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Geauga County Public Library

LWV Geauga Observer Corps

Geauga County Public Library (GCPL) - May 21, 2024

Meeting: The GCPL Board met on Tuesday, May 21st at 4:00 pm at the Middlefield branch. This meeting was in-person with a virtual option. The meeting was not recorded. Minutes of this meeting will be posted on the GPL website / GPL Board after they are approved at the June 2024 meeting.

Public Comment: Permitted and included in the regular order of business per GCPL bylaws. Further clarified in Policy 215 - Public Participation at Board Meetings.

Board Attendance: President Paul A. Newman, Secretary Kristen Brickman, and trustees Joshua Hutchinson, Crist Miller, Kate Pitrone, and Jake Yanchar.

Staff Attendance:

Kris Carroll - Director
Katy Farrell - Assistant Director
Lisa Havlin - Fiscal Officer
Nicole Burnside - Human Resources
Debbie Schrock, Development Coordinator
Rachel Hartman - Foundation Board of Trustees
Kevin Barton - Thompson Branch Manager
Denise Javins- Marketing Manager
John Johnson - Facilities Manager
Judy Lasco - Chardon Branch Manager
Marlene Pelyhes - Tech Services Manager
Mike Pope - IT Manager
Joya Hoge - Assistant Manager/Head of Youth Service

Public: This Observer attended in person.

President Newman called the board meeting to order at 4:00 pm and roll call was taken.

Minutes: April Board Meeting minutes were approved without discussion and are available online. Scroll down to the bottom of the page to access minutes. The minutes are posted as soon as they are approved at the following month’s Board meeting.

Agenda: Agenda was approved with no changes or additions

Communications - Ms. Carroll

None

Fiscal Officers Report – Ms. Havlin

The April disbursements and gifts were approved
Public Library Fund (PLF)- State tax receipts are lower than estimated. Two months are left in the State’s fiscal year, and overall fiscal year state tax revenues are down by $446 million (or - 1.9%). The Office of Budget and Management reports that higher than expected income tax refunds and lower than anticipated Commercial Activities Tax impacted the PLF disbursement for April. For the first five months of 2024, the library’s PLF revenue is 15% lower than anticipated with $52,300 less collected than the December estimate.
Center for Investment Management (CPIM) Certification - Ms. Havlin attended Ohio Library Council’s CPIM conference in April and received her annual certification as required by Ohio Revised Code 135.22. The two-day event covered topics such as investment strategies, fraud prevention, and cyber security.
Ms. Havlin and Assistant Director Farrell attended the Bricker & Gradon Construction Procurement Seminar held virtually. The seminar was a good refresher course in preparation for the new Chardon branch. Topics included the architect and Customer-Managed Relationship (CMR) procurement process and ORC requirements, the design phases, and administering the construction phase.

Director’s Report – Ms. Carroll

Bainbridge and Geauga West Branches had local high school students from Kenston and West Geauga High Schools participate in career exploration and work experience in May.
Geauga West Shelver Taylor Pudelski graduated magna cum laude from Kent State University with a bachelor's degree in business. In her last semester, she took an Intro to Information Science class and is debating applying for the Masters in Library Science program.
Ms. Caroll and architect Larry Corbus met several times to coordinate efforts on the Chardon project. Ms. Carroll spoke to local officials about several issues regarding Chardon.
GCPL will trial Threat Locker software on public computers for Clevnet.
The IT team has been updating the GPL website.
Makerspace summer camp lesson plans and projects have been scheduled and include t-shirt design, poster design, stickers, and 3D design projects.
The Marketing Department completed and updated several web pages including a new homepage for the GCPL website.
Marketing designed a Summer Reading Kickoff passport book to engage children in a Rascal Scavenger Hunt as well as a Veterans Resource Guide.
The Technical Services team contacted 28 patrons to discuss James Patterson’s newest Book-on-CD Auto Hold not being available in a physical format. They explained streaming options and provided instructions if needed.

Assistant Director’s Report – Ms. Farrell

The new Manager of Mobile Services is Tanner Lutz. Mr Lutz had been the Young Adult Librarian at New Castle Public Library in New Castle, Pennsylvania.
Last summer, the library partnered with Guidestone to fill two temporary summer positions at the Admin Center in Marketing and Facilities. This year, Thompson was added as a location for temporary summer help. The hope is to have up to three positions for nine weeks, fully funded by Guidestone, to help the library with ongoing projects such as landscaping, digitizing, and organizing our photo archive. Reviewer Note: Guidestone is funded by Job and Family Services as a CCMEP - Comprehensive Case Management and Employment Program with the work site at the library.
The Adult Services Assistant at Bainbridge and current MLIS student, Regan Conner proposed that the library submit a grant to the Dollar General Literacy Foundation to expand the collection of dual-language picture books. Ms Conner wrote the grant application, and Ms. Farrell worked with her on guidelines and updates. The request for funds for 135 picture books was submitted in late April and winners will be announced on August 22.
The Bainbridge National Library Week celebration included an interactive “Meet Your Librarians” display (created in the Makerspace) and scavenger hunts for adult and youth customers. Teen patrons were encouraged to fill out a survey regarding their experiences at the library this year and employees were asked to complete a similar survey about their experiences with the teens. Helpful suggestions were made from both surveys.
Chardon - Events included a Local Author Fair, a Passport Fair, a Volunteer Fair, the Puzzle Exchange, the Genealogy Volunteer Luncheon, a Red Cross Blood Drive, National Library Week, and the busy Maple Festival weekend (during which the Chardon Branch remained open).
Geauga West - The branch celebrated National Library Week from April 7 to April 13 with several hands-on events and refreshments. The Great Geauga West Egg Hunt took place in April. Over 130 participants traveled around Chesterland to find eggs and solve the mystery phrase. Students from West Geauga Schools visited the library three Saturdays for the popular “Reading With Rover” program. Students read books selected by library staff to therapy dogs to improve their reading.
Middlefield - Adult and Youth Services staff members worked together to create crafts, games, and other activities for each day of National Library Week. The Houseplant Swap had 28 adults and 8 children in attendance. The monthly book discussion group, Page Turners, continues to do well, and there are many requests for Tech Help appointments. One patron was so grateful for help with the transfer of photos from a CD to a flash drive that she brought in donuts for staff. An outreach program was held at two Amish Schools in April and another school visited the library.
Mobile Services - 401 sky pictures are hanging on the walls and from the ceiling in the Bookmobile drawn by patrons of the Solar Eclipse. The Fun Bus had its first event this year at the Maple Festival. Driver Francine Scharver started at the end of April.
Thompson - “Uncovering the Truth: True Crime” was a program presented by Channel 19 News Investigative Reporter Sara Goldenberg and Geauga County Detective Don Seamon. The team provided details and insights about several Geauga crime stories. Twenty-seven patrons attended the event, and the response was overwhelmingly positive. A seed library was held with approximately 40 percent of the seeds being provided by patrons either in the fall or early this year. Thompson staff member Britt Townsend researched and documented information on these donated seeds which was printed directly on the seed packet, providing a plant description and growing instructions to patrons.

April 2024 Statistics:
- 43,554 patrons served at the branches
- 17,734 computer and wi-fi uses
- 284 programs presented for 5,527 patrons
- 14,499 reference interactions
- Total circulation of items: 232,511

Human Resources Report - Ms. Burnside

8 new hires, 6 terminations, 1 retirement and 1 transfer. All actions were approved.

Committee Reports - None

Unfinished Business - None

New Business - Ms Carroll

HB556 - Create criminal liability for teachers for pandering obscenity. At the time of the GCPL board meeting, the bill also included library staff. The Ohio Library Council was scheduled to meet with the bill’s sponsor, Rep. Adam Mathews, to have the bill changed before any potential passage. It was stated that the Ohio Library Council wanted librarians to be excluded from this bill entirely.

Development Coordinator - Ms. Schrock

The Foundation sent out their annual Impact Report to their donors, volunteers, and library staff.
Marcia Owen, Alice Munn and Ms. Schrock met with two potential Foundation Members. Both have marketing and social media backgrounds.
Friends Committee - The Chardon Maple Festival book sale started on Thursday, April 25th and lasted through Sunday, April 28th. It was one of their best years and generated almost $600 more than last year. Based on these numbers, 717 people visited the booksale over the course of the four days.
On Saturday, May 11th, the Friends Committee had their first Drive Thru Book Donation Day at the Geauga County Fairgrounds. There were 3 student volunteers and 3 adult volunteers unloading the patron's cars. Many Friends Committee volunteers unloaded boxes and then shelved items into their genres. By 1:00 P M, 73 carloads of materials had been collected.
Community Development - During the month of April, the Geauga Public Library Branches collected food from their staff and patrons for Claridon Community Helps (CCH). On May 10th, Asst. Facilities Manager Mark Walker and Ms. Schrock delivered one pallet of food that will be used for Geauga County children’s lunches this summer. The CCH volunteers delivered over 13,000 meals to children last summer. Unfortunately, they did not have enough volunteers and were unable to serve those in the Kenston area. Additional volunteers stepped up so that they can now deliver meals countywide. GCPL Youth Services staff also created activities that CCH volunteers will give out weekly with the meals.
On April 16th, Ms. Farrell and Ms. Schrock met with a representative from the Veterans Visiting Veterans project which is in University Hospitals Geauga Medical Center. GCPL gave them materials and answered questions on programs that the Geauga County Library offers to homebound patrons. GCPL Marketing designed a brochure that their volunteers will be able to give out to hospital patients.
The Volunteer Fair, April 20th, recruited volunteers for the library and the Foundation. They have already held a training session. Chardon Branch Manager Ms. Lasco and the Chardon staff did a “wonderful job” of creating a location for many community organizations to recruit volunteers.
A member of the United Way approached Ms. Carroll to help with their 2nd Annual United Way Day of Action on June 21st. GCPL staff are preparing 300 bags that will be given out with United Way’s food donations.

Upcoming Community Events

6/1/2024 Summer Reading Kick Off
6/27/2024-6/29/2024 Bainbridge Book Sale
7/13/2024 Burton Middlefield Rotary Maple Splash
7/14/2024 Family Movie Night at the Drive In
7/20/2024 Thompson Pop Up Book Sale-Crafts and Home Improvements

Public Comment - There was no one from the public who spoke.

Executive Session - The Board went into Executive Session at 4:10 to discuss possible property sale/purchase and a staff disciplinary action.

Next Meeting: Tuesday, June 21 at the Thompson Branch at 4:00 pm.

Minutes: The latest minutes are posted here. Prior to March 2023, videos of meetings were available to the public here. The GCPL is no longer posting videos of their meetings.

Observer: Cris Takacs

Editor: Anne Ondrey

Reviewer: Gail Roussey

Date Submitted: 6/07/2024

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