Bill Library

718 Colonel Ledyard Highway

Ledyard, Connecticut 06339

TOWN OF LEDYARD

Library Commission

Meeting Minutes

Gales Ferry Library

18 Hurlbutt Road

Gales Ferry, Connecticut 06335

Chair

John Bolduc

Regular Meeting

7:00 PM

Monday, March 18, 2024

Bill Library

CALL TO ORDER

Chair Bolduc called the meeting to order at 7:02 p.m. at the Bill Library.

II.

ROLL CALL

Chair John Bolduc

Present

Commissioner Barbara Candler

Commissioner Brian Cronin

Commissioner Ralph Hightower

Commissioner Rebecca Nash

Commissioner Carol Ganz

Commissioner Elizabeth Rumery

Commissioner Ellin Grenger

Commissioner Rolf Racich

Excused

In addition, the following were present:

Jennifer Smith - Library Director

Carmen Garcia-Irizarry - Town Council Liaison

Naomi Rodriguez - Town Council Chair

Sarah Desormier - Friends of the Ledyard Library President

Jan Dawson - Gales Ferry resident

III.

IV.

RESIDENTS & PROPERTY OWNERS COMMENTS

Chair Bolduc welcomed both Ms. Desormier and Ms. Dawson. Chair Bolduc decided that they

will make their comments when the agenda items are discussed.

PRESENTATIONS / INFORMATIONAL ITEMS

Stacey Burt: Assistant Librarian I - Youth Services

Stacey Burt, known to our patrons as Mrs. Burt, made a presentation about Youth Services at the

Ledyard Public Library. Mrs. Burt started off discussing how her goal is to get books into

children's hands. She chooses developmentally appropriate items, making sure to represent a

diverse and inclusive collection.

In addition to selecting all items to add to the Children's and Teen collections, Mrs. Burt is also

responsible for all the programming for kids ages 0-18 years old and their families. She spends

money from the Library Commission to help support her programming initiatives. This also

includes purchasing the prizes for the Summer Adventure Program which include items such as

magnetic blocks, bouncy balls, JBL speaker, Moon Pals that comes with a book, Amazon gift

cards, amongst others. This upcoming summer, everyone who logs three adventures will receive

a drawstring bag with a button that has the library logo on it.

Mrs. Burt works hard to stretch her programming funding as far as possible and is grateful for

partnering with CT Humanities. CT Humanities often covers 75% of the program and the library

pays the remaining 25%. Some of the new programs offered over the last year with this

partnership include Draw a Cartoon (special guest speaker as part of the graphic novel book

club), Pete the Cat with Al DeCant (popular children's book character made a visit to read, sing,

and kick-off the 2023 Summer Adventure Program), and Cool-ology (STEAM series of

workshops).

The proposed Summer Adventure Program: Read, Make, Explore program calendar was shared.

Mrs. Burt has an action packed, exciting summer planned for our Ledyard community! The

summer program starts on June 15 and runs through August 17, 2024. Stay tuned for further

details by signing up for the library e-newsletter on the website, or by following our library

Facebook and Instagram pages @LedyardPublicLibrary. Mrs. Burt finished her presentation by

showering all Commission members and attendees with bubbles!

Ms. Smith read aloud a post made to the Ledyard Community Resource Facebook page about a

resident who was recently inquiring about which libraries in the Southeastern/Rhode Island

border area have great children's sections including "toys and activities type stuff." Another

resident who is a frequent flyer at the Ledyard Library wrote back saying: "Westerly library is

gorgeous! They have a bilingual storytime once a month that is a lot of fun too. However, Mrs.

Burt at the Ledyard Libraries is phenomenal. She runs a few different types of storytimes and

always has activities going on for the kiddos. She works at both Ledyard Library locations, the

Bill and the one in Gales Ferry. She builds really meaningful relationships with the patrons, and

knows many of the children by name." Ms. Smith said she is very proud of the library staff

because they all go above and beyond to make the library a welcoming, accessible, and inclusive

space where everyone is invited to learn, discover, create, and connect.

MEMBER COMMENTS

None.

VI.

REPORTS

Treasurer's Report

Mr. Hightower presented both the January and February Treasurer's reports.

In January, the Commission received a total of $350.00 in donations and spent a total of

$1,421.06. The February report stated $25.00 in donations were received while $10,638.86 was

spent.

Since our last meeting in January, the Investment Working Group met with the Bill Library

Association President and Treasurer to review library accounts. Ms. Smith was concerned that

the Bill Library Association was holding Library Commission money unbeknownst to the

Commission. She called a meeting to simply discuss the funds and learn about the history of why

the accounts were set up in that way. It was decided that the Library Commission funds would be

transferred to the professionally managed "Either Library" investment account so they can begin

to earn more rather than sitting in the Dime Bank account earning next to nothing. That transfer

of funding in the amount of around $16,000.00 is in progress.

Director's Report

Ms. Smith presented both the February and March Director's report.

February 26, 2024 (Meeting canceled)

Budget News:

· The Mayor’s budget is due early March followed by the budget presentation to Town

Council later in March.

Library News:

· We are back to being fully staffed! The Library Technician II - Youth Services position

has been filled. Jadzia Childs started February 12, 2024 and is off to a great start.

· I have exciting news to share regarding a recent grant application and a recent donation

received.

· Our “Love Your Library” campaign is going well. Although we haven’t brought in many

monetary donations, we are definitely feeling the love from our community by all the

wonderful hearts we received over the last several weeks!

· Four library staff members attended CPR and AED training and were certified this

month.

Building News:

Our HDMI cable broke which

impacts usage of the AV equipment and projector at Bill Library. Matt, Assistant

Librarian II, came up with a better solution and Public Works ran a Cat 6 cable in place

of the long HDMI cable. The Cat 6 cable allows for a stronger connection over a longer

distance. HMDI cables are now short and attached at each end. We are just waiting on a

final piece to arrive and we should be back up and running. This equipment is aging and I

am going to keep an eye out for a way to upgrade the entire system.

Reminder - ACLB upcoming webinar on What is DEI and what does it mean for libraries?

Wednesday, February 28, 2024 at 7:00 p.m.

March 18, 2024

Budget News:

· I attended the Library budget work session on Thursday, March 14, 2024. Thank you to

those who were there virtually for support.

Library News:

· The Ledyard Public Library is one of 50 recipients in Round 2 of the Libraries

Transforming Communities grant in the amount of $20,000. This grant was written to

replace the Bill Library circulation desk with a brand new ADA accessible desk.

· I was recently notified by the Community Foundation of Eastern CT that the Ledyard

Public Library is part of a large bequest left by Joan D. Hauptfeld. We received a check

for $2,366.56 that is a designated grant to provide programmatic support (it is not for

administrative purposes). If all continues to go well, we should be receiving this grant

each year moving forward.

Building News:

I am working with the Public Works

team to replace the columns/pillars at the entrance of Gales Ferry Library.

Friends of the Ledyard Library Report

Ms. Desormier, President of the Friends, presented the Friends report this month. General

elections for the Friends are open including Secretary, Member-at-Large, and a Vice-President.

The Friends will meet next month on April 11, 7:15 p.m. at the Ledyard Bill Library.

Investment Working Group

No report on the investments. Mr. Bolduc noted we will have a report for the April meeting.

VII. APPROVAL OF MINUTES

Motion to approve the regular meeting minutes of the Library Commission meeting from

January 22, 2024.

APPROVED AND SO DECLARED

Rebecca Nash

RESULT:

MOVER:

Carol Ganz

SECONDER:

Bolduc Candler Cronin Hightower Nash Ganz Rumery

Grenger Racich

AYE

EXCUSED

VIII. OLD BUSINESS

Consortium Update

Ms. Dawson began by saying she understands Ms. Smith's comment about being good stewards

of taxpayers money and periodically reviewing whether the best consortium service is still being

provided for the cost is important. However, Ms. Dawson has concerns and additional questions

to bring to the Commission.

First, Ms. Dawson asked what would happen to the library website and email addresses? She

stated new library cards had been purchased and wondered if those would need to be purchased

again. If so, what are the costs? She mentioned LCI doesn't host websites. Can we keep our

website name? What is the cost? She referred to the 2017 budget cuts mentioning specifically

the cut to the book budget. How often do we take the cheap route only to discover we didn't get

the same bang for our buck. Ms. Dawson wants to know what is currently covered by LION, but

not LCI. She is concerned that a switch to another consortium will cost the library more or that

we would be paying the same as LION. Would the library have to hire for IT services? Right

now Ledyard receives four LION deliveries per week and LCI would provide two. She noted our

patrons rely on the deliveries when requesting items from other libraries and wondered if LCI

would be more frustrating for patrons than LION. She concluded by asking Library Commission

members to do their research and not just Director Smith.

Ms. Ganz thanked Ms. Dawson for all the work she put into this. Ms. Ganz suggested to have a

committee to look at all the factors side by side comparing both consortiums and their costs.

Commissioners discussed LION's computer replacement program. There are many questions

about it. It is unknown how many computers the library should receive and during which time

frame. Ms. Smith has specifically reached out to LION on this very question multiple times and

has received different answers which makes it frustrating for staff and also challenging for

budgetary planning. Several of the library computers are running on Windows 10 or older

versions. It was made known that Windows 10 will stop being supported by Microsoft on

October 14, 2025. Ms. Smith is concerned that more than 12 of the current 28 library computers

are running on Windows 10. As the library updates the technology, Ms. Smith believes that IT

needs will decrease mentioning that several of the IT calls to LION over the past few years have

been linked to old and outdated technology.

Councilor Rodriguez asked how many computers the library has that were provided by the town

and how many by LION. Ms. Smith noted that the town just funded four new desktop computers

this year, but would need to verify numbers beyond that.

Ms. Smith will seek out additional information to confirm what the town's IT personnel might be

able to take on and help with the library's IT in the future.

Ms. Desormier mentioned that the town website is not very user friendly and when doing

searches old information shows up.

LION provides support regarding overdue notices and hold notices. Would this be the case if we

switched consortiums?

Ms. Dawson mentioned that LION has installed all the computers at the library.

Chair Bolduc also discussed how many books have been banned nationwide. It is good that the

Collection Management Policy was revised within the past year.

Chair Bolduc entertained the following motion.

Motion to create a working group to evaluate the different consortiums composed of

Commissioner Brian Cronin, Commissioner Carol Ganz, Jan Dawson, and Director Jen Smith as

an ex-officio.

APPROVED AND SO DECLARED

John Bolduc

RESULT:

MOVER:

Brian Cronin

SECONDER:

Bolduc Candler Cronin Hightower Nash Ganz Rumery

Grenger Racich

AYE

EXCUSED

XI.

NEW BUSINESS

Motion to approve the draft changes to the Community Meeting Room Regulations/Policy.

Wording is being changed so the meeting room/basement at Gales Ferry can be used by groups

for two additional sessions (totaling four series in a given year).

APPROVED AND SO DECLARED

Ralph Hightower

RESULT:

MOVER:

Rebecca Nash

SECONDER:

Bolduc Candler Cronin Hightower Nash Ganz Rumery

Grenger Racich

AYE

EXCUSED

Motion to add an exception to item 1b from the Community Meeting Room Regulations of the

Ledyard Public Library stating that exceptions, in consultation with the library director, can be

made for fundraising events sponsored by the Friends of the Ledyard Library.

The Friends of the Library holds two major fundraiser events a year. They would like to book the

room more than 90 days before an event. Ms. Desormier explained that the Friends of the

Library needs to plan events in advance and planning becomes difficult when it is unknown if

the rooms cannot be scheduled ahead of time.

Ms. Smith wants to work with and support the Friends as they work hard to fundraise on behalf

of the library. Ms. Smith understands the need for the Friends to plan ahead so these major

fundraising events can be properly advertised. However, Ms. Smith questioned the Commission

as to what are we prioritizing, the mission of the library (programming, library display space,

availability of community meeting space etc.), or fundraising? Ms. Smith is concerned that these

Friends fundraisers, while successful and profitable, really impact library services. Do these

fundraising events need to stretch as long as they have in the past or can the Friends continue be

as successful over a shorter period of time? Thus, creating a win-win situation for the Friends

(less days of scheduling volunteers to staff an event) and the library (freeing up our only

community space at Bill Library for programming, and group meetings). Ms. Smith questioned

Ms. Desormier about the busyness of each day of the annual book sale that last year took up 17

days including set up, clean up, and the actual sale. Although Ms. Desormier didn't have the

actual statistics with her, she remembered for each day of the book sale (which was open this

past year for 10 days), the Friends made at least $100.00 per day. When the price dropped down

to 25 cents per item, the profit was a bit more than $100.00 per day.

APPROVED AND SO DECLARED

Carol Ganz

RESULT:

MOVER:

Rebecca Nash

SECONDER:

Bolduc Candler Cronin Hightower Nash Ganz Rumery

Grenger Racich

AYE

EXCUSED

Councilor Rodriguez thanked Mrs. Burt for her involvement in planning a Black History

program at the library. She also thanked Mr. Hightower for his participation as a judge in the

Black History poetry/essay contest for Ledyard students. Mr. Hightower dedicated over four

hours of his time volunteering and never once complained.

Mr. Hightower commented the library did a nice job making frequent social media posts

highlighting Black History month. He would love to see the same support and recognition to all

groups in the future such as Women's History month.

Mr. Cronin apologized to Commission members for being absent last month.

ADJOURNMENT

Ms. Nash moved the meeting be adjourned, seconded

by Mr. Hightower.

The meeting adjourned at 8:27 p.m.

VOTE: 7-0 Approved and so declared

The next Library Commission meeting is scheduled for Monday, April 15, 2024 at the Bill

Library.

Respectively Submitted,

_______________________________

John Bolduc

Library Commission Chair

DISCLAIMER: Although we try to be timely and accurate these are not official records of the

Town.