West Fargo library reports steady finances, satellite progress and stalled $1.2M digital-inclusion grant

At the West Fargo Public Library Board of Directors’ February meeting, Library Director Jenna reported the library’s finances are “looking good,” the satellite branch is being outfitted and a proposed digital-inclusion grant award of $1.2 million is paused pending federal review.

Jenna said the library was 11 percent expended year to date and that January circulation tracked similarly to last year after accounting for colder weather. She said 266 people signed up for library cards in January and outreach services circulated 295 items. The library has installed a door counter at the satellite location to track traffic and help set future hours.

The satellite location’s middle shelving was donated by Divide County Library and the board’s Friends group donated $15,000 toward wall shelving, Jenna said. “It is starting to look like a library in there,” she said. The library is completing software implementation and testing in the satellite and anticipates moving collections when ready.

The board heard an update on a large federal grant: the library is a subgrantee under the National Digital Inclusion Alliance and had applied for $1,200,000 to hire digital navigators. Jenna said the grant was recommended for award and funds were obligated, but an executive order to halt certain federal grants pending review has frozen distributions. “We were recommended for the award, and then the funds were obligated. And now we've stopped at, we don't have permission to draw funds,” Jenna said. She said grantee NDI A will test systems and issue an MOU if funds can be spent; the board remains uncertain whether funding will be restored.

Jenna noted potential operational impacts if Senate Bill 2307 is enacted: shelving and meeting rooms at the satellite might be repurposed to comply with any required physical separation of collections, which could reduce meeting and program space. She said contingency planning is underway.

The board unanimously moved and seconded to cancel the March meeting after members discussed timing and legislative crossover; the board will next meet on April 10. The board did not take other formal actions.

Board members also discussed programming: story time attendance averaged 31, a beginning crochet class exceeded capacity and a recent “how to run for office” event was well attended. Jenna said door counts and card sign-ups are useful measures as the library opens the satellite branch.