2026-10-07 - Board of Library Trustees

Are you ready? All right. Good afternoon. It is October 7th, 2026. It is 300 PM and this is a meeting of the board of library trustees. With me today are Peggy Bloom, our secretary, and Sharon

McCanning, our member at large. I am Joanne Geneva, the chair. Also with me are Jim McQueen, our library director, and we are awaiting the momentary arrival of Deb Griffin, our youth services

librarian. Our first order of business is to look over our previous meeting minutes. Uh if anyone has any changes or amendments to those minutes, let us know now. motion to approve. I will second that

motion. All in favor? All right. The minutes from the September meeting are unanimously approved. And that meeting was September 9th. Our next order of business would typically be our youth services

report. But while we are waiting for Deb to arrive, um we will move on to our director's report. Jim, thank you. So, first of all, adult programming. As usual, I have a report of the September 2026

program statistics that is in your packet and we'll review that shortly. But I want to mention that the adult programs we have scheduled for October include all the usual recurring ones. The adult

coloring club, the adult board game night, the afternoon and evening book groups, the cribage club, our yoga class, and that is is shifting into a new theme for fall. and then the knots and thoughts

fiber club, the science fiction and fantasy book group, and the writing group. So, moving on to state aid, as we talked about previously, the annual report information survey, ARIS for short, was

submitted back in August. And I submitted the financial report state aid application and compliance form and the budget. documentation on September the 9th, which was well in advance of the October

2nd deadline. We met all the requirements for certification by the Massachusetts Board of Library Commissioners, meaning that we will be eligible to receive our full aotment of state aid in fiscal

2027, the year that we're currently in. That amount is going to be $24,531. That's the approved amount of state aid for this fiscal year. And then I I included a couple of tables in your report that

show the municipal appropriation requirement or MAR and the materials expenditure requirement or or myrr all the acronyms. Um so that those are in blue in the table and then our actual figures are in

green in the table. So you can see that the municipal appropriation requirement for fiscal 27 the requirement was $272,696 and our actual total appropriated municipal income or TAM another acronym for

fiscal 27 is $300,895. That's our actual town municipal budget. So we exceeded the 2027 MAR and the materials expenditure requirement which is based on 2026 numbers. the full compliance materials

expenditure requirement which is 19% uh was would have been $52,71 and we actually spent in fiscal 26 $55,538. So about 20% of the total when the requirement was 19% of the total. So there again we

exceeded the materials expenditure required. And just for clarification the MAR and the MR are minimum requirements. Yes. So that is correct. So the the to be certified you have to meet the MAR. Um if

you don't meet the MAR or exceed the MAR then you have to request and what they call a waiver. Um and you can only get waiverss I think four times. But then for the for the myrr it is um a percentage

it's a percentage that you have to spend on materials and so full compliance is 19% of the TAM for that fiscal year and again that's a minimum requirement. Yes. So that and then that enables you to

get the full amount of state aid if you there is a there's a second tier that isn't full compliance. I forget what they call it but it's I think it's if you spend 17% instead of 19%. And if if you do

that then you are eligible to get a reduced amount of state aid. But then if it's lower than 17% then you don't don't you're not eligible to get state aid at all. So there there is kind of a sliding

scale for the myrrh if that makes sense. So yeah and so then libraries meeting the requirements will be certified by the MBLC in three groups in November, December and January and at least to some

extent that is based on when the documents were submitted and then if the documents are error free and so I'm hoping that Sutton will be in the first group because of how early we submitted our

documents. Does anyone have questions about state aid? Thank you. All righty. And then I wanted to mention that the library staff were invited to the town of Sutton employee appreciation lunchon which

was hosted by Waters Farm. That was back on September the 22nd. Several of the staff were able to attend and we were very grateful to included in that town appreciation event. So, and then there there

are a few meetings and training that I did during September and then also wanted to mention the upcoming holiday closings which are October 12th for Columbus Day, November 11th for Veterans Day, and

November for Thanksgiving. We're going to early at 6:00 p.m. on Wednesday the 25th and then be closed Thursday the 26 and Friday the 27th and open back up for business as usual on the Saturday after

Thanksgiving 28th question. So should we move on to program statistics? All righty. So you have in your packet the September report of program statistics. We had a total of 27 programs with attendance

of 171. And I know Deb will speak to the children's programs. For adults, we had 14 adult programs with total attendance of 71. questions, comments. Okay, we can move on. Circulation. I'm so pleased

with circulation. So for September, we circulated 3,653 physical items and that was an increase of about 220 items over September of last year. And you can see in the report in your packet the

breakdown of the different categories that made up those those items. So then on the next page for the econtent in September, we circulated 1,980 items compared with 1,771 in September of last year.

So another another increase there. So both physical item circulation and econtent circulation were higher in September. Excellent. Yeah. So that's really pleasing. And then on the next page you can

see the year to date comparison. So we're we're for the July, August, and September. the first quarter of this fiscal year, our circulation of physical items is 2% greater than it was for the same

period last fiscal year. And the circulation of E content is 17% higher than the same period last year. And so the overall circulation is slightly more than a thousand items and seven% higher than it

was for the previous fiscal year. Nice. Yeah. And then you can see the the charts that show the breakdown. It it continues to be in the neighborhood of 35% econtent and 65% items. Okay. Comments or

questions? Okay, we can move on. All righty. So then budget reports. The first one is the town budget. And so of course this is this is for the period ending September 30th, the first of the fiscal

year. And so in a quarter 25% our our target amount spent would be about 25%. And so you can see in the the various personnel line items, we're slightly under budget and we haven't spent anything on

repairs and maintenance. We talked last time about the office supplies and how this represents only a portion of what we spend on office supplies. We also use state aid for some office supplies. So,

yes, we've spent almost 60% of that budget, but we always knew that we were going to spend more than just town funds. We were going to spend some state aid. So, so that's not unexpected. We haven't

yet spent anything and subscriptions. And we are at 42.6% of our books and periodicals budget. So we have spent slightly over $27,000 so far out of the out of the town budget on materials. What? So

while that is 42.6% 6% of the town appropriation for materials. It is not 42.6% of what our myrr is going to be because that is based on 19% of the TAM acronyms. So, so that the books and periodicals

total budget for the year includes some money from the town funds but some money from other sources for instance state aid. Exactly. Yep. Yep. because our projected MR for this fiscal year is going to

be 57,000. So approximately 10% 10% $10,000 more than the town budget will be the total materials budget. So So and so I say that to point out that while you see 42.6% expended, it's not 42.6% of

everything that we're going to expend. and all the funds that are available to us for that purpose. So we have state a that we can use to make up the balance. Does that make sense? Questions about the

minutes. So the 26 material And then you guess last year 47500 I guess what I was kind of interested in was budget items $1814. So I don't know if that page and then the state aid Is there question?

All right. So, so stop me if I'm not answering your question or if I'm not making sense. So, the for fiscal 26, the numbers on the the document, those are our actual expenditures. So, We had 47,500

budgeted from the town and we spent $7 short of that. The CW Mars econtent that they the state allows you to count the portion of the CW Mars assessment or membership fee that is expended for econtent

because CW Mars provides a lot of our e-content and so so you can count that that portion towards your materials expenditures and that is the whole CW Mars assessment is paid for by the town. So

that's why that appears as money that the town spent for materials. the the state aid. That's the actual amount of our state aid funds that we expended to get to the MR and that they similarly to how

they allow you to count the CW Mars econtent, they also allow you to count money that other organizations expend on your behalf. And so that's what the $1,590 that was not on our books at all. The

friends paid for those museum passes directly, but we can count that as part of our materials expenditure for purposes of meeting that minimum requirement. And so that all adds up to $55,538. And and

again, that was slightly over the minimum requirement. So those are the actual amounts. And so when you take the amount that the town expended that is what where 88.8% of the 55538 was town funds. So

the 2027 numbers are a projection based on our approved municipal budget and 19% of that. So the town appropriation for materials was level funded for fiscal 27. It didn't bigger. So, the the

difference there is not quite $10,000 that we're going to have to come up with for state aid. However, that is not taking into account the portion of the CW Mars assessment and it's not taking into

account anything that the friends may expend on our behalf or any other organization may expend on our behalf. So, I would say it's it's not a true picture at this point of the percentage that the

town is expending because it doesn't include the portion of the CW Mars assessment and because we don't know for sure what those final numbers are going to be. So yes, it appears that the projection

of the amount that the town is funding of the MR for 2027 is lower at 83%. And it probably will be somewhat lower simply because the myrr because our municipal budget increased for fiscal 27

necessarily there's going to be a corresponding increase in the myrr because it's a percentage of the municipal appropriation and our the town amount for materials was level funded. So you can see

right there, it's definitely going to be a lower percentage than 88.8, but it will probably be higher than 83 once we actually add in the amount spent on our path and the amount of the CW Mars

assessment, everything like that. And of course we don't know for sure at this point what we will expend for materials from state aid. So that you know that could change it also obviously yeah thank

you. Did that did that answer your question? Yeah. Thank you. Yeah. And I've I've had conversations with the town manager about the percentage that goes to the materials and and the fact that the town

appropriation is we're still left with a shortfall in terms of the minimum requirement. And so he's he's definitely aware of that. And yeah, I mean I I feel like We got a we got everything I would say

that we that we asked for in the budget for this year. And I I feel like they they really did. They stepped up. And if the tradeoff was having to make up a little more of the materials budget out of

state aid, I'm I'm definitely good with that. All right. Okay. So, yep. So then next speaking of state aid. So Yep. So you can just you can see what we have spent state aid on so far and it is almost

entirely uh program related at this point in time and for the month of September we spent $2,300 in state aid and so there was a net decrease to the fund balance because we haven't yet received

received state aid revenue for this fiscal year. We have to be certified first, which as I mentioned will happen over the next couple of months and then once once we're certified, they will send out

the appropriations into payments a couple months apart. So questions about that? So even though that fund balance has dropped, it will increase later on in the year as we receive funds from the state.

That's right. Yeah, we have we have 24,000 something coming in two payments at some point. Perfect. Any other questions? Okay, move on to gifts. So I don't think I don't think there has been any

changes to the budget. We didn't spend anything out of that in September that's noted but you can see what we've used it for thus far this year and you can see what the fund balance is. All righty.

Thank you. Before we go to the strategic planning update, we will backtrack to the youth services report. All right. So, for the month of October, we have nine activities on the calendar, some of

which repeat throughout the month. We have two special events on the calendar. A spooky story time and the Boo Bash. Uh Spooky Story Time is on Wednesday, October 21st at 10:30 a.m. and it will begin

with a story in the library followed by a trick-or-treating parade through the town hall, so costumes encouraged. Um, and then on the Boo Bashes on S Saturday, October 24th, which is in conjunction

with the school's trunk or treat event and the Oh My Board Scarecrow and Pumpkin Festival on the Common, uh, the library will have games and treats from 4 to 6 p.m. And we also have plans to have a

scarecrow on display at the festival on the come on by and check out what nursery rhyme we chose. And I believe there's voting to be there's Um and then our collaborative event that is happening with

the Milbury Public Library in November or Dino November um is officially on the calendar and is accepting registrations. We are welcoming Dino Man for evening of dinosaurs at the Elmwood School in

Milbury. Uh the event combines paleontology storytelling and lifesize inflatable dinosaurs. So please sign up to that event. And then to continue with our popular this or that question that we've had

going on at the desk at the library. Um our recent question that we had was bats versus parrots. Um and parrots won with 41 votes where bats earned 33 votes. And then the current question for this

week is chocolate chip cookies versus apple cider. Yes. Pumpkins won. Yeah, I think I expected to win pumpkins. It was um and then for the collab collection development in the process of uh I had

started the non-fiction juvenile non-fiction and got about 500 on the Dewey decel but today I I stopped that and I jumped into a tight area of the juvenile story books so we gained a little bit of

room there the program so this is a really big deal a large scale program. And the reason that we're collaborating with Milberry is because this is something that neither of us would have been able to

pull off on our own. So, it's something really special and really exciting, right? and and the location the school is relatively close. Yeah, the Elward School is if you are familiar with where the

library is in Milbury between Sutton and how close we are with the library. The school is even closer. Yeah. So, it's a it's a big huge deal. No pun intended and and and a literal big huge deal. And

it's really not that far distance wise from here. So, very very close. Like you could drive it in probably. So it's accepting registrations which can you go into a little more detail about that? So um

just like you would register for a program that's happening at the library, you can go right into onto our website into the calendar um and go on to I believe it's November 7th. Um and you will see

dinosaurs on there and you just register like you would be registering for any old program that we have at the library. We have 100 spaces. So everybody should register and come on down for age

groups. Believe it is 6 to 11. Um is the recommended is the recommended age group but I can see that a lot of people a lot of different age groups would enjoy it. So hopefully we'll have a lot of sen

representation at this event. want to wear green to show that we're from. Hey, what a cool idea. There you go. All right. So, we can continue with meetings and other uh so my meetings are very limited

uh in the month of October so far. Um so I just have the friends meeting in is it next week or the following week? It's coming up. Um and then my other is is has pretty much stayed the same. Um, not

much has changed there, but hopefully with the booash and all of that calming down a little bit, I can start jumping into that. You will be busy in October. Questions for Deb? Okay. So now we can move

into the strategic planning update portion of our agenda. That's you again. All righty. So I have completed the community survey data analysis and am in the process of preparing a report. Joanne and I

are scheduled to meet with consultant Katherine Edelberg soon. I think that's next Friday, next October 16th to review her report on the focus groups. And then the next step will be to begin drafting

goals and objectives that are informed by all the data that we have collected. Questions for strategic planning? It should be very interesting, I'm sure. Yeah, it has been very interesting doing the

data analysis. I look forward to sharing the results with you all and with everybody else. All right, with with that we can move on to planning our next meeting. Everybody get your calendar ready. So

it looks like we would be meeting the first week in November. which would be around the fourth. The following week would be the week of Veterans Day. So, the fourth would probably work out better or

the week of the 4th. How does that look for people? with library program. It's okay for you. All right. So, we'll go with Wednesday, November 4th, 3 p.m. Christine, does that work out? Okay. All

right. So, our next meeting is Wednesday. November 4th, 300 p.m. Same location. And I will make a motion to adjourn the current meeting at 3:34. All in favor? Right. We are officially adjourned.

Thanks everybody.