HomeMy WebLinkAbout2008-03-19; Library Board of Trustees; MinutesApproved ITEM #2
MINUTES
MEETING OF: LIBRARY BOARD OF TRUSTEES
DATE OF MEETING: Wednesday, March 19, 2008
PLACE OF MEETING: Board Room - Carlsbad City Library
1775 Dove Lane
CALL TO ORDER:
Chair Bill Kamenjarin called the meeting to order at 4:04PM.
ROLL CALL:
Present: Library Board Trustees Kamenjarin, Lignante, Swette and Tarman
Absent: Trustee Bradley
Also Present: Heather Pizzuto, Library Director
Dave Curtis, Deputy Library Director
Suzanne Smithson, Deputy Library Director
Carol Naegele, Principal Librarian
Susan Simpson, Senior Librarian
Cheryl Mast, Library Management Analyst
Jessica Padilla Bowen, Library Community Coordinator
Marg Kealey, NSDCGS Liaison
Carolyn Taylor, League of Women Voters observer
Prior to moving to the prepared agenda Library Director Pizzuto introduced the Library's
new Principal Librarian, Carol Naegele who will be overseeing the Library Learning
Center.
APPROVAL OF MINUTES:
The minutes of the meeting held February 20, 2008 were approved as submitted.
MONTHLY LIBRARY REPORTS:
Trustee Tarman had some questions about the Adult Learner Leadership Institute
mentioned under the Adult Learning report and Deputy Library Director Smithson
explained that this was the first time the Carlsbad Library had hosted this workshop in
which the learners provide the program for other learners from area literacy programs.
Library Board of Trustees Page 2
Minutes of March 19, 2008 Meeting
Trustee Kamenjarin referenced the statistics report and the steady rise in use, and
asked if staff has made any projections as to the impact of the opening of the new
Encinitas Library.
Library Director Pizzuto responded that we have no projections yet and the statistics
report in this month's packet does not reflect the opening of the Encinitas Branch;
however, this report next month will give us a better sense of any impact. She added
that she had spoken with some of our computer lab staff who did not feel there had
been any change in the activity level in the use of computers since the opening.
Deputy Library Director Curtis added that he had been told by Taffy Cannon of the
Friends of the Library that the book store has noticed a reduction in the amount of
donations received this month.
CARLSBAD READS TOGETHER:
Community Coordinator Jessica Padilla Bowen reported that all the events have been
confirmed and the first book club discussion is scheduled for April 1st. The books have
been on display at both locations for some time and as a "quick read" are being
checked out constantly. She added that the Friends of the Library have given us all the
donated copies of the book to add to the collection, which greatly increased the number
of copies available.
She reported that just recently Home Box Office (HBO) premiered in London the first of
a series based on The #1 Ladies Detective Agency which will eventually air in the
United States; however, the unexpected death of the director of the series will no doubt
have some impact.
The library has received a number of calls about Alexander McCall Smith's visit as well
as the other events and programs, and the Carlsbad Reads Together web page has
been viewed more than 200 times in both January and February. Beginning the first
week of April there will be ads running in the North County Times; however, because of
the costs, the Library decided against using banners to promote the program this year.
Trustee Kamenjarin asked if the Library was going to able to broadcast the author visit
into the Gowland Meeting Room and Community Coordinator Padilla Bowen responded
that the program would be available via closed circuit directly into the meeting room and
the staff is working with a consultant to get the signal up to City Hall for viewing in the
Council Chambers.
Trustee Swette commented on the excellent content and quality of the resource booklet
for this year's program but expressed his concerns at the potential of a large crowd for
the event, similar to what happened with Ray Bradbury's visit.
Library Board of Trustees Page 3
Minutes of March 19, 2008 Meeting
Library Director Pizzuto responded that the staff learned a great deal from the Ray
Bradbury visit and one of the reasons the tickets will be available at 6 pm this year is
that it will allow us to determine fairly quickly when we have reached capacity in the
Schulman Auditorium and Gowland Meeting Room and allow sufficient time for anyone
remaining to reach the Council Chambers in time to watch the program there.
Community Coordinator Padilla Bowed added that the Library anticipates that
attendees will begin to line up well before the 6 pm ticket pick-up. The queue will be
managed to allow for both the auditorium and meeting room seating, and color coded
and numbered tickets as well as additional stanchions and signs will be used for line
control.
Library Director Pizzuto reported that procedures for the book signing following the
event were being developed to make that a more orderly process than in the past. She
added that it would be interesting to see what the relative audience would be on a
Thursday evening at 7 pm compared to the Ray Bradbury event which was held on a
Saturday. Only through the experience can we determine how we are able to
accommodate a major author visit in the future.
Trustee Swette suggested that the event presents a great opportunity for the Library
and support organizations like the Friends and the Foundation to market their services,
especially to those people in line, and Library Director Pizzuto agreed to bring his
suggestion to the next Carlsbad Reads Together Committee meeting.
FY2008-09 BUDGET REVISIONS:
Library Management Analyst Cheryl Mast reported to the Board that the Finance
Department withdrew the 3.8% across the board increase for the budget due to the
current financial climate and the less-than-projected City revenue for January and
February. The Departments were allowed to apply the 3.8% increase in personnel costs
but had to revise their proposed budget to reflect a 0% increase for M&O. The Library
was able to cut about $80,000 of the proposed budget for next year and submitted the
revised budget to Finance this week. Preliminary review meetings with Finance will be
scheduled in early April to make any adjustments before it is brought before the Board
at the regular April meeting.
The Trustees expressed concern over the impact on operating hours or services and
Library Director Pizzuto assured them that the budget reduction would not necessitate a
service adjustment and the Library may request additional funds from the Friends of the
Library if needed.
Library Board of Trustees Page 4
Minutes of March 19, 2008 Meeting
COLLECTION DEVELOPMENT POLICY REVISIONS:
Library Director Pizzuto referenced the revised policy document sent to the Trustees
previously and the summary of changes included in the agenda packet. She explained
that the Collection Development policy is something the Library revisits about every five
years, and Senior Librarian Susan Simpson, Collection Development and Acquisitions
Division Head, was on hand to answer any questions from the Board.
Sr. Librarian Simpson explained that many of the revisions were predicated by the
opening of the Library Learning Center which then offered the opportunity to change a
few other things, including updating the demographics and Library statistics, adding the
Library Learning Center as one of the facilities and including the current Library Mission
and Vision Statements. She pointed out the expanded section dealing with alternative
formats such as the selection of links for Internet sites for the Library's website and just
more detail in general for selection of alternative formats.
Some language changes in the policy are in the Controversial Items paragraph with
regard to parental responsibility for their own minor children in the use of library
materials, and emphasizing that the Library does not stand in loco parentis.
The Challenged Book policy was not changed but the procedure now included an
appeal process which did not previously exist.
Trustee Swette asked about the reclassification of a book when the content is fine but
might be moved from the Children's Division. Sr. Librarian Simpson responded that
one of the options available to the review committee on a Challenged Book is to
reclassify the book and move it to a different section if appropriate.
In reviewing the entire text of the Challenged Book section of the policy, Trustee Swette
suggested that the language should be more specific in explaining that there are three
options: discard, retain or reclassify.
Library Director Pizzuto pointed out that the document under review is the Library Policy
Statement and does not contain all the internal procedures in place. She continued
that in the case of a challenged book, often the recommendation is to reclassify the
book which is an option in the procedures. She asked Trustee Swette if he felt it was
necessary to spell that out specifically in the policy.
Trustees Swette, Kamenjarin and Tarman all agreed that the additional language was
needed for the public to know about a third option, to reclassify the book.
Sr. Librarian Simpson described the remaining changes in the policy which separates
financial donations from donations of material and identifies the various ways financial
donations can be made while clarifying the policy on donations from local authors.
Library Board of Trustees Page 5
Minutes of March 19, 2008 Meeting
Trustee Kamenjarin asked what method is used to determine the percentage of the
collection budget dedicated to the purchase of alternative formats and what is the
current breakdown between books and alternative formats.
Sr. Librarian Simpson responded that she could not give him the current breakdown
without going back to her records and would be happy to provide those figures to the
Board, but she could tell him that the current overall materials budget is a little over $1
million and the Library spends $139,000 on on-line database subscriptions and about
$80,000 on video. As to the method used to determine what to purchase for the
collection, the selectors pay close attention to what circulates, what is used and what is
requested by the patrons. Part of the strategic team planning process includes a new
team to look at new formats and develop criteria for selection.
Trustee Kamenjarin asked if the Library could provide statistics on the use of the
alternative formats as opposed to books and Sr. Librarian Simpson responded that the
circulation statistics report breaks the items out by Dewey numbers; in the audio visual
materials by tapes versus CDs, VMS versus DVDs, etc. The Technology Librarian runs
usage statistics on the on-line database use.
Trustee Kamenjarin asked for a breakdown on the usage - alternative versus traditional
- at the next meeting.
Trustee Kamenjarin asked if the Library has any off-site storage, closed stacks or a
catacomb system or do we just have to discard when there are space constraints?
Sr. Librarian Simpson responded that the City phased out all the leased storage as it
was very costly and the Library has no offsite storage for the collection. This has forced
the selectors to be more diligent with their weeding to keep the collection more current
and fresh and to balance the collection between the popular use and the classics. She
added that the alternative formats take up much less space than printed materials and
the on-line databases take up no physical space at all.
Trustee Kamenjarin asked if both the buildings are at capacity and Library Director
Pizzuto responded that certainly the Cole is and Sr. Librarian Simpson added that we
are not to the point that the collection looks crowded but that a portion of our collection
is always circulating so all that we own is not on the shelf.
By proper motion and vote, the Board approved the revised Collection Development
Policy with the additional language stating the third option under the Challenged Book
policy is to reclassify.
Library Board of Trustees Page 6
Minutes of March 19, 2008 Meeting
LIBRARY BRANDING PROJECT UPDATE:
Library Director Pizzuto referenced the previous report on the Library's branding project
to help identify for the public what the Library is about and to develop a logo that
reflects this, and included in the agenda packet was the survey and responses from the
team working with the consultant. She added that Mr. Peji is the same consultant
working with the City's branding team, and Community Coordinator Jessica Padilla
Bowen is a member of the City-wide team and spearheading the Library's.
Community Coordinator Padilla Bowen explained that one reason the Library decided to
proceed with this project was the opportunity to work under the umbrella of the City's
process and at a time when we are opening the Library Learning Center and working on
the marketplace initiatives.
Community Coordinator Padilla Bowen passed around some early examples of logo
concepts developed by the designer based on the team's responses to the
questionnaire and discussion. The team often Library employees representing a cross-
section of the staff identified the various elements of design that they wanted
incorporated into the logo and has worked for four months to arrive at the final version,
which was shown in color and black and white as well as various sizes.
Library Director Pizzuto added that the logo was to be used for marketing materials and
would not replace the City Seal. She explained that branding is more than just a logo
but also how we talk about what we offer and Community Coordinator Padilla Bowen
then distributed a list of possible tag lines to integrate into the logo and asked for input
from the Board.
The Board discussed several options and offered suggestions which she will take back
to the team.
LIBRARY LEARNING CENTER UPDATE:
Deputy Library Director Smithson reported that the project appears to be on schedule
and within budget, anticipating they will begin on the "punch list" by mid-May. The
City's IT Department requires two months after the construction phase for installation
and testing and is estimating they will be finished by mid-July. The built-in office
furniture is expected to be finished by late June and most of the Library furniture should
arrive in early July. No final date has been set for the grand opening but preliminary
plans are for an opening celebration on a Saturday in August and open for business the
following Monday.
Trustee Kamenjarin asked if consideration was being given to the impact on the Adult
Learning Program and Centra operations in choosing the date for the grand opening.
Library Board of Trustees Page 7
Minutes of March 19, 2008 Meeting
Deputy Library Director Smithson responded that early August was best for the Literacy
program as the high school students would not return to school until early September
but is not the best time for Centra and the Summer Reading Program. Centra would
probably be closed for the month of July in order to relocate, which is right in the middle
of the program. She said staff had discussed possibly holding two mini-summer
reading programs for Centra patrons, two weeks in June and two weeks in late August
in the new building.
Trustee Kamenjarin questioned closing the Centra for a month and Deputy Library
Director Smithson explained that it would take a minimum of three weeks to relocate
the collection and train the staff on new procedures and equipment that they do not
have at present. The Library Learning Center will be operating with more technology
based programs and operating functions and the meeting rooms will have state-of-the-
art equipment that neither program has access to currently.
Principal Librarian Carol Naegele added that the staff would like to have actual practice
sessions using members of the staff as patrons to get comfortable with the equipment
before opening to the public.
DIRECTOR'S REPORT:
Governor visit - Library Director Pizzuto announced that contrary to the email sent to
the Board yesterday, she had just been advised that the Governor is not coming to the
Cole Library tomorrow. She explained that the City had been asked by the Governor's
office to provide a location for the Governor to hold a meeting regarding the State
budget and the Library learned about it on Monday. The meeting was to be attended
by somewhere between 50 and 75 community members and the Governor's staff
reviewed a number of facilities and determined that the Cole Library would be the most
appropriate one for what they wanted to accomplish. The Library has been in constant
contact with the City Manager's office in preparation and only learned earlier this
afternoon that the meeting has been canceled but may be rescheduled at some later
time.
Recruitments - In addition to welcoming Carol Naegele, the new Principal Librarian,
the position of the Media Services Technician has been offered to a candidate and we
are waiting on the final approval from Human Resources before announcing the
appointment. The recruitment for the Community Outreach Supervisor for literacy
services at the Library Learning Center will be posted by the end of this week and will
close around April 10th. That will be followed by an oral board and departmental
interviews, in hopes of filling the position before the opening of the Library Learning
Center.
Library Board of Trustees Page 8
Minutes of March 19, 2008 Meeting
Just this week the Library received the resignation from Librarian II Amanda Eisman
from the Children's Division, who will be accompanying her husband to his new position
in Alaska. The recruitment for that position should be opened early next month.
Marketplace Team - Many of the staff are wearing a new lanyard printed with the
message, "Need Help?, making the name tags visible at the public service desks, and
new display fixtures have been installed at the Cole Library with similar ones soon to be
delivered to the Dove Lane location. Silk plants have been added in several places and
the Dove Lane facility is preparing to test, on a trial basis, some acoustic panels in the
lobby to try to reduce the noise level.
Public Library Association Conference - The Library Director as well as both
Deputy Directors and other Library staff will be out of the office several days next week
attending this conference in Minneapolis.
Summer Reading Shirts: The Board is reminded that the shirt order needs to be
turned in to the Admin Secretary by the end of the week.
FOUNDATION REPORT:
Trustee Tarman reported that the Foundation Board is working with Peder Norby to
develop some strategies for seeking endorsements and donations for the capital
campaign.
FRIENDS OF THE LIBRARY REPORT:
Library Director Pizzuto reported that the Friends have not met since the last Library
Board meeting but are meeting tomorrow to discuss the funding requests for the Library
Learning Center.
NSDC GENEALOGICAL SOCIETY:
Liaison Kealey reported that the Society has changed their Tuesday meeting times in
order to vacate the Council Chambers earlier in the day. The COG Group (Computer
Oriented Genealogy) will now meet at 10 am in Council Chambers and the regular
Society meeting will be in the Cole Community Room in the afternoon.
Ms. Kealey reported on recent programs and the spring fund-raiser scheduled for
March 29th. She also announced that the beginner genealogy class has thirty students
registered after an article appeared in the North County Times about the free classes
offered.
Library Board of Trustees Page 9
Minutes of March 19, 2008 Meeting _
LIBRARY BOARD COMMENTS:
Trustee Kamenjarin asked for an update on any contact from Mr. Lambert.
Library Director Pizzuto responded that the City received one more letter and Mr.
Lambert continues to express interest in the Library filtering but we have no new
information and no new action to take at this time. The Library is still in the process of
collecting best practice research and taking a look at our actual Internet activity. A full
report on the research completed will be forthcoming at a later date. She added that
she has some preliminary statistics on Internet usage available through our electronic
monitoring that meets the system's definition of pornography for a two-week snapshot.
Compared to all Internet use by both adults and children, the items that meet the
definition of pornography are .3% of total Internet access for this period, and in the
children's area, the Internet usage that falls into that definition is .0003%
Library Director Pizzuto explained that the Library uses these statistics to give us a
sense of our overall activity and help us to understand whether we are dealing with
widespread inappropriate use or occasional use. Our monitoring so far suggests that
we have a very occasional use that meets the system's definition of pornography, and
then again this is a definition that identifies pornography based on words not images.
We also know that when we review the report and visit some of the sites identified
according to the monitoring system, pornography is not evident.
Library Director Pizzuto reminded the Board that we have no action to take at this point
and we will continue to monitor the environment and we have no additional information
or recommendations from the City Attorney's office nor requests from the City Council
to take action.
PUBLIC COMMENT:
None present.
ADJOURNMENT:
By proper motion, the meeting was adjourned at 5:25 PM.
Cissie Sexton
Administrative Secretary