Loading...
Minutes 12-06-17 MINUTES OF THE LIBRARY ADVISORY BOARD MEETING HELD ON WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 6, 2017, AT 6 P.M. AT THE BOYNTON BEACH CITY LIBRARY PROGRAM ROOM 208 S. SEACREST BOULEVARD, BOYNTON BEACH, FLORIDA PRESENT: Chris Montague, Acting Chair Craig Clark, Library Director Tracy Tebo Anne Watts, Assistant Library Director Alice Warren Jeannie Taylor, Division Head Librarian Dr. Stephanie Hayden-Adeyemo (arrived at 6:09 p.m.) Robyn Boucard ABSENT: Deborah Hoban, Chair Alice Warren Chris Simon John Welter I. Call to Order Chris Montague sat as Chair in the absence of Deborah Hoban and called the meeting to order at 6:06 p.m. Il. Approval of Minutes — October 25, 2017 Chair Montague announced the Board needed to approve the Minutes of September 27, 2017 Special Meeting. Motion Ms. Boucard moved to approve the minutes as presented. Dr. Hayden-Adeyemo seconded the motion that unanimously passed. Chair Montague asked for a motion to approve the October 25, 2017 meeting minutes. Motion Ms. Warren moved to approve the minutes as presented. Ms. Boucard seconded the motion that unanimously passed. III. Correspondence and Communications Craig Clark, Library Director, announced he received emails from Board Members Simon, Welter and Hoban advising they could not attend the meeting. Meeting Minutes Library Advisory Board Boynton Beach, Florida December 6, 2017 IV. Public Audience (Individual Speakers Will Be Limited to 3 Minute Presentations) None. V. Chair's Report None. VI. Unfinished Business: Amnesty— Continue discussion Chair Montague explained Mr. Welter had been asking to discuss amnesty and had wanted to continue the discussion to this meeting; however, he was not present. He advised the members could table the item to the next meeting or discuss it. Mr. Montague explained they had discussed a fine free library when moving to the new Library, but it would have to be a City policy. Mr. Clark had sent interesting articles about libraries that do not fine patrons and commented it would require a larger circulation. The highlights of the discussion was contained in the October 25th meeting minutes and brief discussion followed there are many elements to amnesty and the collection of fines. Dr. Hayden- Adeyemo noted in the past, the donation of canned goods for food drives was a way to forgive fines, and commented if the Library budget decreased, it will be important to have residual income. Chair Montague agreed, but pointed out revenues generated from book fines are not in a dedicated fund. Collected fine revenues go to the general fund and the City recycles it back to the Library. He thought there was a gray area as there was always the possibility the City may not recycle the funds back. Dr. Hayden-Adeyemo supported the library using the revenue that is collected. Mr. Clark explained it is a City policy to deposit the monies into the general fund. The monies used to be in a separate account for the Library, but that changed with the downturn in the economy and the funds kept the City going. Dr. Hayden-Adeyemo asked when the Board could discuss the matter further as the City will have a larger library, greater circulation and more demands. Additionally, the Library offers other free amenities including Wi-Fi. Chair Montague commented the amount collected was about $30K a year. The Board had been discussing Amnesty Day, which is different from a fine free Library. Amnesty Day is a day, week or a certain period of time when the Library advertises returning materials will result in no fine if returned on the designated day or days. Chair Montague thought there might be some value in a new forgiveness style since the City will have a new Library. The bottom line is if fined, the patron cannot check out new material until the fine is paid. Dr. Hayden-Adeyemo queried if a focus group brought up amnesty and learned they did not, nor did anyone from the public. With the current fine system, there 2 Meeting Minutes Library Advisory Board Boynton Beach, Florida December 6, 2017 is a lot of money sitting there and it has a use. She thought the Library should receive some concessions. Chair Montague agreed. Motion Ms. Boucard moved to table the item since the person who requested it was not present. There was unanimous agreement to put this under Unfinished Business. Mr. Welter could present his thoughts at the next meeting and the Board could move on from there. Career Online High School (CORS) Update Jeannie Taylor, Division Head Librarian, announced the first graduate of the Career Online High School would celebrate her achievement with the City Commission on December 19th. She completed the entire program by herself in under a year without transferring any credits to the program and has a 4.0 grade average. Mr. Clark advised staff wanted to use a professional videographer to film Mr. Clark and Ms. Taylor interviewing her about the program and in addition to showing it to the City Commission; they could use it as a marketing and legislative tool on the State level to continue to fund the program. The student is the third graduate of the Career Online High School and there are other students in the program, but no new students working on the prerequisite to the program. The Library will only offer scholarships to City residents. Ms. Taylor advised the Library has five scholarships left and the City is one of three libraries in the State that offers the program. Ms. Warren asked if the program information is a published in the Boynton Beach newspaper and learned it is in the press. Staff is on top of marketing and social media. Mr. Clark advised there would likely be an article in the paper on the 19th about the woman and the program. AmeriCorps Program Update Anne Watts, Assistant Library Director, explained the Library experienced revolving tutors. The adult program has 25 to 30 students in the program. There are morning and afternoon classes and the afternoon classes had increased individual tutoring sessions. The teen program began with a part-time tutor who spends part of the day in Forest Park and then comes to the Library in the afternoon. The Homework Help program was also doing great. There was a change in volunteers for the Homework Help as one volunteer decided the program was not for her and she resigned. The Library now has a group of AmeriCorp members who work at other locations during the day and then come to the Library after school. The new volunteer works at Galaxy in the morning. Ms. Watts explained the model used this year is different, but the youth are still receiving assistance with their homework. There are different people at the Library on different nights and the volunteers are all very busy. Ms. Watts announced it has been a good year for the program. 3 Meeting Minutes Library Advisory Board Boynton Beach, Florida December 6, 2017 LSTA Digitization Grant Update Mr. Clark advised the Lake Worth newspaper project was well under way. Susan Swiatosz, Library Archivist, went to the Lake Worth Library and the Lake Worth Herald and shipped all the material that needed to be digitized to the vendor in Wisconsin. The project involves having two servers: one each for Boynton Beach and the Lake Worth Public Library. The Library will purchase the server and seek reimbursement, as the grant is a reimbursable grant. The purchase will be the second payment of five payments. He advised Ms. Swiatosz did an excellent job and he is very happy how all is proceeding. When they receive the materials, staff will put on a live presentation. Library Construction Update Mr. Clark advised there was no update. The Library will temporarily use the Woman's Club for about 14 months, but the arrangement has not been finalized and it was only one option. There was a 4,000 square foot space next to the post office and Mr. Clark was trying to get Mr. Groff to show him the space. There may be a possibility the kids and teen Library services would be at the post office on a rental arrangement and the adult library services will be at the Woman's Club at no charge. Parking at the Woman's Club is not accommodating so valet parking was an option. Mr. Clark advised he might have another update at the next meeting. He also announced the High School received additional funding. Ms. Boucard asked if a survey was conducted to gain community input on the temporary location and learned the City held several meetings about the project and nothing specific about its temporary location was determined. Ms. Bouchard did not want to see the project delayed but questioned if the purpose of demolition was to coincide with the project. Mr. Clark explained the City wants to build a road through the site on which the Library is sits. There are also market credits that could be given if building a new public library. Mr. Clark could apply for another $500,000 grant from the State for the Library. Staff sought to ensure the Library would be the best it could. Dr. Hayden thought it seemed like wasted money, but pointed out they are leveraging the building for the next 30 years, plus the Library will be open more hours and have more staff. There are pros and cons to any development. VII. New Business: RB Digital Audiobooks Ms. Watts announced RB Digital Audiobooks are digital recorded books and the Library staff purchased a pack of 5,000 audio books, which will keep patrons busy including classic, traditional, mysteries and others. She encouraged those interested to try the books. The audiobooks have the RB Digital downloadable app that can also be used for magazines. Unlike the Ebook app, the user searches for a topic and does not have to switch between the server and the app. Ms. Watts also announced the Library was ordering cataloguing records for Ebooks. Patrons can now view the options in the Library catalog about the different book versions available. Staff wants a robust Wi-Fi system to 4 Meeting Minutes Library Advisory Board Boynton Beach, Florida December 6, 2017 enable patrons to read books outside, which is already in use. Mr. Clark advised he recently attended a Wilton Manors Library meeting using Wi-Fi from the parking lot of the Wilton Manors Library. He commented he would like to have one app for all services, but it cost millions of dollars, which was cost prohibitive. VIII. Library Director's Report/Statistic Monthly Report for October 2017 Mr. Clark announced Unique Management had a 60.34% return on investment which equated to $57,000 in fines and materials. There are 1,761 accounts in progress. He noted it cost the Library about $18K to get back the $57K, but more importantly, the Library received its materials back. The October monthly report reflected customer visits were up 2% and there were 312 new library cards issued. The computer training classes were successful and had 13 people attending. The iPad and smart phone classes are limited to five students because users receive one-on-ane instruction. On Saturday, the Library will have its first resume writing class at 3:30 a.m. News/Media Coverage News articles about the temporary Library at the Women's Club and public art in the Library was included in the meeting materials as was an article about a man carrying a gun outside the Library. Mr. Clark was still waiting for the police report, but advised three young men were trespassed. There was an updated article today indicating the police found a weapon outside the Library and youth were detained. Patrons were not disturbed or afraid as the youth did not enter the Library, and access in and out of the Library was not disturbed. Ms. Warren commented she was at the Library yesterday at 4:45 p.m. and there were youth riding bikes and one of them almost hit her. She commented the youth are rowdy. Mr. Clark advised that occurs frequently and staff and the police officers keep people moving through the area. Anyone bothered by this type of incident should alert staff and they will address. Mr. Clark noted one youth sincerely apologized to Mr. Clark about the incident. Ms. Warren also advised she loved the Friends of the Library store and she makes frequent purchases. IX. Announcements Next Library Board Meeting — January 24, 2018 @ 6 p.m. X. Adjournment Motion 5 I Meeting Minutes Library Advisory Board Boynton Beach, Florida December 6, 2017 There being no further business to discuss, Dr. Hayden-Adeyemo moved to adjourn. Ms. Boucard seconded the motion that unanimously passed. The meeting was adjourned at 6:50 p.m. Catherine Cherry Minutes Specialist 6