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HomeMy WebLinkAboutApproved Minutes - 2019-09-11 PMCITY OF LAKE OSWEGO September 11, 2019 Library Advisory Board Library 1 Present: Cliff Perigo, Jacquie Siewert-Schade, Kay Steele, Ed Steinberg, Rick Slaven, Jessie Smith, Jackie Manz, Sherry Swackhamer, Ben Altman Staff Present: Melissa Kelly, Nell Diamond, Cyndie Glazer 1. Call to Order and Roll Call/ Introductions The Library Advisory Board meeting was called to order by Chair Cliff Perigo at 7p.m. on Wednesday September 11, 2019. Ben Altman introduced himself. Ben is a senior at Lake Oswego High School. He indicated that he has been using the Public Library his entire life, and is looking forward to working with the LAB. Each LAB member introduced themselves. 2. Minutes from June 12, 2019- Swackhamer noted that she was in attendance and to please amend and add her on the list. Slaven moved to approve with this amendment, Perigo seconded, with amendment, minutes approved with amendment 8-0. 3. Public Comment - none 4. Lake Oswego Reads Update- Cyndie Glazer Glazer distributed the list of books that were considered for the 2020 Lake Oswego Reads (LO Reads) choice. Glazer provided a packet for the LAB, and reviewed the contents. She noted that the committee has been meeting since April, and provided a list of the 29 books that were read by committee members. A teacher at Lake Oswego High School, Breck Foster, sent the chosen book suggestion to Melissa Kelly. Glazer read the endorsement from Foster, which made it clear why this was a good choice for LO Reads in 2020. Rising, Dispatches from the New American Shore by Elizabeth Rush. The book is a tremendous opportunity for programming, with one librarian sending 72 ideas for programming around this book. Glazer also shared quotes from the LO Reads steering committee members. Glazer shared the timeline and the process that the LO Reads Events Committee follows. The LO Reads printed insertion will go into the Lake Oswego Review on January 2nd, 2020. In the meantime, the LO Reads Events committee will be working to find the best speakers, covering a variety of topics and venues. Glazer distributed the first copies of Rising to the LAB, noting that it is a very timely book, but not an easy read. Glazer said that, thanks to the Friends of the Library, the author Elizabeth Rush will be in town on March 4th to present. The event will be held this year at Lakeridge High school auditorium. Author Rush is very excited to be a part of LO Reads program. Rush is a Reed College alumnus, and currently teaches at Brown University. Siewert-Schade noted that Rush is a wonderful writer. Slaven noted the large number of books that were considered. Siewert-Schade noted that the book Rising is set mostly in the east coast. The Board thanked Glazer for her ongoing leadership of LO Reads, and Glazer in turn thanked the Friends of the Library for their ongoing financial support of this program. 5. Directors Report- Melissa Kelly Kelly noted the latest statistics and that there was record breaking attendance at this years Summer Reading programs. Kelly referred to the previous packet handouts that were distributed via PDF in August, including the Endowment Summary, Facilities Projects, and Directors Report, then solicited questions from the LAB. Steinberg wanted to know if the Lake Oswego Public Library is listed as an emergency heating and cooling area, and that there is nothing on the City website as far as emergency shelters and supplies and CITY OF LAKE OSWEGO September 11, 2019 Library Advisory Board Library 2 whether the Library was listed. Steinberg asked Council if the Library is emergency heating and cooling and needs to be listed. He noted that when one does a search on the internet the emergency information for Lake Oswego does not come up. Manz noted that the City Operations Center would be a shelter for the west side due to being built to a certain standard. Manz committed to following up, and noted that if there is a major earthquake there will not be communication available. She noted that the Operations Maintenance Center is a designated area to shelter in place. Manz noted the importance of getting to know your neighbors. When the new City Hall is built it will be built to a certain seismic standard. Perigo noted that some buildings could be strapped to become more seismically sound. Slaven noted that Mountain Park spent over 300K, and suggested it as a possible earthquake shelter. Steele noted that Bull Mountain has set up an emergency management system organized by neighborhood. Manz noted that we have some neighborhoods that are very involved with emergency preparedness -Jan Castle with the Sustainability Network has been involved in community preparedness and is an excellent contact for emergency preparedness information. Manz noted that City Hall will be built to an upgraded operations standard. Siewert-Schade had a question regarding the Endowment. The first, larger fund has never been touched- she asked why and was this intentional. Kelly noted that the main Endowment fund has not been drawn from, as previous leadership felt it should be saved for a capital project. Kelly also explained that we have a second, smaller Endowment fund from which 27K annually is withdrawn to purchase books, which is what that endowment was intended to do. Manz noted that Shawn Cross, Director of City Finance would be a good resource to evaluate endowment utilization. Kelly noted that Cross has already received and evaluated the Oregon Community Foundation Endowment. Annual Fundraising Campaign- Kelly noted that this is a function of the LAB – Kelly noted that fundraising has not been done in many years. There is a short list of current supporters of the Library and Kelly asked if the LAB knows of people that they could recommend be added to the mailing list. Friends, neighbors, others that might want to help contribute to the Fundraising campaign. Swackhamer noted that she could have a mention put in the sustainability newsletter which has a reach of 800 people. Swackhamer asked for Kelly to send her something that she could forward to the sustainability group. Kelly noted some of the ideas that were gleaned from Multnomah County’s fundraising efforts, such as a private reception for donors that included a tour of the library. Kelly noted that there are 8000 email recipients that have opted in for event news, and a donation request could be included in the next newsletter to these recipients. Siewert-Schade noted that one of the things that the Library does best is LO Reads, which is so essential as a community activity. Siewert-Schade asked if that would be a good place to promote donating to the Library. Siewert-Schade noted that “A wonderful way to show your appreciation for this evening would be to become a Friend of the library and become a donor to the Library”. She mentioned what a great venue the Author event would be to promote the Friends of the Library, as this is a venue that attracts 500 people or more, year-after-year. Perigo noted these are great ideas and perhaps a subcommittee could be formed to narrow down the best strategies to raise funds; Swackhamer and Smith both wrote on their applications about their fundraising experience. Siewert-Schade noted she will be gone from last week in September to third week in October. Swackhamer and Smith agreed to participate on a fundraising subcommittee. Perigo noted that maybe there would be a way to target organizations that may be willing to donate time and materials in exchange for labor. Kelly noted that she would need to look into the legality of this option. CITY OF LAKE OSWEGO September 11, 2019 Library Advisory Board Library 3 Kelly noted that the Finance department is developing a donation payment link. Smith asked what the goal was and what the benchmark should be, and asked what results were from previous campaigns. This historical information will be researched. Perigo asked the subcommittee to come up with fundraising ideas to present at the next LAB meeting. Library of Things (LoT) - next week is the Library pre-launch week and there are items of display and the items will be available for check out as of Sept. 23rd. Kelly listed some of the items; the collection is starting with 25 unique items, which were selected based on input from Clackamas County patrons and what they are interested in borrowing. A big challenge for the Library will be storage space, but the hope is the pieces will be checked out and the items remain in active circulation. Checkout period is seven days. Kelly relayed that the upcoming Library presentations will focus on introducing how to use items in the new LoT collection. Facilities updates: generator is connected to power, the final first testing is next week, and at that point it is expected be fully operational for handling a power outage. Testing will occur monthly. Second update- Library is improving on the cubicles where the reference librarians are located; we have gotten a bid to put in a wall, these improvements will run about $10,000 but will make for a better workspace for staff. Steinberg asked about HVAC and Kelly noted that the new wall will not go all the way up to the ceiling. Library is also considering refreshing the upstairs carpeting over the next year or two. Kelly reviewed the OLA Public Library Standards, Steinberg asked who the committee was, and Kelly noted in the beginning of the document, it states who the committee members are. Kelly noted and focused on the first eight pages, covering minimum requirements as well as standards and where the Lake Oswego Public Library currently meets those standards. Kelly noted the proposed upcoming changes for public library standards, which are expected to be approved by the Oregon State Legislature. 6. Council Update – Jackie Manz Manz began with noting that we have a new City Manager Martha Bennett; she is already up and running. She came from Metro as CEO, and was a city manager in Ashland and she has quite the extensive resume. Siewert-Schade asked if Bennett would have an opportunity to attend LAB, and Manz indicated that if not the LAB then the general Boards and Commissions meeting would be an opportunity to meet with Bennett. Manz relayed that Vanessa Sturgeon and development group backed out of North Anchor project, but there is a lot of interest in the project from other developers. The current plan is that it is still planned out to be a boutique hotel. The Arts Council parking lot is currently public parking as the lot is owned by the City. Manz also mentioned that they met with LOSD to discuss the bond measure, this is still in the early stages, so she has nothing concrete to say about it at this time. Dr. de la Cruz is an extraordinarily experienced and a vibrant person who will move things along. Boones Ferr y Project is going very well and according to plan. City Hall- construction contractors are coring into the ground, and interestingly there are a lot of boulders that have been uncovered in this process. Steinberg asked about the current City Hall site, and Manz stated that the site of the current City Hall, which will become a plaza and parking lot, will not be sold in the foreseeable future. 7. Friends of the Library Report – Melissa Kelly There will be an annual membership meeting of the Friends held on September 19th. They are currently a member non-profit 501(c)(3) organization and they are working to become a non-member non-profit CITY OF LAKE OSWEGO September 11, 2019 Library Advisory Board Library 4 501(c)(3) organization for liability reasons. In their by-laws the Friends are changing their annual meeting from September to June, and they are working to update other by-laws as well. The new Booktique location is working out, however storage is tight in the back room of this location, so staff now needs to qualify books on the intake side. Sales are meeting or exceeding estimates, but sales still need to rebound to meet the revenue numbers at the previous location. Manz asked if something could be put into Hello LO to push the new location and patronage of the Booktique. The plan is still the portion of the frontage of the new City Hall will be have the Booktique and Art Gallery in equal proportions. 8. New Business Perigo noted that he called George Wheeler, manager of the Springs Living, LLC as a possibility to have a drop-off pickup location for library. Perigo will follow up with the Springs. Steinberg asked about the status of the Kincaid intern. The Kincaid intern position was not filled, so the City was not able to hire a summer intern. Lack of affordable housing was discussed as a possible reason. New target date for Library market studies is the end of the calendar year. Kelly noted that she has an upcoming appointment with the City GIS department to see how the GIS department can help with the equity mapping – Martha Bennett supports this. Meeting adjourned at 8:20pm. Respectfully submitted, Nell Diamond