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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2002-07-17; Library Board of Trustees; MinutesI ITEM- - MINUTES MEETING OF: DATE OF MEETING: July 17,2002 TIME OF MEETING: 4:OO PM PLACE OF MEETING: LIBRARY BOARD OF TRUSTEES Georgina Cole Library Community Room 1250 Carlsbad Village Drive CALL TO ORDER: Chairman William Kamenjarin called the meeting to order at 4:OO PM. ROLL CALL: Present: Library Board Trustees Gleason Huss, Kamenjarin, Page, Swette, and Tarman. Absent: None - Also Present: Cliff Lange, Library Director Heather Pizzuto, Principal Librarian, Dove Lane Chris Holt, Principal Librarian, Cole Dana Hartshorn, Library Management Analyst Susan Simpson, Sr. Librarian Lizeth Simonson, Community Library Services Supervisor Carolyn Hoard, NSDCGS Arthur Wood, Friends of the Library Liaison Anne Sypien, League of Women Voters Observer APPROVAL OF MINUTES: The minutes of the June 19, 2002 meeting were approved as submitted. MONTHLY LIBRARY DIVISION HEADS REPORTS: Trustee Gleason Huss asked for an update on resolving the landscape problems in the Childrens’ Garden at Dove Lane. Principal Librarian Pizzuto responded that following the most recent flood caused by a solenoid failure and the resulting “lake”, Public Works personnel from facilities and parks maintenance will be here on Friday to meet with library staff and discuss options to include possibly changing the design and use of that area. Even when the sprinkler system is operating correctly, because the garden is on the north side of the building, - Library Board of Trustees Page 2 Minutes of July 17, 2002 Meeting the grounds stay wet for much of the morning, making it impossible to use the space. Among the options being considered are grading of current mounds, installing artificial turf, adding more hardscape, adding a roof over some of the area or enclosing a portion. Trustee Kamenjarin commented it would be a shame to lose the outdoor area, but the contracted landscape maintenance does not seem to be working very well. He then asked about the “brown spots” happening at the Cole location and obvious need to replace stones in the dry streambed. Principal Librarian Holt responded that the dry areas were the result of a faulty sprinkler system, which reportedly has been repaired, and she has submitted a request for the stream bed repairs. Trustee Page reported a patron in the library commented that the Carlsbad City Library has the best Childrens’ Department in the area. The trustees all complimented the new facility for the Centro. - Trustee Kamenjarin requested that the statistical report and bar charts provided in the packet each month include a rolling 13 months statistics to enable the board to compare the same month of the previous year. Trustee Kamenjarin commented that he was amazed at the number of new registrations each month, which clearly indicated this library is a magnet for all of North County. Trustee Swette asked why the number of registrations had dropped from the year before. Library Director Lange commented that eventually we would saturate the “market” and everyone would have a library card, and Principal Librarian Pizzuto commented that the numbers also reflect a change when we annually purge records of patrons who have remained inactive for three years. Trustee Swette also asked about the apparent drop in volunteer hours and whether the library was actively recruiting volunteers. Principal Librarian Pizzuto responded that last year the library conducted a patron survey over several days and utilized volunteers for collecting the information. That project was not repeated this year and probably explains the decrease in hours. r In response to a question from Friends of the Library liaison Arthur Wood regarding the tracking of hours, Library Director Lange explained that the volunteer hours in the - Library Board of Trustees Page 3 Minutes of July 17, 2002 Meeting statistics do NOT include hours of the volunteers who work in the Friends Book Store. Principal Librarian Holt also explained that the newly filled volunteer services position will enable the library to track volunteer hours and enhance the overall volunteer program . CENTRO DE INFORMACION UPDATE: At the request of Chair Kamenjarin, Community Library Services Coordinator, Lizeth Simonson, had prepared an assessment of existing hours and included the projected cost of increasing the hours to 34 per week. Current hours of operation for the Centro are Monday through Thursday, 1:OO PM to 6:OO PM, and Friday from 2:OO PM until 500 PM. The suggested increased hours were for morning hours, leaving the closing time the same but opening each week day at 11 :00 AM. Chair Kamenjarin commented that over a year ago the Library Board made a formal request to extend the hours of the Centro but the request was not acted upon. Library Director Lange explained that at the time, the status of the Centro was uncertain with regard to the schedule to demolish the Pine School buildings. Several options - were considered, including the modular facility they now occupy, and it was not advisable to make any decisions about additional hours until the decision on their relocation had been made. Chair Kamenjarin was concerned that increasing the hours to 34 a week still was no comparison to the 68 hours that the Cole Library and Carlsbad City Library on Dove Lane are open. He felt that the Centro should offer some weekend hours for those patrons who cannot get there during the week. Trustee Tarman suggested looking at the percentage of the population who use the facility and basing the hours of operation accordingly. He also felt strongly that a need for the additional hours should be substantiated to insure the cost effectiveness in lieu of increasing the hours for the sake of having the facility open. Trustee Swette suggested that the staff take another look at the proposed 11-hour increase and that it be reallocated to allow for some weekend usage. Ms. Simonson explained that when the facility first opened they were open six days a week, offering hours on Saturday and closed one week-day. The community requested the facility to open all five week-days, even if it meant eliminating the Saturday hours. At the time, the elementary school (Pine) was still open, and it was more convenient for the children to stop by the library after school each day. She continued that she has received more and more requests from mothers of pre-school age children and kindergarteners for an earlier opening. Kindergarten children are released at 11:OO AM each day and the pre-school children participating in the Head Start program at Holiday 7 - Library Board of Trustees Page 4 Minutes of July 17, 2002 Meeting Park are released at 11 :30 AM. Parents of these children would like to be able to come by the Centro after they pick up their children at these programs, and be able to check out reading materials and participate in the Partnership in Reading program offered for pre-schoolers and parents. Trustee Swette asked if increasing the hours created a major impact on the budget, which has already been submitted and approved for FY2002-03. Library Director Lange explained that increasing the hours would require some additional staff, but that the library could shift a .3 FTE from Circulation at Dove Lane to the Centro to cover the shortfall. The real issue, he said, was not so much the salary but the actual staffing. The library is not authorized to increase the hourly staff over the FTE approved in the budget. Chair Kamenjarin commented he was not happy with the prospect of having to wait until the next budget to request the increase in FTE’s to support longer hours at Centro but that in the interim we could strengthen the case with some surveys and analysis of the use. - Trustee Tarman moved that the Library Board, by minute motion, approve increasing the hours at the Centro to 34 hours per week, in accordance with the schedule proposed by staff, and the increase be implemented as soon as feasible. The motion was seconded and unanimously approved. In another minute motion proposed by Trustee Tarman and unanimously approved by the board, the staff was tasked with surveying patrons of the Centro for desired hours of operation, to include possible weekend hours, and to compile statistics on usage (e.g. the number of students remaining at closing time). Results of both efforts to be reported for Board discussion at either the September or October 2002 meeting. The intent of the Board is to use the information from the patrons to determine the needs for the facility and to be prepared to substantiate any increase in staffing or budget proposed for the next fiscal year. CALTAC TRAINING: (Item 6 on the agenda was taken out of order at the request of Library Director Lange) Library Director Lange reported that CALTAC had requested we give them two tentative dates for the training but that according to the responses from the trustees, there does not seem to be but one available to all. Trustee Tarman asked if we had any details of the training and Library Director Lange said that previous boards who had attended the training thought it was worthwhile and /c Library Board of Trustees Page 5 Minutes of July 17,2002 Meeting Trustees Gleason Huss and Page said that attendees at the state convention gave it “rave reviews.” Library Director Lange will notify CALTEC that September 28‘h is the only possible date open for this board, and he will also ask for an agenda or course syllabus. DIRECTOR’S REPORT: (item #8 on the agenda also taken out of order at the request of the director to allow for the introduction of new staff.) Principal Librarian Pizzuto introduced Liza Blue and Darin Williamson, the two newly hired Librarians at the Dove Lane facility and identified their respective areas of responsibility in the Reference Division. Principal Librarian Holt introduced as a newly hired full-time Genealogy librarian, Mary Van Orsdol, who has been serving in that capacity as a part time employee for many years . LIBRARY COLLECTION DEVELOPMENT PLAN: F Library Director Lange introduced Senior Librarian Susan Simpson who is the Division Head for Collection Development and Acquisitions for the entire library. Ms. Simpson explained that there is one collection, located in various places, and there are a total of twenty Librarians and Library Assistants who select the material for their assigned areas of the library. These individual selectors make selections for the entire collection, not just the building where they are physically located. This group meets once a year to divide the budget for materials using the use statistics from circulation, the suggestions from the patrons for additions to the collection, and feedback from the staff on the public desks. A committee instead of one person chooses adult Reference Materials, and this committee meets once a month. She explained that another consideration when dividing the budget for materials is the physical space available. The Cole library is running out of shelf space. This year in May all of the selectors met and took a look at the use patterns at the different facilities. About 62% of the money gets spent for Dove Lane, 36% gets spent for Cole - mostly driven by the space available at each location - and the Centro gets 2% of the budget. The money is divided between print and audiovisual materials about 75% to 25%. This year the committee decided to increase the childrens’ allocation by 7%. The balance between adult and children material had been 82% to l8%, but this year everyone agreed that 75% of the materials budget will be spent on adult materials and 25% will be spent on children’s materials. Trustee Kamenjarin asked how they determine when to purchase multiple copies of any one item and Ms. Simpson replied that for adult material we generally start with at least /c ,- Library Board of Trustees Page 6 Minutes of July 17, 2002 Meeting four copies of any new material by well-knownauthors, and for best seller authors sometimes as many as twenty copies are purchased initially. Additionally her division watches the number of “holds” placed on a book and order an additional copy for every ten “holds.” Beyond the best seller items, the selectors have each completed a scope statement for their individual area and know what we have and what we need, and buy accordingly. For childrens’ material it is not unusual to purchase multiple copies of all material, especially the easy readers and in the childrens’ non-fiction work especially dealing with the Country and the State, we purchase multiple copies, which the children need for homework assignments during the year. Trustee Tarman asked how we identified which books to remove from the collection and Ms. Simpson told him we have various reports that tell us the publication date of the items, the date we added it to the collection, the circulation for the last three years and the total circulation for that particular title. She also explained that we have the ability to refine the reports to limit them to subject matter or publication date, which comes in handy for identifying out of date medical books, for example. Trustee Tarman asked if there comes a point when you cannot add any more materials due to a lack of shelf space. Ms. Simpson responded that we were quickly approaching that point at the Cole and that the selectors have been directed to diligently weed out the old and outdated materials as well as the materials that are not in demand. She emphasized that the weeding was done with “intelligence” and that the classics in non- fiction were not weeded to make room for the latest pulp fiction. P Trustee Kamenjarin commented that a new collection is the life-blood of the library and distinguishes a great library from a mediocre library and his concern is that one of the criteria for allocation is physical space. He commented that he hears this complaint from North Carlsbad residents that the Dove Lane location gets the “lion’s share” of the collection, and he does not think an acceptable answer is that it’s because Dove Lane has the most room. He was also concerned that only 2% of the budget is allocated for the Centro, indicating that the Centro serves more than 2% of the residents. Ms. Simpson reiterated that space is not the only criteria but we are faced with the physical barriers of how much shelving there is available. One reason the Cole is so full is that part of the original capital money for the building of the Dove Lane facility, $300,000, was spent building up the collection for the Cole Library. Library Director Lange reminded the board that in I999 the library filled every available space with materials, including the now-reclaimed Community Room. Until the move to the new facility at Dove Lane, the Community Room contained the adult fiction collection. - Trustee Kamenjarin mentioned the possibility of moving the genealogy collection down to the City Hall complex of buildings when they are vacated but Library Director Lange F Library Board of Trustees Page 7 Minutes of July 17, 2002 Meeting pointed out this would in actuality postpone the building of another building as it would add square footage to the library’s total. What will drive the construction of a larger building will be population in relation to square footage. Trustee Tarman commented that actually patrons have access to the entire collection regardless of where the item is “housed” since we provide the daily courier service between the two facilities. Library Director Lange agreed and pointed out that from a user’s perspective it is one collection - one catalog. ELECTIONS OF OFFICERS FOR FY 2002-2003: By proper election the board elected Trustee Jerry Tarman to serve as the Chair for next year and out-going Chair Kamenjarin to serve as the vice chair. DIRECTOR’S REPORT: (continued) New Arts Office Manager - Peter Gordon has been hired as the Arts Office Manager and reported for work this week but could not attend the board meeting due to his orientation at Human Resources. He will be on hand for next month’s meeting. c New Automated System - The contract for SIRS1 has been forwarded from the City Attorney’s office to the Information Technology Department for review. The revisions will need to be submitted to SIRS1 for approval before the contract can be signed. The original time-line for migrating to the new system was December but the delay in finalizing the contract has moved that date forward to January or February 2003 at the earliest. 50fh Anniversaw Celebration - The kickoff event was Tuesday night at Neiman’s, the site of the first City Council Meeting and there were a couple of hundred people attending the dinner. Community Activity Grants Review Committee - Each year the board is asked to provide a member of this committee to review the submissions for grants. Trustee Gleason Huss has served the past two years and reported it was very interesting, and fun since she got to give away money. Trustee Swette volunteered to serve on the committee contingent upon his reappointment to the Board. _I Gallery Exhibit “On Your Own Time’’ - the National Arts Foundation sponsored the exhibit for City employees and families to submit artwork for exhibit in the gallery. The exhibit remains open until the 28‘h of July and there are about 90 artists who submitted - Library Board of Trustees Page 8 Minutes of July 17, 2002 Meeting and 126 items displayed. The reception for the artists was held on July IOth and was attended by about two hundred people. The library had several employees who entered and won cash prizes for their work. FRIENDS OF THE LIBRARY: Friend's Liaison Arthur Wood reported on the annual meeting held in June, and announced the Silent Auction which will be held at the Cole Library on July 27'h and 28th. GENEALOGICAL SOCl ETY: Carolyn Hoard reporting for Bee Koons and the Society expressed their joy over the hiring of Mary Van Orsdol for the full time Genealogy Division. Ms. Koons taught her beginner class and the next program is July 23rd on the Reformation in England and Europe and how it affected our ancestors. The Annual potluck will be held August 2ISf and she extended an invitation to the members of the board. The computer basics class was full with 94 attendees, and the Society has planned their next trip to Salt Lake for January 2003. - PUBLIC COMMENT: None ADJOURNMENT: By proper motion, the m eting was adjourned at 515 PM. Respectfully subhtted, e Administ Cissie s?n ative Secretary