HomeMy WebLinkAbout11/17/2014 - Board of Library TrusteesNovember 17, 2014, BLT Agenda Item Comments
Comments on the Newport Beach Board of Library Trustees (BLT) agenda items, submitted by:
Jim Mosher (jimmosher@yahoo.com ), 2210 Private Road, Newport Beach 92660 (949-548-6229)
Item 4. Draft October 20, 2014 Minutes
Changes to the passages shown in italics are suggested in strikeout underline format.
Page 2, last paragraph, sentence 4: “This policy places sets expectations for public behavior
that supports support equitable access to library services, and defines consequences for use
violations and the appeals process.”
Page 3, first full paragraph: “The Board thanked Library staff and the City Attorney’s staff for
their assistance with this policy. The revisions will need to be sent to City Council for
approval.”
Comment: this may well be what was said, but I don’t think it’s correct. In City Charter
Section 708(a) the people directly empowered the BLT to “make and enforce such by-
laws, rules and regulations as may be necessary” for “the administration of City
libraries.” Since per Section 405 the City Council exercises only the powers that are not
assigned by the Charter to other entities, and since the Charter could have, but does
not, say the role of the BLT is to administer policies set by or subject to approval by the
Council, I take the wording to mean the library policy setting power has been assigned to
the BLT, and hence the Council has no jurisdiction over it. Any presentation to the
Council about library rules and regulations, including library use policies set by the BLT,
would be at most a courtesy receive and file item. If the Council is unhappy with the
BLT’s policies, they have the power under Charter Section 702 to replace the BLT
members with new ones and hope for a better result. But they do not have the power to
otherwise meddle in powers assigned to the BLT.
Page 3, Item 2, paragraph 2, sentence 1: “Tim attended a Corona del Mar residence residents
meeting on October 9th …”
Page 3, Item 2, paragraph 2, sentence 3: “Discussion continued on this branches’ branch’s
collection.”
Page 4, Item C.1, sentence 1: “Director Hetherton noted that he had the opportunity to speak at
the Writer’s Festival in East Bluff Eastbluff.” [Based on the subsequent written Activities
Report (Item 5.A.2 at the present meeting) I’m guessing this is Eastbluff as in Eastbluff Drive,
the Eastbluff Shopping Center and the Eastbluff Homeowners Community Association – rather
than a similar sounding city somewhere.]
November 17, 2014, Library Trustees agenda comments from Jim Mosher Page 2 of 2
Item 5.B.2. NBPL Public Give-Away Shelf Policy
This is a great improvement over the current policy, and will enhance the library’s role as a
community information resource.
The last sentence of proposed Section C (“… announcements of public events to be
held in Newport Beach by 501(c)(3) non-profit organizations …”) may be overly
restrictive since the library-going public may be interested in events nearby, but not
technically “in” Newport Beach.
I believe churches are technically 501(c)(3) non-profit organizations. Is the “engaged in
educational and cultural activities that support the Library’s mission” clause intended to
prevent distribution of materials that might give the impression the library is promoting a
particular religious activity? And more generally, has the City Attorney cleared the
phrase as being sufficiently “content neutral”?
The proposal (under Section D) to require materials to be initialed by library staff is a bit
unclear to me. Surely not every copy of the many that may be provided for distribution is
to be initialed?
Since they are not produced by the government or a 501(c)(3), the draft policy would
appear to continue to prohibit the distribution of privately-produced throw-away
newspapers, such as the School Times [?], which at least used to, and still occasionally
does appear on the shelves. Does this continue to be the intent?
Item 5.B.3. Corona del Mar Branch Project Update
It is good to see the hard-copy survey results.
Are the results of the on-line survey going to be consolidated and released for review in some
form?
I also noticed in the minutes of the last BLT meeting mention of extensive internal discussion of
how the “public restrooms” would be shared between the library and the fire station. Does that
mean this fire station is expected to have a public meeting area component like the one in Santa
Ana Heights? Otherwise I thought fire station facilities were mostly “private” (that is, intended
for use by the fire personnel only).