Fargo Public Library Board - December 18, 2018 Minutes

Regular Meeting: Tuesday, December 18, 2018

Board Members Present: Mary Batcheller, Mary Dickson, Jan Ulferts Stewart, Carlos Hawley Jr.
Board Members Absent: Rachael Steenholdt, Carrie Peterson, Scott Beaulier
Staff: Tim Dirks, Sunny Branick, Betsy Dauer, Jason DeShaw
Others Present:

Vice President, Mary Batcheller called the meeting to order at 4:05 PM, and a quorum was declared.

Order of Agenda
A motion was made by Mary Dickson to approve the Order of the Agenda. Jan Ulferts Stewart seconded the motion; motion carried.

Minutes of November 20, 2018 Regular Meeting
Carlos Hawley Jr. made a motion to approve the minutes of the November 20, 2018 meeting. Mary Dickson seconded the motion; motion carried.

Staff Report
Staff updates and Staff development activities:
• Sara Meidinger is our new Reference Librarian I
• Katie Rinehart is our new LA I at Main
• Cheryl Lackman and Lori West are reviewing applications for three Page positions.
• Teen Librarian Bree Schmidt will be on FMLA leave starting in January. Sara Meidinger and Sarah Nelson will be taking on Teen programming in the interim.

Programming:
Upcoming Events & Programs (a partial and incomplete list):
Childrens
• Dec. 27 - FPL annual Lego Mania Design Contest. Kids 12 and under are invited to build an original creation at home, then bring it to the Main Library between 2 and 3 p.m. Games and other activities will take place in the Children's Room to pass the time while we await the judges' decisions. Preregistration is required.
• Dec. 31 - PJ Masks New Year's Eve celebration! At the 'PJ Masks'arade you can make your own mask for the celebration. Then suit up and test out your skills with some superhero activities. Superheroes of all ages are welcome to participate. No pre-registration is required.
Adults
• Dec. 16 - Silent Reading Party at Front Street Taproom. This is a 21+ event.
• Jan. 7 - Winter Read-A-Thon starts January 7 and runs through Sunday, March 3, 2019. Related events and activities are planned for kids, teens and adults. (Bullet Journaling, Stamped Tea Towels, and Crocheted Drink Cozies)
• Jan. - Feb. - Beginner Yoga sessions for adults continue to be popular with patrons. More sessions will be occurring at the Dr. James Carlson Library.

Notable Past events & programs (again, a partial list):
Childrens
• Dec. 4 – Conclusion of the popular Libraries Dance program series. Members of Gaspers School of Dance came to the library every month for a storytime and also taught basic dance steps to the kids. Over the 3 month period of the series 300 kids were in attendance.
Teens
• Dec. 1 - The Harry Potter celebration had HP themed escape rooms for teens. All three sessions were full and all three teams made it out.
Adults
• Nov. 17 - Table at Pangea event at the Hjemkomst. More than 270 people stopped by the table to get FPL information about our library resources and upcoming events!
• Nov. - Dec. Concluded our 4-part “World War I on Screen” movie series. This film series was part of the 2018 One Book, One Community reading project. The films were well attended with about 40 people attending each film screening.
• Dec. 8 - Family Holiday Concert with the Fargo-Moorhead Choral Artists. We had 71 engaged kids and their parents attend.

Director’s Report
Director Tim Dirks referred the Board to his written report in the Board Packet.

Statistical Reports
Usage
The library had 38,646 registered patrons for the month of November. Attendance was up 1% year to date. Program attendance was up 2% year to date and up 5% compared to November 2017. Volunteer hours were down 1% year to date and up 668% compared to November 2017. The large increase is due to the yoga volunteer hours from the past 11 months being included in the Carlson volunteer hours. Internet signups were down 23% year to date. Print circulation was up 4.03% year to date. Nonprint circulation was up 2.25% year to date. Total circulation year to date is 951,223 circulations.

Financials
The year is 92% lapsed while the budget is 89.42% expended. There was $350 in incoming donations. Expenditures of donations totaled $1,167. Revenue is at $71,997.02 year to date.

Friends of the Library Report
No Friends report.

Unfinished Business
No unfinished business.

New Business
Overview of New Collections:
Jason DeShaw, Collection Development/Technical Services Manager, spoke about two new collections at the library; board games and mobile hot spots. The two new collections came about due public input from the strategic plan. So far both have been very popular.

Public Comment
No public comment.

Next Board Meeting
The next regular Board Meeting is scheduled for Tuesday, January 15, 2019 at 4:00 PM.

The meeting adjourned at 4:30 PM.