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 January 31,2024 This meeting was recorded. All members of the public may view this video of this meeting on the City' s website at http://www.fallschurchva.gov/webcasts 1. CALL TO ORDER Ms. Claire McCray, Board Vice Chair, called the meeting to order at 6:00p.m. 2. ROLL CALL AND INTRODUCTION OF GUESTS The following Board members attended the meeting, and exceptions were noted: Elise Stein- Electronic Participation Janis Johnson Jessie Labukas Robert Leopold - Electronic Participation Claire McCray Steve Morse Molly Novotny MOTION: I move that the Library Board of Trustees approve electronic participation by Ms. Elise Stein in tonight's meeting, for personal reason(s), pursuant to the Library Board of Trustee's Policy on Participation in Meetings Through Electronic Means. AYE NAY Notes: CLAIRE MCCRAY v JANIS JOHNSON v Moved: Ms. McCray JESSIE LABUKAS v Seconded: Mr. Morse ROBERT LEOPOLD v MOLLY NOVOTNY v STEVE MORSE v  MOTION: I move that the Library Board of Trustees approve electronic participation by Mr. Robert Leopold in tonight's meeting, for personal reason(s), pursuant to the Library Board of Trustee's Policy on Participation in Meetings Through Electronic Means. AYE NAY Notes: CLAIRE MCCRAY V' JANIS JOHNSON v Moved: Ms. McCray JESSIE LABUKAS V' Seconded: Mr. Morse ELISE STEIN v MOLLY NOVOTNY v STEVE MORSE V' Others present for the meeting: Library Acting Director Marshall Webster and Sr. Administrative Assistant Claudia Gutierrez. 3.- RECEIPT OF PETITIONS No Petitions 4. APPROVAL OF DECEMBER 13, 2023 MEETING MINUTES Upon a motion duly made by Ms. Novotny, and seconded by Ms. Labukas, the Library Board approved the December 13, 2023 Meeting Minutes with a minor change. S. LIBRARY REPORT AND ANNOUNCEMENTS 12Sth Anniversary Update • The 125 1h Anniversary kick off was a success. Mr. Webster thanked the Board for attending and expressed his gratitude to the 1251h Anniversary Team, including all library staff for their contribution, support, and all the hard work they put into all the different projects for this celebration. • The picture from Mary Riley Styles is displayed by the reading room entrance. • The website to commemorate the 1251h is up and running. Some slides are being projected in the entrance vestibule screen throughout the year. Closures • The library will be closed on Monday February 19, for President's Day. • Recent Snow Days: No impact on January 16. The library opened at 10:00 am. The library and City Hall were closed on Friday January 19. Upcoming Programs • Winter Read Aloud Program starts on February 1. The Library Foundation will donate a dollar to match the first 1,250 minutes of logged reading to support the Animal Welfare League of Arlington. • On Saturday, February 3, there will be an author talk with Rion Amilcar Scott presenting his book The World Doesn 't Require You. • On Sunday, February 4, there will be a Poetry Writing Workshop, followed by a Poetry Circle on Tuesday February 20. • On Saturday, February 17, Body Dynamics, located here in Falls Church, will present informational talks about exercise essentials as part of an ongoing health series. • On Wednesday, February 28, a program called "Getting from Violence to Peace: Lessons of War between Israel and Hamas" will be presented by GMU Professor Richard E. Rubenstein. Building Updates • The City is preparing for a new card door system. This will facilitate the library to easily manage and control the door schedule, especially on unexpected closures or emergencies. • DPW is looking at some issues from the old HVAC RTU3 unit to find a solution for the ongoing gas smell. It is possible a replacement may be considered. Library Staff • The City started a public complement service on their website. Adult Services Librarian Catherine Wilson was complimented from a member of the public for being a superior librarian and book discussion facilitator, in addition to her other duties. • Lisa Chavez is working on updating the Library Board profiles and is contacting all Board members. Other Items • Council retreat will be at the library on Saturday February 3. Boards and commissions are invited and it will be open to the public. Ms. Stein encourage the Board to attend in order to be represented. • Library usage statistics keep growing. There was a question whether the software sensor for counting people reflects an increase of people coming in the two additional hours that were added on weekends starting July 1. Mr. Webster will have more information next month. • There were record sales at the book sale on January 27 through January 29. The library raised $3,500.00. Kudos to the Tech Services staff for improving the process and the quality of the materials on sale. Thank you to the Foundation and library volunteers as well. Follow up items from December meeting • Teen & TV Games: The TV is connected to the City WIFI through which all the games are filtered and there is an existing policy for it. All games are currently rated E (for everyone) and have a family friendly mode activated. There are no plans to have any games above teen rating. Procedures for game use and staff logistics are in the works. Tentatively, this service will be launched by the end of February. Next Month Heads up • The next library board meeting will be on February 21, and will possibly include possibly an updated Chain of Command policy draft. • The library board meeting on June 191h will need to be rescheduled since it falls on the Juneteenth holiday and the library will be closed. 6. FY2025 LIBRARY BUDGET OVERVIEW Mr. Webster reviewed with the Board the FY2025 proposed budget. City Manager Wyatt Shields provided a memo with the directive to all City departments of zero operating growth. Mr. Webster presented the library priorities, which included library hours, programming, collection development, investing in library technology and library staff. He presented the breakdown from operating expenditures with a comparison to FY2024. There was a question about the library lights being on all day and night. Mr. Webster will have an answer next month. He also presented the distribution of the total of the operating budget including compensation. A staffing analysis over the years was included, as well as staff hours distribution on weekdays and weekends. The presentation also covered the unmet needs goal to increase hours from 5.6 hours to 58 hours, resulting in expanded hours from 10:00-Spm Saturdays and Sundays. There was a discussion about expanding hours with the current staff. Mr. Webster explained that it takes a lot of prep work before opening to the public and it will not be feasible to open earlier with the same staff number. Statistics might help build up the case with Council on how many people are coming in the library, especially with the new developments which will increase library usage. Ms. Stein proposed having a plan to present to Council to address the long-term impact of increased demand for library services due to the anticipated significant increased population growth in the next years, There was a discussion on thinking about the future population growth of the City the Board will consider requesting to Council the increase of the operating library budget for programming and materials and include it as a placeholder for FY2026. The next step is for Mr. Webster to submit the approved library budget to City Manager and City Finance Department on February 12, same as all City departments. Upon a motion duly made by Ms. McCray and seconded by Ms. Labukas, the Library Board adopted the FY2025 Budget as presented. 7. LIBRARY FOUNDATION REPORT • The Foundation will provide the $7,000 remaining of the Jemily donation towards the Local History Room database. The total cost is around $34,000 and it will be mostly covered with memorial funds. • The Foundation will be continuing with their campaign. Ms. Stein encouraged the Board to support the library Foundation if they have not yet done so. 8. COUNCIL LIAISON REPORT No report. 9. SCHOOL BOARD LIAISON REPORT Mr. Webster met with School Board member Kathleen Tysse, and she will probably be the library liaison and will come to the Board meetings as needed. Ms. Tysse, Ms. Connelly and Regan Davis, who is the FCCPS community outreach coordinator, will be working on having more interactions with the library. Also, Ms. Logan Russo, who is the MHS librarian, approached MRSPL about gaining access to the library's Overdrive content for their Sora platform. This will allow students to have access to the library's eCollection directly through the school's platform. 10. ARTS AND HUMANITIES COUNCIL REPORT • Art Day is on Saturday, April13, and the library will be invited to participate. • The Art Craft for the utility boxes will be held on Friday, February 9, in front of City Hall. 11. ON-GOING EQUITY DISCUSSION • Community Relations & Legislative Affairs Director Cindy Mester has indicated that the HB54 City Charter Amendment has passed a House Committee. The bill would adopt the City's Charter to allow boards and commission membership eligibility to include residents over 18 years old without the requirement that they be eligible to vote. Thus issue was included in the Library Board's recent Legislative Agenda recommendations to City Council. • During the library selectors meeting in January there was a presentation about the Collection HQ DEI module to incorporate more of this content in the library collection development. • Some of the lower shelves are being moved up for facilitating browsing access to the library collection. 12. BUSINESS NOT ON THE AGENDA • There was a question on whether all staff have name tags. Mr. Webster indicated they do.  • There was a suggestion to consider having book kits for middle schoolers. 13. ADJOURNMENT There being no further business, upon a motion duly made by Ms. Johnson and seconded by Mr. Morse, the Board of Trustees voted unanimously to adjourn the meeting at 8:00 p.m. Respectfully submitted, Marshall Webster Acting Library Director Approved: 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 equest a reasonable accommodation for any type of disability, call 703-248-5032, TTY 711.