Brownsville Public Library System Advisory Board

Brownsville Public Library System Advisory Board March 13, 2023 Minutes Hybrid Present Absent Guests George E. Olivo Rubi Gonzalez Josephine Balboa Bertha Gomez Chris Pineda Maribel De Leon Katie Hernandez Cynthia Lizardi-Burlette Lisa Rodriguez Sarined Garcia Bertha Pena Brenda Trevino Melinda Clayton Nora I. Garza Bobbi Vasquez Juan Guerra Alisha Hernandez 1) Call Meeting to Order – Meeting was called to order by Mr. George E. Olivo at 5:30pm. 2) Discussion and Action of Approval of Minutes – Ms. Bertha Pena motioned for approval. Ms. Nora I. Garza seconded. All voted aye, and the minutes were approved. 3) Citizen Comment – No Comments 4) Library Report – a. Adult Services – Ms. Bertha Gomez reported to the board that Adult Computer Literacy Classes (ACLC) are still going on for this quarter and will end in March. Patrons were able to learn Google Docs, Sheets, Slides, and Mango Languages. Mango Languages provided the library with a tote for giveaway which was raffle during the class in February meaning a lucky patron walked away with a nice tote with Library themed goodies. Adult service partnered with the Food Bank, Friendship of Women, UT Health, the Health Dept, Brownsville Animal Defense, and a few other companies to host a Heart Matters Fair at both branches. Patrons were able to get more information on how to live a better and healthy life. The library hosted a movie night at the Main branch, where they showed the movie “Somewhere in Time”. 60 people attended. On that same night, the Southmost Branch Library hosted a cooking class that had 54 people in attendance. The library celebrated National Wear Red Day where staff and patrons were encouraged to wear red and take a photo in support. Adult services also held a blind date with a book event where 60 patrons participated during the weeklong event. Patrons were encouraged to check out a book that was wrapped up, so they did not know which book they grabbed. The patrons that participated were entered into a giveaway. The puzzle of the month is still gaining attention and the library has regulars who enjoy putting the puzzle together. In March, Adult services will continue the ACLC, host a Candle Making Class, Recipe Swap Scrapbook event, and Movie Night : Cesar Chavez. b. Notary Services – Ms. Maribel De Leon presented to the board that the library completed its first year of offering this service in February. The library had a total of 132 appointments, of which 129 were  completed and 3 were no show. Ms. Pena asked if the library charges, Ms. De Leon answered that it is a free service. Mr. Guerra mentioned that the idea for this service came from Ms. Ruth McKula, and he was skeptical at first of the success of the service. He is happy to report that he was wrong, and the numbers prove that. Ms. Lizardi-Burlette asked how is this service being promoted. Ms. De Leon explained that in the beginning there were flyers that patrons could take up at circ, then those flyers were posted on social media and other places, and the biggest promotion of this service was word of mouth. Ms. De Leon stated that many of the patrons that Ms. Ruth and she spoke to explained they had heard about the service from someone else. c. Youth Services – Ms. Katie Hernandez began her presentation with Kid’s Night, which happens twice a month. Kids get to do either some type of arts and craft or an experiment which they get to take home with them. This event is held at both branches simultaneously at 6pm. This month’s theme was The Three Little Pigs; the kids had to build a house that needed to withstand the air of blow dryer. The library brought back a pre-COVID program: Bouncing Babies. This is a story time specific to parents with babies 0mo – 18mo old. This event is held every 1st and 2nd Wednesday of each month. Ms. Pena asked if the Story Times are in English or in Spanish. Ms. Hernandez stated that at the moment the story times are only in English, but she will look into adding Spanish into the program. This event is held one hour before the regular Story Time, so the Main Branch has theirs from 10am-11am and Southmost from 5pm – 6pm. Lego Day is held every 1st and 4th Friday of the month and the kids get to play with Legos of all types. Ms. Garza stated that in the summer the library could possibly incorporate daily Lego challenges, so the kids are challenged to create different things or designs. This should help boost usage of the Legos. This month on the 15th from 6pm – 8pm the Southmost Branch Library will be having their Nature Fair LEAP Launch Event. They will be promoting their new items for circulation which are the LEAP Library Explorer Adventure Pack. This is a backpack that contains books and materials that encourage kids and their families to go outdoors, and possibly go on a hike or camp. These backpacks also allow the kids and their families to have free State Park Access to several of the local State Parks. This program is in collaboration with Texas Children in Nature Network and Driscoll Health Plan. The backpacks will be available for check out for two (2) weeks. Ms. Garza asked how many backpacks are available and the answer is six (6). The final event that Children’s Services is focusing on is Eggstravaganza. The events will be held at the Main Branch on Tuesday March 28th from 6pm – 8pm, and at the Southmost Branch on Tuesday March 21st from 6pm – 8pm. Sensory Hour will take place the following Wednesday for each event from 6pm – 7pm. Ms. Lizardi- Burlette asked if there are any questionnaires after these types of events to determine how the public feel about the events. Ms. Hernandez answered that they have in the past, but not this year, but will look into getting one out for the public. Ms. Pena suggested that for future events it is possible to invite a community leader, or news outlet to promote all the wonderful things that the library does. d. Teen Services – Ms. Sarined Garcia began presenting on how Teens also got to do a Blind Date with a Book. 19 teens participated in this event, and they too were entered into a giveaway. Teen Night for the month of February was Diamond Painting. This was a very popular event and teens have requested another event like this. For Teen Anime Club, the teens and their families were able to watch an Anime movie and do a Japanese Chocolate tasting. They teens loved the chocolate and were surprise how less sweet it was compared to American chocolate. The Teen Advisory Council met, and they had a STEM event then they spoke about what services they would like to see. They requested a teen focused bulletin board. At Southmost there is a teen that has been recruiting other teens to join in on the fun she is having at all the teen events. The other events Teen Services is working on are a Job Fair and Job Readiness in collaboration with Cameron Workforce and Tu Salud Si Cuenta that is teen focused. For February had 92 teens in total attendance for all events. e. MakerSpace Services – Ms. Josephine Balboa presented on behalf of Anthony Chavarria who is the MakerSpace advisor, unfortunately he had to be out for this meeting. The first event that MakerSpace  held was Pokémon Day: Paint Your Own Pokémon. Patrons got to paint their favorite Pokémon on a little canvas. The number of patrons who attended was so high that all the supplies ran out. Staff began to give them paper so they could continue to draw and design their Pokémon. MakerSpace also had their Mugs and Sublimation workshop, to show the public how these machines work and give them a chance to try them out. An upcoming program is the tallest spaghetti tower event. This will allow the kids to build a tower and use their ingenuity to build a tall tower without breaking or falling over. MakerSpace received new equipment, which is a poster printer. Patrons will now be able to print out posters or banners that are 36in. wide and as long as the whole roll of paper. Pricing is pending for how much the library will charge for each print. The first demo for this machine will be in April. The popular machines so far are the 3D printers, heat press, silhouette and the laser engraver. The library also purchased 2 portable 3D printers that are user friendly and will be taken to outreach. f. Outreach – Ms. De Leon presented on behalf of Courtney Taylor who is out for the day. The first outreach was 2023 Spring Career & Technical Education Advisory Board. Ms. Katie and Sarined were the two who participated in this outreach. They were looking for ways to collaborate services that benefit both the library and them. The next outreach was with the Zoo at Wild Tales where staff (Nicole, Harry, Lizette, and Katie) presented on the importance of literacy. They got to see about 600 people at this event. Ms. Hernandez mentioned that they were able to visit with a lot of people who were not from Brownsville. The next location or outreach was B-Metro, which was visited twice in the month of February. The library is planning to make more frequent visits. They were able to reach out to about 134 people. Mr. Jose Gonzalez, Maria Isabel Mendez, Michelle Rodriguez visited the BISD Migrant Family Meeting where they got to share library services and do a story time and craft with the kids. They reached 120 people at this event. The library was invited to Gonzalez Elementary Career Day where gave more information about how to become and what it means to be a librarian. Lizbeth also attended this event and gave a summary of the day-to-day on-goings of working in a library. Mr. Gonzalez was invited back to Mi Jardin Adult Daycare where he got to celebrate the Charros Day festivities with them. During the Heart Matters Fair, the library got to do some in-reaching, where they set up a table and passed out information and did library cards. Mr. Pineda did say he had received comments about the library. First, that the women’s bathroom is dirty and nasty. Mr. Guerra stated that the library is aware of the problem and is working with the Internal services department to fix this issue. Secondly, if the library has considered to do a Human Library, where a patron can check out a persona and hear that person out. Mr. Guerra answered that it is something the library is looking into, and trying to figure out the budget, liability issues, and how to promote something of that nature. 5) Adjournment – Motion to adjourn by Ms. Alisha Hernandez and seconded by Mr. Chris Pineda. The meeting adjourned at 6:30 pm.