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BM 2008 03-13 LB WILLIAM T. COZBY PUBLIC LIBRARY LIBRARY BOARD MINUTES March 13, 2008 The William T. Cozby Public Library Advisory Board met in regular session on Thursday, March 13, 2008 in the administrative board room at the William T. Cozby Public Library. 1. CALL TO ORDER: The meeting was called to order by Chair, Marcia Raines at 7: 10p.m. Other board members present were Jennifer Johnson, Eric Ratcliff, Nancy Tao, Nancy Maurer, Tom Trahan, Whitney Sun and Paul Chung. Staff in attendance were Library Director, Kathy Edwards, Assistant Library Director, Connie Moss, and Sr. Administrative Technician, Janet Lance. 2. APPROVAL OF MINUTES FROM THE FEBRUARY 14, 2008 REGULAR BOARD MEETING: Nancy Tao moved to approve the minutes and Jennifer Johnson seconded the motion. All were in favor and the minutes were approved. 3. CITIZENS APPEARANCES: None 4. LIBRARY DIRECTOR'S REPORT: . Workload Indicators: In February gate count was up 15%, Circulation up 4%, Interlibrary loan up 59%, Internet up 9% and WI FI usage was up 22%. . Loan Star Libraries SFY 07/08: The love seat has been delivered and the library is awaiting the arrival of the display cubes. Staff and the Youth Advisors are looking at wall mounted sculptures as well as posters. Donation was received which will cover a second sculpture. . Comments/Suggestions: Suggestions relating to the acquisition of new books, movies and periodicals were given to Public Services staff for evaluation and follow- up. Staff personally contacts those who leave contact information for all suggestions. Staff responded to the request regarding: expanding graphic novel selections, loud noise in the library, lower "No-Entry" & One Way signs in parking lot, and restroom etiquette. 5. REGISTRATION TLA - APRIL 16-18 IN DALLAS: Marcia Raines expressed interest in attending TLA for one full day. 6. PROPOSED CHANGE OF LIBRARY BYLAWS: Marcia Raines moved that the bylaws be changed to state: Youth Advisors shall be in the seventh through eleventh grade, seconded by Nancy Maurer. Motion carried. 7. LIBRARY PHOTOSTORY, FEBRUARY 25, 2008: Connie Moss presented a photostory showing a busy Monday night at the library. 1 8. LIBRARY ANECDOTES: Connie Moss shared with the board members recent anecdotes related to the library. 9. 501 C-3 FOUNDATION: Awaiting the IRS letter recognizing the foundation and granting its 501 C-3 non-profit status. Tom Trahan will contact the IRS to find out the status of the application. 10. 2030 UPDATE: Jennifer Johnson, representative on the subcommittee Community Wellness and Enrichment, updated the board members on the goals of the committee. Jennifer described the planning process and the timeline for getting the vision to the City Council. 11. ADJOURNMENT: Chair, Marcia Raines adjourned meeting at 7:40 p.m. Respectfully submitted, Janet Lance Administrative Technician Approved as written 4/1 0/08 C :IminutesIMarch l3.DOC 2 MEMORANDUM TO: Library Advisory Board FROM: Kathleen P. Metz Edwards, Library Director DATE: March 4,2008 SUBJECT: March's Director's Report for Library Advisory Board Workload Indicators. In February, the workload indicators trended up. Gate count was up significantly at 15%. In looking at the numbers, it appears that last February we were down which we attributed to the well publicized opening of the Lewisville Public Library's expansion. The gate count returned in March 2007. The other factor was February 2008 had one extra day due to Leap Year but that alone would not have generated a 15% increase. Circulation was up 4% in February. Year-to-date, we are down less than 1 % in spite of the removal of thousands of non-resident cards. Program attendance is down 1.52%. This is not a significant amount. As a reminder, the preschool-focused Valley Ranch Branch Library opened in its expanded location in October 2007. They have an expanded storytime/toddler time schedule. Interlibrary loan is up 59% year-to-date. We have no explanation except to say that we are getting the word out re: our user-friendly interface to the interlibrary loan program. Internet use rose 9% in February and is now down 6.4% year-to-date. WI FI usage was up 22% in February with an increase of 8.9% year-to date. No doubt about it, February was just busy! Connie Moss put together a really cool photostory of Monday, February 25,2008 which we will play at the board meeting. It was a very busy evening. Please note the complaint that we received re: the library is like Starbucks. A former city council member and middle school teacher stated at a board report to council several years ago that she would like to see the teens view the library as they do Starbucks. I guess we have arrived much to the chagrin of the suggestor! Loan Star Libraries SFY 07/08: The love seat arrived in time for last meeting. We are still awaiting the display cubes. Staff are looking at wall mounted sculptures as well as poster art. The Youth Advisors have reviewed the sculptures. We also received a donation which will cover a second sculpture. Registration for TLA: If you wish to be preregistered to attend the full Texas Library Association's full conference at the Dallas Convention Center from Wednesday, April 16, 2008 through noon on Friday, April 18, 2008 please let Janet know on the 13th. You may register for exhibits only onsite for $20.00. Preregistration entitles you to attend all conference programs. Library Board Bylaws: The Board members who interviewed for the Youth Advisors in August 2007, discussed the problem with senior youth advisors being unable to attend August and September board meetings as they were now college students and not living in 3 Coppell. Since these students could not attend these meetings, they discussed changing the eligibility from 7th to 12th grade to 7th to 11th grade. Student applications would not be accepted for seniors. The Boards and Commission process for 2008 is just starting and now would be the time to update the Bylaws. To make the change, the Board will need to have a motion to accept the revised bylaws and a vote. Council would then approve. Staff recommend that this change be made. Comments and Suggestions: Suggestions relating to the acquisition of new books, movies and periodicals are given to Public Services staff for evaluation and follow-up. Appropriate items are ordered for the collection or interlibrary loan is offered for those not appropriate for the collection. Staff personally contact those who leave contact information for all suggestions. 2/16/08 - I was just wondering if you could expand your graphic novels selections. Thanks. Zech Thompson Graphic Novels now have their own collection and are readily recognized. 02/17/08 - I suggest that you get books by Corrie Ten Boom. This is another frustrating anonymous comment. We have 7 titles by Corrie Ten Boom. Any titles we do not have, we can obtain by interlibrary loan. Weare happy to show our residents how they can request their own interlibrary loans. 02/17/08 - It was very loud! It would be nice if the library had some volume control. I will not be coming back because of the noise!! Again, an anonymous comment. Please see my repose to the noise in the 02/17/08 and 02/19/08 comments. 02/17/08 - This is not a very good study environment, very loud even staff seemed to be yelling. I pay city taxes. I should be able to feel like I can use my library. Amy Huffman. My response: Dear Ms. Huffman, Thank you for taking the time to complete a "Compliments and Suggestions Survey" at the library. We value citizens' input and incorporate their suggestions where possible. You expressed concern regarding the library's noise level. Your suggestion was placed in the box on Sunday, February 17, 2008. A look at the "people counter" shows that the library had 590 visitors within a four-hour period. The sheer number of library users in this timeframe and within our limited and open space generates noise. We also recognize that the library's barrel ceiling design amplifies and conducts sound. There is no easy solution to that problem as we discovered during the Long Range Planning Process in 2003. As a part of that process, the city hired an acoustical firm to make recommendations, many of which were implemented but there is no cost-feasible way to stop noise conduction. Unfortunately, there is no acoustical separation between the young children's area and the rest of the library. The Young Adult section shares space with the Fiction area and the computers in the center of the library are for all users. The 2003 Long Range Plan recommended that the library be expanded to 40,000 to 50,000 square feet on a larger site with separate functional areas, allowing computers and children to be in self-contained rooms. This recommendation was not funded. The City has recently initiated the Coppell 2030 long-range planning process to look at future city facilities and services. We have clearly heard from our users that they want additional space where the library can accommodate separate and enclosed service areas. Should 4 the City in the future decide to fund a new library on a larger lot, we will definitely plan for separation of our servIce areas. In the meantime, we recommend that if you need a quiet space, the Quiet Reading Room provides users a quiet and pleasant area to read and study. Staff will ask users to leave the Quiet Reading Room if they talk or use electronic devices such as cell phones and computers. 02/18/08 - If you could, lower the heights of the "No-Entry" & One Way signs which driving into the library parking. People would be more cautious and the signs more effective. Ace Fernandes. I contacted Mr. Fernandes and explained that this was a request for Engineering. I also told him that the Police Department was patrolling the parking lot during busy times. The suggestion was forwarded to Engineering for consideration. 02/19/08 - Lately the library is becoming like a Starbucks hangout - very noisy laughter/goofing around (older teenagers). Maybe the library can set up a separate area where they can hang out. Ciociaczesia. My response to the suggestor: Dear ciociaczesia Thank you for taking the time to complete a "Compliments and Suggestions Survey" at the library. We value citizens' input and incorporate their suggestions where possible. You expressed concern regarding the library's noise level and suggested that we have a separate area for the older teens. As you have observed, the library enjoys a large number of users which has been confirmed by our electronic "people counter". The sheer number oflibrary users at any given time and with the library's open space concept generates noise. We also recognize that the library's barrel ceiling design amplifies and conducts sound. There is no easy solution to that problem as we discovered during the Long Range Planning Process in 2003. As a part of that process, the city hired an acoustical firm to make recommendations, many of which were implemented but there is no cost-feasible way to stop noise conduction. Unfortunately, there is no acoustical separation between the young children's area and the rest of the library. The Young Adult section shares space with the Fiction area and the computers in the center of the library are for all users. The 2003 Long Range Plan recommended that the library be expanded to 40,000 to 50,000 square feet on a larger site with separate functional areas (you suggested this in your survey), allowing computers and children to be in self-contained rooms. This recommendation was not funded. The City has recently initiated the Coppell2030 long-range planning process to look at future city facilities and services. We have clearly heard from our users that they want additional space where the library can accommodate separate and enclosed service areas. Should the City in the future decide to fund a new library on a larger lot, we will definitely plan for separation of our service areas. In the meantime, we recommend that if you need a quiet space, the Quiet Reading Room provides users a quiet and pleasant area to read and study. Staff will ask users to leave the Quiet Reading Room if they talk or use electronic devices such as cell phones and computers. Thanks again for taking the time to complete the "Compliments and Suggestions Survey". 02/22/08 - I observed someone on an internet PC go to the restroom and not wash hands. I don't know (did not observe) if the person returned to the Pc. I deducted it though, since this person seemed to be in a hurry. Encourage proper "use" etiquette. Tom Augustine. My response to Mr. Augustine: Dear Mr. Augustine, 5 Thank you for taking the time to complete a "Compliments and Suggestion Survey" at the library. We have noted your concern regarding pc users washing their hands after using the public restrooms. We too are concerned about sanitary use of the library. To that end, library staff routinely clean the keyboards with antimicrobial cleaner. We recognize that we cannot clean each keyboard every time we have a new user. To assist our citizens, the City has installed hand sanitizer dispensers in each of the library's public restrooms. We also provide at the Information Desk, free sanitizing wipes. The wipes are in a large container and are located next to the "Compliments and Suggestion Survey" box. Library users can access the container without staff intervention. While we know that none of these are perfect solutions, by offering sanitizer to all users, we are empowering individuals to make safer personal choices. Thanks again for taking time to complete the survey 02/23/08 - I like the puzzles. As you can see from the comments, there is a general theme re: noise and space. We have looked at library operations from every point of view to try and mitigate the concerns. At the end of the day, the library needs more space. Spaces for young adults and children need to be self-contained. There is no way we can make this single-zoned area quiet and still support the hundreds of users that are in the building in any given hour. See you on March 13, 2008. 6