Board of Trustees Regular Session Wednesday, August 17, 2022
Present: Vicki Matsumori, Ali Lyddall, Sage Fitch, Joelle Rasmussen, Kirsten Woodbury, Dustin Lewis, Jessica Miller
Excused:
Others: Kim Fong, Murray Library Director; Julia Pehrson, Murray Library Assistant Director; Brittney Casad, Murray Library Staff
1. Call to Order:
Chairman Lyddall called the meeting to order at 5:33 p.m.
2. Approval of Minutes:
The minutes for the July 2022 meeting were approved, with changes, on a motion made by Vice Chairman Lewis. This was seconded by Joelle Rasmussen and voting was unanimous in favor.
3. Public Comment:
None
4. Board Reports:
None
5. Director’s Reports:
Director Fong gave a report on grants that have been awarded to the library and for what they have been used. The UEN grants for the mobile hotspots paid for the purchase of the devices and the first two years of service. For the third year of service, UEN will cover 75% of the cost. Director Fong added that it took awhile for the hotspots to start checking out, but are now very popular. Kirsten Woodbury asked how many mobile hotspots are in the collection. Director Fong answered that there are 40. Assistant Director Pehrson added that one of those 40 is dedicated for staff use for the book bike.
The Utah State Library gave an ARPA grant for $24,000 to be used on physical materials. Director Fong stated that those funds were used to purchased Playaways. The Utah State Library gave an extension of that grant for additional $12,000 which will be used to purchase more Playaways for the young adult and adult sections. Jessica Miller asked what a Playaway is. Director Fong answered that a Playaway is an mp3 device that has a book title loaded on to it. She added that they have been quite popular with about two-thirds of the collection being checked out at any time. Jessica Miller asked if the cost of a Playaway is similar to a book on CD and the answer was yes.
The Utah State Library has also awarded Murray Library with a $1500 grant to be used for materials in other languages. Director Fong commented that those funds will go toward buying more foreign language films. A $21,000 grant has been used for Overdrive ebooks and eaudiobooks. A CLEF (Community Library Enhancement Fund) grant for $11,400 is being used to help cover costs for Hoopla. Chairman Lyddall inquired as to how library size for these grants is determined. Director Fong replied that it is based off of population.
6. Old Business:
Director Fong gave a report on how many people came to the library during the Pioneer Day closure. She stated that 32 groups showed up on July 23, 2022, and 33 groups showed up on July 25, 2022 between 9-5 p.m. She added that she also checked on July 30, 2022, just to compare those numbers to what a regular day would be. During just two hours on July 30 there were 40 groups at the library.
7. New Business:
The Library Board discussed how to do Director Fong’s review for next month’s meeting.
8. Adjournment:
A motion to adjourn was made by Vicki Matsumori and seconded by Joelle Rasmussen. Voting was unanimous in favor. The meeting was adjourned at 6:17 p.m.