Library Board of Trustees

MEETING MINUTES 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 December 12, 2018 1. CALL TO ORDER AND INTRODUCTIONS OF GUESTS Board Chairman Brad Gemand called the meeting to order at 7:00p.m. The following Board members attended the meeting: Brad Gemand ChetDeLong Chrystie Swiney Kathleen Tysse Stephanie Oppenheimer Jeff Peterson Excused absence: Don Camp Youth Representative Tika Wallace Council Liaison, Ross Litkenhous and Planning Commission Liaison Rob Puentes were not in attendance. Others present for the meeting included: Library Project Manager Kim Callahan, Library Director Jenny Carroll and her assistant Claudia Gutierrez. 2. RECEIPT OF PETITIONS No Petitions 3. APPROVAL OF THE NOVEMBER 14, 2018 MEETING MINUTES Upon a motion duly made and seconded, the Library Board unanimously approved the November 14, 2018 Meeting Minutes with minor changes. 4. LIBRARY FOUNDATION REPORT Mr. Camp sent a report to the Director to share with the Board. The Foundation solicitation letters were sent the day after Thanksgiving. As of December 11, 2018, the Foundation received 90 mailed replies with contributions totaling $8,700; two of them were $1,000 in checks. PayPal contributions have picked up but still fewer in number. According to Mr. Camp's experience, contributions usually pick up by the week after Christmas and the first few days of the New Year. He also mentioned that with the new tax law the Foundation does not know how it will affect charitable contributions. He invited Board members who have not yet received the solicitation letter to contact him so he can include them in the next year's solicitation; they also can donate through the library website. 1  • Mr. Camp usually is away from Falls Church from September to December participating in the United Nations General Assembly as the State Department's Official observer; he will rejoin the Board in January. The Director mentioned that he participated in a Board meeting by phone this year. 5. COUNCIL LIAISON REPORT No report 6. STUDENT LIAISON REPORT No report 7. ARTS AND HUMANITIES COUNCIL REPORT (CATCH) Ms. Oppenheimer unofficially attended the meeting as an observer since she had not been sworn in yet. She will inform the Board what her role will be once she finds out. The CATCH meeting will be next Thursday, December 20. 8. LIBRARY PROJECT UPDATE Ms. Callahan informed the Board that on Monday, December 10 they went to the Planning Commission (PC) to get their recommendation for approval of the variances. They recommended to approve the variances unanimously. Planning Commission liked the arguments for the variances and felt that the strongest points were that the existing library is already out of compliance on Park Avenue and the fact that there is a deed restriction. PC talked about site plan related issues; they are concerned that the library is not compliant with the streetscape standard and the current plan is 2 ft. short. Streetscape standards say setbacks should be 16 ft. and the library is 14 ft. from the back of the curb to the face of the building. With the current plan, the pedestrian walk will actually be wider than the existing sidewalk at 8 ft. and includes a 6 ft. planter area for a total of 14 ft. There will be two ADA parking spaces on Park Avenue with 2-3 more additional spaces. On Virginia Avenue, Planning Commission staff would like to extend the curb all the way out to eliminate street parking on Virginia Avenue in front of the library to comply with streetscape standards. Ms. Callahan pushed back against eliminating parking due to the limited on-site parking. She asked the Board's feeling about maintaining or eliminating parking. The Board agreed to keep the Virginia Avenue parking. Ms. Callahan will continue to advocate for maintaining parking on Virginia A venue. The Director added that since they are bumping out the comer on Virginia Avenue and Park Avenue, there will be more space for bike racks. The comer at the alley and Virginia could also have a bump out as well to add space. She mentioned that during the PC meeting short-term parking spaces on Virginia Avenue were discussed. Parking spaces could have a limit of20-30 minutes; this would give more flexibility of parking to seniors and patrons who are dropping off or picking up books. Ms. Carroll mentioned that currently there are two-hour parking spaces along Park Avenue in front of Cherry Hill Park and general parking on other side of the street as well. Ms. Callahan and Ms. Carroll will attend the Board of Zoning Appeals (BZA) meeting on December 13. There will be only three members of the BZA attending; for approval, all of them have to vote yes. If this does not happen, Ms. Callahan will defer the vote until the next BZA session in 2 January. The Director added that Mr. Gemand and Mr. DeLong will be attending the meeting as well. The BZA meeting will take place on Thursday, December 13 at the Community Center. in the teen room at 7:30pm. Ms. Callahan reviewed the immediate next steps for the next two months. She informed the Board that Design Development (30% design) submittal is due on January 9 and it will be given to Centennial for a cost estimate. Updates will be presented to the Board before the cost estimate is completed. Centennial will complete the cost estimate by January 23; this will give a better idea of where the project is budget wise and if major changes are needed. Value engineering recommendations would be reviewed at the end of January. At the February meeting Ms. Callahan would present that cost estimate. The site plan will be submitted in February and start a new round of presentations to the Planning Commission, Architectural Advisory Board, Boards and Commissions as part of the site plan. Conceptual plans for the interior design will be worked on and options will be brought to the Board. 9. DRAFT LETTTER TO CITY COUNCIL Mr. Gemand asked for Board comment and several members replied that they thought it was good. Ms. Callahan stated that she and the Director discussed when strategically is the best time to send it to Council. They think that it is better to wait until there is more cost information. Mr. Gemand commented that after the Board approves the letter, it could be put aside for a month or two until the architects get the figures of the cost estimate. Ms. Swiney asked if the Board could contact Councilman Litkenhous and get some advice and feedback on what strategy would be best. Ms. Callahan recommended talking with Councilman Litkenhous. Mr. Gemand asked the Director to contact Mr. Litkenhous on behalf of the Board asking for his opinion on when would be best to submit the letter to Council. The Director stated that she had been in touch with Mr. Litkenhous and had plans to talk with him after the Board meeting. Mr. Peterson expressed his concern about the CIP and losing the opportunity to get the remaining bond fees back to the project. Ms. Callahan and the Director explained that the proper mechanism to obtain that money is through a budget amendment because the CIP is already approved and this would be a request to increase the CIP with the :voluntary concessions and the remaining bond fees. This approval goes through Council and not the Planning Commission since they already approved the project for the library in the CIP. 10. FY2020 BUDGET DISCUSSION The Director informed the Board that one of the highlights of the budget is the reduction of the print book budget. Currently, the FY19 budgeted amount is $142,000; for FY20, it will be reduced and shifted to electronic resources. One of them is Overdrive, which provides eBooks and eAudiobooks for the library. For FY2019, $77,000 was budgeted for eBooks and $24,000 for eAudio books. Mr. Gemand mentioned that it was important to remark on the cost of eBooks vs. print books. An eBook is almost three to four times the cost of a print book. The Director added that adult eBooks could be approximately $150 each; children's eBooks can be less expensive. She also mentioned that the cost depends on the licensing model from different publishers. Some of them set up their lending period for the number of checkouts (e.g. 52 checkouts) and some for a certain period of time (e.g. one year). Mr. Gemand mentioned that years ago the previous master plan library consultants mentioned to the Board that they did not foresee within 10 years from that date that the models would converge in any meaningful way. The Director added that recently one of the publishers decided to go with the 3  • model of not releasing their new publications to libraries for the initial 6 months because they felt libraries were affecting their sales negatively. The American Library Association (ALA) argued that libraries were in fact impacting publishers in a positive way. Mr. Gemand invited the Board to keep all this in mind while the Director finds innovative ways to deliver services to patrons especially in the temporary location while the library is being renovated. The Director mentioned that some of the money for print books could be shifted into eBooks and eAudio books to give the collection more depth. Another way is to assess streaming services and e-resources. She informed the Board about the different options for streaming: Kanopy is one of them, they charge $2.99 per movie but it can be very expensive without limits. RB Digital Streaming is another option, and the library already has the application and platform for eBooks, eAudiobooks and the eMagazines (a portion of those is provided by the Library of Virginia). RB Digital has five different channels- ACORN TV, Teaching Company Great Courses; Pongalo which includes Spanish language telenovelas, Qello, which includes concert films and music documentaries, and Indie Flix, which is an independent film channel. Each channel has multiple shows and a "ticket" to a channel lasts for 7 days. The Director mentioned that it is a very good opportunity to explore streaming while the library is at the temporary location in order to offer other options to patrons while the collection is reduced. Mr. Peterson asked the Director what part of the $142,000 budget will be shifted into other resources; she thinks approximately $20,000. The Director would like to study the different streaming services to decide where to use that money. Mr. Peterson asked the Director if the library could handle the projected amount of books ordered during the temporary location. The Director is anticipating ordering the same amount of books in the temporary location and that as new books/items are popular she would expect a similar circulation rate. However to some degree it will be an experiment. Mr. Peterson asked ifthe library is in jeopardy with the State regarding maintenance of effort and State Aid. The Director stated that she did not think this would be an issue as the library has achieved maintenance of effort from year to year. She and Mr. Gemand noted that maintenance of effort applies to the library budget in its entirety (not section by section) and that it is also within the context of the entire City budget (e.g. the entire City budget would have to be cut, not just the library singled out). Mr. DeLong asked if the Director knew how many books are out at any given time. She responded by stating that she would refer back to the collection assessment turnover rate, but that she would expect new books in the temporary location to have an even higher turnover rate. The Director wanted to l}ave feedback from the Board about shifting money from the print book budget into digital services/e-resources. Ms. Swiney supports the idea; she believes that the future is in electronic resources and the younger generation appreciates all the innovations that the library will have. She added that the electronic resources budget should keep growing. She finds the Libby app very useful. Ms. Tysse agreed that e-Readers are growing and the library needs to promote them constantly by educating people. As per Mr. Peterson's request, the Director mentioned that Management Team had an initial brainstorm about how to educate and improve delivery of information about electronic resources. Some of the ideas were to update all the information the library provides, offer additional classes, have a table in the foyer area with staff answering questions, and upselling library services at the service desks. Staff could also hold outreach sessions with information about library services at the Community Center, Farmers Market, local businesses or any school events. The Director mentioned that currently Reference Supervisor Marshall Webster is doing one-on-one computer training with patrons. 4  There was a consensus from the Board to shift part of the book print budget into electronic resources. The decision of the Board was based on the temporary space that the library will occupy and the Board will revisit this item after the library is back in the renovated building. Mr. Peterson stated that the Board should consider how to provide access to e-resources to those who don't have access (i.e. no smartphone, tablet, or computer) and whether that is a service the library is in a position to provide. The Director stated that she felt that laptop checkout may be the most viable, however any services that relate to IT need to take into consideration the IT Department resources. The IT Department takes care of all the devices that the library currently has and adding more services/devices will be difficult to manage since IT is currently working on many projects including the library and City Hall. In addition, there would be a budget issue to consider since there would be maintenance costs involved with any device/IT service. She also mentioned that the library's operating budget will be flat for the foreseeable future, which will be a challenge to adding new services. Ms. Swiney commented that it is important to find ways to accommodate the trend of electronic resources and reach out to people who do not have resources. The Director mentioned that there will be public computers in the temporary location, however, not as many as we currently have, and WiFi will be provided as well. She said that in addition, the City's public schools provide hotspots for families. Ms. Swiney added that City schools provide middle school students with computers and in high school they provide computers for students to take home every day. The Community needs to be educated on how to use the electronic resources that the library provides. The Director informed the Board that the MOU (Memorandum of Understanding) includes that the school system has offered to absorb the cost of utilities of the library in the temporary location at Thomas Jefferson Elementary school. She noted that the utilities cost need to remain in the budget since they will be used when the library goes back to the renovated building. It needs to be decided whether the cost of utilities is retained (and the library is responsible for) or if it is factored into the GMP (Guaranteed Maximum Price) by the CMAR (Construction Manager at Risk). The Director and Ms. Callahan will need to think about what will be more convenient. Mr. DeLong asked the Director if she is able to reprogram the utilities funds if they are not used. The Director said that they can be reprogramed during the year and potentially be carried forward. She needs to talk to the Library of Virginia about the State Aid and the Maintenance of Effort. Concerning IT services, the library currently pays .6 of the salary and benefits for that position. The Director is working with Finance and the IT Department on moving to a flat fee model for IT services. The Director and the head of the IT department are working on roles and responsibilities and the services that the IT Department will provide to the library. This new model will be incorporated in the budget in FY2021. Mr. Gemand thinks it is a positive change since in the past, there was an IT person dedicated to the library full time. The Director added that the current model is multiple people address the needs of the library. She noted that this new model will be better because if the library does not get the level of service required the fee would be adjusted. Ms. Tysse asked because the school is paying for the utilities and they receive tax exemptions from the state, will that be an issue because it is not for school purposes. Ms. Callahan felt that this is a concern that is within the schools' purview, not the library. The Director is not aware if there could be complications, she assumes that the schools would need to keep utilities on whether they are occupied or not. Ms. Callahan added that the utilities would still be for public use. 5  The Director might have to move some moneys from the IT budget to maintain it flat for FY2020. She also mentioned that as part of the MOU with the schools, the security guard will be included in the library's operating budget. At the next meeting, the Director will present to the Board the budget with all the amounts included, before presenting it to Council. This was only an initial budget information to the Board. 11. DRAFT LIBRARY ANNUAL REPORT Ms. Swiney asked who was the audience for the annual report. Mr. Gemand explained to the new Board members that he usually presents the library annual report to Council. In the past, it used to be presented approximately in October but last year it was presented in February due to the late information released from the Library Journal Index of Public Library Services about the selected star libraries (which was historically included in the report). The audience is usually the Board, the City Council, and it is placed on the website for the public. Ms. Tysse pointed out that a thank you to former Board member Mr. Ed Rose for his years of service to the library needs to be included in the report. The Director will include it. Mr. Gernand commented that the format of the report has been the same for years, as recommended by a former Council liaison. Mr. DeLong commented that the bar graphs were added in the past couple of years and he appreciated the addition. There was a discussion about rewording the information about the Board recommendation and adding a phrase about the safety and security of placing the children in the lower level. There was a question about the decrease in the number of programs; the Director noted that the Youth Services Supervisor was on maternity leave for part of the year. The Director assumed part ofthe Youth Services Supervisor's job, in addition to hers, and could not maintain the same level of programs/services during this time. It should be noted that program attendance increased during this time. Another potential impact was that during the time that the Director was the Youth Services Supervisor (20 13-20 17), the number of programs increased as the department tried out many different types of programming. They are now in a phase of working on refining the quality vs. quantity of programs delivered. Ms. Swiney asked about the number of items borrowed and how many were e-items since the number went down this year. The Director stated that she wasn't as concerned about this since there had been a hope that this would plateau considering our size physically, of staff, and of collection. The Director said that in the future she would like to revisit on how and what information is presented in the annual report since some of the statistical information presented is not requested by the State and there have also been changes in information collected by the ILS (Biblionix). 12. DRAFT LEGISLATIVE AGENDA There was a discussion about the guns in libraries; Ms. Oppenheimer noted that the State of Nevada is considering libraries as an extension of education and learning environments. The Director commented that there has been an attempt to pass a bill for the past 26 years on the issue of trying to make libraries a gun free zone with no success. Upon a motion duly made and seconded, the Library Board unanimously approved the Legislative Agenda with 'some changes. This agenda will be incorporated into the Legislative agenda that City Council adopts. 6 13. 2ND READING OF CHAIN OF COMMAND POLICY Upon a motion duly made and seconded, the Library Board unanimously approved the Chain of Command Policy on its second reading. 14. 2019 SCHEDULE OF LIBRARY BOARD MEETINGS FOR ADOPTION Upon a motion duly made and seconded, the Library Board unanimously approved the 2019 Schedule of Library Board Meetings. 15. LIBRARY REPORTS AND ANNOUNCEMENTS • The City recently had their service award luncheon and there were several library staff honored: Technical Services Supervisor Steve Ingeman 15 years and Technical Services Library Assistant Ester Pavia 25 years. In addition, a couple staff completed five years of service: Circulation Library Assistant Diann Bullock, and Youth Services Supervisor Jess Borchetta. For a total of 50 years of service. • There are several positions open for library staff: Three Library Pages, and the Reference Librarian position (replacing Shirley Tildon who recently retired after 27 years). There is also a Library Assistant I opening that will be an internal posting, since there is interest among library staff. The Library Assistant II position was filled by Cristina Pamther; she is moving from Circulation back into Youth Services. • Reference Supervisor Marshall Webster and Librarian Pete Sullivan worked hard on applying for a grant with the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) for the library's Local History Room and received notice that the grant was awarded. The library was awarded $5,900 to undertake a preservation needs assessment. The timeline is as follows: In January, there will be coordination of the grant and the assessment will happen in February; in March, the report will be completed and the Director will present it to the Board in April. Mr. DeLong asked the Director if the question that Mr. Camp raised about having enough duties for the library employees while the library is being renovated has been resolved. The Director responded that it was resolved and staff will be busy working on different projects during that period. Full time people will have some flexibility with teleworking. 16. BUSINESS NOT ON THE AGENDA • Mr. Gemand discussed his resignation of the Board Chair position. He suggested for the Board's consideration to not vote for a replacement Board Chair until March. The City Council appointment committee will not meet until after Christmas to appoint a new member, and there is not a certainty that they will have people interested. In order for applicants to be appointed, they need to attend at least one Board meeting. When Council appoints a new Board member, this prompts an election of a new Board Chair. With the Board's retreat in February, the Board will learn about Board Chair roles and responsibilities. Mr. DeLong accepted to temporarily lead the Board as he is the appointed Vice Chair. • Mr. Gemand asked the Board if they wanted to consider revisiting their vote for the Code of 7  • Conduct policy about guns in the library or if they want to discuss and debate this item later on. The Director mentioned that two people came to the library with open carry guns during the VCDL Library Week. The Board asked about the impact on the staff. The Director stated that it resulted in additional meetings and the staff have been stressed. She also mentioned that police have been around the library building and very responsive to staff needs. The Director stated that the Library Code of Conduct is under the purview of the Board. They can revisit it, take action, and vote again, just like any other policy. The Director mentioned that she presents all the policies to the City Attorney before the Board. There was a discussion about the code of conduct and the Board decided to leave the policy the way it is for now as voted at the prior meeting and maybe discuss it later on as "business not in the agenda" item. Upon a motion duly made and seconded, the Library Board adopts a resolution of its thanks to Mr. Brad Gernand for his many years of outstanding leadership as Chair of the Mary Riley Styles Library Board of Trustees and wish him well on his future endeavors. 17. ADJOURNMENT There being no further business, upon a motion duly made and seconded, the Board of Trustees voted unanimously to adjourn the meeting at 9:00p.m. Respectfully submitted, Approved: ~A Copies: Board of Trustees, City Manager, Library Reference Desk, Staff Bulletin Board, City Clerk, Library Web Page rrhe 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. 8