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HomeMy WebLinkAbout09-15-2025-BLT-PUBLIC COMMENTS September 15, 2025, BLT Agenda Item Comments These comments on Newport Beach Board of Library Trustees agenda items are submitted by: Jim Mosher ( Item No. 2. Patron Comments Regarding Comment 1 about the possibility of checking out a snow cone machine: In addition to telling the patron that NBPL does not have them, it might have been helpful to remind the patron that with reciprocal lending agreements, they almost certainly qualify for a free card at any other California public library that does have one. For example, the OCPL, whose catalog shows they have the machines at seven locations, with one currently available in Brea. Item No. 3. Patron's Request for Evaluation of Library Resources Staff has crafted an admirably respectful and restrained response to what must be one of the stranger requests for evaluation received. On June 18, apparently triggered by what she understood to be a Russian threat against the United States made the previous day,1 a patron requested the removal of two children’s books describing Russia for early readers, and replacing them with The Gates of Europe, an adult nonfiction history of Ukraine by Harvard professor Serhii Plokhy.2 It is unclear how the patron expects shielding children from information about a country threatening their own, or inserting into the children’s collection an adult-level book about a different country, is supposed to help anyone. Nonetheless I have these comments about the staff response: 1. City-produced agenda materials like the Director’s Determination should have been provided in a machine-readable/searchable format, rather than the image format that it is. 2. The Determination says one of the books, Russia by Wiley Blevins will be removed from the collection due to low circulation, while the other, Russia by Kevin Blake will be retained. Rather than proactively removing a book that staff finds appropriate because a patron objects to it, I think it would be better to inform the patron that the book has low circulation and, if that continues, will likely be discarded per library policy in a future routine weeding. That seems especially important when, as here, other titles in the same series by the same author remain in the catalog. It does not seem like the circulation of one title should be given special scrutiny simply because a patron raised an objection that staff does not feel would otherwise be a valid reason for removing it. 3. Since Russia by Wiley Blevins no longer appears in the catalog, it is unclear if the determination to discard the book has already been executed. Considering that the determination could be appealed or called up for review, it would seem to me that it should not yet have been removed, and should have remained in the catalog (and available for 2 NBPL already has in its adult collection the newer The Russo-Ukrainian War by the same author which may cover some of the same history. The catalog also indicates NBPL has at least nine children’s nonfiction titles dealing with Ukraine, including one from the same series as one the challenged books about Russia., 1 Google’s News search does not seem to have retained any record of a mainstream report of a threat having been posted on June 17. September 15, 2025, BLT agenda item comments - Jim Mosher Page 2 of 2 inspection by others who may be interested in it) until the possibility of an appeal has either expired or been resolved. Only then would the determination be final. Item No. 8. Library Activities Regarding the Librarian III Recruitment, have any changes been made to the organization chart for the Library Services Department, and does the Board have a copy of its current version? Is the term “Circulation Coordinator,” as used in the report, shorthand for what was formerly called the “Circulation and Technical Processing Coordinator“? Or have the title and duties changed? On handwritten page 25, the “Proquest Articles Retrieved 2025-2026” numbers for August in “Newspapers--Current” seem unusual, with a 20 times increase from July and 11 times higher than the busiest month in the previous year, while the number of searches apparently also increased 12 times over July. It will be interesting to see if the increase persists into September or was a one-off phenomenon. Item No. XIV. PUBLIC COMMENTS ON NON-AGENDA ITEMS As indicated in the draft minutes, one of the items acted upon at the last meeting was Item 8 (“Acceptance of Donations from the Library Foundation”), which included “$6,000 to purchase new computer chairs for the Mariners Branch.” I do not know if this is referring to the public computer station area, but if it is, it seems to me the money could be better spent on something else. I am a user of the Mariners Branch, including its public computers. In my view, the branch has perfectly functional, long-lasting wooden chairs throughout its computer and public desk/table areas. I have never found any problem with them, nor do I find the likely higher-maintenance and less durable height-adjustable swivel chairs at the Central Library any better or more comfortable.