Minutes - Library Board.

411 West First Street

City of Duluth

Duluth, Minnesota 55802

Minutes - Final

Library Board.

Tuesday, May 5, 2026

4:30 PM

Mount Royal Branch Blue Room

Call To Order

The meeting was called to order at 4:33 PM by Bill Arezzo, President

Welcome and Introductions

Members present: Bill Arezzo, Sue Henke, Ellen Hatfield, Jose Gonzalez, Carlee

Bladl, Sarah Kessler, Michelle Foshay, Kati Annis

Also in attendance: Library Manager Carla Powers, City Council Liaison Jordon

Johnson, DPL staff member Carrie Rossow

Members absent: Lori Steinbach

Review and Approve Agenda

Motion by Gonzalez, seconded by Foshay, to approve the agenda as

written.Motion passed unanimously.

Approve Minutes of April 7 meeting

Motion by Henke, seconded by Gonzalez, to approve minutes as drafted. Motion

passed unanimously.

Public Comment

None

Reports

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Library Staff Report

Carrie Rossow is the Library Technician who started Storytime at the Mount

Royal Branch to support early literacy efforts. She highlighted library

programming and the importance of tiny interactions that help weave together

the community.

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Library Manager’s Report May 2026

Community conversations are being organized by the Every Child Ready Duluth

library team, who will be giving the Board updates about their work in June.

Staff Development Day was held at the end of April.

Starting May 23, the Main Library will be closed on Saturdays for the summer.

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Friends Report May 2026

The board approved the appointment of their newest member and voted to

donate $10,000 to the library.

Foundation Report May 2026

Report highlighted the fundraising efforts from National Library Week. More than

1100 people attended events held throughout the week.

Library Usage Report March 2026

Indexes:

Attachments: 2026.03 Usage stats spreadsheet

Report was reviewed.

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Safety Updates

The Main Library is one month into the closure of the Michigan St. entrance.

There have been some complaints. Staff will continue to track complaints and

the number of library visits to assess the impact of this change.

There have been no safety incidents on the ground floor since the door has been

locked. Safety incidents have increased slightly at the West Duluth Branch.

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Main Library facility/regional library services district

Paperwork for the HUD grant is being submitted this week (week of May 5).

Advocacy Update

Meetings with City Councilors are beginning to take place.

New Business

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Discussion of Arrowhead Library System Presentation

The Board discussed the ALS presentation that took place last month. Board

members expressed wanting more information about the vision for a Request for

Proposals and the resulting study that will be funded by the HUD grant. Board

would like to have clarification of the vision/goal for the City’s library and how

funding is impacted.

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Collection Development policy