Sangamon Sun

Sherman Public Library Board of Trustees met June 21.

Here is the minutes as provided by the board:

The regular monthly meeting of the Sherman Public Library Board convened at 5:00 p.m.

Present were Library Director Rachel Kocis and Board members Julie Horton, Mary Contri,

Brian Manci, Gale Kilbury and Elizabeth Heubner.

Items for Consideration Not on the Agenda: The Board discussed moving the date of the

August meeting to accommodate for some scheduling conflicts amongst the Board members.

The August meeting will now be held on August 23, 2017 at 5 p.m.

Secretary’s Report: It was moved by Julie Horton and seconded by Mary Contri to approve

the minutes from the May 17, 2017 regular meeting. The motion was approved.

Treasurers/Financial Report: Gale Kilbury made a motion to accept the Treasurer’s Report

and to pay the bills. Brian Manci seconded the motion, and the motion carried by a unanimous

voice vote. Julie Horton made a motion to pay the mortgage payment from the Special

Reserves account. Liz Heubner seconded the motion and a unanimous voice vote in favor was

taken. Liz Heubner then made a motion to transfer $25,000 from Special Reserves to the

mortgage account to round out the fiscal year 2016. Gale Kilbury seconded the motion and a

unanimous voice vote approved the measure.

Librarian’s Report: Library Director Rachel Kocis reported a 1,826 patron count for the month of

May. 2,235 items were circulated 2,918 times at our Library, up 761 from last year at this time,

35% increase. Resident borrowing was calculated at 258 patrons with 2,262 checkouts while

Non-resident borrowing included 58 borrowers and 592 checkouts. Reciprocal borrowing totaled

11 borrowers and 64 checkouts. The 3M Cloud checkouts included 105 e-books, up 60

checkouts from last year. 10 e-audio books were borrowed, up 8 checkouts from last year, and

Overdrive had 174 checkouts, a 38% increase from last year.

Our total year-to-date borrowing/lending numbers are as follows: SHARE Borrowed 3,462;

WorldShare Borrowed 30; SHARE Loaned 4,047; WorldShare Loaned 66.

Library Events and Issues:

Two commercial FOIA requests were completed in the month of May from LocalLabs and

SmartProcure respectively. Rachel recently became an IL State Library Talking Books

representative, receiving a demonstration model of talking book machine for outreach at Villa,

and training all staff members on Talking Book Service program. An American Girl Raffle

request was submitted. The Library signed up for IL State Library lending list for Dremel 3D

Printer Kit and Nao Robot; Rachel will collaborate with the high school robotics program for

future programming.

Staying open late for teens to study for finals on 5/23, 5/24, and 5/25 was a success. The kids

were appreciative of the service and were very respectful to staff and library property. Rachel

will collaborate with Williamsville Public Library next year for both semesters.

Flaggland Homeowner’s Association has hired a tree cutting service to cut down overgrown

trees on the walking path property that abuts the Library property week of June 26-30. Village

Clean-Up Day re-scheduled for June 24th 8-11 AM at Waldrop Park. They will be accepting

computers, TVs, and metals.

Mary Contri recently gave the Library a large donation of Duplo Legos from the Sherman

Elementary. Glow Golf donated 250 free admission tickets to summer reading program.

Peoria Riverman also donated free passes to hockey game for summer reading program.

One of the circulation desk computers had a hard drive malfunction and was fixed on 6/11. We

are still waiting on quote for new patron computer and installation of Webroot from Serenity.

8th grade volunteer Eva Laffey will be helping with Tuesday story-times all summer. Mickey

Shurig will lead story-time on 6/27. Rachel is looking to schedule Rules of the Road program,

Passport signup program, and eBook tutorials for adults this fall.

The Illinois Public Library Annual Report is due September 1, 2017. We also need to find out if

schoolteachers are able to access SHARE services if they live out of district in the summer

using their school district’s home library without paying nonresident fees. Teachers can check

out with their school library cards and we can order material for them during the school year on

their school accounts. The Board will continue looking into this.

Library Programs and Meetings:

May programs included a Blood Drive on 5/15, Medicare Ins and Outs on 5/22, Third Thursday

Reading Group on 5/18, Shred Event on 5/6, Quilters Group on 5/4, Sangamon County 4-H on

5/1, as well as Lost Gourd Society on 5/11, Crochet for Charity on 5/5. FOSL Book Club on 5/9,

Daisy Troop on 5/2, FPHA on 5/10, Finals Study Sessions on 5/23, 5/24, and 5/25. The

children’s program attendance for May was 21, adult program attendance was 144, and teen

program attendance was 37.

Upcoming Programs in June include “Create an Artbot on 6/28 as well as “Reptile Experience”

with Serengeti Steve at SUMC on 6/29- and STL Mad Science “Fire and Ice” at SMC. Monday

story-times at 10:30 a.m. and Tuesday story-times will have the following themes: 6/6 “Turtles,”

6/13 “Superheroes,” 6/20 “Space,” 6/27 “Art.” 6/22.

Teen programs in July will include “Zen Tangle” on 7/5 and “Human Body Detectives” 4-H

Escape Challenge on 7/26, as well as D.I.Y. “Japanese Painting Techniques” on 7/29.

Youth programs in July will include “Bubble Wonders” at the Library on 7/19 at 6:00 p.m.,

Hanson Family at SUMC on 7/6, Amazon John at SUMC on 7/13, Steve n’ TV at SUMC on

7/20, Rope Warrior at SUMC on 7/27. Tuesday story-time themes are as follows: 7/11 “Ice

Cream,” 7/18 “Dragons,” 7/25 "Butterflies.” AHC visits every Friday at 9:30 a.m., and Camp

Sonshine visits every Monday 9:30-11 a.m.

Adult Programs for July will be Canine Search and Rescue program on 7/6, Ins and Outs of

Medicare on 7/24, Quilters on 7/6, Lost Gourd Society on 7/13, and FPHA on 7/12.

Library Outreach for the month of May included 150 kids at Sherman Elementary on 5/4, 45 kids

at AHC on 5/5, and 605 kids at Sherman Elementary on 5/22, 5/23 and 5/24 to promote the

summer reading programs.

Library Training/Workshops:

In June, Rachel attended Director’s University at the Illinois State Library from 6/5-6/8, as well

as the ALA Conference from 6/22-6/27. Medium Pubs Meeting will be held at the Argenta Public

Library on 8/22. Our Assistant Director has been asked to attend Adult Services Forum at

Vespasian Warner Library in Clinton on 8/30 at 1:00 p.m.

The Library will be closed in observance of Independence Day on July 4, 2017.

New Business:

Julie Horton made a motion to accept the Ordinance 2017-02, the Prevailing Wage Ordinance.

Gale Kilbury seconded the motion, and all were in favor.

Rachel presented the Board with information to read pertaining to staff and trustee

requirements. The Board will revisit this topic at upcoming Board meetings as well. Rachel will

also be reviewing safety practices with the staff and will be contacting the Sherman Police

Department to give a safety presentation to the Board. New Board members Brian Manci and

John Barrett will need to complete OMA training.

Our annual Budget Meeting/Levy will be held on August 23, 2107. The Secretary’s Audit will

also be held on this date and will be conducted by Liz Heubner and Julie Horton. The Board will

discuss the Director’s evaluation in closed session on July 19. The Meeting Room Policy will

also be reviewed on July 19. Rachel will be removing our former Board members from the

Banking Policy and will add our new members.

Continuing Business:

Rachel contacted Don Hance regarding the retention pond issue discussed at the May meeting.

The problem appears to be remedied at this time.

The Board discussed safety concerns about the barn in the children’s wing. The Board will

revisit this next month.

Adjournment: The meeting was adjourned by a motion made by Gale Kilbury and seconded

by Brian Manci at 7:05 p.m.

http://www.shermanlibrary.net/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/Board-Minutes-June-21-2017.pdf