Catch Up on What’s Been Going on With the ELPL Board of Trustees

At a July 25 special meeting, the East Lansing Public Library Board of Trustees interviewed four candidates for the interim library director position and extended an offer to Angelo Moreno, who has been serving as adult services librarian.

Candidates interviewed were Moreno, Lauren Douglass, Betsy Hull and Leslie Rout.

The candidates were all asked the same seven questions in their interviews during the open meeting held at the library. The questions revolved around previous experience, communication methods and how each plans on serving the diverse East Lansing community.

The board unanimously extended the offer of the six-month interim library director position to Moreno, who has been with ELPL since April 2019. Moreno has not yet signed the contract.

Along with his adult services position, Moreno has also been an active member of the library workers union, including serving as the unit chair. The interim director is a non-union position.

The library board will now concentrate on its search for a director to replace former ELPL Director Kristin Shelley and Assistant Director Brice Bush, who both resigned in June. Shelley officially left the library on July 5 and Bush on July 7.

At the June 26 board meeting, then Vice President Amy Zaagman suggested forming an advisory committee for the search.

“We need to hit the pause button for a minute and think about what we do want from a director and not just what we don’t want,” Zaagman said at that meeting. “We are a city library and there are far more library administration positions than there are qualified people to fill them.”

The Library Board of Trustees held two back-to-back meetings on July 19.

The first meeting, lasting only a few minutes, saw the transfer of the presidency from Polly Synk to Zaagman. Pamela Smith was named the new vice president and Ameenah Asante the new secretary.

The second meeting focused largely on the library’s continued search for an interim director as well as updates on monthly reports.

Being without a director has been challenging for the library.

After the position requirements for an interim director were updated prior to the July 25 special meeting (see coverage in the July 8 East Lansing Insider Saturday mailer), an additional three individuals applied for the position.

Being without a library director has led to challenges for the ELPL staff.

Collection and Technical Services Librarian Amber Laude presented one of these difficulties during the July 19 meeting.

Laude departed the library on July 28 and passed all of her duties onto Technical Services Assistant Mary Mitchell, the only remaining employee left in the technology services department of the library.

“We [the technology services department] are responsible for receiving and cataloging all new materials that then go out onto the shelves in the library,” Laude said.

This is a lot of work for one person, Laude emphasized, and asked the board to hire more help for this department or provide Mitchell with more hours and compensation.

But Zaagman said the board may not have the power to make such a decision.

“From my understanding of the bylaws, we as a board have the ability to hire and fire a director,” she said. “We cannot, as a board, do anything else. We hire a director, the director hires other staff. So, as awkward as it’s been for us, we’re trying to get an interim director on board so some of these issues might be addressed by that person.”

Reports presented on July 19 highlighted a successful month of June for the library.

Councilmember George Brookover presented the City Council liaison report, updating the board on the important agenda items that were to be discussed at the City Council Special Meeting that evening (July 19).

“The more significant items on the agenda are a follow-up to the discussion on the possible charter provisions on the ballot, cleaning up some of the language,” Brookover said. “And then the more significant thing is we’re meeting with the woman who is the head of the external search for City Manager for us and have further discussion on candidates and process from here.”

Here is reporter Lucas Day’s report from the July 19 City Council meeting.

The Friends of the East Lansing Public Library Liaison Toba Kaplowitz shared the group’s report.

Friends of the ELPL has seen more traffic in the used-book and magazine shop, largely due to the library’s Summer Reading Program, Kaplowitz said.

“We’ve also gotten some new volunteers, which was just extremely exciting,” she added. “It’s just a joy to work with them.”

Friends of the ELPL held a successful buy two get one free sale on history books, as “we were tripping over history books,” Kaplowitz said. The sale resulted in over 150 history books being sold in two weeks.

The Director’s Report highlighted a busy June at the library with a 28.6% increase in circulation of physical materials, 17,860 total checkouts and 14,801 visits to the library.

“An almost 30% increase in physical circulation is remarkable,” Synk said.

The library also held many successful events in the month of June as members of the community “get their summer read on,” Zaagman said.

Twenty STEAM Events were run, totaling 471 attendees; two weekly teen programs, Chill, Chat and Craft and Teen Time, were held in the month of June and saw lots of circulation; and the summer reading program kicked off with over 200 people in attendance.