Library Board Agenda 06-09-2020MONTICELLO LIBRARY BOARD MEETING
TUESDAY, June 9, 2020
5:30 PM
AGENDA
1. Approval of the minutes of the 3/10/20, Board Meeting;
2. Library Report(s) — attached
3. GRRL Update(s)
4. Old Business —
a. Lighting —update
b. Painting —update
c. Plumbing?
5. New Business —
a. Summer Reading Program update
b. Covid-19 update and phased reopening plan
c. Curbside Pick up continues
d. Phone issues
6. Next Library Board Meeting — September 8, 2020 @ 5:30 p.m.
2020 Meetings
Tuesdays at 5:30 pm
September 8
December 8
Quarter: March -June Year: 2020
Statistics
As of May 31, the Monticello Public Library circulation was at 35624 - down 49% over the same
period in 2019. Check-out sessions totaled 8,783 for March and 200 for April. May's statistics
were not ready at the time of this report.
Programs
Unfortunately, all of our in -person, in -library programs were canceled from March 17-present, and
continuing throughout the month of August. We have been initiating virtual programs and
encouraging participation with reading programs (including the Summer Reading Program) with
the Beanstack app. We will be providing some Make & Take crafts to send out to patrons who
come and utilize our curbside pick-up.
We were unable to get out to the schools to promote our SRP, and '/z of the Eastview
Kindergarten classes, which were supposed to come that week we closed were unable to come.
We've sent information and a video out about SRP to the administrators prior to the end of the
school year. We heard back from the Middle School and Eastview, but didn't hear back from
Pinewood or Little Mountain. They may have distributed our information, but we just never got
confirmation that they were going to do this.
This year's SRP will be mostly participatory, and not registration -based. We are encouraging
patrons to "do" as well as read. Prizes will be awarded via drawing at the end of the program, and
we'll be distributing free books to any child who simply asks about the program. We have the free
books displayed in our window, and they can "window shop" our collection posted there too. We
also have a few passive programs, like an "I -Spy" game and another fun guessing game in our
window. We have 2 programs for teens on the East side of the building too.
Building/Maintenance Issues
The new LED lights were installed in our main library area and they make a huge difference.
Painting was completed in our programming room during the first couple weeks of our closure, so
that was great. It's so nice and bright in there now. It has come to the forefront that we only have
one phone line coming into the library. This is a problem because when we are doing any kind of
customer service on the phone, other patrons dialing in receive a busy signal. If we continue with
curbside, which I think will be indefinitely, we really need another phone line.
COVID Closure
On March 17, 2020, our library system collectively closed its doors according to the State of
Minnesota's and the CDC Guidelines. On April 20, we opened to appointment -based curbside
pickup of holds at this branch and opened the book drops during those curbside hours. Three
weeks later we opened to full hours (our normal open hours) for curbside pickup. Most patrons
have been very appreciative of this service.
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GREAT RIVER REGIOnAL
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We've been communicating a lot of our information via our Monticello Library Facebook page, but have struggled with other
ways to communicate with people who don't have Facebook. Many to this day do not know we are "open" and there are
hundreds of outstanding items that will be due on June 8, the last day of check-out due date extensions. We have been very
lenient when it has come to fines during this time, as most items that were originally due in March were extended until June
8. But after June 8, all items have due dates like normal (3 weeks for everything except DVDs which are 1 week).
The next step in our phased reopening is to open the library to computer reservations. This could happen soon, but we
need to have our safety protocols and signage in place before that happens. This is a service which the community has
requested, but we have not been able to provide. Hopefully, this will be a service we can offer safely to both our staff and
our community, especially since the Office Max in town is now closed.
The city of Monticello has been great and generous during our closure. They have given us 2 hand sanitizing stations which
we've mounted, and given us some various supplies to help us ensure we're keeping everything sanitized.
GREAT RIVER REGIOnAL
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