McLean County Times

Carlock Public Library District Board met Feb. 15.

Here are the minutes provided by the board:

President Beth Wagner called the meeting to order at 6:30 pm. Other Board members attending were Nick Birky, Lacey Fritsch, David Garrison, Mike Miller, Jane Randall, and Laura Stephenson. Library Director Christie Lau was also in attendance.

The Pledge of Allegiance was recited.

Public Comment: none

Correspondence: none.

Minutes Approved: There was one minor sentence structure correction to the minutes from the January 18, 2022 meeting; the minutes stand approved as corrected.

Director’s Report:

1) Christie distributed information on the required training on a) Sexual harassment prevention, b) Open Meetings Act (OMA), and c) Freedom of Information Act (FOIA). Everyone has completed the sexual harassment prevention training. New Board members are required to complete the OMA training, and the designated officers are required to complete the FOIA training once each year.

2) The ILLINET Interlibrary Loan Statistical Survey has been completed and submitted to the Illinois State Library. 

3) The winter newsletter was mailed to all households in our district the last week of January. 

4) Christie continues working with Limelite Graphics pursuing an online apparel store and pricing on small give-away items. 

5) She also is continuing discussion with the University of IL about the internship and they plan to go directly to Library Sciences classes to advertise. 

6) The number of followers on social media platforms continues to grow. 

7) Programs: Story Hour remains popular with 10 to 25 attendees each week. There are 40 adults participating in Book Bingo; cards are starting to come back in with February 28 the final date to return them. There were 35-50 attendees at the Valentine’s party on Saturday, February 12. The Math Masters Club for elementary students (K-5th grade) will begin on Thursdays from 3:30-4:30 pm. Ashley and Rachel have created games using math skills, and the program will be evaluated after 4 weeks. A new program, Pop-Up Second Saturday, will begin soon. And planning has started for the Summer Reading Program, with the theme “Read Beyond the Beaten Path”. 

8) The Friends of the Library voted to cover the cost of a number of improvements for the Library, including new chairs for the public computer stations, laminator, portable speaker, and two new tables for the meeting room.

President’s Report: none.

Secretary’s Report: none.

Finance Committee: Dave reported that the committee met last Thursday and discussed the timeline for this year. They also started a discussion about employee wages, taking more philosophical approach than in previous years. There will be a further report at the next meeting. Christie is planning to start employee evaluations soon. Once wages are determined, budget planning can begin. The next Finance Committee meeting is scheduled for Thursday, March 10.

Policy Committee: Beth reported that the recent scheduled meeting had to be cancelled due to the weather. The Committee will meet on Thursday, March 3.

Long-Range Planning Committee: no report. The Long-Range Plan is on the agenda.

Financial Report: The monthly financial report for January 2022 was reviewed. Dave reported that the insurance bills were paid: Property Insurance of $4,867 and Insurance Bond of $658 (which covers 2 years). A CAM (Commercial Accounts Manager) system has been set up at Heartland Bank which allows only designated individuals (Dave Garrison, Lacey Fritsch, Beth Wagner, and our accountant Phil Harland) to move money between accounts, and only in person at the bank. All agreed that adding this additional level of security to our accounts was a positive step. New Business item Financial Report Fund Allocation was brought up at this time. Dave reported that he and Christie have discussed why our numbers are not always the same as those on Harland’s reports. He distributed a “Financial Report Fund Allocation, Amended for July-October 2021” noting the differences and reporting the current amounts for each fund.

Old Business:

1) Intergovernmental Agreement with Unit 5: This Agreement was signed at last month’s meeting. Christie has talked with Randi Sutter of Normal Public Library about the implementation of the Agreement, which involves reports from RAILS (Reaching Across Illinois Library System), comparison to our patron records, and the distribution of cards to students not currently on our rolls. Two decisions were made: 1) when new cards are distributed to students, they will be sent via mail to the students’ homes with a personalized welcoming letter, and 2) we would like to get reports from Unit 5 twice per year, February and the end of September. Christie will follow-up with the Circulation Manager at NPL to get further information. 

2) Mission Statement update: The Policy Committee submitted a recommended revision of the existing Mission Statement. After discussion, some changes were suggested to read: “Mission: The Carlock Public Library District delivers diverse education, information, and recreational materials and experience to all residents of Dry Grove, Kansas, and White Oak Townships.

Vision: We aim to remain a strong, vibrant, and relevant resource for the communities we serve. We will accomplish this through dedicated fiscal responsibility and prudent resource management.”

Beth made a motion to adopt the Mission Statement as revised; seconded by Mike. Motion carried unanimously.

3) By-Laws update: The Policy Committee presented a draft revising the current By-Laws, which were adopted on January 18, 2011. The updates reflect our current processes and add Section 5, Remote Attendance to Article IV, Meetings. Dave made a motion to adopt the revised By-Laws as presented; seconded by Lacey. Motion carried unanimously.

4) Long Range Plan: Discussion Drafts of the Long Range Plan and Implementation submitted quite some time ago by the Long Range Planning Committee were presented for discussion. Mike is the Chair of the committee and he reviewed how the committee was formed and some of their early discussions and goals. The members of the committee were Library Board members Char Proctor, Beth Wagner, and Mike Miller, and community members Kris Segneri, Randy Lorimer, and Chris Bohne. An extensive discussion followed about collection analysis, use of the Library, how to increase the number of patrons, marketing methods, programs to entice attendance, and how reading habits have changed and continue to change due to the COVID pandemic, technology options, etc. Mike will give Christie information about getting a collection analysis done, and plans are moving forward on conducting a marketing survey.

Being no further business, a motion was made by Lacey to adjourn; seconded by Nick. Motion carried. The meeting was adjourned at 8:30 pm. The next regular meeting will be held Tuesday, March 15, 2022, at 6:30 pm.