East Central Reporter

City of Charleston Carnegie Public Library Board of Trustees met June 7.

Here are the minutes provided by the board:

1. Call to Order

2. Roll call

Banks_Y__ Cunningham_Y__ Elser_Y__ Meadows___ Monahan_Y__ Smallhorn___

3. Public Comment

4. Board President’s Comments

5. Omnibus Agenda

A. Approval of the May 3, 2021 Board Meeting Minutes

B. Acceptance of Director’s Report

C. Acceptance of Statistics Report

D. Acceptance of Grant & Donation Report

E. Acceptance of Financial Reports- provided at the meeting

F. Approval of the bills payable- provided at the meeting

Motion to approve: ____ Seconded: ____

Banks___ Cunningham___ Elser___ Meadows___ Monahan___ Smallhorn___

No vote was held due to lack of quorum.

The expansion of hours has gone well. Summer Read started on Monday, 5/31. In the first week, we had 188 entries, totalling 642 hours read. The Fiscal Year 2022 statistics were not surprising in that nearly every category was down. Digital collections were all up from the previous year, and while everything was down, we still circulated over half of what we would typically, circulating 44,935 items. The Library received the first reimbursement check of the Back to Books Grant. Chris will be pursuing an Illinois Humanities grant and an ALA grant. Chris continues to coordinate with Booth Library as part of the Illinois Broadband READY Project, which will include a stipend for the Library. The newly passed state budget included an increase to the Per Capita Grant, raising the amount from $1.25 to $1.47 per person. Libraries are still waiting to hear how the State Library will distribute the $4.7 million they received as part of the American Rescue Plan Act.

6. Discussion Item

A. Reopening the Library

When the State moves to Phase 5, the Library will sign the entrance to recommend unvaccinated patrons remain masked. The KidSpace will be signed to strongly encourage children under 12 remain masked. Room capacity limits will be lifted. Social distanced computers will be lifted. The Library will strive to return to as close to pre-pandemic as possible.

B. Board Recruitment

C. Library Book Sale

Chris plans to hold a book sale in August, but wants to make it more than an average book sale and work on an inventory of what the Library is holding in storage and determining what can be sold. As part of this, Chris plans to close the Library for two days leading up to the sale so the staff can be brought in to help organize and prep for it. As part of holding a book sale, Chris will make a strategy for the Library to start accepting book donations again, which the Library gets calls about on a daily basis.

D. Next Board Meeting – Monday, July 5, 2021 at 6:30PM.

The July meeting has been cancelled.

E. Agenda Building

F. Other?

7. Adjournment at 7:31PM

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