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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2003-09-17; Library Board of Trustees; MinutesI ITEM # 2 MINUTES MEETING OF: DATE OF MEETING: September 17,2003 TIME OF MEETING: 4:OO PM PLACE OF MEETING: LIBRARY BOARD OF TRUSTEES Library Board Room - 1775 Dove Lane CALL TO ORDER: Vice Chair Bill Kamenjarin called the meeting to order at 4:02 PM. ROLL CALL: Present: Library Board Trustees Gleason Huss, Kamenjarin, Page, and Swette Absent: Trustee Tarman Also Present: Cliff Lange, Library Director Geoff Armour, Assistant Library Director Carol Baird for Carolyn Hoard, NSDCGS Liaison Arthur Wood, Friends of the Library Liaison Anne Sypien, League of Women Voters Observer /c APPROVAL OF MINUTES: The minutes of the August 20, 2003 meeting were approved as submitted. MONTHLY LIBRARY REPORTS: Trustee Page asked if the Library Board could view the taped seminar that was presented for the library staff on handling a bomb threat. Trustee Page asked for an update on the status of the HVAC system at the Cole and referenced the danger of mold. Library Director Lange explained that with the cooler temperatures there is less danger of mold and that the City’s Public Works Facilities has asked engineers and technicians to make recommendations for the repairheplacement of the system. At this point in time there is no date associated with any solution. ,- Trustee Kamenjarin asked if there was an estimated cost for renovations to the system and Library Director Lange responded that it could cost somewhere between a quarter Library Board of Trustees Minutes of September 2003 Meeting Page 2 - to a half million dollars, and although the City has an infrastructure for replacement funds there were none appropriated for this project in the CIP for this year. The board discussed the possible use of portable dehumidifiers and Carol Baird from the NSCGS voiced the Society's concerns over the genealogy collection. There is also concern over whether the heating portion will work any better than the air conditioning component. Library Director Lange explained there were several issues that impact any decision, including the possibility of having to remove the roof to access the system, possibly having to close the facility during the project, and the fact that it is an obsolete system without any maintenance support or parts available. Trustee Gleason Huss noted that in the statistical report the patron count was up but usage was down and there was a decrease in the number of children programs. Library Director Lange responded that there were no notable trends indicated, but there could be several things that would impact the count, including the HVAC problems at the Cole. Senior Children's Librarian John Quartarone was at the meeting and explained that the Summer Reading Program ended and Carlsbad schools started in August, and both of these events probably impacted the number of attendees. - REPORT ON SUMMER READING PROGRAM: Senior Librarian Quartarone delivered a report on the success of this year's Summer Reading Program. He explained the program is basically divided into two groups, 3 years to 6'h grade and then 7'h through 12fh grade teens. Special events during the program included the 7'h annual sleepover, a teen fishing trip and a teen yearbook. There were 3,030 participants in this year's program. This year for the first time registrations exceeded 3,000, (3,030 actual) which represents a 34% increase over last year. This year the staff had to order additional flyers and newsletters for school distribution and they anticipate a 30% increase next year. Trustee Kamenjarin asked how the figures for the Carlsbad Library Summer Reading program compared with other libraries in the area and Sr. Librarian Quartarone responded that he would not have that information until after the next Youth Services Serra meeting on October 7'h, but said he was aware that several libraries found it necessary to scale back their programs this year due to the budget cuts. Library Board of Trustees Minutes of SeDtember 2003 Meetina - Page 3 STATE LIBRARY REPORT: Assistant Library Director Armour explained to the board that the format for this report was the result of having to complete the form on-line this year and the report in the agenda packet was only representative of the entire document. Trustee Kamenjarin asked for an explanation of the drop in income and Trustee Swette pointed out that there was a comparable drop in expenses. Assistant Library Director Armour responded that the figures for the report this year were prepared by the new Management Assistant and probably reflected a different method of capturing the data. He confirmed that the library has not had any funding taken away. He pointed out several figures that are of concern to Administration and as yet unexplained. An example is the drop in attendance from the previous year. He continued that this could reflect a true drop in numbers due to HVAC problems at the Cole, or the malfunction of the door counter at either facility, or even an error in the figure for last year. Since last year’s report figures were complied by a previous staff member, we would need to wait for next year to check the numbers to see if there is a trend, and patron attendance is actually dropping. Trustee Gleason Huss asked who had access to this report and Assistant Library Director Armour responded that it was filed with the State Library and published annually. She asked if the State Library made any decisions based on this data that would have an impact on this library and Assistant Library Director Armour responded they did not. P Trustee Kamenjarin asked about the “degree of adequacy” rating for the three locations and Assistant Library Director Armour explained the rating is on a scale of “IO” and a judgment call as to whether the facility is of adequate size and provides adequate services. Library Director Lange suggested that this information is collected by the State to estimate the amount of library construction funds needed for the next year. CENTRO DE INFORMACION: Library Director Lange reported that he had submitted a memo to the City Manager, at the manager’s request, outlining the pros and cons of the Madison Street property and the Harding Community Center site as possibilities for the location of a Learning Center, (Centro and Adult Learning combined.) The City Manager has since asked the director to prepare an agenda bill containing this information to request direction from the City Council. 7 Library Board of Trustees Minutes of September 2003 Meeting Page 4 - The Library’s basic recommendation is the Harding Center site as the ultimate permanent location but the City cannot tear down the center at this time because of its heavy usage and lack of a replacement facility within the City. The interim solution is to locate a temporary site and use some of the CDBG grant money to purchase modular buildings to create the Learning Center, which would house the Centro and Adult Learning Program. The balance of the CDBG grant would be used to design a permanent facility that would replace the Harding Center. The problem with this plan is there is no money in the CIP for the project. Trustee Page asked what the Library would save in rent if the Adult Learning program moved and Library Director Lange responded he savings would be $25,000 annually. There was then some discussion over whether this plan meets the criteria for use of the CDBG grant funds, whether there would be adequate parking at the interim as well as potential permanent sites, and what the time table was for the project. Library Director Lange explained that the project did meet the criteria for the grant and both locations had adequate parking, and he hoped to get the agenda bill before the City Council sometime in early October. If Council approves the project, the next step will be to go out to bid on the modulars and develop an RFP for the architect. He said estimates are that the interim facility will take between $300,000 and $400,000 leaving somewhere between $250,000 and $300,000 for the design work. The Trustees expressed concern over having the CDBG funds all spent prior to the April 2004 deadline and Library Director Lange said that in the past if the recipient of the grant was substantially into the project they were ok. Trustee Page asked if there is any indication of when the Harding Center would be torn down. Library Director Lange explained that it is a matter of finding other locations for the activities that go on there now and what complicates that process is that the Community Center building planned for the Pine school park property has been pushed out into the future due to the current economy. Library Director Lange pointed out that the Library Foundation is very interested in this project and wants to raise funds and seek grant money for the construction of the permanent facility. SIRS1 SYSTEM UPDATE: Library Director Lange distributed the latest schedule for going live with the new system on February 1 I , 2004. He explained that there were some technical problems and Sirsi has so many clients currently migrating to their system there was not a lot of flexibility in their training schedule. Training for the internal trainers starts September 2gth and there will be a test server for training and practice sessions. - rc Library Board of Trustees Page 5 Minutes of September 2003 Meeting ELECTION OF CHAIR & VICE-CHAIR: By proper motion and vote, Trustee Page was unanimously elected as Chair for the Board for 2003-04 and Trustee Swette as the Vice-Chair. DIRECTOR’S REPORT: Community Activity Grants Committee appointment- Library Director Lange announced the deadline for submitting the Board’s representative on the committee for this year is October 1 gfh. Trustee Swette agreed to serve on the committee again only if absent Trustee Tarman did not wish to, Library Director Lange will contact Trustee Tarman and let the Committee and the Board know which trustee will serve this year. Public Forum “Patriot Act’’ - The library is co-sponsoring the program with the League of Women Voters on September 2gth at 7PM in the Schulman Auditorium. With the assistance of the Library Media Services staff, the League is applying for a CCTV grant to cover the cost of videotaping the program to make it available over the public access station. t Boards & Commissions Dinner - The Boards and Commissioners Dinner is scheduled for October 23rd at the Four Seasons Hotel and the CCPS Focus group meeting is November 3‘d. at Faraday. 1 Book - 1 Community Program - The Library with the Friends of the Library are planning this program for National Library Week next April. The committee has not chosen a book yet. Children’s Garden at CCL on Dove Lane - Currently the RFP is being finalized and will be sent out for bid soon. On-Line data base promotion - Library Director Lange recently spoke to the Carlsbad Village Business Association promoting the 21 databases available on line and the information was well received. The Teen Librarian from CCL on Dove Lane has also been visiting schools in the area to demonstrate usage and promote the availability. Library names - There is apparently some confusion in the public about the various names used to identify the Carlsbad City Library buildings. Apparently the new residents the community who think the Cole Library is not part of the Carlsbad City Library. In Inlex, the current catalog, the libraries are identified as Dove and Cole. Although called the Dove Library by most people, we try to identify it as the Carlsbad City Library on Dove Lane. In Sirsi the plan was for them to be identified as Main and Cole, but there has been some negative feedback on that decision. - The board discussed the confusion relative to the names as well as services and F Library Board of Trustees Page 6 Minutes of September 2003 Meeting programs that are offered throughout the system. They suggested some alternatives for names for the facilities, and the importance that our patrons know that we have these various facilities all as part of the Carlsbad City Library, however, did not feel strongly enough to take any formal action. FRIENDS OF THE LIBRARY: Friends Board liaison and President, Arthur Wood, advised there had been no Friends’ meeting since the last Library Board meeting and therefore had no report. GENEALOGICAL SOCIETY: Carol Baird reported that the society is short funds and is trying to build up membership. They have decided to publish the genealogy manual and workbook for junior genealogists written by Bea Koons. The publisher will publish the book for free and the Society will receive a royalty of 10% on the sales. The Society is in the process of conducting their annual county survey of members, which is used to decide which books to purchase for next year to aid their research. PUBLIC COMMENT: - None present. LIBRARY BOARD COMMENTS: Trustee Page brought in an article on the new Point Loma library opening on Saturday. ADJOURNMENT: By proper motion, the meeting was adjourned at 535 PM. Respectfully submitted n/J Cissie Sedon Administrative Secretary ,-