Village of Red Hook Red Hook Public Library Monthly Report June 2023
The Red Hook Public Library (RHPL) held their regular board meeting on June 15 at the Library in the third-floor conference room.
New Library Manager Alex Geller started on June 5. He and the outgoing interim manager were in attendance. The Personnel Committee reported that there are 12 part-time staff members — currently considered overstaffed. That number will reduce at the end of the summer due to summer interns completing their internships and other staff planning to depart.
The Committee is working on establishing a new Full Time Assistant Manager position. Civil Service is currently reviewing the position. This role will be an assistant to the manager. There will not be a fulltime person focused just on programming. Programming will be more decentralized among existing staff. Some programs to be run by outside personnel/partners and joint programming.
Toby Tieger’s time with the library ends at the end of June.
The staff is working on standardizing orientation and training.
Under Board Development, it was announced that Board Vice President Sally Dwyer-McNulty is resigning, and Board Treasurer Josh Bardfield is completing his term at the end of this month and will not be renewing. That leaves two upcoming vacant board seats to fill.
The Finance report led to a discussion of capital projects that need to be done. On top of the list is repairing the stucco on the outside of the building.
Library Manager Alex reported about upcoming programming. A new summer reading project, that is not new to other libraries, “All Together Now” is planned to be implemented this summer. There will be local, community-based prizes at the end. The library has two interns for the summer — one from Marist and one from Bard. - It was noted that the library is 125 years old this year. Further discussion will be had around programs to celebrate, including looking into partnering with Historic Red Hook.
The Board is still reviewing options for ways to honor their large bequest. Under consideration is a permanent chess board outside, a new tree out front. I directed the Board to the Village’s building department to confirm if there are any restrictions around the chess board idea.
Alex and I met to review the joint Village & Library Language Access Grant from the County on June 22.
Respectfully submitted, Karen Smythe