All right, so I'd like to call to order um the September 22nd, 2025 board meeting, uh regular board meeting of the library board.

Can we have a call of the role?

Mr.

Biederman.

President.

Dr.

Mertada.

Present.

Dr.

Pasio.

Present.

Dr.

Riolo.

Dr.

White.

And Miss Woodard.

Present.

We do have a quorum.

Thank you very much.

Good evening, everyone.

On behalf of the board, it's my pleasure to welcome you to the September 2025 Board of Trustees meeting for the Indianapolis Public Library.

My name's Ray Beterman, and I serve as your president of the Board of Trustees.

I want to take a moment to reaffirm what is at the center of the library's mission, vision, and values.

Our commitment to openness and the free exchange of ideas.

According to the Encyclopedia of Indianapolis, the library has a long history of openness and sharing knowledge and perspectives.

More than a hundred years ago, the library established a presence at the Flanner Guild settlement to serve African American residents.

That commitment has only deepened over the decades.

From our ever growing world language collection, our braille collection, and our accessibility computer stations at every branch, to the creation of the Black Center for Black Literature and Culture.

Our library has continued to be a welcoming destination in in Indianapolis for all.

Freedoms are especially important to reflect on.

As the library will soon be celebrating the freedom to read during the week of October 5th.

The board remains steadfast in our support for intellectual freedom at the library.

The Indianapolis Public Library cultivates and protects resources to support independence to choose materials and to make informed decisions.

Thank you for joining us, the beautiful Martindale Brightwood Branch.

And thank you for being a part of our positive contribution to the story of Indianapolis.

Okay.

Welcome.

Well, thank you.

Good evening, everyone.

Good evening, President Peterman and members of the library board and the community.

Welcome to the Martindale Brightwood Branch.

Thank you.

Dr.

Mertato, you have a joke?

Yes.

One day.

I think there's a new uh advancer, right?

Then didn't they say it was a new advancer?

Loading advance.

We got a slide loading issue.

So the slide loading issue is a joke that we need to.

Miss Coleman, while you're here.

Do you you're relatively new in the role?

How long have you been here in terms of um being the branch manager?

I've been the branch manager for a little more than two years.

I um took this role in April of 2023, and um I've learned a lot in the last two years, and um I've been really fueled and excited about trying to get things um up and running here at the branch.

I was happy to get our senior room back open.

It had been it had taken the role of a COVID vaccination center when the branch first opened.

And since the the need and the availability of the vaccine was more uh prevalent, then we I was allowed to open the room back up.

That was July of 24, and it took a while because people most people walk into the branch and they walk right by it.

I even made a sign for it, and people still walk right by it.

So I took the initiative, any senior painters that I would find.

I say, hey, we've got the senior room over here.

It's the farthest from the children's area.

It offers a nice peaceful place to read, to do puzzles to color.

We have our uh blood pressure cuff in there from uh libraries with a heart.

We keep that in that location.

Our large type collection is in that room, and uh slowly but surely we see more patrons who just go directly to the senior space.

And I'm excited because I'm a senior myself, so I'm excited about that.

And uh we rearranged a few things that we thought would make uh the collection easier to find.

Um a couple of things that I did.

I love color, I have an art degree, so I added a splash of green paint.

Well, stins added a splash of green paint in the senior room, and we also painted a wall in the kids' area uh because that's the only color of pink that we have in the branch.

And um, I'd like to add more artwork to the branch.

We had um, I think well, this is later on in my presentation, but we've added some artwork.

We have uh I did a pres uh uh a cap, I guess, a community action plan to have artwork installed because that's really important to me.

Art is a good conversation piece.

It's a a good way to get people together and and talk about you know what they see in someone's artwork, and it's a way just to discuss your point of view.

And so we had our first reception for Charlotte Brown Parrot.

That was our first exhibitor.

We had her exhibit in uh the end about the middle end of August, and she really enjoyed herself.

She said that um she has her best conversations in smaller crowds because she has people that are really that you know extend themselves and really want to find out what her perspective is, and she gets to talk about you know what she enjoys about what she does with her work.

She had some other works that she didn't display.

Um she had a combination of music.

She wrote music for her pieces, and she showed me that on video.

She brought her tablet with her and showed me that on video.

And so she has a lot more that she gets displaying the branch.

She has some printed work because her work is digital.

So she could print it on cuffs, she could print it on bags, t-shirts, and so she was able to sell some of those items, and she was happy.

She was very happy with her reception.

So I'm a looking room is being remodeled now.

Well, I wouldn't call it remodeled, just not even repurposed.

We just put the furniture back in it, basically.

Yeah, it was intended to be a certain, you know, a certain way, but again, with COVID, they found at that time to make it more practical, have a space where the Marion County Health Department nurses would come in and provide vaccines and um test kits for it.

And so that was going on when I first got here, so it wasn't until about the middle of uh last summer that they said it was okay to go ahead and make it the senior room again.

I remember when this branch was opened, and it was just awesome.

So many people came over for the opening.

Yeah.

And they were just excited to have it move from the shopping center across the street to here, which is great.

Now there's still a lot of people who it really love that little branch in the shopping center.

They still talk about it a lot.

And um, you know, later on when I get to when I start my presentation, the mural up front has a lot of memories for a lot of people, and they enjoy some people come in and stop and they'll tell us, hey, my son was in that picture, my daughter was in that picture, and so it's a good conversation piece.

Stupid.

If I may compliment you on the artwork, I had to actually take a picture in there, and um I saw the acrylic on wood.

Is that what it's called?

Is that by one artist?

Yeah, it's it's all Sandra.

Um, I keep forgetting her last name.

Holiday, yes.

Sandra Holiday.

It's amazing.

I just wanted to put that on record.

Yeah, she does mixed media, it's it's very interesting.

Looks like you've got we ready?

Okay, very good.

We don't have it right in front of you.

Oh, okay.

So I still have to look at okay.

All right, so we're okay.

There we go.

Oh, okay.

Playing it back.

No.

Okay.

Okay, I'm ready when you are.

We're we're ready.

All righty.

Okay, so we can go to the next slide, please.

Oh, good.

Go back, go back.

Okay, yeah, that one.

Okay, so I wanted to begin the presentation with a picture of the mural that's created by the artist Tasha Beckworth that displays the branch's history.

The mural is quite a conversation piece, as I said, and patrons have pointed out their children pictured participating in programs.

You will also find pictures of Indy former NPL NDPL staff, including the former branch manager Ruby Anderson from 1988 to 2001.

I've had an opportunity to meet Ruby, and she still looks the same.

She still looks the same.

Uh, the history and background of Martindale Brightwood Library.

The branch is located on the nearest site of Indianapolis on the corner of 25th Street and Sherman Drive.

Historically, Brightwood was a thriving community populated by Irish and German immigrants.

Martindale was a vibrant community of African Americans and was one of the few epicenters in Indianapolis for African Americans due to forced segregation.

The Brightwood Library has a long history in the community, beginning in 1901 at 2435 North Shirt North Station Street, just one block west of where we are today.

The branch is relocated and expanded over time to provide more space and amenities for the community.

With relocation and transformations, the branch continues to be an important institution in Brightwood and Martindale.

The new branch, which opened in 2020, was renamed Martin Dell Brightwood to reflect this.

It is worth noting that in 2026, it will mark 125 years, 125 years of serving both Brightwood and later Martindale communities.

And so I actually want to commemorate that.

If I can get some time and some partners together, I would love to celebrate that next year.

Next slide, please.

Martindale Brightwood is a community branch, which would consist of 10 uh 10 team members if we were fully staffed.

Unfortunately, we are not fully staffed at this time.

We are one full-time branch manager, one full-time adult librarian, a full-time juvenile librarian who will actually start this Saturday, a full-time circulation supervisor, two full-time library assistants, a full-time computer lab assistant, which this is currently vacant, but the position has been posted, one hourly library assistant.

We are interviewing for candidates this week.

Two pages, there's one vacancy there.

She uh was the one that left last week.

Two adult volunteers and one teen volunteer.

This slide here shows uh four of our team members.

On the left is our former page Brooklyn, whose last day was on the 18th.

The second panel is one of our full-time library assistants, Colleen.

The third panel is uh our other page, Vicky.

She's a retired person who loves the library and especially Martin Del Brightwood.

And she was sure to tell us in the staff meeting that the community wanted senior room.

They said, why do we have a senior room?

Nobody else has a senior room.

The community wanted a senior room.

So she made sure we understood that.

And finally, Dee Dee, who was taking a position in another branch, but still helps us uh to she's still helping us until we fill her position.

Not pictured are the circulation supervisor, Jessica, who is my right hand, and the one who helps me uh keep things running smoothly.

Our adult librarian Abby, who is the genius behind most of our adult programs and displays, and is also our volunteer coordinator.

Our juvenile librarian Lindsay, who will start the Saturday, our library assistant Reed, and our library security assistant Danny.

We have three resourceful volunteers, Molly, Charles, and Peyton.

Next slide, please.

Martindale Brightwood is a modest community of 12,578 citizens.

The community has seen minimal growth between 2010 and 2020.

Next slide, please.

The population of Martindale Brightwood is 84.34% African American.

Nearly 9% identify as Caucasian, 5.29% are Hispanic, less than 1% are Asian, and less than 2% are other races.

Next slide.

The median household income is 38,000 to 43,000.

That breaks down to 11.6% of the population earning less than 10,000 dollars.

20 to 22.3% earning 10,000 to 24,000, and 26% earning 25,000 to 49,999.

The future looks bright for Martindale Brightwood with the implementation of the Quality of Life Plan, which is put in place to shape neighborhood investments.

Elements of the plan are economic development, housing, and infrastructure, just to name a few.

The branch provides ample space for adult patrons needing a quiet place to plug in and study or work.

We have three study rooms, plenty of tables with outlets, comfortable seating, and plenty of natural light.

We have many patrons who consider Martin Del Brightwood their favorite third place for reading, adult coloring, or assembling a jigsaw puzzle during their lunch break.

That lady in the bigger image over there on the right, she comes in every day on her lunch, every day but Friday, she comes every day on her lunch break.

There's a puzzle out there right now that she just started today, so she comes every day.

Our children's area is in the rear of the branch and adjacent to the patio.

The area has plenty of activities to build fine motor skills for busy hands.

Additions have been made in the last two years are Lego Duplo Blocks, the Marketplace Set, and Oversized Connect for Game and Puppets.

This spring we used our gift funds to purchase new board games and card games for families, kids, and teens.

In the absence of a children's librarian, weekly storytime has been paused, and all juvenile programs that the branch offers has come from our programming department as shown in these slides.

Pictured our SRP programs that we offered at Martindale.

The top left is Geology Geology Rocks and or top left, I'm sorry, top left is Geology Rocks, top right is Jamboree, the bottom slide is from our kickoff, and then the bottom right is from Teen Self-Defense.

How we serve.

Next slide.

Yep, you're there.

Um, of course, these numbers, these numbers.

Oh, sorry.

Yep, there we go.

Um, it said something else, that's fine.

So, of course, these numbers, I did this slideshow about two weeks ago, so of course these numbers are not updated.

Uh, but at the time it was 49,877 people uh had visited the branch in 2025, 8,990 active card holders, 263 new library card registrations in 25, 170 programs and promotions reached 692 individuals in 2025, and our seed library, we had given away 3,942 seat packets were distributed in 2025.

And uh we assist patrons at our desk also, and the top service that we provide is circulation assistance at 39.8%, computer reference assistance at 28.1%, service assistance at 25.3, and reference at 6.3%.

And since our tech tax packets were pretty um complete, we didn't have to print out nearly as many tax forms as we usually do this year.

Next slide.

Oops.

Okay.

Martin Del Brightwood offers adult patrons our weekly career center, providing resume building assistance.

We also offer weekly computer classes led by our computer lab assistant and the visiting tech learning team.

Branch programs created for adults that we've created here in-house are Mahjong Crafter Hours, a textile workshop called It's Not K-O-T, it's not that hard, and our monthly book book club.

Programs shown on the slide, left to right, our Martin University panel, uh QA panel that we had with the public through the Ages Fitness, which was very, very popular.

They followed that instructor every branch she went to.

Uh the paper phoning class and paleo art printmaking at the bottom right.

Next slide.

Our community partnerships are pre-big.

One of the biggest assets of Martin Del Brightwood community is the abundance of organizations to partner with.

I have told new staff you don't have to try hard to find them.

They will find you.

This speaks to the importance of the library as an institution in a community.

And each of these partnerships is a gateway to other organizations.

The community engagement specialist from the Avondale Meadows YNCA has dropped more names than I can catch.

He's always telling me about people I need to meet, people I need to know.

And the monthly MBES and MBES stands for Martin Del Bright with Education Zone.

The monthly MBES meetings gives every organization an overview of what partners are currently offering to the community.

This in turn gives other partners opportunities for collaboration, our ideas to improve upon plans that they are currently working to implement.

Next slide.

Okay, so around the branch, arts and culture, which is my favorite thing.

Uh, besides a fireplace, comfortable seating, and shelves for the large type collection, the senior room was also equipped with hardware for hanging artwork.

Artwork has been displayed in the senior room at one time, and I was eager to bring it back to the branch again.

In the fall of 2024, we exhibited perceptions featuring artwork from the Marion County reentry coalition and exhibited eight portraits in the branch.

The positive responses that the installation received from library visitors inspired the proposed Art at Martindale Plan, feating quarterly art installations in the senior space for 2025.

Our first exhibit this year was the digital art by Charlotte Brown Parrott, whose work is seen on the far right of the slide.

And this also won first prize at an exhibit held at the NAF State Fair.

Our current exhibit is titled Our Hair by the artist Sandra Holliday.

It is on the slide on the left.

Sondra's work is both two-dimensional and three-dimensional and mixed media.

Thank you for all of your time and attention, and I'm happy to answer any questions that you have.

Thank you so much.

Any questions from the board?

Yeah.

All right.

Well, thank you very much.

Okay.

Okay, we'll proceed to public comment.

Do we have any public comment today?

Okay, there we go.

Moving right along.

Okay, uh, we'll move on to uh approval of minutes.

Um there's special meeting August 12th, 2025.

Is there a motion to approve the minutes of the special meeting held August 12th, 2025?

Is there a second?

Um any discussion?

I have an umission.

Okay.

Within the foundation report, it was left out, and I went and reflected that Roberta Jaggers, the foundation president, was acknowledged by her professional organization as a state.

What was it?

Um fundraiser extraordinaire.

So I had made that announcement and I'd like it to be in there.

Um was that from the special meeting or was that?

Oh, I'm sorry.

The real meeting.

Okay.

That one.

All right, we'll get to that.

We will we will do that.

All right, any other discussion.

Uh hearing none, can we have a call of the roll?

Dr.

Matada.

Approved.

Dr.

Palacio.

Approved.

Dr.

Riolo.

Approved.

Dr.

White?

Approved.

Miss Woodard.

Approve.

And Mr.

Baderman.

Approved.

Thank you.

All right.

The uh motions carried.

Now on to the regular meeting.

Um is there a motion to approve the minutes of the regular meeting held August 25th, 2025?

So moved.

Is there a second?

Second.

All right.

The minutes have been moved and seconded.

Can I speak to this one?

Yes, you can.

There was an omission for the foundation report.

And Roberta Jagger's our president was recognized by her professional organization.

I'd like that reflected.

Alright, so we have an amendment.

Do we vote on the amendment too?

There's incorporate individual.

Yeah.

The motion would incorporate that into their motion.

You could do it that way.

All right.

Do you incorporate that into your motion?

I incorporate that.

Alright, it has been incorporated into the motion.

Yeah.

Any other any other discussion?

Hearing none, can we have a call of the roll?

Dr.

Martado.

Approved.

Dr.

Passio.

Approved.

Dr.

Riolo.

Approved.

Dr.

White?

Approve.

Miss Woodard?

Approval.

And Mr.

Badaman.

Approved.

The motion's carried.

Thank you very much.

Let's move on to the finance committee.

Dr.

White, you are the chair of the finance committee.

Thank you for that recognition.

We have mirrored to give us financial report tonight.

Because she's not superwoman.

Couldn't be two places at once.

She has her trusted assistant Mary to give us this report, Mary.

All right, welcome, Mary.

Hi.

Um I advance it then or you should be good to advance it.

Except I don't quite know this, but the first page.

So this is uh the treasurer's report for August 2025 on the revenue.

The property taxes um have all been received as um required.

So we didn't have any collections in August.

Our next collection will be in November, uh December time frame for the fall collection.

Um intergovernmental, the largest part of that was uh E-rate at 110,000 of the 487,000.

Uh the others received were low at and co it um income tax, which comes through Marion County.

Uh on charges for services, um public printing at 40,000, and um the plaque cards were fifty thousand nine twenty-three uh monies from the state for uh contributing to us for our it's like a rebate on our sales of plaque cards, the library cards that are statewide.

Um miscellaneous, uh the largest part is interest revenue.

Um this month we earned 159,720 and CICF, which is an endowment grant from the foundation.

Um for the um zone branch, and it was 225,000 received.

And then if we I go to the next slide.

Uh revenue for the month is presented on the left and year to date on the right in chart format.

Um so again, we didn't expect any uh property taxes.

Um the budget is in gray and intergovernmental.

We if if you allocate it monthly, it would have been 703,000, but it's still not under budget.

Um because um we don't expect the state revenues from uh uh licensed taxes to come in until except periodically and fines and fees are over budget, charges for services or over budget, and the miscellaneous is over our budget.

Our August year to date 2025 revenue reached 32 million, which is slightly higher than the August 2024 year-to-day revenue of 31.6 million.

And primarily that's because of us receiving the E-rate reimbursement on expenditures for the month.

And that was 3.8 million.

Um supplies is just 2% of total expenditures.

And is uh 58 million.

Other services and charges is one point, almost 1.5 million at 27% of total expenses.

And it includes uh legal security, cleaning services, equipment, supplies, and some technology.

The capital outlay at 195,000 is 5% of total expenditures, and that's for capital furniture and books and materials.

As you can see, the percent of budget spent compared to the budget year to date overall is 57%.

Um whereas month the month of August at the end of that is 66% of the year.

So we're doing well on controlling the expenditures.

And showing in a graph format uh on the monthly side on the left, those the bar graph with the budget being in gray and the blue uh is uh 2025, and the orange is last year's August.

And we did have three payrolls in August uh hit our accounts, so that's why uh personal services and benefits looks higher than budget, but it's just not really overall we're doing pretty well.

And the year to date is on the right in the line chart with the budget being the yellow line, uh blue is 2025 year to date, and orange is last year's so you can see that um we're tracking below budget.

Oh, we haven't gotten that far yet.

Okay.

All right, any questions on uh the report?

Okay, is there a motion to accept the report of the treasurer for August 2025 for filing for audit?

Is there a second?

Second, it's been moved and seconded.

Any discussion.

I will now have a call of the role to accept the report of the treasurer.

Dr.

McTavan approved.

Dr.

Bassier approved, Dr.

Riogo approved, Dr.

White, approved, Ms.

Woodard, yeah, Mr.

Bienerman.

Approved.

The motion is carried.

Um, so just a note here.

Um we're about to receive a um presentation on resolutions 37-2025, library cybersecurity pilot program, advanced firewall 2025, and resolution 38-2025 libraries cybersecurity program XDR 2025, and they are related in subject matter and funded from the same grant source, and were considered um jointly by the finance committee.

So I'd ask consent um for the board to consider these resolutions concurrently.

Can I have uh such consent?

Absolutely consent all right, perfect, excellent.

It has been consented.

All right, please.

Shanika, our chief information officer is here to present these.

Thank you.

Good afternoon, President Bieteman and members of the board, and I know members will and our CEO, Mr.

Heel.

Tonight I'm requesting board approval for resolution 37 and resolution 38 for the library cybersecurity pilot program as part of our ongoing commitment to safeguard the library digital infrastructure.

We have successfully solicited and reviewed cybersecurity bids through the e-rate competitive bidding process under the guidance of the Federal Communication Commission of the Cybersecurity Pilot Program.

And the Indianapolis Public Library is grateful to be among one of the 50 libraries selected to receive this funding through this initiative out of 707 total recipients, which includes schools and school districts.

NDPL is one of the 50 chosen libraries for this opportunity.

And we are grateful for this support, which we significantly enhance our cybersecurity infrastructure to better serve our community.

This three-year initiative aimed to defy the cost of eligible cybersecurity services and equipment.

It allows us to have additional features in our existing firewall to turn on different modules.

And then resolution 38, which is to extend our detection and response, which is XDR, which is monitoring, detecting, and responding to cyber attacks, which includes software and hardware.

We conducted a competitive bidding process in according with the E-rate requirements, which prioritize cost effectiveness as the main selection criteria.

Additional evaluation factors included the goods and services, compliant with the scope of the work, technical specifications, and a clear breakdown of E-rate eligible and E-rate ineligible.

Timely commission of each proposal in reference to demonstrate the vendor had prior performance with other companies.

The vendors were invited to visit the library for a site visit and a site assessment along with QA with my IT team and the evaluation team.

So for the fire while it was June the 11th at 10:30 a.m.

And for the XDR, it was at 11 a.m.

the same day.

Proposals were closed on July the 7th.

We received one firewall proposal for the software and received seven proposals for the XDR.

Following a thorough evaluation, we select the most cost-effective and technically sound from the vendors.

I saw our respectfully submit approval from the library to enter to contract beginning October 2025 with the following vendors.

Logicalis for advanced network firewall, which is software, which is 78,000 for three years, and CDWG for the XDR service, including monitoring, detecting and response at 112,000 annual, totaling 336,000 over the next three years.

This opportunity not only enhance our ability to protect sensitive data and critical infrastructure, but also reflect our ongoing commitment to innovation, resilience, and public trust.

Is there any questions for my presentation?

All right.

Um questions that's a comment.

The finance can be in the hand of due paths for these resolution.

Excellent.

Um after the three years, then what would happen to this project?

It just depends.

Once again, it's e-rate, it's a pilot program, so we were selected, so we don't know.

It's with the FCC.

So it depends on each administration.

Each administration select the FCC chair.

It's a lot of commissions.

Thank you.

It was competitive.

So thank you very much for your excellence in putting that forward.

Um, and getting the funding.

Do you know how they'll evaluate um compliance with their guidelines?

Is it a reasonable way to respond?

That's the goal.

So we got a new administration.

When the when the bid first went out, we had a different administration.

So we now have a new FCC chair, so everybody just have their fingers crossed at this time.

So I'm sure you'll do fine.

Any other questions?

Okay, so resolution 737-2025 regarding library cybersecurity pilot program, advanced firewall, and resolution 38-2025 regarding the library cybersecurity program XDR received a positive recommendation from the finance committee, so the chair would request a second um to such recommendations.

Second.

All right, any other discussion.

Uh hearing none will now have a call of the role to approve both resolutions 37-2025 and 38-2025.

Dr.

Matada approved resolution.

Sorry.

Approved.

Dr.

Riolo approved.

Dr.

White?

Approved.

Ms.

Ritter?

Approved.

And Mr.

Bitterman.

Approved.

All right.

The motion is carried.

Thank you very much.

Then as a final comment, our updates from finance, uh, our city county council adoption of the uh bond as well as the introduction of the 220 2026 budget is happening tonight.

Our city-county council adoption of the uh bond, as well as the introduction of the 220 2026 budget is happening tonight.

That's where Lolida is at the city county council meeting.

And then we following that on October 1st will be a review and pass by the budget of the municipal corporation.

And then the final city county council adoption of the 2026 budget is planned for October 6th at 7 p.m.

And that's all.

Thank you very much.

Do we got oh I thought usually have like a closing vignette slides?

It's okay.

Oh, there was a question.

Yes.

All right.

Where did they get?

That's what you want.

Yeah.

Perfectly okay.

All right.

Um let's go.

So sorry.

Okay.

Um next, the diversity policy and human resources committee.

Dr.

Palacio, you are the chair.

Thank you very much.

Thank you.

So we have uh resolution 39 will be presented by John and Tisha.

And this are for public services policies updates.

Okay.

Good evening, everybody.

Yeah, good evening.

All right.

Um we are here to talk about the um public policy, uh, public services policy uh drafts that we've been talking about in the DPHR committee for a couple of months now.

Um so my plan for you tonight is to step through these policies, uh, just re-explain them a little bit real briefly uh for your benefit and for the benefit of anybody watching.

Um I'll explain them all as a block and then at the end take QA.

We can have any further discussion um that needs to happen.

So the policies that you have before you in numerical order.

Uh 400.2 uh regards tables of information.

So um it's been a long-standing practice of the library to allow community groups to set up a table in the vestibule or the entryway of the library and and explain their mission and talk to people about what they offer and things like that.

Um we did not have a policy that formalized that, so we're trying to correct that with this policy, give specific language that supports that practice.

407.2 food in the library.

So we do allow uh food and drink in the library.

This policy just kind of gives some guardrails to staff and to patrons so they can know what what uh maybe the excess uh of that policy is.

Uh and so we can um ask folks not to make too big of a mess or or those those kinds of things.

407.8 addresses animals in the library.

Um this intends to uh address the uh increasing frequency which we see um dogs and other animals uh coming into the library.

So we uh obviously still intend to um allow and welcome service animals, but we will not be um uh allowing personal pets going forward.

Uh oh and and one thing I neglected to mention in my con my little introduction is these policies are proposed to take effect in January of 2026.

So anyone who's watching at home or any staff members who are wondering how's this gonna look tomorrow when I come into the library, uh, we're gonna be taking you know those three months to develop procedures and FAQs and signage and all that good stuff.

So uh 408.5 addresses youth at the library and what it means for that youth to be supervised.

Um this is an area that staff has asked for clarification on uh when uh when a youth is appropriately super appropriately supervised and when they're not.

So we added some language that describes um when the caregiver can uh meet the needs of that uh youth, then they are considered appropriately supervised.

We also added language that uh articulates what would happen if a child is left unattended uh in the library after closing and that child is in need of uh help.

Uh we would make a good faith effort to contact the caregiver, and after that we would alert uh the authorities that we have a child who needs who needs help.

408.8 addresses uh unexpected large groups of visitors.

So we are occasionally visited by day cares and summer camps and things of that nature uh unexpectedly, which is great.

We love seeing those folks in the library, but occasionally um we may not have enough craft supplies and things like that, uh, for example, so uh we just want to kind of make clear that uh we welcome those folks in, but we can't meet necessarily every one of their needs if they don't um if they don't let us know that they're coming.

Um we also articulate that youth who visit the library as part of a large group um would would have the same expectations of supervision that they would even if they were visiting uh as as part of their family unit or or by themselves.

513.1 law enforcement requests.

Um one of our foundational principles at the library is intellectual freedom, and we protect your privacy to access information.

So we do not turn over any information uh to law enforcement, for example, without a subpoena or a warrant.

However, we occasionally have to call 911 to address an emergency situation, and in those situations, we would like to be able to give the information that law enforcement need to address that emergency and only that information.

So that's what we're asking for with that policy.

521.2 is a policy that we would like to delete.

Uh it called for programs to be uh that were offered on controversial topics to represent all aspects of the issue, which is a logistical impossibility.

Um we, as a matter of course, always try to present information to our patrons in a in a balanced way in an appropriate way.

Um we'd like to eliminate this policy though, just because we don't feel like it adds anything to the practice of our programs.

527, the social work policy.

This just um states the um basic mission of the social work department.

It articulates that we do not establish a client-patient relationship or anything of that nature.

Um we are an information and referral service.

Um, and that's that's kind of where um the work of the social work department um begins and ends.

And then finally, this is the last one.

Uh public forum clarification.

We had several policies that regarded the exhibit, uh, the public exhibit of um materials that were kind of at odds with each other.

Um some policies implied a public forum and some policies did not.

So this is our effort to uh move a little bit closer to consistency.

Uh, and there was discussion in the DPHR committee this that um like, for example, around the commercial materials that are mentioned in this policy.

We'll have more work to do on this probably next year.

Um, but this is the uh policy we're putting before you today to get a little bit closer to where we want to be.

So that is the end of my little speech, and I'm happy to answer any questions or clarify anything further.

Are there any questions?

Okay, perfect.

So um this particular motion in its current form did not go through committees, so we'll have to have a uh motion and a second on it.

So is there a motion to approve resolution 39-ish 2025?

Second.

So it's been moved executive.

Is there any discussion?

Okay, well that call of the role to approve uh resolution 39-2025.

Dr.

Matada.

Approved.

Dr.

Passio.

Approved.

Dr.

Yogo, approved.

Dr.

White.

Approve.

And Mr.

Bitterman.

Approved.

The motions carried.

Thank you, everyone.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Dr.

White, does that conclude the uh DPHR committee report for I'm so sorry, Dr.

Pas?

Yeah, yeah.

Dr.

Classia, I yeah, I apologize.

Does that conclude uh the DPHR report for today?

Yes, it does.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Okay.

Now let's move on to the facilities committee, Dr.

Riolo.

Yes, I am the chair of this committee, and we have Adam Parsons to present our single resolution this night this evening.

Good evening, everybody.

We have one resolution.

It's resolution 40-2025, approval to award a services contract for the network security camera review and design project.

So our current security camera system um security camera network security camera system has been uh created in a piecemeal fashion as we have needed cameras throughout the system.

They are all connected to central uh centralized servers.

Uh however, there's not been a holistic top-down review of the entire system at all locations, and that was a gap that was identified during the long-term patron assessment a few years ago.

So we issued a request for qualification for a uh network security camera consultant following the Indiana Code.

Uh we sent out public notices in three Indiana New Indianapolis newspapers in early June.

We sent the notice directly or the RFQ directly to 19 vendors, and we held a pre-SOQ conference on June 20.

Seven SOQs were received, and four finalists were invited to one-hour long presentations.

All four happened on the same day.

It was a very long day for the evaluation committee.

Of those four, we recommended award of this project to Design 27.

The contract for consulting is not expected to uh exceed 100,000.

This uh fee will be paid out of bond fund 486.

Uh design 27 is based in Indianapolis, and design 27 is a city certified XBE.

I believe they are a WBE and will self-perform 100% of the work.

So Q4 of this year, design and bid documents.

We will probably put out to bid the installation, the purchase and installation of any updates, upgrades, or additional cameras in uh Q1, and then the rest of 2026 will be installation, starting with uh Central Library and then expanding to the branches afterwards.

Ignore that, please.

Okay, so uh resolution 40-2025 regarding the approval to award of services contract for the number of security camera review and design project received a positive recommendation from the facilities committee.

So the chair would request a second to such recommendation.

Second.

Thank you very much.

Is there any discussion?

All right, hearing none will have a call of a roll.

Dr.

Matata.

Approved.

Dr.

Palacio.

Approved.

Dr.

Riolo.

Approved.

Dr.

White?

Approved.

Miss Woodard?

Approved.

And Mr.

Biederman.

Approved.

The uh motion is carried.

Thank you very much.

Thank you.

That concludes the facilities reporting.

Excellent.

Thank you.

All right.

Now we move on to the library foundation update.

Dr.

Riol.

Yes.

Um the library foundation had invited this board to meet with them to talk about communicating and collaborating for um with the foundation going forward for fundraising.

And I think it was really very successful.

Um they heard a lot of ideas from the board and they were very willing to listen to all of those suggestions.

And I think it was a very positive discussion.

Um and a reminder that an anonymous donor has agreed to match a gift campaign for the months of September and October.

Up to 250 donations to the foundation will be matched by this donor.

So please, please, please.

Indianapolis Found NDPL Foundation.org.

Um, if you give it will be matched in the next couple months.

This month and next.

Um they the foundation thanks 196 donors who made gifts this past month.

And our top institutional donors were Clark Quinn Moses, Scott, and Ground, uh Lacey Foundation and the White House Historical Association.

And for program support this past month, uh, the foundation provided more than 100,000 to library to support major initiatives, including the encyclopedia of Indianapolis, Staff Day, Pause to Read, and CBLC Black Health Fair.

So another successful month.

Thank you very much.

Okay, we'll move on to the report of the CEO.

Uh Mr.

Gregory Hill.

All right, thank you.

Good evening, Mr.

Bieterman, uh, members of the board.

Um, before you is uh resolution 41 2025, which is the confirmatory resolution that is before you every month as it pertains to financial travel and personnel matters that occurs between each board member.

It's in the typical format, and I would ask for your approval.

Motion to approve resolution 41-2025 regarding finances, personnel, and travel.

Is there a second?

Second.

All right, it's been moved and seconded.

Is there any discussion?

Hearing none, we'll have a call of the roll.

Dr.

Matata.

Approved.

Dr.

Palacio.

Approved.

Dr.

Riolo.

Approved.

Dr.

White.

Approved.

Ms.

Woodard.

Approved.

And Mr.

Meterman.

Approved.

Motions carried.

Mr.

Hill.

Okay, thank you.

I'll give a brief board presentation.

The presentation highlights activities that occurred in the month of August.

Your full report will cover additional operations, including digital inclusion, social work, a digital uh additional branch programming, and goals for quarter three and some media highlights.

The agenda will be a typical day, program review, uh print scan, and fax data.

I'll cover staff recognition, staff training, and then the upcoming events for late September, early October.

The first one is typical day.

Physical circulation was 13,661.

For the month, we had uh 409,000, down slightly 4% from August of 2024.

Uh the top circulating branches were the Glendale branch at 45,113, Franklin Road at 29,369, and the Lawrence Branch at 28,528.

Uh the NOR branch is making the move.

It's at 27,688, which they're doing very well from their opening day.

And then the Central Library was 26,514.

Uh new card holders was 107.

Our visitors was 7,291.

Visitors for the month was 218,734.

That was up slightly 2% from August of 2024.

Uh, top visited branches were the Glendale branch at 15,235, Southport 10,440, and the Fort Bend branch at 11,146.

Uh, some of the programs across the system, adult, as you see, 247 programs, participation just over 2,000, youth was 320 with participation just over 20,000.

Uh, I'll highlight a few programs here real quickly.

Um, for the adult program was the um data and drafts hosted at the Central Library in collaboration with WFYI and the Polis Center.

Uh the program provided a meeting space for the community to learn about important topics affecting our local well-being.

Uh, August explored educational outcomes and opportunities in central Indiana.

There was about 35 patrons who attended that particular program.

Uh, since we're at Martindale Brightwood, I'd like to talk real quickly about the um panel that they hosted uh about opportunities for the uh students or adults who may be attending Martin University.

Um, and it was designed to be a time for them to ask questions or to get help with filling out applications.

Uh on the youth side, uh I just want to give a shout out to Kirsten Weaver uh who holds a book club.

Um she hosted around 23 reading discussions so far this year, serving a total of 180 students at IPS Impact Academy, a school within the resource treatment center.

The program is credited with increasing teen engagement in the summer reading program, which saw an increase of about 33% in the summer reading program uh with help from her interaction and collaboration with the students there.

Staff opportunities.

Um let me get back to my PowerPoint here.

I'm sorry.

Staff opportunities.

We had a book discussion.

There was six sessions, 93 staff uh intended those book discussions at the systems managers meeting.

Uh the topic included FMLA, ADA and PWFA.

We had two sessions with 95 staff and FMLA is Family and Medical Leave Act, ADA is America with Disabilities Act, and the PWFA is the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act uh managers and were they received training on those topics at the systems managers meeting.

And at Children's Services Meeting, we had developing community partnerships.

We had 40 staff who attended that training.

Real quickly, I want to talk about scanning facts data.

As you can see, I can't read that up here, so let me look at my it's a little small.

Uh pages printed was 190,186 pages were printed.

Uh there were 53,038 pages copied, and 27,063 pages scanned using the Easy Scanner, and then 9,132 pages that were faxed.

So 37% of our patrons use mobile printing feature, and then the top branches for printing were Eagle, Warren, Michigan Road, Wayne, and Fort Bend.

Scan and Facts, 36, well, 3,670 jobs with a total of over 29,000 pages, and the most used branches were Eagle, Warren, oh excuse me, uh Martindale Brightwood, East 38th, Warren, Fort Bend, and Decatur were the most used branches for those services.

And the most used branches were Eagle, Warren, oh, excuse me, Martindale, Brightwood, East 38th, Warren, Fort Bend, and Decatur were the most used branches for those services.

Partner of the Year, I want to give a shout out to the Beach Grove Branch Library.

They were they received an award, the Partner of the Year Award from the Beach Grove Comprehensive Drug Free Coalition.

So a nice round of applause for Beach Grove.

And then the mission of the Beach Grove Comprehensive Drug Coalition is to establish and strengthen collaborations among community partners that support efforts to reduce youth and adult substance use disorder addiction in the Beach Grove and surrounding communities.

Staff recognition.

Excuse me, I'm trying to get to my slide.

And I don't want to mess his name up.

James La Devinovich.

Peer support was Erica Irish.

Committee choices is Ryan Donnelly, Jamie Murphy, Daniel Gerton, Sakura Fuqua, Erica Irish, and Caitlin Coin.

Sorry.

All right.

Going back to community involvement was Gibson Schrabel.

Other duties assigned, Jesse Hamm and Jess Lawrence.

Page Excellence was Brooklyn Black.

We went through that.

And upcoming events.

Alright.

I'm trying to get to the upcoming fit.

It's hard for me to see that.

Upcoming events is financing your small business, how to access loans through CDFI, which is Community Development Financial Institution.

And that is on Tuesday, September 23rd.

That's also part of the 2025 Small Business Series.

And then the last one here on Thursday, October the 9th, here at the Martindale Brightwood branch is the bilingual story time at Martindale Brightwood, and that is at 1030.

And that's all I have for my report.

I apologize.

I was trying to look at my slide, but it was kind of small, so uh I apologize for that.

But that's the end of my report.

Any questions for me?

Any questions?

All right, well, thank you very much.

All right, thank you.

Okay, we have no unfinished business.

We have no new business.

Now we are on to future agenda items.

This time is made available for discussion items not on the agenda, which are of interest to library board members and the opportunities given to suggest items to be included on future library board meeting agendas.

Do any of the board members have something to suggest for the October 2025 board meeting?

I do.

I think the um highlighting of the Beach Grove Partnership really is an exciting thing.

And every library, just as Ms.

Coleman has shared, having partnerships makes a big difference.

And if we could talk some more about how we're developing community partnerships, that would be a really good asset.

I think the children's services when they did the um the discussion about developing community partnerships as an asset.

What else do we do with the other kinds of services and the community partners?

Excellent.

That was a great suggestion.

Any others?

Okay.

There we go.

Um so the next regular board meeting is Monday, October 27th, 2025 at the Spades Park Ranch Library, 1801 Norland Avenue at 6 30 p.m.

The meeting is adjourned.

Thank you.