HomeMy WebLinkAbout6/3/2013 - Board of Library TrusteesComments on June 3, 2013 BLT Agenda Items
Comments on the Newport Beach Board of Library Trustees agenda items, submitted by:
Jim Mosher (jimmosher@yahoo.com ), 2210 Private Road, Newport Beach 92660 (949-548-6229)
Item 4. Approval of Minutes – May 6, [2013] Regular Meeting
I think Elaine does an excellent job preparing the minutes, and again this month I did not notice
any typos.
I would, however, offer two, hopefully constructive, suggestions:
1. The draft minutes indicate that during the meeting there were six votes, each recorded
simply as “motion carried.” It is impossible for those who did not attend the meeting to
know if this means the motions carried unanimously, or only by a majority vote. Since
the Brown Act prohibits secret votes, it would seem helpful to indicate something more
definite, such as “motion carried unanimously” or “motion carried by acclamation” or the
name(s) of the dissenting trustee(s), as appropriate.
2. It is impossible, based on the minutes alone, to know what items were approved as a
result of the “yes” vote on the Consent Calendar. Although the agenda will probably be
permanently preserved, there is no guarantee of this, and since reference to the agenda
is required to understand the minutes, it means the approved minutes will not be a
complete record of the actions taken at the meeting. As suggested last month, this
problem could easily be avoided by using the published agenda as a template for the
minutes, and (after removing certain boilerplate) simply filling in the discussion and votes
under the announced items. That is the format used by the City Council and the
Planning Commission, among others, and it provides a readily understandable result.
Item 5.B.1. Report on the Laptop and iPad Circulation Policy
1. I thought there currently were, or had been discussion of the need for, age restrictions
on the checkout of some electronic devices. I don’t see that in the proposed policy.
2. I thought at one time there was an announcement that staff was purchasing a number of
eBook readers from various manufacturers for patrons to use or try while in the library.
Did that happen? And if so, should this policy apply to them?
3. In Rule 3, it would seem “must present a valid NBPL card” should read “must have a
valid NBPL card” since Rule 4 says you don’t actually have to physically present it.
4. The intent of Rule 9, allowing renewals only “as long as one laptop/iPad is available”
would be clearer, and also more amenable to change as new kinds of devices are added
to the policy, if it read “as long as one of that device is available.”
a. As Trustee Grant observed at the last meeting, even if clear, the requirement that
renewals be allowed only when another device of the same kind is sitting unused
on the shelf does not make sense in all circumstances.
b. Rule 9, as written, also provides no guidance to the librarian when, with no
devices on the shelf, a patron returns their device, and then immediately
demands their right under this policy to check it back out since there is now one
on the shelf (namely, the one they just returned).
June 3, 2013 Library Trustees agenda comments by Jim Mosher Page 2 of 2
5. In Rule 10, the 30 minute before closing time return policy seems overly rigid, and
unnecessary, or inapplicable, to the smaller branches.
Item 5.B.2. Media Center Policy and Use Agreement
1. In Rule 10, the statement that “Saving work on Media Center computers is prohibited”
seems unnecessarily different from the policy for use of other public computers,
including the laptops and iPads that were the subject of the preceding item, and if taken
literally would severely impede the usefulness of the Center. Especially with
audio/visual applications, it is almost certain the software will not function properly
without saving at least temporary files on the workstation’s drive(s), and this could also
be necessary for working files which can be much larger than the final product and could
easily exceed the capacity of readily available removal media such as the CDs and flash
drives mentioned in the policy. I believe what is meant is that patrons should not expect
to be able to store their work on the media center computers between sessions.
2. In Rule 14, “Library Board of Trustees” should read “Board of Library Trustees.”
Item 5.B.3. Commercial Activity in Library
1. I find it possible that the offended patron may have observed Literacy Tutors and
mistakenly assumed they were commercial operators.
2. I don’t always agree with staff’s recommendations, but in this case I do, although the
existing Library Use Policy Regulation A.12 prohibiting “Soliciting or collecting funds
(except for staff's collection of overdue fines, fees, proceeds of book sales, rentals, and
library donations);” might be read as already prohibiting commercial use, at least to the
extent of accepting payment, on library property, for the services rendered, and requiring
staff to monitor for such activity.
3. In general, I think commercial use should be prohibited and/or regulated only when it
impedes physical access to public facilities or areas (one of the primary rationales
behind the park permitting rules), or if the operator makes it appear that a free public
service is available only by paying them.
4. Another aspect of this issue that might deserve consideration is the other rationale of the
park permitting program, which (although not entirely clear from the regulations as
codified) is that if a person is financially benefitting from the use of publicly funded
facilities, the public should share in the revenue (via the “agreement” with the Recreation
Director). As Tim points out, it is both difficult and inappropriate for library staff to
attempt to determine patrons’ reasons for using library services, but it would seem that
someone, for example, providing for-profit tutoring services might be required to obtain a
Newport Beach business license, or work for a business that has one. I haven’t
attempted to verify if a business license requirement is enforced against those required
to have permits for commercial use of City parks, but I do believe the agreements
require a substantial fraction of the commercial revenue generated by the activity to go
to the City.