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 May 20,2015 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 Stephanie Oppenheimer Jeff Peterson Don Camp Jacob Bruner Excused Absence: Ed Rose Unexcused Absence: Terry Zawacki Also present were the Assistant City Manager Cindy Mester, Council member Karen Oliver, Letty Hardy, a City resident, the Library Director Mary McMahon, and her assistant, Claudia Gutierrez. 2. RECEIPT OF PETITIONS None. 3. APPROVAL OF APRIL 15, 2015 MEETING MINUTES Upon a motion made and duly seconded, the Library Board unanimously approved the April 15, 2015 meeting minutes with minor changes. 4. ARTS AND CULTURAL DISTRICT TASK FORCE (CATCH) REPORT No report. 5. LIBRARY FOUNDATION REPORT Don Camp informed the Board that the Foundation has been discussing how to handle the bequest from Mary Prior Hassan. They have put $150,000 into the existing endowment fund, and it has been suggested that they diversify and select another mutual fund to invest the remainder of the bequest. The Foundation now has a Twitter account and a Pay Pal account with access via the Foundation's page on the library website so people can make donations online. These new options must be publicized. The Director also commented that Ed Rose will contact the Fairfax County Library System Foundation for advice on how they are set up and get some ideas on other areas as well. The Director mentioned that the Foundation has hired an attorney to conduct an administrative audit of the Foundation and advise the Foundation's board on their existing legal documents as well as make suggestions on what other administrative tasks need to be done. 1 6. CINDY MESTER, ASSISTANT CITY MANAGER, RE THE LIBRARY'S NEW INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY (IT) STRUCTURE Cindy Mester informed the Board that during the last 3 years, the City had a challenging situation with the IT support environment and also with the transition from contracted IT services to that of an in house City department with a full time staff of 9 FTE. She mentioned that there are three additional positions that need to be funded in the future, so the final staffing is not complete as yet. As part of this transition to a City IT department, Mike Kibsey, whose salary is partially paid for by the library budget, has been transferred to the City IT department and will work with all City departments/projects while the library will continue to partially pay his salary, but gain the assistance of all 9 FTE in the IT department as their expertise and library's technology needs dictate. Cindy presented a handout with the information on the IT Services Support Team showing the organizational chart with three positions for future funding. The intent is to support the top IT users which include the Library, Public Works, Development Services, and Public Safety. She also described the IT team projects that are library focused at this time: the ASA upgrade of the network, Websense hardware upgrades for filtering, the migration of staff files to N etApp and housing of staff files on City Hall servers (eliminating the need for daily backup tapes at the library), and purchase and installation of a new server for the public network. She mentioned the Microsoft Enterprise Agreement and support for daily operational library IT tickets. She said they are revamping the City's IT approach for services and support to include proactive engagement with users. She informed the Board that the IT staff has an active role, doing a little bit of everything now that IT is on call 24/7 for all City departments. She also said that they are implementing a former Project Charter Process to help prioritize projects and needs and to get the maximum benefits. The library is the only department in the City funding 60% of an IT salary. She said that IT's library mission is to become more integrated--not have just one person that knows what the library functions are and how they work. She explained the staffing model and the 31 core library functions and who would be primary and secondary staff members responsible for overseeing each function. Mike Kibsey will train the rest of the IT staff on each of the functions, but will still be the primary lead on several of the functions. Cindy reiterated that the library budget is paying 60% of Mike's salary, which translates to 96 hours a month of dedicated library-specific IT support. There was a question from one of the Board members about whether Mike Kibsey will ever be 100% in the library. Cindy answered that he will be on call and will act as the primary staff person on several library functions, but that there will be other City IT staff members who will act as lead on other library functions. He also asked if that will be possible in FY16. She said that could not happen any sooner than FY17 when the possibility of the 3 additional positions could be approved for funding in the budget. Another Board member asked if there will be any budget impact to the library for any software, hardware, or staffing due to the recent changes that Cindy pointed out. She said there will be no impact on the library' s budget. Another Board member asked why the library is paying for an IT person's salary and if other City departments must pay for an IT position as well. Cindy said that this was as a result of the City having one staff position in the library established back in the 1980s. The library position's hours were reduced due to budget reductions in years past and that the City paid the remaining 40% of the salary. He also asked why the City does not fund all the IT service. Cindy said that it is possible, but it would affect the state aid that the library receives. One of the members expressed his concern about the entire scheme presented. His perspective, according to his experience as an IT manager and as a Library Director, is that people are being converted from specialists to generalists and that will not work for the library. He believes that this 60% scheme exclusively dedicated to the library will not happen, but instead, be subsumed into the 2 City wide IT operations, and the library will fall into the bottom of the organizational priorities. Cindy said that will not happen because the funding for specific library projects will be prioritized along with the rest of the IT priorities, and that the library will get its fair share. She said that it did happen in the last year because of the shortage in staffing, but Cindy will guarantee it will not happen again. She said that the library is one of the core services in the City. The Board member expressed concern that IT does not have an IT library background, and that library needs are concentrated more than ever on digital access, complex technology infrastructure, and equipment and software that are library specific. One Board member asked about what the consultants recommended for upgrading the Wi-Fi. The Director said that the consultants suggested that when the library hits 75% of the capacity ofWi- Fi, we should be looking to upgrade it to a commercial product and the cost would be about $15,000 a year. Right now the library is using a residential grade Wi-Fi system, which is provided by a franchise agreement with RCN, but may not be sufficient in the future since bandwidth problems occur from time to time now. IT has been running tests to track the usage, and Cindy has been talking to vendors as they renegotiate their franchise agreements with the City. A Board member asked to revisit this IT plan again in 6 months and see how things are going. He is concerned that even if the structure presented does not work for the library, it will not be modified so it will work. Cindy was asked about the progress on the parking structure negotiations with 313 Park Avenue. She said that it was approved for $3.4M in the Capital Improvement Project (CIP) in FY17, and that Council sent a clear message that additional work and study needed to occur on cost, location, analysis of need etc. The concern of the Board is that if the parking deck project is not built, the library project will not be approved. A Board member asked that a timeline with benchmarks for specific tasks be developed and presented to the Library Board so that the work is completed in the time needed to develop a more extensive CIP request for FY17. Cindy stated that she would come back with that documentation by the end of the summer. 7. DRAFT PHONE USE POLICY- SECOND READING Upon a motion made and duly seconded, the Library Board unanimously approved the Phone Use Policy on its second reading. 8. DRAFT FIVE YEAR PLAN, 2016-2020- FIRST READING The Director informed the Board that she pulled all of the recommendations of the consultant's Draft Master Plan of2013, added status notes to each ofthe recommendations, referenced each recommendation to a task in the Five Year Plan, and appended the recommendations to the Draft Library Five Year Plan for 2016-2020. She said that the Five Year Plan must be read and voted upon two times before its final adoption. Once adopted, she must also send it to the Library of Virginia as part of the required documentation to receive State Aid. A Board member thanked the Director for all her efforts in putting together the consultant' s recommendations on what was doable and achievable. He also asked about what the Library Draft Master Plan status was. He wanted to remove the Draft label from the Master Plan so it is formally adopted as the Master Plan going forward so citizens will understand that it is the plan the Board has adopted to move forward with its expansion/renovation work. The Director mentioned that the Draft Master Plan Draft has not been formally adopted by either the Library Board or City Council. She also said that the Draft Master Plan is not the plan that includes the $8.3M project for a building 3 renovation/expansion-instead, it reflects what the consultants originally proposed based on future growth projections rather than a plan developed around a lump budget sum. The Board can formally adopt the Draft Master Plan, but it should be noted that the recommendations contained in it are dictated by population growth, programs/services needed in the future, and that the space requirements were turned down by the Planning Commission and Council. The Board would also need to formally adopt the Master Plan Addendum that provides the plans for a building renovation/expansion (6,600 sq. ft.) on its current site for $8.3M, not the 33,000 sq. ft. facility and services in the Draft Master Plan. Another Board member asked whether they should adopt or endorse the Draft Master Plan. The Board decided to discuss this item at the next Board meeting. Upon a motion made and duly seconded, the Library Board unanimously approved the Draft Five Year Plan, 2016-2020 on its first reading and will address the Master Plan issue on the next Board Meeting as an agenda topic. 9. DRAFT USER SURVEY FOR 2015 The Director mentioned that she made all the changes suggested by the Board at the last meeting. A Board member asked if patrons' email is being used to inform them about the survey. The Director said that it is only used to send notifications about holds and item due dates, but the wording could be modified to include a link on the notice to the survey. Upon a motion made and duly seconded, the Library Board approved the User Survey for 2015 with minor changes. 10. WEST BROAD STREET POA The Director outlined where the library was mentioned in the small area plan for the West Broad Street POA. She indicated that there is a copy for public review at the library. A Board member suggested that the document needs to include the updated status of the library project where it is mentioned. The Director said she would talk with Development Services about rewording references to the library so they are clearer and more current. 11. LIBRARY REPORT AND ANNOUNCEMENTS • The Library is in the middle of migrating staff files from the library current server to City Hall servers. • The City's Microsoft licenses are expiring at the end of June. Currently the library is paying academic pricing which is about 5 times less than what the City is paying. Microsoft says that the academic licensing used by the library cannot have Outlook accounts with a .gov extension, so the library staffs email addresses will have to be changed to reflect a .net or .org extension. IT is negotiating with Microsoft and will have more details shortly about how we will need to proceed to meet Microsoft academic licensing requirements. The Director asked the Board to please forward her any suggestions they might have for an email address preference keeping in mind that it must be easy for patrons to recognize and remember. • The children and teen Summer Reading programs will start in mid-June. • The Library will be closed Sunday May 24,2015 and Monday May 25,2015 for the Memorial Day Holiday. Some library staff and volunteers will again be marching in the 4  Memorial Day Parade with the Rolling Readers Precision Book Truck Drill Team. • Marta Lamas has submitted her resignation/retirement papers after 45 years working for the library. • The water meter that was changed a year ago has to be replaced again because it is not reading properly. The Director expressed her concern about the high water bills- around $350 to $400 a month----due mainly to increased sewer fees. • Tysons Pimmitt Library will be closing in January 2016 for renovation; it will take 18 months to complete. They are having problems finding rental space that they can afford, so they may not relocate and open a temporary facility while they are closed for renovations. Sam Clay, Fairfax County Library Director, suggested the possibility of having some of their staff work at MRSPL to help with all the additional patrons that will this library, especially if the library system cannot find temporary space to relocate their library. There are many considerations if this were to take place, so the Director has talked briefly with the City Manager about whether it is of interest. She noted that we would also have to talk with the City Attorney and Human Resources. The Director will also ask Fairfax what they plan to do with their hard copy reference collection when they close-perhaps that might be donated to us as well. • July 4, 2015 will be on Saturday, so the City will close on Friday, July 3, 2015 . The Director asked the Board if they would authorize closing the library on Sunday, July 5, 2015, so the library staff could have a long holiday weekend. Upon a motion made and duly seconded, the Library Board authorized the Library Director to close the library on Sunday, July 05, 2015, as part of the long holiday weekend. 12. BUSINESS NOT IN AGENDA Don Camp reported that he went to a presentation on the City' s Bicycle Master Plan. They want to do a bike share program in the City and link it to docking stations located around the City. Since Park Avenue is one of the main routes and is already marked for bicycle traffic, Don suggested putting the Board on record as proposing the City locate one of the docking stations at the library. It could be in front of the library or nearby in Cherry Hill Park and accommodate 20 bicycles. He asked the Director to put it on the agenda for the next meeting. 9. ADJOURNMENT There being no further business, upon a motion duly made and seconded, the Board of Trustees unanimously adjourned the meeting at 9:00 p.m. Respectfully submitted, uVL~ w. ~£.11/l~ Mary W. McMahon Library Director Ap1k4 ~J Bradley E. Gernand, Chair 5 Copies: Board of Trustees, City Manager, Library Reference Desk, Staff Bulletin Board, City Clerk, Library Web Page The City of Falls Church is committed to the letter and spirit ofthe Americans with Disabilities Act. To request a reasonable accommodation for any type of disability, call 703-248-5032, TTY 711. 6