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HomeMy WebLinkAbout12/2/2013 - Board of Library Trustees (21)DRAFT 1 CITY OF NEWPORT BEACH Board of Library Trustees MINUTES Regular Meeting November 4, 2013 – 5:00 p.m. ___________________________________________________________________________ The agenda for the Regular Meeting was posted on Thursday, October 3, 2013, at 3:35 p.m. on the City's website; at 2:47 p.m. on the City Hall Electronic Bulletin Board located in the entrance of the City Council Chambers at 100 Civic Center Drive; and at 11:46 p.m. in the Meeting Agenda Binder located in the entrance of the City Council Chambers at 100 Civic Center Drive. CONVENED AT 5:00 p.m. 1) CALL MEETING TO ORDER – Chair Johnson-Tucker called the meeting to order. 2) ROLL CALL – Roll call by Administrative Assistant Elaine McMillion. Trustees Present: Jill Johnson-Tucker, chairing the meeting Jerry King Eleanor Palk Robyn Grant John Prichard Staff Present: Tim Hetherton, Acting Library Services Director Melissa Kelly, Support Services Coordinator Debbie Walker, Youth Services & Branch Coordinator Natalie Basmaciyan, Reference Supervisor Steven Short, Melissa Hartson, Elaine McMillion, Administrative Assistant Rebecca Redyk, Human Resources NBPLFoundation Present: Tracy Keys, Executive Director City Arts Commission Present: Rita Goldberg, Chair Public Present: Jayanti Addleman Jim Mosher Elizabeth Stahr 3) PUBLIC COMMENTS ON AGENDA ITEMS Prior to this meeting Jim Mosher emailed seven pages of type-written remarks on nine agenda items. He asked that the Consent Calendar agenda item A.1. Customer Comments, be pulled for separate discussion, and that he be allowed to comment after the agenda item C.5. Update on Library Services Director Recruitment report has been made. Chair Johnson-Tucker thanked him for his comments and noted that he would be allowed to comment as requested. DRAFT 2 4) APPROVAL OF MINUTES – October 7, 2013 Regular Meeting. It was moved, seconded and passed (Trustee Grant/Trustee Prichard) to approve the minutes from the Monday, October 7, 2013 Board of Library Trustees meeting as amended: Page 3 – Paragraph 2 – “Currant” should be revised to “Current.” Motion carried by all Board of Library Trustees present. C. MONTHLY REPORTS 5. Update on Library Services Director Recruitment – Chair Johnson-Tucker moved this item to this portion of the meeting in order to allow Rebecca Redyk, Human Resources Supervisor time to give her update so that she would be able to attend another City meeting that also began at 5:00 p.m. Additional copies of the brochure for this recruitment were made available at this meeting. The deadline for receiving applications for this recruitment was October 27. A total of 74 applications were received which included seasoned professionals as well as up and coming professionals. Recruiter Teri Black has begun to meet with the applicants for screening interviews. As of this morning 16 community surveys have been received through the Library’s website. The initially proposed timeline for the recruitment has not changed. Chair Johnson-Tucker asked if the Foundation and Friends of the Library chairs have been contacted by Teri Black. Trustee Grant asked if the City Arts Commission will be consulted for their input. Rebecca will check into this with the recruiter and report back. Jim Mosher stated that the recruitment for a new Library Services Director should have allowed the Board to rethink the purpose and future of the Library and that he felt that this opportunity was lost. He stated that he was surprised that the process has moved so rapidly. He expressed that the last page of the brochure that was scanned and published online for the October 7 Library Board of Trustees meeting was difficult to read. He also expressed his concern that the public had lost the opportunity to be able to provide their input into the selection process if interviews were closed to the public. B. ITEMS FOR REVIEW AND POSSIBLE ACTION 3. Arts and Cultural Update – Chair Johnson-Tucker moved this item forward. The City Arts Commission Chair Rita Goldberg reported that the attendance at the City Arts Commission events have been the highest ever with over 2,000 attendees at the Concerts in the Park, Shakespeare by the Sea and the Newport Beach Art Foundation’s Art in the Park event. She attributes this to the new Civic Center Green venue and hopes to continue holding future events in that location. The outdoor Sculpture Garden and appointment of a coordinator for this endeavor is forthcoming. City Council has approved initial funding of $125,000 for this project. The upcoming events for 2014 include the museum tour to LACMA, the Newport Beach Art Exhibition and Sale juried art exhibit that will be held at the Civic Center, Shakespeare by the Sea, and summer concerts. The granting process was also noted in which the Commission allocates funding to various art related organizations. Prior to Rita exiting the meeting the Board thanked her for her report and work with the City Arts Commission. 5) CURRENT BUSINESS A. CONSENT CALENDAR 1. Customer Comments – Monthly review of evaluations of library services through suggestions and requests received from customers. 2. Library Activities – Monthly update of library events, services and statistics. DRAFT 3 3. Expenditure Status Report – Monthly expenditure status of the Library’s operating expenses, services, salaries and benefits by department. 4. Board of Library Trustees Monitoring List – List of agenda items and dates for monthly review of projects by the Board of Library Trustees. It was moved, seconded and passed (Trustee King/Trustee Palk) to approve the Consent Calendar Items as presented with the exception of Customer Comments. Motion carried by all Trustees present. Melissa Kelly noted that the curbside book drop on Avocado Avenue will be brought back after planned roadwork is completed by the Public Works Department. The area will include an area for cars to turn into in order to not impede traffic. Customer comment 5 regarding the Central Library lobby staircase and ways in which it could be made safer to help prevent falls, and comment 6 regarding customers viewing graphic images on the public computers were discussed. Staff explained the current procedures for handling the computer viewing issue. The Board asked staff to consult with the City Attorney on this topic and report back to the Board at their December meeting. Staff noted that they would discuss with Public Works and the architects ways in which to resolve the stair safety issue. Mr. Mosher noted that he felt that descending the stairs is a problem. He noted that putting comment 6 on the next meeting agenda was good in order to further discuss this subject. He felt that the request on comment 7 to rotate the DVD collection among the other library locations was a good one, and suggested doing so with other library materials. Elizabeth Stahr noted that the library has more computers closer together now and that this may cause customers to be more aware of what others are doing on the computers. It was moved, seconded and passed (Trustee Grant/Trustee Prichard) to approve the Customer Comment Consent Calendar Item with a follow-up on the staircase lighting issue and also from the City Attorney on viewing graphic images on the public computers. Motion carried by all Trustees present. B. ITEMS FOR REVIEW AND POSSIBLE ACTION 1. Review of Library Expansion Donor Wall Naming / NBPL Foundation – Executive Director Tracy Keys noted that the Foundation has received a $100,000 gift for the naming of one of the nine designated areas in the Central Library expansion areas. Once the new Library Director is appointed the Foundation will work directly with that individual to meet and confer with potential donors. Trustee King thanked the Foundation for their efforts in obtaining donations. General events have been well received and attended. Both fundraising and membership are going well. 2. Library Material Selection – Reference Librarians Steven Short and Melissa Hartson gave an overview on the policies and practices associated with library material selection. Some of the subjects covered were the process of selection using borrowing patterns, circulation statistical reports, and media reviews. Also budget, vendors, ordering criteria, interlibrary loans, downloadable formats, and criteria for weeding were explained and discussed. Selection is based on merit, the value it brings to our collection, and in meeting the needs of the community. The Board thanked them for their reports prior to them leaving this meeting. Donation and Gift Acceptance Procedure – Tim Hetherton explained that staff wishes to conform to City Policy in the acceptance of donations and gifts to the Library. The question is whether or not the Board of Library Trustees wishes to have the gift amount brought to them for approval before DRAFT 4 acceptance of the gift may be made. Currently gifts of $10,000 and under are sent to the City Manager for approval, and gifts over that amount are sent through City Council for approval. However, the City Manager can accept gifts up to $30,000 with City Council approving the allocation. Gifts that do not come through the Friends of the Library or Foundation for $10,000 or under, may be accepted and approved by the BLT at their next meeting. However, this may postpone the gift if the next meeting is weeks away. Again, the question is, does the Board wish to approve these gifts prior to being accepted and sent to the City Manager for approval? Since the Foundation is a 501(c) 3 organization donors are urged to give directly to the Foundation. Throughout the year a donor may give funds designated for a particular use. These gifts are considered restricted donations and must be used for the specified area in which the donor indicates. Annually, staff prepares wish lists to both the Friends and to the Foundation with funding amounts specified for use in the Library wherever needed. The wish lists are presented to the Board of Library Trustees for approval prior to being presented to the support group boards for approval. The funding for these wish lists is provided through non-specified donations received through the Foundation and through the Friends of the Library book sales. Staff then prepares a report to be presented to City Council for final approval and allocation of the wish list funds. A clearer procedure for identifying, accepting and approving donations and gifts needs to be identified. Chair Johnson-Tucker asked the Trustees to familiarize themselves with the current Gift and Donor Policy before the next meeting. The Board asked staff to prepare a report to clarify the Gift and Donor Policy by amending it to include the approval of diminutive amounts in a timely manner so as not to cause the donor to wait for approval prior to accepting the gift. This report will be prepared and presented to the Board at their next December 2, 2013 meeting. Since the current policy is so simply stated adding one sentence may be all that is needed to further clarify. Mr. Mosher stated that the Board of Library Trustees has the power to accept gifts and donations, subject to approval by City Council as outlined in the City Charter. C. MONTHLY REPORTS 1. Library Services Director Report – Acting Library Services Director Hetherton noted that it has been rewarding, and an honor and a privilege to serve as Acting Director no matter what the outcome of the recruitment may be. The Bistro has received rave reviews after being in operation for one full month. Programming has been successful, with a display of Sid Hoff’s memorabilia that was up for a month, the Hilbert art collection will be on display until May 2014. SCORE, a nonprofit organization that helps small businesses become successful gave a presentation on October 23, and they have scheduled and will be presenting workshops in the Friends Meeting Room through July of 2014. Many wish list items are being implemented and include new Zinio subscriptions and new online databases that include Consumer Reports, Grove Art and AskART! IT will be equipping the Sound Lab in the Media Center, and new book scanners will be installed soon at all 4 Library locations. Trustee Palk reported that the carts located outside of the bookstore are difficult to get back into the store over the threshold often taking two volunteers to move the cart. Within a day of Tim knowing about this he had it fixed so volunteers can move carts back and forth with ease. 2. Friends of the Library Liaison Report – Trustee King attended the October Friends Board meeting and gave an overview on agenda items that were discussed at their meeting which included the book sale, the details of pricing, and sales attendance. 3. Library Foundation Liaison Report – Trustee Grant was unable to attend the last meeting. Tracy sent the minutes from that meeting to keep her informed. She complimented the Foundation for their dedication and tireless work. Tracy Keys gave an overview of some of the items discussed at the DRAFT 5 most recent meeting which included the Media Center signage, outreach to schools, discussion of a larger auditorium, and other ways to help promote the Library. 4. DSLS Liaison Report – Trustee Palk reported that the Zadie Smith event was well received and attended. The speakers for the 2014 series include film critic Kenneth Turan, sports writer Rick Reilly, journalist Frank Bruni, actress and playwright Anna Deavere Smith, and author Jonathan Franzen. The next DSLS meeting will be held as a retreat. The last 2013 Library Live event will be this week. 6) BOARD OF LIBRARY TRUSTEES ANNOUNCEMENTS OR MATTERS WHICH MEMBERS WOULD LIKE PLACED ON A FUTURE AGENDA FOR DISCUSSION, ACTION OR REPORT (NON-DISCUSSION ITEM) Media Suite Update Graphic Images on Library Computers Library Gift and Donor Policy Central Library Lobby Stair Safety 7) PUBLIC COMMENTS ON NON-AGENDA ITEMS Mr. Mosher suggested the Board may want to revise their By-Laws to keep consistent with the agenda format that is currently being used at the meetings. The Board should be concerned on the privacy and the First Amendment. The Board may want to revise the expressive use area to include the area near the entrance on the second floor. Chair Johnson-Tucker collected the responses staff received from the Board on alternate meeting date availability. Trustee King noted the Concordia University’s Lecture / Reception event scheduled at the Central Library Friday, November 22, 2013. 8) ADJOURNMENT – 6:49 p.m. Submitted by: _____________________________________________________________ Chair Approval of Minutes