Carbondale Reporter

Anne West Lindsey Library District Board met Aug. 26.

Here are the minutes provided by the board:

The monthly meeting of the Anne West Lindsey District Library of August 26, 2025 was called to order at 6:30 p.m. by Heather Abell Castlebery and a quorum was established. In attendance were Nancy Schmidt, Betsy McKinney, Sharon Wunderle, Elaine Miskell, and Bill Slider. Paula Buritsch was not in attendance. Library director, Mary Stoner, and financial secretary, Jennifer Sigler, attended as well.

A motion to approve the agenda was made by Elaine Miskell and seconded by Sharon Wunderle. The motion carried.

Minutes from the July 22, 2025 meeting were read and approved with a motion from Bill Slider and seconded by Betsy McKinney. The motion carried.

Under Communications, Mary Stoner reported on a patron falling ill at the library with an ambulance being called. PPRT taxes were received from the City of Carterville. Also, an installment of tax money was received from Ashley Gott, County Collector. The Village of Cambria is holding a meeting on August 28, 2025 at 1 p.m. to review the effectiveness and status of the redevelopment project area (TIF).

The Financial Secretary’s Report was presented by financial secretary Jennifer Sigler. She reported on the library’s assets, profit and loss, and operating budget vs. actual, July 2025; deposit detail and check detail for the month of July 2025. A motion was made by Elaine Miskell and seconded by Bill Slider to accept this financial report per audit. The motion carried.

In the Library Director’s Report, Mary Stoner reported the following:

(1) Memorials were finalized for Pete Hall and work continued for Alice Johnson and Irene Robinson. A possible memorial may be worked on for Lyndell Zanotti’s sister, Judee.

(2) E-books were ordered from Cloud Library and books will be purchased for Libby.

(3) Mary Stoner prepared for and spoke at the Carterville Chamber of Commerce general membership meeting on August 6th. She shared the amazing numbers from the very successful Summer Reading program and thanked the Chamber and community for their support.

(4) The library paid a $100 sponsorship fee to have the library’s name placed on the Twilight 5k race t-shirts and blinking bracelets for the kids were ordered.

(5) The library participated at the National Night Out event on August 5th.

(6) Jenkel Painting was contacted and will provide a quote about staining the portico.

(7) The Friends of the Library will not meet in August but will meet in September to finalize purchases for the book sale scheduled for October 31st and November 1st.

(8) Mary Stoner completed two letters of collaboration. The first letter is for a grant with the Illinois Humanities Council and the second is with a physicist from SIU who will be speaking at the library this Fall.

(9) Mollie Mandell was interviewed and hired as a part-time librarians’ assistant.

(10) Project Next Generation grant, a program for teens, was submitted to the State Library.

(11) 911 was called for a patron who needed an ambulance and incident reports were filled out and filed.

(12) During the month of August, library Staff processed 412 items and 36 new library cards were issued. The total number of Anne West Lindsey District library cardholders is 6,641.

(13) July Programming total is 1,863.

(14) Program attendance for the 0-5 age group rose last year from 1,165 to 1,884.

(15) There were 34,564 visits to the library last year.

(16) Teens almost doubled their attendance at programs, from 398 to 607.

(17) 3,300 reference questions were answered last year.

(18) The meeting rooms were used 479 times, up from 336 the prior year.

(19) Almost 60,000 items were checked out from the library last year.

(20) The public computers were used over 3,400 times.

(21) The staff received over 130 hours of training.

Along with her customary Director’s report, Mary Stoner presented reports from the librarians for the month of August 2025. The Director’s and Librarian’s reports were accepted with a motion from Bill Slider and seconded by Betsy McKinney. The motion carried.

Under Board Action on the Library Director’s Requests, Mary Stoner thanked Elaine Miskell and Heather Abell Castlebery for examining all minutes from the last fiscal year for IPLAR. Also, she requested required bank signature forms be signed due to new members elected to the library board in April 2025. Mary Stoner also discussed First Southern Bank’s Fraud Prevention Services for Businesses to detect fraudulent activity.

Under Committee Reports, the Policy Committee needs to meet in the near future.

Under Unfinished Business, the final Intergovernmental Agreement with the Village of Colp was presented to the board. The Village of Colp’s city attorney and all interested board members will be invited to the September 23rd meeting of the Anne West Lindsey Board of Trustees to sign this Intergovernmental Agreement for Library Services.

Under New Business, The IPLAR Certification/Evaluation of Board Meeting Minutes was evaluated by Heather Abell Castlebery and Elaine Miskell. The recorded minutes by the Anne West Lindsey District Library’s Secretary were found to be a true and accurate representation from July 1, 2024 to June 30, 2025.

Under Trustee Training and Comments, Chapter 5 (Building Infrastructure and Maintenance), Chapter 6 (Safety), and Chapter 7 (Collection Management) booklet was reviewed and discussed.

The next Anne West Lindsey District Library Board Meeting will be held September 23, 2025 at 6:30 p.m.

A motion to adjourn was made by Bill Slider and seconded by Elaine Miskell at 7:23 p.m.

https://awlindsey.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/August-26-2025-Anne-West-Lindsey-District-Library-Board-of-Trustees-Meeting.pdf