Will County Gazette

New Lenox Public Library District Board met Oct. 8.

Here is the minutes provided by the board:

The regular meeting of the New Lenox Public Library District Board of Trustees was called to order at 7:00 p.m. by President Dr. Edward A. Tatro on October 8, 2018 at the New Lenox Library, 120 Veterans Parkway, New Lenox, Illinois.

Present were Trustees: President Dr. Edward A. Tatro, Vice President Linda Evans, Colette Loecke, Lou Broccolo, Michelle Monbrod, Ann Podoba, Bonnie Ulstad

Absent: None

Staff present: Michelle Krooswyk: Director and Recording Secretary, Michael Stubler: Business Manager, Tana Petrov: Adult Services Manager

Visitors: Debbi and Mark Vojvoda: Owners Just 4 U Café, Michelle Dodge

Minutes

 General meeting minutes from the September regular meeting were approved on a motion by Trustee Podoba, seconded by Trustee Broccolo.

 Special meeting minutes from the September 10, 2018 TITA hearing were approved on a motion by Trustee Podoba, seconded by Trustee Broccolo.

Audience to Visitors

 Debbi and Mark Vojvoda: Owners Just 4 U Café – Debbi thanked the Board for purchasing the refrigerator for her; Brian did a great job with the purchase. She also asked if she would be able to be open for the Christmas in the Commons events in December. Debbi verbally presented a few dates and times. Director Krooswyk said that because the item is not formally on the agenda, there cannot be a vote tonight on the dates. Director Krooswyk requested that Debbi provide her with a printed out list of dates and times so that the Board could review the dates prior to the next Board Meeting. President Tatro said that they would take it into consideration for now. Debbi asked what the procedure is for when the power goes out. Director Krooswyk has a procedure, not a policy, that lists the steps to be taken. This morning there was an outage for 5 minutes because Brian Goebel, Maintenance Manager, was able to reset it quickly. Debbi said they she would like to know regardless of time of outage. Director Krooswyk offered to provide Debbi with a copy of the procedure, which lists the Café as the third or fourth person to contact in the event of a closing because priority is that of the functioning of the library. Director Krooswyk also said that if nobody is in the building and there is a temporary power outage, there may be no way of knowing if the power was out. She asked both Mr. and Mrs. Vejvoda if there was a way to monitor their equipment with devices. President Tatro said that it seems that these items could be brought to Director Krooswyk during the week, like the procedure, rather than bringing it to the Board. Finally, Mrs. Vejvoda said that she would like to formally pursue an additional lease agreement and provided a letter of intent.

Staff Report

Tana Petrov: Adult Services Manager – Tana introduced herself, saying that she has been in the library field for 8 years and mostly in the Adult and Teen Services departments. Previously she has worked in the Naperville, LaGrange and Joliet Public Libraries. All the staff have been great and helpful; Director Krooswyk has been wonderful and very patient with her and she feels right at home. She still needs to learn a lot, but the staff is amazing and she feels very privileged to serve the community of New Lenox. President Tatro asked about Tana’s background; she has a Bachelors in communication and a Masters in Library and Information Science. The Board Members individually introduced themselves and welcomed her to the New Lenox Public Library.

Correspondence Newspapers

 None Other

 Letter to the Editor by Dee Philph

 Thank you letter from the Writers Group

 Positive feedback from a Square purchase (software we use to accept different form of payment)

Director’s Report Administration

 State of Illinois Update: Business Manager Michael Stubler reported on the update to the Veterans Act for the State of Illinois, which will be incorporate in the library’s policies.

 Adult Services Department Update: Tana Petrov started as the new Adult Services Manager on September 24. She has quickly acclimated to her department and immediately started meeting with her direct reports and fellow managers. A full time reference assistant has also been hired; Julie Perenchio will start on October 22. Adult Services is excited to be fully staffed once again to allow more off desk time for staff to work on events and classes once again.

 Door to Door Library Card Signup: Staff went out into the community three days for one hour at a time. Both the hot spots and new tablets worked extremely well. Staff were able to sign up three new patrons for library cards, including a homebound resident that will benefit greatly from our services. Many flyers were left on the doors of patrons that didn’t answer or were not home at the time we visited.

 Drone Pictures: Director Krooswyk shared aerial pictures of the library that were taken.

 Friends of the Library: The new Adult Services Manager, Tana Petrov, has agreed to be the next Friends Liaison. They will meet next on October 10 at 4:00 pm where Director Krooswyk will introduce Tana to the Friends members. The Friends will once again sponsor the final hole at the Ghouls and Golf Event

 Ghouls and Golf: Liz Wetmore has already received confirmation of 20 sponsors for our 18 holes. This is a great “problem” to have and we are excited to see how many attendees we will get for this year’s event. Staff have done an excellent job visiting local businesses to garner support and participation in the form of sponsorships or raffle basket donations. Trustee Broccolo asked for a number to put on the previous year’s sign. Director Krooswyk instructed the trustees to check with Liz Wetmore for numbers.

 Guest Lecture: Director Krooswyk will be guest lecturing at Dominican University for a library management class at the end of October.

 Insurance: Mike Vita contacted Director Krooswyk to ask about quoting the library once again this year on insurance rates. President Tatro recommended that the Finance Committee meet and discuss their decision going forward.

 National Library Week: National Library Week will occur on from April 8 to 14 next year. Tentative plans include another door to door library card sign up campaign in addition to potentially visiting a Village Board Meeting to advocate for libraries and sign up Trustees for library cards.

 Petition Packets: Packets are available for Board Members up for election next year.

 Special Board Meeting: As a reminder, we have a special Board Meeting scheduled on Monday, October 22, 2018 at 7:00 pm to discuss the path to a future referendum with John Chrastka from EveryLibrary. Interested managers and staff have been asked to attend as well.

 Staff Day: Our most recent staff day was a great success. Director Krooswyk gave an update including the newly reformatted evaluations. Staff presented on digital cards, Biblioboard, Mango, Niche Academy, Ghouls and Golf, open enrollment and the upcoming staff intranet page in the morning. After lunch, staff were able to learn about early literacy skills through a participatory storytime, and Adult Services presented on the homebound delivery and our new passport services. The day ended with department breakouts to attend to department specific topics and allow time to work on ongoing projects.

 Statistics: President Tatro asked why card registrations are down. Director Krooswyk said that she knew this was going on, which is why we are trying to find new ways to get to people in their busy lives (such as door to door library card sign up).

 Triad: Due to a last minute cancelation by the Manhattan Library Director and an unexpected absence, both Directors are going to reschedule to partner for the next TRIAD meeting.

 Village Board Meetings: Director Krooswyk was able to attend the September 24 Village Board Meeting, which included exciting news of several subdivisions in the area starting to increase building of new homes in our community.

Upcoming

 Policy Committee Meeting: Monday, October 22, 2018 at 6:30 pm

 Special Board Meeting: Monday, October 22, 2018 at 7:00 pm

 Next Board Meeting: TUESDAY, November 13, 2018 at 7:00 pm

Marketing Department Outreach Events:

 On Sept. 5 we visited Lincoln-Way West High School. In this school visit, Marketing and Melissa were at the schools to promote, Library card sign up month, and teen programs with an emphasis on teen art contest. We had a raffle as well as a guess the candy in a jar (the kids loved this). We met with over 150 students.

 Sept. 14 we visited Lincoln-Way Central visited 100 students (same as above for promotions).

 Sept. 20 Health and wellness fair & blood drive at VFW, we had a raffle basket as a give away.

This event was not well attended; next year we will give them a raffle basket to hand out but not actually sit at the event.

 Sept. 20 – Business After Hours, we hosted the business after hours with the Chamber, we had about 10 come to this. It is a great partnership with the Chambers as well as businesses.

 Sept. 26 – New Lenox Safety Meeting

 Marketing session with local business, Sept. 13 Library Card Sign up Month

 For this campaign we had a new card, renew card or refer a friend promotion. We have a raffle they will be entered into for the month of September.

 Promoted this on Facebook, website, channel 6, handouts, and sandwich board sign in the lobby.

 This campaign had a door to door attached to it. We did 5 days an hour each where we reached out to the community to sign them up for a library card on the spot. We created handouts for if they were home or if we missed them. (see attached).

Events:

 Mini Golf status: We have 16 holes filled, only need two more. We have exceeded last year in sponsors. Yard signs will be going out Oct. 1, all promotional material will go up on Oct. 1. This year we are handing out a bag with candy in it, as to save on not buying candy for every hole. We are hoping the businesses will continue to hand out candy as well. This is a great partnership with local business, they have a great way to promote their business, while helping out in the community for our fundraiser.

 We have started the raffle for IPO Tickets. In the lobby we have a basket where if you are interested you can fill out raffle to win 2 tickets to see a show. We have 2 of these passes per show. We partner with Illinois Philharmonic Orchestra on this promotion.

Social Media

 Stats for September: 62 new page likes, reached 17,871, 4 recommendations, 100% response rate, 1.965 viewed our videos, & 3,564 likes.

We are No.1!

 On Sept. 12 we had a Facebook live stream with Circulation introducing Jolyce, talking about

library card sign up month. We had 1,000 views, 256 likes.

 Created a video for channel 6, YouTube, Facebook for mini golf. 3,900 people saw video and 200 likes. 4 comments.

Information Technology Department

 Hotspots and new surface tablets were used with great success during the door to door library card signups.

 We have begun to look into improving our public computer usage experience by looking at the product MyPC. It has the possibility to make our reservation system less likely to go offline in comparison to our current system.

Adult Services Department

 Tana Petrov started as the new Adult Services Manager on September 24.

 A new full time reference assistant has been hired. Julie Perenchio comes to us from Naperville Public Library and will be starting on October 22.

 Passports are now being accepted by appointment only. Additional staff have been requested to sign up as passport agents due to its popularity.

Circulation Department

 Unique Management Services collected $264.45 in Collection Fees during the month of August.

 Some new procedures have been introduced to the department in an attempt to streamline

services utilized by the Adult and Youth Departments. Homebound and book club items are now kept behind the circulation desk in a more central location. Making item pick up easier for our staff and patrons. Staff has been amazing with dealing with these changes that have been implemented and all the bumps along the way. Jolyce thanks them for their flexibility and willingness to try new things.

 A new receipt printer was purchased that will improve the look of check out receipts for our patrons that have placed holds.

 Circulation management is in the process of accepting applications for a 15 hour Circulation Clerk. We have received some promising applicants and hope to start the interview process very soon.

Youth Services Department

 The NLSD122 6th graders have started their annual field trips to the library. Each class gets a tour and a database demonstration.

 Youth Services staff put together a video demonstrating the viral song “Baby Shark.” It was posted to Facebook.

 The merge of mysteries into the J-Fiction section has been completed.

 We have begun circulating a Field Trip Backpack from the Illinois Department of Natural Resources.

Maintenance Department Electrical:

 Parking lot light fixtures have shipped from Lithonia Lighting manufacturing facility to the contractor. Indicom Electric will be in touch in the coming weeks to schedule an installation date.

 Fox Electric installed a new surge protection unit for the library’s main 1200-amp power supply on Oct. 9th at a cost of $2,700. This replaced the faulty seventeen-year-old unit that was original to the building’s construction.

 ComEd will be sending an engineer Oct. 10th to begin planning and design for the replacement of the interior lighting through their energy efficiency rebate program.

Building & Grounds:

 Gutters on the first story outside of the Youth Services Department have begun to be cleaned. I’ve completed 1/3 of the job (one side of the building). The gutters are large and absolutely packed with wet, rotting organic material; I’ve discovered very quickly why a company wanted over $3,000 to do the job.

 New Lenox Fire Marshal James Brown will conduct a site visit on Oct. 5th to rate the vacant Assistant Director’s office in Adult Services as a private meeting room for multiple occupants.

Preventive Maintenance Performed:

 Emergency lighting tested

 Water heater flushed

 HVAC filters checked

 A.E.D. inspected

 Floor drains flushed

Treasurer’s Report

 Michael Stubler gave the Treasurer’s Report explaining income and expenses for September 2018.

 Budgeted expenses should be at 25%, and the actual expenses were 20.14%.

 Trustee Loecke moved and Trustee Ulstad seconded to approve disbursements for September 2018 in the amount of $38,204.13; motion passed by unanimous roll call vote.

Board Reports

 None

Committee Reports

A. Personnel: Met before this meeting; minutes will be provided at the next general meeting. B. Finance: Committee decided to meet on December 10, 2018 @6:30 pm

C. Building and Grounds: Decided to meet on Monday, October 29 at 2:00 pm. Trustee Broccolo mentioned that the bush has not been replaced in the back parking lot.

D. Policy: Needs to schedule a date to meet in October.

E. Fundraising: None

F. Other: None.

Old Business

 DISCUSS: Strategic Plan Review: Pillar Three – Instructive and Enlightening Experiences

Goal 6 – The library will be a welcoming environment that meets community and cultural needs.

Tactics:

 Increase attendance/usage of newly formatted teen area

The Teen Scene area has been extremely popular since it’s move to the south end of the second floor. For the first time, the Teen Coordinator is planning an after hours study event for two nights during finals week. Release forms will need to be signed by participants and their parents. We will feature lots of space for studying, a relaxation room and a possible therapy dog to de-stress.

 Determine feasibility of extended hours; study completed by December 2018. In-progress.

 Investigate plan for expanding children’s classroom.

Due to the transition of Youth Services Managers mid-year, this has been discussed, but no formal plans have been established. The focus for the remainder of the year is for the Youth Services team to re-establish expectations and goals for the department.

Goal 7 – Partnerships and signature initiatives will allow people to connect, interact and participate in enlightening experiences.

Tactics:

 Offer four new classes or seminars utilizing community partnerships

B is for Biceps local author visit

All of the preschool visits to community preschools including creating a summer program for them

Pillowcase Project - American Red Cross

District 122 Partnership for Summer Learning Challenge including visits to grade & middle schools Field Trips by all of the 3rd graders in the district to the library Field Trips by all 6th graders to the library

Mr. Freeze Cryogenics with Fermi Lab

NLFD fire department storytime (Wacky Rascals)

Books & Ballerinas (ballet studio in Frankfort) Beggars Pizza - Trivia

Senior Driving Course - Margo McDermed's office Girl Scouts Photography Badge - Kelli

Forest Preserve of Will County - Presentation Osco Pharmacy - Presentations and Flu Clinic

 Promote existing services through outreach at locations outside of the library. Family Reading Nights

Outreach to elementary and high schools

Door to door library card sign up

Participation at MANY community events

Future Tabling (library card sign up) at community events

 Maintain/Increase attendance for both Homebound and 1,000 Books before Kindergarten utilizing marketing tactics.

Enrollment numbers continue to increase for both of these programs.

 REVIEW: New RAILS Membership Standards: Facilities & Serving Our Public Chapter 6: Access – For RAILS Membership Standards we have accomplished core and exemplary standards. For the Serving our Public Chapter 6, we are satisfying all requirements.

 REVIEW: Policy Review: General 211, 219, & 305 – The Board discussed whether or not we should ultimately continue to charge for meeting room rental, and this will be reviewed at the next policy committee meeting. Director Krooswyk said that she would prepare a packet of policies we have covered in the past few months as a review and way to comment on possible updates or changes.

New Business

 APPROVE: 2019 Board Meeting Dates – Trustee Podoba motioned and Trustee Monbrod seconded to approve Board meeting dates for calendar year 2019. Motion passed by unanimous vote.

 APPROVE: LIMRiCC Rate Adjustment (Healthcare Coverage Costs) – Director Krooswyk and Business Manager Michael Stubler presented historical data about what the library has paid for health insurance for full time staff members. Overall, health insurance rates increased by 2-3%. Options were presented regarding library vs staff financial responsibility for costs. The Board requested to see financial data for retaining current library’s share, 100% staff and 50% for family. The Board moved this vote to the next regular meeting and no vote was made.

Board Continuing Education: The Director and the Board reviewed the next section (pages 25-29) of the Illinois Public Library Trustee Manual.

Executive Session

 None

Trustee Comments

 Trustee Tatro mentioned that the Historical Society will have their annual Octoberfest and that the Village Update will include information regarding the Fire District Referendum.

 Trustee Broccolo said that today was the 100th anniversary of Sergeant York.

Adjournment

Trustee Evans moved and Trustee Broccolo seconded that the meeting be adjourned 8:34 p.m. Motion passed by unanimous vote.

https://www.newlenoxlibrary.org/files/board/minutes/nllb1018.pdf