Carbondale Reporter

Herrin City Library Board of Trustees met Feb. 12.

Here are the minutes provided by the board:

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

Also Present: Library Director Susan Mullen

Absent: Priest, Sarver

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

Visitor(s): None

Correspondence: None

Secretary’s Report: Guebert moved to approve the minutes from January 2025. McKeown seconded. Motion carried unanimously.

Treasurer’s Report:

1. Bills to be Paid: Frost moved to approve the payment of $1,678.64 for expenses incurred from January 14 – January 31, 2024, and $5,365.58 for expenses incurred from February 1 – February 11, 2025. Watson seconded. Motion carried unanimously.
2. City Budget Report: Last month’s report shows that 76% of the budget has been spent, with 75% of the fiscal year completed, leaving a checking account balance of $162,283.12. McKeown moved to approve the report. Frost seconded. Motion carried unanimously.
3. Financial Balance Statement: Watson moved to approve the Library balance report from the previous month. Maloney seconded. Motion carried unanimously.

Librarian’s Report:

January 2025 had a 16% increase in circulation compared to January 2024. A total of 302 unique Borrowers Cards were used. Patrons placed a total of 454 Hold Requests. A total of 455 Hold Requests were filled (borrowed). We loaned 438 titles to other libraries and borrowed 722 titles from the other Heartland SHARE Libraries. We registered a total of 10 new borrowers, bringing us to 5,789 registered borrowers. A total of 97 new titles were added to the collection, making a total of 42,455 volumes in the collection. Traffic on the website was 2,595 visits. The Library Director attended the IHLS Director’s Chat on January 2 & 30. HCL hosted the Lawyer in the Library program on January 17 and February 7. The next Herrin History Room event is Prehistoric and Natural Wonders of Southern Illinois with Mike Chervinko on March 21st at 2 pm. The children’s librarian, Cathy McCann, hosted her first STEAM Explorers program on January 23rd and it was well attended. The next program will be February 27th. HCL was closed Monday, January 6th and half a day Friday, January 10th for ice and snow. The library had minor damage to one tree but no other significant damage. We have one CD renewal to review and approve. We will have the first reading of the Fiscal Year of the 2025/2026 budget. We welcome our new assistant director, Jason Hedrick, on Thursday, February 13, 2025. 

Children’s Librarian’s Report: Two story hours hosted in January: Polar Bear Story Hour on January 2 (2 children, 3 adults), and Snow Story Hour on January 16 (7 children, 6 parents). In each program we read books, did an activity. On January 23rd there was a new after school program – STEAM Explorers (8 children, 6 parents). The topic was Paper Airplane Derby (E for Engineering). Kids learned how airplanes fly with drag, thrust, and lift and made paper airplanes for the derby to test.

Committee Reports:

• Friends Liaison (Maloney): The Friends met Feb. 3rd and approved to pay the $817.66 from Susan’s Wishlist. The annual meeting will be April 27th and we will vote on officers. Next meeting is March 3rd.
• 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:

• Technology Grant update –
• We are still waiting to hear back on a website proposal from Lazerware
• Upgraded copy machine
  • New features: color printing and WIFI printing

New Business:

• New Full-time employee: Assistant Director
  • Jason Hedrick hired
  • Starts on February 13th
• CD Renewal to review and approve
  • The Board discussed leaving the CD at Bank of Herrin for 12 months at 3.94%
  • Guebert moved to approve. Watson seconded. The motion carried unanimously.
• Yearly Evaluations
  • The Board reviewed the Yearly Employee Evaluations from Director Mullen
• First Reading of the Budget
  • Director Susan and the Board went over the first draft of the budget
• Closed Session
  • The Board entered Closed Session at 7:30 pm for employment matter and left closed session at 7:36 pm

Adjournment: Maloney moved to adjourn at 7:39 PM.

https://herrincitylibrary.org/about-us/board-of-trustees/meeting-minutes/february-2025/?doing_wp_cron=1741956996.1780629158020019531250