Jason Trunco
Age: 42
How lengthy have you ever lived within the Niles-Maine District Library district? 15+ years
What’s your job? Proprietor of a house cleansing firm
Training? Associates diploma
What’s the final ebook you might have learn or have learn? The Imperfect Board Member by Jim Brown
Why do you wish to sit on the library’s board? My youngsters are fourth technology patrons of the Niles-Maine District Library. My spouse’s grandmother, my mother-in-law, my spouse, my youngsters and I’ve all been via NMDL. The companies we now have obtained from librarian assist to story time in Youngsters House to Teen Underground have been infinite.
Once I first moved to Niles in 2007, I used the library’s laptop lab (then on the second flooring) to construct my resume and job search, which led to my first success within the Chicagoland space. I wish to be certain that these companies and alternatives are by no means threatened locally or for anybody who makes use of them.
What are your objectives for the library? I want to see the library associate with different tax authorities and collaborate on future initiatives. I’ve already engaged in conversations with members of the Niles Park Board about creating an out of doors studying backyard with inexperienced area. Ideally, one thing like this would come with shaded areas, studying benches, vegetation and maybe a fountain. Simply think about a beautiful sunny day the place youngsters take part in an out of doors studying program, or pair the Niles Park District’s outside train class with studying materials centered on wholesome habits. These sorts of joint ventures make a distinction in a society.
What position ought to a public library play in society?At its core, a library have to be an on a regular basis place the place everyone seems to be welcome and valued. Our library ought to symbolize our neighborhood, offering books and applications in numerous languages, offering security towards discrimination or racism, and being an accessible place to collect and share. For our seniors who might not have the ability to come to the library, we must always lengthen the library to them via cellular companies. And our Youngsters House should proceed to be a cornerstone the place youngsters in Niles and the encompassing areas construct their foundations for studying and life.
Referring to the library funds, what (if any) areas are underfunded and what areas (if any) require financial savings? How a lot?Presently, the library employees is essentially the most underfunded facet of our library. We have to employees our library strategically, particularly in our patron companies and Youngsters House areas. A few of this is able to be via part-time librarians or patron employees; frankly, that may imply that not everybody would obtain full-time worker advantages that others have tried to mislead the general public about.
With funding cuts, the largest value to the library, separate from employees salaries and group well being protection, has been our authorized charges. Sadly, that is because of the lack of educated management with the present board president constantly spending on consulting on fundamental duties and Mr. (Joe) Makula & workforce blocking authorized FOIA requests.; Happily for society, it is a fixable downside as nicely.
If our board works collectively and really believes in clear authorities, there is not any purpose we should not have the ability to minimize authorized charges by 20-25%. That is cash saved that may be directed into present or in search of extra programming.
What areas of library programming or companies must be elevated or decreased (if any)?Opposite to Mr. Makula’s latest feedback at a board assembly, not all youngsters are in class weekdays from 6 p.m. 9-15. Infants, toddlers and a few youngsters of kindergarten age don’t attend full-day faculty or day care within the space.
Mother and father admire and look ahead to the companies supplied in Youngsters House through the day, when the library is rather less crowded and slightly simpler to navigate with younger youngsters. After faculty, Teen Underground is broadly used as a secure place for youngsters to collaborate with one another, do homework in a quiet setting, or just function a spot to chill out and really feel secure after a day in school. Reducing companies for youngsters and youngsters minimizes training for our subsequent technology, one thing that ought to by no means occur; as beforehand talked about that is an space that must be elevated if something.
In case you had full management, how would you prefer to see the library in 5 years?I’ve mentioned from the start that I imagine strongly in being financially accountable. Planning for revitalization, upkeep and updating ought to start now for the following 5 years. It’s irresponsible to attend till it’s too late or to funds on the fly.
I might prefer to see extra outside occasions deliberate like what Teen Providers is doing in partnership with the forest protect for a clear up day, or the yarn bomb within the library parking heaps, or the murals within the parking zone, or the top of summer season studying occasion within the woods with a bubble truck and so on. Planning these occasions is vital and constructing on them helps elevate the stigma related to libraries as simply buildings with books; that should play into exploring the skin world with library programming.
How ought to the library strategy curating and managing its assortment?The library has an government director and librarians, some with graduate levels, who’re employed to make the choices they really feel are greatest for our library. As a board member, my position must be to assist with these choices, however to not impose a person agenda.
It’s the job of a board to make sure that the employees has the sources and the suitable funding to develop and strategically enhance our assortment. This doesn’t imply that there’s an infinite inexperienced gentle for spending, however the place it’s needed and the collective agrees that it provides profit, it shouldn’t be continuously challenged or restricted.
How ought to the library cope with objections to particular works within the library’s assortment?Banning books undermines and threatens our freedoms and prevents members of our society from accessing the studying materials they select to learn. Not everybody has to learn each ebook, and as a mum or dad I additionally monitor my youngsters’s studying materials. However that does not give me the authority to inform others what to permit their youngsters to learn. I’m proud that State Senators Murphy and Villivalam, amongst a number of others, assist HB-2789.
The inhabitants served by the Niles-Maine District Library is likely one of the most numerous by way of ethnicity, language spoken at house, and the variety of individuals born in different nations outdoors the town of Chicago. How ought to the library serve this inhabitants?Our Polish programming can proceed to be an anchor for our overseas language programming. With over 70,000 Polish immigrants within the Chicagoland space alone, that ought to proceed to be a spotlight. We additionally proceed to see progress in different teams and nationalities, together with Assyrian, Jewish, Asian, Muslim, and so on. These patrons would significantly profit from expanded companies and occasions in our neighborhood that remember and acknowledge their cultures and beliefs.
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