Minutes
Library Board of Trustees - Minutes - Mar 25, 2026
Mar 25, 2026
A public record published by the Town of Simsbury (simsbury-ct.gov). mySimsbury indexes it and makes it readable; it is not the official copy. View the original file.
Page 1 of 3 Library Board of Trustees’ Strategic Planning Subcommittee1 Town of Simsbury, CT2 Special Meeting3 March 25, 2026 – 2:00 P.M.4 Simsbury Public Library – Weatogue Room5 725 Hopmeadow Street, Simsbury, CT 060706 7 MINUTES8 9 I. CALL TO ORDER – Madam Chair McGrath called the meeting to order at 2:03 P.M.10 11 Present:12 Library Board of Trustees Members: Holly McGrath, Chair; Don Heymann, Co-Chair, and13 Anne Erickson.14 15 Simsbury Public Library Staff: Lisa Miceli, Director; Stephanie Prato, Head of Children’s16 Services.17 18 Other Community Members Present: President of the Friends of the Library, Greg19 Golinski, Davina Fogel, Jennifer Kirkland, Karen Cantelmo, Shawn McLaughlin, Dan20 Sommer, Kathleen Miklus, Jamie Sepa, and Tammy Bylund.21 22 Absent: Library Board of Trustees Member, Mary Glassman, Secretary23 24 Ms. McGrath introduced Tammy Bylund, a community member who will be attending the25 Subcommittee. Ms. McGrath explained that Heather Czuchta has stepped down and Anne26 Erickson has joined the Subcommittee to help balance minority representation.27 28 II. APPROVAL OF MINUTES29 30 February 25, 2026—Special Meeting31 32 MOTION: Mr. Heymann made a motion, seconded by Ms. McGrath, to approve the33 Minutes of the February 25, 2026, Special Meeting. The motion carried unanimously.34 35 III. MIDWAY UPDATE: SURVERYS, INTERVIEWS, AND LISTENING SESSIONS36 37 As of meeting date, the Subcommittee has received 253 online survey responses.38 Some have given feedback that open ended questions deterred them from participating.39 40 Library Board of Trustees’ Strategic Planning Subcommittee Special Meeting Minutes March 25, 2026 Page 2 of 3 Ms. Miceli reiterated that the planning process and survey questions are part of an41 American Library Association initiative of “turning outward” toward the community42 rather than focusing only on the library in looking to the future of services. Ms. Prato43 also mentioned that beginning the survey with the multiple choice questions may,44 perhaps, lead the respondents in their answers.45 46 IV. COMMITTEE MEMBER INSIGHTS, QUESTIONS, CONCERNS47 48 Discussed various advertisement options such as Patch and Facebook paid promotion.49 Sharing Facebook posts to expand audience was also discussed. The group considered50 offering incentives to increase survey or listening session participation.51 The Library’s email survey reaches over 6,000 people, so only a small percentage have52 participated thus far.53 54 V. FILLING IN GAPS55 56 Mr. Sepa will look into sending out the survey to Board of Education members and all57 teachers in the district. Discussion of engaging local realtors occurred.58 .59 Library staff will begin to directly encourage patrons at checkout to take survey.60 Ms. Kirkland is leading presentation/listening session at Belden Forest Court.61 62 VI. SCHEDULING TWO MORE IN PERSON EVENTS63 64 April 28 @ 7:15 P.M. at Saint Mary’s – Interfaith Group65 May 2 @ 10 A.M. – 2 P.M. at Sustainability Fair (not a listening session, but committee66 members will hand out flyers with QR codes to take the survey)67 68 VII. DISCUSSION: FINALIZING INFORMATION GATHERING69 70 The group will host another Library listening session, potentially with refreshments on71 Cinco de Mayo. Flyers with the survey QR code will be distributed at Library events.72 The group will look into outreach at upcoming school concerts.73 Members will update the shared Google document with outreach efforts and74 organizational contacts. Ms. Prato will prepare updated flyers with QR codes and revised75 event information.76 77 VIII. DISCUSSION: PROCESS FOR INFORMATION SYNTHESIS AND78 EVALUATION79 80 The Committee discussed methods for analyzing survey and discussion data.81 Potential approaches include:82 - Assigning groups of members to review portions of survey data and identify themes83 - Using AI tools to help summarize and identify recurring themes across responses.84 Library Board of Trustees’ Strategic Planning Subcommittee Special Meeting Minutes March 25, 2026 Page 3 of 3 - Comparing human analysis with AI-generated summaries for validation.85 86 Please send all listening session notes and additional feedback to Don to compile for later87 analysis.88 89 IX. PLANS FOR APRIL 22 MEETING90 91 Strategic Plan Timeline:92 Public outreach: Through mid-May93 Data analysis: May–June94 Drafting strategic plan: July–September95 Final revisions: October–November96 Public release: December97 98 X. ADJOURNMENT99 100 Madam Chair McGrath adjourned the meeting at 2:56 P.M.101 102 Respectfully Submitted,103 104 Cameron DiSanto105 Administrative Secretary106