Carbondale Reporter

Herrin City Library Board of Trustees met Dec. 17.

Here are the minutes provided by the board:

Present: Guebert, Maloney, McKeown, Watson, Hickman, Sarver

Also Present: Library Director Susan Mullen

Absent: Jones, Priest, Frost

The meeting was called to order at 6:30 PM by Acting President Guebert.

Visitor(s): None

Correspondence: None

Secretary’s Report: Watson moved to approve the minutes from November 2024. McKeown seconded. Motion carried unanimously.

Treasurer’s Report:

Bills to be Paid: Maloney moved to approve the payment of $2,005.45 for expenses incurred from November 13 – November 30, and $2,180.85 for expenses incurred from December 1 – December 17, 2024. Watson seconded. Motion carried unanimously.

City Budget Report: Last month’s report shows that 59.6% of the budget has been spent, with 58.3% of the fiscal year completed, leaving a checking account balance of $193,821.45.  Sarver moved to approve the report. Watson seconded. Motion carried unanimously.

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

Librarian’s Report:

November 2024 had a 4% increase in circulation compared to November 2023. A total of 316 unique Borrowers Cards were used. Patrons placed a total of 460 Hold Requests. A total of 417 Hold Requests were filled (borrowed.) We loaned 401 titles to other libraries and borrowed 765 titles from the other Heartland SHARE Libraries. We registered a total of 25 new borrowers, bringing us to 5,774 registered borrowers. A total of 91 new titles were added to the collection, making a total of 42,423 volumes in the collection. The Library Director attended the IHLS Director’s Chat on November 4 & 14. During the month of November, veterans were given free services. A Christmas Murder, presented by Lisa Carnaghi will be presented again December 19th. Director Mullen and Lisa Carnaghi are members of the City of Herrin 125th Anniversary Committee and are planning a haunted tour for October 2025. Santa visited the library on December 3rd.  We will continue our PerCapita Grant requirements by discussing Chapters11-appendices of Serving Our Public 4.0.

Children’s Librarian’s Report: Two story hours hosted in November: Pie Story Hour on November 7 (8 children, 4 adults), and Thanksgiving Story Hour on November 21 (11 children, 7 adults).

Committee Reports:

Friends Liaison (Maloney): The Friends approved to pay the $368.94 from Susan’s Wishlist. Next book sale was held December 7th and 9th. Next meeting is February 3rd.

History Room (Hickman, McKeown): Report submitted by Lisa Carnaghi.  Researched six patron requests and assisted walk-in patrons. An encore Christmas Murder presentation is scheduled for December 19th. The 125th anniversary calendars are doing well. The “In Bloody Williamson” presentation has been posted to YouTube. The results of the microfilm project were not as hoped for, as the image quality was poor. Other options are being looked into, but will possibly just continue to digitize in house with a new digitizer.

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:

None

New Business:

Review Chapters 11-appendices of Serving Our Public 4.0: Standards for Illinois Public Libraries for PerCapita Grant requirements

Tech Grant: discuss website proposal

The proposal received was higher than expected

Susan continuing to look into more option

The Board will discuss more when President Jones is back

Personnel issue notification

Susan briefly update the Board on a personnel issue

The matter will be discussed more when President Jones is back

Adjournment: Maloney moved to adjourn at 7:02 PM

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