HomeMy WebLinkAbout2019-10-21 JM CommentsOctober 21, 2019, BLT Agenda Comments
These comments on Newport Beach Board of Library Trustees (BLT) agenda items are submitted by:
Jim Mosher (jimmosher@yahoo.com ), 2210 Private Road, Newport Beach 92660 (949-548-6229)
Item 1. Minutes of the July 15, 2019 Board of Library Trustees Meeting
1. Page 2 (handwritten blue 5), next to last paragraph: “Literacy Coordinator Cherall Weiss
reported 110 people attended the October 2018 Happy Hour for Literacy, and
approximately $3,000 was raised during the event.” [Specifying the year would help to
distinguish this from the upcoming event of the same name mentioned later.]
2. Page 2, same paragraph, sentence 5: “National International Literacy Day was
celebrated the prior week with the Writing Challenge awardee, three high school
graduates, and In Your Own Words, an anthology of learners' writings.” [??]
3. Page 4, paragraph 3: “Jim Mosher inquired regarding the reason for changing the Donor
Wall at Mariners.” [note: I am baffled by the reply “that some of the names are [were]
no longer legible.” The names were engraved in wood and not subject to fading.]
4. Page 4, last paragraph: “Board Member Coulter reported on December 3 from 5:00 to
7:00 p.m., the Friends will be holding a fundraiser at Goriana Gorjana Jewelry in
Fashion Island.” [note: this doesn’t, yet, appear to be publicized on the NBPL/Friends
website]
Item 2. Patron Comments
Comment 2: The response does not seem entirely satisfactory to what seems a reasonable
privacy request regarding display of held items. Patrons who do not want their names and
reading choices publicly displayed can indeed go to the facilities to retrieve items currently on
the shelves, but that doesn’t solve their problem in they wish to get in line to obtain a popular
item that is currently circulating and already subject to a hold list. It would seem like the library
could offer an option for requested items to be held (privately) at the circulation desk when the
items become available, rather than displayed on the public hold shelves.
Item 3. Library Activities
Handwritten blue page 12: The growth in library program attendance shown over the last ten
years is not “exponential” (which refers to something increasing at a rapidly accelerating rate,
with each successive data point being a fixed multiple of the previous one). In fact, from 2009
through 2019 the growth in attendance appears to be less than “linear” (meaning growing at a
steady rate): the increase from 2014 to 2019 is shown as being less than the increase from
2009 to 2014.
October 21, 2019, Library Trustees agenda comments from Jim Mosher Page 2 of 2
Item 4. Expenditure Status Report
September 30 marks the end of the current fiscal year’s first quarter.
Handwritten blue page 20: The previous agenda item mentions the importance of programming,
yet the programming budget for the year seems small ($5,500) and a surprisingly small fraction
of that ($297) has been spent in the first quarter.
Item 5. Board of Library Trustees Monitoring List
No recurring agenda items are scheduled for November or December 2019, and just two
policies in November 2020. It would seem some equalizing between months would be possible.
Item 9. Newport Beach Public Library Donation
The Board’s powers under City Charter Section 708 would seem to indicate the Trustee’s
acceptance of the gift requires approval by the City Council.
Item 10. Request to Add Designated Donor Wall
The staff report does not indicate the size of the donation compared to others for which
similar name recognition has been offered. That would seem important in the Board’s
consideration of the appropriateness of the request.
Does the statement at the end of the staff report, that “Staff recommends that the letters
should be centered on the “EXIT” sign on the right side of the Lobby Gallery wall” mean
the line of letters should be at the same height as the “EXIT” sign (but centered over the
display shown in the attachment)? Or does it recommend placing the letters above the
“EXIT” sign (with half the letters on one side and half on the other side of it, at the
extreme right of the area shown in the attachment)?
Item 13c. Witte Lectures Committee
I recently noticed the City Clerk has on file what appears to be a still-active 2003 agreement (C-
3664) between the Trustees and Foundation regarding administration of what was then called
the “Distinguished Speaker Lecture Series” (and in recent years is being called the “Witte
Lectures”). The Trustees may wish to review it. Although it is not totally clear, it looks like it may
have been intended to replace the January 18, 2000, BLT-NBPLF Agreement that is in the
Trustee Handbook at Tab V, including its provisions regarding BLT oversight of the NBPLF’s
financial affairs and disbursement of contributions.
Item VII. PUBLIC COMMENTS ON NON-AGENDA ITEMS
I appreciate the option being provided to download the complete agenda packet as a single file.
I hope that will continue.