OPENPUBLICA · PUBLIC MEETING RECORD
Record of Proceedings

Leesburg Library Board of Commissioners Meeting - September 10, 2026

Town Council & Commissions — Thursday, September 10, 2026
BodyLeesburg, Virginia
SessionTown Council & Commissions
DateThursday, September 10, 2026
StatusNEW · FILED
Video Record
0:00 / 1:06:33

Transcript — Verbatim
0:02

It is the practice of the town police were to record readings of the town standing boards and commissions.

0:08

And so we will be recorded tonight.

0:10

The first order of business is to vote an approval of allowing uh Commissioner Choir to be with us virtually.

0:20

Do I have a motion on that?

0:25

Seconded.

0:26

All in favor.

0:27

Aye.

0:29

No negatives.

0:30

Okay.

0:31

Thanks, we've approved it.

0:34

Okay.

0:35

Now we have the approval of the minutes of the July meeting.

0:39

It's been a long time since we were together.

0:53

Entertaining notion.

0:55

Motion to it's been moved.

0:58

And seconded.

1:00

All in favor of approving the minutes.

1:06

So there are no negative books.

1:08

Okay.

1:09

So we'll move on to the library director's report.

1:15

It's been a while.

1:18

It's nice to see you all again after the very long, very busy summer.

1:25

Gave you a summary as well as the fourths for July and August.

1:29

But Lobster Short in very, very, very busy July with the 250th anniversary events, as well as just it was fancy.

1:38

We have a lot of researchers in a couple things to highlight.

1:43

One is our this lovely Bolt exhibit by local artists Sarah and Seminger, which may have been on view last year.

1:53

So it's had a lot of visitation and continues to do so.

1:58

We closed our 250 exhibit in August and it was replaced with the um exhibit from the farm museum, Laudon Heritage Farm Museum upstairs.

2:07

It features some of their archives and also some doilies.

2:19

But it is a nice exhibit.

2:20

It's a great way to see some of our colleagues' other um article.

2:28

Let me grab you one, Jen.

2:30

You could have this one and I'll get one when I'm done.

2:32

Okay, no reports there.

2:35

Um so uh the exhibits at the cabin in the courthouse, I think I recorded last time were very popular.

2:42

We had about 600 people come to the there's actually a pen in the cup holder, Tamson.

2:48

If you mean one, if they were on gathering.

2:51

Okay.

2:52

I didn't know.

2:54

Um so um overall we probably have a thousand people for our July 4th events, which was great.

3:04

Um we do continue to do 250 things.

3:06

So in July we hosted Carrie Christopherson from the lab museum for a revolution on screen.

3:11

Um and then we also hosted Rich Gillespie in August for another version of that.

3:18

So they uh Carrie did 1776, very popular.

3:22

Um Jim was there.

3:24

Um did you have your mentions too?

3:26

You can reach um thing about the the revolution on screen as well.

3:30

Yeah, yeah.

3:31

So that the audience for that is is continuing to grow.

3:35

Um even though it was summer, we still did some um educational outreach.

3:40

So we had the journey through Halloween ground come through.

3:43

Campers did our um primary source activity where they learned the mystery um in Leesburg and used that as a lens to see um primary sources like maps and the uh newspaper articles, accounts um to solve this this crime of a um body that's discovered on King Street, and real story.

4:03

That's a real story, it's a real story.

4:05

1927 they find a skeleton behind the AMP um and they speculate wildly about what it is.

4:11

Probably it was put there by the Knights Templar, which was like a fraternal order that had used the hall above, and they were like the odd fellows.

4:19

They probably use skeletons and their initiation to scare people.

4:24

Um where they got it from, I guess.

4:28

Uh the paper 1927 had a lot of fun speculating about murders that happened in the 1870s, allegedly.

4:37

Um so lots of stuff there.

4:39

Um the library was also used for some filming.

Discussion Breakdown — Share of Meeting
Library Operations███████████████████████████████████████████43%
Historical Preservation█████████████████████████25%
Historic Preservation███████7%
Procedural██████6%
Racial Equity██████6%
Community Events██████6%
Public Engagement█████5%
Technology and Innovation██2%
Summary of Proceedings

Leesburg Library Board of Commissioners Meeting - September 10, 2026

The Leesburg Library Board of Commissioners met on September 10, 2026, to hear reports from the library director, friends, and foundation, discuss ongoing projects, and review plans for the St. James Cemetery and upcoming events. The meeting began with routine approvals and proceeded through a series of updates and discussions on operations, collections, and community engagement.

Consent Calendar

  • Approved virtual attendance for Commissioner Choir (motion, second, all in favor).
  • Approved the minutes of the July meeting (motion, second, all in favor).

Discussion Items

  • Library Director's Report: The library had a very busy summer, with the 250th anniversary events drawing approximately 1,000 people on July 4th. Notable exhibits included a Bolt exhibit by local artist Sarah Seminger and a farm museum display featuring doilies. In early August, more plaster fell from the Clark Room ceiling (same area repaired earlier); facility staff found no roof leak, so a structural engineer may be needed. The library is moving forward with off-site storage, having barcoded archival collections—a significant undertaking. Three working groups produced new bookmarks (featuring a 1776 document) and stickers, advanced the oral history platform (first collection available), and improved ADA-accessible signage. The cataloger reported that in-building circulation of non-circulating books has more than doubled in the past year.
  • Friends of the Library: The Friends did not submit a formal report. Key updates: (1) They are working with the library to reduce book storage by selling existing books (especially Black History Committee titles) more efficiently, possibly storing them at the library or off-site in exchange for a discount. (2) The Friends voted to stop funding two digital newspaper databases ($11,000–$12,000/year, used by about 60 people) and instead fund a digital collections platform (ContentDM) and staff time to make the library's digitized content accessible remotely. This change was approved by the Friends. Their annual fundraising event is planned for October 22 at the Berkeley House.
  • Foundation: The town council approved Diane Helen Jaris as the council's representative on the foundation board, effective October. The foundation voted to fully fund the 250 journal publication (replacing town funds), with two requirements: switch endnotes to footnotes and provide a free electronic version for students and educators. A draft of the journal (6x9 inches) was available for review.
  • St. James Cemetery: Tamson, a research assistant and representative of the St. James Episcopal Cemetery Committee, presented an update. The cemetery (half-acre, dating to 1814) contains an estimated 400 burials, with only 119 stone markers. A ground penetrating radar (GPR) survey funded by the town mapped unmarked graves, revealing many burials in the eastern (African American) section. The committee plans to: (1) plant shallow, deer-resistant bulbs twice a year in the back; (2) install commemorative signage for unmarked burials; (3) host a ceremony with Mount Zion; and (4) potentially uncover buried ledges to find notable figures like Armstead Thompson Mason or General Thomas Parker. One tomb (Eliza Mason McCarty) was restored at a cost of over $5,000. A fundraising drive is planned. The church still owns the land; the initiative was prompted by Judge Hall to create a reflective green space.
  • 250 Events and Programming: The "Revolution on Screen" series continues—next week: The Patriot (with Victor Gold), concluding in October with Sleepy Hollow.
  • Loud History Awards: Nomination deadline is October 1. Currently two complete nominations and several partial ones. The board discussed possibly adding special recognitions for retiring town employees (e.g., Kai Dentler, Don Cooper, Eric Larson, Bill , Brian Boucher). A formal vote on awards will occur at the next meeting.
  • New Business:
    • State of the Library Report: Planned for December. The board invited feedback on content; the library will include collection size (e.g., over 1,000 linear feet of archives, now tracking cubic feet).
    • Annual Report to Council: Currently scheduled for October; the board discussed moving it to December and possibly doing a presentation.
    • Rock Spring Metal Detecting Event: On October 17 (10 a.m.–4 p.m.), the town will permit up to 20 people to metal detect on the Rock Spring property (a future park) to prevent unauthorized requests. The library and Parks & Rec are collaborating; the museum declined. Finds must be offered to the library first. The property has historical significance (used by troops, Lafayette's visit, the poorhouse). The first phase of the park (sledding hill) aims to open by January/February 2027.

Key Outcomes

  • Approved virtual attendance and July meeting minutes.
  • The Friends voted to reallocate digital resource funds to the library's own digital collections platform.
  • The foundation voted to fully fund the 250 journal (with footnotes and free educational version).
  • The St. James Cemetery committee will proceed with bulb planting, signage, and fundraising.
  • Loud History Award nominations due October 1; special recognitions for town retirees to be considered.
  • Rock Spring metal detecting event scheduled for October 17, 2026.
  • The next meeting (October) will take place without the board chair, who will be traveling.
  • No public comments or testimony were presented.

Meeting Transcript

It is the practice of the town police were to record readings of the town standing boards and commissions. And so we will be recorded tonight. The first order of business is to vote an approval of allowing uh Commissioner Choir to be with us virtually. Do I have a motion on that? Seconded. All in favor. Aye. No negatives. Okay. Thanks, we've approved it. Okay. Now we have the approval of the minutes of the July meeting. It's been a long time since we were together. Entertaining notion. Motion to it's been moved. And seconded. All in favor of approving the minutes. So there are no negative books. Okay. So we'll move on to the library director's report. It's been a while. It's nice to see you all again after the very long, very busy summer. Gave you a summary as well as the fourths for July and August. But Lobster Short in very, very, very busy July with the 250th anniversary events, as well as just it was fancy. We have a lot of researchers in a couple things to highlight. One is our this lovely Bolt exhibit by local artists Sarah and Seminger, which may have been on view last year. So it's had a lot of visitation and continues to do so. We closed our 250 exhibit in August and it was replaced with the um exhibit from the farm museum, Laudon Heritage Farm Museum upstairs. It features some of their archives and also some doilies. But it is a nice exhibit. It's a great way to see some of our colleagues' other um article. Let me grab you one, Jen. You could have this one and I'll get one when I'm done. Okay, no reports there. Um so uh the exhibits at the cabin in the courthouse, I think I recorded last time were very popular. We had about 600 people come to the there's actually a pen in the cup holder, Tamson. If you mean one, if they were on gathering. Okay. I didn't know. Um so um overall we probably have a thousand people for our July 4th events, which was great. Um we do continue to do 250 things. So in July we hosted Carrie Christopherson from the lab museum for a revolution on screen. Um and then we also hosted Rich Gillespie in August for another version of that. So they uh Carrie did 1776, very popular. Um Jim was there. Um did you have your mentions too? You can reach um thing about the the revolution on screen as well. Yeah, yeah. So that the audience for that is is continuing to grow. Um even though it was summer, we still did some um educational outreach.

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