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Minutes 05-26-21 MINUTES OF THE LIBRARY BOARD MEETING HELD ON WEDNESDAY, MAY 26, 2021, AT 6:00 P.M. IN COMMISSION CHAMBERS, CITY HALL, 100 EAST OCEAN AVENUE BOYNTON BEACH, FLORIDA Present: Marcia Levine, Chair Craig Clark, Library Director Dr. Stephanie Hayden-Adeyemo, Vice Chair Jeannie Taylor, Assistant Library Director George Feldman Madison Kjosa, Marketing Outreach Manager Elizabeth Sherlock Quentin Morgan, Assistant City Attorney Victor Gaud-Cabrera Absent: Robyn Boucard AceTilton Ratcliff Lindsay Karten Sarah Brown, Alternate I. Call to Order— Marcia Levine, Board Chair Chair Levine called the meeting to order at 6:00 p.m. Self-introductions were made. A quorum was present. II. Approval of Minutes — Meeting of March 24, 2021 & April 28, 2021 Dr. Hayden-Adeyemo wanted to amend the March 24, 2021, meeting minutes to reflect she did not attend the Kinetic Event and she was stopping by the Library. Motion Ms. Sherlock moved to approve the March minutes as amended. Mr. Gaud-Cabrera seconded the motion. The motion passed unanimously.. Motion Mr. Feldman moved to approve the April minutes. Mr. Gaud-Cabrera and Ms. Sherlock seconded the motion. The motion passed unanimously. III. Correspondence and Communications Mr. Clark received an email from Ms. Karten that she could not make the meeting. Ms. Sherlock noted the CRA in Delray Beach had a Black Author Series, which was immensely successful. They need black authors for the next series. The CRA will pay Meeting Minutes Library Board Boynton Beach. Florida May 26, 2021 black authors very well. All they need to do is go to the Arts Garage, give their speech, and show their books. It is a free event, but attendance was limited due to COVID. Ms. Sherlock explained they have been zooming the events and sending it to other cultural outlets. They need three more black authors for the series. She requested the members help her find additional authors. Mr. Clark commented there is an African American Bookstore on Gateway. Ms. Kjosa has the contact information and will email it to Ms. Sherlock. Vice Chair Hayden-Adeyemo got a book by Stacey Abrams from the Library and learned they do not have to return a book unless someone else is waiting to check the book out and Library staff automatically checks it out a second time for the patron. Chair Levine commented had a quiet month. IV. Public Audience (Individual Speakers Will Be Limited to 3 Minute Presentations) None. V. Chair's Report Chair Levine Marcia explained her dad is very ill and she has been trying to read the emails about fundraising and has had all to do to keep up with them. Last month, she had a sit down with Mr. Clark and was pleasantly surprised with a podcast. She went to the Library Catalog (Koha), she reserved a book and they emailed her it was ready right away. She was thrilled to receive it so quickly and it was a brand-new book. It made her feel really great. She was on the Boynton Beach Raw site and they were talking about things to do and she is always plugging #Downtown Boynton. She spoke about the Library and someone asked where the Library was and where the sign was. She talked about the downtown, the kinetic event and the Library. She is enjoying her role as Chair and she is on another advisory board which is a lot different. She thanked the Board for their patience. VI. Unfinished Business: Staffing Update - Craig Clark Mr. Clark announced they are hiring a part-time Library Aide. Denise Grimm will begin June 14th. It is a 20-hour a week position in Customer Relations. Mr. Clark will also post a Library Page (shelver) position very soon. Vice Chair Hayden-Adeyemo wanted to discuss turnover rate and where the jobs are posted. She questioned why workers are leaving. Mr. Clark explained the gentleman is moving on to a technical college and does not have the time, and the turnover rate is not high. They post professional positions and all positions on the City's website and professional positions posted on Florida Library 2 Meeting Minutes Library Board Boynton Beach. Florida May 26, 2021 Jobs. She suggested posting in Career Source for some of the other positions and other libraries. She wanted to, keep the staff going and make it be progressive to move up. Mr. Feldman inquired where Dr. Hayden-Adeyemo got information there was a problem with turnover as he felt there was an inference there was a problem in the Library. She responded she did not say the word "problem". AmeriCorps Program —Jeannie Taylor Ms. Taylor stated the AmeriCorps Program is in full swing. The Library has three AmeriCorp volunteers working with Afterschool Homework Help, teens and adults. The volunteers will be here until the end of June and then they will resume volunteering in August. The volunteers can serve for two years so the staff does not know if the current volunteers will return at the end of the year. The Summer Reading Kick-Off program will be a nice event with the Youth Library and will use the outdoor green recreation space. The returning AmeriCorp volunteers from the Library and additional volunteers will come and help support staff and the program. Ms. Sherlock thought the program was the greatest summer program and she noted the program information on the Library website, with pictures and photos created excitement. The kick-off is the first Saturday in June and they have a lot of events planned for it. She hoped a lot of people will find out about it. It is in person and will use indoor and outdoor space. Career Online High School/LSTA Grant Update - Jeannie Taylor Ms. Taylor explained she and Mr. Clark spent the day listening to the State Board review and score applications. The applications are reviewed alphabetically and a score of at least 60% is needed to be eligible. She advised they will likely find out tomorrow, whether the State will fund the applications completely or partially. The City's application requested over $9K in funds for seven scholarships for the Career Online High School and hoping to get the full funding. Dr. Hayden-Adeyemo asked how many students have completed the course and learned there were 10 total graduates and only one during the pandemic. They have three students in the High School program; two of them have slowed down, one is actively working. She does not have any new people in the prerequisite program. She gets about two applications a week and they go into a self- assessment about being in the program and then she contacts the applicants about the prerequisite. She explained most applicants have to update their library card. Dr. Hayden-Adeyemo asked if Ms. Taylor monitors the students. It was explained the High School assigned each student an academic coach to monitor their program, which Ms. Taylor is able to see when she logs on. She can email the student directly. Mr. Clark and Ms. Taylor are listed as the project managers in the grant paperwork. They occasionally call the student to let them know they are supporting them. Chair Levine requested Mr. Clark let the Advisory Board know if there is any way they can interact more or be of assistance with the program and the Library now that they are meeting in person. 3 Meeting Minutes Library Board Boynton Beach. Florida May 26, 2021 Advocacy for Library Funding — Craig Clark Mr. Clark gave an update on state library funding. He announced the House and Senate budget agreed to send to the governor$19,394,457, an increase of just over$2M. There are five multi-cooperative grants and the library is part of one of them. There was $2M budgeted, which means SEFLIN will get $400K if the governor approves the expenditure. There is $700K budgeted for career online high school in the Department of Education budget which is managed by the State Library and the scholarships would go to libraries. The governor vetoed both the Library Cooperative Grant and the Career Online High School last year, and hoped he would sign it this year. He thanked the members who sent emails to the legislators as it is helpful. The members should keep in contact with their legislators and can email the governor indicating their support for and the importance of the program. VII. New Business Library Marketing Plan — Madison Kjosa, Marketing & Outreach Manager Madison Kjosa, Marketing and Outreach Manager, explained they scanned a copy of the plan into the packet. She has been in her position since July of last year. She has three main goals. One is to increase community awareness of the Library among stakeholder organizations, new businesses and elected local officials and commissioners.The second goal is to raise awareness among City residents, especially families with young children and adults, and underserved communities, which tend to have lower participation in library programs and services. The third goal is to host programs that educate the community with valuable work and life skills. Dr. Hayden-Adeyemo thought the third effort was the highlight. Objectives to accomplish these goals are to attend and promote the Library at community events and meetings. The second objective was to work with city staff to cross promote and collaborate on programming, which has been occurring and increased over the past few months. The third objective is to develop effective communication channels, which involves social media, print materials and others to develop tailored programs and services to meet the target groups and to have promotion and marketing activities, such as press releases, social media posts, e-blasts and others. The two main ways to evaluate this is through the monthly programming and marketing reports, which contain programming and social media statistics. Each year Ms. Kjosa creates new strategic goals to include in the City's overarching strategy and goal plan. She also submits statistics for the annual state aid. Ms. Kjosa reviewed the main stakeholder groups, which included City residents and reciprocal Palm Beach County resident card holders. She noted there are some cities they do not reciprocate with, which are Boca Raton, Manalapan and a few others. The main focus group is City of Boynton Beach residents, businesses, employees and elected 4 Meeting Minutes Library Board Boynton Beach. Florida May 26, 2021 officials. These are the people who they have the most direct access to and to support the Library and its services. She commented one would be surprised how many City employees do not have a library card and it is a priority to connect with this group. Another group is the Palm Beach County School System, the Boynton Beach City Library Board and Friends of the Library. Some challenges staff has with residents is lack of access to technology and social media, and a language barrier as a good portion of the residents only speak Haitian and Creole, and low program participation with young families, teenagers, and young children. Many libraries are finding reaching those populations is more difficult. Another challenge involving businesses is low collaboration with the Chamber of Commerce. Ms. Kjosa noted the Chamber works with a lot of local businesses and shares resources. She tried to establish more of a contact with them and hoped the library would receive more inclusion in their efforts. Brief discussion followed about the combined Boynton and Boca Raton Chamber of Commerce, but there is a head of the Boynton Chamber portion. Another caveat is lack of involvement, education for new businesses on city/Library services and low usage of current resources the Library offers to assist small businesses. During the last few months, they picked up their focus on those two goals, and they have worked with economic development to create a small businesses resources brochure and added a few new small business databases to their digital library collection. The final section is employees and elected officials. There is a disconnect and lack of involvement and knowledge about what the Library does with employees and elected officials which they tried to reach through outreach efforts and collaborating with City Departments and Library/City events. Ms. Kjosa laid out each objective, which included attending a variety of City and community meetings and events to promote the Library. She further clarified this also included attending HOA, local clubs, societies, religious and business functions through the Boynton Beach Chamber. Ms. Kjosa noted this was difficult because of COVID, but she was working with City staff to cross promote and collaborate programming and ensure Library programs are included in City marketing programs and the City website events calendar. In June, the Library is having a hurricane event and they coordinated it with the City's Hurricane Preparedness event. A second section is collaborating with City staff and departments on programs. The Library did a lot with Rebecca Harvey for Earth Day. They had speakers.and ran the technical aspects of that event. They worked with Debbie Majors, ADA Coordinator, and created a cool display for ADA Awareness and a few other events over the last few months. The third aspect is to develop effective communication channels, including reports and correspondence templates. Ms. Kjosa creates the monthly report and updates correspondence to reflect the new branding they have, which includes a Library calendar and social media. Ms. Kjosa has focused on the Creative Edge Studio and is working with Economic Development. Tomorrow, they are filming a small business guide with them showing how they can support them. She also 5 Meeting Minutes Library Board Boynton Beach. Florida May 26, 2021 was seeking to increase access to library resources and to those who do not speak English. There is a computer lab and laptops at the Library, and Wi-Fi Hot spots. She was also working to translate key documents, such as the library code of conduct and borrowing policy into Creole and Spanish. Ms. Kjosa reviewed the Library promotional and marketing activities and the process she uses. She is currently working on the regular library email letter and build up their patron email base. It is still ongoing and it has not yet launched. The City has an E-newsletter, but it has all the City's items on it and she wanted to create one specific to the Library and tailor it to groups such as youth or senior citizens. Mr. Gaud-Cabrera thanked Ms. Kjosa. She answered all his questions. He asked if there would be a walk-through video of the Library on the website. They will get the file and share it on social channels. Ms. Sherlock praised staff. She spoke about the relationship with the Boynton and Boca Chamber. The location has an address, but no sign and it gives a bad impression. She spoke to the Boca Chamber of Commerce Marketing Director, who indicated they will take the sign down. The video regarding the Boynton Chamber is outdated. Ms. Sherlock commented the West Palm Beach Film Commission and the City is trying to improve the relationship. Ms. Kjosa stated she only recently started talking to the Boynton Chamber. Mr. Feldman thought it could go through the marketing department and the City Commission. He also thought the plan was sensational and asked if getting people physically into the Library was the goal. He thought they could go out to the community as spokesperson for the Library; it is a great service. He thought the members could develop a format and use the same format. Ms. Kjosa commented she developed a Library U PowerPoint presentation and could reduce it to a shorter format. Ms. Kjosa was willing to speak to anyone or a group and could speak to an organization with a member. Chair Levine thought the marketing plan was fabulous and thought without a marketing and advertising plan, it would be for naught. She is fairly new to Boynton and was confused about the library and she was a little confused about libraries, and where to go and what cards were needed. She thought marketing that information was very important. She also noted everyone was moving to Boynton and she is into marketing, but was willing to help however she could. She asked if the Library was on the City's new App and learned it was not. Dr. Hayden-Adeyemo thought there was a separation between the City-and the Library and it should not be a struggle. She commented she did not see the level of respect for this beacon or cooperation. Ms. Kjosa commented she has been trying to work on and establish those department contacts. There has been a disconnect in the past. They need to put themselves out there more and they have made good progress. Ms. Sherlock thought they needed something in a square box that all see the same thing. She thought the biggest marketing opportunity is through people who read books. The older people grew up with books and newspapers. She lives at Seagate; there are communities and they read books. Her recommendation is to go to retirement 6 Meeting Minutes Library Board Boynton Beach. Florida May 26, 2021 communities. Ms. Kjosa was supposed to speak to a HOA a few months ago, but with COVID, it is harder to speak in those communities. Mr. Feldman thought once Ms. Kjosa sets up the marketing plan they adhere to, they can have material they can review and speak about. A 10-minute presentation is huge. Ms. Kjosa got a HOA marketing list. The Seagate community is very frightened, but for the first time they are opening their clubhouse. Mr. Feldman noted they could put up posters in the HOA and community centers detailing a lot of services they offer. Mr. Clark commented they could provide informational pamphlets. Ms. Sherlock thought communities may not be aware of the new Library. The list is very large and Ms. Kjosa commented if the members had contact information or certain communities they would like her to visit, they could narrow the list down. Ms. Kjosa announced the Library has Pride month activities planned for June. She had copies of the June Calendar for the members and also announced the Stonewall National Museum and Library which has the largest collection of LGBTQ materials. They are in Ft. Lauderdale and they will conduct a Museum Walkthrough with them in June. Library Budget Request Mr. Clark included the requested Fiscal Year 21/22 budget in the meeting materials. It could change before it gets to the City Commission. The Budget Hearings are in July at the Police Department and dates will be posted on the City's website. Library Signage on City Hall Building exterior Mr. Clark spoke to one of the Assistant City Managers about the above and noted the City will put a library sign on the building in the future, but there are no funds to do so at this time, but it is on their radar. Dr. Hayden-Adeyemo commented they had charettes and meetings and lengthy discussions about the new library. She questioned how the City can say they are looking for money for signs if the whole point was to have the library a joint tenant in the City Hall. There is also no acknowledgement of the Library Board, but the word Library is on the plaque. She found their response to Mr. Clark disturbing, that they do not know where the money is coming from. She finds it to be unfair to the Board members. They are advocates, they used their time, came to the meetings, came to the charettes that they don't have the money for a sign at a city hall complex. Ms. Sherlock thought Dr. Hayden-Adeyemo assumed all of the members felt the same way. Dr. Hayden-Adeyemo has been on the board for some time and was opposed to sharing the building. She feels the Library Board will be forgotten and it is a slap in their face that someone is telling the Board they do not know where the funding is coming from for a sign that says Library. Mr. Feldman thought Dr. Hayden-Adeyemo had a point, but thought it will take time and it will be addressed in the future. He thought they may be able to get some answers to 7 Meeting Minutes Library Board Boynton Beach. Florida May 26, 2021 put their names up there on a Board that they exist and they are here. Dr. Hayden- Adeyemo clarified it is not about having their names on a sign, it was that the name signage for the Library and they did not have funding for a complex. It was brought to the Board that way as a good thing and they would get the square footage, which they did not get. Mr. Clark indicated he tried to do the best he could to get what they wanted and she wanted it on record she is disappointed in the City Manager and the Commissioners. They sold it to Library Board and the City, the members attended the charettes, they had meetings where people were disappointed and angry at the meetings and all were on board to merge the two and she did not get a good feeling. She commented she walks by the Library and all you see is City Hal; when you walk by and do not see the word Library, it is very disappointing. She wanted it on record. When looking at the plaque outside it said thank you etc., Library and City Hall, but she questioned where the word Library was and it makes no sense. Quentin Morgan, Assistant City Attorney, commented the record has been duly noted to the issue. He noted the Library staff, led by Mr. Clark, is aware of the issue and they are probably more wanting to have something to obtain more foot traffic and they are advocating for the same thing. Mr. Clark is doing as much as possible under the circumstances. Chair Levine appreciated Mr. Clark doing what he can and there is not much more he can do. There is a lot of passion on the Board and she thanked all for their patience. It will be ongoing. Mr. Gaud-Cabrera commented he is fairly new and he was looking for a resolution. He asked if they could advocate to someone in the City for the Library. The issue with the delay is the Library is a City building. Is it part of City's budget, is there any way they can advocate? Mr. Clark explained the Library Advisory Board works for the City Commission. Mr. Feldman suggested going to the City Commission and put their concern on record. The City Commission meets the'first and third Tuesday of the month at 5:30 p.m. in the Chamber. Dr. Hayden-Adeyemo thought the Advisory Board makes recommendations. The former Chair went to a meeting and made a recommendation of having a sign. 2nd Floor Public Restrooms—ADA access Mr. Clark explained there was a concern from a Board Member who is in a wheelchair that they could not access the public restroom and the issue has been remedied and is now ADA Accessible. There is a wave sensor that opens the door to the restroom. Dr. Hayden-Adeyemo though this was a positive thing. She thought if this could be done, the signage can be done quickly. Whisper Room Purchase —Jeannie Taylor Ms. Taylor explained they have a Whisper Room in the Youth Library Virtual Zone. It will premiere at the summer reading kick-off event. It is a sound booth for people to do audio programs, record music or podcasts. There will be a Mac computer and microphones. 8 Meeting Minutes Library Board Boynton Beach. Florida May 26, 2021 The Summer Reading Kick-off event will be held the first Saturday in June, the 5t" from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. Sign-ups are not needed. New Database— Comics and Graphic Novels on Overdrive (Libby app) Mr. Clark explained the new database can be assessed by the Libby app. They added the above to the database. They also have a pamphlet out in the Library to market it and it is on the database. Dr. Hayden-Adeyemo thought it could be a quick push. VIII. Library Director's Report/Statistics March 2021 & April 2021 Monthly Reports Mr. Clark included the reports in the meeting materials for the members to review at their leisure. He noted they received quite a spike since the COVID vaccine is being rolled out. Most snowbirds have left and now youth will come in. He advised they are planning to extend Library hours back to 8:30 p.m. in the near future Monday through Thursday. Ms. Sherlock explained she would love to see a Podcast with Ms. Taylor and her cat talking about the Library. It would separate the Library from the Delray Library and give a more homey feel than others. There was brief discussion about attendance. IX. Announcements Next Library Board Meeting — June 23, 2021 X. Adjournment Motion There being no further business to discuss, Dr. Hayden-Adeyemo moved to adjourn. Mr. Feldman seconded the motion. The motion unanimously passed. The meeting was adjourned at 7:29 p.m. Catherine Cherry Minutes Specialist 9