HomeMy WebLinkAbout2000-01-19; Library Board of Trustees; Minutes.-
MINUTES
MEETING OF:
DATE OF MEETING: January 19,2000
TIME OF MEETING: 4:OO PM
PLACE OF MEETING:
LIBRARY BOARD OF TRUSTEES
Library Board Room
Approved: a-/L -m
CALL TO ORDER:
Chair Karen Gleason Huss called the meeting to order at 4:04 PM
ROLL CALL:
Present : Library Board Trustees, Baron, Gleason Huss, Kamenjarin, Page
and Tarman.
Absent: None
Also Present: Cliff Lange, Library Director
Geoff Armour, Assistant Library Director
Dana Hartshorn, Library Management Analyst
Susan Simpson, Sr. Librarian, Collection Development and
Acquisitions
Naomi Marblestone, League of Women Voters Observer
Steve MacPherson, Friends of the Library Liaison
APPROVAL OF MINUTES:
The minutes of the November 17,1999 meeting were accepted as submitted.
MONTHLY LIBRARY DIVISION HEADS REPORTS:
Chair Gleason Huss was pleased with the recruitment of eight new tutors for the Adult
Learning Program and the five participants who passed the GED examination.
Trustee Tarman asked for information on the California Library Literary Services Grant.
Assistant Library Director Armour explained that the amount of this grant would likely be
changed in the future as the matching amount is based on the general fund
appropriation. When the Adult Learning Program moves from its current location to the
City owned property at the Pine School location, they will no longer be paying rent and
the amount of the general fund appropriation would be reduced.
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Minutes of January 19, 2000 Meeting
Trustee Baron was pleased to note the popularity of the Book Club, the number being
increased to three to accommodate the responding numbers.
Trustee Tarman mentioned that the number of reference questions was down from last
year.
Library Director Lange explained that to get an accurate comparison you must add the
Information Desk statistics to those of the Reference Desk since there was no
information desk last year.
There was discussion about the overwhelming popularity of the computer labs but
Library Director Lange pointed out that we would not have an accurate picture of the
use patterns until both libraries are open. Plans for the Cole Library include forty
computers for public usage, although not all of them will be for Internet usage.
LIBRARY BOARD COMMENTS:
Trustee Page asked if there was any estimation of the completion of the mural for the
Children’s Division that was being painted by Janell Cannon.
Library Director Lange will check on the status and report at the next meeting.
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Trustee Page reported that she had received a complaint that the “new books” section
of the library was essentially empty. She pointed out that any of the circulating
collection, new books, old books and audio books, are checked out for three weeks and
there is no limit on the number a patron can check out.
Senior Librarian Susan Simpson explained the acquisition process for new books and
the patron’s option to place books on hold, even before the books are published.
Books can also be renewed, unless there is a hold on the item. The current procedure
is to order additional copies for every book with five holds. She also explained that for
the very popular authors, we already order a minimum of twenty-five copies of new
titles.
Assistant Library Director Armour said that he had checked with other libraries in the
county and there is no uniform policy. He explained that the library has tried several
different solutions over the years. The current policy was developed based on what the
library thought was a reasonable time to have to wait for a book on hold. Possible
solutions to the issue would be to simply order more copies or restrict the number a
patron could check out at one time. He continued that the library had not received any
complaint forms on this issue.
Library Director Lange explained that the current three-week period for library loans was
a compromise. In the past there was a limit of seven days for fiction books and there
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Minutes of Januarv 19.2000 Meetina
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were complaints from patrons that they could not finish the book within that time frame.
Trustee Kamenjarin commented that at present the shelves looked as though there
were 400 to 500 volumes on the new bookshelves.
Trustee Kamenjarin asked for the target date to expand the Centro de lnformacion as it
was his understanding that the school district had vacated the property at the end of the
year.
Assistant Library Director Armour explained that the school still has control of the
spaces because there is miscellaneous property that still needs to be removed. There
is no target date as yet but the City is meeting with the school district to resolve the
issue. Once resolved, the Centro staff is requesting the use of three adjacent
classrooms for expansion.
Trustee Kamenjarin expressed his concern over the small number of computers at the
Centro and would like to see that number increased, hopefully before the end of the
school year.
LIBRARY COLLECTION DEVELOPMENT POLICY:
Senior Librarian, Susan Simpson, explained the newly revised collection development
policy, which was a part of their packet, which has been developed over the last ten
years.
Trustee Baron asked about the issue of labeling and why it needed to be explained in
the policy.
Susan explained that it was an historical issue with libraries, dealing with spine labels
that can represent a kind of censorship. There are no warning labels regarding content,
only labels that are purely informational are used in this library.
Trustee Tarman asked for more information on challenged books within the collection.
Susan reviewed the process and explained that over the last ten years there have only
been thirty-nine incidences where a patron has challenged an item in our collection.
Trustee Tarman asked who selected the items for the collection and Susan replied that
there are a total of nineteen staff persons who select items for the collection. Each one
has a particular area for which they select and they select items for all locations. The
staff from Centro chooses all the Spanish language material for all the locations. The
selectors spend a good deal of time reading reviews in publications written expressly for
librarians to assist then in the selection process.
Trustee Kamenjarin asked for information on the allocation process.
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Minutes of January 19, 2000 Meeting
Susan explained that the selectors meet once a year and discuss the collection and the
needs of each section. As many of the selectors are Reference Librarians and work on
the desk, they are in constant contact with the patrons and they know what the
collection needs. The selectors for Children’s work the Children’s desk and are also
knowledgeable in the requests of those patrons.
Susan also explained that she spends $1,000 or more each month of the $600,000
acquisition budget for the purchase of patron requested items.
Assistant Library Director Armour pointed out that the allocation of funds between the
two main locations would change once the new Cole opens, but size dictates the final
numbers.
Assistant Library Director Armour mentioned that the library was considering adding
DVD’s to the collection.
Trustee Baron asked if the cost and frequency of replacement for audio and video was
more than for printed matter.
- Susan responded that those items are generally checked out more frequently but that
once they are worn out, they are not always replaced.
Susan explained that her monthly report contains statistics of the acquisition process,
the number of orders and actual items received.
Trustee Tarman wanted to know where the Cole collection was at present and Susan
told him it was stored at our remote storage facility.
Trustee Kamenjarin commended Susan and her staff for the outstanding job they are
doing.
Trustee Tarman commented that we are also fortunate that we have a City government
that supports the library so wholeheartedly.
By proper motion, the Board unanimously adopted the policy as presented.
LIBRARY POLICY ON ACCESS BY MINORS TO MOTION PICTURE VIDEOS:
Library Director Lange explained that this has been the library policy for some time but
had placed it on the agenda for the Board to formally approve the policy to comply with
the new State law. The policy follows the MPAA ratings.
Trustee Kamenjarin asked if there had been many complaints within the last year from
patrons on the content of videos or the ability of a child to check out an inappropriate
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Minutes of January 19,2000 Meeting
video.
Neither Library Director Lange nor Senior Librarian Simpson knew of any complaints.
Trustee Baron asked if the MPAA ratings were consistent with the statute and Library
Director Lange responded that the statute was not specific.
By proper motion the policy was unanimously approved.
PUBLIC PERCEPTION OF PUBLIC LIBRARIES SURVEY:
Library Director Lange provided the results of this survey for discussion.
Trustee Baron noted that Book Clubs were not addressed in the survey. Additionally
she wondered about the threat of the book stores.
There was some discussion about what book stores offer and the possible reasons for
their popularity.
Trustee Gleason Huss was surprised that accessing the library via the Internet was an
infrequent occurrence according to the survey. I
This prompted a discussion on the progress of the ability to access the library catalog
through the City’s web page.
Trustee Baron questioned the implications of the results of this survey on our library in
the future. Do we need to do an evaluation of our own and do we need to develop a
public relations component to balance out the book store competition?
Library Director Lange responded that the survey results were very positive in that
people still value libraries and he anticipated that some of this information would be
useful in the development of the new strategic plan for the library.
THE PUBLIC LIBRARY TODAY & TOMORROW:
A copy of this article was included in the packet for the board’s discussion.
Trustee Kamenjarin expressed his gratitude for the article and he found the content
fascinating.
Library Director Lange commented on a statement made by a local software developer
at a recent technology committee meeting at the Chamber of Commerce. His statement
was that the Internet will most probably have the same impact on society as did the
invention of the printing press.
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Minutes of January 19,2000 Meeting
SAN DIEGO PUBLIC LIBRARY TELEVISION CAMPAIGN:
Library Director Lange asked if any of the board members had seen any of the spots on
Channel IO. The 14-week campaign is scheduled for January 3rd through April 3rd . The
director promised to show the video preview to the next board meeting.
DIRECTOR'S REPORT:
Parks & Recreation Survev Results - Distributed in the water bill to all Carlsbad
residents, the survey asked for rating of the most important public facilities provided.
Library Director Lange was pleased to report from the 2500 surveys tabulated so far,
the Library was rated the most important facility, with natural open space and hiking
trails following.
Recruitment of Personnel - The interviews for the new Principal Librarian are
scheduled for one week from today. The recruitment for three new librarians at the
Cole will take place in February.
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Cole Librarv update - The carpet is being installed this week. The painting is almost
completed and the shelving installation should begin the next week and take about a
month. It is anticipated that the reopening will take place in late March or early April
2000.
Trustee Baron asked if she could tour Cole and Library Director Lange said any of the
Trustees are welcome to tour the facility during the remodel, but are asked to contact
Chris Holt at the Cole to let her know they are coming.
Trustee Kamenjarin asked if there was any possibility of expanding the interim facility
hours of operation, especially on Saturday.
Citv Web Site - Library Management Analyst Dana Hartshorn previewed the City's web
site and Library home page. She explained that the City Council awarded the contract
for Phase II of the project to include changing information updates. The site has about
8,000 visitors a month with the Library as one of the most popular pages. Human
Resources is the most popular site. In the future the library catalog will be available
from the home page and Phase II will be interactive information. The patron will be
able to sign up for Parks and Rec classes and pay the fees or pay overdue fines at the
I i brary.
Proposition 14 - The bond issue for $350 million dollars for library construction will be
on the ballot in March. Library Director Lange distributed the fact sheet on the issue.
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Minutes of January 19,2000 Meeting
Gallery - The current exhibit promotional materials were distributed to the trustees for
their information. The woodcutting exhibit just opened last week and the glass exhibit is
scheduled for May. The Foundation will provide the funds for that exhibit.
Library Budget 2000 - 2001 - One of the anticipated changes in the next budget is to
provide Sunday hours at the libraries from I PM until 5PM.
Donations received: - The library has received two large donations and the agenda
bills accepting these donations will be before City Council this month. The Liechtag
Family Foundation has donated $40,000 for the Children’s Computer Lab and George
and Patricia Gowland have donated $1 50,000 to the Foundation for the meeting room.
Meeting Facilities - The plans are to allow the public to start booking the facilities
beginning next month. Media has received over fifty letters of interest to book space.
Library Director Lange will bring a report on the process to the July board meeting and
then to the City Council in August.
Community Cultural Plan - The library intends to hire a consultant to assist with the
cultural plan as part of the library strategic plan. Plans include a customer satisfaction
survey. Library Director Lange pointed out that although we have done a relatively
small amount of publicity for programs offered, the attendance at two of the concerts
was over 220 people. This is evidence to him that the people who live here are hungry
for concerts and lectures, culture. The response we have been getting for the gallery
exhibits are a further indication.
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Building Issues at Dove Lane - We are still experiencing problems with the heating
and air conditioning system. Assistant Library Director Armour is working with Facilities
Maintenance on our list of issues.
FRIENDS OF THE LIBRARY:
The Board meeting is tomorrow night and the book store is still doing well. They are
planning a book sale on the lawn sometime after the opening of the Cole.
GENEALOGICAL SOCIETY:
Not present.
PUBLIC COMMENT:
None.
Library Board of Trustees
Minutes of January 19, 2000 Meeting
Page 8
ADJOURNMENT:
By proper motion, the Regular Meeting of January 19, 2000, was adjourned at 534
PM.
Respectfully submitted, /
Cissie Sedon
Administrative Secretary