Brownsville Public Library System Advisory Board

Brownsville Public Library System Advisory Board Monday August 8, 2022 Minutes Hybrid Present Absent Guests Rachel Ayala Josephine Balboa Jose Gonzalez George E. Olivo Maribel De Leon Kayla Trevino Alisha Hernandez Lisa Rodriguez Brenda Trevino Alma Knopp Cassandra Mendez Juan Guerra Cynthia Lizardi-Burlette Courtney Taylor Chris Pineda Rubi Gonzalez 1) Call Meeting to Order – Meeting was called to order by Ms. Alma Knopp at 5:36pm. 2) Discussion and Action of Approval of Minutes – Mr. Olivo motioned for approval. Ms. Ayala seconded. All voted aye, and minutes are approved. 3) Citizen Comment – No Comments 4) Book Talk by Author Suzanne Shepard – Ms. Suzanne Shepard, who is the President of the Valley Zoological Society, introduced herself and began explaining her book Rocket the Space Giraffe. She explained that she was inspired by a real giraffe named Rocket that is homed at Gladys Porter Zoo. The book is supposed to be fun and informative for the readers abouts giraffes and lemurs, and all proceeds of the book proceeds go to the zoo to help care for the giraffes. She offered her services if the library needs any assistance or any programing. Ms. Lizardi asked if there is anyway the library can interact with Ms. Shepard in some type of programing. Ms. Brenda stated that Ms. Kayla is the Youth Librarian and will reach out to Ms. Suzanne with some ideas on how she and the library can come together for some programing. 5) Discussion on Library Hours – Mr. Guerra began explaining that staff brought up to management that Sunday should have the same hours as Friday and Saturday. The current hours for the libraries are Mon-Thurs 10am – 9am, Fri. & Sat. 10am – 6pm, and Sunday from 1pm – 8pm. Staff states that not many people come to the library on Sunday evenings and recommend having the hours changed. Also, this will lessen the confusion for patrons, because now the library will only have two schedules instead of three. Mr. Guerra reports that he and the city’s MAD team are working on a study to get more accurate reports on the effects of changing the hours, but even with the change the library would be open one more hour. Once he has the definite results, he will bring this back to the board to vote on. 6) Discussion and Action on Updated Library Policy – Ms. Brenda Trevino began by explaining that the original library manual was created in 1994 and has been amended several times since then. The main updates to the policy were: Mission, Vision and Functions were changed to reflect the library’s current goals, services are now to include electronic materials, makerspace and notary services, the updates to the fee schedules, refund policies, and material selection reflects modern library policies. The other minor changes were to verbiage to make the manual easier to read. Mrs. Lizardi asked if there is a contingency as to when the policy should be updated so another 28 years doesn’t go by without a change. Ms. Brenda answered that they plan to go through this process every 5 years. Mr. Pineda asked if the library could provide a redlined copy of the policy manual before acting on this item. Ms. De Leon stated that yes there is, and this item can be tabled if the board would like. Ms. Ayala moved to table the item and Mrs. Hernandez seconded the motion, the board voted unanimously, and the item has been tabled for the next meeting on September 12, 2022. 7) Library Report a. Marquee Update – Ms. Brenda Trevino told the board that the marquee at the Main Branch Library is up and fully functional, and the one at the Southmost Branch is still on hold. The library is waiting to hear back from PUB as to when they can work on adding the meter for the marquee. b. Southmost Mural – The artist began painting last week; and she is working diligently to get the mural up and finished. She has been very passionate about this piece of art. Ms. Brenda asked the board if they have had a chance to see the work she has done, and if not, she would like the board to walk to the main floor to see the progress. c. Services – Ms. Kayla Trevino started her presentation with a reminder of what the library goals for Summer Reading Program were, and she was happy to announce that the library met almost all the goals except for having the same 50 patrons attend five programs. There was a total of 827 total registrations, 410 reading logs submitted, 823 attendees at the Fintastic Summer Bash, and the same 45 patrons attended at least five programs. She gave an overview of some of the programs and activities that were part of the Summer Reading Program. Ms. Kayla also told the board members that regular programing will continue in the fall, as well as the newer programs the library is planning to implement. Mr. Pineda asked what is teen night? Ms. Kayla answered that it will be different events directed specifically for teens to come in and hang out, for example video games. A newish program that the library started in the summer is the scavenger hunts, which will now become the monthly scavenger hunt, and the library is starting with the back-to-school scavenger hunt. Kids will look for clues throughout the children’s dept. and once they have the answer, they will get a small treat. Story Time on the trail will continue as usual and the next month the book will be swapped out. Dino Zone has finally been revealed to the public and families are loving it. Mr. Olivo commended the staff with job well done, he was at the grand opening, and he stated it was a success. The rock garden is an ongoing program to beautify the courtyard at the main branch library. The children’s dept. will continue to provide rocks for the kids to  decorate so they can be added to the garden. Ms. Courtney Taylor continues the services presentation with Adult Services, and how the Adult Computer Literacy Classes came to an end in July but will be renewed in August. At Southmost the classes had over 71 participants and at Main they had over 103 participants. Adult services also hosted four other programs throughout the months of June and July, which were Father’s Day appreciation, DIY Beach Frame, DIY Beach in a Bottle, and BYOB Book Club. Ms. Kayla went over MakerSpace updates since both MakerSpace Advisors were unavailable due to programing. She went on to say that the library did welcome a new Advisor, Mr. Anthony Chavarria, who was previously a full-time Library Aide. The Southmost Renovation has been completed, and MakerSpace is working on adding more machines and other services to that area. Ms. Kayla went over the SRP programs that MakerSpace did, such as splash art night. Ms. Courtney concluded the presentation with outreach services, and the events that the library staff attended to connect with the community. Theses events were the following: Jubilee Family Fun Day at Main Street, CDCB Open House and Resource Fair, Cameron Park Summer Reading Program, Texas Read Grant at Housing Authority Bibliotic, Keller Elementary, the International Southmost Choice Neighborhood Plan at Faulk Middle School, Revival of Cultural Arts Community Reflections on the book My Boy Will Die of Sorrow, and the Mexican Consulate. 8) Adjournment – Mrs. Hernandez made a motion to adjourn the meeting. Mr. Olive seconded. Meeting was adjourned at 6:24 pm.