Public Library Board February 17

Highlights from the Boone County Public Library Board February meeting held at the main branch in Burlington:

Staff Presentation
The director of the Archive & History Center (A&HC) gave an update on the A&HC’s services and projects. The A&HC offers reference services, has a genealogy database (similar to Ancestry.com) and has a community and local government archive. They have stored online the meetings of the Boone County Historical Society’s six annual meetings. They are a family search affiliate through what the Mormons have set up. The A&HC also has something called Portfolio that has about 16,000 images donated by residents of Boone County. Local government archives for the period 1798 to 1920 had been stored in the county clerk’s office but these records are deteriorating so about 6,500 (so far) have been brought over to the A&HC for preservation. 

Audit Presentation
The audit for the Boone County Public Library (BCPL) fiscal year ending June 30, 2024, was provided via Zoom by the independent audit firm Kelley, Galloway, Smith, Goolsby, PSC. The audit itself will be posted to the BCPL website under the Library Board section. 

Public Comment
No public comment was forthcoming in this meeting as no member of the public except the BCRP reporter attended.

Director’s Report
Director Carrie Herrmann (CH) indicated she and her staff have started internally to prepare the fiscal year 2026 budget. There are 160 participants in the 1,000 Books Before Kindergarten program, and the Dolly Parton Imagination Library has 6,300 children registered. The Scheben branch held its annual passport fair and assisted with 200 passport applications in one day. Lastly, the Walton branch came in 21% under budget for the entire project.

Treasurer/Accountant Report
In December the BCPL received just under $388,000 in revenue, $318,000 of which were tax revenues. Year-to-date tax revenues total $8.2 million. 

New Business
As the trustees declared a list of items that were no longer in service as surplus, and therefore approved for disposal, Trustee Deborah Dutton-Lambert (DDL) requested some excess library funds be used to purchase new furniture for the Chapin Memorial Library (CML) as its current furniture, especially for the children, is dilapidated. CH indicated the Board can approve funds for new CML furniture for fiscal year 2026. DDL indicated that in the past some funds had been re-allocated for other issues. Could this be done for the CML? CH agreed to look into the matter.

There was discussion regarding the director’s last evaluation, which was held privately. DDL requested a copy, indicating that even though she was not involved, since she had not completed her required one-year term, she felt she should have the courtesy of receiving a copy. Trustee Patty Reisz indicated she had heard the wait time to participate in the director’s evaluation was four months, in which case she and DDL should’ve had input. DDL said from her informational materials as a trustee, she understood it was required that the director’s evaluation be made public unless it was for disciplinarian problems, not just based on precedent. President Jackson indicated that if the trustees want a more inclusive evaluation, it must be discussed by the Board and added as an agenda item for discussion. DDL proposed that this topic be added as an agenda item for next month’s meeting. CH claimed she spoke to the Kentucky Department of Libraries & Archives (KDLA) and they indicated there is no law or requirement, just a procedure that can be adopted by the library board and subject to change. Trustee Emily Meyers wanted to know what other libraries do. DDL insisted she should be given the courtesy of seeing a copy of the evaluation at the very least and wanted further discussion by the board.

There were 14 applications for the two trustee openings effective July 1, 2025. Two were ignored because they were received after the February 12 deadline. The board discussed the others using codes A through N.  A third applicant was eliminated when the board could find no record he/she even had a library card. The board then made their choices.