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HomeMy WebLinkAboutLibrary Minutes: 11/17/2022C ALL TO ORDER — Chair Miriam Carter called the meeting to order at 4:31 p.m., in the Conference Room of the Library. PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE — Library Services Manager Pat Smith ROLL CALL: Chair Miriam Carter; Trustees Connie Liao, Elizabeth Renfrew, Carlton Seaver, Alice Wang; Director of Library & Museum Services Darlene Bradley (Secretary); Library Services Managers Pat Smith and Samantha Alba ABSENT — None PUBLIC COMMENTS — New Adult and Teen Services Librarians Melissa Maldonado and Claudia Arroyo were introduced to the Board. Melissa is the new Adult Services librarian. She attended UC San Diego and received her MLIS from UCLA. Claudia is the new Teen Services Librarian; she was an English major and received her MLIS in 2020. REPORTS FROM LIBRARY TRUSTEES / LIAISONS: Trustee Renfrew previewed the upcoming pop-up Chinese book sale, which Trustee Liao and Councilmember Sho Tay have helped publicize. The Friends are accepting donations, but they do have a backlog of books. Friends' membership numbers are doing well: they've had good responses to their membership drive. At the last City Council meeting, the Friends gave the Library a $30,000 check. A discussion followed about the Friends' efforts to increase membership and sales. Trustee Liao offered to reach out to the Arcadia High School Chinese clubs for people to help sort Chinese -language books. Chair Carter asked for progress reports in February and March. Trustees Liao and Wang shared the 40t' anniversary Arcadia Chinese Association yearbook and noted that it featured an article on the Library's Memory Lab. REPORTS FROM THE DIRECTOR Announcements / Statements / Future Agenda Items Director's Update: Director Bradley thanked the Friends for their generous donation, which was presented at a recent City Council meeting. Board members will receive an invitation to the December 6 City Council reorganization. The Library will find out who the coming year's liaison will be at the December 20 meeting. She reviewed upcoming city-wide events for December. Monthly Statistical Report: October 2022: The Gate count and Circulation numbers continue to increase. Monthly Report Narrative: October 2022: The Director discussed the successful Arcadia Eats program, focusing on the first ever Boba Crawl, a collaboration with local businesses that was a hit with the public. Arcadia Eats also featured a special talk by local artist John Martin about his ink and watercolor portraits of historical Arcadia restaurants, cooking videos demonstrating recipes drawn from cookbooks in the History collection, and an exbibit of photographs. She also discussed issues with the HVAC. system: supply -chain issues are delaying repairs. The new security cameras are in place and there are now cameras indoors and outdoors. A policy is being developed. If a member of the public wishes to see the tapes, a public information request must be submitted. Financial Report: October 2022: This report covers July 1, 2022, through October 2022. At this point, about 33% of the budget should have been spent. Sometimes, the percentages will seem higher (for contract services, for example). Staff need to make sure they are not overspending. Financial Report: FY 21-22 Final: Trustee Seaver asked which are the most important items and noted that he finds this format uninformative. A discussion about how to read the budget reports followed. RFID Update: Library Services Manager Alba reported that staff expects to meet the deadline for tagging and encoding. The Adult and Teen collections are done, and tagging and encoding is continuing in the Children's room. The new security gates and book chute should be installed the week of December 6. She explained how RFID functions and discussed how it will improve customer service, allowing staff to be deployed more efficiently. Some staff intervention will be needed, but far less. Training will be needed and will follow installation. New items will be tagged and encoded as they arrive, Account Services staff have done an amazing job! Staff Update,: Kathy Meacham is retiring on December 2, after almost 49 years with Arcadia Public Library, an internal recruitment to replace her will follow. Margaret Lindstrom will be the acting Principal Librarian and Librarian 11, Michele Krueper, from Children's Services, will be filling in five hours weekly. Substitute funds are available, but as there is only 50 percent remaining, staff must be careful with how they schedule substitute staff. Samantha Alba is the new Library Services Manager but will continue to work in Account Services due to staffing issues and to head up the RFID project. Her duties will be different from Roger Hiles: the position will be more managerial, with first priorities being the budget and stabilizing Account Services. Peter Mercado, the head of Information Services, will have different duties as well. Jamie Belcher will be the acting Account Services Supervisor. An offer was made to fill the full-time Technician position, but Human Resources rescinded the offer. An ongoing recruitment is in place to fill the seven Library Aide positions; there have been 71 applicants so far. Policy Manual Updates: Imagination Theater Rental Policy: Trustee Seaver moved to postpone discussing the new policy to the January 2023 meeting to give the Board time to review the proposed policy. Gilb Museum of Arcadia Heritage: Rebecca Anderson has accepted the position of substitute Museum Education Coordinator. Museum staff is preparing for the City's annual Snow Festival event on December 3. Staff and volunteers will be offering a snow -globe craft. The History Talks program will start in January with a discussion of Arcadia's role in the Rose Parade. John Martin's art exhibit will continue into January as well. Calendar of Activities for Children's Services-, December 2022: Director Bradley highlighted the Wish upon a Star program and the Winter Activity Kits. Chair Carter praised their creativity and cost-effectiveness. Calendar of activities for Adult and Teen Services: November 2022: The Director invited the Board to the Avoiding Holiday Scams event and promoted the Smart Squad. The calendar for Bookish is going to be published quarterly. Flyers/Articies/Posters/Attachments: The Board reviewed and discussed the attached flyers, including Avoiding Holiday Scams, Bookish, and Freegal, a new e-resource which provides access to a wide range of downloadable music. Holiday Cookies: The Board discussed its annual gift of cookies to the Library staff. It was agreed that the Trustees would bring four dozen cookies to Administration during the week of December 21 between 9:30 a.m. and 12 noon. Trustee Renfrew would bring cookies on December 21 and Chair Carter would bring them on December 23. The Director invited the Board to the annual Library staff holiday party on December 8, starting at 8:30 a.m. • The motion to •• the Minutes • ••- 20, 2022, as written was moved by Trustee • seconded by Trustee Wang, and carried on a unanimous voice vote. AYES: Chair Carter, Trustees Liao, Renfrew, Seaver, and Wang NOES- one ABSENT: one b. Approve the Imagination Theater Rental Folic Recommended action: Approve As noted above, Trustee Seaver moved to postpone discussing the new policy to the January 2023 meeting to give the Board time to review the proposed policy. Trustee Renfrew seconded the motion, which passed on a unanimous voice vote. AYES: Chair Carter, Trustees Liao, Renfrew, Seaver, and Wang NOES: None ABSENT: None. a, Chair Carter adjourned, the meeting at 6:20 • to January 19, 2023, at 4:30 p.m. in thiar Conference Room of the Library, 20 W. Duarte Road, Arcadia. Approved: Miriam Carter, chair Darlene Bradley, Secretary Minutes prepared by: Pat Smith