Herrin City Library Board of Trustees met Nov. 14.
Here are the minutes provided by the board:
Present: Jones, Maloney, Hickman, Watson, McKeown, Guebert, Priest, Sarver
Also Present: Library Director Susan Mullen
Absent: Frost
The meeting was called to order at 6:34 PM by President Jones.
Visitor(s): None
Correspondence: None
Secretary’s Report: Guebert moved to approve the minutes from October 2025. Watson seconded. Motion carried unanimously.
Treasurer’s Report:
Bills to be Paid: Priest moved to approve the payment of $1,098.64 for expenses incurred from October 15 – October 31, 2025, and $2,746.13 for expenses incurred from November 1 – November 11, 2025. Watson seconded. Motion carried unanimously.
City Budget Report: Last month’s report shows that 52% of the budget has been spent, with 50% of the fiscal year completed, leaving a checking account balance of $36,134.55. Guebert moved to approve the report. McKeown seconded. Motion carried unanimously.
Financial Balance Statement: Watson moved to approve the Library Balance report from the previous month. Priest seconded. Motion carried unanimously.
Librarian’s Report:
October 2025 had a 3% increase in circulation compared to October 2024. A total of 346 unique Borrowers Cards were used. Patrons placed a total of 474 Hold Requests. A total of 458 Hold Requests were filled (borrowed). We loaned 498 titles to other libraries and borrowed 780 titles from the other Heartland SHARE Libraries. Our OPAC was used remotely from home by a total of 1,311 patrons. We registered a total of 20 new borrowers, bringing us to 4,121 registered borrowers. Traffic on the website was 1,932 visits. Susan attended the IHLS Director’s Chat on October 2, & 9. The HHR program on October 31st was Grave Dowsing with Brian Bailey at the Herrin City Cemetery. Susan coordinated the IHLS annual Library Crawl again this year, running October 1-31, with a total of 149 crawlers. HCL is honoring veterans all month long with free services. Our CD that matured at Banterra National Bank was successfully rolled over November 1. We need to do a final review of the Strategic Plan. We will continue our review of the PerCapita grant by reviewing and discussing Finance & Budget through Information Services of Illinois Public Library Standards. We are seeking one nomination for a soon to be vacant Trustee seat. We need to review & approve the Library Property Tax Levy. We will review and approve the Holidays List for 2026.
Assistant Director Report: In October, Jason participated in the Ghost of Herrin Walking Tour as Isaac Herrin. He created, with Allison Albert’s assistance, a baseball themed tribute to Herrin legend Richard “Itchy” Jones in the entrance display. On October 21st, there was the monthly “Lawyer in the Library” event. On October 29, Jason hosted another “Scrabble Night at the library” with 6 attendees. On October 31, Brian Bailey demonstrated a grave dowsing at Herrin City Cemetery with 34 people in attendance. Coming up in November, we will be hosting a screening of “War Horse” in honor of Veterans Day with complimentary coffee and movie snacks. “Lawyer in the Library” will be on November 18th. “Scrabble in the Library” will be on November 19th. Looking further ahead, Jason is organizing a panel of speakers from the R. Buckminster Fuller Dome Home in Carbondale to take place in December.
Children’s Librarian’s Report: There were two story hours and one STEAM program held in October. There was also a Pre-K Field Trip to the library. On October 2, Story Hour “Spiders” had kids make a paper plate spider web craft, and then we took a walk outside to spot spiderwebs. On October 16, Story Hour “Halloween” had the kids playing a hide-and-seek pumpkin game and taking turns hiding and finding pumpkins, as well as making a hanging ghost decoration to take home. On October 23, STEAM program “Marble Mazes (E for Engineering)” had kids engineering a marble maze run from one side of an empty box lid to the other. The kids had a variety of materials to choose from, including popsicle sticks, plastic cups, pipe cleaners, and straws. On October 30, HCL hosted the Herrin Pre-K for a Halloween Story Hour field trip where the students had a wonderful time meeting in a new environment and learning about the library.
Committee Reports:
Friends Liaison (Maloney): No meeting this month. Next meeting is December 1.
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:
Strategic Plan: final draft plan
The BOT went through the draft to correct any typos and edits for clarity
PerCapita Grant review: Illinois Public Library Standards: Finance & Budget – Information Services
The Herrin City Library meets all core requirements and for the most part, all intermediate and advanced
Areas where we could improve on the advanced requirements:
We could highlight continuing education for board members
We could improve on a long-term financial plan and capital assessment
We could have an Attorney reviewing bylaws
Review Trustee Terms
Need one new nomination for January 2026
New Business:
Review and approve The Property Tax Levies
McKeown made a motion to approve. Watson seconded. Motion carried unanimously.
Review and approve: Holidays List 2026
Guebert made a motion to approve. Sarver seconded. Motion carried unanimously.
Discuss approve moving funds from savings to checking awaiting tax distribution
Susan recommending moving from 20k from savings to checking
Watson made a motion to approve. Maloney seconded. Motion carried unanimously.
Adjournment: Maloney moved to adjourn at 7:31PM.
