Minutes 08 19 2021 LABLibrary Advisory Board
August 19, 2021
Assembly:
The Library Advisory Board met in Regular Session on Thursday, at 2:00 pm via WebEx.
Board Members
Baish, Mary Alice PRESENT Brewington, Jan PRESENT
Chadurjian, Denise EXCUSED Conlon, Dennis PRESENT
Damutz, Amy EXCUSED Dodd, Scott PRESENT
Guenther, Joy PRESENT Maurer, Kevin EXCUSED
Miles, Linda PRESENT Montwieler, Katherine PRESENT
Smith, Ida PRESENT Zimmer, Ronna PRESENT
Staff Members & Board Reps.
Paige Owens (Library Director), Sheryl Kelly (Asst. County Mgr.), Melody Loomis
(Library Coordinator) Leigh Thomas (Northeast Branch Manager)
Welcome
Chair Jan Brewington convened the meeting at 2:05
Public Comment
None
Agenda Review
No changes suggested
Approval of Previous Minutes
The minutes from the last board meeting on June 17, 2021 were sent to the board prior to the meeting
for review.
Motion: Dennis Conlon MOVED, SECONDED by Ronna Zimmer, to accept the minutes of the 6/17/21
meeting as written. Upon vote, the MOTION WAS CARRIED UNANIMOUSLY.
Correspondence
Paige shares a letter from a patron thanking us for help in the law library.
Friends of the Library
Tom gives the FOL report.
1. Friends of the Library members only Fall Book Sale 2021 at Northeast Library this Friday, August
20, from 5:30-9:00 pm. Please come and shop!
2. Story Walk boards cleaned and installed at Long Leaf Park, Smith Creek Park and Carolina Beach
Lake Park.
3. Continuing to refine downtown walking tour of past library buildings
4. Awarded LEAD grant funds to 4 library staff requests that implement innovative library services
5. Examining opportunities to collaborate on future activities with Foundation and Library Advisory
Boards
Tom also mentioned the brunch they held for staff.
Library Foundation
Ronna Zimmer gives report. Foundation met today and decided in light of covid, they will be pushing
luncheon back to middle of next year and will send out fundraising in Nov.
Director’s Report
Library Director Update August 2021
Operations & COVID Update
• Reopening with full open hours began August 2: M-Th 10-7; Fri-Sat 10-5; Sunday 1-5
• County reinstated policy requiring masks worn by staff and visitors in all county facilities 8/6/21
• Indoor mask mandate goes into effect Friday, August 20 at 5 p.m. for all New Hanover County
• Main Library closed Saturday August 21 due to street closures for Azalea Festival
• Two employees sidelined by COVID over the course of the past 4 weeks
Staff
• 12 new casual part-time (hourly) employees added July-August
• Added 2 permanent new hires to vacant positions:
o YA Associate, PV
o 20-hour weekend Asst., PV
• Posting/interviewing/hiring currently underway for 4 permanent positions:
o 20-hour weekend Asst., PI
o Local Interest Librarian (Zone 2), Main
o Reference Services Librarian (Zone 2), Main
o Senior Librarian, Main
o Library Assistant (multi-branch), NE
Facilities
• Pine Valley
o Climbing pyramid installed
o Continuing to search for solutions to goose droppings in outdoor program area
o Signage design/construction underway for Coastal Landscape Initiative native garden
areas
• Northeast
o Book sale scheduled August 20-29
• Main (see Project Grace)
Budget
• Overdue fines on children’s materials eliminated 7/1/21
• Funds provided for Digital Inclusion Project (see below)
Programs
• Summer reading Tails and Tales ended August 14
• Read across the County ends August 31
• With new masking guidelines, effort is being made for outdoor storytimes. Indoor children’s
programs require masks for ages 2 and up
Library Director goals FY21-22
• Project Grace planning
o Discovery period closed July 2
o Schematic design phase ends Sept. 8
o Public library design team, Rethinking Libraries, has been enlisted to assist library staff in
planning.
• North Chase Library request for qualifications (February)
• Digital Inclusion initiative
o Working with IT Dept. to replace public access computing/printing/copying hardware
and software across the system
• Continued policy review and strategic plan update
o Behavior and Unattended Children/Dependent Adult policies ready for Library Advisory
Board review this month
Survey Results
Paige shares Preliminary Public survey results from July 2021 with the board.
Discussion of Project Grace in the survey results will be at the end of the meeting after Ronna Zimmer
has left the meeting.
The survey was multiple choice with option of “other” with comments.
Paige talks about the group Rethinking Libraries and how that process evolved. She also shared some
suggestions from the consulting group.
Policy Discussion
Leigh Thomas shares with the board two revised policies:
• Library Conduct
• Unattended Children and Dependent Adults
Committee Reports
Nothing to report
New Business
Nominate Slate of Officers
Scott Dodd shares that we have 3 recommendations.
Chair – Scott Dodd
Vice Chair – Linda Miles
Board Secretary – Mary Alice
Motion to accept the nominations as mentioned by Scott.
Joy Guenther approves.
Seconded by Dennis Conlon
All in favor
Terms ending Aug. 2021
Jan Brewington, Amy Damutz, and Denise Chadurjian all have their terms ending.
Paige shares the books purchased with bookplates in honor of the board members leaving.
Old Business
Project Grace Updates – Paige shares the floor plans that was shared with the public.
Paige answers some questions about the survey re: Project Grace
Scott discusses having a liaison for Project Grace as Jan Brewington who is current liaison is leaving the
board. Scott wants to make sure all members are in agreement with the board’s position on Project
Grace. In brief the goal is to support the project while advocating for the best library possible. Dennis
states the focus should not be Project Grace but building a library for the next 50 years. Ida Smith wants
to know if the public is invited to any of these planning sessions. Paige says only to certain meetings. Jan
mentions she attended a few. Jan discusses what she knows about the Facebook group Save Our Main
Library.
Adjournment
Scott Dodd adjourned the meeting at 3:52.
Please note that the above minutes are not a verbatim record of the Library Advisory Board meeting.
Next meeting is September 16th