Carbondale Reporter

Herrin City Library Board of Trustees met Feb. 13.

Here is the agenda provided by the board:

Present: Jones, Frost, Guebert, Hickman, Maloney, McKeown, Priest, Watson

Also Present: Library Director Susan Mullen

Absent: Sarver

The meeting was called to order at 6:29 PM by Kathleen Jones.

Visitor(s): None

Correspondence: None

Secretary’s Report: Frost moved to approve the minutes from January 2024. Guebert seconded. Motion carried unanimously.

Treasurer’s Report:

Bills to be Paid: Priest moved to approve the payment of $1,897.83 for expenses incurred from January 10 – January 31,2024, and $3,706.37 for expenses incurred from February 1 – February 13, 2024. Maloney seconded. Motion carried unanimously.

City Budget Report: Last month’s report shows that 78.7% of the budget has been spent, with 75% of the fiscal year completed, leaving a checking account balance of $163,708.75. Guebert moved to approve the report. Watson seconded. Motion carried unanimously.

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

Librarian’s Report:

Circulation for January 2024 was 4% greater than January 2023. The Library currently has 5,537 registered borrowers and 42,131 volumes in its collection. 1,314 patrons used the Online Public Access Catalog (OPAC) from home in January. Website visits in January totaled 1,609 views. Director Mullen attended the IHLS Director’s Chat session via Adobe Connect on January 4 & 11, 2024. Our next event is The Remarkable Life of Dr. Andrew Springs on Friday, February 23, 2024, at 2:00 pm. Our Friends of the Library Book Sale was on Saturday, February 3, 2023, & Monday February 5, 2023, and ran the remainder of the week.  We will review and approve the new Employee Personnel Policy and willhave the first reading of the Fiscal Year 2024/2025 budget. We are adding the Overdrive (Libby) digital resource with the Tony Galines Foundation funds. We currently have a tentative date of March 1, 2024, to start Overdrive (Libby) at Herrin City Library. We have received the $2,000 check from the Ameren: Love Your Library Contribution grant. We are currently using this grant for Building Maintenance projects.  We have repaired the ceiling near the Circulation Desk completed in January, and have just completed the next area of painting in the Periodical Section.

Children’s Librarian’s Report:  Polar Bear Story Hour was Thursday, January 4th with 3 children and 4 adults present.  Penguin Story Hour was Thursday, January 18th with 4 children and 5 adults present.

Committee Reports:

Friends Liaison (Maloney): The book sale made $1,244. The Friends approved a wish list for $307.44. Newsletter went out last month and dues are coming in.

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 Committees: Guebert was reassigned to Community Enrichment.

Other Old Business: none

New Business:     

Review & approve: new Employee Personnel Policy: Maloney motioned to approve and McKeown second. Motion carried unanimously.

First Reading of new Fiscal Year Budget: Director Mullen presented the draft budget for Fiscal Year 2024-2025. 

Closed Session: Priest moved to go into closed session at 8:02 pm for discussion of Budget. 

Adjournment: Maloney moved to adjourn at 8:15 PM.

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