Los Alamos County Library Board Meeting - June 1, 2026
Los Alamos County Library Board Meeting - June 1, 2026
The Los Alamos County Library Board met on Monday, June 1, 2026, at 5:30 PM in Municipal Building Room 110. The meeting was called to order by Chair Elizabeth Stelle with board members Jason Chappel, Michele Altherr (absent), Katy Jones-Gulsby, and Ryan Parker present. Library Manager Gwen Kalavaza, Senior Librarian Eva Jacobson, Librarian Melissa Mackey, and Councilor David Reagor also attended. No members of the public were present. The meeting adjourned at 6:22 PM.
Consent Calendar
- Approval of Minutes (April 6, 2026): Board Member Jason Chappel moved to approve the minutes from the April 6, 2026 Library Board meeting; Katy Jones-Gulsby seconded. The motion passed unanimously.
Public Comments & Testimony
- No public comments were made during the public comment period or at any other time.
Discussion Items
- Staff Presentation on Summer Reading Challenges and Programs: Senior Librarian Eva Jacobson and Librarian Melissa Mackey presented the 2026 summer reading program, which runs from June 1 to July 26. On the first day (June 1), over 100 participants registered: 40 adults, 12 teens, and 53 youth. The program features multiple reading challenges: an adult challenge with paper logging options and grand prizes (e.g., Kindle Paperwhite); a zero-to-three tracker (paper only, eight handed out on day one); a challenge for ages 4–11 with digital tracking and sticker booklets; the Cover-to-Cover program for grades 3–6 with a curated list of 10 books; a teen challenge (digital only, with scratcher tickets and prizes such as Bluetooth speakers). Additional programming includes Creative Studio (three-hour sessions with art, science, and nature), Read with the Ranger, Stuffy Sleepover, Music and Movement and More at Ashley Pond, Silent Book Club for kids, puzzle competitions, and a Wonders on Wheels mobile museum visit about banned books. Approximately 126 hours of extra programming are planned over two months. The adult summer reading challenge this year uses a simpler challenge format (not bingo) to appeal to casual readers, with registration prizes and tickets for five grand prizes. The program aims to increase circulation (typically 20–25% during summer) and promote all library services.
- Chair's Report – Outreach Opportunities: Chair Stelle suggested board members join library staff at summer concerts and farmer's markets to engage with the public. Library Manager Kalavaza confirmed staff will attend a couple of summer concerts; dates to be shared later. Additional volunteer opportunities include Atomicon (last Saturday in August, August 29) and tabletop game days. Board members can also participate in other library events listed on the public calendar.
- Manager's Report – Circulation and Programs: For May 2026, total circulation was 31,830 (29% digital). There were 73 programs with 1,396 attendees. Highlights included school visits, senior appreciation night (200 attendees), and a gardening program in White Rock (25 attendees).
- Manager's Report – Outdoor Classroom Setback: Kalavaza reported that the original outdoor classroom design (with concrete stage and built-in seating) cannot proceed due to utility lines requiring five-foot clearance. The revised plan is a flat space with crushed gravel and a removable shade structure, plus accessible outdoor furniture (picnic tables, Adirondack chairs). Parks department will handle installation, potentially this summer. Feedback will still be solicited from the community and the senior center.
- Manager's Report – New Library Catalog System: The library is migrating to a new open-source integrated library system (Koha for staff, Aspen Discovery for patrons), supported by ByWater Solutions. The new public catalog goes live on September 30, 2026. Features include
Meeting Transcript
Should we go ahead and just get started? I'll keep an eye on the attention if Michelle is able to join later. So we'll call the meeting or at 5.30. We have in the room for board members Katie Jones Gosby, Ryan Packer, and myself. Any public online or any? No. No public. So the first item is minutes from our last meeting on April 6. Is there anyone who would like to make a motion for the minutes? I will make a motion to approve the minute. Okay, anyone second? Thanks. Katie, all in favor? Yes. Okay. Which means we get to move straight on to the exciting stuff, which is the staff presentation on summer eating challenges and programs. Oh, we get to go first. You do. So we're both wearing our t-shirts. We'll see staff in the library. So two versions. And so all staff members got t-shirts. So everybody on staff on desks wearing t-shirts today. I need to keep that up all summer to promote and get the word out. The summer reading program every year, just to sort of talk about the concept and why when we do this, what is this? But it's it's basically a two-month period of time where you take the opportunity of summer, where uh a lot of families have time off, kids have time off to really uh showcase uh the full um spectrum of of what we have to offer in the paper. I can't tell you how often we hear, oh I didn't know you had streaming. I didn't know you had that database. So in the summer, uh we really try to focus uh on just all of the things that we do and take the opportunity to promote the summer program. Um the other thing we do with the summer reading program is really up our programming, uh youth programming and adult programming too, and really try to address the county council's uh quality quality of life to by providing more, so just more of everything, things to do, this passive program uh activities, and things going on uh so that's sort of like the the overarching goal of the the summer uh reading program. Uh Melissa is gonna talk a little bit more about what that looks like specifically for uh for the youth uh team and for literacy because there's that whole other which is super important. Um but I want to tell you guys I got up at five o'clock this morning and made the the three online uh reading uh levels live this morning, and we registered over a hundred uh participants just today. So we had a really good first day. We registered. It was it was kind of wild. Um, but we registered 40 adults, 12 teens. That doesn't sound impressive, but it is for those of you who know that uh patron segment. Um that's that's really good. We're really happy with that. And then we registered uh 53 youth patrons. So youth patrons is basically middle school down no element uh sixth grade down to age four. Okay. And Melissa's gonna talk a little bit more about what we do for little schools and for the little littles. Um but overall fantastic first day. Um for the adult program specifically, um asked us to mix it up a little bit last year, and we saw that that was a good strategy. It seemed fresh. We did that again this year. Um we really wanted to add a sort of a paper logging option, and that was an accessibility component. Uh not most of our patrons really are very quite comfortable with the digital logging. Um, but we do have to be aware that we have patrons who do not want to engage with an app or a computer.
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