Library Board of Trustees - Regular Meeting

We are going to go ahead and get started. It looks like we have everyone here at the table, with the exception of Michael at this point tonight.

Our first order of business is approval of the meeting minutes for March. Hopefully everyone's had a chance to take a peek at those. Who cares?

I'll move to approve.

Thank you, Brad. Second? Second. OK. All in favor? Aye. Great. So those minutes are approved. And moving on to citizen comments.

If you'd like to make a citizen comment, you can raise your hand, come up to the poll, but you have three minutes to speak. If you're zooming in, you can also raise your hand and you'll get three minutes to speak. We have an opportunity at the beginning of the meeting And the end of the meeting.

We don't have anyone online.

No, we don't have anyone online. Moving right along to reports.

Mark. Thank you. Mr. Chair, I don't know that I have a specific report to share with the commission today. Or with the board, rather.

Sorry. Thank you.

Mark, I have a question for you, though. Sure. Could you kind of give us an update as to where the council is at with the approval of the 20-year plan, comprehensive plan, and within that, the CFP, which includes the library?

So the 20-year comprehensive facilities or capital facilities plan was adopted by the council during last night's meeting. So that is formally in place. And it's adopted by reference into the comprehensive plan. As we've talked about before, the 20-year plan is a very aspirational, wide time horizon plan that has to be further distilled as we continue to develop and adopt each successive six-year capital facilities plan. And so in the 20-year capital facility plan, I believe the library is slotted to occur summer. The design of the new facility is slotted to occur sometime in the early 2030s. But there is no funding associated with that project. And so it is outside the current scope of the six-year capital facility plan. And so when we start to develop the next capital facilities plan, the decision will have to be made as to whether it is inside or outside of that six year time horizon. And so that's sort of what's happened over the last couple of council meetings and then what we expect to happen as we continue to work to develop the next six year capital facilities plan, which in earnest will start probably sometime in July.

So a follow up question to that is, every October or starting actually pretty soon now, there'll be discussions about the next budget cycle and budget for the city. Is there any opportunity or will there be any opportunity to discuss how to provide a monetary figure within that budget for a future library?

as you may recall, the council voted to adopt a monetary figure. And so there could at any time be another discussion to alter that figure in any way. And so, yes, that would be part of any discussion that would occur associated with a budget development or a capital facility plan development.

Okay, so I guess I didn't ask my question as clear as I wanted it to be. So I understand that there's money that they put there, but will there be a discussion about sourcing money to put into an account for the library? In other words, that's just a dollar amount that they put there for the library, but there is no, from what I hear you saying, there is no source for that money at this point.

Correct.

So in the next cycle for budget discussions, would there be an opportunity to explore sources for funding?

I would say with any discussion about a capital facilities funding sources for any of the projects that are identified because none of them are fully funded beyond the budgeted year. None of the out-year projects are fully funded. And so I would say in every development of a capital facility plan, there's an opportunity to discuss specific funding sources.

Okay, thank you.

Thank you. Perfect. I missed the last Friends of Liberty Lake Library meeting, but so if I forget something else, you can fill right in.

I'll try to fill in anything.

The next bow sale, which is one of our big fundraisers, is coming up June 18th and 19th and 20th. The setup is on the 18th. The sale itself is at the library on the 19th. And also new revenue is that when people donate rare books, they're available through eBay. So occasionally people do donate books that are worth more than 50 cents or a dollar, which is typically what we sell the books at the book sale for. So you can do that. And then another big fundraiser that's coming up on July 18th is the Summer Soiree, which is held at the Liberty Lake Winery. The date this year is Wednesday, July 15th. Again, at Liberty Wine Cellars. They don't serve food. It's no host wine, cider, and beer. I think tips are still, they're $35.00. We'll have yard games. Make sure we'll have four yard games.

You will have fun.

There's live music. A group called Bigger Than Us. There'll be a photo booth, a silent auction. It's just a really fun event. We typically sell out, so if you'd like to support, the tickets are available now online. If you just go to libertylakefriends.org, you can buy your tickets online.

All right. just add one thing to that, for the story, there will not be a picture of it this time. So they had to cut that.

Okay. Can you confirm the dates for the book sale? Sure. The 19th and 20th?

The 19th is 12 to 6, and the 20th is 9 to 12. 9 to 3? 9 to 3. 9 to 3.

They have audio books, DVDs, puzzles. It's not just books. Right. But mostly books.

It's a little bit different this year. Just in the June 19th, it's Juneteenth, and so the library is closed. So they will just be back in the meeting room, and they're going to have additional signage out front that says, hey, the library is closed, but just come this way for the book sale. So that's the only weird thing. But it does really well being with the Kiwanis Yard sale, so they didn't want to change the date by anything.

Well, the driveway, the parking lot is supposed to be done?

Yes. The parking lot is supposed to be done May 31st.

Good. Because it's hard to get into the library. Yes.

We'll update everyone if you haven't been by mission, which I'm sure you all have been by mission. Yes.

Oh, the other thing is that President Robin is ordering some nice blue T-shirts that say Friends of Liberty Light Library.

So the friends can wear those at their different events. Yeah.

Yeah. It's a really good.

Yes.

If you've seen the devil wars. Oh, yeah. Yes.

Okay.

Thank you.

Andy. Okay. So I have a couple updates for you guys. Um, and then later I'll get into the annual report. Um, in March after we met, um, We had power poles installed at the library. Picture just like a metal square pole from the floor to the ceiling. It gives us the ability to have power back in the young adult area. So as you guys remember, that's been a huge issue for us is that there's a power in the floor, but that's the only place for people to sit down and work. So they're only able to work as long as their laptop lasts. So we've installed four power poles. So there's one at each table. So they're able to plug in their laptops, their phones, all the things there. So new and improved young adults study area. Our self-checks have also been, we have our new self-checks. They've been installed. They're working. They do everything but print at this point. So if people are able to check out, they just can't print out their seat that says no due June 1st. but they are up and working. And if you remember, they broke in September and it's May. So we feel that they're back up and working. Brand new, new and improved. It's a new software and the units themselves are brand new as well. I feel like there's something I was going to add about that. We really wanted it installed in time for summer reading because after school gets out in June, we're going to be super busy. And of course that gives people two other locations that they can check off books. So it will really help with the, you know, flow at busy times. So we're really thrilled.

Yes.

Do we have the other one computer that was down for paper use? Does that one back up? No, it does not back up. Yes. So we only have three?

Yes. But we're hoping that will be up by June 15th for, you know, summer reading when we get a little bit busier. But one thing that we're doing differently this year, I'll talk about that later. Yes. So still working on that. Children's staff updates. In April, we unfortunately lost both our children's librarian and our children's associate. So we had no children's library staff. Jordan, who was our children's librarian, had to move out of state unexpectedly. And then our children's associate has been having some health problems for the past year. And so she wasn't able to continue any further. So we're really sorry to lose both of them. However, since it's been a month since that occurred, since we didn't have an April meeting, I have been able to replace both of them. Wow. So we have a new children's associate, Chelsea Griffin. She's been working for us as a storytime substitute. So she would fill in at storytime when our children's librarians were out of town. And then last year when we had some, our children's associate was out on leave throughout the summer last year. She filled in in that capacity. So she already really, really knows the job. So we're excited to have her now, I guess, permanently on our staff instead of just as a substitute. So our children's associate works 30 hours a week. So she'll be with us for 30 hours a week. And then we have hired a new children's librarian. Her name is Kathy. So we have Chelsea and Kathy, both with a C. She comes to us from the Spokane Public Library. She's been a children's librarian for them for the past 14 years. So highly, highly, highly experienced. And I'm really excited to have her. She was doing story time and children's programming. The thing that I'm really excited about is for the past five years, she was the official STEM librarian. So she was in charge of all of the children's STEM programs that they did at all of their different locations throughout the city library system. And as you know, we have the Zahan Fund, which funds STEM programming at our library. So I'm really hoping she's going to be able to run with that and make it really shine and just really, you know, beef up our STEM programming for lack of a better word. So she will be starting with us on June 8th. That's her official start date. Summer reading starts June 15th. So really tight timeline. But she met with me and Chelsea today actually to go through and finalize all of our summer reading planning and programming. Most of it was planned before Jordan left. But there's some things we need to fill in. So she came by today and we're able to fill all that in so that we will be ready to hit the ground running on June 15th.

So busy time of year.

Um, the last update I have for you is of course the construction. So, um, the, you know, mission Avenue has been under construction for a week, two weeks now, a couple of weeks. Um, and so it's been pretty difficult to get to the library. Um, and then to add on to that, um, on Monday, they started repaving and redoing our entire parking lot. So like mission Avenue is closed and our parking lot is closed. Well, we are getting two birds, one stone. We're getting through construction season in May, getting it all done. And then in June, everything will be back in order. We'll have a brand new road and we'll have a brand new parking lot. One of the things that I have staff implement is obviously everyone has to park at the police department in order to come to the library. We've set up a curbside pickup spot right in front, the very first row of parking. So if you can't physically walk into the library, you can park into curbside, call us on the phone, we'll bring out all of your items. Or if you just want to return items, we'll come to your car, grab all of your items, and bring them into the library to check them in for you. So if it's a challenge for anyone to physically get to the library, we're offering that. And then obviously, if they don't want to deal with the construction, they don't want to deal with parking, We are, you know, extending renewals so people are able to go to their items and come back in in June when we're, you know, open and have easy parking access. So those are the things we're going to just try to help. The last thing I would add that's just good timing is these two, this week and next week, are our storytime break when we're not doing any storytime programming as we prepare for summer reading. So at least we don't have, you know, 40 moms and their daughters showing up every morning and having to, you know, park at the police station and walk all the way around. So there's a little bit less heavy traffic in the morning, which I think helps. And so, yes, we'll be back up and at it. It's because Jen calls me all that traffic when I'm going over. It's all these moms. Yes. Got to get to the library for story time. Don't want to be late. Hurry, hurry.

So, Jackie, when do kids start signing up for summer break?

So we start registration the week that school gets out. So school gets out on a Wednesday this year, which is a little bit weird. So we are starting registration on Monday. Yeah. No, Monday before.

Yeah.

I'm glad you clarified that. June 15th. School gets out June 17th. So we're starting registration that day where kids can come pick up their reading logs. They get a reading log and then like a grab bag of treats and snacks and little things that have to do with our theme, which is dinosaurs this year. And we do, we don't have a cutoff for registration, so they can come in throughout the entire summer and pick up their reading block and start the summer reading program. So, yes. And then we have fun events planned every single week of the summer for different programs and events that they can come to at the library.

There's no age restriction, either, for some reason, correct?

No. No, you can do it as an adult. Actually, I don't think you'll get .

Yes.

She generally does kind of like a punch card of five books. But you can also do, if you take a library program, You can get a punch. And then there's a couple other things like try a new recipe and that sort of thing. But you get five punches and you can enter the drawing for the grand prize drawings. And last year it was pottery classes at Lowe's, which is, I think, a fantastic surprise.

Is there a page restriction?

No, no. She says, yes, you're a friend.

I will check out a 25-page shared book and call it good.

Yeah, the books that she does to entice the people. She's like, if you're reading Juniper Jones with your daughter, that counts. Or, you know, whatever book. So she just wants the adults to read and participate, so she makes it very low barrier for them.

And then once you fill out your little five punches, you also do get a free book.

And she gets really good news, like That's all our stuff that just comes out. So it's good stuff. Okay.

Yes.

Okay. Thank you. All right. We're moving on to business. So we'll just keep the ball in your front, Shandi. Yes. With our library report.

So I have our annual report to go through with you. Last year, I think I printed out copies for you. I didn't this year because it's like 150 pages. Very print friendly. It was not print friendly. So I didn't do that. I'm sorry. I'm still working with the vendor to see if we can get the ones that have the comparison with 24 and 25 because they had that last year. But it is a new vendor this year. So we'll see what happens.

I'm not going to go through every single number because that's a lot of numbers.

And some of the statistics are for like a branch library system, and they don't apply to us. So the first thing I wanted to point out is the number of users that we have at the library. So this is for 2025. We have a total of 7,574 users. Could you clarify that?

Users, that means people with cards? Yes, patrons.

Sorry, they used the word user on here. I never used the word user, but it literally said user right here. So I just started saying that word. So we have 7,554 users. For the last several years, we've been stuck at 6,000. We did have 7,000 users last year. I'm just glad that we're staying up in a higher range. So last year was 7,460. This year is 7,574. So we have about 100 more. But do also keep in mind that every two months, we go in and delete expired patrons. So throughout the year, it goes up and down, up and down, up and down. But I like that we do that so that we have a true number.

It's not just like, well, since 2004, 11,000 people have gotten library cards.

6,000 of them haven't used it in five years. Like, that's just not an accurate representation of who's using the library. So I like doing that so that we have an accurate representation of who is actually using the library for us.

Is there, like, a report that we've been full of how many times, like, a last specific card has been used that year? Like, any time that you had to go? I don't know if I have one that says, like, how many times. Especially if one age group checks out. You know what I mean? Or it's like, who do we need to cater towards? Because really, there's probably a group of people that attends and visits. Or who do we need to try to snatch over and do some other things?

I want to say we have some of that data in our community assessment. I'll have to go back and look. Obviously, that would not be accurate. It'd be from 2019. But that would be interesting to look at, to see what our general age range is. I would say anecdotally, we have young families who use it a lot, and we have older patrons who use it a good deal. And I would say sometimes we tend to lose people when they have older kids, if that makes sense. But we do have some very regular users who are older. But anecdotally, I would say that's where we lose people, is when they have older teens and that sort of thing.

Because reading's not fun anymore.

Yes. So of that number, we have 3,040 who are non-residents, Spokane County Library District, or paid users from Spokane or Idaho. And then 4,534 of them who are specifically Liberty Lake residents. Very interestingly, our number of Spokane County residents has raised dramatically. So in 2023, it was 1,600. And then in 2024, it was 2,500. And then this year, it's 3,000. So we've gained a lot of non-resident users in the last two years by a significant amount. The other thing I wanted to point out is just that this year is our first year in 2025 that we have a non-resident user fee. So remember we implemented that back in October when we joined the InlandShare library group. It's not for Spokane County residents. They still have a free card. It's just for anyone in the city of Spokane or surrounding areas that wants to get a card with us that are charged the $30 a year. When I looked up, we had $30 of that. So not a significant amount. Yes. Okay.

When you track the volunteer hours, do you include the Friends of Liberty Lake Library or just the people that help out at the library?

When I track the volunteer hours, it's our formal volunteers who come in each week. So they track their hours for us and we have to turn those numbers into the city quarterly. So it's the formal... volunteer adult volunteers yes thanks sorry no you're all good um this year we're up to three full-time librarians in 2025 so we have myself as the director mckayla as the teen and adult librarian and then jordan who's now kathy our full-time children's librarian so for about the last four years we haven't had a full-time children's librarian so that's something for this year that changed. So, yes, total annual volunteer hours for this year in 2025 was 648, which is significant. They come in every single week and will hold or shop books or do any other tasks that we want for us. We have at least one a day. I would say total we have 10 volunteers on staff right now. Most days we try to have a morning and an afternoon volunteer, but some days it's just one and we don't have anyone on Saturday. So library revenue, our total operating costs for 2025 were $753,000 for the year, up from 716 in 2024. And I attribute that to hiring the full-time children's library. That's what the job was, was for that full-time benefited employee. From Friends, which is another one of our operating costs, last year they donated $7,875 to us for the year to use for our event program, Our presenters and performers, event people, our mobis passes, museum passes, additional children's programming, teen programming, adult programming. And then something new for last year was the hub key, the hub play and clubs program was another thing that they paid for last year, which was wonderful. And we plan to participate in that every year. So we are doing that again this year.

Jandy? Yes. Are the ZAHAN funds included in that number? No. Is that a separate number?

That's a separate one. And in my mind, because I always fill this out as the friends, I just filled it out as the friends. But I would say for next year, I would include ZAHAN funds in that as well because of this other operating revenue for children's programming.

So that was a mistake on my part.

So, yeah, ZAHAN would be in that for next year.

Okay.

Flipping through my pages.

Now we get into expenditures. Something significant for last year was our book budget went from $55,000 to $66,000 over the course of the year. We had an increase due to book costs going up with inflation. Since COVID, they finally went up enough and studied to where we increased our budget. We've also officially made a ILG, Inland Share Library Group, contribution for e-books. So we pay them $3,000 a year for e-books, which is great because now, it's been the case for several years, but our patrons are able to access e-books from them and from Washington Anytime Libraries. So we formalized that contribution and then a Washington Anytime Library increase. Those, you know, more and more people are reading e-books and you're able to buy them and use them for less and less and less and less time. So there's been an increase there. So it went from 55 to 66.

So from 55 to 66, does that just maintain our current volume? Yes. Yes. Yes. It's not to increase, it's to maintain. Yeah, just to maintain. So we don't have space to increase. Yeah. Yeah.

I'm not sure, but I think, at least through Washington Inland Library, sometimes books go away because they add new books. Yes.

I mean, there's books that I want to check out, and it'll say, sorry, your library no longer has copies of this.

book available? Do you want us to let them know if they end up getting another copy?

Yes. I would say we'll maintain the whole number of items that we have in the library. But yeah, some of those books might be changing. Same with Washington and Cameron libraries where we're just trying to maintain what we have, but some of the books are rotating in and out. Some books we don't get anymore because we can't Um, they aren't going to check out and other times it might just be like, they weren't able to reach an agreement with the licensing and all of those things.

Like, so yes.

Okay. Now I'm on to collection size. So like Brad was saying, um, with the current shelf space that we have in the library, we aren't really able to expand our collection. We're just in a state of maintaining a collection. So our collection actually went down a tiny bit because, you know, we are weaving and getting rid of books. So for 2025, we were at 21,815 books specifically. In 2024, we were at 2,200. So just a small 2,200. Sorry, 22,000. Thank you. Thank you. Yes. 22,000 is a lot different than 2,200. Our audio materials are staying exactly the same at 800 last year, 800 this year. Our video material is very similar also. We were at 1,600 last year. We're at 1,700 this year. We were at 1,700 last year. One area that has grown is our Library of Things collection. Not significantly. because we don't have a lot of space, but we are up to 168 items in that collection. So that includes our museum passes to Mac and Mobius, all of the puzzles that we have in our puzzle collection, all of the games that we have. We also, in 2025, purchased video games, specifically Switch games. That's what we've been investing in, not in PlayStation or Xbox, specifically Switch. It also includes our hotspots and then our kits. So some of our kits are being geared towards kids, like learning kits, like learn to read kits, that sort of thing. Others are geared towards adults. So we have some of these senior dementia kits and then some science kits and that sort of thing. So totally we now have 168 items, including things like also like ukuleles. We have a sewing machine, which is new. We have a mini portable projector. So lots of kind of items in that collection.

So Jane, I have a question about those items. Are those donated items or are those purchased items?

Both. So like the video games, we purchased all of those. The sewing machine was a brand new sewing machine that was donated to the library. We also just recently, this is new, it's not in the catalog yet. Somebody donated a Tony's collection. What? tony's t-o-n-i-e-s it's like an audiobook player but it has lots of characters you know disney characters um and that sort of thing paw patrol like so some of them play music like it'll play all the paw patrol songs which my son would love um others are like actual books that would play a book but it's definitely geared towards young kids like zero to five um so that's like something that was donated and it was a significant collection and they're expensive, so it's a new item that we're adding to the collections.

I have another question about our collection. I know you've told this before, but I always forget. So what is the recommended volume for a CDR size for our library to maintain?

So our level of service has been two books per person in Liberty Lake. or two items per person in Liberty Lake. So right now, the... So we're at 14,000 community members in Liberty Lake. So our collection should be at 28,000. Right now, we are at 25,000. So not significantly lower, but we are lower. Our issue is that if you think about in three years, if we are at 20,000 people and we're still stuck at 25,000 items, our level of service has dropped from two items per person to one item per person, which is a significant decrease when you think about it.

And when you say items, you're talking about books, audio collection, video collection, and library things. Yes.

All of those things together. So that is one of our biggest challenges with the current size of our library is that we aren't able to expand our collection anymore.

Yes. And e-books don't count, right? No, just because they're right.

I know. It's one of those things where it's not something that everyone can access either if they don't have a device where it's just not their thing. So we're talking physical items in the collection that anyone can come and use. Yes. So that's our collection back right now. Now on to number of visits. So in 2025, we had 69,700 visits for the year, which is phenomenal. It's very similar to what we had in 2024. which was 69,575. So it's only up like 200. The thing that I find extremely significant about this number is, if you recall, in 2024, the Postal Library had to close for an entire year. They closed the very beginning of January when we had that big ice storm, windstorm, and their whole library was flooded. Because of that, Many users had to go to Hayden Library or Liberty Lake. Over the course of the year, we had about 500 more users each month in the library. So we saw a lot more people, a lot more checkouts. This year, they ended up opening their doors back up again in December. So this year, 2025, we had an entire year where we didn't have those additional patrons. but our numbers still stayed at 69,000. So we did, if you think about it, like we did see way more users than we did. Um, and they weren't post-fall users. So I'm really happy with the number that we still increased. Um, in comparison in 2023, we were only at 62,000. So it's been, so I, I, I say it was a really good year. Um, If you think about that, we didn't have any of those post-poll people coming. So we still saw a dramatic increase for the year. So let's see. Circulation. So how many books checked out of the library? In 2025, we had 92,226 items check out of the library. Comparing it to the previous year in 2024, when we had those post-fall patrons, we were at 97,000. So we did have a decrease in checkouts for the year. Part of that, though, I want to point out is contributed to when we were separating from CIN. From July to September, there were certain items that couldn't be checked out from those other libraries. So I do think some of our decrease in usage was because people couldn't order items from those specific libraries. They were just limited to what we have in-house. And we do bring over about 1,000 books a month from those other libraries. So I do think that contributed to the decrease per year.

Let's see.

Oh, I just find this interesting. Out of those 92,000 books, 59,000 of them were children's materials. So basically 60,000 of the 90,000 are children's materials. So like I like to say to people, we are definitely like a family library where we check out a lot of children's materials. And that is what brings a lot of people into the library is getting books for their kids, not necessarily getting books for themselves. But also you have to think about when you get books for your kids, you get 10 books. And when you get books for yourself, you get one. So of course there's going to be more kids books, but. about 60,000 of them were children's materials.

So that includes picture books, chapter books, and then our teen collection as well, 60,000.

Let's see. Our e-book circulation for the year. So this includes e-books, audio books, and magazines. 35,976. So basically 36,000 items. If you remember, we've talked about this several times, the ratio of eBooks to physical books. So like the national average is three out of every 10 people prefer eBooks to audio or sorry, prefer eBooks to physical books. For last year, we are trending at 39%, which is about four out of every 10 people in our community are using e-books. So we are trending a little bit higher than the national average. That's above average. Yes. Last thing about our checkouts for the collection. Not everyone knows this, but we do interlibrary loan, which is where we will mail books across the country. So if you have a specific book that you want and we don't have a copy of it and CIN doesn't have a copy of it, you can request that we get it to you from another library in the country via mail. So it's not a huge collection, but Mark does use it extensively. For 2021. For 2025, we ordered in for our patrons 387 books via mail. And we sent out 144 books to other libraries via mail. So it's an old school way to get books, but you can get really unique items. Or just, you know, something random that you really want and you don't want to pay the $30 on Amazon.

Or maybe it's not available on Amazon. How did you find it?

So we subscribe to a service. It's called WorldCat. Most libraries in the country subscribe to it. And it just gives you the ability to see what other libraries have. You can search the book, see if another library in the country has it. And then you request it. Generally, when they send out the request, it sends it to all of the libraries that have that item. It's not just that you specifically request it from Texas. And then one of those libraries has to say, yes, I will loan it to you.

And then they get to pick the due date.

So they'll say you can have it for one month, you can have it for two months, you can have it for three months. And then they physically mail it to us. And so if you go to the post office, there's a specific library rate stamp they put on the items. And it's just, you know, books are heavy. And they'll mail them for a very cheap, affordable cost for us. Because, you know, books can be heavy. So just then, I think of it as like an old school service, but it's really nice and I don't know. It's really fun when you get someone who has one at the desk and you get it up. We can all look at it and be like, that's from, because one of yours was from Texas where you were from, wasn't it?

Yeah, I made the joke that I moved here from Houston, Texas, and when I ordered a book from the service, it came from a library from Houston. Yeah. But we'll get them from all over the country.

Yeah. So, Last thing I wanted to bring up is our program numbers for the year. So for the year, this is for ages 0 to 5, we offered 177 children's programs. The majority of those are story time, so basically 177 story times for the year. And for attendance at those, we had 8,082. So 8,000 kids came to Storytime last year, which is incredible. For our other age groups, it's not as significant. So we had 35 school-age programs in 2025, and our attendance for that was just over 500, 532. And then for young adults, we had 60 teen programs for the year. which I would say is a significant number. If you recall, in 2025, it was our first full year of doing every Teen Tuesday program. So every Tuesday at the library, we had a teen program. So McHale hosted over 60 of those. And our attendance for the year was 569. That's right.

Which I think is really, really good for teens.

Especially when you think about most of our programs, we get like four or five teens.

What is considered a teen?

What's the age group? 12 and up.

Okay.

I would say the majority of our kids are 12 to 16 and come. But yeah, generally we get the younger teens that are coming more often. We do not ask that they register for the programs.

They just show up. They can bring their friends. If you want to bring four friends, we don't care.

We just want people to come. So it's just open. At first we were doing registration and the teen clubs know that they like check the registration Because if they see only two people are coming, they don't want to come. So we don't do registration anymore. That's smart. Just show up. Bring your friend. We don't care. So, yes, we're really happy with you for next quarter year for the teens. So that's like almost 10 per session.

That's pretty great. I think that is too.

Yeah. Especially for a good age group. Yeah, it's impressive. So... I think it's not 10 because it's every single Tuesday. You know what I'm saying?

But it's 60 programs and we had 569 attendees. So yeah, no, you're right.

That's almost 10 a session.

I'm a librarian, not a mathematician.

I love counting numbers, but the computer counts before me. I pay people, my math better be right.

And then for adults, we had 22 programs throughout the year. So about two a month for the year. And our adult attendance was 188, so much lower than those teens. So the teens are using the library. That's great. Let's see. So total number of programs that we offered in 2025 was 308 total programs. And let's see. So 308 programs for the year, and our total attendance was 13,403 for the whole year. So it's up about 500 from the year prior. We were at 12,900 for the year. So our programming attendance is really strong. If you remember from the community assessment, community assessment?

Yeah, it said that was our scorecard. Yes. Our biggest strength.

Yes, our biggest strength is our programming for a library of our size. The number of programs that we offer and the number of people who attend our programs is very significant for a library of our size. So as I like to say, I like to try and bring people in with the program and then hopefully they leave with a book. So if you're not a book person, hopefully you'll come because you want to do the Master Gardener's class. And then maybe you'll get a card and then there's a book.

So let's see.

One-on-one services. So last year, in 2025, Michaela started offering tech help appointments where you can call the library and set up a time to meet with her, and she will help you learn how to use Zoom, learn how to write a resume. She had a patron, and she helped. Um, they were losing their social security. She helped them get their social security back. Another patron was wanting to sell a book on Amazon and she helped them figure out how to sell a book on Amazon. Um, as in like a book they wrote on Amazon. Um, so that's a new service that she offered, um, in 2025. And we had, um, 53 appointments in 2025. Okay. That is great. Yes. If you can come out for me for a week.

Yeah. So Jandy, uh, uh, Does that put on the library's web page so that people know it's available to them?

I believe so. All libraries in America offer proctoring, which is where you can come in and take your NCLEX nurse test and we'll make sure you weren't cheating, basically. TechHealth is a newer one that a lot of libraries are doing, and I do believe it's on the website and in our brochure that we hand out to people when they get a library card that we offer one-on-one TechHealth

And we do have people come in and they're like, hey, can you help me get Libby on my Kindle?

We'll do that for anybody any day of the week. Any of my staff can do that. If it's something a lot more tricky or that needs a lot more time, we'll also verbally be like, hey, you can set up a one-on-one appointment with Michaela for this as well. So word of mouth is another way that we're getting the word out about that. Let's see. I think the last thing I had was just our computer usage. Yes, so computer usage. This is something that's raised significantly over the past two years. And I think it's surprising to people because we think everyone has a phone, everyone has a laptop, everyone has the internet as their house. We're glued to our phones, so obviously nobody needs to use a computer somewhere. So our number of computer sessions in 2025 was 3,080. We have people who come to the library every single day and use our computer. We do also have a significant number of people. Sorry, my screen was going back. We also have a significant number of people who will just come in and they need to print on a UPS label for an Amazon return. So we do get a ton of people who come in specifically for printing, like they have a computer at their house, they just don't have a printer anymore. So we do a significant number of printing. So In 2023, our number was 1,800. And in 2025, we're at 3,080, so 3,100. So it's made a significant jump in the last few years. And it's one of our biggest pain points, I would say, because we have four ancient computers. And that's all the space that we have. We only have space to put four computers. And one is broken. And one is broken at the moment, yes.

so Jandy what is the is there a national standard like there is for you know two books for one patron is there some sort of a standard that the library is trying to achieve with the number of computers if there is I don't know what it is so for us it's just this is what we have space for those tables and as you know power is a really big challenge so you know

Um, Evan and Shane who've done our computer stuff, like neatly hidden in the cords and, but we're like running an extension cord to get these four machines up and running. Um, so that's one of our pain points. And, um, last year, last summer, it was so busy. That, um, we give people a two hour session to use the computer. We in June from June to August, we're going to bump it down to one hour because it was so bad last year. And we have so many people waiting and, you know, we have a two hour time limit.

Who would have thought that a computer in 2026 would be so. Yes. Like desired. Yes. Everyone. I mean, yeah, we are. Computers on us.

Yes. So that's great. I think it's just one of those things where we do have some regulars who come in and they'll use it for a couple hours and they need it. They need it. They need it. They have stuff to do. And then we have people who just want to come in and print. So we do have a mobile printing app. where they can scan the QR code and they can print from their phone. So that does help with some of it, but you know, some people that's not something they're comfortable with. We also have print via email where we have a generic library email, you know, library at the Relay Guadalcanal and people can forward something from their email or from home and then come to the library and we'll print it out for them. But some people don't want that because they don't want you to see what they're printing, you know, if it's something private. Those are two workrooms that we have because we do have some people that just come in and want to print really quickly. And if all the machines are in use, that's something they can do. But yeah, we only have four machines. And so we are going to limit our number of hours from June to August from two hours to one out on the computer. So we'll see how it goes. That's the report and everything that I wanted to present with you guys today. As you know, coming up in June, we have to give our annual report to the council. So each year by ordinance, we are required to give an annual report. We do it in June because I have to submit this to the state in May. And so it makes sense to do it in June versus like, I don't know, a lot of annual reports people probably give in December, but all of our numbers aren't really finished for a year because we're open through the end of the year. So it's something that we do for them in June. So I'm wondering who is willing to work on that presentation with me. Most of the numbers that I shared with you today are numbers and things that I would bring out to them. I do also want to bring up to them some of the challenges that we're having. So talking about this issue that we're having with the computers as one of them. talking to them about our collection and how our collection is at capacity and our number of residents in Liberty Lake is growing each year. So the level of service that we're able to provide is only going to go down from here. So just giving them, you know, some of the challenges that we're having and then just, you know, the general challenge of like, we only have one meeting room and we have so many people that come to story time and it's only technically supposed to hold 40. So just kind of, especially because it is a new council primarily for my members, um, kind of getting them up to speed on where we're at. Um, I did do a walkthrough with all of them earlier this year, all of our new council members. So yeah, I've kind of verbally heard some of these things for me, but it's something I want to address with them again and our, and our work. So I'm hoping, especially because it's, you know, May 20th, that we could do it the second meeting in June, which would be June 16th. So does someone have availability that they could work on the PowerPoint presentation with me and then present the data with me on June 16th?

I will be out of town. I can do this. Okay, great. I was going to say, you did it last time. Yeah, I did. I enjoyed doing that, but I will be out of town once.

Just to remind the board, Jandy's annual report is very extensive, as you know. A condensed version of that that we report on a quarterly basis is available on our website, and it has public library data and statistics on it, some of which Jandy just went over. But it's a more digestible report for just your average resident that wants to know kind of what's happening at the library.

It's like four or five numbers, not...

So this is a great place to point them to, to show them kind of the volume of things that are happening at the library.

Yes. June 16. Yes.

June 16.

So I'm sending an email or text about when you might want to get it.

Yes.

So I can work on it.

Yes, absolutely. So I will send you a text and we'll get something scheduled. Thank you so much. So that's everything that I had for my report. I don't remember what else is on the agenda.

That's really it. Unless there's any other questions for Jen. Jen, you have a question. You've told us this before. Just to clarify and make sure that we're in notes. At what point will there be the transition from you to Michaela?

Thank you. Yes. So I'm planning on having, this is specifically for the work. I'm planning on having Michaela come to the June meeting with me next month. Just because historically, some years in July, we canceled our meeting due to lack of a quorum. And I want her to be able to come introduce herself. And also, you know, I can remind her how the hour works and the meeting set up stuff. And she'll get kind of a see where we're at. So she'll be coming with us to the June meeting. The thing that I'm planning on going over with you guys at the June meeting is a community satisfaction survey. I'm working on it with Mark. So we want to do a once a year library satisfaction survey to the community. So I want to go through the questions that we've come up with for the survey and get your feedback on them. We're planning on doing the survey each year in July because that is our busiest month at the library. It is? Yes, July is our busiest month out of the whole year. So, it's summer reading and for whatever reason, July is the busiest. So, I'm planning to have it where, you know, they can scan a QR code, they can fill out the survey at the library, but we will be posting the survey via Zen City. Right? Is it Zen City? Yes. Yes. For a second, I was like, crap, what's this It's not called Zen City. Yes, so we will be formally posting the survey on Zen City where anyone on the city website can access it, and anyone at the library can access it, and then we'll be sending it out via email for people to fill out. It won't be, you know, 12 questions or anything. It's going to be a short survey.

When are you planning on taking your lead?

When is Monday going to... Yes, sorry. I'm not talking about June and July.

Jandy, I'm just curious. Was this already done through the city satisfaction survey? Was it the library part of that already?

I think it's just only two questions.

Okay.

And so we wanted to be able to ask them a few more questions. And it goes out to everyone in Liberty Lake, the one that we do in January. This one I'm hoping to hit just our resident users. Okay. just to hit our users, and some of those aren't in the Relay for the Valley. And I still care if they are satisfied with the library or not. So, to me, it feels like a little bit of a different cross, right?

It's an agreement on what people are thinking about when it comes to the library.

We let teens, young adults, teens and young adults complete the survey. I think we should. I think that's a good suggestion. Yes.

Don't you think so?

It's as low as 12.

Yeah, I think if you're a user of the library, we want to know what you think about it.

Yeah. So I think that is a good, not something I would have, um, can, I haven't thought of that yet, but yeah, I would definitely want to encourage our team users to, to do it. And they're savvy enough to pull up a QR code and do it for sure.

I think that's a good market to, um,

Trying to get as well. Great idea. So my due date is September 1st, but it's twins. Are you sure? Yes. But because it's twins, I know it will be in August. I'm anticipating the beginning, middle of August is when I will go on leave. I am planning to work until they come. I'm not planning to take like a couple of weeks to prepare. I just want just when they come. So I get, you know, the most time with them on maternity leave. So yeah, McKayla will be stepping in for me. And just like last time, she'll be giving me texts when I'm leaving. But she did it, you know, three years ago, and she's very willing to do it again. And she already, you know, kind of knows the rules.

So I know we really can't. Yes, thank you. Any other questions? So there's nothing in our action items for today. Is there anybody online for some comments? No, I don't have any more comments. And then if there is nothing else, we will adjourn. Thank you.