Library Commission - Regular Meeting

All those were The plan is this way. I pledge

allegiance to the flag of The United States Of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation Under God. Indivisible with liberty and justice for all.

I will now call the roll.

Mr. Demiguel? Here. Miss Dozier? Here. Miss Frederick? Here. Commissioner Garrett was present. Miss Koch? Miss Navarro? Here. Miss Porter? Absent. Miss Purcell? Here. Mr. Sangay? Absent. Miss Councilwoman Roach? Absent.

Miss Kim, are there any public comments?

No. There are not. K. We

will now move to the minutes.

Please take a moment to review them.

Hopefully, while we were sitting, you did that. I know y'all didn't because you were. I would have emotional minutes.

I don't accept the meetings last the minutes of last meeting.

Thank you, Commissioner Miguel. Do we have a second? Thank you, Commissioner Pasell. Any discussion on the minutes? I'll call for the vote. All of us in favor of approving the minutes from 02/24/2025, please say aye. Aye. All those opposed, please say nay. Thank you kindly. We will now move into new business. We have a wonderful guest that I will turn

it over to Director Aliment to introduce our guests. Thank you. Thank you, Chair Alwyn. I'm really proud to introduce Lori Patel. She's our one she's our adult services librarian.

She's been with us for three years. I just want to say our number of programs we do for adults is just outstanding based on just based on the number of staff we have, the size of library, and Laurie is really instrumental in a lot of what we do. So Laurie has a focus on wellness and community services, and she manages the library's yoga and mobile clinic programs. In addition, she created the Bay Area Burning Program, the legal and health insight series for older adults, and the day by day guide to community resources. Those of you who haven't seen the day by day guide, it's this amazing Mhmm.

Hope you all know it. Alright. It's Laurie. Laurie has presented on diverse aspects of librarianship, including leading a workshop on digital marketing for librarians in Vietnam and describing decolonizing practices and indigenous collections for the Pacific Rim Research by the recent alliance. Welcome, Dorothy. Thank you. Mhmm. And just so you all know, Genti, before this meeting, by and said to me, don't worry. Everything will be great. And by the way, it's for the public record.

So thank you so much for your time. I'm really honored. I'm gonna set the stopwatch here so it don't take you too long. Next slide. So, and I'm speaking using the, slides that were created by my supervisor, Leo Hathaway. So this is all clear the hard work you're seeing, and I got to stand in for Lynn Manuel Miranda. Pretty good day for me. As she points out, we work in adult services, and 80% of Hayward's population is, adults, people over the age of 18. So we're looking at about a 124,000 people. We're looking to serve from Hayward Library.

Everyone from someone who just started shaving to a gentleman who called at the info desk to say he's over 100 years old, and do we have any new

westerns? Mhmm.

We don't. So we offer programs, selection services, and activities. We're looking to nurture a love of reading and learning, but also to connect patrons to materials and services that they need to. And while we're doing this, we're looking to foster community. Next slide.

So these are some teas teasers for the kinds of things we'll be talking about a little bit more in-depth as we go. Life is multifaceted, so is our program. We have things that our patrons need, like, ways to apply for jobs or apply for citizenship. But we also have many opportunities to develop personal growth through aspects such as health and wellness or next slide. Gardening and creativity, all kinds of arts you can do here. And, oh my goodness, gum, every month, there's something special happening in the library, a special event. There is our library director. You can see down on the 1st Floor. What are you doing? I have no idea.

She does so much. That is fun. So our jobs program is one of

the areas that's seen a lot of growth,

over the last year. We've always had job and resource fairs. We have to work frequently now. We, work to partner often with our community partners to offer as much as we do. So for instance, the city of Cambridge started a, set of workshops to offer permits for sidewalk vending, and the library became the location that hosted that.

Just today, in fact, just finishing up right now on the 2nd Floor, we've got, thanks to central community partners, a start my business program. So lot of entrepreneurship being supported in the library. We've done that in English as well as Spanish. Graduating people through the online high school, we've got all kinds of online databases, including most people don't know this. You can get access to thirty minutes of individual job coaching, through our online resources and also individual feedback on resumes.

And people ask all the time to the information desk for help with test prep. They're looking to get certified as a nurse or a police officer or civil servant, and we've got all of that online and in print. It's a beautiful thing. Next slide. We learn not only with our minds but with our bodies too.

I think you've probably heard about the yoga program before. Last year, we doubled the number of participants, in that program, and it brings in a lot of people coming to library for the first time. Now I just manage that program so when they come through and they tell me it's their first time in Hayward Library, I start to talk about all the other wonderful things that we do. So these are great programs that we offer, in and of themselves, and they're also wonderful gateway programs. We've had tai chi.

We've got mindfulness coming up. And something I learned, Hayward has the second highest rate of diabetes in Alameda County. So we are partnering with Alameda, public health department to offer a series of workshops for people who've been diagnosed, diabetic or prediabetic, to help in all the ways that that kind of support can be helpful. Next slide. So you know that we have a clinic that stops outside downtown.

Used to be once a month. It's twice a month now, and we have a more standardized schedule. It's on the second and fourth Friday of each month. And having that kind of stability has really created a flow of people that were able to serve with the local clinic. I don't know if you saw the line of voters that we had going around the 2nd Floor, but people came to the library profoundly to vote and many folks who could have nailed something in wanting to take that action and wanting to do it at Hayward Library.

We've offered the day by day guide, of course, in English as well as Spanish, keeping track of resources that change frequently. So that's a big lift, and we've got Hector down at the Veterans Memorial Center at least once a month, helping to connect people with the resources. We know it's not easy to navigate that process, so the library does what it can to provide that support. Gabling in the library in the corner there, you see Spectrum Community Services. So, once a month, on the second Tuesday of the month, Spectrum comes in, and it helps people apply for help getting their cover bills cover bills.

It's a federal program. It's nerve wracking to do the paperwork, and there are not many opportunities for people to meet with a Spectrum rep. We are one of the places where somebody can come in and talk, again, get help in English and Spanish with that process. And then this year, our tenants rights workshops on the 2nd Floor, the Central Legale. You'll be hearing a lot more as community hub comes in, and many of these groups will have a place on the 2nd Floor. Next slide, please. Wow. On the cultural programming. So much going on and so, you know, individual events. Jenti could say more about the San Francisco Opera.

I think that was a partnership that she had, brought in this year. And just such huge kudos to the historical society and the arts. Their ongoing going support and our partnership allows us to do much more than we could on our own. For instance, in the corner there, the two patrons showed off the hearts. Those are the patterns they're working on to make 10 new logos. We did that around the time of day of the dead, and we were able to do that by partnering with the historical society, which won the grant but didn't have the space. We had the space. We didn't have the money for the perform presenter. So we come together, and we can do more when we partner. Next, please.

You have to know, I'm sure, about literacy, ESL, and citizenship and the powerful work that happens in the library every day. Her study rooms in the back are full of people needed one on one, adult literacy partners. You probably know that 60% of Hayward residents speak a language other than English at home. If you're looking to get your English conversation skills going, we've got online and in person classes in this room all the time and a huge spike in demand for citizenship classes this year. And as part of that too, a new growing activity was the citizenship clinic.

So working with immigrant hope to have attorneys on hand as you fill out that government paperwork, and, again, it's so difficult to navigate, the opportunity to get one on one help. Think in this room. It's a boom where it happens. I'm telling you right here. It's yeah.

So proud of Education Services for stepping up to meet that surge in demand. Next slide, please. I'm assuming you know all kinds of things about our seed programs, our ukulele classes still going strong, even stronger. Something new down in the makerspace, there's gonna be monthly sewing practice. We've got the sewing machines, and people have been asking instead of just one off well, events, can we have more of a way to come together and, again, build the community and practice creativity and all of that, some, new growth there. Next slide, please.

I'm sure you know you could check

out tablets, Chromebooks, hotspots here. Our 2nd Floor is full of people using the public access computers to apply for jobs and send in applications for all kinds of things. New this year, we've got a lot going on in the digital learning center, including recently photo restoration project, which was very popular, and new things through our digital literacy classes. It could be as simple as typing practice. Just get together and practice that and as complex as Google Sheets.

And, of course, the tech tutors offer that opportunity. You can come in in that thirty minutes one on one with whatever your situation is. So with that ability to meet patrons where they are and with their individual needs are huge. You've no doubt seen the growth in our library of things. Oh my goodness.

I think it started with board games and ukuleles, and now we have telescopes, and we've got binoculars, and we've got tool kits. So if you don't have the money for the tools, you can still fix the thing that needs fixing, and it just keeps growing. Next slide, please. Growth in our programming for seniors. Already last year, we had monthly programming for seniors through legal assistance, and this year, we're partnering with Alameda County Department of Health and our Alzheimer's Association so that half of those programs are supporting health.

Also, safe driving programs, that's another one that brings a lot of new people into the library. Every Friday, Kirby's going out to a senior place like Josie Lunlatch. And we again, that Scan Stoppers workshop was a partnership with Liz Ortega's office. We have huge crowd on the 2nd Floor. Fill up the Fremont Bankroom for that. And, of course, our senior fest resource there. Next slide, please. I don't even know what to say except a lot of growth in our book discussion groups this year. Sunup Book Club is new. Again, in terms of building community, being able to offer monthly programming is a huge, offer for us.

Next slide. And all the things that you expect the library to be doing. None of that has taken a backseat while all the new stuff is happening. Next slide. So here are some stats that CLIA put together. Read them in columns coming down. So you're starting at fiscal year twenty three. You see the number of program participants in the middle was 24. And then if you double the number at the bottom, that'll get you pretty much where we're expecting to land at the end of this year. And, similarly, no decline really in number of questions, reference questions that we answered.

There's kind of a bump there, a slide for the checkouts in fiscal year twenty four. I think that's the year that the city's computers went down, and we just had long pause. So next slide. That's a callout. So you can see, the spike in program participants, and this year, we're on target to do about that many again. About a 155,000 people in Hayward, and look at that. 70 plus thousand program participants. Awesome. Thank you. Thank you, Ms.

Patel. Do we have questions for Ms. Patel? He's wanting to get questions if they're talking faster.

This is excellent. That's great. Thank you. Commissioner, you need to go?

Yeah. So, like, just first of all, I think it's it's great to be able to see all these programs. Like, I hear about them, but to see them all in one place is just it's it's very inspiring. One of the questions I had are, what are the current priorities in terms of is there any increased demand for any of the resources that are able to be increased? That makes sense. So, like, for for example, the DSL programs, is there an increased need that is not being met, or is there any block for it? So

I would say we have a long waiting list for tutors to, you know, partner to place place tutor learners with tutors, so we do have a long waiting list. But I've been doing a really good job, I think, in trying to meet the needs of our community. We are definitely a resource for library in terms of staffing. We could do a lot more with staffing, but that that's probably the one area where we are, you know, as fast as we can. We try to do the trainings and do the pairing of adult literacy learners and tutors, but there is a waiting list like that.

Yeah. Yeah. I asked somebody who did that for a long time, I did a a bunch of conversation circles. That's something we could always help recruiting. If you wanna do anything, you can do it. It doesn't have to be during the day. You know, you well, you can decide how to do it with your computer. So we could always work on finding people who wanna do something and pair one on one with people.

Thank you so much, Doctor. Sam. Any context for Ms. Patel?

I do. I have a question around how do you all sort out which programs will be

offered at what times? Sure.

Are you thinking of something in particular? So I'm trying to learn French,

and the and the conversation's always at 03:00, and I'm at work.

It's so okay. Sorry. I won't step in for that because French is we do have only one at the one tutor right now, and we're actually creating a waiting list. So if you let us know, and we will you know, because the conversation with the French classes right now, they're all of them intermediate. Mhmm. And so we're trying to create groups of, like, the kiddos or whatever level you're at. And so if you let us know what you're looking for, we can put you on the waiting list. And as we create, we let you know. Okay. But

I'm just interested in in general, like, how you all decide, okay. We're gonna do this at this time during working hours or in the evening or on Saturdays. Like, do you all have a method for that?

Well, if it's an event that seems like it would appeal to a broad number of people, we try really hard for Saturdays. They are booked out months in advance. Getting the space, getting the staff time, it's a challenge. Yeah. But, conversely, for my senior programs, I tried very hard to do those middle of the week when we could expect people who are retired to be available and trying to find rooms during that time as well.

So we try to be savvy about it and also to get feedback from our participants, staff. I just recently asked because somebody said to me, could you do the senior events earlier in the day? You know, my head's a little clearer. So I asked everyone in the room, would that work better for you as well? And they said, we're. Yeah. That's the early end of the day. We're always on the go. So yeah. We're doing more programs in additional languages.

So this year, we did some programs in Mandarin Chinese information and trying to do more in Spanish as well. So that's an ongoing effort. So let's thank our guests. Thank you for being with us. You so much. And I do apologize. Thank you so much. Okay. Have

a good evening.

Thank you. A good night.

Director, I don't wanna think

you're up next for the community bulletin board policy. Yes. So I did send that out. I hope you'll have it's it's really not a very complicated or very fancy policy, but it is something all libraries can have. You know? So we all libraries have bulletin boards. And for us, not all libraries have a policy, but we do, which I'm very grateful for. It's pretty self explanatory. We do try to focus on obviously, we are limited in the amount of space we have and the requests we get are much more than what we can easily do. And so we do things.

We got an order of priority that can be post information from, obviously, from the library, from the city, other boards in the city, then our support groups like the the of Hayward Public Library and the Hayward Literacy Plus Council, individuals, organizations that are working in partnership with us, and then, of course, community based not for profit groups. So that's sort of the what we limit ourselves to. We get a lot of commercial requests. So can I post this? Or just wanna give this away.

And, no, we don't do that. There are lots of other venues for that. We don't do that. And so we basically, we're very careful about letting people know we do prohibit some stuff, so, you know, it has to be appropriate and can't be political, you know, bipartisan or partisan in nature. It cannot be selling or promoting stuff.

And this actually a lot of this applies to human behavior in the library. So you'll see some of there's a parallel between what we allow opposing and what goes on. And, generally, being the in terms of materials that are commercial in nature pertaining to activities at charge fees, we do not allow that. The exception being Hayward public library events and activities, fund fundraisers for us, and sometimes other public age other agencies, which we, you know, we're very careful about. But so by and large, it has to be something related to us.

We do make exceptions when we say the exceptions that are probably made by by the director of this. So yeah. So I don't know if you have any questions on that. It's pretty simple. Yeah. Question is correct. Yeah. I see the list, and it totally makes sense. What's not prohibited with an example of what would what what is on What is on there? So, you know, for example, some of our events, but if we are having, like, the city were when they were having redistricting meetings, we would post that. We post all commission and city council Okay. Announcements. Street fairs. But, again, street fairs So ones. Yes.

So they're, you know, very careful about that. Again yeah. So that's basically what we're gonna propose to you. You know, I mean, like, even I just had put out the immigration, the city. That's something there's been a lot of interest in. It it relates to city policy, so we put that up on the board letting people know that's that's there. Okay. Don't know. Do you include things from neighboring cities like New York City or? Again, by and large, no.

Not unless it's something that impacts, say, us. So for example, say if Liz Ortega was doing something that, you know, at Castro Valley that it covers, then we might put it up. But by and large, it really and our role. And I was thinking about, like, the VTA bus drive, letting people know that if you transfer if you catch the bus in in down that area, this may impact you. Okay.

Yeah. And that kind of thing, if someone gets to us, you would probably post it. The other thing is, you know, also, like, when there are public comment on, say, you know, whatever, a street repair or something that's going to affect A1 residents, and they say we've opened it up for public comment, then we would post it. So that can but if you do see something like that, probably bring it to my attention, and we will post it. We try to post things that we know are going to impact the interact our area. Question. Do you all use, like, a

stamp or something or some sort of something to let us know and the public that this is something that has been

approved by the library? You know, we've talked about it. You've already talked about it. We haven't. And, you know, there's two things we've talked about. One is having some pentostam. Mhmm. And the other is having a date to be taken

down. Mhmm.

And, know, we've really talked about it that our we keep changing who's in charge the. Yes. Just have a. You know? When you show. Yeah. Yeah. So but we we have really talked about it, but we keep a really rely on that. Mhmm. Because people do put up stuff all the time. That's absolutely very careful. Thank you, director. Thank you. Alright, folks.

We have to show improved. We've been talking about doing something for our, library workers during National Library Workers Week. I've been trying to come up with we have a lot of library workers in our our in our library between this branch and weeks. And so what do we what is your pleasure, folks? Yes. What should we do?

Just an idea. It might put more work. I'm not sure if it puts more work on the library. That's something that I've seen other libraries do is they have, like, a, like, a highlight of this library to, like, the month or, like, people that are behind the scenes that don't really get live shadowing for. But I think that the page has something like

that before. Yeah. But the. We have I do know people. It's very intimate. People sometimes don't want to be public yet known, and especially the one a lot of them don't want their name out there and stuff. So it's this would be from the commission.

This is explicitly from

this is not to create work for Jouncey.

This is explicitly from us to our library workers, including Jouncey. So she's gonna hear about it. She's gonna lie She said you'd be surprised.

And, I mean, this is him too. Thank you. Thank you for lying. Yes. Which is.

Do you have any guidelines off of your head in terms of, like, are we allowed to use any, like, budget for this, or is that against the rules?

We don't have any budget. We're not a commissioner that has budget. Like, this would become this would

be something that's coming from us. So because I don't think it has to

be grand. I think we can think about a card we offer. We could I don't mind putting in for a cake to do for them.

Okay. Yeah. That looks There's something. That's what I was thinking. Yeah. We did totally make more. Oh, that's nice too. I mean,

you have, like, 5,000,000 mechanisms already.

Know. Know. Know. Know. Sorry. I would suggest if we can do a proclamation at the city council recognizing his vital works or something special. I don't know if we can give them time for April. Because I can I I can

You will not find out? You will not find out. I will find out. You will not do this.

And I like Yes. I like the idea of, like,

a digital card or something where we could just send it out to library. The library's back. Everyone here. Yes. And it's available in For the for all of them. Yes. Sustainability. It's online. They could do it when they like, and we can set up, like, a platform.

I'm gonna whatever is available. Okay.

I don't mind setting it up. Like, everyone wants to,

like, add a post. Mhmm.

I kinda wanna send it out to Beyond Us. Oh, you need

a lot? Okay. Okay. Like, could we send it out

to anyone we know and do that? That would be nice too. Yeah. It's additional. It'll be additional. You can add any posts that you want. Yeah. I'll send that up. But only is how people might be in a broken.

You know, people don't know how to behave. Well, that's Don't know how to behave.

Yeah. I'm writing a little bit to my. Yeah. Not not even that. Just write something where you're going. No. That's just tacky.

Are you going to that digital, like, thumbtack board would be

Or something. Right?

Yeah. Guess I was thinking

to write nice and then I

was like then I was like, people are humans, and then they're disrespectful. Because I was like, oh, that's a donkey. It can be monitored. So that's that's really helpful. Like, You want my. Okay. Recently, I was thinking from this bus, and I was thinking of nice to have a car

for the public, Yeah.

Yeah. Because Yeah. Conversation. I mean, I'm

under restrictions all the times. I'm like, yeah. Respond to the board. And then I see what they respond.

I'm like, no. Delete that one. That's not nice. Maybe, you know

We could share with the public. It's it's. Bit. Go to the library and bring your library in the flower. Or thank

the library. Thank the library.

Someone at the library. Yeah. It's something But I feel like that's a slippery slope too. I haven't worked in Coke in a long time.

But, yeah, people can't. Yeah. Exactly. Yeah. Maybe just the problem. Shit.

I'll work on that. Have you Maybe, like, some cupcakes or something. I would

I wouldn't mind. Okay. I'll be happy. Yeah. Not a great day. Totally.

Okay. So it sounds like we're gonna work on a proclamation. We're gonna work on a for our librarians and some kind of big I

have a suggestion. Again, it's probably a little bit more outside of us, but even just having some type

of worksheet available for the

kids that come visit, like, what's your favorite library That's my drawing. Moments? So they have if they're just available, like, I'm I'm happy to design something and print it, and then it's just in your kid's area, and then

you can put them up onto your community board or or we can see it with and

then create, like, a little slideshow for them.

That would be cool. But, like I think it's that's amazing. Yeah.

And then that way, it's the people, the patrons that they kind of see, but it's on behalf of us. And Yeah. It doesn't do like that.

I hate to jump in. You know? Like, you're not coming to surprise. I just couldn't find but I think if you do that and do an adult section also, you know,

we have

that art display. Yeah. After this month, we could put it on that or something. Like a giant poster board or something. Yeah. Well, just use that frame.

It's got a monitor.

And If you if you'll think that's okay. Yeah. I also want to say with the proclamation, the second Tuesday of each month, the city council does not meet, which is the month or below this would be. So you actually have more time if you

just get it in April. Still have

more time. But get it in April. So, you know, in in April 1, it's it's a Tuesday for. So so, obviously, that's not yet when the weekend started. Week is sixth through the twelfth. Eighth, it is a Tuesday. Usually, they don't Let me see if they're going to meet that week. Yeah. But so even if you get it on the date, I don't think anyone was Be bad. Okay. If you're and they just impact You do something like that. Yeah. It's really nice. Right? And you'll be put up all proclamations by the front door, so it would be there. Very nice. So it sounds like we have a plan to

do to work on a proclamation, to work on, some kind of ecard, and to work on a public thing that people can write up. That sound like something, commissioners?

Now before we declare that, who

is I'm gonna work on the proclamation. Commissioner Dozier's gonna work on

the ecard. And Commissioner Navarro's gonna

work on the writing things. Yes? Okay. May I have a

motion on the floor to declare

or decree this? What's your view, Miguel?

I move to, declare the three,

ideas. You. May I have a second? I second. Thank you. Any any further discussion? Okay.

May, all those in favor, please say aye.

Aye. All those opposed, please say nay.

Thank you all for making this come to fruition, and thank you, director Adolin and Ms. Kim for pretending to be surprised.

We're

going to move into old business, letter writing committee.

Okay.

Sounds great. Excuse me. B, report from the welcome committee. No report. Thank you. Report from the CSU East Bateship of partnership committee. Director Allen just got back from vacation, and she and I have talked about we're gonna set

up a meeting. Okay.

So we do have a report that we are gonna set

up a meeting, and we've discussed this. Awesome. Yes. You can. Okay. Do you report from budget support committee? Thank you. Report from community outreach committee. Nothing. Thank you. We're gonna move on to recommendation. Any recommendations from commissioners?

Hearing none, we're gonna move to reports. Director Adam.

Okay. I have quite a bit to report this month. We have a lot happening. I just wanted to say coming up soon, our continuing partnership with San Francisco Opera, we have a display on the 2nd Floor called the Prison Arts Project. It's by prisoners art by prisoners from San Quentin.

And this was actually created as part of a, what should I say, partner display for their opera called Innocence. But, anyway, this display will be up to the end of this month, and there will be a panel discussion which will include someone from the the group it's called, I think, the James Arts Project, William James Association Arts Project, someone from San Francisco Opera, and one of and a couple of members who are now out. And so we'll be then that panel discussion will be on March 29 from 11AM, and it will be just below this. Just a reminder, Zocalo Cafe ribbon cutting will be on April 5 at 11AM. I hope some of you can come for that.

Oh, no. That will. Yeah. Because they are going to be giving away, you know, stuff, free stuff during the ribbon cutting, and then all day, they're gonna have the $2 off any purchase. So it's gonna be really nice. Yeah. But so, you know, Cesar Chapelle's Day is the March 31. That's Monday. So the city, it's always a business closure for the city that day. So we are taking the opportunity to have us have staff training and team building day that day.

So it's just even with business closure, we will be doing that. One of the things we're working on is we're working with the state library on the disaster preparedness audit of our library, and the the the folk for us, the focus is on preparing to protect valuable and irreplaceable assets. And so we actually had an archivist come come and do a walk through for us. Our focus is really on our art in the library. That's probably our most irreplaceable of the things we have. Mean, I obviously, there are books and things like that that we're trying to do a project with the art. So that's a big deal for us. We did the state of the city presentation by the mail last week. Chair Fowler was there. Thank you for that.

And it was it was interesting. It was not as big a turnout as we've had in the past. It was largely stakeholders. There were very few community members. But we were there as well, that was obviously there as a department head, but we were also there as the library.

Okay. Alright. Well, yes. Anyway, so that happened, and we were talking about credit cards and the city's immigration policy. So we had a table over there with the city clerk, and we were doing that. Weeks branch, it's going on. We've been I don't we've been giving you monthly updates on that. We've been, it's work is going, but we've been dealing with constant, vandalism over there. That's been a real challenge for us. But we have received the permit for the fencing.

So, hopefully, as soon as the fencing, the permanent fencing goes up, that will help control some of the issues we are having. And because of some of the delays, we actually expect it to be closed through April as, you know, till now, we're saying to March, probably April. You're saying most likely mid May is when we would reopen. That's the expectation. At Stax Center, we had the ribbon cutting last Friday. It was really good. I was really shocked at the huge turnout. It was pouring all day. The sun came out during the ribbon cutting. It was actually really lovely. The library got a lot of kudos. I just want to say, don't know

if you know that one of

the things that the mayor forgot to mention me among the department heads at the state of the city. Oh, I noticed. And he forgot to do it last year also. So this at the ribbon cutting, he was so apologetic. He was so nervous to talk. Recognizing the library. But it was a good thing because, anyway, you know, we I I did also get to stand up and talk, and I did acknowledge about the state library. They were asking us a grant for over 8 and a half million for our satellite library, which will start next next year. And I was really glad I did that. But the first thing is Safe Life is the single because sort of return to that project.

8 and a half million is the highest. The next highest is about 1,500,000.0. So it's really a huge deal. And there was also someone from the state library in the audience who hadn't told me he was coming. So I was really glad. We mentioned it, and the mayor made such a big deal. Both nice. Yeah. So it was actually very nice. And then let's see. Oh, by the way, our group will be arriving in a couple of weeks. Our tech will be we won't launch services right away, but we will have it. Then it takes a little while to set it up and get things, but it will be there very soon. Budget discussions have started. We had a strategic road map just updating the city council Saturday one week ago.

And, you know, the library really do get a lot of kudos. We do such a lot with so little. But there is gonna be a shortfall in the budget this year, and all departments are being asked to, prepared to take cuts. We actually have been asked to look at the cost as well as cutting 2% of our budget, which may be more. So we had to come up with a proposal, and then after that, we went with our finance and our city manager.

And this is something I think, you know, that you want to add to your disc discussion next month. But as far as what comes we can make, even library has very little discretionary funding. So it looks like we will lose a 100,000 that you all want for us to get for collection development last year and that we have currently one vacancy, one person who retired, a half time person. And with those two, would be able to reach the 2% cut. So I just want to give you all a heads up.

It might get worse, but right now, that's where we are. If there's no guarantee thing, we'll take that money. They know that the library will be run. So the shoestring budget, but I just want you all to be aware that is something since you all talk about the budget, you all make recommendations. I just want you all to know that's where we are with that thing.

And this is actually a really hard time for us for to be, you know, making cuts. The things are difficult. And many of you probably saw IMLS. A president wants to just close IMLS down, which is the Institute of Museum and Library Services. Almost every single one of our brands that we are and we don't get huge brands, but even the ones that come to the state library originally provide IMLS.

So the impact is going to be just shopping across the state. And literally, like, it's not just layoff part of it. It is close that department down. There are about 75 employees, every single one of them, the plan, it hasn't yet been signed, so there is opportunity to talk to our elected officials, and I will send information out about that. If you are not interested, you all can. You know? I I'm not saying you should, but you all can, right, if you all want. Mhmm. But that is definitely a huge, huge gift for my parents at this time. So, anyway, so those are some of

the things that are happening, and it's been

really busy. Very lots of all of you know what's going on. But for us, there's been a lot of impact there. We've asked to look at how we how we write our brands, quality grants, we have a fund authorities to from the federal government. We like, we had a big NDA grant before that.

We'll really I was pretty confident we will get it. But now they've told us they have to make sure that it's in compliance with the new new new governments and new rules, so that really it removes us. It gives us zero chance of getting the vaccine. Thank you, Any questions from your? Sorry.

I missed this. What what was the time and date? Ribbon cutting was April?

April 5. Yes. The for the cafe, yeah, at 11:00 in the morning. Yeah. There is good stuff the bottom line. Yeah. I might want to In some ways, advocating for the money and then losing it is better than having to cut the position. Mhmm. That's what money's in. I'm not very excited. I'd I'd rather that I'd rather that than a. Yeah. Oh, absolutely. Yeah. So It's just our collection development budget, and and we will talk about friends.

But, you know, we depend a lot on the friends, a huge amount from the friends. So in our programming and collection development, our eResources, almost 100,000 comes from the friends. If we don't get that, we don't get a lot of the stuff we're already getting. They're in a very different. Difficult position. Yeah.

Commissioner Moran. Yeah. What kind of, support and advocacy as the library commissioners can we, like, send out for the ILNS closing and whatnot and just be constantly at least informing public around that as well. Yeah.

So well, I I will you know, I think it's the commission that wants to write a letter to our various you know, like, Eric Swalter's office selected, that would be a huge thing. You know, the senators, everyone who represents us, but also as individuals, as individual commissioners, getting the word out to the community, encouraging community members to also, you know, express their concerns. Or if they're not concerned, that's okay. But those that want to giving them the resources on how to advocate. And to understand what that means. Yeah. Yeah.

I don't think people know

that the agency exists and what it means.

And what it what it actually do. Right. I was sitting on a consulting for something that's coming up,

and it's looking like it's up there. So I'm probably I don't

know if it was gone. Yeah. I think it's gonna get bad, but I think we're probably better off here than a lot of places in the country. It's not no. A lot of people are hurting really good at it. I don't think we're gonna feel it as bad as a lot of people. I think it's gonna get really bad, and it's gonna look good at that.

Any other question for the director? If you go to

the ALA, like, website, American Library Association, I hate it. But they have a lot of information that you could easily share because all the big groups, like the American Library Association, California Library. So everyone is putting out this information to share it with, like, it's embarrassing, officially. Yeah.

Yeah. And I I think to that point too, like, obviously, social media is a huge opportunity even if it's resources that already exist that we can reshare or if we then make a little graphic or whatnot specific to our situation or something that would appeal to our audiences. Mhmm. I think just the awareness piece to your guys' point around what does this institution even do? What does this mean? I feel like those things are super impactful even if just around educating people around what's happening because there's so many things happening that there's that saturation of not really understanding the impact of some of these decisions.

Then you direct your app.

Friends report. The biggest thing about the Friends right now is finance. We are working to get a handle on where we are financially. Our president well, two things. We are happy working on officers and figuring out where we are with our next set of officers, And our president is working to get a sense of where we are financially. So we did approve some funds for a fundraiser for the for the Library of Paintings at the Paintings.

It'll be fun if it's closed. It's not not a special thing, so

and then, we will be working on fundraising again soon, but we haven't since I've been on Friends, and it's been almost four years now. Four years now. We haven't really been collecting dues, and we haven't really we haven't had any fundraisers like we should. And so we are closing in on what we know what we have. That's not the issue.

We know what our finances are, but we haven't done what we need to do to bring in new revenue to support the library like we have in the past. So we have to lock in, and we still have the book sales and that provides, but it's not the to the we don't have the funds to the magnitude that the friend used to have in the past before I was over there. So our biggest thing right now is to lock in on our finances and be sure we could support the friend to support the library to the magnitude that we have in the past and to make sure that what we have a an allocation request from the on the table from the library right now that we are reviewing to be sure that we can actually afford it.

So that's what's we're doing with the friends right now.

Yes. Do you know if, like, like, the type of donors are usually the large donations or small donations coming in? Like, who's your I mean, obviously, they're saying that was not as many, but,

like No.

Since I've been here, that is that

kind of work has not been done. Got it. Okay.

So now you would know who your audience is in terms to make a fundraiser that would support. Yeah.

So we need to get back into doing that network. So I'll be as the vice president, I'll be working with president to do that, but we have to go back and start to really revamp the friends to to get to that work. And so we've been living on our book sales, and we've got to do we've got to get back to the heyday of the friends. And so we quite some time ago, the friends approved a to work with the consultant, But in order

to work with the consultant, it's very similar to my job.

That's how you're good at

it. How do you do that? In order to to do

the work you need to do, your infrastructure has to be there. And our infrastructure hasn't been checked on in a while. So the tire pressure in the car needs to be looked at. The shocks and the struts, the the wheel ain't been balanced. That kind of stuff has has been a little neglected. So we need to do that work. So then we can then do what we need to do. But the problem is we we gotta drive the car to work every day to keep this analogy going. So we drive the car to work. We gotta get some allocation to the library, but the tires haven't been balanced, and the tire pressure is wrong, and the check engine light is on. And you're stuck in traffic. And we're stuck in traffic. Uh-huh.

And we

got about two seats of gas. And we got about two sips of gas right now. And so we're hoping that we can make it to Costco and put some gas in the car. That's kinda where we so we're we're we're okay, but it's we need to

we need to take

the car on down to to the service shop, and get

it with that. Does that sound good? Yeah. Yes.

Any questions for me? That was vivid enough? It's France. Do they have, like, social media, or is

that tied into the neighborhood public? No. They do have a story. No. We

do. We don't have enough. We don't have enough volunteers. So if anybody wants to do double duty like I do,

we are we we would love to have you.

Better. Yes.

Well, they do. You know, Kat is actually trying to take me hard. Yeah. Yes.

Moving on to library commissioner reports. I know there was something that was sent out in the email. Commissioner Navarro would like

to say it out loud. Oh, yeah. So

so we have, I mentioned in our last meeting, the 49ers have sponsoring, Doctor. Harry Edwards' Polyure Bliss grant. We're awarding 10 educators $2,000 in five different categories. And then I'll mention k through five, six through eight, which is middle school, high school educator, administrators, so anyone who works in k through 12 administration. Okay. And then, community educators, which can be anyone who works or is affiliated with any youth programming, like the library or a YMCA or Boys and Girls Club or anything to that degree. Question for you.

So is that just for public schools or or private schools or charter schools?

We tend to prioritize title one schools or public schools. We do do charter schools. Private schools tend to not make the cut in terms of the need and and what. But we have awarded two private schools in the past. Nominations close on Thursday, So please, please share or nominate someone that you know.

Those funds are explicitly for whatever organization that you work for or are part of, whoever nominates. And in May, there'll be a reception at the stadium, hopefully, with Doctor. Edwards depending on how his health is doing, as well as other 49ers constituents and all the other award winners. So, very, I think it's definitely a award that pulls at your heartstrings, especially tied to Doctor. Edwards and the work that he's done in the community and with the 49ers organization.

This is our seventh, eighth year of doing it, and I'm super excited and one of my favorite projects that help create and keep on going. So please share. If you don't know Doctor. Edwards' story, please do look him up. Yes. He has an amazing story and a lot of ties to San Jose State to Berkeley. Really great night.

Thank you, Commissioner Barrow. Any other commissioner reports? Oh, I have another report.

In the same vein, we also have another grant that's coming out, out of 49ers. This foundation closes April 7, but it's for AEDs for any youth, any public schools or youth facing organizations. So that includes a grant to get an AED in their in their institution as well as training for the staff. And 20 organizations are making on grants of those grants as well since the second year of that opportunity. So those two are the big two the two big things that are happening at least in my scope that I feel like the Hayward public and as well as the commissioners can can help with.

I have a question on that. Yeah. Yes. Okay.

For the second one that you mentioned regarding the AEDs, why are we able to

find that? Is it, like, a website?

And

Yeah. 40managers.com/community. Okay.

All of that. And I

can also share that information with you, Janti, so that way you can share. But that's in partnership with the NFL and the Kyle J. Taylor Foundation, which is a family foundation that high school students pass away from cardiac cardiac arrest and now does a lot of advocacy around AED.

Uh-huh. Okay.

Yeah. So huge initiative just to bring one awareness into that resource to have updated things in school community around Bay Area. Thank you, Moving

to agenda building. The one

thing I'd like to do is refer to the letter writing well, I'd like to propose that we write a letter to our elected officials regarding LM I I know what else. That's and put it on the agenda to vote on that next meeting. I I second. I think we can do that. Miss Field, is that can we do that?

Or do I have the proposal? But the agenda bill? Yeah. No. You'll just talk.

You'll just have to

go ahead and just that. But we're saying can we vote on the next meeting, and we'll put it

on agenda this meeting. That's what I thought. Okay. So we can just put that on the agenda to vote on next meeting. Is that good? You all? Mhmm. Okay. Can I refer that to the letter writing committee

to work on that letter?

Sure. That's me. Yes. Commissioner Dozier, would you mind assisting them with this?

There may be a lot of templates out there, and we can do, like, some editing and come

to mind. Yes. I will. Do I need to, like yes. No. I'm just asking you to read Oh, sure. To Commissioner Curcell and Yes. And Commissioner Curcell. Sounds great. Thank you, Conner. Any other items for agenda building? Agenda is already there or yeah.

And it's why I'm here in April.

We have a a patron code of conduct. We have the community bulletin board code of conduct. Now we have one for patrons.

Yeah. We probably won't do that next time.

Okay. So Yeah. The unattended children will be eaten, probably, and the report on the bookmobile services. Anything else, commissioners?

Can we just put budget in just in case I have some updates? Like, the That doesn't have a new report anymore? Well, if there's something that needs to be voted on, that's why we can

do Yes. Mhmm. We can add budget too. Just in case. Yes.

The April? April. Okay. Any

other items, commissioners? Hearing none. We will adjourn at 07:33PM. We'll have have a green snack. Yes. Don't forget your items, please. We gotta do the I have you the I have to do the proclamation. We all know what you got.

Okay. I already He was already going. We're all

I gotta go make something for my staff. I think I'm make some