Tonight (2017-02-06) was a Mendon Public Library Board of Trustee meeting.
Normally I don’t get to the Trustee’s meetings, as it is the same night as the Village Planning Board. But tonight there is no Planning Board meeting (no items for them to discuss), so I went to the Trustee’s meeting instead.
Been a while since I’ve made it to one of these, as they changed their schedule from Tuesday to Monday a while back. I believe the majority of the board members are new since last I observed them. Molly is president now, and they added Alicia as a new member tonight. I always find it interesting seeing people in different settings, and I knew Alicia back in grade school. Time keeps ticking along.
There was discussion about grants from Rich Funke‘s office. Pretty sure I’ve never met him, so I can’t speak to the man himself. Occasionally he comes up at various meetings, and each time I find his name amusing. It’s the little things in life.
Recently the library has been working on a branding project. Sounds like they are nearly done, although it’s not yet ready for the public (but it was at a public meeting, so by definition and law it is public, but I digress…). Looks like the brand will be “Enrichment for all”. There were some other, longer phrases, but I didn’t catch them. I’m sure it will be ‘publicly’ available soon enough (probably after next months meeting).
During this branding project, there was a survey available. While they didn’t have the ‘finished’ version tonight, the quick look had the same sort of trends past data has shown about the library and the community served. While the curve had a good spread, it was weighted slightly toward older and wealthier patrons. Mostly people living in the town, mostly at the library for the collection (books/dvds/etc). Again, consistent with past data.
There is a renovation project coming down the road for one of the side rooms. There was discussion about how long it would take, and if it would be worth closing for a few days during the project. No dates or decisions, but there was discussion. The project renovates the side room in the children’s area. Which I’m sure has a ‘proper’ name, that I don’t know.
The library is also hoping to get funding for a ‘Digital Media Lab’. A collection of good uses were mentioned, but how to balance them with keeping it useful after the first hooligan visits it? It will be interesting seeing what happens here, but I think the better option is to focus on network access and quiet spaces. Let the patrons bring their own gear. That way the library doesn’t have to worry about replacing hundreds (or thousands) of dollars worth of equipment from a simple mistake.
Another entity (the state?) required the library to approve an ‘ugly report’, which they did tonight. Again, I’m sure it has a better name, but ‘ugly’ is what I heard. Looks like a collection of statistical data, organized in a manner for the outside groups benefit. Not easy to read by the average person, hence the name. In time, the data ends up forming the core of a ‘prettier’ version, the Annual Report. Last years is available on the website, presumable this one will be soon enough.
And a heads up for all the parents out there: The library is not a parent. Unlike some other groups, they make no claims to being a parent. This came out in a discussion about monitoring who borrows what. They can’t tell you, and don’t want to know, who borrows what. Official stance is it’s the parents jobs to make sure their kids aren’t borrowing anything they shouldn’t be. Which is how I think it should be: if your not responsible enough to raise your kids, you shouldn’t be doing the sort of thing that creates kids.
And those are my Observations From Audience Land for the Febuary 6th, 2017 meeting of the Mendon Public Library Board of Trustees.