HomeMy WebLinkAbout2008-11-19; Library Board of Trustees; MinutesITEM nz
MINUTES
MEETING OF: LIBRARY BOARD OF TRUSTEES
DATE OF MEETING: Wednesday, November 19, 2008
PLACE OF MEETING: Community Room
Georgina Cole Library - 1250 Carlsbad Village Drive
CALL TO ORDER:
Chair Bill Kamenjarin called the meeting to order at 4:06 p.m.
ROLL CALL:
Present: Library Board Trustees Benson, Bradley, and Kamenjarin and
Tarman
Absent: Trustees Lignante and Swette
Also Present: Heather Pizzuto, Library Director
Dave Curtis, Deputy Library Director
Suzanne Smithson, Deputy Library Director
Cheryl Mast, Library Management Analyst
Jessica Padilla Bowen, Library Community Coordinator
Devin Castel, Library Business Systems Specialist
Marg Kealey, NSDCGS Liaison
Carolyn Taylor, League of Women Voters observer
APPROVAL OF MINUTES:
On a motion by Trustees Benson/Bradley, the minutes of the regular meeting held
October 15, 2008 were unanimously approved as submitted.
MONTHLY LIBRARY REPORTS FOR OCTOBER 2008:
Trustee Benson asked if the Library had set a target number for the "people count" for
the new Learning Center and Library Director Pizzuto responded the Library had not
because the facility provides such a unique array of services there wasn't another one
in the State with which to compare it.
Deputy Library Director Smithson added that just looking at the number of people
coming through the door (people count), the total for the month was more than twice
the combined total for the Centre de Informacion and Adult Learning Program when
they were in separate locations. This number may fluctuate as use by patrons settles
into routine patterns.
Library Board of Trustees Page 2
Minutes of December 19, 2007 Meeting
Trustee Kamenjarin asked for more details on the In-N-Out annual "Food for Thought"
reading program.
Deputy Library Director Smithson responded that there were about 200 children who
participated. Library Director Pizzuto added that the Library has taken part in this
program for many years as it is a simple process and totally funded by In-N-Out.
Participants turn in their reading logs for free food vouchers, and can earn up to three
vouchers each.
Trustee Kamenjarin also asked about marketing for the Toddler Time and Library
Director Pizzuto responded that there had been an article in the North County Times
recently and asked Community Coordinator Jessica Padilla Bowen to send the link for
the article to the Trustees.
Trustee Benson asked about school tours of the Library and Deputy Library Director
Curtis responded that primarily the teachers call and request the tours, which
predominantly include students from the schools within walking distance as there is no
school bus service in Carlsbad.
The Trustees discussed various ways to market the Library tours to all the schools in
the area and ways in which to assist with the transportation for those too far away to
walk. Library Director Pizzuto reminded the Board that Carlsbad children attend
schools in four different school districts.
APPOINTMENT OF BOARD REPRESENTATIVE TO THE CARLSBAD LIBRARY &
ARTS FOUNDATION BOARD:
This item was on the agenda from last month, as the result of Trustee Lignante's
resignation from the position. Trustee Benson volunteered to represent this Board and
the Trustees accepted his offer unanimously.
ECONOMIC IMPACTS ON THE LIBRARY BUDGET:
Library Director Pizzuto reported that due to the state of the economy, the City recently
reviewed its projected revenue for the year and anticipates the revenue will not meet
previous projections.. All City Departments were asked to submit a plan for a 5%
reduction in the current year budget, possibly to carry over to the budget for FY2009-10.
She advised that the Library had submitted its proposal and begun initiating reductions
immediately. The 5% reduction in the Library budget represents a $.5 million, a good
portion of which will be taken from the materials budget which she hopes to augment
with additional donations from the Friends of the Library and community members.
Also included in the reduction are admin costs and office supplies. She added that at
this time there are no plans for a reduction in staff or a hiring freeze.
Library Board of Trustees Page 3
Minutes of December 19, 2007 Meeting
Library Director Pizzuto continued that the 5% reduction is anticipated to not impact
Library services to the point that patrons would notice substantial changes but that
further reductions in the budget would definitely have impact on service delivery.
Additional information will be shared with the Board as reductions are finalized.
TECHNOLOGY QUARTERLY REPORT:
Library Business Systems Specialist Devin Castel presented a report on some of the
highlights of the quarterly report which was distributed with the agenda packet. He
provided charts indicating the top ten internet sites used by our patrons and the amount
of bandwidth they use. The Library is operating at maximum use more often than
desirable and is working with AT&T to double the bandwidth for public access.
The Trustees discussed possible options for maybe blocking web advertising, the
biggest consumer of bandwidth, or restricting access to sites that use large amount of
band-width. Business Systems Specialist Castel advised that the challenge would be to
determine how to identify the ads and in some cases blocking them could prevent a
page from loading.
REPORTS ON CONFERENCES & STAFF TRIANING:
Library Director Pizzuto reported that a number of staff members had recently attended
several conferences and the Library's annual staff training event took place this past
month as well.
Community Coordinator Jessica Padilla Bowen had attended the international Public
Relations Society of America (PRSA) Conference in Detroit, where she heard a variety
of speakers addressing innovations in news and information delivery.
Business Systems Specialist Devin Castel reported on the topics discussed at the
Internet Librarian Conference in Monterey.
Library Director Pizzuto and several other Library staff members attended the annual
California Library Association conference in San Jose where a key topic was sustaining
Library services in the current economy and the value of strategic planning.
Deputy Library Director Curtis provided the Board with information about the annual
staff training event which focused on Plus Customer Service. He provided them with
key evaluation results and summarized comments from the forms submitted following
the all-hands morning session.
Library Board of Trustees Page 4
Minutes of December 19, 2007 Meeting
DIRECTOR'S REPORT:
Staff Evacuation Drill - The drill is scheduled to take place at all Library locations on
the morning of December 9th at 8:30 a.m., prior to the facilities being open to the public.
Representatives from the Carlsbad Fire Department will be on hand to observe the drill
and provide recommendations for any improvement.
Carlsbad Reads Together. 2009 - The book has been selected by the committee and
final approval for the funding is being sought from the Friends of the Library before any
announcement is made public. Details will follow at the next Library Board meeting.
EMS Upgrade - The EMS (event management system) upgrade was successfully
completed, primarily affecting the staff-use side making the interface easier for this
web-based program.
City Web re-design - The City expects to have a soft roll-out of the new website in
January, after the migration to Outlook from GroupWise. The Library has played a key
role in the overall development and is represented by several Library staff on various
committees.
Principal Librarian - Carol Naegele is recovering from her recent surgery and
anticipates returning to work in early December.
Part-time staff - The Library has recently lost several part time staff members to San
Diego County Library and UCSD.
CARLSBAD LIBRARY & ARTS FOUNDATION REPORT:
Library Director Pizzuto reported that at their last meeting the Board participated in an
extensive conference call with their financial advisor at Fidelity, and based on the
assessment provided and the state of their investments the Board did not make any
changes to their investment policy.
FRIENDS OF THE LIBRARY REPORT:
Library Director Pizzuto announced that the Friends of the Library were meeting
tomorrow.
NSDC GENEALOGICAL SOCIETY:
Liaison to the Board, Marg Kealey, announced that the Fall Seminar was a huge
success, raising $900. Membership continues to increase, having reached 537, and
attendance at the seminars and programs remains steady. Beginner and refresher
classes in genealogy research recommenced on November 8th and she reminded the
Library Board of Trustees Page 5
Minutes of December 19, 200.7 Meeting
Trustees that they are invited to the annual Holiday Party at the San Marcos Country
Club on December 9th.
LIBRARY BOARD COMMENTS:
Trustee Bradley expressed appreciation for the copies of the PR pieces included in
their monthly mailing.
PUBLIC COMMENT:
None
ADJOURNMENT:
By proper motion,, (Bradley/Benson) the meeting was adjourned at 5:29 PM.
Cissie Sexton
Administrative Secretary
ITEM #4
Monthly LIBRARY Reports
for
OCTOBER 2008
Systemwide ...
1. Library staff participated in the annual in-service training day on Tuesday, October
28. Highly-recommended customer service consultant, Susan Berk, presented
"Setting the Stage for Service" in the morning for all staff. All Library locations were
closed from 9:00-1:00 to accommodate this event. In the afternoon, Ms. Berk
worked with Division Heads on ways to incorporate the concepts she presented.
2. All three Library locations are participating in In-N-Out's annual "Food for Thought"
reading promotion program from October 11 to November 22. Youth between the
ages of 4 and 12 read books and can trade in their reading logs for In-N-Out food.
Several parents have told staff how much they appreciate this program. One family
in particular has four children and the mom relayed to staff how nice it was to be
able to treat the whole family to dinner with only having to spend a few dollars.
3. Volunteer Coordinator Amy Bennett conducted her monthly orientation for potential
volunteers with 11 people in attendance resulting in 9 interviews. With the upcoming
holidays, the next volunteer orientation is scheduled for January 17, but individual
orientations can be accommodated before that time. We have seen some delays in
placing volunteers due to the broken LiveScan machine at the Police Department. A
new machine became available in late October.
4. The Library is now offering a new online database, Oxford Art Online, available at
home or in the Library for searching for articles written about art as well as artist
biographies, thematic timelines, and images.
5. The Library hosted jazz guitarist Gene Bertoncini for a concert on October 26.
Nearly 200 people enjoyed the performance featuring jazz standards and popular
hits.
6. Children and adults celebrated National Hispanic Heritage Month at the Library with
Alina Mendez on October 8. Ms. Mendez delighted audiences of all ages with her
performance of traditional dances, fables, and costumes from Latin America. Ms.
Mendez told stories, danced traditional folk dances and got a number of audience
members up and dancing at performances at each location.
CCL, Dove Lane ...
7. On Oct. 7 Darin Williamson spoke to 80 students at Carlsbad High School's College
Night about the Library's databases, with an emphasis on College Source.
8. Teen Read Week was October 12-18 and featured a "Read for Chocolate"
program. Participating teens were given chocolate bars in exchange for written
reviews of favorite books. Thirteen teens participated.
Monthly Library Reports for October 2008
9. On Oct. 27, Teen Services Librarian Darin Williamson held a Halloween pumpkin
carving program for teens. Ten teens carved jack-o-lanterns to take home.
10. October's TV programming featured The Na Palai Coast Trio, a Peter Sprague
concert recorded live in the Schulman Auditorium. Library Auditorium programs are
regularly shown on Time Warner Cable's community TV channel 19, KOCT
Oceanside and on Del Mar Access TV.
11. The Children's Division conducted four school tours during the month of October.
12. Librarian Julie Conklin and Library Assistant Fred Vrabel presented at the Children's
Division hosted Educators' Open House on October 2. The event was well-attended
by area teachers.
Georgina Cole ...
13. The Genealogy Division and North San Diego County Genealogical Society co-
sponsored the annual Fall Seminar on Saturday, October 18. 83 people attended
the program, "Sharing Your Family's Story." Three members of NSDCGS and
Library Technician Jan Mongoven spoke about very different ways of publishing a
genealogy/family history. The program was a great success as evidenced by the fact
that all participants stayed through the full all-day program. On October 14, Senior
Librarian Mary Van Orsdol and Library Technicians Ann Montgomery and Judy
Michaels presented a panel discussion of "Social Networking for Genealogists" at
the NSDCGS Computer Group with 68 people in attendance. On October 28,
Senior Librarian Mary Van Orsdol spoke to NSDCGS about the Genealogy
Collection and about the parts of the collection that the NSDCGS Book Committee
emphasizes in its purchasing.
14. The Tuesday Evening Book Club read "My Sister's Keeper," by Jodi Picoult with 16
members attending the discussion led by Librarian Missy Shaw. Missy has
accepted a full-time position in the Cole Children's Division and Library Assistant
Elyse Roy will assume liaison to this book club beginning in January. The Thursday
Afternoon Book Club read "Suite Francaise," by Irene Nemivrovsky. Nine members
attended the discussion led by Librarian Kimiko Morita.
15. Children's and Teen Services at Cole had many special activities during the month.
• A special Firefighter Visit at Preschool Storytime on October 8 to coincide with
Fire Prevention Month with a whopping attendance of over 100 parents and
preschoolers. Firefighters talked about fire safety, read stories to the kids and
handed out fire helmets and coloring books. Kids were able to tour the fire truck
in the Library parking lot after the program.
• A Dia de los Muertos craft using plastic, sugar-skull like skulls that light up. We
had 33 kids ranging in grades 1-5 participate in the program.
• HalloTEEN was held again this year on the evening of Friday, October 24. It is
the annual slightly scary event held after the Library closes. This year all
attendees were girls and had a great time with the (fake) blood and gore.
Monthly Library Reports for October 2008
• A sing-a-long screening of High School Musical to tie-in with the release of High
School Musical 3 in the theaters with 21 kids and parents attend this event.
16. Toddler Time is still very active with an average attendance of 51 per session for the
month of October. Preschool Storytime had an average attendance of 41.
S.M.A.R.T. Babies had an average attendance of 23 per session.
Learning Center ...
17. On October 23 the Learning Center hosted a visit with author Victor Villasenor. Mr.
Villasenor gave an inspirational talk to the audience about his youth years and
discussed his latest book "Crazy Loco Love." More than 130 people attended the
standing-room only event.
18. Although many issues with the new Learning Center building have been resolved,
there are still some outstanding. One example is the elevator—it became stuck
again this month. Although no one was trapped, assurances need to be in place
that the elevator is reliable.
19. The Literacy Program now has 60 matched pairs. Monday morning sessions are the
busiest and staff working together to use of the downstairs homework rooms for
sessions before 11:00 a.m.
20. Two literacy tutor orientations and one tutor training were completed and we hope to
see another surge of interest as the paid advertising in the Pennysaver resumed in
October (funded by the State Grant). Additional non-tutor volunteers are still
needed as we've had some turnover in the door greeter volunteer positions.
21. Literacy small group programs continued, including the conversation group, Writing
and Communication class, CHS and adult tutor brown bags, and a holiday budgeting
class.
22. Recruitment is continuing for two part-time AmeriCorps positions available for 2009
to work with the Literacy program. There are 2 current tutors and 1 prospective tutor
who are serious about applying. Community Outreach Coordinator Carrie Scott is
working with the AmeriCorps coordinator about the possibility of securing a third
AmeriCorps position.
23. On October 15, Community Outreach Coordinator Lizeth Simonson attended the
monthly meeting of the Carlsbad Youth Enrichment Services (Y.E.S.) at Harding
Community Center in Carlsbad. Vista Community Clinic present a program called
"Teen Cyber-lnternet Educators." Teen Cyber Educators is a peer to peer education
program that empowers teens to teach teens how to protect themselves while
online. Handouts where distributed to the audience.
24. The Serra System sponsored their annual Multilingual Book Fair at the Oceanside
Public Library on October 24. Lizeth Simonson, a member of the Multilingual Book
Fair Committee, worked the day before helping vendors set up as well as at the fair.
Monthly Library Reports for October 2008
Fifteen local vendors offered books and audio materials in various languages.
Librarians and teachers from several counties and the public in general attended the
book fair.
25. Learning Center staff welcomed a new Homework Zone volunteer: Judith
Schumacher. During October, 193 children received assistance with their
homework.
CARLSBAD CITY LIBRARY
MONTHLY USAGE STATISTICS - OCTOBER 2008
CCL Dove Lane
Reference questions
Circulation
People count
In-House Use of Materials
Cole Library
Reference questions
Circulation
People count
In-House Use of Materials
Learning Center (began Aug 2008; formerly Centro/ALP)
Reference questions
Circulation
People count
In-House Use of Materials
Library-Sponsored Programs
Adult programs
Adult program attendance
Young Adult programs
Young Adult program attendance
Children's programs
Children's program attendance
Computer Users
All Facilities
E-Mail Notification
New Users
Outbound Notices (Hold, Overdue 1 & 2)
New Users Cumulative Total (Began August 2005)
Telephone Notification
New Users
New Users Cumulative Total (Began December 2005)
Facility Meeting Room Use
Events booked
Event attendance
Events cancelled
Volunteer Hours
Total hours
Oct-07
13,049
75,201
33,387
13,875
7,264
32,526
21,937
8,864
181/61
967/143
1,9097*
179/*
29
417
11
168
127
2,675
13,164
837
7,286
22,520
275
6,544
104
3,954
21
1,124.6
Sept-08
13,450
73,040
32,497
9,106
8,160
32,315
17,277
6,524
857
1,492
3,134***
497
31
440
9
95
89
2,617
13,509
932
8,271
31,605
306
9,346
89
3,135
14
1,389.75
Oct-08
13,754
73,026
33,526
9,195
7,856
31,640
16,750
5,974
833
1,832
4,942
198
43
666
11
97
124
3,342
13,864
818
8,627
32,423
272
9,618
72
2,766
16
1,239.55
* Not reported.
*** Door counter not working properly for one week.
ITEM #7
Carlsbad City Library
Technology Report
About this report
The following report covers information between the months of
July-September. The data that is contained in this report, is
meant to provide an overview of use and performance regarding
the Library's various technologies. Below you will find the con-
tents for the last three months.
Contents
Website Page Views pg. 2
Top Internet Categories pg. 2
Monthly Wireless Use pg. 2
Public Computer Utilization pg. 2
Public Computer Sessions pg. 3
Public Bandwidth Utilization pg. 3
July - September 2008 Summary
Carlsbadlibrary.org/Arts/Media Services Usage Statistics
Location
Carlsbadlibrary.org
Arts
Media Services
Page Views
214,186
26,932
4,851
Top Public Internet Categories
Category
Web Advertisements
Social Networking
Search Engines/Portals
Reference
Email
Streaming Media/MP3s
Computers/Internet
Business/Economy
Shopping
Games
Percentage of use
14.7%
11.3%
9.8%
9.0%
6.4%
5.8%
4.2%
4.1%
3.6%
3.4%
Wireless Location Totals
Location
Cole
Dove
Users
2,167
1,634
PC Utilization Average
Computer Type
Dove Adult Lab
Dove Career Center
Dove E-mail
Dove Walk-up
Dove Children's Lab
Cole Adult Lab
Cole E-mail
Cole Children's
Centra (July)
Learning Center Children's Lab (Aug - Sep)
Learning Center Adult Lab (Aug - Sep)
*This table does not reflect offline use.
Computers
12
2
4
12
9
10
1
8
5
7
7
Utilization
57%
48%
26%
71%
16%
77%
32%
39%
49%
22%
31%
July - September 2008 Summary
PC Management Sessions
Location
Dove Adult Lab
Dove Career Center
Dove E-mail
Dove Walk-up
Dove Children's
Cole Adult
Cole E-mail
Cole Children's
Centre (July)
Learning Center Children's Lab (Aug - Sep)
Learning Center Adult Lab (Aug - Sep)
This table does not reflect offline use.
Computers
12
2
4
12
9
10
1
8
5
7
7
Sessions
5,133
821
5,414
11,363
1,224
9,092
1,586
2,751
199
298
473
Dove Public Bandwidth Utilization
*Not including wireless
May 2008 — September 2008
Unit = percent. Capacity = loo percent • PEftK C3 flVG
November 2007 — September 2008
60-
Unit = percent. Capacity = 100 percent • PEflK n flVG
Report on Conferences and Staff Training
. 2008 PRSA International Conference
Detroit October 25-28
Building relationships using traditional public
relations tactics and using new media (blogs, wikis,
twitter, etc.)
Keynote speakers such as Mitch Albon (/Tuesdays
with Monrie) and Craig Newmark (Craig's List)
internet
Utilizing Web 2.0 tools in a library
environment
Looking ahead to next generation library
catalogs
NOVEMBER U-17, Z008
SAH JOSl. (UlfOMIA
CARLSBAD
CITY LIBRARY
Setting the Stage for Service
2S, 10QH
To be announced "Plus Service" standards
Building specific standards and scripts
Htfl
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