Place: Orem Public Library – Sorenson Room
At 6:00 p.m.: Christine Corley conducted the meeting
Library Advisory Commission: Matt Brown (joined via Google Meet), Christine Corley, Lorraine
Jeffery, Karina Lewis, Nancy Schultze, and Quinn Mecham (City Council Representative)
Excused: Katrina Brittner
Staff: Jaime Bartlett, Sheron Buttars, Anita Krohn, Bryce Merrill, Shannon Montes de Oca and
James Scarbrough
- Review and Approve May 19, 2026 minutes
Lorraine Jeffery made a motion to approve the minutes. Karina Lewis seconded the motion.
Vote: Matthew Brown – Yes, Christine Corley – Yes, Lorraine Jeffery – Yes, Karina Lewis – Yes, and Nancy Schultze – Yes
2. Media Project update – Anita Krohn
Anita Krohn introduced herself. Anita Krohn has worked in libraries for a long time. Anita Krohn shared that she worked at the library previously, she returned as a Cataloging Librarian in December. Anita Krohn has worked in middle school libraries and in other public libraries. This position is her first job in cataloging. Shannon Montes de Oca, her Supervisor, has been training Anita Krohn and has been directing this Media project. Mary Ann Maxwell is the primary cataloger.
Anita Krohn shared that Mary Ann Maxwell presented another idea rather than the ascension number system that many patrons felt was not the most user friendly. The ascension number system made it difficult to find items in the collection as items were numbered as the items were purchased for the collection. The goal is to implement a better plan. The hope is to have a more browseable collection for patrons. Some patrons liked this system as they could go to the end of each genre and find the newest items that had been added to the collection. A couple of meetings were held after Mary Ann Maxwell made the proposal regarding the new system with James Scarbrough, the Media Librarian and his team in Collection Services regarding how it would impact the workflow.
Anita Krohn shared a handout with the workflow. Josie Layton, Stacks Manager is helping with the project and Sabrina Petty, Associate Librarian was helping with the cataloging. Sabrina Petty recently accepted another position outside the library. James Scarbrough has been working on weeding the collection so that unnecessary work does not need to be done with the project. Anita Krohn said there has been a lot of discussion as the project moves forward as to how certain parts of the project should be done. Not all genres can be treated the same, so an audit is being done on each Anita Krohn assesses for duplicate works in each genre. The goal of staff is better browsability and to more easily find what they are looking for in the collection. Anita Krohn shared that in franchises, fantasy has felt like the biggest so far. With Marvel or DC, the staff has taken a different approach. The staff working on the project have consulted with James Scarbrough, the Media Librarian, to help make decisions about labeling. These will be labeled by the main character, i.e. Superman or Batman. The same issue comes up when there are multiple copies of each title, so the first title of the movie will be added. Anita Krohn shared she doesn’t watch movies, so this project has been more of a challenge for her. Anita Krohn said some titles won’t have the same first word but are in a series. One example is Cloverfield which starts with 10, every title in that series will have Cloverfield, all movies will have the first word in the title, and all of the same titles will be shelved together.
Shannon Montes de Oca created a schedule for this project. Anita Krohn explained that there are 31,000 titles in the DVD collection that will need to be redone as part of this project. As this project was started, it was discussed to plan to do 100 titles per week but that would take four years to complete the project. Shannon Montes de Oca talked to staff, and it was decided that the goal would be to complete six hundred titles per week so the project could be completed in one year. Anita Krohn said the team that is working on the project has been impressed by everyone’s efforts. Kathy Wilkinson’s efforts have been impressive; she helps relabel and repackage. The project is on schedule currently. The team is helping each other and assisting with follow through with everyone’s assignments. The team has completed the ninth genre and there are sixteen genres, so the project is not quite halfway done. Silent Movies will be the last genre, since that genre will have the most unique anomalies. Anita Krohn shared that Shannon Montes de Oca has helped keep the project fun for staff by creating crosswords and word searches that are done during breaks. The team also does blitzes where they focus on working together on the project. This helps keep up the enthusiasm for staff. Staff have stepped in to help fill in with the vacancy of Sabrina Petty and will continue to help fill in until her position is filled. Quinn Mecham said he thinks this project is amazing. Christine Corley said she agrees. Quinn Mecham said he found the fact that there are 1,425 horror movies in the collection to be surprising.
Shannon Montes de Oca said that Anita Krohn is doing a good job keeping the staff enthused and moving the project forward and it is remarkable at which the speed the project is moving forward. Bryce Merrill said he heard a conversation regarding DVDs that were in the horror genre that were not remotely the same title but had the same character and he learned the movies were in the same series. Bryce Merrill said it has been fun to watch the project and to hear conversations regarding the project and how DVDs will be classified. Bryce Merrill said that Shannon Montes de Oca and Anita Krohn have done a fantastic job leading the team with a lot of nuances taking on the project. Anita Krohn said that the staff was in Media one day talking about how the project was going and the Media staff shared that so many patrons have said they love this change. The Media staff also said there has not been any negative feedback or suggestions from patrons for improvement for the project thus far. Anita Krohn said that there may be a need to revisit some things in the future, but the goal is to be as consistent as possible.
Anita Krohn shared that the Assistant Librarians have been trained to do the cataloging as part of this project and this experience will help them with other projects in the future. Nancy Schultze asked if the members of the Library Advisory Commission could assist in some way with the project. Mary Ann Maxwell will need to do a lot of reclassification in drama and there may be quite a few that will be moved to a new genre. Anita Krohn said no project has been done at this volume previously. James Scarbrough said he is looking forward to the Foreign Language collection part of the project.
3. Media Challenge – James Scarbrough
Christine Corley said the Media collection is a gem of a collection. James Scarbrough shared he has been at Orem Public Library for twenty years. Richard Downey worked in Media for decades and retired, but he has returned as a Part Time Librarian and is helping with screenings. The Programming team is attached to Media and has great ideas and is trying something new with the Media challenge. James Scarbrough wanted to focus on expanding programming and to help patrons be more curious about the Media collection. James Scarbrough wanted patrons to connect with the more critically acclaimed and silent titles and to investigate the depth and breadth of the Media collection. James Scarbrough said he is very proud of the Media collection. McKenna Nielsen from the Programming team has helped make this challenge fun. McKenna Nielsen has helped create a brochure that is currently available at all desks. The kickoff for the challenge is on September 18th and will run through November 15th. There are Bingo cards with categories like a Sundance film winner, or a Best Director or Best Actor Award, documentaries, etc. There are lists available to help patrons and there is more information available on the library website.
James Scarbrough shared that the Media collection is self-funding. There will be screenings on Mondays and Fridays so that will help patrons fill their Bingo cards. Movie Bucks will be given to patrons attending film screening. This program is available without any cost to patrons. James Scarbrough shared that this program is directed at adults, not because of the content, but it is an adult program because grown-ups need programming too. Quinn Mecham said he thinks this is an amazing program.
Quinn Mecham shared that he has taught film classes multiple times on YouTube on masterworks of cinema. Quinn Mecham said if he can be helpful he would be happy to assist with the program. Jaime Bartlett asked the Commission members to spread the word regarding this program. James Scarbrough shared that the plan is to have a similar program next year but it will be done a little differently next year. Quinn Mecham asked if there will be an introduction
for the screening. James Scarbrough shared that for this coming Friday’s program there will be a microwave and microwave popcorn. There will be staff answering questions and then the movie screening will begin. Jaime Bartlett said she will share Quinn Mecham’s offer of help with McKenna Nielsen, who is the staff member who is championing this program. James Scarbrough shared that Matt Kammerer, who is the Librarian who supervises the Makerspace, has made magnets with a variety of movie items on them for this program. James Scarbrough said and there will be prizes with this challenge including a blu-ray player. Lorraine Jeffery said she loves the Media collection and loves this idea.
Lorraine Jeffery said she uses the audiobook collection and she sees them shrinking and she asked if that collection will eventually disappear. James Scarbrough said the collection gets smaller based on use but patrons are still checking that collection out, it is mostly older people. Lorraine Jeffery said she also uses Libby as well as checking out audiobooks. James Scarbrough said as long as patrons are checking out cassettes the collection will be kept as long as it is viable. Bryce Merrill said there are over 5,000 items in the audiobook collection and 2,000 have not circulated in the last two years. Bryce Merrill said the target is for 80% of the collection to circulate. Bryce Merrill said the challenge is that there is such a high demand for digital and streaming. Bryce Merrill said there is $1000 in the collection this year for audio and it is six figures Libby.
4. Vineyard non-resident reimbursement policy change – Bryce Merrill
Bryce Merrill gave a quick update and said that four weeks ago the Vineyard City Council made the decision to stop reimbursement for purchases of non resident cards which had previously been $75.00. Vineyard residents are still welcome to purchase a non-resident card, but moving forward they will no longer receive the $75.00 reimbursement from Vineyard. The City Council has made the decision to invest in their own library. Christine Corley asked what percentage of the non-resident card holders are from Vineyard. Bryce Merrill responded that it is five to ten percent of the total non-resident card holders.
Quinn Mecham shared that this decision has not been very popular with Vineyard residents. Jaime Bartlett shared that Vineyard patrons have been letting staff know at the desks that they are not happy about this change. Christine Corley shared that Vineyard has been adding to their collection by adding children and young adult collection items. Bryce Merrill said the Vineyard library collection is not very large, but is currently about 4,000 items.
5. Discussion regarding retreat
Christine Corley said that during the last Library Advisory Commission Meeting goals and priorities were discussed and holding a retreat in the near future was also discussed. Identifying six priorities and having a point person assigned to each priority will be discussed during the retreat. Possible dates in October or extending the November 17th meeting to two hours and focusing on the retreat and clearing the agenda for that purpose were suggested.
After some discussion, it was decided that the retreat will be held in place of the regular meeting on Tuesday, November 17 and two hours will be allocated for the retreat. The agenda will be cleared of items so the focus will be to discuss the priorities. Quinn Mecham offered to facilitate the retreat.
6. Upcoming Events
Christine Corley and Quinn Mecham both commented on how full the Upcoming Events calendar is for the next couple of months. Jaime Bartlett shared that the upcoming author event has been moved to a high school in Spanish Fork due to the popularity of the event. Jaime Barlett also shared that there will be many fun holiday events in November and December.
7. Other
Matt Brown thanked staff for their efforts in preparing the presentation and video for the presentation to the City Council last week. Matt Brown said the video made the presentation very easy and looked great. Bryce Merrill said he will pass along that information to Matt Kammerer who prepared the video and who enjoys getting to do that and he created the video.
Bryce Merrill offered an update on the staff Huddle. The Huddle has been on a short hiatus. Bryce Merrill shared that the purpose of the Huddle is to share librarianship and/or nonessential work discussion. Bryce Merrill asked if any of the Library Advisory Commission members would be interested in participating or leading the Huddle. The Huddle is done every other week. Bryce Merrill suggested that topics could include what a dream Library Advisory Commission would be to the member leading the Huddle or a dream Friends group. Nathan Robison coordinates the scheduling of the Huddle and for anyone interested, Nathan Robison can get the Library Advisory Commission Member’s Huddle information and send it out to staff and then get the chain of responses back to the Library Advisory Commission members.
Bryce Merrill was asked about the status of the Library Director position. Bryce Merrill responded that the position was closed and Quinn Mecham left for Study Abroad during the summer for a couple of months. Bryce Merrill said this could be a topic for discussion at the retreat. Nancy Schultze asked if there is a need for a Library Director or is the library functioning well without and with the current organizational structure with the Library Managers? Quinn Mecham said that he has talked to staff and there are staff who feel it would be a welcome development. Lorraine Jeffery asked if there are bylaws requiring a Library Director. Bryce Merrill responded that there are no bylaws that require a Library Director and the library is in compliance for certification. Quinn Mecham said what Bryce Merrill is not saying is that he is overworked with his new position, it would be good for Bryce Merrill to have additional leadership in the library. Bryce Merrill said that front line staff are doing incredible work and they are supported with tools and they work really hard to accomplish cool things. Bryce Merrill went on to say that the Administrative staff are onsite more than what Bryce Merrill’s new position allows. Nancy Schultze said she does not want someone to come in and change everything if things are working well.
8. Adjournment
Nancy Schultze motioned to adjourn, Karina Lewis seconded the motion.
Vote: Matt Brown – Yes, Christine Corley – Yes, Lorraine Jeffrey – Yes, Karina Lewis – Yes, and Nancy Schultze – Yes
The next Library Advisory Commission Meeting will be held on November 17, 2026
Adjourned: 7:04 pm