Library Board Agenda 12-12-2023MONTICELLO LIBRARY BOARD MEETING
TUESDAY, December 12, 2023
5:30 PM
GRRL PSS is inviting you to a scheduled Zoom meeting.
Topic: Monticello Board Meeting
Time: Dec 12, 2023 04:30 PM Central Time (US and Canada)
Join Zoom Meeting
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/89179706872?pwd=RjhMODJocDhvalZLUUdSeDNpWXZnZz09
Meeting ID: 891 7970 6872
Passcode: 915541
---
One tap mobile
+13092053325,,89179706872# US
+13126266799,,89179706872# US (Chicago)
---
Dial by your location
• +1 309 205 3325 US
• +1 312 626 6799 US (Chicago)
• +1 646 931 3860 US
• +1 929 205 6099 US (New York)
• +1 301 715 8592 US (Washington DC)
• +1 305 224 1968 US
• +1 669 900 6833 US (San Jose)
• +1 689 278 1000 US
• +1 719 359 4580 US
• +1 253 205 0468 US
• +1 253 215 8782 US (Tacoma)
• +1 346 248 7799 US (Houston)
• +1 360 209 5623 US
• +1 386 347 5053 US
• +1 507 473 4847 US
• +1 564 217 2000 US
• +1 669 444 9171 US
Meeting ID: 891 7970 6872
Find your local number: https://us02web.zoom.us/u/kd7LypNYNi
AGENDA
1. Approval of the minutes of 9/12/23 Board Meeting
2. Library Report(s) (Marla)
3. GRRL Update(s) (Jeannette)
4. Old Business—
2024 Meetings
Tuesdays at 5:30 pm
March 12
June 11
September 10
December 10
a. Fall Book Sale was October 11 & 12.
b. Institutional Delivery—bag system? Not necessary at this time. Current GRRL
canvas bags work well. Suspending delivery for St. Benedict’s until new
coordinator is hired and trained.
c. Gardening and Landscaping –Front door winter decorated pot looks great. The
one by the front door is the only one we need lit and decorated for winter. Spring
planting will be all three pots.
d. City staff came and took much of our seasonal décor from fall and took it to the
old DMV building. This was extremely helpful. We’ll be moving our winter décor
there in February.
e. Timeline for possible carpet/painting? Maybe 2024 or 2025?
5. New Business –
a. Winter Reading Program is themed: Perched on Reading (with a winter bird
theme). Teens and adults will participate. Grand prizes from the Friends of the
Library are Keurig coffee machines.
b. GRRL has new programming guidelines that go along with our strategic plan.
Programming will be more intentional. Mostly we accomplish this here in
Monticello, but some changes will be put in place (see library update).
Next meeting: December 12 @ 5:30 p.m.
In response to COVID-19 and pursuant to Minnesota Statute Chapter 12. Emergency Management, Governor
Walz declared a state of emergency. In accordance with the state of emergency and Minnesota Statute
Chapter 13D.021, the Monticello Library Board and GRRL staff will participate in the meeting by telephone or
other electronic means rather than being personally present at the regular Monticello Public Library location.
The meeting will be conducted electronically via Zoom. Members of the public may provide public comment and/or
monitor the meeting at https://us02web.zoom.us/j/86295073673 or US: +1 312 626 6799, Webinar ID: 862 9507
3673.
Quarter: January-March
Year: 2024
Statistics
As of February 29, the Monticello Public Library YTD circulation was at
20,666. December’s circulation was at 8,702; ending the year 2023
with a total of 134,747, a drop of 2.7% over year 2022. January’s was
10,438 and February’s was 10,228.
Programs
Legacy: 2 Legacy events in January: Artist Mark Rivard brought his
skateboard art class again. 14 teens came here on a Tuesday when
there was no school to participate. Rum River Arts also came in
January for a Bird Collage art project. February’s Legacy program was
another shared program with the Senior Center for their Valentine’s
Day lunch: George Maurer, pianist was a big hit.
Scavenger hunts are so popular, but we are steering those away from
being called a program, and grouping them into the category of a
library activity instead. We’ll keep doing them though, as it’s a great
way for kids and families to get to know the library and where things
are located.
Our Winter Reading Challenge, “Perched on Reading,” finished this
year with 111 participants and 642 reading slips turned in. At 4 hours
of reading per slip, that’s 2568 hours read by winter reading challenge
participants! We had 56 registered on Beanstack with 450 badges
earned for this challenge.
We have been busy planning our Summer Reading Challenge, “Read
Renew, Repeat,” which is an ecologically-themed program this year.
We’ll be focusing our décor on the rainforest, and gear our
programming towards upcycling/recycling and ecology.
Building/Maintenance Issues
Painting/Carpeting project is ramping up. Preparation will be very
complicated and labor-intensive. City of Monticello will be in contact
with the carpeting and perhaps painting projects. Programming will
need to be suspended until the library re-opens, and perhaps suspend
the Fall Book Sale too, or maybe push it earlier into August.
We will be coming into a donation of perhaps $3500 worth of office furniture in like-new
condition from Holiday Station Stores. They are moving HQ locations, and will be getting rid of
their furniture. Jan Iano’s son-in-law works for them and was the connection for this donation.
We’ll be getting our hands on it this month and will be donating or selling our old furniture,
and replacing it with these. Storage of the furniture before we get our new carpeting will be
discussed.
Also they are looking into possibility of installing LED lighting throughout the interior of the
library. This may be planned for 2025. All exterior lighting was converted in 2023.
Staffing Updates
The Senior Library Assistant search failed twice. The first search yielded a great candidate, but
they declined the position, as did the second choice. Reposted, the search failed again with no
qualified applicants fitting the job requirements to our satisfaction. It is reposted again, but
now as a regular library assistant. The position is posted until the 18th of March. The new
posting has open-ended the shifts, and we’re taking inventory of our current staff to find out
shift availability in order to set the schedule in a fair and easier-to-fill way. Many subs have
been vital to the continuity of our services. We are forever grateful to our many subs from
throughout the region who have stepped up to help us.