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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2005-10-19; Library Board of Trustees; MinutesMINUTES MEETING OF: DATE OF MEETING: October 19,2005 PLACE OF MEETING: LIBRARY BOARD OF TRUSTEES Carlsbad City Library Board Room 1775 Dove Lane CALL TO ORDER: Chair Rob Swette called the meeting to order at 4:Ol PM. ROLL CALL: Present: Library Board Trustees, Kamenjarin, Lignante, Swette, and Tarman Absent: None Also Present: Heather Piuuto, Library Director Dave Curtis, Deputy Library Director Cheryl Mast, Library Management Analyst Jessica Padilla Bowen, Library Community Coordinator Callie Ahrens, Senior Librarian, Reference Division Arthur Wood, President, Friends of the Library Carolyn Hoard, NSDCGS liaison Summer Murphy, League of Women Voters observer APPROVAL OF MINUTES: The minutes of the meeting of September 21, 2005 were approved as presented. MONTHLY LIBRARY REPORTS: Chair Swette asked for more information on the Carlsbad History Room activity and Library Director Pizzuto responded that it is routine for patrons to contact the history room for photographs and information for various uses. Library Director Pizzuto also offered to have Library Technician Susan Gutierrez review the services provided as an agenda item for a future meeting. Trustee Kamenjarin commented that he had recently contacted the Carlsbad History Room for photos to use in celebration of the 50th anniversary of the Bar Association and that Library Technician Susan Gutierrez is an excellent resource for historical information of all sorts. Library Board of Trustees Minutes of October 19, 2005 Meeting Page 2 Trustee Tarman asked if the Homework Zone was up and running since school had started and Library Director Pizzuto responded that it was not being as heavily utilized as in the past and the library plans to actively promote the service again. Chair Swette commented on the rise in email notification requests and Management Analyst Cheryl Mast responded that the library anticipates $16,000 in savings of postage and the cost of the print mailers this year, based on the September numbers. Trustee Kamenjarin expressed his appreciation for the additional column of information on the statistics report form and the other trustees agreed it was a good change. ANNUAL STATE LIBRARY REPORT: Library Director Piuuto referred the trustees to the copy of the report distributed earlier, explaining that much of the information requested is standard from year to year and the report contains statistics from last year as well as the current one. She pointed out that sometimes the State changes the way in which they want data reported. An example of such a change was the measurement of volunteer FTE; last year the form z&-cLfar- annual figure, and this year it called for a monthly one. , \.. . Chair Swette pointed out the decrease in attendance and Library Director Pizzuto period and in addILn atienciance decreased during the hottest days of the wm,er due to the HVAC problems at tire Cole. She added that the electrenic use of the library has increased significantly which impacts the number of patrons who actujally .l walk into the building. responded that there was a malfunctim of the door counter at the Cole library for a ,I( ,, Chair Swette then noted the increase in the “in-house use” category and Library Director Pizzuto responded that with the installation of the new automated system, Sirsi, we were able to scan the materials used in-house for a more accurate count of those items. Trustee Kamenjarin asked about the drop in circulation and Library Director Pizzuto suggested it was the result of the HVAC problems at the Cole Library as well as the increase in electronic use of materials. She continued that libraries all over are struggling to extrapolate activity levels as we rely more and more on electronic sources and they are counted in different ways. The whole method of counting electronic use is very nebulous right now for libraries all over trying to compare the circulation of books to the use of electronic sources. Chair Swette asked what impact if any this report has on the library as far as funding, operations or our standing in the State ranking. Library Board of Trustees Minutes of October 19,2005 Meeting Page 3 Library Director Pizzuto responded that the State Library itself is struggling with how to tell the story of how libraries are being used because of the electronic impact. There is quite a lot of exploration being done right now of methods of counting that can be used standardly across all libraries; different software that can count “hits” on various kinds of databases or electronic tools, to create a more consistent counting method, not just for individual libraries but across the State. The solution here is to follow the lead of the State Library in using standard tools to capture usage of electronic sources and then to begin to report them in a way that is more consistent than we have in the past. This is only the second year the State Library has asked for electronic use statistics on the report. Senior Librarian Callie Ahrens, Reference Division Head, added that the increase in use of personal laptop computers inside the library has allowed the patrons to do their research in-house, eliminating the need to check out the material. Library Community Services Coordinator Jessica Padilla Bowen added that according -to the City’s webmaster, the Library’s catalog is one of the top five sites selected through the City’sweb-site. . - Trustee Kamenjarin commented that he shared Chair Swette’s concern over the drop in usage based on these statistics as projecting an inaccurate picture that could result in a reduction in funding. Library Director Piuuto responded that‘she believes there needs to be a broad solution to portraying library services differently. It is no longer just about counting the number of books that come in and out, but about all the resources we make available. She pointed out that when you change how you deliver services you also have to change how you measure it. .. I Library Director Pizzuto concluded that she was relatively sure that with all the exploration of methods to measure electronic use, the State would be forthcoming with a standardized method fairly soon. REFERENCE SERVICES - PART I: Library Director Pizzuto introduced newly appointed Deputy Library Director, Dave Curtis, previously head of the Reference Division at Cole and Senior Librarian Callie Ahrens, head of the Reference Division at the Dove Lane location. Deputy Library Director Curtis began with traditional services of the Reference Division, that of answering questions. As patrons’ needs change, the service morphs so that the Reference Librarian is available to them beyond the open hours of the library via the internet: they have an e-mail option, “Ask a Librarian”, and a live interactive service, Library Board of Trustees Minutes of October 19, 2005 Meeting Page 4 “Ask Now”, available 24 hours a day. The Carlsbad City Library is answering about 15,000 questions a month. Chair Swette asked how many questions were directed to the “Ask Now” interactive service and Senior Librarian Ahrens clarified that the 24 hour service is not staffed by the Carlsbad City Library but was a statewide service and that the last time she checked, Carlsbad Library patrons were averaging about 50 questions a month. The e- mail service does come directly to this library and staff responds to those inquiries, between 2 to 3 each day. Deputy Library Director Curtis explained that in the event the Reference Staff was having difficulty with a specific reference question, the Serra Cooperative Library Service offers assistance with additional research and resources beyond the Carlsbad City Library’s collections. Senior Librarian Ahrens explained to the Board the Inter-Library Loan (ILL) service offered to patrons where they can borrow materials from other collections all over the United States and Canada. Although this service is not widely known, she reported that from January through September of this year, patrons from this library borrowed 409 items from other libraries and the Carlsbad City Library lent 788 items to other libraries. In addition to patron requested materials, the library also borrows from the California State Library, small collections of various foreign language materials (3 or 4 boxes at a time), which are kept at the Reference Desk. During the past year, the library borrowed over 100 foreign language items, in Dutch, Farsi, Polish, Russian, Chinese, Albanian, French and Bulgarian. Senior Librarian Ahrens distributed flyers describing the three adult book clubs available at the Dove Lane facility: the Monday night classics; the first Wednesday afternoon; and the first Thursday evening. She reported we also offer a Mostly First Monday’s book club for the teens, and at the Cole there is both a Tuesday evening and a Thursday afternoon club. The book club members select which titles they will read, and the facilitating Librarians collect background information on the author and the book. The book clubs are promoted with the flyers at the Reference desk as well as on the Library’s webpage and the calendar of events, and have been successful in bringing some of the authors to the book clubs. Trustee Kamenjarin asked how academic were the discussions and Senior Librarian Ahrens responded that the discussion depends on the group dynamics and the title. She said the ration of men to women is about 40-60 and participants range widely in age. Trustee Kamenjarin asked if an individual patron could successfully search for an inter- library loan item through the web, and Senior Librarian Ahrens responded it would be more efficient for the patron to call the library reference desk. She explained that the Library Board of Trustees Minutes of October 19, 2005 Meeting Page 5 librarian here uses the OCLC consortium database of libraries and their holdings and can locate the item much moor quickly. She then explained the search process in detail. Senior Librarian Ahrens answered questions about the cost and security of mailing the materials and the length of time it takes for the material to arrive. NSDCGS liaison Carolyn Hoard asked if genealogy books were available through inter- library loan and Senior Librarian Ahrens responded that other than the Sutro Library, she knew of no others that offered their genealogy collection for ILL and Carlsbad does not lend ours. Library Director Pizzuto suggested that some libraries would copy set pages or articles for a patron passing the cost of copies along to the requestor in addition to the $2 fee for the inter-library loan. She said that different libraries charge different fees for this service and the Carlsbad City Library has the lowest fee in the County. Additionally, the State Library is looking at making the entire OCLC database accessible to patrons. Library Director Pizzuto concluded the presentation with an explanation that this was part one of a two part series on reference services. Part two will be on the agenda for the November meeting and will focus on the electronic side including a test preview of the soon to be installed PC management system, the computer lab and other electronic service that fall under the category of reference. CARLSBAD READS TOGETHER - 2006: Library Community Coordinator Jessica Padilla Bowen explained that the librarians involved with the book clubs are on the committee for the event this year, which will be held in April 2006, in conjunction with the celebration of National Library Week. The committee has been discussing book selection and activities for the month. In addition, the Library has applied for a grant for the event. The grant from the National Endowment for the Arts will be awarded to only six communities and their selections are scheduled for sometime in October. Meanwhile both library locations have suggestion boxes for patron recommendations and the book club members are also involved. There was some discussion of the criteria for selection and consideration of whether the event could include a visit from the author. Trustee Kamenjarin commented that last year this program was great. The selection was not only controversial and provocative but the author was available for an appearance during a nationwide book tour. He continued that he felt it was important to select a book that could be read by a wide demographic and the library should reach out to the community to involve high school students. Library Board of Trustees Minutes of October 19, 2005 Meeting Page 6 Community Coordinator Padilla Bowen responded that she had already been In touch with La Costa Canyon High School and they had provided a letter of support for the grant application. Once the book has been selected she will also contact Carlsbad High School to solicit their support and participation. Chair Swette asked when the final decision would be made as to the title and Library Director Piuuto responded the committee was meeting next week to review the short list and suggestions and will probably make a final decision in mid-November. The grant was specific to certain titles, and if we are successful with our application, the book will most likely be “Fahrenheit 451”. COLE LIBRARY HVAC _& INTERIM SERVICES: ‘ *dl , Library Director Piuuto announced that at +he City Council last night the Council approved the awarding of the contract for the reb!-cement of the HVAC system in spite of the cost, which exceeded preliminary estimates. The Cole building will be closed for approximately 6 weeks beginning around mid December. The yvxifktknefhe wlll be established based on the contractor providing his submittals. Staff is actively working on procuring the shelving for the modular building, which dl1 be placed in the parking lot as the interim facility. The library is planning a six weeks heavy marketing plan in advance of the closing and opening hw may change as evening hours are questionable due to several factors including safety. ~ L Trustee Tdrman asked about changes in staffing and Library Diwctw Pizzuto responded that extra staff would be used at the Library on Dove Lane as we anticipate an increase in the number of patrons using that facility. We will also be supporting the Cole Library remotely with additional reference staff on desk at the Dove Lane Library. During daylight hours, staff members may have access to the Cole building to retrieve items for patrons, and we may use this time to tag items in the collection with RFlD tags. She concluded that several full time staff members have requested to take leave without pay during this period, so there are a lot of options being considered for staff deploy men t. There were several questions about the size of the modular building, its position in the parking lot and restroom facilities. DIRECTOR’S REPORT: Staffinq: Deputy Library Director Curtis will continue to oversee the interim facility plans and shelving reconfiguration, and will supervise reference services at the Cole, probably until Deputy Library Director Smithson returns in November. His promotion leaves a vacancy for Senior Librarian at the Cole and no decision has been made about reopening that recruitment. The City will be recruiting for Librarian 1/11 at the CIA conference for the openings in Technical Services and Children’s at Dove Lane. Long Library Board of Trustees Minutes of October 19, 2005 Meeting Page 7 time employee Library Assistant Michelle Sagnimeni who retired last month after being diagnosed with lung cancer passed away on October 3rd. Children's Garden at Dove Lane; The project is underway and the grading has been completed. The project is still on schedule and staff is working on the final choice for the gazebo. The Carlsbad Garden Club has offered their assistance in the planting and maintenance of the vegetable garden included in the plans. The project is scheduled for completion by the end of the year but the grand opening event would not be held until sometime in the spring after the landscape has had a chance to take hold and the rainy season is behind us. Technoloav projects: The PC/print/copy management project is in the final design stage and tentative plans call for testing within the next week. The RFlD tags for the collection have been ordered and staff is working on plans for implementation; tagging thamllection will take about six months. There are several staff groups looking at how we may ci'eliver sewices diffarentlyaround the changes that RFlD will bring. Balanced Scoiecard: The goal team met with SBRI, the organization at Cal State San Marcos that assisted with our last survey, to assist the library in designing and administering both the user survey in the library as well as the telephone survey of residents. We are also pursuing a firm that does mystery shopping to arrange for Mystery Shoppers in the library on a quarterly basis. These processes will provide the information necessary for the design of the next scorecard, probably in the spring or summer of next year, to set up the next set of strategic directions. The current strategic plan for the library takes us through June of 2006. s. Trustee Swette asked if it was necessary for the Board to approve moving the date out to June 2006 for the new strategic plan since the Board had agreed to a target date to have the new plan in place by December of 2005. Library Director Pizzuto responded that she would check the record to see if the December date was formalized by a proper motion and vote or if it was just a discussion and put this item on the agenda for next month. Wireless access to the Internet is available at both library locations and the City is issuing a press release about the service this week. Email and telephone notification projects are moving along on schedule and both services are being promoted in the library. The server for the telephone notification is still not quite ready for rollout. During some testing we identified some needed changes in the configuration of the outbound calls and some minor changes are being made to the Spanish language translation of the outbound messages. Library Board of Trustees Minutes of October 19. 2005 Meetina Page 8 Library Management Analyst Mast asked if the Board would like the statistics on the number of patrons selecting telephone notification as their preference and the board replied in the affirmative. FOUNDATION REPORT: Trustee Tarman reported that at the last meeting of the Foundation it was announced that the Foundation was the beneficiary of a large estate, $1.4 million, designated to be used for cultural arts programs, and scheduled for distribution sometime next April or May. The home tour for this year includes six local residences with different activities offered at several locations, and the Foundation is still looking for volunteers to assist with the event. The Richard Glazier concert and reception was successful and well received. Nearly all the home tour owners were present. The annual retreat will again be in December facilitated by the consultant, Janie Anderson who will be working with strategic planning and the development of a feasibility study for the capital campaign. Retired Library Director Cliff Lange has agreed to serve as the chairman for the campaign. FRIENDS OF THE LIBRARY: President Arthur Wood reported the Friends membership is currently 490 but that includes family memberships, total active volunteers number 151, and the treasurer reported a balance of $181,000 in their account. The annual book sale on the green this year was moved to the parking lot in front of City Hall and although it made the set up much easier on the hard surface, the attendance was not as great as before. The usual early morning crowd was there but they missed the traffic of the library patrons since the location was no longer in front of the entryway. Most of the books that were left were sold to a dealer and what remained was donated to Calaveras Middle School for their library and some were sent to schools impacted by hurricane Katrina. GENEALOGICAL SOCIETY: Liaison Carolyn Hoard advised she had nothing new to report other than what was contained in the newsletter distributed earlier. Library Board of Trustees Minutes of October 19, 2005 Meeting Page 9 LIBRARY BOARD COMMENTS: Trustee Kamenjarin thanked the Media Services Division for providing copies of the photograph of the Board taken at Cliff Lange’s last meeting. PUBLIC COMMENT: None ADJOURNMENT: By proper motion, the meeting was adjourned at 5:13 PM. Respectfully submi ed, r/ Cissie G+ Sexto AdministratiSe Secretary