Board of Library Trustees

City of Mountain View Minutes - Final Board of Library Trustees Monday, February 27, 2023 7:00 PM Library Program Room - 2nd Floor Special Meeting 1. CALL TO ORDER Chairperson Su called the meeting to order at 7:05 p.m. 2. ROLL CALL Present 5- Member Phyllis Bismanovsky, Member Kristin Higaki, Member Nicole Vogt, Vice Chair Eric Nehrlich, and Chair Sharon Su 3. MINUTES APPROVAL 3.1 Approval of Minutes from January 23, 2023 meeting MOTION: Nehrlich/Bismanovsky (M/S) To approve the Minutes from the January 23, 2023 Board of Library Trustees Meeting as presented. Motion carried. Votes taken by roll call. Yes: 5- Member Bismanovsky, Member Higaki, Member Vogt, Vice Chair Nehrlich, and Chair Su 4. ORAL COMMUNICATIONS FROM THE PUBLIC No public comments. 5. DONATIONS 5.1 Library Donation Accepted Library Donation from: $100 - Elif Selin Mungan Member Vogt asked if the donation was specified for a particular activity in the library and thanked the donor for their generosity. Library Director Gray confirmed the donation was not specified. MOTION - Vogt/Nehrlich (M/S) To accept donations. Motion carried. Votes taken by roll call. Yes: 5- Member Bismanovsky, Member Higaki, Member Vogt, Vice Chair Nehrlich, and Chair Su 6. PRESENTATIONS City of Mountain View Page 1 Board of Library Trustees Minutes - Final February 27, 2023 6.1 Youth Services and Programs Presentation Youth Services Manager, Tarri Ryan informed the Board about how Youth Services provides a unique experience that is part of their early literacy programs. The staff presentation highlighted those focus points and would be experimental for Board members in attendance. Their services for youth ranges from ages 0-18 and includes a few parenting tips. Youth Services coordinates teen programs, work with school districts involving AVID and PEAK programs which give extra support to teens in high school. Providing opportunities to reduce extra barriers with teens and young adults accessing the libraries. Family storytime in Pioneer Park is a unique and special component of the early literacy program. These programs help children with social interactions and bonding with other kids. It also increases their vocabulary and learning American Sign Language (ASL) in a program. Thanks to the generosity of The Friends of the Mountain View Library and staff attending extra training, their contributions have made the programs a success. Youth staff perform a snippet of their early literacy program from Storytime for the Board members. Senior Librarian, Renee Ting shared the importance of incorporating music into storytime, which includes a few musical elements. Provided a list of benefits from music, not only is it good for the brain but helps with, phonemic awareness, increasing vocabulary, work the muscle memory, recognize sequences and patterns, and foster focus and attention. Music is a powerhouse of learning. Children learning together and have fun together. Librarian, Alexandra Pantazes, presented on incorporating American Sign Language (ASL) into early literacy programs. Acknowledging ASL as a real language, increasing awareness for the deaf community and why it’s important for children to learn. Children experience bonding and learn together when they are active participants. Exposure to any language at a young age will help a child learn a second language. Various population benefit from ASL, it is beneficial for their communication and social skills. Librarian, Maynard Martinez shared benefits of using puppets in early literacy programs. Puppets in storytelling is captive and can bring a story to life. It teaches children about social skills, when to say hello, thank you and please. Helps with emotional development as children can identify with the puppets like a character in a story going through different stages of emotions such as anxiety and overcoming those fears. Being introduced to a different language helps children adapt to the story while using puppets to convey certain words in other languages. Questions from Board Members: Member Higaki asked if there were locations other than the library for storytime. Are there volunteer opportunities for older kids. Member Vogt asked about the different variation for sensory storytime. What fraction of those children are on the spectrum. What goes into math storytime and if code sessions will be returning. Vice Chair Nehrlich asked about the social components of storytime and how to publicize that more. Is there a mailing list. Member Bismanovsky shared experience about puppets being used during storytime are City of Mountain View Page 2 Board of Library Trustees Minutes - Final February 27, 2023 also sold in the lobby shop and asked if that is still coordinated with the Friends. Puppets are a helpful tool for bilingual storytime. Shared input on the newly enhanced bookmobile and making that more accessible to the community for patrons that are not able to come into the library is a great service. Asked about poetry being a component in Youth Programs. Chairperson Su thanked staff for their presentation and for their efforts that goes into planning different Youth Programs. Helping children learn different languages which also forges engagement from the community. Appreciates how gentle parenting tips are integrated into the various programs offered by the division. Youth Manager and Staff shared more details with the Board members about their questions. Visits to other locations such as schools and Deer Hollow Farm were a few stops they made for storytime pre-pandemic. Sensory storytime was limited to 15 people in the room, the program is shorten to 20 minutes. More preparation to minimize distractions. Lights being lowered, having more active books or props and a space large enough to move around. A visual schedule is provided to reduce surprises. There may be about 80% on the spectrum but not overtly noticeable. Children struggling with any kind of development may not feel comfortable but letting them know they are welcome at Sensory storytime with their special needs is important. Coding sessions will not be returning as the division continues to evaluate the need and interest from teens. Youth volunteering opportunity has not reopened. The division continues to assess new ways to promote awareness for programs, expand on school visits to spark interest in programs and activities. Newsletter and Neighborhood Association mailing lists are a few resources used to promote library programs, this also includes having a platform on various social media accounts. The new bookmobile will offer different services which includes an extension of the programs at different park locations for storytime. Incorporating ASL during the virtual programs was more engaging for attendees which gained interest to grow on that more when returning back to in-person programs. Poetry has been used in past programs and did not have much engagement. Survey feedback from the community prefers to have more songs and puppets during storytime. 7. UNFINISHED BUSINESS 8. NEW BUSINESS 8.1 Fiscal Year 2022-23 Mid-Year Performance Measures Library Director Gray gave an update on how performance measures are benchmark standards used for most public libraries. Statistics are submitted to the State Library. The mid-year performance measures are a snapshot of those details. Questions from Board members: Vice Chair Nerhlich asked what is the time line for the start and end of fiscal year. Chairperson Su asked if there were any impacts from the Harper Collins strike. Member Higaki asked how the number of visits were tracked. Member Vogt asked if staff was able to obtain the analytics for the library’s website for popular searches. Library Director Gray reminded the Board of the fiscal year's start date on July 1 and end City of Mountain View Page 3 Board of Library Trustees Minutes - Final February 27, 2023 date of June 30 of the following year. Mid-Year would be from July 1 through Dec 31. The Harper Collins strike did not have significant impact on the library. The number of visits into the library is tracked by a door counter at each entrance. Assistant Director Yabut informed the Board that we do not have access to obtain analysis on the current website. The current website is limited with capturing what people are searching for. Noting that feature will be available with the new website. 9. BOARD/STAFF ANNOUNCEMENTS, UPDATES, REQUESTS, AND COMMITTEE REPORTS 9.1 Library Director's Report Library Director Gray gave an update about the new bookmobile starting sometime between July or August. The public will have the opportunity to vote on the graphic design of the new bookmobile. The Human Library, Sensory storytime and Free Tax Preparation are all well attended programs. Silicon Valley Read kicked off in January. Shared thanks and appreciation for The Friends of the Mountain View Library book sale event which raised over three thousand dollars. Questions from Board Members: Vice Chairperson Nehrlich asked what the operation budget was for the Library Department. Chairperson Su asked about door accessibility for Pioneer Park. Member Vogt asked about integration of the new security guards. Library Director Gray informed the Board of the Library's overall budget at approximately seven million and of that, one hundred thousand is raised by The Friends of the Mountain View Library which help support funding for materials and supplies for various programs. Door accessibility or facilities upgrades are part of the City's improvement projects which would involve further planning with the Public Works Department. Assistant Library Director Yabut informed the Board that all security guards are orientated with training and help enforce the library policies to patrons. 9.2 Agenda Setting - City Manager’s Office staff presentation on City Council Strategic Priorities and Work Plan Projects for FY 2023-24 and 2024-25. Input from Advisory Bodies. - Bookmobile design discussion. - Library staff presentation. 10. ADJOURNMENT Having no further business, Chairperson Su adjourned the meeting at 8:39 p.m. The next Board of Library Trustees meeting will be on Monday, March 20, 2023 at 7:00 p.m. Submitted for approval by Joy Phaphakdy. Approved on March 20, 2023. City of Mountain View Page 4