Parks and Recreation Committee - Regular Meeting

05:00 now. We're going to call the meeting to order and go to the second item, which is the pledge.

I pledge allegiance to the flag of The United States Of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.

Next item is our roll call of membership. We have two absences or two known absences, and then everyone else is here. Item number four, approval of the minutes from the previous meeting. Could we start with the motion, please?

Nancy Sherman, move to approve. Second.

Any discussion? Any discussion or changes to the minutes needed? Doing none. All in favor of approving the minutes, please say aye. Aye. And any opposed, please say nay. Thank you.

Going back to the roll call. So it's excused as Margie Mann and John Keller.

Mhmm. Alright then. Public participation for the day, we've come to a time of public participation. At each meeting, the library board of trustees reserves time for members of the public to express their views on items which appear on our agendas. And do we have anybody set up to speak today?

We do not. We do, however, have a new staff member here as as part of communications as well. Communications. Okay. A sort of new staff.

My name is Tori. I'm in services and engagement librarian. I've been working in the children's department for the last four years. Just made my way upstairs in this. Okay.

Item number six, establishing the order of the day. So we will pull the report, the annual report, item two six dash zero two one three. Note of the action items, does anybody have any questions or or need to discuss any of the items on the list, including if anyone wants to go into those sessions for the personnel and policy committee meeting?

I I have a question. Brian Burgess. It would be I have the document name, but I'm gonna be tonight on the December 25 or 2025 final be the

The bill. Bill written. But you're have separate that out. Okay.

Yes. So it would be 26Dash0199, but to be honest, I don't know how to separate out. Well, that's I I just wanna talk about the

Yeah. We're just we're we're getting other things. Anything anything on this on the list of action items that you do want to discuss, that's what we'll we'll call out here at this moment while we're establishing the order. So that's it. Okay. No. Any others? So in that case, what I propose for action items is the bill register, the annual report, and then if someone could please make a motion to put the 2026 January 2026 bill register, the report of the personnel and policy committee, approving establishing the library director's pools and the library materials budget on the consent agenda. So moved. Dave

Smith. Sherman second.

All in favor of approving that consent agenda, that arrangement, we say aye. Aye. Okay. Great. So we'll keep that in the third slot, so don't let me forget to actually approve that stuff because I put things in a weird order. So first off, then 26Dash0199 since the December 2025 final bill registered. Brian, what did you have? Okay. Perfect. Thank you. Oh, I think we do need a motion. Yeah. We do need a motion. That good? Great. Thank you, Nancy.

Were you Well, sure. I'll look that we approve 26Dash0199. Thank you.

Martin Smith. Alright. No discussion. I'm very sorry.

No. That's alright. Didn't mean to cause pandemonium, but Yes. Oh. Okay.

So looking at page eight of the December 2025 bill register file, I'm seeing there's a line on the left, 003011, Library Ideas LLC. And then there's a bunch of lines for OverDrive. Influid there, there's a total of a 100 about a $152,000. So I just wanted to ask what those charges were. I'm assuming I think last time we talked about it, it was electronic resources.

Yes. And it's December, so I assumed it's just the end of the year. We have to renew those subscriptions, but I wanted to ask what those expenses were.

Happy to ask. Thank you.

Yep. So, yes, those are purchases for titles in Libby, and we were spending down the budget. That is a good place at the end of the year to spend remaining funds when because we have to receive everything by December 30, sometimes print material won't necessarily come in, so we will do larger purchases there. And hopefully that help does that help answer? And I think, really, the pattern of the year was a little off last year just generally, but that that's what accounts for those overdrive orders.

Got it. Okay. Yep. And I know we've talked about it before in a different meeting. So that's what I thought it was, but I just wanted to mention.

Yeah. Of course. Brian, do you ask about the library ideas too?

You know, I did not actually. I I thought it was all the same line. So what is Library Ideas LLC? And it sounds like it's separate from OverDrive.

It

is. It is a company that sells our what are called read alongs. So they're children's books with a book and a little bit of a player attached. Yeah. Okay. Their name has nothing to do with their actual product. Got it. Hence So the confusion. Yes. Got

it. Okay. Okay. They are separate things. I I thought they were the same. Makes sense to me.

Any other questions on the December 2025 bill register? Hearing none. All in favor of approving item 26Dash0199, the bill registered for December 2025, please say aye. Aye. Aye. Anyone at first, please say nay. The next item on the list then is 26Dash0213. Okay. Instruction library annual report and system statement. We start with a motion to approve that.

Brian Vargas. So moved. Very low. The big discussion on that is I read over it. I sent several uninformed questions that was very helpful to answer. It's, like, really, really quick by Tasha. And then also noted that my email would need to be updated. So does anybody have any other questions or comments about the annual report?

And we in online, we have updated it to have your correct email. And then what the version that will be signed this evening will have the amendment.

From what

you saw on your Hearing none, all in favor then of approving your report, please say aye. Aye. Aye. Anyone opposed? I give this everybody else on here. So if we could have a motion, please, to approve the items on the consent agenda. Move. To move.

So we're doing a little bit of hiring here at the library, and I thought it might be helpful to explain why we're hiring too. We had some questions before about are these new positions, so I thought I'd add that to this a little bit. So because of an internal promotion, you met Tori. Mhmm. She is our internal promotion.

We will be hiring for a children's full time library assistant, and interviews are next week. We have a couple of days selected for those interviews. And then due to retirement, we will be hiring for a half time materials management bindery clerk. So we're workshopping that title because we don't do a lot of bindery any longer, and it's a very old title. So we'll be hiring for a half time clerk position in materials management title to be decided.

And then we'll be doing internal hiring, so only posting internally for a security monitor subrole. So we have a team of security monitors who work fifteen to eighteen hours a week. This would be for even fewer hours than that. We need kind of these people who are already on staff, understand the building, who can fill in in that security role when we have people on vacation or things like that happening, absences of some sort. Those are our three we're running.

Next up is the president's report. There's some really cool graphics in our packet that I had nothing to do other than. And, yeah, I see you have

the last cycle up on it.

Yeah. So you

you should take it away. Yeah.

So I what was attached is part of what the legislators receive on library legislative day every year. So every February, the library community takes over the capital or is one of several groups that take over the capital that day and go around and speak with legislators about whatever the kind of statewide library agenda is. And that really isn't about funding that's coming to us as a public facing library directly. It's about the service the the funding that is generally state shared revenue. It's about funding that is going to systems.

It's going to the state library for the blind. It's going to badger link databases, very important things that we rely on, but it's not necessarily directly funding our resources. But we we go around and we speak with our legislators. And over the past few years, the documents that were attached were created as tools to communicate with legislators about things like how libraries get added to a library collection and, how we work with families to make sure that we're helping them find resources that match their interests and values and needs. And so these documents have been very helpful in those legislative conversations because over the years, when we've heard seen libraries that have conflicts with, say, what's in their collection and what maybe individuals want to speak about in in terms of concerns, it's often because they don't understand that, like, every library has a process and a policy for this.

And sometimes they'll call their state representative, which which now has a tool to say, like, okay. Now I can tell you, you contact your local library board. You contact your local library. They're the ones who can kinda talk through how those decisions are made. And so this has been a great education tool. It's one part of our visits with legislators. So each year, there's kind of a a preparatory meeting where, actually, we get to have a really great program in the morning. It is always bipartisan, which is wonderful because the champions for libraries at the state level are bipartisan. So this isn't just about one side of the aisle or the other. We get to hear about, you know, why they care about libraries.

We get to hear about how libraries are important to them and to their work as well. And then we get to we get kind of a prep talk about, like, how to go and talk with an elected official and how when you go and talk with your elected official, sometimes their aides are, like, the most important people. They might be the one you're talking to, and you should talk to them as if you are talking to that elected official because they do so much work on behalf of the elected official that you you certainly don't wanna walk in there and not be respectful to them as well. So we get this kind of nice etiquette lesson, and then they send us off to the capital. And this year, there isn't a state budget being adopted, so it's a completely just a thank you for your support over the past few years.

We wanna share some great things that are happening in our communities. And, honestly, those might be harder years because then you're just you have less of a script to follow. But what was really neat in terms of the experience this year is Mary joined joined us for the first time. So I go every year. Mary joined us.

Had a couple other folks around the table who've been in the past. Adriana, our friend's executive director, also attended as well as Chuck Erickson, who is the friend's vice president. So it was nice to have, you know, kind of a different combination of people. We I make a point of having appointments with any representative that touches on our service area. So it's about five people by the end of the day, and then we we just kinda take turns popping all around the capital and meeting with different groups.

So we had Hortonville Library with us in several of our meetings. We have Minascia Library with us in several of our meetings. But it was just a really great experience, very positive overall. And I also wanted to have Mary have an opportunity to talk about any of her takeaways from the day.

Yeah. It was I was really glad to have had the the chance to go and would encourage everybody to, you know, consider it next year. I only met with two representatives, and one was with staffers for Chris Alphheim and one's with Lee Snodgrass. I think it was I think the most helpful takeaway for me is to to kind of situate ourselves in this in this larger picture, both in the room with the initial meeting to kind of see the the whole library community there with the legislative leaders and and the really nonpartisan kind of atmosphere that there was there was was really encouraging. And then to go meet with our legislators with other libraries in the area.

I know that the claim had mentioned an important bill, find out what, you know, positives and challenges they're facing. Same with Menasha, same with Oshkosh. We've seen one of the meetings, and and it was a good give and take to find out what was on the legislators' minds and also to be able to give them information in that setting where we weren't making an ask this year. So I think the ask year would be a little different vibe, I think. But but, yeah, it was a great experience, and we also got to share the capital with the tribes who were there for the pursuit of the tribes.

So we got to be there for the entry, which is terrific. I wouldn't encourage anybody to go on this trip.

I will say that that even though we didn't have an ask, they all asked, what's the ask?

What's the ask? And what what are your challenges

for these give us a chance to talk about because statewide, a lot of libraries are facing facilities issues. We've been there. We know what it's like. And there have been a couple of grant programs that had historically not been around for libraries. And so some of those projects for the first flexible facilities grant program are starting to come to fruition and getting completed.

And so it's it's a nice chance to make the case for how important supporting capital for these projects are. They're once in multiple generation projects that are very hard to get through communities because they are big expensive projects. And so to have something like some additional state funding to help offset that is huge and can really make the difference between a project happening or not. And then the other thing is to be able to say, like, okay. So we we had a project here in Appleton.

It wasn't funded by flexible facilities. We did get some state funding from the nonstate grant, but the joy after this project has been done really has kinda wiped away those, like, decades of challenge and friction. And so know that these investments do come back in ways that are very positive. And if you are maybe taking a risk by supporting something like that, know that in the end, you will likely have a very positive community outcome for that. So that was kind of a cool thing to be able to indirectly share our experience maybe to help benefit some of these other communities.

These are comments of library legislative day or the materials in the packet.

Thank you for sharing your. Next up, then we have staff updates, children's program updates. Yeah. And I sent here.

So she gave it to you in writing in advance

for children's. Written piece and some pictures in her. Right there? Yeah. Unless there's anything to append, if anyone has anything to append it. Unity partnership updates. Well, there's so

much I want to share about what's happened this month and what will happen next month, but I'm limiting myself to just four items. Last time we met, actually, about the Appleton Historical Society coming in with doctor Ann McKee to give a presentation. It was a great success. We had 170 people join us for that. Was really nice when we have to call the operations team and ask for more chairs for for that.

We've got another history program coming up in March. On March 4, author Tammy Borden will come in to share about her book called Walltrud, true story of growing up in Nazi Germany. 05:20PM. Be one that I definitely wanna pitch to our community members. Be a great thing to attend.

On February 10, the teen services brought in Wisconsin artists and member of the Oneida Nation, Shelby Sievers, in to lead a beaded heart hoop earring workshop for teens. That was a lot of fun to see the results of that workshop. Shout out to the teens that attended those or that program. It was three hours long. So a very tedious work and most completed one in that time.

So they had something to bring home as well. And the final thing I want to share, Maddie, who is our library assistant for technology, learning, and innovation, has developed an AI vision station that is now in the library. It's a rotating display that covers a variety of topics related to AI, which is a really hot topic and really important for us to inform patrons of within the library. I brought an example of one of the stations. So there was a prompt up near the coworking space where the station is right now that asked people to describe on little cards their pets.

And then from that, Maddie generated an image to share, you know, how detail can affect those image generations. And then it also gave patrons an opportunity. Once they engaged by describing their pets, they could come back a few days later and see the image generated. One I wanted to share with you, someone has a dragon, I guess, as a pet. Mhmm.

She described a golden dragon with armored scales, mischievous eyes, and an inviting posture. So, yeah, that's somewhere in. And, also, as a part of that vision station, Maddie is holding AI office hours periodically throughout the week in the commons where she wheels down that vision station and offers an opportunity for patrons passing by to ask questions about AI and then also contribute to that board. Like I said, a lot going on, and I really encourage you to pick up a a program flyer and attend something in March. Love to see you there.

You guys thought this kind of I saw two flyers on the board of the pair for programs here. One of us to use it to generate I can't remember what it was. It was her cover letters or something along those lines. Yeah. The other was along the lines that Anne shared a month or two back, program on how to identify images that were created. Was kinda coming at it from all the angles. Brings us to the end of our agenda. At this point, we can have a motion to adjourn. So move, Most. All in favor of adjourning, please say aye.

Aye. Alright.

Cool. Have a good night.

Oh, sure.

Yeah. So September's