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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. P Library Board of Trustees Page 2 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. F 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 F )I Library Board of Trustees Minutes of Januarv 19.2000 Meetina Page 3 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. rc IL- Library Board of Trustees Page 4 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 rc r.l Library Board of Trustees Page 5 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. ,- ic Library Board of Trustees Page 6 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. c 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. F- Library Board of Trustees Page 7 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. - 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