===PAGE 1=== Trustees of Lunenburg Public Library, Meeting Minutes April 16, 2026 Sudolnik Conference Room, Lunenburg Public Library Members Present: Muir Haman (Director), Harry Kubetz, Laura Boussom, Robin Venezia, David Niose, Stephanie Trudel Members Present Remotely: Maia Wentrup Members Absent: Jana-Lee Balish, Glenn McLeod (Select Board Representative) The LPLBT meeting was called to order at 6:48 p.m. by Chair Harry Kubetz. Public Comment ● None Agenda Items ● Approval of Minutes of March 19, 2026 ○ Robin made a motion to approve the minutes as amended, seconded by David. The motion passed unanimously by roll call vote. ■ Harry Kubetz Aye ■ Maia Wentrup Aye ■ Laura Boussom Aye ■ Robin Venezia Aye ■ David Niose Aye ■ Stephanie Trudel Aye ● Director’s Report ○ FY2027 Budget Update Town Meeting is May 2nd. The budget will be voted on and we will have the results for our May meeting. Like us, many libraries across the state are facing cuts. ○ FY2026 Budget Update Digital subscription renewals are coming up and there will be approximately 40K charged to Library Materials. Muir will be placing orders so that they can be received before the end of the year. This will ensure that they will be paid for with FY26 funds. Muir is having $7,500 transferred from Staff Salaries and from Heating to Electricity Charges. There will be unspent funds in these accounts because we have been without a Teen Librarian. The HVAC repair has caused us to use more electricity since the system is working properly and moving more air. Actual cost of electricity will most likely be higher next year than what is budgeted. Robin suggested that Muir let the Town Manager know his concerns, and he said he would. ○ Staff Update The poetry recitation event with the 8th grade ELA classes was a spectacular success, with almost 60 people in attendance including Worcester’s former Poet Laureate Juan Matos and Library Trustee Jana-Lee Balish, who did a reading. More than 20 students signed up for library cards. Muir has expressed interest to the school about repeating this event next year. Victoria Leger of Lunenburg Public Access interviewed Muir and filmed at the library for the next episode of her “Welcome to Lunenburg” series. Muir has registered for an online workshop on invisible labor. He is hoping to get guidance on how to study the unreported/uncaptured data from last year’s staffing study. He is also planning a follow-up study for the end of this year. Volunteer hours were not captured in the previous study, and need to be. A team from the library and the Friends will compete in The Club’s annual “Are You Smarter Than a Sixth Grader?” event. 1 ===PAGE 2=== Muir attended a talk by the Mass Higher Education Consortium and found a new vendor for furniture, STEM tools, and library materials that seems promising. The company is Mackin. Cheryl Stillman is on leave and will be back by June. She has been doing some remote work from home.Harry asked about the town’s remote work policy. Muir said the work must be pre-approved by the employee’s manager. Marabeth Balboni will be out in early June. Lydia Paolilli is still out on parental leave. St. Pauli Textile has asked the library if they would be interested in being a drop-off site for donations of used clothing. St. Pauli would place a shed on the library grounds where people can leave donations. St. Pauli would make pickups at least once a week and would make a monetary donation to the Friends based on the amount of clothing collected. The Friends could earn $50 to $200 per month. Muir has discussed this with the Friends. He is also checking with the Town Manager as to whether this would be allowed. Shirley has this program running at their library. Muir will be discussing this further with the Friends. ○ Programs Update Volunteers from the Friends will help set up and run our May puzzle swap, which is usually done by staff that will be on leave. Joslyn’s storytimes have been very popular. The first ukulele meetup, Minecraft Madness, drop-in crafts, and a social security program were all very popular. ○ Outreach Update Muir raised the topic of merchandise fundraiser sales at the Artisan Market with the Friends. This will be an ongoing discussion. Upcoming events include Earth Day, FSU Farmer’s Fair, Seven Hills Info Fair in Devens, Cruise Night, and the Artisan Markets. Laura made the first delivery of books to a Meals on Wheels client in our collaboration with the Lunenburg Adult Activity Center. In talking with this person she found that they were more comfortable returning the books to the library themselves instead of handing them over to their Meals on Wheels driver for return. Harry said he understood that Meals on Wheels clients were housebound and were not able to get to the library. Laura said they are not all housebound. David suggested giving the clients a receipt for returns. Laura said we would need to rely on the drivers always having receipts in their vehicles. ○ Technology Update Cisco Umbrella - Shortly after our last meeting, Muir sent us a link to a list of the categories Cisco Talos uses to classify website content. Muir is in the midst of a trial of the software and will report back to us at our next meeting. ○ Building & Maintenance Update The entry card system is functioning. We are waiting for the entry cards that will be printed by the Facilities Department. The water fountains are still not fixed. The access panel is in the storage room where the Friends store boxes of books for their book sale. Muir and Wade from the Friends had to move all the boxes out of the way to get access for facilities to attempt the repair. ● Trustee Handbook Discussion ○ We reviewed chapter five of the MBLC Trustees Handbook - Planning. ○ We should have a disaster plan. Muir will pull together information for us to review. ○ We should have a facilities plan. The town’s capital plan covers a lot of this and the facilities department has responsibility for the building. ○ We should have a strategic plan. We have a five-year strategic plan and will be working on updating it in the coming months. ○ We should have a technology plan. Working with Muir, the IT department handles technology planning. 2 ===PAGE 3=== ● Conroy Memorial Garden Update ○ Lydia Henshaw is donating a stone for the garden. It needs to be moved to Leominster Monument for engraving. ● Policy Discussion(s) - Gift & Food and Drink ○ Gift Policy - defer until next month. ○ Food & Drink Policy - A Food & Drink policy is on the Library website, but has never been approved by the Trustees. It is actually more of a procedure, than a policy. Questions we had about it were: ■ Beverages are mentioned as allowed, but alcohol is not specified. Alcohol is prohibited under the Acceptable Use policy. ■ Should alcohol be allowed for special events? ■ Could this policy be combined with the Acceptable Use policy? ■ We will discuss further at our next meeting. ● Brooks House Update / Discussion ○ None ● Friends Update ○ Donorbox is working for new memberships and renewals. Chris has received feedback that you cannot opt out of automatic renewals. He is working with Donor Box to correct this. ○ There are fees when you pay online. The Friends’ treasurer is able to track these fees so they can determine the cost of using this new method. ○ Teddy Doucette donated a Terra Cycle electronic recycling box to the Friends. His donation includes the cost of the box and shipping to send it back to Terra Cycle, for a total of $300. The Friends are going to have it out on June 5th during the book sale. ○ The spring book and bake sale is June 5 and 6. ● Board Comments ○ None ● Other ○ None ● Adjourn ○ A motion to adjourn was made by Maia and seconded by David. The motion passed unanimously by roll call vote and the meeting was adjourned at 8:57 p.m. ■ Harry Kubetz Aye ■ Maia Wentrup Aye ■ Laura Boussom Aye ■ Robin Venezia Aye ■ David Niose Aye ■ Stephanie Trudel Aye ● Attached Documents ○ April 2026 Director’s Report ○ April 2026 Youth Services Report ● Additional Documents Referenced ○ MBLC Trustees Handbook (2018 edition) ○ Draft Food & Drink Policy ○ Draft Gift Policy ○ https://talosintelligence.com/categories (Cisco Umbrella categories) 3 ===PAGE 4=== LUNENBURG PUBLIC LIBRARY DIRECTOR’S REPORT April 16, 2026 FY26 Budget Update FY27 Budget Update Some sharing of information amongst Library Directors in CWMARS around budget situations. Not everyone is in dire straits but many libraries are facing cuts, some will be filing waivers, and many are preparing for multiple years of challenging budget context. Staff Update Our April 3 partnership with 8th Grade ELA classes was spectacular. Two Trustees in attendance and almost 60 people, many more parents than I expected. I’ve already expressed interest in repeating the program next year. More than 20 students signed up for library cards as part of the opportunity. April 10th Public Access Cable interviewed me and filmed for their next installment of “Welcome to…” series. Glad to have the additional effort of spreading word about the library from their team. I’ve been considering additional means of studying the unreported/uncaptured data from our staffing study last year. I have registered for an online workshop on “Invisible Labor” in hopes that there will be some guidance in this context. I’ve also started planning a follow-up supplementary study that I would pencil into the schedule for next fall/winter. FY26 Budget Budget Expended % Expended Calendar Completion LIBRARY DIRECTOR SALARY 97,076$ 72,156$ 74% 78% ASST LIBRARY DIRECTOR SALARY 69,627$ 53,291$ 77% LIBRARY STAFF SALARIES 272,757$ 185,087$ 68% LONGEVITY 850$ 850$ 100% BLDG REPAIRS & MTC SEWERAGE DISPOSAL 1,300$ 793$ 61% ELECTRICITY CHARGES 22,500$ 17,676$ 79% HEATING CHARGES/NATURAL GAS 18,500$ 11,138$ 60% WATER CHARGES 1,150$ 752$ 65% NETWORK MAINTENANCE 500$ 180$ 36% BOOK SERVICE 4,500$ 4,476$ 99% PROGRAMS 16,000$ 11,497$ 72% CONTRACTED SERVICES 2,500$ 0% CWMARS NETWORK 20,571$ 20,571$ 100% POSTAGE -$ OFFICE SUPPLIES 8,000$ 4,007$ 50% CUSTODIAL SUPPLIES 300$ 294$ 98% LIBRARY MATERIAL 96,000$ 49,632$ 52% MILEAGE REIMBURSEMENT 4,000$ 822$ 21% TOTALS 636,131$ 433,220$ 68% ===PAGE 5=== LUNENBURG PUBLIC LIBRARY DIRECTOR’S REPORT Tomorrow night a staff team will compete in the teen Club’s annual “Are You Smarter than a Sixth Grader?” I did also attend a talk from Mass Higher Education Consortium that turned up a new vendor for furniture and library materials that I was unaware of, called Mackin that seems promising. One topic of discussion at the Friends meeting was the possibility of a donated clothing shed on the property. I am awaiting feedback from the Town Manager on whether this would be permitted or prohibited. I submitted payroll and bills last week, and no obvious errors made. This was the first payroll I’ve completed without Lydia since before the pandemic! Scheduling: Marabeth will be out in early June with a surgery that she needs. Cheryl should be back from her leave by that point, though, able to cover some of those gaps. Programs Volunteers from the Friends will help set up and run our May puzzle swap (5/9) with Lydia and Cheryl both out on leave during that month. We’ve had a number of remarkable programs this past month. Joslyn’s storytimes are really knocking it out of the park. Monday of this week had an attendance of 43! Our April 3 8th grade poetry recitation was a big crowd, and created a lot of excitement for poetry. We also showed Come See Me in the Good Light, the documentary about poet Andrea Gibson. Small crowd but a great format for a poetry event. I have a few more fantastic documentaries about poets that we could show in the future. The first Ukulele meetup turned out 12 strummers! 31 attendees at the Minecraft Madness show, 45 came for the drop-in Axolotl Craft, 19 for Incredible Earthworms. The Social Security program was attended by a huge number of people, too. At least 75! Coming up: 4/17 Spring Tinctures WKSP, Next is our April Vacation programming! 4/21 Spring Painting with Julie, 4/22 Seed Kits Take-Home and Terrific Terrariums, 4/22 Arthur James blues guitar, 4/23 LARPing for kids, 4/24 Video game night. 4/25 Toddler Yoga, 4/28 Uke Meetup, 4/29 Kate Chadbourne Poetry & Song, 4/30 Dashbots! 5/1 Sons of Blarney concert, 5/7 What’s Your Next Adventure with James Nehring. Outreach We broached the subject of merchandise fund raiser sales at the Artisan Market with the Friends. We will continue that discussion next month. Seems like an opportunity to raise funds and awareness to have people wearing or carrying LPL swag around town. Upcoming Events: 4/22 Earth Day Info Booth, 4/27 FSU Farmer’s Fair booth, 5/18 Seven Hills Info Fair at Devens, Cruise Night in May, 5/23 Vendor Fair, Artisan Market on 5/24, 6/7, 6/21, 7/19, 8/2, 8/30. ▪ Building & Maintenance Entry card system is functioning. We await entry cards that will be printed by the Facilities department. ===PAGE 6=== LUNENBURG PUBLIC LIBRARY DIRECTOR’S REPORT The access panels for the water fountains are in the Community Room storage closet, so Wade and I moved boxes out of the way for the Facilities team to access. They need to get in there to finish their work. It remains to be seen whether the water bubblers will be able to be repaired or if we will need to replace both units. Almost all new units are the bottle filler type, though we have a large number of children who will not have water bottles, so we might choose to maintain at least one of these “old” style bubblers. ▪ Technology Met with Kara and Mason to discuss near future hardware replacement plans for the Library. As we mentioned in past meetings, Lydia’s All-in-one will go to Sherri, and Lydia will receive a new laptop. Instead of replacing another pair of early literacy stations, I suggested we replace a few of the ancient chromeboxes. Although our last Teen Librarian had expressed strong resistance to the idea of replacing the devices with new chromeboxes, I see too many reasons that we should stay with this format. The three stations in the Teen Room, and three chromebox stations just inside the entry to the Children’s Room are almost always in use during the afternoon and evenings when young patrons are visiting the library. ===PAGE 7=== APRIL 2026 Youth Services Trustee Report Children’s Stats (Mar 13 – Apr 9) Activity Participants Candle Making for Kids 28 Sounds and Music Story Time (4 Meetings) 109 Drop-In Craft: Leprechaun Traps 34 Around the World Story Time (4 Meetings) 85 Green Screen Movie Making 8 Minecraft Madness Show 31 LEGO Club 4 Kids Comic Club Kits 4 Bookworms Book Club 3 Homeschool Family Craft 7 Drop-In Craft: Axolotls 45 Incredible Earthworms 19 Tween/Teen Stats Activity Participants Candle Making for Tweens 7 Tween Bead Therapy 9 The In-Betweeners Book Club 6 Mindful Yoga for Teens 8 Patron Quotes: “We homeschool and it’s so hard to do stuff like this at home, so thank you for having it at the library” (Candle Making) “We go to so many storytimes and she [child] only talks about yours all week” (Around the World Storytime) “My kids love this library because the graphic novel section is so much better than our home library” Budget Stats: ===PAGE 8=== Highlights: CANDLE MAKING: A fun Saturday of back-to-back candle making! We started off strong with a crowd of excited kids making colorful candles (with excellent family feedback)! Then we had a small but mighty group of tweens who enjoyed the calmer, more meditative process of melting wax and adding spring fragrances. All the kids left happy, and all the tweens came back to pick up their settled candles within a couple of days – eager to try them out. DROP-IN CRAFTS: Leprechaun Traps and Paper Roll Axolotls were both a hit. While I haven’t heard from any of the kids on whether they successfully trapped a leprechaun (despite me specifically requesting updates...), they still left in good spirits (maybe because of the sugar in the Lucky Charms but I like to think it was because the craft was so fun). Unsurprisingly, we had many eager faces show up to make axolotls: an animal that is currently all the rage with the kiddos. Only one person burned themselves with the hot glue gun (me), so it was a success! ===PAGE 9=== MINECRAFT MADNESS MAGIC SHOW: Jungle Jim was amazing! He had excellent magic tricks (as you can see by the kid’s reactions below), tons of humor, and a natural talent for working with kids. I have NEVER seen the kids laugh this much at any program. Even the adults had huge smiles and laughs during the grand finale (Jim basically becoming a giant balloon himself). IN-BETWEENERS BOOK CLUB: I had 3 new attendees for April’s book club meeting! Which worked out perfectly considering 3 of my regulars had sport conflicts that day... They joined in with the rest of the group seamlessly, were visibly disappointed to learn that we only have one meeting left this year, and demanded (along with the others) that we bring the book club back in the fall... So, I already have some September plans it seems! Upcoming Events: TEENS: Drop-In Paint-Your-Own-Pot 4/14/26 Mindful Yoga for Teens 4/23/26 After-Hours Video Game Night 4/24/26 Exploring the Procreate App 4/28/26 Mindful Yoga for Teens 5/7/26 The In-Betweeners Book Club 5/14/26 Mindful Yoga for Teens 5/21/26 CHILDREN: Sounds and Music Story Time 4/13/26 The Beginners Book Club 4/13/26 Around the World Story Time 4/15/26 Floor Babies: A Postpartum Support Group 4/16/26 ===PAGE 10=== Spring Painting w/ Miss Julie 4/21/26 Terrific Terrariums 4/22/26 King Arthur's Quest: (K)nights at the Library (Kids' LARP) 4/23/26 Toddler Yoga 4/25/26 Sounds and Music Story Time 4/27/26 LEGO Club 4/28/26 Around the World Story Time 4/29/26 Dashbots (Robot Soccer) 4/30/26 Kids Comic Club Kits 5/4/26 Sounds and Music Story Time 5/4/26 Mother's Day Planting 5/4/26 Around the World Story Time 5/6/26 Bookworms Book Club 5/7/26 Sounds and Music Story Time 5/11/26 Beginners Book Club 5/11/26 Around the World Story Time 5/13/26 Homeschool Family Craft 5/18/26 Wacky Weather w/ Kosmic Kelly 5/23/26 Toddler Yoga 5/30/26 Joslyn Davis, Children’s Services Librarian Minna Scholten, Library Assistant (Children’s Room)