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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2002-01-16; Library Board of Trustees; Minutes<- e MINUTES Approved: MEETING OF: DATE OF MEETING: January 16,2002 TIME OF MEETING: 4:OO PM PLACE OF MEETING: LIBRARY BOARD OF TRUSTEES Library Board Room - 1775 Dove Lane CALL TO ORDER: Chairman William Kamenjarin called the meeting to order at 4:Ol PM. ROLL CALL: Present : Library Board Trustees Gleason Huss, Kamenjarin, Page and Tarman. Absent: None Also Present: Cliff Lange, Library Director Geoff Armour, Assistant Library Director Heather Piuuto, Principal Librarian, Dove Lane Chris Holt, Principal Librarian, Cole Dana Hartshorn, Library Management Analyst Bee Koons, NSDCGS Liaison Arthur Wood, Friends of the Library Liaison Anne Sypien, League of Women Voters Observer Chairman Kamenjarin welcomed Martha Law Edwards as a visitor to the meeting. APPROVAL OF MINUTES: The minutes of the December 12,2001 meeting were approved as submitted. MONTHLY LIBRARY DIVISION HEADS REPORTS: Trustee Gleason Huss asked if the trip reported by Lynda Jones was City sponsored and was told it was not, it was her vacation. She also asked for some clarification on the Appreciative Inquiry mentioned in the public service reports. Explained as “looking at the plus side”, the Appreciative Inquiry was the method used to gather information from City employees on the topic of Life Balance in an effort to further ascertain what types of changes they visualize as necessary to achieve a balance in all the areas of their lives. Spearheaded by graduate student, Leslie Smith, as research work for her thesis, the inquiry involved many library employees as well as rc Library Board of Trustees Page 2 Minutes of January 16,2002 Meetimg , , other volunteers throughout the City. The results of the inquiry will be forwarded to the Leadership Team. Trustee Kamenjarin asked about the status of the computers used by Adult Learning and Library Director Lange reported their situation is much improved and IT is working diligently to get the remainder of the problems solved. Trustee Page asked about the “Alternative Holiday Celebration” and Trustee Kamenjarin explained that the church sponsors a craft fair featuring items made in 3rd world countries. Trustee Kamenjarin also asked about donations from Legoland for the Summer Reading Program this year. Library Director Lange responded that last year they donated for the overall Summer Reading Program for the entire Serra Library System, providing thousands of discount tickets. STATUS OF NEW AUTOMATION SYSTEM: F Library Director Lange reported that the RFP had been sent to five vendors and the deadline for responses is February 20th’. The RFP is also available on the City’s website. The staff committee will review the responses and then meet again with the consultant to select the top two or three and invite them to come and demonstrate their systems in March. The library board was invited to attend the demonstrations and will be notified of those dates as soon as they are scheduled. CARLSBAD HISTORY BOOK; Library Director Lange reported that the manuscript is at the publisher, to be followed by the photographs and captions, bibliography, and index. The promotion and order form for sales of the book will be ready by the first of February and available at both libraries, City Hall and the Faraday Building. The pre-publication price of the book is $27.00, which includes direct shipping for all orders received by May 1 , 2002. Orders received between May 2,2002 and June 30,2002 must be picked up at the library. The after publication price is $32.00 and they will be available for purchase at the library. Trustee Tarman asked about the research for the book and Library Director Lange responded that the author, Susan Gutierrez, used the resources in the library’s local history collection, newspapers, including The Carlsbad Journal, and conducted interviews with local residents. ?---- F Library Board of Trustees Page 3 Minutes of January 16, 2002 Meeting 24/7 REFERENCE SERVICES: Library Director Lange announced that the Tierra del Sol Multi-Library Network is offering this service to us on a trial basis, for no cost from February to June. The motivation behind service is to provide library reference services to the patron at all hours of the day and night. Access to the service will be available through a link on our website, and the individual who will actually respond to the questions will be with the Santa Monica Public Library and Los Angeles Public Library. Trustee Gleason Huss asked what the cost would be to continue to provide the service after the trial period ends in June and Library Director Lange said that Tierra del Sol administration has been working with the provider on a contract, probably charged on a per question basis. The costs have not been established to date. Principal Librarian Pizzuto added that currently this library has the “Ask a Librarian” service on the web site, which enables the patron to send an e-mail question, which then is answered by one of our Reference Librarians during the regular hours of the library. The 24/7 service will be an interactive session where the patron will be chatting with the librarian, a two way conversation. Library Director Lange also explained that it will apply to “ready reference” only, not in- depth research and will limit each question and answer period to ten minutes. r XEROX COPIERS & VEND CARDS: Principal Librarian Pizzuto reported the installation of the Xerox machines began the week between Christmas and New Year’s and we continue to be in the “installation mode” for the month of January. The vend system was put into use beginning January 7, 2002, and we have had very positive response from the patrons. In the first week, we have sold 1,000 vend cards which can now be used at some of the machines in place of bills and coins. The vend card machines have been installed, and the cards are available for $1 .OO. The card has a one-time fee of twenty-five cents, and therefore has a credit of seventy-five cents when issued. At any time the patron can add more credit to the card by putting it back into the machine and depositing money. She continued that we still have some machines that take coins and bills, for those patrons who do not want to use the vend card. She is also working with our library card vendor to add a magnetic strip to the back of the card so that it can be used as a vend card as well. There was some discussion over the costs to the public for prints and copies. Principal Librarian Pizzuto explained that we kept the price to the public the same as it had been on the old rebuilt machines; fifteen cents a sheet for black and white prints or copies, and seventy-five cents a sheet for color prints or copies. - rc Library Board of Trustees Page 4 Minutes of January 16, 2002 Meeting Trustee Kamenjarin asked if we could re-set the price so that we just break even, that the current price seemed high, since Kinko’s can make copies at eight cents a sheet. Principal Librarian Pizzuto explained that we were hoping to break even at the fifteen and seventy-five cents rates, and would continue to try to keep costs down. DIRECTOR’S RE PORT: “America” sculpture - The Arts Commission has been dealing with a donation of the sculpture from Oceanside resident and artist, Paul Weber.. The stainless steel piece is about thirty feet long and three and one half feet high. The Commission was approached about a year ago with the offer, could not find a suitable site and refused the donation. Because of the events of September 11, 2001, a citizen asked the City Council to reconsider the artist’s offer, and to place the sculpture at the Split Pavilion site. The City Council referred the request to the Arts Commission. The Arts Commission accepted the piece on a temporary basis, but based on the fact that the majority of the responses received from the public were negative about putting anything on that site, the Arts Commission appointed a committee of two Arts Commissioners and three citizens to recommend an alternative site for the sculpture. The committee met and decided on the Cole Library as the best site. They will make that recommendation to the Arts Commission at the regular meeting next month. If the Arts Commission agrees, they will then make the recommendation to the City Council who will have the final decision. The proposed location is the east end of the grassy strip between the parking lot and the sidewalk, parallel to and facing the street. rc Trustee Kamenjarin asked if there would be another request for public comment on the new location prior to City Council action and Library Director Lange none was planned. The board discussed the length of time the exhibit would remain there, how and why this location was the final choice, and who would pay for the installation. None of the trustees except Chair Kamenjarin had seen the photographs of the sculpture. Chair Kamenjarin expressed his concern and dislike for the piece and asked that the matter be placed on the agenda for the next meeting so that the Board can take some action. Library Director Lange said he would arrange for the trustees to see the sculpture that is currently in the back yard of artist’s residence in Oceanside. Centro de Informacion - provide additional information on a Neighborhood House meeting attended by Centro’s Lizeth Simonson, and mentioned in her Division Report for the last meeting. Assistant Library Director Armour said that the organization primarily sponsors preschool Assistant Library Director Armour has been asked to r- F Library Board of Trustees Page 5 Minutes of January 16, 2002 Meeting programs and attended by families with small children. They were looking primarily for information on how to get rental assistance, emergency food and shelter, and free transportation but also expressed interest in computer classes and job skills training. Libraries in general were pointed out as major resources of information, especially the Centro for the Spanish-speakers. Assistant Library Director Armour reported that the time line for relocating the Centro would probably have to be extended. The modulars are still slated for placement on the site facing up Walnut Street across the Senior Center Parking Lot. The City is in the process of installing the water, sewer and electrical connections but the original bids and agenda bill prepared for City Council called for the leasing of the structures. The question was raised about costs of lease versus purchase, the agenda bill pulled, and finance and purchasing are looking at the best solution for the City. Meantime it was necessary to go back to the suppliers for new bids on purchase, and lease with option to purchase. Since the modular structures are to serve as interim facilities, staff is still recommending leasing. In the meantime the City has purchased another residential lot adjacent to the property in an effort to increase the total acreage available for the park. Proposed use of the now three properties is unknown at this time. He said that at a recent YES meeting the attendees from the neighborhood expressed concern over what the site would look like during this interim period and what amenities should the City provide. Once the current structures are demolished, it will be fenced off leaving considerable dirt and dust. There will be signage and a pathway to the Centro, but minimal improvements to the property itself, maybe not even grass. Several suggestions were offered including a tot- lot and tetherball courts. There was some discussion about how long it would take to actually move the collection and equipment from Centro into the modular, and how long the Centro would be in the modular. There was some concern over the possibility of a lack of continuity of service during the move and the interim. Assistant Library Director Armour said a major concern is whether or not the Centro can remain in the modular once park construction starts, and if so, where. He continued that with the acquisition of the old Farmer’s Insurance Building there will probably be several City facilities vacated, and suitable for the Centro and Adult Learning. The board discussed the many possible options for a permanent location for the Centro and in general felt the Harding Center would be ideal for that purpose, should Recreation vacate that site. Arts Office Manaqer Recruitment - Library Director Lange announced that following the retirement of Connie Beardsley as the Arts Office Manager, Gallery Coordinator Karen McGuire will be acting Manager. Human Resources has already initiated the recruitment for the vacated position and the deadline for applications is February 13, rc Library Board of Trustees Page 6 Minutes of January 16, 2002 Meeting 2002. Interviews will be held in March and they hope to have completed the process and hired the new manager by April. CALTAC Board Training - We have received a letter from the State Librarian offering the trustee training sessions. The letter did not arrive in time to be included on the agenda but will be an item at the next meeting so the Board can decide whether or not they want to schedule a training session here. State Budnet - In light of the state’s deficit budget, the Governor has cut $11 million out of the Public Library Fund (PLF) which is a 25% reduction and will have some impact on this library. The Governor also cut the budget for the Library of California, which will impact the Tierra del Sol Network. Internet Issues - The board had asked that the Internet Policies and Procedures be reexamined at the March meeting; however, the director will not be available to meet on the regular meeting date of March 20, 2002. The Board agreed to move the meeting to March 13, 2002, and Chair Kamenjarin requested the meeting be moved to the Cole Library, and continue to alternate locations. FRIENDS OF THE LIBRARY: Mr. Wood reported that the Friends’ have not held a meeting since the last Library Board meeting and he therefore had no report today.. GENEALOGICAL SOCIETY: Ms. Koons reported that the society has already scheduled their annual seminar for October and will have guest lecturer Barbara Rennick, who is well know in the genealogy community and an expert on the Internet. Ms. Koons also reported that the publishing date for her book has been delayed due to an attempt by a genealogy society back east to publish her manuscript under their name. She had provided the manuscript to one of their members to review and he had passed it on to be published. She is in the process of notifying him of a potential lawsuit as a result of his actions.. PUBLIC COMMENT: None .r- f" Library Board of Trustees Page 7 Minutes of January 16, 2002 Meeting LIBRARY BOARD COMMENTS: None. ADJOURNMENT: By proper motion, the meeting was adjourned at 5:lO PM Respectfully submitted, n7 Cissie Sexton Administrative Secretary