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HomeMy WebLinkAboutApproved Minutes - 2002-05-15 CITY OF LAKE OSWEGO May 15, 2002 Library Advisory Board Lake Oswego Public Library Present: Colleen Bennett, V'Anne Didzun, and Benjamin Sostrin Staff Present: Jackie Rose, Jan Erickson, and Joyce Niewendorp Others Present: Councilor Graham and John Broderick Excused: Anne Dickason, Jerry Fletcher, Bill Gallagher and Maria Meneghin The Library Advisory Board meeting was called to order by Chair Colleen Bennett at 7:05 p.m. 7:00 PM Welcome and Introductions Chair Bennett welcomed Friends' President John Broderick. A quorum was not present at the meeting. The Board members agreed to proceed with the meeting, but to refrain from voting. Correspondence/Announcements Chair Bennett stated that Len Lanfranco passed away. He worked with the Friends and the League and he will be missed. John Broderick mentioned that Len Lanfranco's obituary asked that memorials be sent to the Friends. Chair Bennett stated that she understands Jerry Fletcher has resigned from the Library Advisory Board, though official notification has not been received. Jerry moved to Charboneau. The City's policy only allows two members of the Board to be non-City residents. Chair Bennett asked Councilor Graham to see if Council will select a replacement Board member as soon as possible. A full Library Advisory Board consists of seven members plus a youth member. Colleen Bennett acknowledged the newsletter put out by the Friends. Public Comment/Issues Councilor Graham stated that with Len Lanfranco's death she does not know what will happen with the Oregon Book Fair. This may impact the Booktique, since they are usually a part of the Oregon Book Fair. Len Lanfranco was the driving force behind the book fair. Councilor Graham shared the May issue of the Chamber of Commerce newsletter with the Board and praised Greg Cutting's library article. Councilor Graham said that she will check with the Chamber to get copies of the newsletter for everyone on the Board. 1 CITY OF LAKE OSWEGO May 15, 2002 Library Advisory Board Lake Oswego Public Library Councilor Graham discussed the June Survey that was mentioned at the April Library Advisory Board meeting. The survey questions for the past three years have remained fairly constant so that the sense of the City can be tracked. Councilor Graham suggested the Board submit their suggested questions to City Manager Doug Schmitz as soon as possible. The survey begins on June 14, 2002 and should be completed by June 23, 2002. The final report of the results of the survey will be available on July 16, 2002. Councilor Graham stated that she went to Santa Monica, California to learn how the city has embraced the concept of sustainability and green thinking. She read the paper while she was there and discovered that Newport Beach is wrestling with the issue of a joint shared use facility. They are dealing with the same issues that Lake Oswego is dealing with. She is not sure if Newport Beach has a task force studying the use of a shared facility. 7:15 PM Review Agenda—No changes to agenda. Approval of April 10, 2002 Minutes Due to the lack of a quorum, the Board members decided to hold the vote for the April minutes until the June 2002 meeting. V'Anne Didzun asked about the January through March 2002 Oregon Community Foundation report included in the May agenda packet. The report does not show any contributions for this quarter. She asked what happens to the endowment fund donations collected at the music programs. Joyce Niewendorp responded that the money is taken to the Finance Department at City Hall for deposit. She does not know how often funds are transferred to the Oregon Community Foundation. Colleen Bennett stated that she will call Assistant City Manager Chris Jordan to find out when the funds will be transferred to the Oregon Community foundation. V'Anne Didzun asked how much money was brought in at the last music program. Co-Director Rose responded the amount was $45.00. Councilor Graham reminded the Board that the music program is an excellent way to increase exposure of the library. Director's Report Co-Director Rose stated that April circulation statistics show an overall 10.4%jump over April circulation statistics from last year. Circulation of young adult material was up 19.7% and circulation of children's material was up 13.2%. Circulation of adult AV material was up 12.3%. Circulation of fiction was up 11.1% and circulation of 2 CITY OF LAKE OSWEGO May 15, 2002 Library Advisory Board Lake Oswego Public Library magazines was up 21.5%. Last Thursday the Lake Oswego Public Library broke last year's record by circulating its one-millionth item for the current fiscal year. Ms. Rose stated the library hosted a luncheon in honor of the many library volunteers. The Booktique hosted a dinner for the numerous Booktique volunteers. Co-Director Rose stated that Judy Dunlap started a new teen comic discussion group. This summer, Dark Horse Comics will present a free program about the creation of graphic novels/comic books. Ms. Rose stated that Reference Supervisor Jan Erickson went to the Heritage House for the May program featuring spices and herbs. Ms. Erickson offers a bookmark on the related subject, allows people to sign up for library cards, and takes books to check out on site. This is another way that the library is staying connected. Co-Director Rose mentioned that the library offers a summer job program for teens in the spring. This spring 125 teens attended the summer job program presented by the Oregon Employment Department. Councilor Graham asked how this program was publicized. Ms. Rose responded that flyers were sent to all the secondary schools, press releases were sent to The Oregonian, The Review, and Hello LO. Co-Director Rose said that 15 staff members, Chair Bennett, Vice- Chair Sostron, and Friends' President John Broderick attended the OLA/WLA Conference. Co-Director Rose stated that the Budget Committee finished their deliberations and submitted their recommendations to Council. Ms. Rose reported that last week she, Janice Deardorff, and Jan Erickson went to Arizona and visited three shared facilities. They had the opportunity to tour the facilities and to speak to the staff. Ms. Rose stated that she learned that shared use facility has a more positive connotation than joint use facility. She and Jan Erickson will report on their trip at the next Task Force meeting. Co-Director Rose stated that she understands the Task Force will be working toward their recommendation for Council in June. Chair Bennett asked if there is anything positive about shared use facilities that she can share. Ms. Rose responded that she felt the 3 CITY OF LAKE OSWEGO May 15, 2002 Library Advisory Board Lake Oswego Public Library librarians felt very good about what they are doing. Ms. Bennett asked if the libraries they visited are in a situation similar to Lake Oswego's. Ms. Rose responded that two of the libraries, Chandler and Scottsdale, are managed by the city. The library in Peoria is managed by the city and the school district. The Chandler and Scottsdale libraries are open to the public all day, but the Peoria library is only open to the public after 3:00 in the afternoon. Jackie Rose reported that the Friends of the Library approved six grants requested by library staff, including: • Graphic support for The What's New Review, the library's teen magazine. The City will no longer fund this publication. • Non-fiction videos and DVDs on subjects such as home improvement, gardening, music instruction, exercise, and sports. • Summer reading incentives in the form of paperbacks and prizes. • Funding for ten guest performers for children's programs. • A portable computer projector to be used for staff meetings and group instruction. • Grand prize for adult summer reading program. Councilor Graham asked if any consideration has been given to offering classes for community members to learn how to use the computer projector. Ms. Erickson responded that the library has two staff members who are very good at that type of instruction, so it is a possibility. Ms. Rose agreed that it is a good idea. Co-Director Rose presented the book entitled,Funding Sources for Community and Economic Development: A Guide to Current Sources for Local Program and Projects, that is available in the library's Reference Department. She suggested this as a source of information dealing with fundraising. Councilor Graham said this is another topic for the Chamber newsletter, as people scramble for dollars. V'Anne Didzun asked Ms. Rose about the video drop box at the drive through. Ms. Rose responded that she will have to refer that question to Donna Ainslie. When Ms. Rose last spoke to Ms. Ainslie about another drop box, Ms. Ainlie said that she thought the library had one in storage. Ms. Rose believes that this box is no longer in storage, so the library would have to purchase another one. It might be possible to ask the Friends for a grant to make this purchase. Ben Sostrin suggested moving the book drop from City Hall, since it is just a few blocks from the library. Ms. Rose responded that people use the drive through book drop at City Hall,possibly to avoid the traffic at the library. 4 CITY OF LAKE OSWEGO May 15, 2002 Library Advisory Board Lake Oswego Public Library 7:40 PM Reports Bulletin Board Policy Ben Sostrin stated that the bulletin board policy is ready for review by the Board. The Board decided to include the bulletin board policy for a vote in June's agenda. Co-Director Rose stated that the lobby policy is the next one to present to the Board. Music Chair Bennett stated that there were about 75 people in attendance at the last music program with Bill Gallagher doing the introductions. Chair Bennett mentioned she and V'Anne Didzun have been brainstorming about a piano for the library. Co-Director Rose suggested a digital piano that could be used in the children's department and any other area of the library. Ms. Bennett asked V'Anne Didzun to speak with previous performers to see if a digital piano is a good thing for them. Chair Bennett stated the music program resumes in the fall. The Board has musicians lined up and is preparing a grant request to submit to the Friends. The Board has $1,000 left from the grant the Friends gave them this year, to begin the fall program. She suggested asking Bill Gallagher to work on the publicity for the music program. V'Anne Didzun stated that she is requiring the performers to submit a demo tape and biography. Councilor Graham expressed her regret that the First Tuesday programs fall on a Council meeting night. Art Chair Bennett encouraged everyone to view Herald Campbell's photography exhibit in the library, if they haven't already. She expressed her thanks to Cris Pera for hanging the exhibit. She asked for suggestions for the next run in October. Councilor Graham suggested displaying John Turchi's photos. A gallery at Cannon Beach is going to feature some of his work. He concentrates primarily on Steen's Mountain. 8:00 PM Marketing Chamber Newsletter Reference Supervisor Jan Erickson stated that the library reference staff has been so willing to commit to the marketing and outreach programs of the library. Greg Cutting is a fine writer and he has submitted his second article to the Chamber for their review. 5 CITY OF LAKE OSWEGO May 15, 2002 Library Advisory Board Lake Oswego Public Library Jan Erickson reported that the library's Web committee is working very hard on the new Web pages. They are currently checking the content of the pages. Todd Feinman has done a wonderful job with the graphics. The Web committee hopes to have the Web pages ready in the next two or three weeks. The library's Web site should be a fine marketing tool. Ms. Erickson stated that along with the Campbell exhibit, they submitted an article to The Oregonian promoting his exhibit as well as his book and it was published in the Check It Out column. One of the reasons for going to the Heritage House programs is to get the library known in the community. Ms. Erickson has found that she talks to the people at the programs about many things beyond the realm of the program. Ms. Erickson welcomed suggestions from everyone for ways to market the library. She commended the library staff for their willingness to contribute. Co-Director Rose stated that for the first time the library has a committee with participants from across the library working on the Web pages. Chair Bennett asked Jan Erickson if there would be someone from the Reference Department to help with the publicity of the music program. Ms. Erickson replied there very well could be. She can talk to her staff. 8:15 PM Chair's Report Library Budget Chair Bennett stated that she understands the Budget Committee passed the amount of$286,000 for remodeling. Ms. Rose responded that $286,000 is the amount the Budget Committee plans to recommend to City Council. Chair Bennett said the good news is that this was passed to Council,but the bad news is that there were four Council votes against it. She asked Councilor Graham to share her reasons for voting against this. Councilor Graham responded that she wants to make it clear that it is not because there is not support for the library and what needs to be done. She said that she can tell them why she voted against it, but they will have to ask the others their reasons. The overall vote was 7-6. The reason why she voted against it is because she finds it a bit of a conflict to talk about replacing carpeting when the library may be cutting hours. 6 CITY OF LAKE OSWEGO May 15, 2002 Library Advisory Board Lake Oswego Public Library Chair Bennett asked if they have a choice. She asked if the library does not do the remodeling,will they be able to retain the hours. Councilor Graham responded that she does not know. There is not enough information. She does not like to say yes they have $286,000 and then turn around and say no they do not. She would rather know why she is saying yes and why she is saying no— because she has the information. Councilor Graham stated that she prefers to find out what this shared use library facility is all about. She wants to know how much money that is going to take. The City is also very serious about the issues of sustainability, preserving things and keeping it lasting for 30 years over 10 years. The downside of this is that the earth-friendly products are more expensive. If the City is going to pursue those types of ethics, they are talking about different dollars and maybe not being able to do as much. There are some unknowns, though. Councilor Graham stated that when she gets the unknowns taken care of,then she will be more sure about it. Her reluctance is not because she does not support doing things for the library. It is because she does not have the kind of information that makes her comfortable to say go ahead to $286,000, when they are making cuts in other areas. Councilor Graham mentioned the What's New Review that she touted at one of the last televised Council meetings. She thinks this is a tremendous publication. John Broderick stated that the way the accounting is done for the earth-friendly products may make a difference. Using life cycle costs may make the effort actually cheaper. Chair Bennett said that in terms of sustainability, she has always said they have to do something to preserve the library since they will occupy it for the next ten, fifteen, or twenty years. She has confidence in the staff and the facility manager for the City, when they came up with figures for the renovations. Ms. Bennett said the Board has been told from the beginning that the shared use facility would not take anything away from this library. She stated that she thinks the staff struggled with cutting back hours. Cutting hours is not something any of them want to do. It might be a good compromise to cut back the hours and keep the library useable. Councilor Graham stated that Sandy Leopold made a good point that if they are going to cut back hours, they will then probably 7 CITY OF LAKE OSWEGO May 15, 2002 Library Advisory Board Lake Oswego Public Library have more people coming in. It might be best to reconfigure the parking lot. Chair Bennett stated that she wanted to hear Councilor Graham's response. Councilor Graham responded that she would not worry. This will be there for discussion. The people who voted for it said they were expressing support for the library. John Broderick asked when this will go to Council for vote. Councilor Graham responded that it will probably be the first part of June. Jan Erickson stated the library staff noted that since Multnomah County cut their library hours on Monday, the Lake Oswego Library is incredibly busy on Mondays. Co-Director Rose stated the proposal is to be open every day of the week,but to close at 6:00 p.m. on Friday. They were asked to cut about $215,000 from the library's budget. Cutting the Friday hours was a way they could do that. Chair Bennett said that it is an interesting dilemma. If there is some delayed maintenance that needs to be done, she does not think they can ignore that. The library is well used. V'Anne Didzun responded that if they cut the maintenance budget, it will cost twice as much down the road. Councilor Graham asked when Multnomah County started closing on Monday. She speculated that some of the Lake Oswego Library's increased circulation could be attributed to the Monday closings at Multnomah County Libraries. Chair Bennett said that she thinks if the Lake Oswego Library cuts hours, that it will directly affect circulation. Co-Director Rose responded that they tried to shave hours off the least painful way. She stated they also proposed to open at 10:00 rather than 9:00, though they opened at 10:30 for years. She does not know if their proposal will be accepted or not. Chair Bennett says she remembers how thrilled everyone was when the library began opening at 9:00 a.m. 8 CITY OF LAKE OSWEGO May 15, 2002 Library Advisory Board Lake Oswego Public Library Joint Facility Chair Bennett confirmed that the shared facility meeting is scheduled for next Thursday, May 23, 2002. She said she understands that Patt Thomas put together a packet of questions raised that directly address the charge statement of the task force and questions raised from task force members. 8:30 PM Other Comments/Issues Chair Bennett asked John Broderick if he has anything to share. John Broderick responded that working at the Booktique is a lot of fun and it is equally satisfying to grant the requests of the library staff. Councilor Graham mentioned that the Booktique coupons given out to the volunteers at the Volunteer Recognition Luncheon was a great idea. She suggested including the coupons in visitor packets or welcome to Lake Oswego packets. Colleen Bennett stated they were passing out the Booktique coupons at the First Tuesday programs. Ben Sostrin said that he received one when he got his library card. New Friends' members receive a coupon to the Booktique. V'Anne Didzun stated that at the last Board meeting they discussed creative thinking about a new library. She was intrigued by the article in The Oregonian about Sellwood where they have the library below and lofts above. The City has so many wonderful builders developing 138 and 136, that it might be a fun idea to bring up. V'Anne Didzun suggested the Board schedule a tour of the West Linn and the Wilsonville additions. The Board meeting was adjourned for further discussion on surveys. 8:26 PM Adjourn The Library Advisory Board adjourned the meeting at 8:26 p.m. Respectfully submitted, Joyce Niewendorp Recording Secretary 9