Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Library Operations Report topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Library director reports staffing gain, strong summer attendance and a county-unique homebound delivery program
Summary
Director Shauna told the board the library promoted a part-time employee to full time, saw busy summer attendance and added a homebound delivery metric to monthly statistics. She also reported the library did not meet the Department of Libraries— maintenance-of-effort requirement for the year and has submitted a letter explaining the discrepancy.
Shauna, the Mabel C. Fry Public Library director, told the board Oct. 15 that the library promoted a part-time employee to a full-time library associate, expanded reporting for outreach services and logged high summer attendance.
"Bridget has really stepped up in the last 4 to 6 months, and I've been advocating pretty hard to be able to get her full time," Shauna said, announcing the hire. Bridget moved from a 29-hour position to full time; the director said staff were able to move another employee from 19 to 29 hours, leaving one 19-hour vacancy for now.
Shauna said she replaced a previously tracked children—s iPad statistic with a new monthly measure titled "homebound delivery/outreach collections." "Fun fact, we are the only county or only library in the county that does homebound deliveries," she said, describing a personal delivery service in which staff drive to cardholders' homes and hand-deliver books, and often select materials for patrons based on reading history.
On programming, Shauna summarized a busy summer: 2,263 children (birth through high school) attended library events in June and July, and 18,440 people came through the library doors in that period, an average of about 377 people per day. Story times resumed in September with new groupings based on mobility ("wigglers," "little movers" and "happy feet") rather than strict ages. Summer and early-fall programs included Mad Science, an oil-pastel class, a mural workshop and family mystery Lego nights.
On digital services, Shauna said the library currently offers Libby for ebooks and audiobooks ("those are hovering really close to about 40% of our circulation compared to physical media") and is exploring adding Hoopla but cited its high per-use cost. She discussed possible cost controls, including limiting access or partnering with other nearby municipal libraries.
Budget and maintenance-of-effort: Shauna said the library is "staying on budget and on track with our spending" but reported it failed to meet the Oklahoma Department of Libraries' maintenance-of-effort (MOE) requirement for the year. She said she submitted a detailed letter explaining the discrepancy, noting two factors likely affected the calculation: the previously unfilled full-time position and a sick-leave buyback that was budgeted but not spent because of retirement timing. She said she has not yet received a decision from the state agency and expects the item to be revisited at the board's January meeting.
The director also described plans to refresh the children's area using remaining county funds, hire or fill the 19-hour vacancy when feasible and install a mural funded by a long-held donation.
Board members thanked staff for programming and staffing efforts and encouraged continued work on shared regional solutions for expensive digital subscriptions.
Additional board business at the meeting included notice of an upcoming fundraiser auction (Nov. 1—15) and a Chamber Coffee at the library on Nov. 14 at 8 a.m. The board scheduled its next regular meeting for Jan. 21, 2026.
