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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2003-08-20; Library Board of Trustees; MinutesI ITEM # 2 MEETING OF: DATE OF MEETING: August 20,2003 TIME OF MEETING: 4:OO PM PLACE OF MEETING: LIBRARY BOARD OF TRUSTEES Georgina Cole Library Community Room 1250 Carlsbad Villaae Drive CALL TO ORDER: Chairman Jerry Tarman 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: Geoff Armour, Assistant Library Director Senior Librarian Chris Pickavet Librarian Darin Williamson Media Programming Specialist Bill Richmond Carolyn Hoard, NSDCGS Liaison Arthur Wood, Friends of the Library Liaison Anne Sypien, League of Women Voters Observ - APPROVAL OF MINUTES: The minutes of the July 18, 2003 meeting were approved with one correction MONTHLY LIBRARY REPORT: Assistant Library Director Armour asked if the Board likes the current format for the Library report and Trustee Kamenjarin responded that he preferred the previous individual reports. Trustee Page also commented that she preferred the individual reports and Assistant Library Director Armour suggested that the report better identify to which division the item refers. - Trustee Swette asked for more information on the HVAC system situation at the Cole Library and Assistant Library Director Armour explained the current status and options being researched by Facilities prior to making any recommendations to the City Manager, Leadership and City Council. P Library Board of Trustees Page 2 Minutes from August 20, 2003 meeting Trustee Swette also noted the increase in the number of young adult programming this year over last and Librarian Darin Williamson responded that he would cover the particulars in his report, Agenda Item 6. SIRS1 UPDATE: Assistant Library Director Armour prefaced the report with praise for Senior Librarian and Project Manager Chris Pickavet who has taken on this monumental task, which, with the exception of the construction of the new building and remodel of the Cole, is probably the single most important project in the history of the library. Senior Librarian Pickavet reported that since her last report at last month’s Library Board Meeting, most of the effort has been on the part of Sirsi and the City’s information Technology (IT) Department. There were some concerns about security as we are allowing an outside source (Sirsi) to run programs on our system. The issues were solved successfully as both the vendor and the IT staffs were very cooperative. Recently IT has alerted the library that there are some potential problems in the works. This project is probably the first one of its size since the IT Department restructured their department and we are looking at not only changing to an entirely new system but tying it in with the City’s plan to upgrade all the PC’s in the library at the same time. That involves over a 100 new PC’s to be installed and configured by IT at the same time that they are trying to configure servers that previously were not their responsibility. The IT staff has advised that it may be necessary to slide the current schedule and Sirsi has been advised. Depending on information available within the next week, the team will have a better idea of the ramifications of changing the schedule, with the probable outcome being a “going live” date sometime after the first of the year, 2004. - Trustee Page asked why IT felt the need to slide the schedule and Sr. Librarian Pickavet reported that they had under estimated the size of the project and the impact it would have on the IT staff. Another issue has been the need to perform some of the work with the network down, and preferably during hours the library is not open. Since we are open seven days a week, we may have to reduce the quality of our services temporarily. IT is attempting to minimize the impact on library services and is trying to schedule some of the work on City holidays. Trustee Kamenjarin asked if the contract contains a penalty clause if we delay the project and Sr. Librarian Pickavet responded that there did not appear to be any penalty clause regarding delays, but the payment schedule for Sirsi is linked to meeting certain milestones. MEDIA SERVICES REPORT: Media Programming Specialist Bill Richmond provided the Trustees with an annual report on his Division that is responsible for the booking of the Gowland Meeting Room r P Library Board of Trustees Page 3 Minutes from August 20, 2003 meeting and Schulman Auditorium at the Dove Lane location as well as videotaping various programs and providing programming for the local cable television station. He reported that effective August 1, 2003, the City Council approved a fee increase as well as a cancellation fee, and noted that this revenue is not retained by the library but goes directly into the City’s General Fund. Trustee Tarman asked what were the reasons for cancellation (30% rate) for Children’s Division. Media Programming Specialist Richmond responded that primarily the reason for the number of cancellations from internal departments is the nature of the programs and planning process. Often the rooms are booked early for a series of programs and then anything from a change in the original programming or unavailability of the talent can force cancellations. Trustee Swette asked if the vacancy of the facilities resulting from cancellations were posted far enough in advance to re-book the date and Media Programming Specialist Richmond responded that in some cases, but it depends on the number of days in advance they receive the cancellation notice. The Media staff updates the calendar on the web site every evening at 7:OO PM to maximize the usage. Trustee Kamenjarin suggested increasing the cancellation fee as well as amending the procedures to include a specific length of time prior to the event that would incur a penalty. He also advocated a booking penalty for City Departments who routinely block book the facilities but have a history of canceling the booking. r There was more discussion over the length of time City Departments are allowed to book in advance and possible solutions to reduce the cancellation rate. Trustee Swette asked for the Media Division to chart the number of dates the facilities remained unused as a result of a cancelled booking. In conclusion, Media Programming Specialist Richmond provided a video of some of the programming recorded in the Schul.man Auditorium for the Library Hour on the local cable channel, as well as some of the library promotional clips produced by his staff. There is the possibility of reaching an audience of 65,000 homes in Carlsbad with examples of the programming in the auditorium as well as information about the library services offered. One of the library programs, The North County All Stars performance, was entered into a national competition and was in the top three finalists for programs with similar size budgets. TEEN SERVICES: f- Assistant Library Director Armour introduced Teen Services Librarian Darin Williamson who distributed copies of the “yearbook” produced by this year’s teen volunteers in the Summer Reading Program. Altogether the library had over 100 volunteers who worked ,-- Library Board of Trustees Page 4 Minutes from August 20, 2003 meeting 1250 hours and performed administrative duties as well as listened to reports from the participants. Trustee Swette asked how many of the volunteers are Carlsbad residents and Librarian Williamson responded that about 60% were residents, with the remainder primarily from San Marcos and Encinitas. He explained the program this year included “jungle bucks” in payment for volunteer hours that could be traded in for prizes at the end of the program. Last year there were 130 teens that participated; this year there were 165, and his goal is to increase participation by 20% each year. Librarian Williamson also explained his philosophy on developing the teen collection by identifying “who they are and what they would like” in the library. He hopes to double the circulation within the next three years and has statistics indicating a 35% increase just this past year. The teen area of the library has been turned into a more “hip” looking place and there is a Teen Council book club that meets twice a month and makes recommendations for additions or enhancements to their area. ,- Another goal he is working towards is the promotion of the remote access to the library databases. He has visited several schools in the area to teach classes on using the databases and has hopes to reach more this fall. He is also working closely with the Library Volunteer Coordinator to provide a volunteer program for teens to allow them to meet their ten-hour school requirement for community service. Under the heading of joint programming he worked with Recreation and the Arts Office to host a battle of the bands over Memorial Day, with a repeat performance at the Schulman Auditorium on July 18fh. The Library Media Division video taped the bands and presented them with a copy of the video and a CD of their performance. The program “Amps and Ramps” was developed by Recreation and drew nine local bands to participate. Attendance was between 500 and 600. Trustee Tarman asked when the teens were in the library and Librarian Williamson responded that during the school year the “backpack brigade” usually arrives shortly after school hours, and the majority are from middle school. CENTRO UPDATE: Assistant Library Director Armour distributed maps of the Madison properties and the Harding Recreation site, which are the two sites submitted to the City Manager and Leadership Team for consideration as a location for the Centro, with a cover memo containing pros and cons and a cost analysis for each site. The deadline to spend the CDBG money is April 2004 and the library is leaning towards options that are readily achievable with the shortest time line. These prime sites included in the analysis are either currently occupied by or planned for Parks and Recreation use. - I Library Board of Trustees Page 5 Minutes from August 20,2003 meeting Assistant Library Director Armour briefly described various options for use of these properties as suggested in the memo to the City Manager as well as the impact on Parks and Recreation. A possibility for using the CDBG funds is to purchase one or more modulars and use the remaining funds towards the design for a Community Learning Center to be built on the Harding site. Assistant Library Director Armour explained the final decision will come from the City Council. The Board discussed the options, the Learning Center concept and the necessity to spend the CDBG money and expressed their interest in being kept advised of any ~ direction coming out of the City Manager’s office on the issue. ~ STATE LIBRARY REPORT: Assistant Library Director Armour reviewed the statistics in the recently released State Library summary report for 2001-2002. The Carlsbad City Library ranked higher than last year in four categories. This information is used by the Library for performance measurement and is compared against libraries located in some very wealthy com m u nit ies . DIRECTOR’S RE PORT: Children’s Garden project - Currently staff is working with the Purchasing Division of Finance to prepare the RFP for a landscape designer to draw up the plans for the renovations proposed by the City’s park planner. Then a contract for the actual work will need to go out to formal bid, which will add to the time originally estimated to have the project completed. Facilities Issues - In an effort to better manage library facility issues, a team composed of staff from Library Administration, Parks and Facilities meets every two months to address specific problems and concerns. Libraw Securitv Plan - A team of Library managers is working with a member of the Carlsbad Police Department to develop a Library Security Plan. Last year the Baron Center conducted a security audit of all library facilities and is currently teaching work place security workshops throughout the City. The library has been working with facilities to make necessary changes such as alarm systems and keypads on access doors. Relocation of drive-up book drops on Dove Lane - The current location of the drive- up book drops is very difficult to get in and out of. After discussions with the Fire Marshall and City Traffic Engineer, the library will move one of the drops to a space in the front of,the library, on a trial basis. F Patriot Act Panel - The League of Women Voters together with the Library will sponsor a panel discussion on the Patriot Act on September 25‘h which will be r Library Board of Trustees Page 6 Minutes from August 20, 2003 meeting moderated by Mr. Tom Fudge. The event will take place in the Schulman Auditorium with overflow seating and simulcast broadcasting of the event in the Gowland Meeting Room. FRIENDS OF THE LIBRARY: President and Board Liaison Arthur Wood reported that the next silent auction will be November 22”d and 23rd and due to the supply of books accumulating in the garage, they are planning a book sale on the green. Also of interest, on Mondays the bookstore runs a half price sale. GENEALOGICAL SOCIETY: NSDCGS liaison Carolyn Hoard provided copies of the Society’s newsletter to members of the board and at Trustee Kamenjarin’s suggestion will provide copies each month to the Library Administrative Secretary to include in the agenda packet mailing. September program topics are “Scanning and Retouching Photographs” and “Tracing 21” Century Migrations.” She also reminded the Board that the potluck was tonight. P PUBLIC COMMENT: None present. ADJOURNMENT: By proper motion, the meeting was adjourned at 5:40 PM. Respectfully submitted, Cissie gexton Administrative Secretary