The Meeting of the Eisenhower Public Library District Board of Trustees Island Within A City Committee February 20, 2025.

CALL TO ORDER

President Braun, called the meeting to order at 6:30 P.M.

ROLL CALL

Present: Ringelstein, Magnelli, Magnuson, Parent, Ross, Krebs, Braun, Massaro, Blubaugh, Stam, McPhillips (6:52 P.M.).
Absent:
Also Present: Wittmann, Bacarella.
Also Present Electronically: Storelli.

RECOGNITION OF VISITORS

Jennifer Storelli was present electronically.

PUBLIC COMMENT

There were no public comments.

Island Within A City Book

Progress Report
Director Wittmann reported that she put together a spreadsheet of all the documents related to the book. She is trying to make sure there are no duplicate essays. She is putting in links for the releases and she will put links for essays and photos. She started to collect pictures and created a file for them. Penny put everyone in alphabetical order. There are a lot of unusable interviews that were done by the former author. They were disjointed. Julie is in the process of reaching out to community leaders to conduct new interviews. The committee all agreed that the community leaders have to be included in the book. She compiled everything. Julie only had one essay regarding the pandemic, Julie volunteered to help. She said she may write an essay about what the library went through during the pandemic. Trustee Magnuson recommended putting an in-memoriam box for Myron Petrakis. Director Wittmann said they could do an in-memoriam section for Ed Bartosh, Ron Stoch, and Ron Oppedisano who have passed away. The committee thought that would be a great idea.

Discussion of Hiring an Editor
Director Wittmann advised that Jennifer Storelli reached out to her to find out if we needed an editor. She saw the project on a Facebook page. She sent Director Wittmann her resume. Director Wittmann reported that she has good credentials. They have a few other Editor options. The committee members also liked Daniel Tortora and Suzanne Sherman’s resume. Director Wittmann asked the committee if there was anyone else, they should reach out to. Trustee Braun really liked Jennifer Storelli’s resume. He thought she had a wide variety of material she has worked on and it would be beneficial. Director Wittmann advised that they should probably get a few quotes from Daniel Tortora and Suzanne Sherman. Director Wittmann feels that this should be a paid contract; however, we would not say no to a discount. The committee reviewed Daniel and Suzanne’s resumes. Daniel had the process clearly mapped out which was useful. Suzanne’s process was also very clear. They felt that their process and expectations were very clear. Director Wittmann posted a link for editor world on Basecamp. She thinks they should get no more than five and no less than three proposals. She advised that Jennifer Storelli’s family was from Harwood Heights she asked her if they could maybe write an essay for the book. Director Wittmann would like to create a database for this project, but she hasn’t done this in a long time. Trustee Parent offered to help. Dan and Julie both have Office 365.

Next Steps
Director Wittmann will sort things out with Jennifer Storelli and she will reach out to the other editors. They will clean up all the essays and interviews.

Next Meeting Date
The committee will meet next on March 20th at 6:45 P.M.

OTHER BUSINESS

There was no other business. 

ADJOURNMENT

Trustee Ross moved, seconded by Trustee Parent, THAT THE MEETING BE ADJOURNED. A voice vote was taken and the motion carried. The Committee Meeting was adjourned at 7:11 P.M.