Library Board of Trustees

MEETING OF THE BOARD OF TRUSTEES MARY RILEY STYLES PUBLIC LIBRARY Held in the Mary Riley Styles Public Library 120 N. Virginia Avenue Falls Church, VA 22046 July 16, 2014 1. CALL TO ORDER Board Chair Brad Gemand called the meeting to order at 7:00p.m. The following Board members attended the meeting: Brad Gemand Chet DeLong Nancy Bentrup Ed Rose Jeff Peterson Excused Absence: Stephanie Oppenheimer and Don Camp. Also present were Councilwoman Karen Oliver, Assistant City Manager Cindy Mester, Library Director Mary McMahon, and Senior Administrative Assistant Claudia Gutierrez. The Board asked Cindy Mester to do her presentation prior to the regular order of business on the Agenda. Cindy Mester gave the Board an overview of the City Hall project update that will be presented to Council on Monday, July 21st. The update includes several scenarios as requested by Council members: the cost of renovating the current building with an expansion to house courts and public safety, a complete City Hall teardown and rebuild which would include the library, moving parking from the front of the building to behind it and erecting a secure parking deck of one floor and a final additional option of a second floor on the parking deck (which would be about 40 parking spaces which could be available for library patrons). Costs for each of the scenarios were also presented. If the current project (a building renovation only) is approved, 60% of the design work would be performed between August 2014 and February 2015. The remainder of the design would be completed by February 2016. Construction would begin in January 2017. The library addition as part of a totally new City Hall would have an entrance from the street at the front of City Hall and the elevators in the lobby would access the library. The estimated cost for the library portion, based on the calculations of the library space study consultants, would be $11,250,000 (did not include the cost of furniture or fixtures in this total, which would add another $1 ,000,000) for 30,000 sq. ft. which would extend the City Hall project scope to a full 4 story build-out of 80,000 sq. ft. The estimated cost of a full build-out would be a little over $4 7M (includes the $1M for library furniture/fixtures). Cindy said that she would recommend the additional second floor of the parking deck to the Council which could be used not only for the library patrons but for the  farmers' market attendees, special events, court, and the community center. She would not be recommending the tear down and rebuild of City Hall or the inclusion of the library in a full build-out of City Hall since there is no money for the larger project. Monies have already been allocated in the Capital Improvement Projects (CIP) budget for the renovation ofthe existing City Hall (which does not include the library as part of that project). Cindy Mester also gave the Board a brief update on her meeting with Dr. Lourdes Lawrence, President of the Homeowner's Association at 313 Park Avenue. The meeting began the first step in parking negotiations between the City on behalf of the library and the medical building owners and was positive and cordial. The Association members are open to the negotiations and are not opposed to the parking project, but they do not want to lose any of their current spaces and will not pay for any parking structure. Dr. Lawrence stated that the Association would also ask for some financial compensation (about $1M) for the right to build on their property. Cindy also thanked the Library Director for all her support and flexibility with the changes that had been going on with the IT department, including Mike Kibsey temporarily working at City Hall and his main priority that of the City, not the library's IT needs, during this transitional time. 2. RECEIPT OF PETITIONS None. 3. APPROVAL OF JUNE 18,2014 MEETING MINUTES Upon a motion duly made and seconded the June 18, 2014 meeting minutes were amended with unsubstantive changes and approved unanimously. 4. ARTS AND CULTURAL DISTRICT TASK FORCE (CATCH) REPORT There was no formal CATCH report, but Brad Gemand reported that the Civil War Sesquicentennial group in town wants to do a lasting tribute to this anniversary and has suggested that a book be published of soldier's letters, or the Village Preservation and Improvement Society (VPIS) may republish Brad's A Virginia Village Goes to War: Falls Church during the Civil War book as an eBook. 5. LIBRARY FOUNDATION REPORT None. 6. USER SURVEY FOR 2014 UPDATE The Director stated that most of the responses in the 2014 User Survey were very similar to previous years. She did note some people are not aware of the many different programs and services the library provides, but they love the ones that they are familiar with. Reference services (in the traditional sense of answering reference questions) do not seem to be used as much as in years past, a nationwide trend, but that services now serves the public with technology questions, assistance with public computers in that area, and fielding more difficult reference questions that aren't easily found in web-based browsing or search engines. She also said that patrons continue to be concerned about the lack of  parking and want more library materials when asked the question regarding the possible library expansion needs. A Board member asked if it is possible to customize the blue receipt that patrons receive when checking out books. He would like to add information about programs and services to it. The Director mentioned that the automated email that patrons receive as a reminder of materials coming due or to pick up holds can be customized with that information. The Board liaison asked whether the library would be able to send the receipts by email or on cell phones, but the Director said not anytime soon since this is a customization that must be done by the circulation system vendor and is not on the list of improvements at this time. 7. LIBRARY REPORT AND ANNOUNCEMENTS There were several problems this week in the library. One of them was with the ILS vendor due to the upgrade of Millennium, which caused several problems with Overdrive, Baker and Taylor, and other services. Patrons could not get their email reminders for due materials and holds, and there were problems accessing patron accounts. It seems that it has been fixed now, but there is still the planned upgrade to the Encore server which may cause additional problems. All of these upgrades are necessary to prepare for Cloud backups of the circulation system. The vendor did not alert us that these problems could occur, so it took some time for us to discover and report the problems. It was not until the company was reminded that under their contract with the library they are required to make repairs the same day they are reported. Once that occurred there was a concerted effort on their part to get the problems resolved. In addition, the heating and cooling system was not working properly, causing high temperatures and humidity in the building, printing problems, and signs falling off walls and shelving ends. We also had to reenter many of the requisitions we had already done due to a glitch in the fi-nancial software. The summer reading program has been busy; so far we have 1,316 children and 296 adults signed up. The 3D printer ribbon cutting and beginning of the service will be this Saturday, July 19,2014 at 11:15 a.m. The Director invited the Board to attend, and Councilmember Karen Oliver has said that she will be there to represent City Council. CivicPlus is working on the library's new website, and it is scheduled to go "live" on Thursday, July 24th. The Economic Development Committee (EDC) met on Monday, July 14th and approved the proffer formula for the library, and it should be submitted along with other City proffers to the developer of the new project at West Broad and Park. City Manager Wyatt Shields met with the developer yesterday and gave him a list of all the City proffers for the project, and the library's was included in that list. A Board member asked how proffer monies are segregated from other budget monies and wanted to make sure that the money does not get co-mingled with other City funds. The Director will have that information for the next Board meeting. 8. BUSINESS NOT IN AGENDA There was a discussion about the proposal to include youth representatives on City Boards and Commissions. At least one Board member did not agree with having two students on the Library Board, especially since the Library Board is a small group. A Board member said that it would be better if a group of students came to the meetings once or twice a year to discuss different issues, concerns, or insights. The Director will ask the Citizens for a Better City (CBC) and the City schools if there is someone who can come to the September meeting and make a brief presentation to the Board about this proposal so Board members will have more information about the program. A Board member also asked about the status of some of the long range plan recommendations from the recent consultant study. In particular, he was interested in the Local History recommendation to form a committee to outline the scope and mission of the room and its service to patrons. The Director stated that Reference staff will begin setting up the committee in December with a goal of having a completed report in the spring of2015. She also mentioned that much ofthe microfilm and fiche will be discarded, and the cabinets will be removed. We will keep only certain titles that are of local interest. This will be the beginning of revamping some of the Reference space. 9. ADJOURNMENT There being no further business, upon a duly made and seconded, the Board of Trustees unanimously agreed to adjourn the meeting at 8:52 pm. Respectfully submitted, !~~~~fL\~ Library Director ~ A~l Bradley E. Gemand, Chair Copies: Board of Trustees, City Manager, Library Reference Desk, Historical Commission, Library Web Page.