Library Trustees Minutes Oct 22 2024.docx City of Beverly, Massachusetts
Public Meeting Minutes
Board: Library Trustees
Subcommittee:
Date: October 22, 2024, 5:00 P.M.
Place: 32 Essex St.
Board members present: Margaret Altman, Mary Behrle, Dominic Copeland, Ivy Mahan, Kevin
O'Reilly, Joanne Panunzio
Board members absent: Marshall Handly, Cathryn Keefe O'Hare, Colleen Michaels,
Others present: Allison Babin, Meghan Karasin
Recorder: Meghan Karasin
Kevin O'Reilly presided. Meghan Karasin stated that the meeting was being recorded.
Mary Behrle made a motion, seconded by Joanne Panunzio, to accept the minutes of the meeting of
September 24, 2024. Motion passed.
Public Presentation
None
Committee Reports
Personnel: No report.
Administration: No report.
Finance: No report.
Long Range Planning: No report.
Report of the Library Director
1. Fiscal Year 2025 Budget: Overall everything is on track. The buy-back sick time line is 214% spent due
to a payout from a retirement. It's a relatively small overage, and because this position is currently vacant,
we will be able to make a transfer from the full time line to this line to cover it. Some money has been
transferred from the repairs line to the bookmobile maintenance line.
2. Building/Vehicle Issues: The main library needed new motors in two of the air handler units. Those
repairs have been made, but invoices haven't come in yet. There are no updates on the larger HVAC
project. The last meeting with the Mayor on this topic was on September 6. Hopefully there will be more
information for the next meeting. The bookmobile air conditioning unit has arrived, but still needs to be
installed. The generator is working well at the moment. We did receive a quote ($15,000)to replace the
generator, but there are no plans to replace it at this time.
Ivy Mahan asked how many miles get put on the bookmobile each year. Allison Babin will have that
information and the total odometer reading at the next meeting. Joanne Panunzio asked how much is
spent a year on repairs for the bookmobile. Allison Babin stated that it is around $3,000, but this year is
an anomaly.
Dominic Copeland joined the meeting at 5:15PM
A bench has been installed at the Farms branch, on the Vine St. side of the building, in honor of Jerry
Guilebbe.
The library union has been in contract negotiations with the city. They have settled, with a contract
covering July 1, 2024 to June 30, 2027. One of the agreements was that the library will be closed on the
Friday after Thanksgiving. Most public libraries are closed on this day. The union staff did always have a
second day off- either Wednesday or Friday, but as most staff requested Friday off this made scheduling
very difficult. The library will be open Saturday and Sunday of Thanksgiving weekend
3. Community Engagement. The Friends book sale is Saturday November 16 through Saturday November
23, with a preview night Friday November 15 for members of the Friends. The friends are actively
seeking new-ish donations. This Thursday is downtown trick or treat. Allison Babin and Katie Marsh will
be dressed as Bluey and Bingo and handing out candy in front of the bookmobile.
4. Collections/Services: The library has a new 3D printer, funded by the Friends, which will launch next
month. The library is developing a decodable readers collection for the children's room. These are
resources for grades K-2 to help teach kids to read. Margie McClory, Head of Childrens, and Meghan
Karasin, Assistant Library Director, attended a Massachusetts Library System (MLS)webinar where the
Goodnow Library in Sudbury described their process in creating this collection and provided a huge
amount of resources for other libraries to get started. This will fill a need we have in the children's room,
with families asking for assistance and resources on how to help their children learn to read. We see this
as complementing the work of the schools and will reach out to staff there to collaborate. In order to fund
the collection, Meghan Karasin reached out to Sandra Reinecke, who had donated previous funds to
support the adult collection. She generously agreed to allow us to use $5000 of these funds to build these
literacy resources, and contributed an additional $500 to the project. Dominic Copeland commented that
as a teacher, he is seeing literacy gaps at the high school level, particularly after COVID. Students in the
9th grade are often lacking the decoding skills they should have developed earlier in their education.
5. Personnel: We are conducting interviews for the Assistant Circulation Librarian position. Head of Teen
Services Katie Nelson was chosen to be a part of the cohort of PLIX Library Ambassadors, which is
composed of library professionals from 14 libraries across the US. PLIX stands for Public Library
Innovation Exchange and is a project at MIT Open Learning. The ambassadors will share STEAM
programming ideas and support each other in offering more of this type of programming for their
communities.
6. Programs: Upcoming adult programs include Beverly Bird Walks, Living Room Conversations on
navigating political differences, and a program on Bigfoot. Teens have Dungeons and Dragons,
Downtown Cleanup, and a Murder Mystery Party. Children's programming includes story times, Lego
Club, and Music with Dara.
Communications
None at this time.
Unfinished Business
None at this time.
New Business
Trustee Terms. The trustee terms of Cathryn Keefe-O'Hare, Marshal Handly, and Ivy Mahan will expire
on January 31, 2025. Ivy Mahan wishes to renew her term. Allison Babin will follow up with Marshall
Handly and Cathryn Keefe-O'Hare.
List of Documents/Exhibits
• Draft minutes of the September 24, 2024 meeting
• FY 2025 Budget report as of 10/21/24
The next regular meeting of the board is November 14, 2024 at 6PM in person at the main library.
There being no further business, the meeting was adjourned at 5:50PM