Trustee Meeting Minutes

Minutes of the Richard Sugden Library Trustees Meeting

October 14, 2025

In attendance: Cheryl Donahue, Library Director

Marie Norcia, chair

Alyson Russo, trustee

The meeting was called to order at 2:30 PM.

Marie made a motion to approve minutes from August meeting.  Alyson seconded.  Approved.

 

Children’s Room News:

 Upcoming programs

Community Connections

Community Connections held several story time programs for us in September.  They have added a kindergarten readiness program on Mondays to our weekly schedule called Bee Ready.

Passive Programming

1. We continue to have several drop-in activities in the Children’s Department for our patrons to enjoy.

2.  This month’s Grab n Go activity was very popular.  We gave away 30 Glow in the Dark Ghostie Terrariums in September.

Grades K-12 Programming

I am sending out monthly We Read It newsletters for all ages.

I am starting the Graphic Novel Book Club back up and have planned several afterschool activities for October and November for the patrons to enjoy.

Both the Adult/Teen knitting and the Adult/Teen Crochet is well attended.

The Mass Cultural Council grant application deadline is October 16th and I applied for several grants and wrote support letters for performers to be a part of our summer reading program in June and July.  Grant recipients will be announced at the beginning of 2026.

The David Prouty Pace Program comes to volunteer for us each week.

Weeding/purchasing new materials

I am adding new materials to the collection and looking out for any materials that are returned in poor condition to either delete or replace.

I am working on the yearly shelf cleaning project with Marta.

Continuing Education

I attended several virtual programs including Graphic Novels for all ages part one, the best fall nonfiction, evergreen catalog training, Kaleidoscope by Flutterbee introduces fiction, and graphic novels for all ages part 2.

Director’s Report:

• “Pause” meditation program with Wendy O’Leary continues to be held via Zoom on Tuesday mornings.
• “Coffee Chat” held on Monday mornings at the library with attendance of @12 to 20 participants each week. Mary Baker-Wood helped facilitate the conversation.
• Farmosa delivered items to homes of patrons unable to visit library.
• Adult knitting group is held on Wednesday afternoons.
• Learn to crochet series for teens and adults held on Tuesdays.
• Shining Stars dancers met at 5:30 on Wednesdays.
• Halloween centerpiece making class was held on Monday, October 6^th.
• Farmosa visited Lincoln Hill Manor on Wednesday, October 8^th.
• Writers group was held on Mondays, September 15^th and October 20^th.
• Donahue completed and submitted annual state financial report.
• Donahue attended CWMARS Users Council Zoom meeting on Tuesday, September 30^th.
• Interior and exterior repairs and reconstruction and clean up continued through September. Electrical/lighting work completed. Final walkthrough/inspection occurred on Friday, September 26^th.

 

Next Meeting: Tuesday, November 18th at 2:30