Long time or short, term limits may soon be imposed on officer positions of the local Library Board—but first, the Director’s Report!

D.R. Moon Library Director Elizabeth Miniatt gave her regular monthly report at the most recent library Board meeting this past Tuesday, February 11th, and among the takeaways was a new club initiative with no enrollment cost to the interested public called “Girls Who Code,” the name being a reference to computer coding. Aligning itself with the broader vision of STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Art, and Math), the proposed computer coding club at the D.R. Moon Memorial Library in Stanley would be organized as two sections, the first for children in grades three to five, and another one for sixth to twelfth graders. Regarding the Girls Who Code Club initiative, Director Miniatt offered us the following details: “The Girls Who Code Club is a free program offered by the D.R. Moon Memorial Public Library in association with Girls Who Code, an international non-profit organization. There are two clubs being offered, one for 3-5th graders and one for 6-12th graders. Girls Who Code Clubs are focused on reaching girls, but all kids are welcome to join for a fun, supportive space to get together and learn computer science and team-work by building a project important to the community. Programming and technological literacy are 21st century skills that will continue to be in high demand and this club offers kids an opportunity to learn and build on those skills no matter what their previous experience with coding.

All coding and club materials are provided for free by the library including t-shirts and snacks! Registration is required to ensure there are enough participants to run the club. Each club will run once a month at the D.R. Moon Memorial Public Library on the last Saturday of the month for the year of 2020. The first meeting is this month, February 29th!

Those wishing to register should sign-up at the web add ress https://hq.girlswhocode.com/l ogin and enter the club code WI25529 for 3-5th graders and WI25530 for 6-12th graders. Alternatively, contact Elizabeth at [email protected] org or 715-644-2004 to register or request more information.”

The director’s report having been made, it was on to library board officer term limits. Research had been done by the board into different libraries, with the following takeaways.

In Oshkosh, there were no consecutive term limits for officers, while in Palmyra there are four officers elected from among the trustees at each annual meeting of the board, for which they serve a three-year term until successors are elected. Finally, in Waupaca, nominations are taken in May and officers could not serve more than four consecutive terms.

D. R. Moon Library Board President Cathy Ryba said that she thought the current officers were doing a good job, and that officers should be allowed to serve more than two consecutive terms if they are elected again unanimously. Currently the by-laws state that officers cannot serve more than two consecutive terms. Two outside observers had brought the question of elections to the board, something Cheryl Kern-Simirenko agreed with.

“What I’m getting at is it’s time to go back and look at those bylaws,” she said, adding that as far as she was aware, the library board in May of 2018 hadn’t elected officers, as it was expected to undergo change in the wake of then Library Director Lori Stanek’s resignation at the April board meeting. The term limit idea as stated at the recent February meeting was to have the terms staggered for different officer posts, so that no one person stayed in the same office without end, but instead and as stated in Lance Carlson’s understanding rotated through different positions with time. Upon the outcome of the February 11th meeting, a committee of three was formed to research the board officer term limits and make suggestions to the board on changes. At present, no officer can serve more than two consecutive terms in the same position. Library board meetings are generally held on the second Tuesday of the month at 5:00 p.m. on the lower level of the D.R. Moon Memorial Library at 154 E. Fourth Avenue in Stanley. More details on library happenings are available either on the library website or on its Facebook page.