Metropolitan Library Service Agency
Advisory Board Meeting Minutes
Friday, August 7, 2026
Virtual Meeting via Teams
10:00am-12:00pm
Advisory Board Members/Representatives Present:
Anoka: Colleen Haubner Ramsey: Pang Yang
Carver: Jodi Edstrom Saint Paul: Maureen Hartman
Dakota: Jennifer Reichert Simpson Scott: Jen Schultz
Hennepin: Scott Duimstra Washington: Jacquie Kramer
Staff Present: Jennifer Baker, Abigail Dillon, Nan Her, Gina Goettl, Kathleen James, and Sherry Wichitchu
I. Call to order
Chair Duimstra called the meeting to order at 10:01am.
II. Introductions and Welcome
III. Consent Agenda
a) Approval of agenda
b) Approval of June 12, 2026 meeting minutes
Motion to approve the agenda and meeting minutes by Haubner. Second by Hartman.
Roll call vote:
ACL – aye HCL – aye SCL – aye
CCL – aye RCL – aye WCL – aye
DCL – not present SPL – aye
Motion carried.
IV. Discussion/Action Items
a) FY2027 ACHF application
The state legislature has awarded $2.6 million annually in Arts & Cultural Heritage (ACHF or Legacy) funds to the regional public libraries for the FY2027/FY2028 biennium. MELSA would appreciate a review by the Advisory Board of the FY2027 preliminary budget for Legacy funds. The full application must ultimately be approved by electronic vote by the MELSA Board of Trustees prior to submission.
MELSA has been informed by State Library Services that we will receive approximately $1,034,000.70 in Legacy funds for FY2027. The FY2027 application and budget spreadsheet was distributed in the meeting packet.
Motion to recommend the approval of the FY2027 ACHF application by the MELSA Board of Trustees for submission to State Library Services. Motion by Hartman. Second by Edstrom.
Roll call vote:
ACL – aye HCL – aye SCL – aye
CCL – aye RCL – aye WCL – aye
DCL – not present SPL – aye
Motion carried.
b) Acquisition of MN Star Tribune enterprise subscription
MELSA’s Electronic Resources Team is seeking Advisory Board approval to add the Minnesota Star Tribune enterprise subscription to the MELSA regional e-resources collection.
The MN Star Tribune ended access to current editions of the paper through third party vendors at the end of 2025. The print version is the only option currently available in member libraries. MELSA’s subscription through NewsBank did not have images and usage was quite low. A due diligence review was conducted in late 2025 on our four papers via NewsBank. No other single source was found with similar coverage of all four papers, plus archives. The other papers included in the collection are the St Paul Pioneer Press, Duluth News Tribune and Rochester Post Bulletin. The Electronic Resources Team strongly believes that the MN Star Tribune is the stronger of the two major metro papers and should remain in the e-collection.
This subscription is in-library use only from any computer or personal device. It allows library customers access to the same electronic version of the paper as individual subscribers outside of the library. The cost is $51,000 for year 1, $53,550 for year 2, and $56,227.50 for year 3.
Motion to add the Minnesota Star Tribune enterprise subscription to the MELSA regional e-resources collection. Motion by Kramer. Second by Yang.
Roll call vote:
ACL – aye HCL – aye SCL – aye
CCL – aye RCL – aye WCL – aye
DCL – not present SPL – aye
Motion carried.
c) OverDrive changes and communication plan
The upcoming changes will: reduce hold limits to 8, merge duplicate accounts to user’s “home” library, and update authentication rules to limit access to MELSA users. A timeline was shared with the board, with the active communications to patrons starting on September 1st, with the changes beginning on October 1st.
Hartman requested a timeline change from October 1st to January 1st from a SPPL internal staff perspective. Duimstra mentioned it could be helpful for HCL to move the date further back as well. CCL, SCL and WCL mentioned they would be open to moving the date back also. December 1st and February 1st were also mentioned as possibilities, as well as giving a month and a half or two months between the active communication and the actual changes.
Motion to adjust the upcoming changes to OverDrive become effective February 15, 2027 with communication beginning in early January 2027 to stakeholders. Motion by Hartman. There is no second, motion fails.
Motion to adjust the upcoming changes to OverDrive to become effective January 1, 2027 with communication beginning on November 15, 2026 to patrons. Motion by Haubner. Second by Yang.
Roll call vote:
ACL – aye HCL – aye SCL – nay
CCL – nay RCL – aye WCL – aye
DCL – not present SPL – nay
Motion carried.
There was some discussion that this date might be changed during the September meeting, so there may be further discussion on this in September.
d) MLA legislative priorities
MLA is still in the process of finalizing legislative priorities. There was a legislative priorities meeting at the end of July, and the finalized priorities will likely include school/media specialist priorities as well as e-book legislation. There will be additional meetings in August and September to narrow down the priorities.
e) Round table sharing
(i) Collaborative Initiative Project updates
(ii) 2027 budgets
SPPL will have budget information soon, which will be announced by the mayor.
ACL will be asking for a .5 position, which would create a full-time position for a Legacy and literacy coordinator.
SCL will be searching for a new technology manager. For the Collaborative Initiative, they will be focusing on the Read Together program as well as mentoring. They will likely have some hours adjustments to some branches in October.
HCL will be using the project funding to expand the Let’s Read program and promote their decodable books collection. They will likely be changing library hours at some of their branches in 2027.
CCL is working on their literacy initiative plan. They will have more information on their budget in a couple of weeks.
WCL will be doing an ILS migration in the future. The county just did a website redesign project.
V. Reports & Communications
a) smARTpass report
The smARTpass report was distributed in the meeting packet. The report showed the number of patrons who are registered with the website and the number of redeemed offers by library system, along with comments from patrons.
b) Potential collaborative Jobs & Small Business programming
MELSA’s Jobs & Small Business Group (JSB) is currently researching potential partners for a virtual speaker or series of speakers for a collaborative JSB program. The collaborative program would involve libraries pooling part of their JSB allocation to pay for the speaker(s) as well as marketing the program to each of their service areas.
While the JSB Group has not yet settled on a partner(s) nor on the shared budget they would pool, they have agreed on a topic. They are currently reviewing different community organizations and local authors that could provide a class or presentation in Spanish, specifically to support Latino business owners and entrepreneurs.
The current plan for such a collaborative program would be in early 2027.
c) Executive Director update
The Executive Director update was distributed in the meeting packet. Wichitchu will be out of the country for the December meeting. The board agreed to cancel the December meeting. Wichitchu is working on the MELSA Employee Handbook and would like the Advisory Board to share their system’s paid holidays with her (she will send an email to the group).
Duimstra adjourned the meeting at 12:00pm.