Tonight (2021-06-28) was a Mendon Public Library Board of Trustee meeting.
The meeting was a week early, so as to not conflict with the Fourth of July. While I am biased towards sticking to schedules, you do what you have to do.
Interviewing the potential future library director has started. Sounds like it is going good so far, but there are still more interviews to conduct. Considering how long Laurie held the job, don’t want to rush into a decision.
Having to juggle funds to cover all the details around the library director is an additional challenge. Handling the final payment for the previous director, covering the interim director, and being ready for the next. Sounds like it’s more of planning for expected future issue then covering for surprises. Which is the way to do it, better to plan ahead then play catch up.
Reading between the lines, I get the impression this has been complicated by the town finance director recent retirement as well. Multiple retirements in a short time frame having cascading impacts. Or not, what do I know. Either way, they seem to be making due.
In case you haven’t been in the Library lately, they are celebrating the buildings 10 year anniversary. I would expect a few parties and similar events over the next few months.
Perhaps the first of which is the Summer Reading Program, which has started. Perhaps you will join in and win a prize.
Budget season is starting, and it sounds like they expect some increases. They are trying to figure out how best to manage that, before presenting to the Town Board. Most of this sounds like fallout of the staffing situation.
There was some question about the value of OverDrive, the libraries digital book system. It’s usefulness, in comparison to physical books, and where limited resources should be allocated. I got the impression this is more a decision made by the County Library System, and then pushed onto the local branch. Making budgets work is harder when you have little control over the expenses, or income.
And those are my Observations From Audience Land for the June 28, 2021 meeting of the Mendon Public Library Board of Trustees.