson asked for a motion to accept the appointment. Motion was made by Janet Smith, seconded by Lynn Lang, and unanimously approved.
Vice President Holmes-Mayson asked for a motion to exit executive session at 4:35 pm, and roll call was taken.
Adjournment
Vice President Holmes-Mayson asked for a motion to adjourn the meeting. Motion was made by Tim Spillane, seconded by Jennfer Timmons, and unanimously approved. The meeting adjourned at 4:36 pm.
Respectfully submitted, Ed Goyda, Director Somerset County Library