Peoria Standard

City of Peoria Public Library Board of Trustees met Oct. 20.

Here is the minutes provided by the board:

CALL TO ORDER

Board President Lucy Gulley called the meeting of the Board of Library Trustees of Peoria Public Library to order at 5:00 p.m. This Regular meeting was held in via Zoom.

PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE

In the absence of a flag, the President dispensed with the reciting of the Pledge of Allegiance.

ROLL CALL

Board Members Present: Margaret E. Cousin, Tiffanie S. Duncan, Lucy D. Gulley, Dr. Arun Pinto, Barbara Van Auken, and Jeanne Williamson

Board Members Absent: Stephen M. Buck, Dr. Mandar Pattekar, and Vivian Rutherford Library Staff Present: Chris Farris, Reference Assistant; Jennifer Davis, Manager of Public

Relations; Alyce Jackson, Manager of Programming; Jennifer Jacobsen-Wood, Manager of Technical Services; Roberta Koscielski, Deputy Director; Jenny Sevier, Manager of Reference Services; and Randall Yelverton, Executive Director

Others Present: City Councilman Sid Ruckriegel, Peoria Public Library Liaison; and an unidentified attendee with no screen name

CORRESPONDENCE TO THE BOARD

Correspondence items were emailed to Board members ahead of this meeting. Lucy Gulley noted that they included very nice emails from donors to the North Branch StoryWalk® in response to Jenni Davis sending them photos and/or copies of the ad in the Journal Star.

PRESENTATION BY AUDIENCE ON AGENDA ITEMS

None

CONSENT AGENDA

A. #2020-105: Request to Approve Minutes as listed below:

1. Minutes of the Community Relations Committee meeting of August 4, 2020

2. Minutes of the Personnel/Negotiations Committee meeting of August 27, 2020

3. Minutes of the Personnel/Negotiations Committee Executive Session of August 27, 2020

4. Minutes of the Regular Board meeting of September 15, 2020

5. Minutes of the Personnel/Negotiations Committee meeting of October 8, 2020

6. Minutes of the Personnel/Negotiations Committee Executive Session of October 8, 2020

B. #2020-106: Request to Approve Expenditures as listed below:

1. Payroll for Period Ending September 19, 2020 $126,924.35

2. Payroll for Period Ending October 3, 2020 $126,164.11

3. Regular Expenditures for October 2020 $200,128.04

4. Capital Development Fund Expenditures for October 2020 $ 2,490.00

C. #2020-107: Request of the Executive Director to Approve Personnel Actions for the period ending October 16, 2020

D. #2020-108: Finance Report from the Executive Director for the month of September 2020 with Request to Receive and File

E. #2020-109: Library Use Statistics from the Executive Director for the month of September 2020 with Request to Receive and File

F. #2020-110: Revise dates and times for 2020 Regular Board of Library Trustees meetings

Mrs. Gulley asked Board members if they wished to have any Consent Agenda items removed for further discussion. Hearing none, a motion was made by Barbara Van Auken, seconded by Jeanne Williamson, to approve Consent Agenda items #2020-105 through #2020-110 as presented. Barbara Van Auken noted that Consent Agenda item #2020-110 changes the start time for all Board of Library Trustees meetings beginning in November 2020. Motion carried by viva voce vote.

OTHER ACTION ITEMS

A. #2020-112: Recommendation from the Administration to Adopt a Revised Interlibrary Loan Policy

A motion was made by Jeanne Williamson, seconded by Dr. Arun Pinto, to approve the first reading of the revised Interlibrary Loan Policy and to present it at the November Regular meeting for adoption. Motion carried by viva voce vote.

B. #2020-113: Recommendation from the Administration to authorize the expenditure of not- to-exceed $25,000 for the design of a new Peoria Public Library website

A motion was made by Barbara Van Auken, seconded by Dr. Arun Pinto, to authorize the expenditure of not-to-exceed $25,000 for the design of a new Peoria Public Library website. Motion carried by viva voce vote. Barbara Van Auken suggested that the current website be modified immediately to advertise that a new website is coming soon.

REPORT OF THE EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR

A. Upcoming Programming and Exhibits

The monthly programming report was provided in the Board packet.

B. Friends Update

Randall reported that among the Ben Franklin Club donations this month was one from former Library Board Trustee Doug Crew “in honor of Roberta Koscielski’s 2020 ILA Librarian of the Year Award.” He reported that the patio furniture for North Branch has arrived. Jenni Davis reported that she reached out to the Peoria Garden Club and they are considering providing plants next spring for a large flower pot to be placed near the patio furniture at North Branch. Jeanne Williamson suggested that a reception could be held in the spring for the Garden Club and the Friends of Peoria Public Library.

C. FOIA Requests

Randall reported that we received and responded promptly to two FOIA requests this month.

D. Lakeview and North Branch Closed Briefly This Month

Randall reported that we had to close our Lakeview and North Branches for a few days this month due to COVID precautions. We were in close contact with the Peoria City/County Health Department who helped us determine when it was safe to reopen. They gave us information that will be helpful when addressing future COVID issues should they arise. Randall thanked the staff for their excellent service as we face these challenges.

E. Roberta Koscielski Honored at City Council Meeting

Randall reported that Roberta Koscielski was honored last week at the City Council meeting with a proclamation celebrating her Illinois Library Association Librarian of the Year Award. Councilman Ruckriegel and Mayor Ardis spoke about Roberta’s work at the Library and her excellent service to the community.

F. Illinois Library Association Annual Conference

Randall reported that several staff members will be attending the Illinois Library Association Annual Conference virtually this week, including Roberta. She will be given the Librarian of the Year Award as part of this year’s proceedings. Staff attending the event will be sitting in on virtual sessions where library best practices and new ideas for programs and services will be discussed.

G. StoryWalk®

Randall reported that we thanked our StoryWalk® donors this month with an ad in the Peoria Journal Star. The ad shared the names of the donors and thanked them for their contributions to the Library.

H. New Library Website

Randall reported that Jenni Davis and Laura Fehr worked hard to select a website design firm. They requested design mock-ups, price quotes and other information from various firms resulting in the recommendation approved by the Board tonight for the company which will be designing a new website for Peoria Public Library.

I. Contract Negotiations

Randall reported that contract negotiations continue. Our attorney and the AFSCME Staff Representative have been discussing next steps and we are currently waiting to hear back from AFSCME.

J. Early Voting

Randall reported that we will be hosting early voting at Main Library from October 28 through November 3.

K. Election Day

Randall reported that North Branch will again serve as a polling place on Election Day. He added that we are anticipating potentially high turnout during early voting and Election Day and are working with the Election Commission to ensure the safety of employees and library visitors.

L. Blood Drives at North Branch

Randall reported that we held another successful blood drive at North Branch. Alyce Jackson has lined up more dates with the American Red Cross for the months to come.

M. Door Count, Circulation, and Downloads

Randall reported that the circulation total for September 2019 versus September 2020 is down 29% and the visitor count is down 77%. Both have decreased due to library use being restricted to short visits for picking up materials and people electing to limit their time in public spaces. Circulation and door count totals also decreased due to North and Lakeview Branches being closed for a few days due to COVID precautions. Downloads of digital videos, audio books, books, and songs are up 43% over the same time period.

N. Collaboration with Fifth House Ensemble and Illinois Arts Council Agency

Roberta reported that a new joint collaboration between the Library and Fifth House Ensemble is being funded by the Illinois Arts Council Agency so the Library can offer ten virtual public engagement events that help us explore how we as a community deal with the past and imagine our futures. Alyce Jackson and Roberta were put in touch with Fifth House Ensemble through a former program manager at Illinois Humanities who suggested to Fifth House Ensemble that they should initiate a collaboration with Peoria Public Library.

O. Other

None

COMMITTEE REPORTS (alphabetical listing of committee reports follow the agenda)

The Building, Executive, Finance, Nominating/Appeals, and Strategic Planning Committees did not have a report.

B. Community Relations Committee

1. Report of the meeting of October 6, 2020

Committee Chair Barbara Van Auken provided further information on the recommendation of a firm to design a new Peoria Public Library website. She noted that the recommended firm was less expensive when it came to building the main website and much less expensive when it came to hosting the website. We also received glowing recommendations from Rockford Public Library on their work product and responsiveness to future needs. Barbara added that Jenni Davis did due diligence in her investigation of local firms. Barbara thanked Jenni Davis for her work on this.

F. Personnel/Negotiations Committee

1. Report of the meetings of October 8 and 15, 2020

Committee Chair Tiffanie Duncan reported that negotiations are still underway and the next Personnel/Negotiations Committee meeting is scheduled for October 29 at 5:00 p.m. to discuss grievance issues.

PRESENTATION BY AUDIENCE

None

OTHER BUSINESS

Dr. Arun Pinto asked about a Community Relations Fundraising Subcommittee meeting and Jenni Davis said that she will schedule it. Jeanne Williamson asked about the Strategic Planning Committee and Randall said that he will schedule a meeting of this committee.

EXECUTIVE SESSION

None

AGENDA BUILDING

Dr. Arun Pinto asked how Peoria Public Library compares to other libraries regarding usage. Randall said that he will check and report back.

ADJOURNMENT

A motion was made by Dr. Arun Pinto, seconded by Jeanne Williamson, to adjourn this meeting at 5:36 p.m.

http://www.peoriagov.org/content/uploads/2020/03/October-2020-Minutes_1607457076_add.pdf