Library Board of Trustees - Regular Meeting

Y [laughter] let's All right, perfect.

6 o' 6 o'clock. Come on. You know I like a on time meeting. Wonderful. So, it is six o'clock. We will get started. Do a quick roll call as folks are coming in. I'm here. Patrick, you're here. Sherry is here. Harvey is here. Claudia is here. And Beverly is here. We've got Angela hanging out with us. Wonderful. We've got Elizabeth, Chris, and Allison. And we have our wonderful Bloomfield citizens who are joining. Thank you all for joining us. So, now I want to um open up the floor for citizen statements and petitions. Statements by members of the public may be oral or written and shall start with the speaker's name and address and shall continue for no longer than three minutes unless permitted by the chairperson or trustee presiding. That's me. [laughter]

So, do we have any citizen statements in the room or online? Um, I don't see anyone with their hand up. So, can I talk now? [laughter] Yes. Yes. Yes. It's the time. So, start with your name and address and then go on with it. I've been married too long to just jump out there too fast. So, I asked I've learned to ask questions. [laughter] Hey y'all. Lorenzo Jones, president Shixoy Farm. Um, Bloomfield resident. Um, I don't know. I

don't forget your address, Lorenzo.

Oh, 78 Kenwood Circle over off of uh Bloomfield A um by the Arch Dasis. Um 78 Kenwood Circle. Um yeah, just so we wanted to I wanted to join tonight to share um Erin and I know each other and we work together on a lot of things and I'm one of those people who kind of lurk um in the background of like municipal meetings. So, like, you know, as long as no football game is on, there's probably like a Bloomfield Town of Commission Committee, something running in the board of ed, something's running in the background. And I I was actually on um I've joined the library board meeting a couple of times um in the last couple of years. So, I've kind of even watched some of the change stuff come up. I've watched this I've watched the strategic planning session. I think I joined one of them um late, but I um but I pay a lot of attention to the to the library stuff because Wintonberry was always kind of special to me as a um high school student. Um we used it a lot and it was there's a lot of memories around the TA bus and Rockwell and Pluto's and like just kind of like that whole area of Blue Hills. I lived on top of road. Um my wife's family um has been on Green Bryer longer than I've been in Bloomfield. um vow force. Um so I noticed [clears throat] I saw some stuff come up around the um library strategic plan and it some things kind of struck with struck you know in a really positive sense for me organizationally. Um, so really quickly, I guess make a already long story short, um, we saw I'm um, president of Chickix Hoy Farm, which is a community- based organization working to increase the number of Billpac farmers, um, in the in the state. Um, a few years ago, we um, came across a statistic that 90 99% of farmers in Connecticut were white. We're like, wow, that can't be good. Um and so

we just start talking to a bunch of people and saying like why is [laughter] that the case found out that's the a that's the average for the country or 98% that's the average for the country that actually unlike other in other points like Connecticut actually isn't like an outlier of like crazy so we we actually were able to kind of get and connect with people in Bloomfield connect and across Connecticut my partner and I Diana Martinez who's the actual founder um she's at a she's at her own municipal meeting right now in Middletown um with the ad commission. She's on the ad commission. She lives in Middletown, so she's at her she's doing this at another meeting pretty much. So, we kind of got together and we're like, well, you know, she's in middle town. We did a bunch of stuff with Wesley University. We pulled together a thing called Harvest and Change, right? which was designed to be like this local diverse network of folks who cared about farming and community, but that also included like public safety and food and housing um and these other like like basic human needs, informal case management. And of course that that put us in communication with a bunch of people directly impacted by the criminal justice system, people with families, um you know, dealing with a lot of other issues like probation and parole. So, we spent the last couple of years building this organization and we purposely chose two years ago to um put the main office in Bloomfield. Um, mostly because I'm here um um for that matter, but also because um I I have a deep history with bloom bloomfields like agriculture, packing company, West Indian, like African-American, whatever they calling us, all of us now, right? But like I have a history with the like old Persia Park folks. Like I don't know, nobody talks about Persia Park no more. When I was in high school, that's all we talked

about was Persia Park. I went also went to Fox Middle School. So I caught the bus right over there on Booth Bay. I lived on West Morningside. I know Persia family on Miriam Street for a long time. Elizabeth have right. So like we kind of really got an analysis that like you know one of the things that Blowful hadn't had was its own community- based organization. So I mean I came here in 1983, my aunt came here in 197. wife's family been here since Greenbryer was paved pretty much Greenbryer Road. So like I had never known us to [clears throat] have our own community-based organization and I did I've done community organizing since 1991 um in Connecticut. I'm the guy who does the cracker powder cocaine bill in the Harford community court. Had a big fight with Faith McMahon over Harford Community Court and direct services. She won that fight. we lost it for the for the for the better, right? So, like Bloomfield's kind of got this personal thing to it and it's also has like this history of um um agriculture and farming and it's got a ton of black and brown people, West Indian folks and like progressive white people who kind of have a much larger analysis regardless of what we see on Facebook, you know. And the thinking that I was thinking was that like Harford's each neighborhood in Harford had a community-based organization. one chain heart Western Civic Association, Blue Hill Civic Association, um Clay Hill Improvement Association, right? And those community based organizations worked hard to make to improve those communities. I work with those organizations. And we felt like if Bloomfield had a community organization that was led by the folks in the community, not by the politicians, not by the people who got status, not by the white folks with the most money, not by the black folks with the most access, not by the pastors, not

know just ran by people. They get up and be like, "We want to do a thing for the community. We cobble together some an idea and we go raise some money and we bring it back and we do it right. And this is what I've seen Upper Albany Neighborhood Collaborative and community based organizations do. Um, community boards in New Haven do right for years. Um, and so we said, well, let's do it in Bloomfield, right? Let's do a community based organization in Bloomfield that's going to make Bloomfield the like hub of the region, right? And we found out that people were with it. They were like, "Yeah, that makes sense." And they pushed us on our work. So we started out with a bunch of farm stuff, right? Increase the number of Billpac farmers. We help people get farm numbers. We help people start their own farm businesses for years, about 25 or 30 folks. And we're still helping people start their own farm businesses. We call them aggra businesses. And so we got into a bunch of training, a bunch of leadership development, a bunch of public education. Lorenzo, I just want to tap in. So, you're at about six minutes now when you had three.

So, so I'll I'll extend um an additional two and um is that is that is that enough for you? That's that's fine. Okay.

Um so, like I I'll actually hit the the um the kind of like some more salient points. So I what we've looked at here is we put together a project Blownford Avenue 693 Blownford Avenue sweet 205 and that's where our office is and we've got these four major program areas right mutual aid [clears throat] is our coup to kitchen program where we provide supplemental food and basic human needs for folks um um pretty regularly. We've got the pathways to agriculture program which is our youth workforce development training program that we've been running the last couple years. We're training folks in community organizing and agriculture. And we've got our [clears throat] shop seniors in in Harford organizing for power, which is a group of folks um el senior folks over the age 55 plus organizing for the quality of life of folks in like greater Harford and Harford area um um senior for senior power. And then in Bloomfield specifically, we've got a project called faces. Um, we purchased 16 acres of land up on Hoskins Road. That was fun. Another issue, but we purchased 16 acres of land up on Hoskins Road. Most of y'all who know it know it as the Great Drain. Um Um um and and what it what we learned is that there's this econological conservation and energy stuff. So, we start this project called FACES that's training and public education planning. It stands for farming, agriculture, conservation, and environmental stewardship. And we intend to stand up a bunch of public education, outdoorsy kind of stuff, pathways, and camping and pollinators over in Bloomfield. So, we've got like an aggreg like local spot for our um families for the next 100 years. Um with that, I'll stop and throw it back to you, Erin.

Awesome. Thank you, Lorenzo. Does anyone on the on the board or with the friends have any questions for Lorenzo at this time? Yeah. Patrick, go ahead.

Yeah, thank you. Uh, thank you, Lorenzo. This I had no idea about your organization. It's really very interesting. I guess my question is, how do you feel the Bloomfield Public Library can offer assistance to you? Are you looking to establish a partnership? Um, are you looking to uh have programs held at Proser andor McMahon? How how [clears throat] do you see the library assisting your organization?

So like any other like local, you know, you know, we call it social capital, right? We call the library social capital. It's it's this like resource to the entire community. So we've got what we've done in the in what we've done over our model is like we've got enrichment programs right that we get funding for right that right that we could ideally like use as a supplemental youth services stuff over the summer and spring right the mutual aid program where we get food to families we've got some farmers who are doing homeschooler so yeah like the obvious thing of like there's partnership and the library has capacity infrastructure bricks and mortar The [clears throat] other thing that the library does that's actually much more important is that like it's the most respected public education institution in any community

that there's no other institution in the community with with the full responsibility of educating the public nothing else. Right? So to us all the leadership development stuff our organizing training our farm training stuff our enrichment programs everything to us the library would be like our first flag stop to say okay is the library available for this? And then if they're not, we'll we kind of like go through the rest of the list. It's kind of how I've done it my career, right? In the libraries. Yeah. To to short answer your question. Yes. Yes. Yes. Thank you. Okay. Thank you. Wonderful. Wonderful. Any other questions? So, um question.

You mentioned an address on Bloomfield Avenue. Would um can people just drop in and check you guys out? And what was the address? Oh, 693 Bloomfield A. Uh, Sweet 205, you know, where the old um, it's the first of the big old what was it? What it medical offices, buildings, crap, whatever. It's across from the new like condos, the little muse thing that they just built right across the street.

Yeah. Okay. Um, we don't have staff there regularly yet. Um, only because we're between here, Middletown, a couple of the spots. As we move through the legislative session, um, we'll start having more staff. The mutual a staff will be there pretty regularly. um and some of the other program staff. So, like nobody in the nobody to pop in on on a daily basis right now, but yeah, we're there probably a few days out the week. We'll have some steady staff closer we get to closer we get to spring. Yep. Okay. Thank you, Sherry. I see a hand raised. Diana Martinez.

Yes. Hi. I'm sorry I'm late, y'all. I'm um the ED at Chickixoy Farm and I work alongside Lorenzo. I wanted to offer that we also have uh monthly meetings that we do monthly community meetings at the office in Bloomfield. Um and we have one coming up on Thursday, this Thursday evening, the 15th. Um and those are open to anyone in the greater Harford region to come. We have our coup to kitchen popup. So, we'll have food and um produce and supplies made by farmers in our network at that event, including like bread and soaps and artisan um things. Um and we're have like a community conversation. What do folks care about? What do they want to work on together? And that's also one of the things that we'd like to sort of rotate between our office and a library space so that we could do it in a space where folks feel really comfortable, where they know they could bring their kids and we could have more robust conversation. And and and I think we think of um we think of libraries as mutual aid spaces. Uh a library is a mutual aid space. And so for us like we we're interested in learning and reading. Um, we've talked with our members about starting a book club. We thought about, you know, collaborating with your monthly book club that we've participated in in the past or, um, thinking about, you know, if there's a book we want to read this month together, can we make sure there's copies of that, extra copies of that for them next month at the at the library or that, you know, um, that we can at least talk through a list and see what's there, what's not there. Um, and really just getting people to use it as a hub, which is which is what it is, and have us be part of, you know, that that hub. We've also talked about incubating. Um, we have an aven embryology program where we incubate chickens and teach kids

about the life cycle of a chicken. We have a bunch of incubators. Um, and you know, I've thought about what would it be like to have this like incubation happen at the library. um even if you know once the chickens hatch we find someone else to foster them or take them in. Um so I think there's a bunch of um you know opportunities for co-c collaborating on on events and also just just partnership in general. Awesome. Thank you Diana and thank you Lorenzo. Any questions? All right. Okay. Are there any other members from the public who would like to make a statement or comment?

Looks like no. So, we'll move right on. Again, thank you for those who who spoke. I whispered to Elizabeth that we need to incubate chickens [laughter] at a crosser. And so, we all see where my head is at right now immediately. Um, so we'll move on to report from the fronts of the Bloomfield Public Library. Okay. I hope everyone be a little easier [laughter] and you might be closer to the microphone.

Okay. Hello everyone. Um, so, uh, constant contact update that we've had four campaigns and each one we're getting more people opening our emails [laughter] from the last time. Uh, right now we have uh, 304 emails and we're hoping to continue expanding on that. Um, but we have about a 70% open rate which I think is pretty good for the first time um, doing this. And what we're going to do is try to um uh plan these emails for the same time every month so people know they're coming and they know to look for them.

If they end up in their spam, you know, they'll know that they might they'll be there.

Uh the book seller seller which is at Proer and the book sellers annex here are doing well. Um the annex here is open. the bookshelves um of used books are open whenever the library hours are open. Uh Proser has hours because it's in the um in the friend's room downstairs in the lower level. So it's Tuesdays and Saturdays 11 to 1 and Thursdays 1:30 to 3:30. And as more volunteers are being trained, those hours will expand and hoping for an evening and two more daytime sessions. Um the books generally run between$1 and $3. And right now, uh we're taking cash, check, and Venmo. Um and maybe soon at some point, credit cards. Um, and in February, we hope to be starting to accept more used books and media for um, uh, donations as well, and we'll get that out. Um, and lastly, our friends have restarted monthly meetings. Um, they stopped at COVID and so it's been about six years.

Wow. [laughter] And, um, and now, uh, in January 8th, we had our first meeting. It was it was wonderful. It was at Proer's community room and uh it will continue to be on the second Thursday of each month from 1:00 to 2:00 either in the community or the conference room depending on what's available and how many people we get. And that's it. Wonderful. Angela, do you have to be a member of the friends to be able to volunteer? Not at all. Okay. Not at all. [laughter] Yeah. Hey. I mean, I'm in I feel like I'm in pro this time, so it makes sense.

Yeah. But go downstairs and see what there is. It's it's pretty remarkable. The amount of work they do to vet the books is just enormous um for its condition and and whether they'll be um you know, something people might want and all variety of of genres. So it's they did put a lot of work behind it. Awesome. So awesome. Any questions for Angela? All right. Thank you. Thank you.

All right. So chairperson's report. I'm going to make this um quick. I wanted to alert folks that um we have officially launched a fireside chats with the BPL trustee chair where I sit and basically talk to people by the fireplace uh in Proer. Elizabeth is obviously the first guest and so um there are two videos up. There's one more that's um that's coming. But one of the things I think that I may have mentioned last year is that I know that I want to personally commit to being more vocal about what I do with the library, all the great things that the library is able to do for the community. And so this is one way um that that I want to do that myself. I'm also going to start having like office hours um in both Proser and McMahon. So, if members of the community who would like to just come and sit and talk while I'm doing work, um, more than more than happy to have that conversation and have a have a little break from the day. Um, I want to close my report by reading the portion of the Hartford Current article that speaks amazingly about the library. Um, you know, I don't know Kevin Renie, but I would give him a cup of coffee and maybe some a little bit stronger um for for the the great things that he has he has said. And so, if you will indulge me a little chair's indulgence, I would just like to read this into the record um because I think it's important that we have these kinds of things on the record moving forward because our our team is so excellent. So, I'll begin. I know Bloomfield and it is more than its politics. However fractious its politics becomes, the town's library is a striking symbol of a town united in a common cause. In 2021, 80% of voters passed a referendum to build a new library on the site of the one to be

replaced. The building itself is striking with floor to ceiling windows facing the street. But it's what happens inside that caught this author's attention. In December, the messenger published a small announcement that the Proser Library would be hosting Pups at Proer Read to a Dog on two consecutive Saturday mornings. What biblopile dog lover could resist that? Daffhne Wilson, who spent her career in early childhood education, brought her therapy dog, Zuri, to the library and gently led children through 15minute reading aloud sessions to Zuri, a polite and attentive audience. [clears throat]

The experience gave each child a chance to practice communication and reading skills in a warm and encouraging atmosphere. Ethan read Charlie goes to school. Three-year-old twins Jenny and Rose laughed their way through a book about a dog that plays basketball. Wilson created the first reading education assistance dogs program, so she knows how to direct children excited to be sitting on a library floor with a friendly dog. Some uplift feels out of place when each day brings more disorienting tumult to our nation. The Proer Library on a Saturday morning provided a vivid reminder of what we are determined to preserve. The library helps introduce children into the magical world of reading for pleasure. When students from local elementary schools visit, many are astonished at how many books they may take home to read. They are so mad for manga that the Japanese creators of the graphic novels struggle to keep up with demand. Bloomfield's dynamic library director, Elizabeth Lane, presides over an enthusiastic staff that includes Alex and Chris obviously that oversees book clubs, STEM themed family nights, Pokemon cards on Saturday mornings, a tweet room where whispering is not required, and programs that bring homeschool children together for robotics and engineering challenges. The friends of the library with 25 volunteers and growing provides packs introducing children to reading and runs a bookstore in the building's basement. Manchester, Lane told me, Manchester is where I grew up. Manchester is the number one library in the state for children's circulation. Bloomfield is determined to give the city of village charm. Also building a new library, some competition for that prize spot. They not going to win. Just that's a little editorializing. Finally, a town that was savvy enough to hire Lane as its library director ought to be able to produce an audit on time.

If it still cannot, maybe its leaders ought to take a trip to the library to figure out what they are doing wrong. There are a lot of answers to big questions in that building across the street from the town hall. So, I'm just going to clap out loud curse because this is this is amazing. Amazing. I know that the staff has worked so hard for the soul of the library to show itself out in public and I am just thrilled that Kevin Renie was able to capture that and I'm just proud to be part of all of this. So Kevin Renie, excuse me, a state senator state representative. I'm going back [laughter]

because that name was very Yes. Yes. And so again, uh to to the staff, Chris, Allison, Elizabeth, and anyone that might be um joined with us online, any of the staff joined online, I am thankful to be working with and on your behalf. And the Harford Current knows that y'all are the baddest. So now everybody knows that y'all are the baddest. And with that, I would like to say something. Yes, absolutely. I'd like to offer some kudos to the library board that hired Elizabeth. Correct. library people with no politics involved, new enough to hire our wonderful director. And that's what you need. You need objective people who know what they're doing.

Yes. To hire people. And the way I see it, and I've been around a long time, and I got to know many of the directors, especially when I was going through my uh educational programs from Central Connecticut State and um doing student teaching in the Bloomfield School Systems, working with the librarians, and I have to say, you are stellar. Exceptional. Exceptional. All right. So, with all of those praises and flowers, we transition right to the director's report. Thank you.

Um, and again, I just want to reflect the staff because we can't do anything without everybody being a part of it and our team is just incredible. So, um, can we give a little round of applause? Just amazing. Okay, so speaking, we'll start with staffing. We have two new pages, Barbara Curtis and Chris Mack, that we have welcomed to the team. Now, all four library pages have been onboarded and are learning the ropes. And I think I speak for all staff when I forgot just how wonderful it is to have pages. Um, so they are such an integral part of the everyday and making sure everything goes where it's supposed to. So they're training and I I welcome the public to say hello to them when you see them in the stacks. They are your friend. Um, Michael Tobias waving over there. Um, just celebrated 13 years of service to the library. Thank you, M.

He didn't know I was going to do [laughter] that.

Um, and then our our employee of the quarter this month was library assistant Brooke Lyman. Um, Brooke has seamlessly become a part of the youth department. She has tirelessly cataloged items from both physical locations. Tony's Brooke. Puzzles, Brooke. Backpacks, Brooke. Playaways, also Brooke. And the allimportant library sounding board, Brooke. Librarians can be a bit much sometimes. [laughter] Um, we are sure we're leaving something out. She has welcomed many families into our spaces for various events and has seen a lot of these children go grow up over the past 12 years. As an employee of BPL, Brooke has become one of the kind and friendly faces of the youth department. She's an avid reader of graphic novels and um has helped grow the adult graphics collection at Proser. The work she does may not always be in the forefront, but her hard work and dedication are qualities that help us all do our jobs better. Um so, another round of applause for her. Many of you know her. She's she's really amazing. Um, lots of updates about the building's projects. Um, one, there's a library building committee committee meeting next Wednesday night at 6:00. And of course, just like this meeting, everybody is welcome to attend um, and learn firsthand what is going on. Um, I know everybody likes to come and talk to our staff about the library buildings project as well, but the bu the library building committee really is the best place for that. One of the exciting things we will be talking about last next week is the next phase of the McMahon Wittenberry Library project. Essentially, we're getting ready to start the exterior. Um, we're going to be looking at bids for the children's garden, the site and parking lot improvements, um, and other things on the exterior so that it will match the splendor that you see on the interior of McMahon. And I know we're really excited

for that. The Proser garage is now open. So, that is the garage located directly under the building on the first floor. The uh entryway leads into the friends space. So, I think the friends are going to get a lot more traffic now. Um, as of today, the lighting works down there. Um, I I think we need to we need to test it. Did we test it? Yeah, it's great. Oh, it's working. [laughter]

Okay. So, we will probably be doing a little PR around that, but you'll see that the cones are now removed. So, yes, you can park under there, but also yes, there's not a lot of spots and to each person their own. So, um the parking still exists on the Riley lot as well, and there are three spots right in front on Tungstus Avenue, too. Um I know that last month people may have seen um fire trucks at Proer. I I know I got immediate [laughter] texts about it. Um, we had a pipe burst in the garage. That has all been fully addressed. And I just want to say thank you to our fire department for responding so quickly. And to our public works department, this all happened on a Sunday, for um, taking care of everything so so fast. Our temporary certificate of occupancy has been extended once again um, I believe till the end of January at this point. Um and we are continuing to work to accurately um address everything that needs to be done to get that certificate of occupancy. Um there's many different town staff departments who are involved in working with the library building committee and the construction company as we pursue this. And I just want to acknowledge um building and land use, our town engineers, our public works department, our building inspector, our fire marshall, the town manager's office. Am I missing anybody? [clears throat] Chris Allison, I'm probably missing people. There's so many staff involved and I just want to oh um purchasing um finance lots of hands are involved in the success of getting everything done and I

just want to acknowledge all of their participation as well. Um, right now the staff side is working with the library building committee to ensure that everything on the punch list is completed. That systems that are still in need of fine-tuning are done to the satisfaction of all the departments that it will eventually be handed over to. Um and we're also making sure that any warranties involved with the project um accurately reflect when systems were onboarded um just to ensure that we don't have any um financial so we can safeguard ourselves as much as possible down the road um with anything that could impact us financially. And that includes that that's for both the town budget but also the library budget. Um, we are still working through some issues with the state library around book delivery and that may have been felt by our public um, in terms of being able to get materials on time and that's when you place holds for materials. As you know, you can use your library card to borrow books from libraries outside of Bloomfield. Um, and you can also return books from libraries outside of Bloomfield to Bloomfield and then we send them out and there's a whole delivery process that goes on behind the scenes that's overseen by the state library. We are trying to work with them to effectively come up with a solution so that we can catch up on all the materials that need to go out. Um, and we will continue to work with them. But for everybody who has maybe been waiting for materials or waiting for other materials, um please know we are doing our best. We wanted to formally thank the friends of the library for funding our summer

reading program last summer 2025. Um, for people that may not know, the summer reading program is fully funded by the friends every summer and we're so thankful for that partnership and the collaboration as we um hope to to be as impactful as as possible. That's one of our biggest programs. And this past summer, we had 103 programs with 2,922 um people who participated. um over 13,000 items were borrowed and we were really successful in a time of great transition. And again, I just want to thank everybody who participated and the friends for funding it. Um we're currently I know it's very cold outside, but we're currently working on summer 2026. That's in the works and we hope to have um some some information for the friends um very soon. As of this, as of January, we have updated hours that include evening hours at Proser. We know how much people were waiting for this. You can now visit Proer um Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday night from 5 to 8:00 p.m. In order to add those nine additional hours at Proser, it means it meant taking one evening away from McMahon. So essentially McMahon is open till 8 on Monday, Wednesday and Thursday and then Proer it's the opposite has Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday. So every night of the week you can find a library that's open and then um some nights both. So the most accurate spa spot to find our hours is on our website bplct.org or by calling us and we are doing our best to go find every location where our old hours were. So, please just bear with us as we continue to do that. Um, book displays. Now that we have pages, we're going to have more book

displays and we're very excited about that. And I know that people have probably seen some of the ones we've had um in the past couple months or so. Native American Heritage Month, Hispanic Heritage Month. We had Winter Blues, Try a Blue Book um in in um respect of health literacy and seasonal effective disorder. We had um for teens winter's best binge reads and um we're going to be having more go up. I know at Proser a new one on cooking just went up. Um we had one on band books. We have one on languages right now. So please come check out. We are going we have formally partnered with the um 250th um celebration event going on in the state. That's with Connecticut Humanities. We are officially an affiliate and we are feeding programs into that calendar as we speak. So, we're excited to have programs all year to help celebrate the United States um 250th birthday anniversary. [laughter] Um more in community partner highlights. Um ABC which is a longtime PL u partner. They are alliance for Bloomfield's children. We go to their meetings and we share what we are doing with them. They are going to be leading a special story time at Foster during our regular storytime hours on February 2nd. Um, and that will be Faith Taffy and she will be sharing information about ABC for a special story time followed by a Q&A for caregivers about how ABC can support family needs. And you never have to register for our story times. It's drop in. If you want to register, that's great, too. Um, save the date for take your child to the library day, February 7th. We will have that is Saturday, February 7th, we will have special hours that Saturday. So, instead of being only open from

10:00 to 2, we will be open 10:00 to 5:00 at both locations. Um, Saturday, February 7th at 11:00 a.m., we will be partnering with Mystic Seapport Museum for a special rope making um demonstration. And that's a hands-on at Proser at McMahon Whittenberry Library. The Children's Museum will be here with cute cute

friends. I can tell you that Franklin the Possum was here last week and I got to pet Franklin. It's rewarding experience. Please come. That's at 12:30. And then our big to-do will be um um Saturday from 2 to 4 with the whale mobile. And that is something where you can actually step inside Nile, the lifesized inflatable whale, and explore real whale artifacts. Um, space is limited, so please sign up ahead of time if you're able. We're really excited about that. And where are they going to park it? It's going to be in the community room if it fits at

We will not know if it fit until this, [laughter] but we think it's going to fit. And if it does not fit, it will be in the in the big um open space right when you walk in. So I might have to go from the bunnies to the whale. So [laughter]

everybody bear with us, but take your child to the library day. It's celebrated in libraries across the country. This is a big push to make sure your child knows that the library is a space for them. And whenever I speak with children in libraries, I always ask I say, "Whose library is this? Whose library is this?" this and I want them to say my library. That is the feeling we are trying to invoke from a young age. And as a reminder, library cards are free for all from birth. And so that'll be another thing we are celebrating that day. Our annual staff celebration will be this Thursday from um 9:30 to 11:30. So the libraries will be opening at noon this Thursday. Thank you for bearing with us as we take some time to be together and have a little staff development together. Um, and then news from the council, they're now meeting two times a month. Um, people may remember the last two years it was once a month. Um, so now it's two times a month, which means twice the opportunity to tell council about your library, how you love your library, what you want to see at your library, just as you have the same opportunity with the library board. Um, I wanted to go over a little bit about our our agenda packet. As you know, we've been working on updating it and you'll see we have some key monthly metrics also included this month. Um, we are now keeping track of library cards and just uh at 4:30 this afternoon, I know that the library board has been asking questions about this. Um, assistant director Chris Silowak was able to pull some numbers from the last 10 years about total library cards in Bloomfield. This is something that's currently on our strategic plan and will be on the next iteration of our strategic plan as well. Um and uh we will be also figuring out a way to include that somehow on this metrics document. But essentially as of today 6,550

people actually when Chris pulled it again it was 6555 [clears throat] people have your receipt going up have library cards in Bloomfield. And oh, here's the document you're um we're talking about. Um so going back though um as far as 2016 and 2016 7600 people had them. And I'm going to just roughly estimate now. 2017 6,800 2018 6,500. 2019 6,400. 2020 6,500. And for context, co [clears throat]

2021 6,800 2022 7500 2023 8,000. 8,000 was our peak. And for context, that's when we moved out of our libraries.

2024, you see that drop to 5,100. Um 2025, 5,900. And again, now we're at 6,500. But if we keep up this trend of a 100red or more library cards a month, you see how we're soon going to be over 7,000. And again, we want to reach that um 8,000 threshold as soon as possible. Um and if you scroll down, if you look down at the number of visits, you'll see that the BPL total physical visits keeps that crescendo effect is only going to keep going. So we reached 7,200 visits this past month um with uh we see McMahon starting to level out and Proser uh only going up and now that we added more hours I'm sure in January that that number is going to be even higher. you'll see our BPL online resource use is still um very healthy um over 2,000 times per month and our physical circ uh Bloomfield reads don't ever let anyone tell you that they don't um you'll see we that huge number so last July we were at 3400 of course we were moving at that time but now um over 9200 items circked in f um which means books, magazines, DVDs, any items being borrowed in our facilities. That's what that number refers to. Um so and then that overall usage number you see also continuing to grow. Um our timeline remains um pretty much steady. We are hoping for some grand openings later this spring. We actually are flirting with the idea of having it be the week that summer reading opens. That is a decision that's still being talked about with our programming staff. But know that these thoughts are going through our heads um as we're thinking big picture. Um my report to the town

manager, you'll see on the next page um we are now keeping track of study room use at both locations. So you'll see that it's pretty equal right now. McMahon Wittenberry um 107 uses Proer 121. Um I know today that all the study spaces were being used at Proster. I walked out and there was somebody sitting next to the conference room upstairs to have a little quiet [clears throat] area. So, we're we're going to continue to see that um as we move forward and as we get better with explaining to the public that they can indeed reserve rooms up to a week ahead of time. So, please if you need a room and you know it, call ahead, get that reservation in because it's going to start getting um a weight list capacity.

Are we able to reserve online? Not yet. Okay. Currently, you need to call us and then we put you online. We hope to streamline that in the future, though. Excellent. We're still working out a lot of uh backend. Um that sense. Yes. Okay.

Um we Allison is feeling the $116,000 cut to our part-time budget every day. Um we are struggling to and this is the thing. So, we had we just onboarded four part-time librarians and four part-time library assistants. Each one of those positions is a max of 10 hours. Well, as predicted, one of those part-time people got a full-time job Monday through Friday. Now, they can only work Saturday. Another person, their second job changed their hours. So, it's just very hard. So, even though it it might equal one full-time position, it does not equal one full-time position when it all plays out. Um, and Allison is is doing a wonderful job of making sure that we have adequate coverage um for our service points, but we also need to make sure that books are being processed, programs are being wellrun, and that we're making sure that everywhere that needs to has um coverage. So, that's going to be one of our biggest things for budget time. We need more staff. We need that $116,000 put back in the budget and we need another full-time position. Um, so that's what we're going to be talking about. We're still in partnership with that. I know I keep talking about that, but the increased administrative demands from town hall um foyer requests, meetings, it's just taking up a lot more time and um as we are trying to focus on forward facing it, it it's just something to bring up. Um and then the one other big thing which I will go into is I know it's on our agenda coming up but our strategic plan we are in final draft mode and I can't tell you how excited we are to be in final draft mode. We just had a meeting where we were able to sit

with the other five libraries we are working with. Um and we were really happy where we're where we were. Um one of the things I need for the board to consider is we've always had three locations and I'm looking at this now. We just uh had a meeting where we discussed it this morning and we are really thinking about formalizing as a fourth location BPL everywhere which is our outreach that is outside of our physical locations. We know now that McMahon and Proser are open we need to be much more intentional with what we say yes to. We were very open to doing everything before. Now we need to pick be a little bit more picky and choosy. Um but BPL Everywhere and outreach is very important. Our I mean our biggest partner being the schools. Uh we that's one of our our most prized locations for BPL Everywhere but other places as well. 330 Park um you know wherever we can be. But we're excited about this and I wanted to make sure that this got in front of the eyes of our our board. Um, a lot of time and effort has been put into this and I'm hoping that the board can feel confident in moving forward with um, voting to move to for this next month. Um, so I I I think we're going to talk about this later in the agenda, but um,

it's it's an old business which is next. Oh, okay. Feel free.

All right. So, essentially we are moving forward with five goals. Um, one being one library card, endless possibilities. Uh, expand awareness and use of BPL by ensuring every resident understands the value, reach, and opportunities provided through a single library card across all BPL locations and beyond. And then there's three bullet points under there. Goal two is library advocate here, near, and afar. strengthen the role of Bloomfield Public Library by actively advocating for libraries, intellectual freedom, and equitable access at the local, state, and federal li um levels. And you'll see three bullet points under that. One of uh one that I know that the board um came up with at our uh community conversation was about the library library ambassador program to empower community advocacy with our uh many partners. Goal three, BPL is export expert resource dealer for community position. BPL is a reliable connector that helps residents navigate and access local, state, national, and international resources that support individual and community well-being. And you'll see there's three bullet points under that one. Um, we like to we really love to just provide concierge style supports, you know, because we're bougie like that in Bloomfield. Yes. [laughter] Um, goal four, strengthen literacy and learning through empathy and access. Advance equitable literacy and lifelong learning opportunities by intentionally aligning library services with community needs. The library social justice mission statement and an ongoing commitment to addressing the digital divide. We then talk about our literacies. Um, and there's [clears throat] a couple more bullet points in that including um the

importance of professional development. And then our last goal, um, community plus library equals a better Bloomfield. Cultivate meaningful partnerships and experiences that position the library as a central force for connection, creativity, and lifelong learning in Bloomfield. And here is one of my favorite things in the whole thing, and that is the concept of creating library magic, which Mr. Renie, absolutely.

Without me even talking to him about this brought up um through welcoming spaces, programs, and interactions and library magic is something that um it's like you've either experienced it or you haven't. And we believe strongly at Bloomfield Public Library that everybody should have the opportunity to experience that. And it's measurable in many different ways. the magic of having somebody help you create an email address so that you can send off um a job application and get the job to a little one learning to feel more confident in their reading levels or making a friend at the library or just feeling safe in a spot. Um we are the best third location and that is going to kind of cover all of that. So, we're really excited about this

and I know we have a few strategic plan planning people here, two board members, one friend, and one staff member. One, two, three, four, five. So, I don't know if any of you wanted to add anything about the strategic plan.

I I love our draft. Um, and I, you know, during the conversation that we had with the, you know, the other folks that are doing this work alongside us, I I believe we were the only ones that did not have any critiques or suggestions. We only had praise on our strategic plan draft. So, again, I just need to like big up the staff and leadership of our library. This is a very heady group um of uh municipal libraries as well as university libraries and Bloomfield just rises to the top. Um so, you know, we're just keeping up this this path of excellence and I've enjoyed this process because the strategic plan is also very real and tangible um in ways that not all strategic plans are. Um, additionally, I want to thank all BPL staff who did work on this on the the planning team because y'all were able to to help us make our thoughts more realistic. So, if we're like, yeah, let's have a 100 programs. Allison will be like, well, I just if you wait a minute and so that is certainly something that we need. That's the kind of guidance that we need from staff to make sure that the goals that are being set are are reasonable um achievable and and measurable. So, thank you all for that.

Angela, I would like um for the mission and vision statement to be read for the record. Oh, absolutely. You know, you talked about goals, but this was by far, I think, the most challenging and I think it's perfect. Absolutely. Absolutely. So, we're transitioning now into new business. See, these meetings are nice and slowly. Did you have any questions? Yeah, absolutely. Uh, where are we with the drive by drop off of library books? That is open at Proer Library in the garage. It's in the garage. It's in the garage. Yeah, I must have missed. Or maybe it just got there. It's always in there. It's against that wall.

It's not to where you can reach it from the front. Oh, so you can like pull up, open your door, put the books in, and come out. Right. I guess that's what we It's pretty We do what we can. Yeah. And you know it would be better if somebody but normally somebody would be driven to a library if they needed you couldn't even put a book in the slot. So yeah we're continuing to think through that and we did have one here but the ground was not level enough right so that's why we had to remove it. It wasn't safe during winter time but as we are doing this next phase we we have it in our brains to try to

think about that [clears throat] parking lot. Yes, but as you enter the garage uh from the garage under the building, the door is there and there's a book drop right there. But you have to get out of your car. You do have to get out of your car. Oh, that's that's acceptable. It's It's dry out there. You see that? People having to walk on icy sidewalks to drop off a book. Yeah. Yeah. And so they aren't going to be shooting through, you know, that I was worried about that too. Coming in from the um Concus Avenue and and just shooting through that spot to drop off a book. Stop. You could Well, I hope people do it carefully.

Yes. So, you could pull up, you know, put your car in park, get out, put your book in, and pull away. You could do that because there are a lot of people in that parking garage. Not yet, but there will be. I believe so. A lot of handicap spots as well. Yes. So, I hope people will be careful. Yes, definitely. But we're kicking around ideas as possible. [clears throat] Thanks. Any other questions for um the director's report? Yes. Yeah. Thank you, Madam Chair. I did have a couple questions. Elizabeth, I as always, your your reports are excellent. So, but

going back to the number page. So I was just curious. I know obviously one reason why uh McMahon Winintonberry visits has sort of dropped is crosser is now open but in relation to the highest number of McMahon vis I mean where is this a normal amount based on your historical experience or has it dropped below I mean or are there other reasons behind why it's still way more than it was but you know what as I has presented this library card holders from 2016 to today. Yeah, we will do an overview for you with those numbers.

That would be because it's like 2000 dropped since in 6 months it dropped off by 20,000. It's also the December was the we had the most days closed. It's also there's a lot of reasons. It's a slow time of year. Okay. Um, so that's why so is it part of like the cycle like a library cycle where there are pockets of slower times? Yes. But we're curious to see how these numbers. This is very interesting to me. Chris and I were just saying like the numbers are fascinating as we go through all these changes. So it's a lot to absorb and digest and we're going to continue that. But I do think it's really important that the board continues to kind of try to digest this with Yes.

Right. And so like even in the old McMahon versus that new and improved McMahon are can we just look back and see you know have is there a big change? I can comment that even this number of 3000 is much higher than what you regularly. So this is where we level out to we are leveling out to a higher above. Okay. But we'll see. I know it's hard it's hard to know like if it's able if you're able to put it even in just like a graph where you know one year is one color and the other year is the other color that would definitely Yeah. We'll definitely look at some kind of just like we did this exactly bar chart.

Exactly. We've said this before. What drives us crazy the last five We have not operated normally for now what five years. [laughter] Yeah. So it's it's very hard when you don't have five years of solid Apple to Apple data. Yeah. So in a way that's why we did 2016 with those cards. We need to go back even further [clears throat] to see some quote unquote normal times. Yeah. You know. Y cuz really you moved we closed the buildings to the public uh June of 2023, right? And before that it was Yeah. before that was so [laughter] that's really wild.

Yeah. Okay, good. Well, that takes care of that. Then I I did really like the strategic plan as well. I think some people commented and um I just didn't know how much more detail needs to go into each area. I mean or is this what we want to keep it at a higher level or do we want to say how some of these goals will be achieved? I don't know but we can talk about right and and then that's the next phase. So this this is the top level phase and then the next phase which Allison and Kyra are already they're there mentally I'm still up here six months ago. [laughter] seems like yelling.

Then we're going to be going into all the things and um thinking about how to get deliverables around these things. Okay. Um I did see one little typo in your uh monthly report. The grand opening set for spring of 2026. Yes. Okay. You and Sarah Ray. [laughter] Okay. So I I Yes. Thank you. Uh Patrick, I've got some book contracts and I'm gonna pass my manuscript right on over to you. read it. Happy [laughter] to read it. What I wanted to ask about on here is when does budgets like when do you start with budget? Is it March still or?

So, we were given budget instructions for this year last Monday. Okay. Our budget ask is due February 6th. Okay. Um which I realize is before our next meeting. Yeah. So, you'll probably be hearing from me uh before then. Okay. But the the time is here, the time is now. We're kind of overwhelmed with that, but we also it it is it is a little bit behind. We usually get the instructions in December. Yeah. So, it is it's feeling very truncated, but we've That being said, we've been thinking through the budget honestly since last year with the $116,000 cut.

Yeah. And the one thing I can say is our new our new librarian, business manager, Kim Ketchum, has been helping us be more strategic and organized around this. So, we do have it in our heads. We just got to get it out on paper. Yeah. Which is a big [clears throat] part, but we I think mentally we're a little bit further than than uh we may be presenting.

Okay. And my last thing then is the administrative demands from town halls. So, this has come up now in several meetings and I know you I you know being on the building committee and being here [laughter] I know what you go through. So, I guess I'm just wondering how how could we help you? How could the trustees help uh with the administrative demands is I mean eventually the library meetings that we've been having will stop. you know, we'll just have the LBC and we'll have the additional work we're doing here at McMahon. Uh, but the list that's been ongoing will finally shortly, I hope, be closed out and and that will be off your plate. Uh, but in the meantime, you know, I guess the foyer requests, there's not much we could do. My understanding is you have to go through a lot of them Elizabeth because they're uh you know I'm wondering is it at all possible I know the pages have very specific responsibilities um is there maybe it's a part-time is there someone on your staff that maybe one of those part-time people could be assigned some of these administrative not the foyer but are there some other administrative task tasks that are are taking up a lot of your time. Uh like you say here, routine administrative tasks that it's reduced your capacity for other things. Is it possible to take some of those and maybe reassign some of them to some of your part-time people? I mean, maybe there's some training or education involved, but could they take on uh like an hour of their day uh be devoted to administrative type things versus their in addition to

their regular roles? Yeah, I think we are trying to think through some of those things. Can you talk a little bit about what the aside from the FOYA what those additional like tasks are? Okay. So, um, in years past, my involvement with town hall administrative duties was limited to a couple hours a month outside of budget time, which was more. Yeah.

Now, it's more than a couple of hours per week. So, starting every Monday morning, we have um a um all the town leaders, including Allison and Chris, we meet for usually an hour up to two hours every Monday morning just to get started. Um and then there's some other things, uh you know, that just require more time than in the past, um in terms of things that we need to take care of. So, some of those are related to finance. Um, changes coming down the pipe. Um, and I think, you know, sometimes these changes might sound simple,

but in terms of, you know, the library, we have a lot um going on. Um, and so they're they're not so simple to to roll out. So, um, can you give us an example of that? I think what and so I'm asking not to be like dig dig dig but if there are if there's something that we can do as a board to say well well no your attention doesn't need to be there

we want to make sure that you and your staff are able to focus on these buildings and you know BPL everywhere obviously eventually and so if that's a conversation that needs to happen above y'all then we're happy to have that conversation um but I you know having some like concrete idea of how this is taking time away from the library would would for me at least be very helpful and I'm hoping the rest of the boarding would be helpful as well. But if I if it is only helpful for me, I don't want to press the issue,

right? I mean, I'm only worried because we've talked about it a lot and there seems to be the same thing like there's never any letup in you seem to just get more and not be able to remove anything. I mean, these Monday meetings, do all three of you have to go to those? Like, could you rotate that around and just have one of you go one week so the others could do other things or I mean, it seems like you're three of you required at that meeting. Is it is it mandatory? Is it Yes. Sounds mandatory. Yes. Okay. Yeah. And it used to be that it was just me, but then I could tell that

it was wanted that it was all three of us. crazy guys had to be there. Okay. I mean, I just wanted to mention it and see if there's other things we could do or look at or So, is or is it that all three of you need to be there for the whole meeting mandatory? Both. Where is that in like a policy or somewhere that that we would have access to? All department heads have to bring their Yes. staff from the town manager. Yeah, it's a request from the

but requests can be denied, right? And so I guess I'm wondering what are what are the requests that can be denied and what are the requests that are central to the function of what y'all do at the library. So that's kind of the question, you know, and I don't of my business, but that's right. I'm [laughter] just Lorenzo being Lorenzo. No, it's it's you know it's a delicate balance and of course we want to um participate wherever we can.

100%. But this is a very busy time for the library and you know um you know library burnout in the best of situations is a thing and that's what and for those of you who have been really close to the building project it's it's such a thing. Um I don't think people understand the hours involved you know. Yeah.

We cannot you know we cannot afford y'all to burn out. The live BPL cannot afford that. And if that means, well, it sounds like it does mean that there are places where y'all may have to step back. If that's something Patrick and I have to have, you know, a conversation with or go into executive session, then we're happy to do that because it's how are you going to create library magic when you're exhausted? Maybe there's a reprieve from some of the duties just just until everything is finished and okay, you're back on track. I don't know, something we could look into if we

Well, it's also interesting, too, because we I think throughout since I've been in Bloomfield, I think Allison and Chris would agree with this. We always think there's going to be a time when we're caught up and it never happens. And so, you know, and library and I think a lot of people don't understand all the levels of what it is to run a successful library. It's so many different things and, you know, I just feel perpetually behind the the library. So um we do do a good job but I know all the things that need more focus that have been you know and keep getting pushed down like for instance policies we back to we have some policies that need to be addressed like yesterday you know so

um so your question though specifically about can pages you know a lot of it is our three brains have to be involved in it or one of the three of us have to you know can you clone So yes, [laughter] make that available at crosser. Is it typical that three people from each department go to these meetings? Because that would be a huge meeting. It is a big meeting. It's huge. So the three larger departments um the library, public works, and um the PD have multiple people. Okay. So Okay. Okay. Well, I [clears throat] don't want to drag on. I know we have a big agenda. So Okay. But we'll we'll definitely keep like we'll keep it top of mind.

Um ideas. Exactly. And just think through what what some solutions could be because again y'all are way too valuable to be burnt out by town hall stuff that doesn't apply to you. Um so any other questions for [laughter] the director's report business? We did cover a very lot. Any questions about old business? Any questions about old business or the director's report? All right. New business. Bev, we missed the 7 o'clock. Uh, that's fine. Sherry.

Oh, Sherry, you're there. Okay. I thought we lost you. [clears throat and laughter] Right. All right. So uh first item up consider and take action regarding updated mission statement. Can you just talk us through director Lane that process of our mission statement?

So as part of the strategic planning process, we revisited our mission statement um and went through a whole bunch of iterations and I feel like we we went in a lot of different directions to finally get to this and we're feeling very good about it. Um, and so the new proposed mission statement is at Bloomfield Public Library, our focus is on people. We break down barriers to access, build community, and encourage lifelong learning in order to improve the quality of life for all. Very good. Almost poetic,

isn't it? Whoa. Short and sweet. It's much longer than it was. Lots of verbs. Lots of verbs. Lots of verbs. You knew all the things we had to cut to get. [laughter] We have paragraphs here. Paragraphs. Very good. So, um, for our board members online, um, do you have any questions or or comments or feedback about uh the mission, the revised mission statement? The floor is open.

I do not. All right, Sherry. Was that a Was that a shake? I can't hear Sherry. She's [clears throat] not even on mute. No.

Sherry, we can't hear you. Oh no. Savage. Did I see her? I see her. She probably popped off. Popped back on. Yeah. All right. So, the floor is still open for feedback, comments about the mission statement, the prize mission statement. It's open. Floor is open. Do we have a motion to accept? I'd like to make a motion to accept [laughter] that. Wonderful. The libraryies mission statement. Wonderful. Wonderful. We have a motion from Maharvey to um accept and adopt the revised mission statement as the official mission statement for BPL. Is there a second?

Second. Second. Seconded by Bev with a close third by Claudia. Uh [laughter] all right. So all those in favor of approval of the revised mission statement say I or raise your hand. I raising my hand and doing that too. Um, uh, naysay have the same right. All right, the eyes have it for approval. So excited about our new vision statement. [laughter] All right, moving on to the vision statement.

So, we have never had a vision statement and our consultants recommended this. U, it's supposed to be short and sweet and aspirational. We use the word aspire in it. So the proposed vision statement again something that we did through the strategic planning process is BPL aspires to be the heart of the community. I love it. [clears throat]

The floor is open for any comments, questions, feedback on our very first vision statement. the library part of community 100%. Claudia, yes. Was that you? Yes. I I can't see you guys anymore because there's the strategic plan up on my [laughter] vision statement right there. Yeah. But I think the vision statement is fantastic.

Awesome. Awesome. And I see Sherry Pop back on. She's on mute. Sherry, I want to give you a chance to share any feedback on the mission or the vision statement. I got my fingers crossed. Okay. Can you hear me now? Yes. Yes. Okay. All right. That works. So, um I have things. Okay. Sherry, there's a little bit of a breakup. We can't hear you so well. Okay. No, it's still a little shaky.

Okay, hang on. Try turning your camera off. Sometimes that helps, folks. Okay. Can you hear me? It's kind of even worse. [laughter] Turn Can you turn your camera off? Maybe that will help just with the bandwidth of your machine. Okay, how about now? 100% better. [laughter]

Okay, my device cannot do video and audio at the same time. [laughter] I'm sorry, folks. Okay. So, I just wanted to say real quick that I did um think like I forgot who mentioned the library magic um section in goal five that I thought that was that captured a lot of what we discussed when we had or um strategic meeting um you know maybe a month or two ago uh you know it's just hit the hits the nail right on the head. Um, I know you guys have moved on and I don't want the meeting is already going along. So, those were my quick thoughts. Plus, my device isn't working. [laughter]

Well, we are just um I was just about to ask if there was a motion to accept our very first vision statement for Bloomfield Public Library. So, moved. All right. Bev has made the motion to accept. Do we have a second? Second. Seconded by Harvey. And again, a close third by Claudia. So, [laughter] all those in favor of Harvey, [laughter] all those in favor of accepting our very first vision statement from Bloomingfield Public Library, say I and or raise your hand.

I uh naysay have the same right. Looks like it passes unanimously. We now have a new state. that tell them that. All right. So, the final item on new business is the discussion of the importance and role of the Bloomfield Public Library social justice mission statement.

Okay. So, this is a document that was approved by the board of trustees in 2021. This document is a guiding force that we try to center in everything we do whether it's collection development, programmings, customer service, um everything. Um, and so at the heart of Bloomfield Public Libraryies mission is ensuring that staff and patrons are treated fairly and respectfully, that res resources are provided equitably, and that we consistently strive toward inclusion for all members of the community we serve. We want to provide a safe environment for our staff and public. We want to be proactive with our social justice efforts by engaging in staff development around these topics to help us better understand one another, learn and grow through dialogue and resource sharing, and better serve the public as we build capacity for empathy and a wider range of perspectives. We also want to bring this dialogue to our public. Our social justice work is both internal and external in nature and it's multi-dimensional. I'm just skimming ahead now to the third paragraph. We hope this work will improve the BPL experience for all residents with special attention focused on addressing racism, sizism,

sexism,

sexism, [laughter] racism, sexism, agism, heterosexism, genderism, classism, religionism, sizm, abbleism, and socioeconomics. with the awareness that many barriers people face are intersectional in nature, meaning that a lot of people are not just dealing with one of these. And we are working on breaking down barriers to access every day. In this work includes but is not limited to external communication and branding, customer service aimed at non-users, going fine-f free, updating the collection, creating a safe and purposeful space that can accommodate the various needs of our public and increasing the number of card holders in town.

And it's a good reminder of how important we think this work is and how we respect each other and our public. So, um, we wanted to bring this up today to just be a reminder, um, for those who were have already know about it, but as, um, also just to share with our public, um, this very important document that we are very proud of, um, and, uh, we're kind of a trends setter in the document. We actually were given a big kudos from our consultants about that document. They said, "Wow, there's a lot of places that have it. There's not a lot that live to it." And we tried to live to it. and aspire to be better and knowing that we still have a lot of work to do. So we wanted to bring that up today um to discuss that and uh it's ongoing role in our work.

So floor is open for discussion if anyone has thoughts and Elizabeth this is yeah go ahead. Thank madam chair I guess I'm just wondering how does this compare to our strategic plan? Are we covering the same Yes. Okay. So, this is linked to in our goal four, strengthen literacy and learning through empathy and access. Um, this also is linked to at our current in our strategic plan that just expired and it's also available on our website. Okay. Okay. Any other thoughts, discussion points? What is thism? Does this come with a um [laughter]

you gotta go to the library and look it up. [laughter] Sizism is when people um judge people based off of their size and which is a real issue and um also it has to do with making spaces that fit all sizes um and being aware of how size can impact the way people treat each other. Okay. 30 something. [laughter] Look at that. Okay.

I just I just wanted to say something. Um I think it's uh really great that we have a social justice mission statement in it. It reminds me of you know why we have libraries and you know in in the past 300 years um of the history of our country. the fact that anyone can walk in and read something, it that freedom is so important and so much a United States American thing. um that I think we should I I I I think it's wonderful we're calling it this and I think it it really goes right to the heart of the value of what the library any library does for the community.

Absolutely. Thank you for that Claudia. [clears throat] Mhm. And the paragraph I just I I skipped intentionally, but Claudia, I just want to say that the last sentence in that second paragraph, our intention, our intention is to be part of the change by bringing more awareness about social justice issues to our public and moving the conversation forward in a constructive, intentional, and productive manner. And I agree with you. I think that is at the heart of what libraries do. Absolutely. Kevin Ren saw it. So they must be short. [laughter]

All right. So I will close the floor currently on this dis on this discussion. Thank you so much director Lamb for walking us through the social justice mission statement. We have come to the portion of our meeting where we have citizen statements and petitions. again, just in case you heard something that you wanted to provide some feedback on or if someone joined a little bit later and wasn't able to speak during the first portion um of our meeting. If you're online, feel free to raise a cyber Zoom hand. Oh, [clears throat] my forever chair, Ava Biffer. [laughter]

Yes,

hi. Um Ava Biffer, 17 Terry Plains Road in Bloomfield. Um I'm I'm really enjoying the conversation about the strategic plan. [clears throat] I'm so thrilled that the social justice mission statement continues and grows, but not just grows, but matures. It's it's everything I think we were hoping for. um when it was written and and it's um it's linked to the idea which I'm I love has become the vision statement that this has always been about the library being the heart of Bloomfield that that was aspirational and that we're even closer to that aspiration but continue to hold out increased goals and improvement and um I think it's Great. And thank you all for for continuing that work that it's it's very gratifying for the town and for everyone who's in it. You know, the library is the one place where everyone is valued and and um dignity and respect are always always extended. So, thank you.

Absolutely. Thank you, Ava, for all of your leadership and mentorship, friendship, all of all of the ships. Ava, [laughter] any other uh citizen statements or petitions? All right, being none, we'll transition. Are there any board members that have comments that they would like to share before we get to some more nitty-gritty? [laughter] Any board comments?

All right. [laughter] All right. So, we'll move on to the approval of the minutes from our December 9th, 2025. Oh, bye. I'm sorry. I was I was on mute. I have a comment. I'm the Oh, the So did I. [laughter] I am the the trustee chair leader. So I just want to say [laughter] that um you know we have a fantastic director and we have a a fantastic um board. I've been on it since I believe January of 2023. I think we started around the same time. Erin,

and I just want to say that I know it's early but you're doing a fantastic job. um um sharing the board um you know trying you know Ava did a wonderful job big shoes to fill and you know it's it's great I like the tempo so keep it up awesome thank you so much Sherry [laughter]

thank you [laughter] bar is low on that one all right that can be my comment um So, we'll move on to the approval, as I was saying, the approval of the minutes from December 9th, 2025. I want to open the floor for discussion if there are any amendments to those those minutes. Any amendments, Patrick? Any amendments? I wasn't here for that. But you had a minute still. I do. [laughter] And they they look good. They look good to me. All right. Wonderful. Wonderful. Good. With there being no amendments, is there a motion? I'll make a meeting. Wonderful. Harvey. Uh Harvey has motion. Do we have a second?

Second. All right. You know what, Claudia? Claudia in. [laughter] You know what? I I That was a Sherry second. Claudia, you're coming in a close third all the time. Uh we have the motion by Harvey, the second by Sherry to accept the minutes for December 9th, 2025. All those in favor of accepting, I raise your hand. I I think I could vote I Chris is like yes. [laughter] Excellent. So the December 9th minutes December 9th 2025 minutes have been approved and accepted.

Our next meeting for folks here and online is February 10th, 2026 at 6 pm. Might we be able to be in processor or will we still be here in McMahon? I think we're still going to be here soon. All right. So, we'll still be here at McMahon for folks that want to join us in person and we will be available online. Um, and with that, we need to transition to executive session. I was I was getting there. Do we have a motion? [laughter] We need to say Yeah, we have to say yes. Okay. I had to say that. Yeah. Okay.

But you made the motion. Now I'm confused. Maybe I made it too early. I'll let you stay your part first. Okay. Do we have a motion to uh transition into executive session? And I would like to make um an additional caveat that Allison Wilpos and Chris Silhouette and Elizabeth Lane are included in that executive session. So move. All right. We have a motion. Do we have a second? Second. All right. So moved by Patrick, seconded by Harvey. Claudia, she tried. Don't you, [clears throat] Claudia? The next time I do that, I'm just going to look dead at your square. [laughter]

So, it has been moved and seconded to transition into executive session. All those in favor say I. I. I. All right. Opposition is the same, right? If you do not want us to go into executive session. All right.