Library Trustees Chair Karla Alfred opened the Zoom meeting at 7 PM on Wednesday, November 2, 2022. October 19, 2022, meeting minutes were approved following several clarifying edits. The group then focused attention on Librarian Deric Wilson’s Director’s Report.
Wilson began by reviewing some of the scheduled Library events and the numbers of patrons participating. November 10th author talk with Bonnie Garmus, author of Lessons in Chemistry, has already registered several interested viewers. (More information is available here: https://libraryc.org/hollistonlibrary/22260 Wilson expects to host 3 to 4 author talks a month. These are live talks, but patrons may also access the video of the author chats later.
Wilson has also hired a Dungeon Master, Jason Simard, for the new Dungeons and Dragons group. Presently there is a waiting list for the Monday evening meeting. Wilson also announced that the Holliston Historical Society will present a program in concert with the One Book, One Holliston selection of Travels with George, by Nathaniel Philbrick.
Trustees approved Wilson’s writing of a Sustainability Grant—based upon his conferring with Facilities Manager James Keast—for either preservation of the building’s historic windows or installation of a heat pump. The deadline for the Sustainability Grant is November 22, 2022.
The group then discussed the Library Feasibility Study, for which $12,000 was approved by vote at the October 17, 2022, Town Meeting. Priorities of the Trustees included discovering ways to better serve the community, creating or obtaining more space (especially focused on children), and increasing parking. All Trustees were in agreement that the historic Carnegie library building should continue to be used as intended—as a Library, but the group hopes the Study might explore an annex for the purpose of extending Library community use. As the last Library assessment was carried out in 2019, Trustee Nancy Baron suggested those results could also be safely consulted for guidance. Wilson agreed to write (and present to the Trustees at the December meeting) the required RFP (Request for Proposal) with support from the Town Administrator Travis Ahern, Assistant Town Administrator Kathleen Buckley, and Facilities Manager James Keast.
The Library will be open on Saturday during the Thanksgiving holiday, from 10 AM-2 PM. The Trustees will meet remotely on December 7, 2022, at 7 PM.
