Sangamon Sun

Sherman Public Library Board of Trustees met August 23.

Here is the minutes 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, Dave Grimm, Gale Kilbury, Mary Contri, John Barrett, Brian Manci, and Elizabeth Heubner. Guests in attendance were Phil Lenzini, John Bryant, and Vicki Bryant.

Visitor and Guests: Vicki Bryant requested to address the Board in order to read and submit her official letter of resignation. The Board thanked Mrs. Bryant for her service to the library.

Budget Hearing: Attorney Phil Lenzini explained the budget development process to the Board as a refresher to incumbent members and an introduction for new members. Following the discussion, Brian Manci made a motion to accept Ordinance 2017-03, the Annual Budget and Appropriations Ordinance. John Barrett seconded the motion and a unanimous voice vote in approval was taken.

Secretary’s Report: It was moved by Julie Horton and seconded by Gale Kilbury to approve the minutes from the July 20, 2017 regular meeting with the correction of one spelling error. The motion was approved.

Treasurers/Financial Report: Mary Contri made a motion to accept the Treasurer’s Report and to pay the bills. Gale Kilbury 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. Dave Grimm seconded the motion and a unanimous voice vote in favor was taken.

The Library still has an outstanding invoice from Henson-Robinson in regards to repairs on the retention pond. The repairs were performed in April, but there is question as to whether the Library is responsible for the repairs since the pond was installed so recently. Rachel is currently working with Don Hance, architect on this matter. Julie Horton and Brian Manci will assist Rachel with this matter. Julie and Brian will also form a Building Committee along with Rachel to address such issues in the future.

Librarian’s Report: The total patron count in month of July was 2,883. 2,770 items were circulated 3,675 times at our Library, up 1,143 checkouts from last year, a 41% increase. Resident borrowing totaled 297 patrons and 2,866 checkouts. Non-Resident borrowing amounted to 81 borrowers and 804 Reciprocal borrowing included 7 borrowers and 80 checkouts. Cloud Library checkouts included 114 e-books, 10 Cloud Library e-audio. Overdrive had 159 e-book checkouts and 21 e-audiobook checkouts.

July YTD Borrowing/Lending totals were as follows: SHARE Borrowed 453, SHARE Loaned 532, WorldShare Borrowed YTD 3, WorldShare Loaned YTD 4.

Library Events and Issues: The Illinois Public Library Annual Report will be submitted by August 31 2017. The Interlibrary Loan and Reciprocal Borrowing Statistical Survey was submitted to IL State Library August 18th 2017. Thank you cards were written to the Kerasotes family for donating two YMCA youth memberships and Glow Golf for free admission passes for summer reading, Sky Zone for donating 30 minute passes, Eva Laffey for volunteering with summer story-times, Kathryn Long at U of I Extension office for putting on the Human Body Detective Program, and Al and Jean Cikas for helping out with the Solar Eclipse program. We had an August 7th site visit with Ellen Popit from IHLS and Chris Dawdy from SHARE. We toured our facility, and it was suggested that the Library purchase the 4th edition of the Trustees Fact File from Amazon. Rachel inquired about teachers who live outside the district using Sherman Library services when school is not in session. It was recommended that Rachel speak with the school district librarian about the school issuing physical cards to the teachers for use at the Sherman Public Library. The Friends of the Sherman Library has officially separated from the Book Club. On August 14th Rachel met with F.O.S.L. president Jean Pennell to discuss F.O.S.L. bylaws and policy. Next F.O.S.L. meeting will be October 24th. Rachel met with the Outreach Coordinator from Williamsville PL to discuss potential collaboration in the upcoming year on August 3rd. The Library will offer staying open late for finals in conjunction with Williamsville P.L. for both semesters this year. The Library should look into participating in Christmas activities in the Community. Family Reading Night is November 16th. Becky Miller will see if some teachers would like to be special guest readers at the Library. Rachel also met with Mike Armour and asked him to remove a small tree growing in a pine tree. He trimmed the area around the sign, and applied weed remover to the area around flagpole. He noted the arborvitae is getting very tall on the front of the building and suggested we remove it in future. Currently the tree is growing above the roofline partially obstructing the gutter. Golf Green advised not spraying for Japanese beetles this late in the season. The Library will be put on an early rotation for spraying next year. A middle school volunteer helped spread mulch around the tree with donor rocks, assembled bookshelves, and helped with tasks around the Library on August 17th. Office Max offers printer cartridge recycling of 10 per month. The Library now has an account set up for monthly rewards for recycling. Patrons can now ask staff to turn on Reading History service in POLARIS to track books they have checked out. Rich Gatschenberger was called out to the Library on August 11th to fix a clogged drain that was causing the air conditioning unit to leak. Rachel met new Village Administrator Mike Stratton. We will be looking at a streamlined process for annexations and a more effective cardboard recycling schedule. Rachel has renewed BookPage subscription for 100 copies a month. The participating libraries that share the BookPage subscription is the Athens Municipal Library (13 copies), the Williamsville Public Library (13 copies), and Riverton Village Library (25 copies). The Sherman Public Library gets 49 copies a month for $.44 per issue.

Library Programs and Meetings: Summer Reading Program had 163 children participate in tracking reading goals and had 37 children complete all 8 weeks. Every child who completed 8 weeks received a prize. The grand prize was an Amazon Fire 7. Other prizes included 30 minute Sky Zone passes, Barnes and Nobel gift certificates, YMCA 3 month memberships, stickers, coloring books, puzzles, posters, and games. Grand prizes were drawn on 8/7/2018

July programs were as follows: Children’s Programs: 7/6 Hanson Family, 7/13 Amazon John, 7/19 Bubble Wonders, 7/20/17 Steve and T.V., 7/27 Rope Warrior, 7/15 Solar Eclipse Program, Story-times: 7/3, 7/10, 7/17, 7/24, 7/31, “Ice Cream” 7/11, “Beaches” 7/18, “Frogs” 7/25. Children’s program attendance for July was 1,527. Teen Programs: Zen Tangle 7/11, 4-H Human Body Detectives: 7/26, Japanese Painting 7/29. Teen program attendance for July was 28. Adult Programs: Quilters: 7/6, Canine Search and Rescue Lecture 7/6, Lost Gourd Society: 7/13, Third Thursday Reading Series: 7/20, Ins and Outs of Medicare: 7/24, Friends of Sherman Library: 7/25. Adult program attendance for July was 35.

Library Outreach for July included All His Children 118 and Camp Sonshine 138 for a total of 256 kids.

Upcoming programs include a Jazz Performance on Friday September 15th at 6:00 p.m. Story-times will resume on Tuesday September 5th. Story-times are every Monday and Tuesday at 10:30 a.m. Tuesday themes are: 5th “Grandparents,” 12th “School Bus,” 19th “Apples,” 26th “Dragons”. The F.O.S.L. Book Sale will be September 8th 3 p.m.-7 p.m. and September 9th 9 a.m.-3 p.m. at Seaneys. The “Ins and Outs” of Medicare will be presented on September 18th at 11:00 a.m. and 5:30 p.m. The 3rd Thursday Reading Series will be held on September 21st. The IL State Library NAO Robot program will be held on Wednesday September 27th at 6:00 p.m. “Touch a Truck” program with Sherman Fire Department at 6:30 p.m on Wednesday, September 28th Passport Program with Sangamon County Circuit Clerk will be held on September 30th from 9-12.

Library Training/Workshops: Rachel will attend the Think Outside the Barn at the Decatur Farm Progress Show on 8/29. Our Assistant Director will attend Adult Services Forum Vespasian at Warner PLD Clinton on 8/30. Rachel will attend the F.F.F.F.A. Meeting in Chatham on 9/8 and the Small Pubs Meeting in Williamsville on 9/22.

New Business: Rachel addressed the need for a new water fountain to replace our curtain aged fountain. Julie Horton made a motion to purchase and install the new water fountain. Liz Heubner seconded the motion, and all were in favor.

Julie Horton suggested setting up an annual schedule for large cleaning projects such as window washing, floor waxing, and carpet cleaning as well as HVAC maintenance.

Dave Grimm and Liz Heubner reported on their recent meeting with Rachel considering updates to the children’s wing. Liz Heubner made a motion to contact Mona Deming, design consultant for a proposal on design suggestions. Mary Contri seconded the motion and all were in favor. The Board also agreed to remove the barn from the children’s wings after several concerns expressed by patrons about safety.

Rachel presented new signature cards for the Board members to sign and have on file at the bank.

Adjournment: The meeting was adjourned by Julie Horton at 6:55 p.m.

http://www.shermanlibrary.net/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/Board-Minutes-August-23-2017.pdf