Board of Library Trustees 11-10-2026

The Reading Public Library Board of Library Trustees met on November 10, 2026. Trustees approved revisions to the Collection Development Policy, including removing a sentence about the separate gift policy, and approved the Meeting Room Use Policy and fees with a clarification to the insurance and waiver language. The meeting-room policy is to take effect 91 days after the meeting; proposed fees include a $50 minimum charge for staff room-setup assistance, alongside revised hourly charges and late fees. The director reported that museum-pass use continues to recover after the pandemic; the program is now funded through the library’s materials collection budget, and no new passes were added this year.

The board reviewed the FY2027 budget, which was approximately $23,000 under budget, in part because a full-time teen librarian and an eight-hour-per-week page position remain unfilled. For FY2028, the director described an initial request of about $2.3 million and a no-override budget of about $2.173 million, roughly $138,000 below the current-year budget and approximately $134,000 below the minimum appropriation needed for library certification. Trustees discussed possible service-hour reductions and closing Sundays to address the shortfall, but took no vote on those changes; they requested usage and savings data for further discussion in December. The FY2028 budget and service reductions remain under consideration, with no contract awards or purchasing approvals identified.