HomeMy WebLinkAboutAgenda Packet - 2025-04-09AGENDA
LIBRARY ADVISORY BOARD
Wednesday, April 9, 2025
7:00 – 9:00 p.m.
Library
706 Fourth Street, Lake Oswego, OR 97034
The Library closes at 7pm, please arrive prior to 7pm
Staff Contact: Donna Harlan, 503-697-6583, dharlan@lakeoswego.city
503-697-6583 706 4TH STREET PO BOX 369 L AKE OSWEGO, OR 97034 WWW.LAKEOSWEGO.CITY
Virtual Access
This meeting will be held in
person. To participate remotely,
please email the staff contact at
least 24 hours before the meeting.
ADA Accommodation Requests
lakeoswego.city/accommodation
503-635-0282; Relay 711
Please allow four business days to
process your request.
Translation Services
Traducción o interpretación
翻译或传译
통역혹은번역
503-534-5738
Patrick Walsh, Chair ∙ Lilisa Hall, Vice Chair ∙ Kent Watson ∙ Mark Pontarelli ∙ Patricia Walls ∙ Joy Fabos ∙
Seth Pauley
Melissa Kelly, Staff Liaison ∙ Anisha Oruganty, Youth Liaison ∙ Enid Rittman, Youth Liaison ∙ Rachel Verdick, Council
Liaison ∙ Liberty Planck, Alternate
1. CALL TO ORDER
2. APPROVAL OF MINUTES
March 12, 2025
3. CITY COUNCIL UPDATE
Councilor Rachel Verdick
4. PUBLIC COMMENT
The purpose of Public Comment is to allow community members to present information or raise an
issue regarding items not on the agenda or regarding agenda items that do not include a public hearing.
A time limit of three minutes per individual shall apply. Public Comment will not exceed thirty minutes
in total. If you are unable to attend the meeting and prefer to provide public comment in writing, please
email the comment to the staff contact listed above at least 24 hours before the meeting.
5. OLD BUSINESS
5.1 Lake Oswego Reads reminders
6. NEW BUSINESS
6.1 Work group discussions
6.2 Locations and scheduling for library field trips
7. CHAIR REMARKS
8. YOUTH LIAISON REMARKS
Page 2
503-697-6583 706 4TH STREET PO BOX 369 L AKE OSWEGO, OR 97034 WWW.LAKEOSWEGO.CITY
9. FRIENDS OF THE LIBRARY REPORT
10. ADJOURNMENT
Next Meeting: May 14, 2025
CITY OF LAKE OSWEGO March 12, 2025
Library Advisory Board Library
1
503.697.6583 706 Fourth Street PO BOX 369 Lake Oswego, OR 97034 www.ci.oswego.or.us
Present: Patrick Walsh, Lilisa Hall, Kent Watson, Pat Walls, Mark Pontarelli, Joy Fabos, Enid
Rittman, Anisha Oruganty, Liberty Planck
Staff Present: Melissa Kelly, Donna Harlan
Absent: Councilor Verdick, Seth Pauley
1. Call to Order
The Library Advisory Board (LAB) meeting was called to order at the Lake Oswego Public
Library (LOPL) on Wednesday, March 12, 2025 at 7:02 pm.
2. Minutes
Motion to approve was made by Pontarelli and seconded by Watson. The February 12, 2025
minutes were unanimously approved by LAB.
3. Public Comment - none
4. Director’s Report - Melissa Kelly
Future library vision and current gaps
Kelly presented a PowerPoint of photos and descriptions about current trends in libraries
and information about modern libraries in terms of what they offer and what our
community wants.
o Slides shown were from presentations during the visioning process, others were
photos Kelly had taken in addition to photos that staff have gathered over time and all
demonstrated trends in library architecture, services and space.
o One takeaway from the previous visioning process is the desire for a cafe style space
in the library. Informal, relaxed with a coffee shop vibe.
o Sensory friendly spaces, technology related spaces, such as maker spaces and quiet
study rooms as well as multipurpose event spaces and children’s spaces, including
performance space, are all top needs/wants based on community feedback.
o Current trends include outdoor spaces for reading, connecting to nature and learning
in the outdoors.
o Writing spaces, expanded hours and education play spaces for children as well as
outdoor space, public meeting rooms and makerspaces are area requests that folks
are interested in, but our current library space is not able to accommodate.
o Local library photos with a more modern view were shown and included the Oregon
City library, Ledding Library, Fort Vancouver Regional Library, Holgate Library and
Hillsboro Library.
o Photos of local libraries that have seen success with hold lockers and vending
machines, discussing how they work were also presented.
o Kelly mentioned the quiet pods at the West Linn Library as an option for us to look at
to provide quiet spaces.
o Overall, these types of new modern library spaces also promote intergenerational
learning and opportunities because people of all ages want to come to the library to
share their knowledge and skills.
CITY OF LAKE OSWEGO March 12, 2025
Library Advisory Board Library
2
503.697.6583 706 Fourth Street PO BOX 369 Lake Oswego, OR 97034 www.ci.oswego.or.us
o The group discussed serving the community as a whole; how a community center
along with the library could include all people; collaborating with Parks and
Recreation to reach and serve all members of the community; more discussion
related to how to make such a building happen, due to property limitations and
convincing all that a space like this is what Lake Oswego needs.
Strategic plan progress report draft
Kelly reviewed the draft Strategic plan progress report document and requested feedback
from LAB.
Suggestions were received to incorporate into the final copy for distributing, including
presenting to City Council and posting to our website in the coming weeks.
Visitor counts
Kelly shared the library has a new visitor count system called FootfallCam designed for
libraries and also used in retail stores.
o The new system is highly rated and should provide more accurate visitor counts than
the security gates currently in the library.
o The new system is currently being tested and data from FootfallCam and the security
gates is currently being compared.
o FootfallCam can sense if a visitor is taller or smaller to provide estimates for
adult/children counts.
Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library
Kelly explained the Dolly Parton Imagination Library program.
A number of LINCC libraries have offered Imagination library in their communities through
the support of their Library Foundations.
Thanks to the state legislature and the United Way of Columbia – Willamette, Lake
Oswego is now able to offer the program.
o The state legislature, through House Bill 2872, recently approved funding for
expansion of Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library throughout Oregon, by providing a
50% dollar match to pay for half of the costs.
o Since then, the United Way of Columbia – Willamette has announced they are
sponsoring the other 50% of the cost for Portland Metro area communities that are
not yet participating in the program.
10 weeks after registering the first book will arrive at the registrant’s home, mailed to
their child’s name. Books will be delivered monthly until the child turns five or they move
out of the covered area.
The first book is always the children’s classic The Little Engine That Could.
Kelly shared that we are in the process of getting promotional materials to spread the
word to the LO community about this service, particularly at our Outreach events, visits
to preschools and the Indoor Playground and in the children’s library.
Boards & Commissions recruitment
Board recruitment will take place in April and May with interviews at the end of May.
CITY OF LAKE OSWEGO March 12, 2025
Library Advisory Board Library
3
503.697.6583 706 Fourth Street PO BOX 369 Lake Oswego, OR 97034 www.ci.oswego.or.us
Appointments by Council are tentatively scheduled for June 17, with a joint
orientation/reception in late June.
The Mayor will finalize the dates soon and Kelly will update more at that time.
5. Chair Remarks – Patrick Walsh
Walsh shared he has been learning about ways in which to meet with other boards and
collaborate with them. He is currently working with Kelly, as well as Quin Brunner from
the City Manager’s office to determine the appropriate strategy to make this happen.
The workgroup concept was explained and what that involves related to LAB, should we
decide to have one or more workgroups. He mentioned it would take extra time for all
involved and would like to know if others were interested and what topics to pursue.
Walsh suggested we explore this further at our April meeting. There was some
discussion in understanding what a workgroup is, how they meet, what kind of time
commitment would be requested and rules regarding meeting, quorums and workgroup
approvals, if needed.
LAB members were asked to bring a list of potential work group topics to the April
meeting to discuss with the plan for LAB to decide on one or two topics.
Walsh expressed his gratitude for everyone for being here and everyone’s dedication.
6. Youth Liaison Remarks – Enid Rittman; Anisha Oruganty
Youth Survey Update: Oruganty provided LAB an update on the student survey that she
has been working on. To date she has received 239 responses, mostly from middle
school students, and is beginning to compile data. Oruganty summarized the responses
she received so far and will provide a report once the survey is complete.
o Responses included what teens felt the library was missing in terms of space,
collections and offerings; why they didn’t use the library as much, and what they
would like to see at the library which includes a space that blends comfort in
functionality and that mixes the warm and familiar with being update to date.
o Walsh expressed LAB’s support of this survey and inquired as to how the group
could help support this project. Planck volunteered to assist Oruganty in compiling
the data when it is time to prepare a final report.
o Rittman shared that the principal at her school will be putting the survey in the
school newsletter and she will talk to the principal at Lakeridge Middle School to
find the best way to share the survey.
7. Friends of the Library - Kent Watson
Watson informed LAB that the Friends created a nominating committee with the
intention of adding new board members in the next few months.
The Booktique has seen an increase in income the last few years with an overall annual
income increase of $35,000 from 2022 to 2024.
The Friends currently have 290 members.
8. Adjournment
CITY OF LAKE OSWEGO March 12, 2025
Library Advisory Board Library
4
503.697.6583 706 Fourth Street PO BOX 369 Lake Oswego, OR 97034 www.ci.oswego.or.us
Motion to adjourn was made by Hall, seconded by Walls. The meeting was adjourned at 8:34
pm. The next LAB meeting will be held April 9, 2025.
Respectfully submitted,
Donna Harlan
Lake Oswego
Fiscal Year to date
ending June 2025
General Information
Number of new borrowers/patrons added 282 2,696
Number of registered borrowers 24,996 24,996
Books and other print items
Number of physical units owned 123,812 123,812
Number of physical units added 724 8,654
Audio Materials
Number of physical units owned 16,267 16,267
Number of physical units added 29 602
Video Materials
Number of physical units owned 19,121 19,121
Number of physical units added 81 784
Other library materials
Number of physical units owned 1,044 1,044
Number of physical units added 0 60
Total items owned 160,244 160,244
Total items added 834 10,100
Magazine Issues
Number of physical units owned 1,854 1,854
Number of physical units added 143 1,159
Holds Placed 13,901 125,945
Holds Filled 11,373 103,995
Holds Expired 21 278
Holds Expired on shelf 1,663 13,996
Circulation of library materials at all facilities for the fiscal year
Library2Go & Advantage Circulation Combined 15,320 123,249
E-book Reader Circulation with material type of CHILD 5 49
E-book Reader Circulation with material type of YA 2 11
Adult Checkouts 18,796 164,348
Adult Renewals (via WorkFlows and PAC) 12,237 102,329
No Longer Used --
Adult Renewals (via Shoutbomb) 367 2,672
March 2025
Lake Oswego
Fiscal Year to date
ending June 2025March 2025
Adult Renewals (via TeleCirc) 75 830
Adult Renewals (TOTAL) 12,679 105,831
YA Checkouts 775 8,951
YA Renewals (via WorkFlows and PAC) 635 6,896
No Longer Used --
YA Renewals (via Shoutbomb) 39 282
YA Renewals (via TeleCirc) 0 4
YA Renewals (TOTAL) 674 7,182
Child 1st-time circ excluding E-book Reader uses 12,493 111,419
YA 1st-time circ excluding E-book Reader uses 773 8,940
Number of Circulation of Electronic Materials 15,327 123,309
Child Checkouts 12,498 111,468
Child Renewals (via WorkFlows and PAC) 7,591 68,207
No Longer Used --
Child Renewals (via Shoutbomb) 395 3,661
Child Renewals (via TeleCirc) 2 53
Child Renewals (TOTAL) 7,988 71,921
Total 1st-time circulation 47,389 355,136
Total renewals 21,341 184,934
Total circ of Adult materials 31,475 270,179
Total circ of YA & Childrens materials 21,935 199,522
Total circ of YA materials 1,447 16,122
Total circ of Childrens materials 20,486 183,389
Total circ 68,735 592,999
Self-Check Circulation
Self-check checkouts 26,322 239,434
% of physical item checkouts at self-checks 82.1%84.1%
Check Ins
items CHECKED IN via book drop or circ desk return 34,532 302,830
items CHECKED IN from "in transit" status 24,604 211,591
TOTAL items checked in 59,136 514,421
Lake Oswego
Fiscal Year to date
ending June 2025March 2025
Items loaned to other libraries
Items loaned to other libraries within resource-sharing network
(LINCC)17,406 146,830
Interlibrary Loans - Items Loaned to All Other Libraries (OCLC)224 1,852
Total loans to other libraries 17,630 148,682
Items borrowed from other libraries
Items borrowed from libraries within resource-sharing network
(LINCC)15,449 136,485
Interlibrary Loans - Items Borrowed from All Other Libraries
(OCLC)92 837
Total loans from other libraries 15,541 137,322
NET ILL using a shared catalog of automation system (LINCC) 1,957 10,345
Adult Services
March 2025 Monthly Report
With the first blush of spring, Adult Services began planning for the Adult Summer Library Challenge
program and continued preparing for a flurry of LO Reads events just around the corner. We also
began utilizing new collection analysis tools to help us make more informed collection development
decisions, and we implemented a weeding schedule for the adult collection with the goal of weeding
the entire adult collection a minimum of twice per year to ensure that the collection stays fresh and
relevant. Here’s a look back at our other accomplishments last month:
The stairwell gallery featured watercolor paintings of vintage photographs by local artist Kim
Irene McLaughlin.
Our book displays celebrated Pi Day, Women’s History Month, and the end of Daylight Savings.
Together with Circulation staff, we brought Rover to Mary’s Woods senior living facility. This
event was open to the public, and we served a mix of Mary’s Woods residents and residents
from the surrounding neighborhood.
All library staff participated in a Code Adam/Code Parent/Code Silver training in which we
learned how to respond if a child, a parent of a child in the library, or an adult with a disability is
reported missing in the library.
Thanks to the generosity of the Friends of the Library, we hosted the following events in the
library and/or virtually:
o Our First Tuesday Music Concert featuring pianist and singer-songwriter John
Nilsen.
o A Bookish Affair met virtually to discuss Whenever You’re Ready by Rachel Runya
Katz.
o A relaxing, meditative hour of Creative Doodling with a Creativebug course.
o A popular Pints from the Past featuring Darrell Jabin, who spoke of his father’s work
chronicling the disappearance of D.B. Cooper in 1971.
o A Genealogy Interest Group meeting at the ACC and online.
o Our third Senior Scholar program with the ACC on The Science of Climate Change
with PSU’s Dr. Paul Loikith, which drew 80 attendees.
o A well-attended presentation on Is it AI or is it Real? How to Spot Computer-
Generated Content Like a Librarian by our own April Younglove. This is the first in a
series of sessions on fact-checking led by April.
o Our Third Tuesday Author Talk featuring a presentation of It Did Happen Here: An
Antifascist People’s History with authors Moe Bowstern and Mic Crenshaw.
o Our monthly Poetry Group meeting.
o Our monthly Trivia Night program.
o A World Cinema showing of the German film When Hitler Stole Pink Rabbit, the
story of a nine-year-old girl fleeing Nazi Germany in 1933 with her family.
o Building Bridges Book Group met to discuss Acts of Forgiveness by Maura Cheeks.
Stats
Reference & Readers’ Advisory Interactions: 1,535
Programs for Adults: 13
Adult Program Attendance: 355*
Programs for All Ages: 2
All Ages Program Attendance – 58
*Does not include attendance for recorded events or the LO Reads book
giveaway on 3/1/25.
Youth Services
March 2025 Monthly Report
They say it’s a jungle out there – well, for five days at the end of March, the jungle was in the Children’s Library. Local
artist Sara Walker outdid herself with the apparently banal supplies of cardboard, recycled plastic strips, paint and a hot
glue gun. Families visited all day every day to wonder at the magical space, add their own creations of flora and fauna,
and play among the trees and vines. Over the course of the week, many people expressed gratitude for providing a
thoroughly engaging (and free) program that stimulated everyone’s creativity.
Programming:
This month we needed to relocate our Spanish Story and Play program into the Picture Book area. As it turns out, we
had a higher turnout than usual and the space was packed. Baby Sign language was well attended too, as were our
various age appropriate storytimes.
We held a special storytime featuring books about swimming as a way to promote the LORAC and had a lovely crowd
attending from West Hills Montessori preschool.
Equity, Diversity and Inclusion:
Book displays celebrating Women’s History Month, Disability Awareness Month, and the sacred month of Ramadan
provided rich browsing for our patrons.
The March Global Stories Project Read-aloud featured Chieri for the third time since the program’s inception. She is an
amazing presenter and loves sharing about her Japanese culture and about her other passions, mathematics and
origami.
Teen Advisory Board
The Summer Library Challenge PSA was filmed on a Sunday morning in March, and is based on the television series
“Stranger Things.” 80’s props were set up throughout the library. The crew from TVCTV was engaged and happy to help
out. We’re all excited to see the end results. (Another award winner perhaps?)
In addition to their regular book group discussion, the TAB hosted a two-day event collaborating with Abby’s Closet. The
Prom Dress give-away resulted in 30+ dresses going home with happy recipients. Feedback was very positive and we
hope to be able to replicate the event next year.
Bulletin Board
This month’s Art Literacy exhibit was inspired by Georgia O’Keefe botanicals, as rendered by students at Oak Creek
Elementary School.
Outreach
Youth Librarian Hilary and Circulation Library Assistant Ana took Rover to the Indoor Playground (Parks and Rec site)
twice in the month of March. They engaged with families who were happy to sit and read together, choosing from the
books at hand. They also issued a few new library cards, and made a toddler mom very happy with some easy
nonfiction.
For the third year in a row, we are the very grateful recipient of the funds raised by the LOSD Winter Read-a-thon.
Students at this year’s winning school, Oak Creek, read 423 books during the break. Their sponsors along with others in
the district raised a total of $2,300.00. Andrea accepted the donation at an Oak Creek assembly.
Stats
Reader’s Advisory/reference – 529 (includes 1000BBK and New Parent Gift bags)
Programs/attendance – 24/ 876 (includes storytime, special programs, outreach and LEGO club)
HIGHLIGHTS
The Circulation Department posted our full-time Lead Library Assistant of Outreach Services position
and has completed the first round of interviews. We will hopefully have a candidate chosen by the end
of April. Casey Taylor, our Lead Library Assistant of Materials Movement will be moving on to another
position in Nebraska as a librarian. Congratulations, Casey!
New self-checkout technology will be coming our way in 2025, so LINCC staff, as well as members of
our LINCC Library Services central office, will be testing kiosk units for functionality and ILS integration.
Through the county procurement process, we hope to choose a vendor soon.
Speaking of new technology, the Circulation department is continuing to test a new visitor-counting
software called FootfallCam, which will hopefully give us more accurate visitor counts and provide
analytics about how patrons use the library, when and how long they typically visit the library, and so
much more! Right now, we are comparing the visitor numbers to our gates for accuracy and testing
reporting capabilities.
CIRCULATION SERVICES
NOTABLE STATISTICS
Items checked in
Items sorted by AMH
Items renewed
Items borrowed from outside the County
Items loaned outside the County
Items borrowed from LINCC libraries
Items loaned to LINCC libraries
Holds filled
Held items not checked out
Library cards issued to new members
eCards issued
Home Deliveries
Carts shelved
Average daily carts shelved
Cultural Pass reservations
Seed Library Checkouts
Indoor Visitors
Curbside Visitors
Self-checkout
59,136
45,582
21,341
92
224
15,449
17,406
11,373
1,663
282
50
56
888
29
187
838
15,972
5
81.29%
Technical Services Department
March 2025 Monthly Report
Disc Repairs Keep Physical Media Spinning
One of the Technical Services Department’s jobs is the mending and repair of items
from the Library’s collections, whenever patrons or staff alert us that something needs
attention. For the Library’s disc media—movies on DVD or Blu-ray, or music or
audiobook CDs—we have a valuable tool at our disposal: a sophisticated disc buffing
machine.
Some discs that come to us reported as ‘unplayable’ are merely dirty, and proper hand-
cleaning with the right materials and technique is all that’s required. Other discs have
actual damage in the form of scratches, and that’s where disc buffing comes in. Our
machine actually re-surfaces the disc, making different degrees of repair depending on
the severity of the damage to the disc, and is often able to salvage even badly-scratched
discs. This is more important than ever as the widespread adoption of streaming media
has made physical items increasingly difficult or impossible to replace.
Tech Services staff member Todd Mecklem is the primary operator of the buffing
machine, and he also keeps on top of the complicated buffer’s supply and maintenance
needs, including troubleshooting. It’s important to keep the machine going—as many as
50 items might get buffed and put back into circulation in an average month.
Programs & Volunteer Services
March 2025 Report
Total Volunteers Serving 170
Total Volunteer Hours 887
Coordinated and facilitated volunteer work party with Lake Oswego Junior High
students.
Met weekly with Social Media Committee to plan daily posts/weekly focus to promote library
events. Communicated updates as needed.
Represented LOPL with Strategic Communications Team at City level. Focusing efforts in Q1 on
social media protocols, a new City website and supporting City Council’s goals with maximizing
communication to our residents.
Finalized the brochure for How to Read a Book for 2025 for printing by LO Review.
Updated Lake Oswego Reads website in preparation of a month of events in April 2025.
Coordinated volunteers for March Library Events inside the library and at City-sponsored
events.
Updated Home Delivery patron listings and volunteer assignments.
Coordinated with all participants for events in April for Lake Oswego Reads 2025.
Coordinated successful LO Reads Book Giveaway on March 1st with both drive-through and
walkup options.