Kankakee Times

Bourbonnais Public Library District Board of Trustees met March 21.

Here are the minutes provided by the board:

President David Stejkowski called to order the regular meeting of the Board of Trustees of the Bourbonnais Public Library District at 7:00 p.m.

Trustees present: Mary Kay Blankestyn, Deborah Hendrick, Laurie Hofman, Judith Smead, Ellen Stringer, Amanda Wright, and David Stejkowski.

Also present: Library Director Kelly McCully

President’s Report: Stejkowski noted there was a quorum present. Stejkowki also expressed how pleased he was with the recent library program, Women’s Career Showcase for Kids, held Saturday morning, March 19. Several successful women from the community shared stories about their work.

Secretary’s Report: The Board reviewed the minutes from the Finance Committee Meeting and the regular Board Meeting both held February 28, 2022. Smead made a motion to accept all the minutes as corrected. Hofman seconded the motion and it passed with a vote of all ayes.

Correspondence & Communications and Public Comment (action items only): None.

Financial Report: Stringer reviewed the transactions and asked for any questions. Stringer made a motion to pay the monthly bills as presented. Stejkowski seconded the motion. Blankestyn, Hendrick, Hofman, Smead, Stringer, Wright, and Stejkowski voted yes. Stringer reported that the balance sheet is tracking at 66% and will be submitted to the auditor.

Director’s Report: Deadlines: April 30, Last day for filing Statement of Economic Interests with the County Clerk. June 30, Last day of fiscal year.

Marketing: Currently the Library has 2,536 Facebook followers, 934 Instagram followers, and 694 followers on Tik Tok.

The Marketing Team launched a Recent Reads campaign that was met with some controversy surrounding the books that were promoted. It was an excellent opportunity to review the library’s 03-10 Materials Selection and 03-26 Social Media Policies. BPL social media followers that shared concerns received the following message, “Thank you for sharing your thoughts with us. BPL strives to present book talks and reviews for a variety of readers. We understand that every book will not be a fit for every reader.”

The Marketing Team also launched Read Across America, Women’s History Month, and the popular, March Book Madness campaigns.

Adult Services: BPL’s new Adult Services Supervisor, Becca Maree, has quicky settled into the position and taken on collection development for Adult Fiction, Graphic Novels, Large Print, and Spanish collections. They have done an excellent job continuing the increasing circulation trends in fiction. They will be focusing on creative efforts to boost large print and graphic novel circulation in the upcoming months.

Becca has started proctoring for patrons again. The Library also looks forward to offering notary services for patrons soon.

The Library’s third annual virtual Winter Reading Challenge wrapped up on February 28. There were 81 participants who read a total of 930 books.

Children’s Services: Children’s Services continues to work on evaluating the Juvenile Nonfiction and Fiction collections. Shelf dividers in Nonfiction and displays throughout Fiction will help readers find selections more easily and encourage them to reach for something new.

Youth Services and Marketing Staff attended three Family Literacy Night events for BESD #53. Their work bringing the Library to the community resulted in 80 new library cards! McCully would like to extend an extra high five to Children’s Services Supervisor, Rory Parilac, who read the same book nine times (with, no doubt, the same enthusiasm) to families at these events.

YS Staff and Facilities Coordinator, Bill Johnson, created a custom, large library card for use at future outreach events.

Teen Services: Teen Library Club had an interrupted schedule due to holidays and snow days. However, with just eight days of TLC activities, 198 teens were welcomed to the program! The YS Team has worked hard to create an engaging and friendly space for teens. Teen Services Supervisor, Stacey Van Kley, deserves special recognition for her leadership and advocacy efforts for teens.

The Teen Department wrapped up their first Winter Reading Challenge in February. They ran the challenge with a bingo card format and had 181 returned cards. Cards were entered into a raffle for a gift card prize.

Circulation Services & Technical Services: Circulation Services made 56 new library cards in February. This is an excellent number considering BPL’s holiday and weather closures.

489 new items were added to the collection.

472 items were weeded from the collection.

McCully included circulation comparison statistics. BPL circulation was down 10% from 2021 but still led other area libraries with 5,344 circulated items.

Trustee Training: Short Takes for Trustees is an online trustee training that is offered by RAILS in partnership with United for Libraries. The training includes a series of short videos covering topics on governance, policy, evaluating the library director, and ethical parliamentary standards for library boards. McCully included the RAILS website and reminded Board members that they will need to establish a RAILS login to access the training.

2022 Summer Reading Challenge: The Summer Reading Committee has chosen FURBONNAIS, an original, local campaign highlighting all things animal and pets for our theme this summer. The Summer Reading Challenge will be offered both in-person and virtually, using the new BeanStack online platform, during June and July 2022. A shout out goes to the library’s super-talented Marketing & Outreach Coordinator, Katey Moore, for designing the custom logo for this campaign!

Committee Reports:

Personnel: A meeting is scheduled for Thursday, April 28, at 1:00 p.m. with BPL Supervisory Team in preparation for Library Director’s Annual Evaluation. Finance: None.

Policy: McCully will email Hendrick to schedule a meeting in April to review the entire Personnel Policies section, Serving Our Public 03-15 Circulation, and Trustees & Legal Requirements 01-09 Organizational Chart.

Building and Grounds: None.

Long Range Planning: None.

Unfinished Business:

Discuss Library Response to Illinois COVID-19: McCully shared that the masks optional policy for library patrons is going well. Many of the staff are choosing to continue wearing masks. Registration and spacing are still being used for programs. Storytimes for children will resume in April and will be held in the White Oak Room or outside as weather permits.

New Business:

Review & Discuss Serving Our Public 4.0 Standards for Illinois Public Libraries Summary & Checklist Chapters 8-13: The Board reviewed Chapters 8-13 from Serving Our Public 4.0 Standards for Illinois Public Libraries using a checklist provided by McCully.

Public Comment: Trustee Hofman asked for information on emergency procedures for the Library because of a recent lockdown situation involving Bourbonnais Upper Grade Center. Hofman was interested as to why the school was on lockdown, and the Library was not, considering their close proximity. McCully gave each Board member a copy of Emergency Procedures Policy 03-17. She also related information on the emergency training all library employees receive each year. McCully will discuss this issue with the BESD53 Resource Officer, Officer Garcia (the library’s ALICE trainer), and Bourbonnais Police Chief Phelps if necessary.

Adjournment: Blankestyn made a motion to adjourn the meeting at 7:47 p.m. Wright seconded the motion and it passed with a vote of all ayes.

https://bourbonnaislibrary.org/wp-content/uploads/Minutes-3-21-2022.pdf