Herrin City Library Board of Trustees met Feb. 10.
Here are the minutes provided by the board:
Present: Jones, Maloney, Hickman, McKeown, Guebert, Frost, Watson, Sarver
Also Present: Library Director Susan Mullen
Absent: None
The meeting was called to order at 6:29 PM by President Jones.
Visitor(s): Karen Yusko
Correspondence: None
Secretary’s Report: Guebert moved to approve the minutes from January 2026. Frost seconded. Motion carried unanimously.
Treasurer’s Report:
- Bills to be Paid: Watson moved to approve the payment of $2,182.83 for expenses incurred from January 14 – January 31, 2026, and $2,045.13 for expenses incurred from February 1 – February 10, 2026. McKeown seconded. Motion carried unanimously.
- City Budget Report: Last month’s report shows that 77.7% of the budget has been spent, with 75% of the fiscal year completed, leaving a checking account balance of $142,832.53. Guebert moved to approve the report. Maloney seconded. Motion carried unanimously.
- Financial Balance Statement: Maloney moved to approve the Library Balance report from the previous month. Watson seconded. Motion carried unanimously.
Librarian’s Report (Susan Mullen):
January 2026 had a 7% increase in circulation compared to January 2025. A total of 295 unique Borrowers Cards were used. Patrons placed a total of 467 Hold Requests. A total of 426 Hold Requests were filled. We loaned 475 titles to other libraries and borrowed 775 titles from the other Heartland SHARE Libraries. Our OPAC was used remotely from home by a total of 1,412 patrons. We registered a total of 17 new borrowers, bringing us to 4,157 registered borrowers. Traffic on the website was 1,719 visits. I attended the IHLS Director’s Chat on January 8 & 29. Circulation Assistant, Katrina Stanley, has started a book club: Last Saturday Book Club. They met for the first time on January 31, 2026 and will begin the book The Midnight Library. We hosted Lawyer in the Library on January 30. Our next Herrin History Room event is Carl Rexroad, Through History with the Wizard of Oz: 125 Years of Books, Musicals, Movies, and Pop on February 20. Our next Friends of the Library Book Sale is Saturday, February 28 through Thursday, March 5. The Friends of the Library Annual Meeting and Open House will be Saturday, April 25 from 2:00 pm -3:30 pm. The library was closed January 24 and 26 for the snow storm. The PerCapita grant was submitted and accepted on Wednesday, January 21. We will discuss trustee nominations. We have two CDs maturing to review and approve. We will also have the first reading of the Fiscal Year 2026/2027 budget.
Children’s Librarian’s Report (Cathy McCann): There were two story hours and one STEAM program held in January. On January 8, Story Hour “Let It Snow!”, the group made “snow” by using shaving cream and baking soda, as well as a paper plate snow globe craft. On January 22, Story Hour “Hibernation,” the kids learned about hibernation and built their own hibernation blanket fort with a snack picnic inside. They also did a craft of a paper bag cave for the hibernating bears they colored. On January 29, STEAM program “Straw-sone Fun (T for Technology)”, each kid learned to make a straw structure with the IL State Library’s Strawbees kit. They created silly art by blowing watercolor paint with straws, and then engineered a straw blowing toy to take home.
Assistant Director Report (Jason Hedrick): On January 16, guest speakers Charlie Dorsey and Erin Darnell from the Survivor Empowerment Center in Carbondale presented “A Poetic Prevention Presentation: Voice(s) of Resilience.” On January 23, “Chess at the Library” didn’t have any attendees due to the weather, but we will be trying again next month on February 13. On January 30, Lawyer in the Library Antonio Madrigal held sessions from 2-4 pm with 5 community members meeting with him. The next session is scheduled for February 27. Coming up in February will be guest speaker Carl Rexroad, Through History with the Wizard of Oz: 125 Years of Books, Musicals, Movies, and Pop on February 20. Jason also wrote and applied for the Stephen K. Reidner Grant for Life Enhancing Library Programs for People Living with Dementia. If we receive the grant, it would prove $2,500 to create a series of “Memory Cafe” events serving community members with dementia and other related cognitive and memory loss issues. Grant recipients should be announced at the end of March.
Committee Reports:
- Friends Liaison (Maloney): The next book sale will be February 28th, & March 2nd-March 6th. The Friends approved to pay the requested $720.01 from Susan’s Wish List. The Friends of the Library Annual Meeting/Open House will be Saturday, April 25th. The current officers are nominated for their respective positions and will be voted on in the April meeting.
- History Room (Hickman, McKeown): none
- Building and Grounds (Priest, Jones): none
- Community Enrichment (Guebert & Sarver & Watson): none
- Library Development and Technology (Watson): none
- Special Gifts Committee (Frost): none
Old Business:
- Trustee Nomination
- Barbara Guebert nominated Karen Yusko for the vacant Trustee position. Watson seconded the motion. The board unanimously approved.
New Business:
- Two CDs maturing – review and approve rates
- The Board reviewed and discussed the different rates at each bank as well as length of time before needing to be renewed, and looked at how the CDs would be divided amongst different banks.
- Jones made a motion to leave the larger CD to be renewed at Bank of Herrin for 12 months at 3.73%, and to move the smaller CD to Bank of Herrin for 12 months at 3.73%. Guebert second. The Board unanimously approved.
- Trustee Handbook
- Director Mullen provided the Board with a recently created Trustee Handbook.
- First Reading of the Draft Budget FY2026-2027
- Director Mullen provided the Board with a first draft of the budget for the 2026-2027 year, and the contents were discussed.
- The draft will be reviewed again at the next meeting.
Adjournment: Maloney moved to adjourn at 7:15 PM.
Next Meeting Date: March 10, 2026, at 6:30pm
February 2026
