By T. Scott Boatright
The Lincoln Parish Library (LPL) Board of control set up special, summer-only hours while also updating its Library Code of Conduct policy as the main orders of business during its April monthly meeting Thursday evening in the Jack Beard Room of the LPL.
Summer hours for the LPL will run from 9 a.m. – 6 p.m. Mondays through Saturdays as well as the usual 1-5 p.m. Sunday hours from June 5 – Aug. 4.
LPL Director Jeremy Bolom said those hours won’t preclude after-hours events.
“However, there will be days that we’ll be here (after 6 p.m.) because I’m not stopping adult programming at 6 p.m. only because of the summer closing hours because I don’t want to mess up their schedules,” Bolom said. “So I’m leaving the adult programming schedule as we’ve been doing it.”
That motion passed unanimously.
The Board then discussed updates to the library’s Code of Conduct policy, approving three changes/additions..
“I wanted to bring this up because there’s always something that happens in the library that makes you surprised that you even have to discuss it with a patron, but then they question it, too,” Bolom said. “So the line (change) at the top – that means it will not be allowed for patrons to ‘monopolize library materials,facilities, etc.’ ”
Board President Amy Miller then asked if that was intended for people checking out too many books or checking one out over and over again?
Bollom said yes, but then explained that was only part of the reasoning behind the request to add the new stipulation another was because the library has seen encounters with patrons wanting to claim chairs someone else is already sitting in, even walking up to those patrons and saying “That’s my chair.”
Another was not allowing big, cushioned chairs in the library to be moved for safety and liability issues.
But the change Bollom called “the biggest” was the Board’s unanimous approval to allow beverages in the library contingent upon having a drink-through lid or being a bottle with a screw top cap.
“With a coffee shop across the street, it’s been a struggle,” Bolom told the Board. “They’re still sneaking them (drinks) in and we don’t have any problem with it. We understand why people bring in a bottom of water on a hot, summer day.”
Bollom also stressed that beverages not being allowed around any of the library’s electronic devices was another part of that policy change, and that Icees will still not be allowed inside the library.
Also discussed during the meeting were several vacancies the library is facing.
One of those is filling the void left by the departure of Diana Humphries.
Miller brought up a letter the Board had received from Wesley Harris expressing his interest in taking over the vacant seat,and saying that she believed the Lincoln Parish Police Jury would soon be filling that position soon.
Lincoln Parish Administrator Courtney Hall, who was in attendance, then asked if the Library Board was going to make a recommendation? Miller then asked if the Jury would like one?
“The policy used to be that a recommendation would come from the Library Board, unless the policy has changed since I left, I’ll have to check,” Hall said.
Miller went on to say that she felt the LPPJ should be making the decision.
“The Jury is the one that should be appointing this Board, and I want the candidates that want to do it to go to them,” Miller said.
The biggest vacancy for the library itself comes after LPL Children’s Coordinator / Library Events Center Manager Marcie Nelson recently accepted a position as president of the North Central Louisiana Arts Council.
“So I’m advertising for a Children’s Coordinator while trying to figure out how to coordinate the Events Center, because she did that as a secondary thing,” Bolom said. “So I’m looking for a Children’s Coordinator, but I’ve never done it with this secondary kind of catch to it.
“Right now we don’t have that many events. We can kind of muddle through with staff covering them though the summertime, but if it gets busy later we might have some issues.”
During his Director’s Report Bolom told the Board about an upcoming program he’s come up with that he hopes can be impactful – The First Lincoln Literarium.
Set for 2-5 p.m. on May 6, the program at the Events Center will feature book signings, readings and author panels.
“It’ll be presented like a regular book fair with book signings and if I can find enough people with similar interests we can have panels with a prepared questions forum and that kind of stuff,” Bolom said. “It’s a first-year program, so you never know. But I’m hopeful.”
