Library Board Minutes 9/17/2024
Extracted text (via pymupdf)
11734 characters
Meeting Minutes Library Board Regular Meeting September 17, 2024| 6:30 p.m. Hamilton Library 3700 S. Arizona Ave. Chandler, AZ 85248 Call to Order The meeting was called to order by Board President Beth Brizel at 6:34 p.m. Roll Call Commission Attendance Staff Attendance Board President Beth Brizel – Present Rachelle Kuzyk, Library Manager Board member Michael McElhany – Present Courtney Allen, Management Analyst Board member Arman Sidhu – Present Sue Van Horne, Assistant Library Manager Board member Alexis Merritt – Present Caryn Nall, Hamilton Branch Manager Board member Jennifer Pawlik – Present Board member Parker McCarthy – Present Board member Faith Risolo – Not Present Unscheduled Public Appearances None Briefing 1. City Capital Project Funding/Bond Election Discussion led by Dawn Lang, Deputy City Manager / Chief Financial Officer Dawn Lang provided information on bond elections and the city’s assessment of potentially holding one in November 2025. Mrs. Lang informed the board that to fund the 10-year capital projects, the city will need additional authorization for funding due to inflationary costs for current and future projects. Handouts were provided and attached to the agenda. 2. Library Manager’s Report – Rachelle Kuzyk The Library Manager’s Report was provided to the Library Board in advance of the meeting for Board member’s review. Rachelle informed the board that the bookmobile has been slightly bumped up in its schedule to mid-April. Next week our outreach branch manager and Rachelle are headed to Farber in Ohio to Page 2 of 5 finalize selections for the bookmobile design. Our graphic designer is working on the early stages of the design for the vehicle wrap and we're in conversations about driver training of the vehicle. Summer Reading Challenge this year was incredibly successful for us with a 30% increase in participation. We finished number three in the entire valley, behind only the entire Maricopa County and the City of Phoenix thanks to our amazing library programmers and marketing. Rachelle invited all the board members to choose one of the three new library card designs that will be used during the card campaign that is just beginning. The door hangers and mailers have been sent out so the new cardholders that bring in the correspondence will get to choose one of the new card designs. Board member McElhany inquired on his offer to provide library programs on AI. Sue Van Horne informed Michael that staff are starting to program for next year and believes everybody is interested, they are just working on the results of the programming survey to determine what people are telling us that they're interested in. The idea is certainly not dead in the water, it's one of the considerations that they're looking at. Board President Brizel inquired how many people do we think will be at Contigo at the library on Saturday. Rachelle shared that there was approximately 2,500 in attendance last year. This year DEI is playing a somewhat larger role in coordinating some of the activities so there are outside activities in addition to indoor programs, so we expect it to be a larger event this year. Caryn Nall added that Hamilton has already held a couple of Contigo events. There was an amazing community Quinceañera fashion show that Council members Encinas and Ellis attended. Hamilton staff also showed the movie Encanto with a sing-along, popcorn, and arts & crafts. There was 357 people in the library, which is at least double what Hamilton typically has on Saturdays. Board member Merritt commented on a few library programs she attended. Arizona author Roger Naylors event had a good turnout. Her family learned so much and he signed their books. Board member Merritt hopes we do more book signing, especially Arizona specific. Board member Merritt also thought the adult summer reading program was great. Board member Merritt knows people in the Writers in Residence program, and they are loving it. She is hearing a lot of great feedback. Rachelle commented that the biggest challenge of this years Summer Reading Program was the shortage of prizes with the 30% increase in participation. Consent Agenda 1. May 21, 2024 Library Board Meeting Minutes Motion to approve the minutes was made by Board member Sidhu, Board member Pawlik seconded. Motion passed 6-0. Page 3 of 5 2. Chandler Library Board 2025 Meeting Dates Motion to approve the Library Board 2025 meeting dates was made by Board member McElhany, Board member Parker seconded. Motion passed 6-0. Discussion 1. Board member Merritt has requested the librarian in charge of reviewing the suggested purchases can speak to their exact process and timeframe used. How many suggested books have been successfully purchased in the past few years by the current vendors, how many are declined, and what options are there if the vendor does not offer the book, but they are readily available elsewhere? Rachelle responded to Board member Merritt’s inquiry with information on our process and statistics provided to her by Charles Jean, our collections manager. We have four approved vendors who provide the library with materials: Baker & Taylor and Ingram for print materials, Midwest Tape for media, and Cloud Library for e-content. We are required to use those vendors for the contracted spend limits and duration of the contracts, which is typically six years. What that also means is that we cannot spend that money with any other vendor without going to Council for approval. Many times, when we see items that are coming through on requests, people see them as being available on Amazon, which does not necessarily make them available for us to purchase. Amazon is not an approved book publishing vendor for the library. We also must consider our budget so that we don't run out of collection dollars. If we were to fulfill every single customer request that came through in the first six months of the year, we would have no money left for the remainder of the year to just fulfill normal purchasing. That's the volume of requests that we get to come through. Charles is showing a total of 5192 approvals and 5768 denials from books requested by patrons. Charles aims to respond within a week. Materials approved are usually ordered from the vendor when there is sufficient quantity for them to have a full container to ship. Exceptions are rarely made outside of our approved vendors, as we lose discount pricing, even more so now that we're integrated into the MCLD max system. For suggestions, we align with our regular selection policy for the most part and try to fill as we consider purchases are almost a guaranteed checkout. The overwhelming majority of requests are denied for lack of availability. In the two samples that Alexis provided, A Parent's Guide to Gifted Children was out of print with our vendor at the time, so that is the reason for its denial. The other request appears to come from a small publishing house that hasn't made arrangements with our vendors, and so we couldn't get it from our contracted vendor or through Amazon, so that is the reason for the denial in that case. 2. Board member Merritt would like to understand the process for purchasing popular books that have numerous holds on them? How often is the list reviewed? Is there a formula or does it depend on forecasting sustained popularity? Is it the same for books, ebooks, and audiobooks or is this dependent on the Cloud Library subscription? Is there an established goal to keep people from waiting months or a year for a book? Rachelle replied that the print copy holds and purchase ratio is one to five, so if one copy of the book ends up with five holds on it, that triggers the second copy to be ordered. And for e- Page 4 of 5 resources, it's one to seven. That's also part of the reason that we can't just order every single book that a single individual requests, because we know that there are ebbs and flows in publishing trends. We are aware that our ratios are higher than they were when book costs weren't what they are today. Let’s say, five years ago, maybe the ratio was one in four, and now it's one in five, because books cost more today than they were five years ago, that changes the amount of time that you have to wait for something, and it's something that we've just managed, but it's no longer sustainable so we’re requesting additional funding in our collection budget this year to keep our hold ratios down. 3. Board member Merritt would like to propose having a standalone shelf at every library branch for patrons to enjoy a yarn/craft/fabric exchange. It is like the puzzle swap at Basha where anyone can take or donate an item. In the Spokane Washington Library branches they all have these shelves and also a puzzle shelf. Board member Merritt loves the idea of providing more value and encouraging craftiness or discovering a new hobby to our patrons. Please read the article where Board member Merritt discovered the idea. Rachelle reviewed the provided link on the story for the yarn exchange. She feels we should check with the four libraries and the mangers to see if they want to have that in their library. She feels it's a great idea but doesn’t feel we need to have all four branches right at once. Rachelle stated that we already do things like this, just not in the same public display, we do it through programs. That's how the seed library started at Sunset and the puzzle swap started at Basha. We do it as an integration with programs. Staffs’ opinion of the way that those shelves looked was messy, to be honest, and we already have a huge task on our hands in dealing with book donations and the amount of those that we have to discard because they’re not fit for reuse or resale. Putting it in as a part of a program gives us a way to manage it and determine how we're going to roll it out to the public, instead of having a community dropping spot for those kinds of things. It’s an interesting idea, but Sue and Rachelle suggested to attend Chris Koeth’s craft after dark programs at the downtown library. She pulls all her crafts out and people bring stuff, and they make all sorts of things. It's a great program. Rachelle and Sue both feel we're doing this already, we're just doing it in a different way as part of a program where it's well managed, and not just out there where staff have to clean it and organize it, it's already packaged as part of a program. Members Comments/Announcements 1. Council member McCarthy commented on the pigeon mess at the downtown library parking lot. Rachele and Sue are aware of the ongoing problem. The city put the spikes up on the panels, they power wash regularly to keep it as clean as possible, and they do what they can to manage it, but unfortunately, it’s an ongoing issue. Calendar Page 5 of 5 1. The next regular meeting will be held on Tuesday, November 19, 2024 at 6:30 p.m., in the Sunset Library Monsoon Room, 4930 W. Ray Rd. Chandler, AZ 85226. 2. The next Friends of the Library Board meeting will be held on Tuesday, October 8, 2024 at 1:00 p.m., in the Downtown Library Copper Conference Room, 22 S. Delaware St. Chandler, AZ 85225. Adjourn Motion to adjourn made by Board member Sidhu, Board member Pawlik seconded. Motion passed. The meeting was adjourned at 7:44 p.m. ______________________________ ______________________________ Courtney Allen, Board Liaison Alexis Merritt, Board member