The regular meeting of the Board of Trustees was held on Wednesday October 9, 2019 in the Library’s Board Room. Attending the meeting were Trustees Debbie Dane, Monica D’Angelo, Teresa Jones and Elly Young, Library Director Tara Bartley, Staff Karolee Sorenson and Staff Kasi Allen. Absent were John VanEngelen, Chairman and Council Liaison Ruth Pierce.

Trustee Debbie Dane called the meeting to order at 4:36 pm with brief introductions.

Oath of Office – Elly Young. Elly Young took the Oath of Office as Trustee and Foundation Liaison for the Twin Falls Public Library. Subscribed and sworn by Karolee Sorenson, Notary Public for Idaho.

Motion was made to approve the agenda for October 9, 2019 meeting. Teresa Jones motioned to approve the agenda; Elly Young 2nd the motion.

The Trustees MSC approval of the September 10 2019 minutes. Teresa Jones motioned to approve the minutes; Monica D’Angelo 2nd the motion.

Approval of Financial Statements The Trustees MSC the approval of the September 2019 bills. Monica D’Angelo motioned to approve September 2019 bills, Teresa Jones 2nd the motion. Roll call vote taken. Approved 4-0.

Financial/Statistical report: Review of the financial reports. Discussion regarding year end budget and circulation statistics for the fiscal year ending September 30, 2019. Monica D’Angelo motioned to approve the financial statements for September 2019. Elly Young 2nd the motion. Roll call vote taken. Approved 4-0.

10/14 – The library will be closed for an all staff workshop. Training will be the “Librarians Guide to Homelessness” by Ryan Dowd.

10/05 – T Rex T Party

10/9 – Let’s Talk About It

10/12 – Hocus Pocus Interactive

10/22 – Stephen Hartgen will be in the library at 11:00 am promoting his book “Tradition and Progress: Southern Idaho’ s Growth Since 1990.”

10/23 – Online Safety

10/31 – Story time and Trick-or-Treating at 10:30 am

Signing of new signature cards for the bank. Removing Cindy Bezas and adding Elly Young.

Staff Report: (Kasi Allen, Children’s Librarian)

I have made changes in the elementary and story times this year. One of my goals for this last summer was to evaluate the school year programming and find out what is and is not working. With summer reading I have moved to a passive format for the elementary and preschool programs and s a 20% increase in attendance so I decided to design the elementary programming differently this year. Researching what larger libraries like Denver, Portland and Salt Lake City were doing I took input from our patrons and came up with new programs, Lego Club, Art Studio, Minecraft Club and Free Build. Kids can show up anytime between 4:00 pm and 6:00 pm to participate. We have seen increase in attendance. Being able to have more time to create bigger community programs has been a benefit. Last weekend we had a T Rex Tea Party with 250 participants, later in the month we will have our Halloween story time and trick – or- treating at city buildings, usually bringing in 300 participants. Next month is The Great Big Play Date hoping to build social connections between parents giving them the opportunity to meet other parents. This summer I would like to do one bigger program like these once a month. Always looking for ways to improve story time, I read a study this summer and found that story times were missing opportunities for letter recognition and writing skills. I made a list of opportunities I would like to use in our story time; building auditory acuity, executive function exercises, writing opportunities and opportunities for child collaboration. I have stopped doing crafts that have an end product and started doing more of Montessori-style child-led activities after story time.

ILA Annual Conference was last week. Attended the preconference on Wednesday and the conference all day on Thursday. Five staff attended. Jennifer Hills and Adam Day presented.

Library statistics annual report is due January 1, 2020.

October 18 LYNX Library Directors meeting. Will review consortium membership numbers

October 25 will be attending Datapalooza in Mountain Home. Library material reconsideration – DVD High Life.

Scheduling of meeting dates:

Finance/Budgeting meeting: To be announced

Board Meeting: November 13 @ 4:30 pm

Debbie Dane adjourned the meeting at 5:33 pm.

respectfully submitted, Karolee Sorenson, Administrative Assistant

* Approval by Teresa Jones, Secretary