Carbondale Reporter

Herrin City Library Board of Trustees met Jan. 9.

Here are the minutes provided by the board:

Present: Jones, Guebert, Hickman, Maloney, Priest, Sarver, & Watson

Also Present: Library Director Susan Mullen

Absent: Frost

The meeting was called to order at 6:30 PM by Kathleen Jones.

Visitor(s): None

Correspondence: None

Secretary’s Report: Maloney moved to approve the minutes from December 12, 2023. Priest seconded. Motion carried unanimously.

Treasurer’s Report:

Bills to be Paid: Guebert moved to approve the payment of $2,018.24 for expenses incurred from December 13- December 31, 2023, and $1,747.48 for expenses incurred from January 1-January 9, 2023. Priest seconded. Motion carried unanimously.

City Budget Report: Last month’s report shows that 72% of the budget has been spent, with 67% of the fiscal year completed, leaving a checking account balance of $178,671.79. Priest moved to approve the report. Sarver seconded. Motion carried unanimously.

Financial Balance Statement: Sarver moved to approve the Library balance report from the previous month. Maloney seconded. Motion carried unanimously.

Librarian’s Report:

Circulation for December 2023 was 10% greater than December 2022. The Library currently has 5,519 registered borrowers and 42,079 volumes in its collection. 1,112 patrons used the Online Public Access Catalog (OPAC) from home in December. Website visits in November totaled 974-page views. Director Mullen attended the IHLS Director’s Chat session via Adobe Connect on December 7 & 14, 2023.  On Friday, December 15, 2023, at 2:00 pm, we hosted Glenn Poshard as he discussed his book, Son of Southern Illinois: Glenn Poshard’s Life in Politics. Santa visited the library on Monday, December 18, 2023, at 6:00 pm, and we also hosted a Family Holiday Movie Matinee: Elf on Wednesday, December 20, 2023, at 2:00 pm. The next Friends of the Library Book Sale on Saturday, February 3, 2023, & Monday February 5, 2023

Children’s Librarian’s Report: Story Hour for Thursday, December 7th, 2023 was the theme Christmas Trees with 11 children & 8 adults present. Story Hour for Thursday, December 14th, 2023, was the theme Christmas with 5 children and 5 parents present.  Story time with Santa was December 18, 2023, with 19 children & 21 adults.

Committee Reports:

Friends Liaison (Maloney): Meeting approved $166.23 for January Wishlist. Newsletter to go out soon and Open House is Sunday, April 28th.

History Room (Hickman): Report submitted by Lisa Carnaghi

Building and Grounds (Priest, Jones): none

Community Enrichment (Sarver): none

Library Development and Technology: none

Special Gifts Committee (Guebert, Frost): none

Old Business:

Trustee Recommendations: Darla McKeown was recommended to the Library Board of Trustees. Maloney made a motion to accept Darla McKeown as a trustee. Guebert seconded. Motion carried unanimously.

$75,000 was successfully moved back to working cash by Director Mullen & President Jones on Monday, January 8, 2024.

New Business:    

The BoT reviewed and approved the PerCapita Grant which has been submitted and accepted. Maloney motion to approve the PerCapita Grant and Sarver seconded.

The BoT reviewed Board Contacts for SEI. 

The BoT was given evaluations to conduct a yearly evaluation of the Library Director.

Any other new business: The library director has prepared a personnel policy which will be distributed by email to be reviewed and approved at our next meeting.

Adjournment: Maloney moved to adjourn at 7:05 PM.

https://herrincitylibrary.org/about-us/board-of-trustees/meeting-minutes/january-2024/