Ames City Council Regular Meeting
The meeting commenced with budget presentations, focusing first on the Library department. The Library detailed its strategic plan emphasizing connection, service, and physical space initiatives, including forming a sustainability team and increasing fun, playful programming. Operational updates covered extending adult area study rooms to include smart TV monitors for online connectivity and adding automatic doors to an employee entrance for accessibility. Staff support, including extensive professional development and specialized training (dementia friendly, culture city's sensory inclusive training), was highlighted. Volunteer efforts, including over 90 youth volunteers supporting summer meals, were noted. Collection management discussed increasing popularity of downloadable content and strategic purchasing based on circulation data. Community relations efforts involved video-recorded book talks and marketing strategies. Youth services focused on literacy-rich environments, STEM activities, partnerships with cultural organizations (De Mo Metro Opera), and outreach via Project Smiles to 91 classrooms. Teen services emphasized leadership workshops and mental health programming in partnership with ISU. Adult services featured community-led programs like Repair Cafe and Speed Friending, growth of the seed library, and partnerships supporting vulnerable members and seniors (home delivery service). Civic engagement activities included serving as an early voting satellite site. The library also detailed its role as the Iowa Center for the Book and forthcoming PBS feature. Finally, customer account services managed nearly a million item checkouts, including non-book items, and the bookmobile service is planning for a replacement vehicle soon. Council members inquired about IT personnel shifts affecting internal services budget lines and the volume of physical vs. electronic resource processing.