Library Commission - Regular Meeting

Stand for the pledge of allegiance. I pledge allegiance to the flag of The United States Of America and to the republic of which it stands, one nation, indivisible with liberty and justice for all. Thank you.

Miss Kim, do we have

a vote of congress about our vacation? No. We do not. Thank you.

I'll call the roll.

Commissioner Dean McGill will not be with us tonight. Commissioner Dozier? Here. Commissioner Fredrick will not be here with us tonight. Commissioner Goward is present. Commissioner Kelch is no longer has resigned. Commissioner Navarro? Present. Commissioner Porter? Present. Commissioner Pursell? Here. Commissioner Commissioner Sangayat?

Present.

And council member mayor pro tempura mayor

pro

tempura is thank

Okay.

Now we will move to the minutes.

Oh, do we have any public comments, Ms.

Kim? We do not. Thank you. Now we will move to the minutes. May I have a motion on the minutes, please? The motion to approve the minutes.

Thank you, Commissioner Purcell. Is there

a second? I second that.

Thank you, Commissioner Dozier. Is there any discussion on the minutes? Any corrections? Hearing none, I call the question. All those in favor of approving the minutes, please signify by saying aye. Aye. Those opposed, please say nay. Any abstentions? Hearing none, we're going to move forward. I would like to modify the agenda, please, to move the Friends of the Hayward Library report down, and hope that our guests will be able to meet with us. But we have two of our guests here. So I would like to start

with your doctor. I'll introduce you. So we'll have first our report from the literacy council, which is Hayward Literacy Plus Council, and we have it as the president, and and Nani Nyamito. And are you the treasurer? No. One of the board members. One of the board members. Okay. That's so I don't like that.

Bigger than

it sounds. He's been on that board a very long time. Didikus about three years now? Yeah. Yeah. And, of course, all of you know is a very well known member of our community, but we will be presenting today. Welcome. Thank you for being here. Laura Jones? Oh. Oh, okay. As

you can see, by the way, the first slide. My name is Didicus Ramos. I'm the president of the Literacy Plus Council, and I know that because it says so in my notes. Mhmm. The council has been around, I guess, since the late 1980s, its role is is a support to the library and the library programs. Our mission is to yes. Our mission. Got it? Next slide. That's the There you go.

Missions. So our mission is is to break the cycle of intergenerational illiteracy in order to build a higher esteem, access better jobs, and help more people achieve higher education and enable more parents to participate in their children's education. That's not the least of what we do, but that's that's about that it can be actually seeing a parent help be able to help their their children in the language that they're they're studying. Next slide. So we help and support finance several of the literacy programs, including the citizenship workshop, and a a particular importance these days as everybody knows.

And as I was just reminded by my colleague here, it costs $760 to apply for citizenship in The United States. So it behooves us to have a no charge program for people to practice the tests, to learn the skills and answers that they need, to do what most Americans can't do, answer those questions. That's sad, but that's true. But our program has people that can answer those questions, and they know why they're answering those questions. So next slide.

We support and help finance Vicente. So next, we do more than just raise money. We raise awareness, especially, know, leading volunteers to participate as as instructors and teachers and learners to help the learners with English as a second language, with the literacy, with the citizenship, and with other library programs. And, of course, next slide. Yes.

Fundraising. Yes. So we encourage donations of all sizes no matter how small, $5, $20, or $20,000. We can you know, we accommodate all comers, and this is because the now more than ever, we have a problem with financing what the community needs, not just what the library needs. The library needs the community needs the library.

The library costs something to keep it running, and we need people to to step up. And we're investigating all means of fundraising to be creative about it and not to be so dependent. If we've learned nothing else, we find that we cannot depend on higher forms of government to support the efforts of here, us, and the grassroots on the streets. So we've even gotten we do get contributions from elected officials. Teresa Marquez, former council member and president supervisor, donated a thousand dollars to us, and we're very appreciative of that.

We also have the rotary club that donated $2,500 to us. So we're we're getting donations. It's just that the need is so much greater. So we're we're trying to come up with programs that we can get more people involved. There's 50,000 households in Hayward. If we can get $5 from each household, we can get $1 from each household. $50,000 a year. Wouldn't that be something? But like everybody else, when somebody tells me, I only need five dollars, I said, no. You're asking me for 5 more dollars.

It's 5 more dollars than what I had before. So it's it's a challenge. But if it if it comes back to us, the the payback from our programs is so high that the ability to read opens worlds, not just a world, but worlds with each participant, both those who are are volunteering to to help and those who are learning. We just had a lady that accosted us before the meeting asking if we could talk to her in English because she's trying to rap English. And she speaks English better than better than us.

But she's doing fine, but she wants more. It's only a one hour a week program that she's in, and she wants it every day. Wouldn't it be something if we do that? We can help people get what they need to better participate in our community, in Hayward, and in our library. So we're looking for visible results.

Next slide, I guess. And towards that end, as you know, we we financed the seed folks presentation play, and it was cast with the local literacy program participants. And it was very well received. So we're hoping to do something like that again and again and again because the the more excited we can get the community, the the prouder they will be of what we're producing and the more support we'll we'll get when need the support when the chips are down. Somebody's trying to close us or someone's trying to ignore us, and we kick our hands in the community stands out.

We back off, and we get what we need. It's not a matter of talking about what we'd like to have happen. This is something we actually need. We're in necessity. Right. So then next slide. Oh, we are on the next slide. So there's a lot of of things that I'm an urban planner by by by profession, and I work with data driven ideas. Yes. We come up with an idea, but if you can support it with data, you can actually help convince somebody that it's of higher importance than they thought and it's a better understanding when they see the data.

So we we help the the library fund pay for programs that do just that. They'll gather the data and in a publishable form so that they can support our efforts, all our efforts. It's not just us. We we just pay the bills for for you to have that data to be able to to circulate it and for us to to get, again, what we need because we have the proof that it exists. Yeah.

Finally, once a year, we have a celebration in the room just below us, and it's amazing. It got so popular. This was just for the the people that that were volunteering and for the the participants that were learning. And then they were so proud of getting a piece of paper that said, you've done it, that they invited their family. And then they invited their extended family.

And then they invited their neighbors. The fire department said, that's enough, guys. It's amazing to see the faces of someone who's learned so much effort into learning English. It's the most difficult language I've ever had to learn. I speak four languages. English is the hardest, and I was born in this language. That's terrible. But it is the hardest. So to see their faces and the the pride of achieving that is wonderful. That's part of a word word.

It it it's part of our soul, and it's not just pride. It's dignity that they can stand up and they can express themselves and tell you what they can do to help. Because almost all of them turn it around and say, thank you for helping me. How can I help? Which brings us to our last point.

Our ask. We need as much help as we can get. There are seven of us right now where some of us have the wrong color hair, and we need more younger people involved. So if you know somebody who you want to get involved I was drafted. I was told by Winnie, one of our board members, you're gonna join the board. And I said, what board? And she says, no. No. You come at this time, and you're gonna join this board. And I had to go to the meeting to find out what I was joining.

But I would never say no to many. So I I'm on the board because of that. We need 10 more people to join our board to provide the access to the community that we need to bring them in to help the library to support the programs that are so, so effective that give pride and dignity to our our constituents, to our our our residents here in Hayward, and make Hayward a place that not that we have to live in because we can't afford or don't or there's no place else to live, but that we save first and finally is is where I want to live. I'm proud to be here. I my family's been here for a hundred and fifty years.

When they got here, there was 3,000 people in the city. I used to wonder why my father knew everybody in town as we would walk around. And then I I looked it up, and there was 5,000 people when he was growing up. Mean, how could you not know everybody if there's only 5,000 people in town? But there's only 25,000 when I was born. But between when I was born and and turned 10 years old, they would have went from 25,000 to 70,000 people and then double that next amount of time. So

we

need people that don't even know where downtown is, don't know where either of the library branches are. We need them to to become aware of that, to someone to knock on their door, someone to tell them that a library exists with a lot of wonderful services that can help them, that they can open a new world by joining us and by helping the library and by benefiting from the library. And I was looking at the history of The United States, and we listened to Andrew Carnegie. He built us a library here in Hayward. It's now the middle of the street there at the corner of B And And Foothill, but it was a beautiful Victorian building that was used as a library.

I remember when. I remember when flipped it on the white, and they turned it down. But it's they built a new library just across the street here. I used to go to that library every summer to participate in all the programs, And it was the our life in the summer to be able to do that and get that piece of paper. You know, summer, we all stood there.

There were hundreds of us. A piece

of paper saying, I read six books this summer. 12 pages, but that's okay. I've read six books this summer. And we took it to our schools, and they put it up on the wall. It was really celebrated. Something tedious that you didn't put in paper. I'd like that to happen again. And then Q Q and A.

Thank you so much.

Do you have questions or Yes. Which report? I saw one of the ways you're trying to do outreach was to be GoFundMe. Have you had any

success with that? No. We were we set it up. And

It actually did. With the GoFundMe, was through other people when they celebrate birthdays. That's the only one that we have. So everyone like, Facebook will remind you, right, anyone, anybody, any chance you wanna fundraise for something? So that's the way. But, like, David said, GoFundMe directly using the platform. Haven't done that yet. We we tried.

It was it seems to be a lot more complicated than we expected it to be. And the the the qualifications and and the expectations from the other side from the company were much more strict than we thought. We just thought we were gonna set something up for people to come. Also, it does depend on how many people you can excite. GoFundMe doesn't do anything. You have to get people and and tell the neighborhood, tell the community that, hey. I have a GoFundMe page, and you have to have people that want to give to you. So that's that's really good for it.

In in addition to that, we also try to explore the Facebook fundraising, but then they have a requirement as to the members of the likers and followers or their leads. So far, we don't we have not met yet that that

It's pretty high. It's was a lot you you wouldn't think it would be as high, but it's they want thousands. No. They're That's what they're doing. So we're advertisers too, which is our product is much better than anything you can buy.

In Facebook. But what work what is working right now is our newsletters, which we always publish every quarter of the of the year, third quarter. That one works. We send it out to and also. Yeah. Still there. Still alive and keeping.

But when we're trying to actually move more to an electronic newsletter like like the library has and like something else that you have, saves paper, it actually has a a wider reach. And it's just a matter of getting people to to say that we can use their email and send it to them, and you have to talk to people to do that. And we're setting up the the electronic system so that they can actually do that through our our web page and actually subscribe and and like you do for everything else. You can't you can't open a I can't open my phone. I'm trying to make phone calls, and it's trying to advertise to me and says, look.

You know, all you have to

do is put in your email, and we'll send you a notification. I said, Can I just put my email in there so you don't send me a note? We're trying to move into the twenty first century. We're trying to use the the tools that are available. Fortunately, I have Bonnie because I push the buttons and hope that something happens positively. But it it's not that complicated. It's a but there's a learning curve where we heard that before. So there's a learning curve. But I read the instructions. I try to make it happen to know that we're we have a small amount of success right now. We need a huge amount of success. So we'll be trying more and more of these these tools.

I'm sorry. I'm not saying any the questions. Oh, go ahead. No. No. I'm okay. Go for it.

Just I'll turn it back. So so you said you need board members, but do the people who do the actual sort of, like, teaching of language, do you have, like, an army of volunteers that do that, or do the board members ones doing The library has Okay. I see. So so you're

the board that organizes the Yeah. We should be talking

about that.

Yeah. Our next presentation

is talking about our

student plus. Okay. The library. And then

the other thing is, are you seeing an uptick in the need for this given that people are probably looking to be more proficient in English in order? I mean, because of all the horrible stuff that's going on with immigration, like, sort of, like, you need to be more conversant in English.

It's definitely less okay. Yeah.

So it's getting more need now and Yeah. More dollars needed. So it's.

And remember, there's no charge for any services. Yeah. So, yeah, so it's you know, definitely, they're turning to us Yeah. For their needs.

If I can just add one thing for the Literacy Council as well. So, you know, the the board does a really great job of being able to identify and bridge our gaps. So, the impacts of the IMLS funding and some of our other local funding sources, the Literacy Council was really able to step up and adopt a budget for fiscal year twenty six that's going to be able to bridge some of our gaps that we're able to offer and sustain the

level of services that we're providing fiscal year twenty six.

So power to the to the group for aligning resources and supporting

And we only bought a wine bottle of Pepco Lids. It's it's a big bill. We're doing it. When when I was brought on, I I saw our our our bank account, and we had a hefty amount in the bank account, and everybody was saying, no. No. No. You have to be careful. Be careful, please. No. Yes. You have to to use it, engage brain before Traditionally. Yeah. Before pushing button. But that's not the same as as saying you have the money and you're not using it. Then the money is there.

It's contributed to BUs. But going as far down as we're we're going this year because we don't have the other resources, the other sources is scary. All the more need find small donors to participate, get more people to participate in our services. And every time we do that, we do enlarge the scope of who we're serving. It's a me, that's a win win, but it is scary.

Thank you so much for sharing with us the wonderful work of

the Liberty plus board and team and and sharing your ask. We appreciate you. Thank you so much. Okay. Yes. Just wanna guess. Our next speaker is Jessie Wu, and she's she's gonna talk about adult literacy and ESL program. And Jessie is the literacy program coordinator by day and the Bay Area Trade explorer by weekend. She loves helping adult learners grow their skills, and then she also loves unwinding with a good hike. There's some kind of, you know, juxtaposition that we need to explore a little more.

And she also loves a matcha latte. Jessie has been with HPL for three years. Welcome. You.

As thank you, Janti, for introducing me, and good evening, commissioners. My name is Jessie, and I've been the literacy program coordinator since March 2023. It is my honor to present, the highlights of the programming in the last three quarters of the year. Only the last three quarters because I don't have the full stats for the last quarter. So I just want to indicate that the number is not complete for the whole year.

Imagine adding the last quarter, the number will be bigger. So before I start, I want to just add on to what Lindsay was saying. I want to express our thanks to the support Hewlettersy Plus Council has provided to our programming, raising funds where the gaps we are and, providing us the including, not limited to, learner and tutor management software, digital resources, licenses, sponsorship to our annual, reception, which you saw the pictures earlier in the presentation, and food to support the tutor training program and the early literacy, programming. So food is a very important incentive to, our services. So thank you, Hayward Literacy Plus Council.

Next. So education services collaborates with several community organizations, to provide the best, most accessible programming and services possible. Some of our key partners include California State Library, Hayward Promise Neighborhoods, Eden Housing, Hayward Unified School Districts, the four c's of Alameda County, as well as California state live California State University Cal State East Bay and Chipot College. Also, immigrant hope, which is very big on our new initiative this past fiscal year. Next.

Here is an overview of our extensive programming, which includes adult literacy tutoring, Korea online high school, family literacy, and the ESL programming, which is a long list of that. The sections indicated by stars are the new initiatives started this past fiscal year. So there are two of them, including citizenship application clinic and the basic English class.

Next.

So I'll begin with our I'll begin with the individual program impacts, starting with adult literacy tutoring. Currently, we have maintained our program status quo with 48 active volunteers and 59 active learners. And in just three quarters of the year, they have contributed to a significant amount of studying hours. So you can see it's 4,602 learner hours and 1,205 volunteer hours, so it's quite significant. Next.

So to meet community needs, we introduced the junior book club for families with older children as part of our family literacy program. The club meets twice a month With a volunteer tutor and kids discuss books and share their reflection journals to build both the reading skills and the writing skills. Alongside the monthly story time and graph activity, We have had 252 attendances and given away had given away 760 books to families. A highlight was our March storytime of disaster preparedness. So six families and 13 children joined us to make emergency kits and learn safety tips.

So it was quite impressive. As you can see, they have pulled up the emergency kits that they have built together in the picture. Next. Literacy Plus started offering the career online high school program through Hayward Public Library in the 2016. To date, 25 learners have graduated.

This fiscal year alone, we have awarded 12 scholarships, and the learners have logged over 2,800 independent study hours. Korea online high school program is a 100% online school, so those study hours are what they have all accumulated together as a group of our learners. Next. K. So to address the digital divide in our community, we launched the digital literacy classes in October 2023.

Back then, we developed the curriculum in house, and we tested it out with our literacy plus learners. However, starting this fiscal year, the the digital literacy classes are offered to the general public as well, which further integrating our learners with the community. Over the past three quarters, we have conducted 48 sessions totaling three hundred and thirty six learning hours. Next. Starting from this slide, I will talk about everything, our ESL program has to offer.

Here is an overview. And as you can see on the flyer list, we we offer in three quarters, we have served 282 unduplicated learners with about 3,500 attendances. And I'll provide details on each program in the following slides. This is just a, like, a summary of all our ESL programming, and then I'll talk about individual programs separately. Next.

The English conversation circles. At present, we have two in person circles at the downtown library, which is in this very same room, and three virtual circles. Together, there are eight ECC volunteers. About 960 attendances were recorded by the March. It's a little short of a thousand, but it's a lot. And we are planning on adding an additional session at the Weeks Branch library once in the next fiscal year, once the Weeks branch library reopens.

Next. The

conversation partners program was introduced to complement the English conversation circles, allowing learners to have individualized attention from a tutor to practice their speaking skills. Each session is thirty minutes long in a one on one setting. We piloted it in May 2023, and it was a great success. It officially launched and has recorded a 138 sessions this fiscal year in three quarters and 506

attendances. Next.

We noticed a growing interest from beginner English learners in accessing the free resources offered by Literacy Plus. In response to this community need, we launched the basic English class in September. So this is completely new this fiscal year. And part of the reason we offered it is because there is a growing demand of a huge number of learners with beginner skills. So they are struggling to communicate in English, and that's why and we the current programs that we offer lacks that program, that very program that can offer that beginners the learning curriculum that would suit their needs, and this is why it started.

Over three quarters, the class has held 30 sessions with a total of 291 learner attendances, averaging about 10 learners per session. Next, please. So our free grammar and citizenship classes continue to be highly valued by the community as demand for more interactive learning grew, and we have and with the success of our in person small group tutoring and beginners grammar class, which was piloted to transition back in person the previous fiscal year. And because they were very popular. So we are expanding our offering in person offerings to allow more interactive in learning.

And, currently, both beginner and intermediate grammar classes are held at the downtown library to, and over past three quarters, we have held 82 sessions with more than 1,400 learner attendances. That's three quarters. Next, please. Citizenship application clinic continues to grow. Our citizenship program continues to grow and deliver results.

As earlier, was mentioned earlier, the with the political climax right now, it is even more important and crucial for us to offer these kind of services, and it began it continues to grow and expand. We noticed that more learners are asking for help with the n 400 naturalization application, so we partnered with Immigrant Hope to host our very first free citizenship application clinic in October 2024. Staff and volunteers worked really tirelessly and worked really hard to prepare the application process and ensure a a smooth process. That first clinic was a big success. 30 people registered and 28 received legal assistance.

We held a second clinic in April, just two months ago on April 12. This time, more than 50 people filled out the application form to be showing that they are interested in become becoming receiving help. And, also, 30 people register and 28 received no. 28 also 30 people attended for their appointments. So together, we have served twenty eight and thirty 58 applicants.

We have held 58 applicants with their applications, and we are now receiving referrals from other agencies and community partners, which shows the growing demand and trust in our services. Next, please. Okay. So here are just a few of the new US citizens that have benefited from our program. This fiscal year alone, over 40 learners passed the citizenship test and became citizens.

40. Over 40. And these are only the ones who have reported back with us. We believe the actual number is much higher since many of them may have not may have passed the exam without reporting back with us. And next, please.

Finally, I'm very happy to share that partnership with Chapel College continued. This year, we brought two classes to Hayward Public Library, one in last year from August to September, which is in introduction to infant and toddler care. And another one is this spring from February to March. It is introduction to infant and toddler curriculum. And so these two classes together have logged 96 attendances and a 144 learner hours.

We try to make it easy for learners to join with held frontiable staff. They could register, take student ID photos, and attend classes all from the Hayward Public Library. Thanks to support from Hayward Literacy Plus Council, which cover the student service fees. These learners also gained access to campus resources, including academic counseling, the student health center, and the gym. So that is great help for those people who are underserved and, underprivileged.

Next, please. And that concludes my presentation. Thank you very much. And, that is the impact that we are trying to present after the support we received from everybody. Thank you.

Thank you so much, Rose. We have a question.

Commissioner Porter. Yes. The basic English class. My so I'm hearing about that. What is the level of English fluency that is required to attend that class? I mean, if you're a brand new English speaker, can you attend, or do you have to have a certain basic level of English, under your belt?

Thank you for the question. It is indeed for true beginners. So if you do not speak a lot of English, you're welcome to come. That is the class for you.

So it's all in person? Yes. You're the one class. No? Yes.

And we are trying to offer additional session because of the popular demand. We are trying to we are currently onboarding another volunteer. So we since September until now, we have only one class, but we are in the process of bringing another instructor and trying to offer a second session.

How often do you teach?

It meets once a week for one hour.

If I can just add as well. Yeah.

Just to give you an idea, California State Library has been so impressed by what Newark Public Library is doing here. They had us co present on behave on behalf of the state about a year ago on our curriculum. So these classes, you know, they're Jesse and Amy Troy, who's our librarian who really develops the content for our ESL classes, they're TESOL instructors from Cal State East Bay. So we're getting actual curriculum and workbooks in these classes, so these eight to ten week classes. And there's a trajectory, so the beginner, intermediate, advanced level. And that's really what we're utilizing the funding for that we received from the state to be able to really create substantial content. So it it's actual it's academic curriculum.

Council member mayor pro temples

for a room. Thank you. Member. I'm just curious. So in order to be a volunteer in things like the communication circle, do you have to know the language of origin? Like, if it's a group of Spanish speakers, do you have to know Spanish in order to be a volunteer for that? I guess someone's talking. I'm an e I've been running at ECC forever. Okay. No. You don't. You're speaking no English. I assume you're

talking learning a little Chinese. Okay. Okay.

Yeah. Most of our learners who are able to participate in English conversation circles have the basic skills to communicate, most of them. Okay. But we do have a few really beginner speakers of English in the circles. A lot of times, program assistants will give the volunteers a heads up, hinting that these learners will need a little bit more space and time.

If you call on them, it may give them stress. Please just allow them to listen in, be there, and observe. Until they're ready, they will respond. So we do give our volunteers some heads up when when we know that there are people who probably don't speak a lot of English, but they want to be there.

K. Thank you. No problem.

Well, I just wanna add from personal experience. I've

had

they didn't speak English at all, and they would just watch forever. Mhmm. And then they'd start talking.

Yes. And, you know, I mean,

that's okay. Everybody does it differently.

Yeah. Thank you so much. So,

JC, first of thanks for all the great work you all are doing. I I was wondering, are you constrained right now by the number of volunteers, or do you have enough volunteers but not enough students? Where where is the constraint?

Are you asking about our one on one dual literacy services or the ESL services or just in general?

In general.

So for ESL services, we do we do have limitations. Well, not just because of volunteering of of volunteers available, but also because staff time is limited. And then facilitate facility is also constrained by availability. So there are a lot of different factors at play at the same time, which is why it may be a little bit not so flexible in terms of, programming hours. ESL, in particular, like this basic English class that we are trying to add, because you're working with beginners of English, We really try to bring bring onboard the volunteer with specialized trains.

So this person who who is in the process of onboarding is actually a current faculty member teaching ESL programs at the Laney College. Yes. And then so, like I said, I am TESOL trained, and then another librarian is also t TESOL trained. We develop curriculum. We also train our volunteer with our experiences and expertise, and we consider quality as the most important thing because we want our learners to succeed.

So, yes, in that sense, it is limited and and constrained. As for our adult literacy programs, we have very intensive training program for all of our volunteers. They do not need to have any tutoring experiences in the past. They don't need to be a teacher in the in their past lives. They just need to have the passion and the patience and the empathy to work with adult learners. And the rest is on us. We will train them, and we will provide resources and support.

The reason I asked really was this might be a place where, in fact, some AI tutoring stuff might, you know, cause a lot of abundance of this availability. Right? But you might have a lot of people because the other thing you said was, you know, people sometimes are a little bit shy talking to other human about being judged and so on. This might be a good one. I I just quickly checked. In fact, there are lots of services that providing AI tutors. I was wondering, have you explored that at all?

We have actually worked well, I think from what the council has from council's presentation, they were talking about empowering and bringing more people and engaging more people. Actually, that's also what we have been doing. Amongst our learners, you will have a lot of different talents. One of our learners actually offered to to present something about using ChatGPT to learn the language. And so he did, I think, two two sessions of the workshop, teaching everybody how to use how to download the free app, and then how how do you practice English conversation circles with the the AI, with the machine.

Well, it actually works pretty well. But, eventually, we learn a language to interact with real humans. Mhmm. So that real interactive connection is what everybody is longing for. So, yes, we do introduce that, but we encourage them. And what's actually needed is the in interaction, the real interaction.

Director Alvin, the last one or no? No.

I just want to say, you know, we, fact, in. We get a lot of companies that want us you know, will give us opportunities to use AI. They have it sort of more organized. Citizenship is one of the big areas. We are being very careful, in this current environment of what company we will allow in to do and what they're going to do with information, especially when you're talking of new immigrants. So it's one of the things we're moving very carefully. Thank you so much, miss Wu, for your presentation. Don't have to you don't have to say. Okay.

Thank you again. I'm afraid.

We're gonna move to our third presentation. Well, mister Peter. It's no introduction. I think everyone in Hayward knows him pretty well, but Peter has been our president of the Friends for quite a while, but you've been on the board for a very long time, and he's also the president of our HUSD board of trustees. So

Hi. Good evening, everybody. I would love to come to library commission because this is where I where I started back in twenty twenty twenty one. But just to give an update, I don't have any fancy slides, but I do have a report to to give you. Our current board currently comp is composed of myself as president, Shonda as our vice president, Judy, and Helene and Cassie Williams that wrap that round out our executive board. And then we also have Brandon Williams, Barbara Holiday, Mural Samson, and Cat Miranda as well on the board. So you might recognize some of those names. Very involved in our community as well. We're very excited because Kat Miranda is our newest member, and she'll bring a lot of energy in terms of focusing on social media and getting a lot of our youth involved. So she's gonna be planning a lot of events around that.

I mean, you've heard my presentation every year, but, you know, we're the friends. We're a form of banking meeting too. I And, really, our biggest thing that we're most proud of is back in 2014, the passage of measure c and making sure we created this building that we're in today. Highlights from the year that was, we've identified a new Weeks branch book sale head. Is it Sherry? Sherry. Sherry is running that now weeks weeks library. She's been one of our top volunteers. She's been huge, and it's been really great to have her give her advice and her opinions on how to really make the week's refresh more suitable for Shirley.

I'm sorry. Shirley. Shirley. Shirley. I said that by mistake. So And

she, you know, she kinda help was able to kinda give advice to kinda how how the the layout should be at Leaks Branch, especially for sales moving forward. We also had a member on our week's steering week's branch steering committee. They were able to I was able to attend for

a summer session about four sessions and give the input and and the feedback from the

friends at library. And we participate in our signature events like rotary child's free that that takes place in Southland where we do the ebook giveaway, the one with every backpack for every child. So I love that because it really puts our friend's logo, you know, in these backpacks with these children. They get to pick two books that they want just like a scholastic book fair. And for a lot of kids that don't have that opportunity, so it's really great. In that same game, we actually also do the HSV backpack giveaway and the same thing, putting friends' logos and all those. So we're really able to get ourselves out in the community and get back. I mean, that's really the most important part. Senior Fest was a huge success last year. We're we're looking forward.

Councilman Roche is gonna be spearheading the effort for year two. So we're really looking forward to seeing what that looks like. And we really love that, you know, we're touching again a lot of our young or youth in the community as well as our senior and Asian population.

So we wanna make sure that we

take care of our entire community. So challenges. Same ones I kinda shared before, post COVID challenges where, you know, it wasn't the most smooth transition. Who left the organization stayed, so trying to find out the norms, all that stuff. We make sure that passwords are transferred correctly, just really based on stuff like that. Fundraising capabilities, we took a huge hit during COVID and trying to get back to the levels that we're at. It's been a a challenge, but we do have a plan for that. And then voluntary and board participation. I guess in terms of having the people on the board totally satisfied, having people at voluntary book sales totally satisfied, but I think the world that we're envisioning is a different friend. We're we're getting we're we're fundraising a lot more.

We're doing a lot more larger scale events. So I think that's gonna have to require some more participation in in different forms, and we're still kinda looking what that looks like. So right now, in terms of where we are as a friends of organization, we kind of a four step process right now. We're doing a client's audit, but we're short in middle of. We're doing a financial audit right after that.

We'll do a membership audit as well as a membership drive, and that will lead us into our fundraising campaign that Sean is gonna lead us on We were identifying a fundraiser who's gonna help us do that. But I really think once we get these four steps done, we're gonna really get our organization a lot more healthier and have been in a position to really take on a lot more of the new challenges we have moving forward. So that's all I have for you guys. And if you have any questions, I'm happy to answer them. And any suggestions and feedback? Because I think a lot of stuff that we learned from last previous years, we have implemented, and they have worked. So

happy to hear from you. Thank you.

Questions for our friends.

What is the mission of the friends?

The mission the mission

of friends is really to support the library.

Okay. So in any way. That right. Okay.

In any way. I mean, from from getting a program support. You know, the largest way that we support the library now is our e digital collections. Yeah. Like, the digital collections would not exist without the funds that we

So you don't give out other grants besides, like, all the money goes to the library for the whatever program that you present that you're needing.

They don't pay. Okay. They don't. Don't. Don't.

Don't.

Also just invite you to our center of book sales. And if if if people from the library commission would like

to come, we'd actually like

to make you guys, like, a guest bookseller, get you guys, like, an apron, and maybe we can, like, advertise it that way. Come meet your library commissioner. So that way, we can get you guys out there and, you know, go ahead. We're asking you to, you know, sell books. But I think it's a good way to really see kind of what we do, and

it's a good way for the community to meet you guys.

Who should they email if they like to sign up? You.

I used to see the boat shows outside of the park before this building took place, and I think I think that made it so much more visible on Saturday mornings. Everybody going to the farmer's market, and right there are all the book sales. I don't know if you have the same degree of participation, having having people having you be necessary to come to this building. But have you ever thought about putting your booksells out in that huge plaza out there where it might draw people on Saturdays to actually peruse the what you have available.

Yeah. No. It's funny you say that, because I I actually love that idea. And it's something I proposed, but most of our volunteers, they they didn't like it because they felt like it was a more controlled environment, the book sale. So I kinda got vetoed on that idea. But if

you wanna come to our board meeting and say that,

but I it's I think we're just responding to the volunteers. They want they like being inside. They like having the cash register that's right there. We were having sometimes Wi Fi issues out there. Right. But I I mean, I think sometimes when we have larger sales,

I think it's good to be out there.

You know, really Sorry. I'm just Yeah. Yeah. It was it was the larger sales. It was more, like, twice a year, the really large sales outside and the regular ones going on in here. They had some in the, you know, the Fremont Bankroom also. It takes a lot of work to do the large sales outside, and it really has to be worth it because the amount of investment of time and effort and all of that is it's right now, of course, as Peter says, you know, limited number of volunteers. So once they get to the next phase and we can do a huge volunteer sort of push, it'd be nice to get it back.

Well, I I think with our fundraising campaign, I think a lot more

of those. They might not

be every Saturday if we do the book sales inside, but I I I push for the outside sales.

Yeah. Even if it's not every Saturday, like, when there's an event out in the baza, have a little corner where there's a book sales. I mean, for example, there's something coming up on Juneteenth. Can have something a little corner out there if you assuming you have the ballet just because I think that really makes it much more open to the public in a way that having to come in the library to see bookstore or booksell is is not I was actually buying a lot more books when I was in. No.

That's that's that's feedback well received. I think the one thing to note is that with the new copy vendor, I think we've seen a little bit of an uptick because it was the most reliable hours of operation there. Mhmm.

I think sometimes people I mean, we get a lot

of those patrons now a lot more and more freedom. So and then leave that opening. So you you can lock the door. Forward is locked. Mhmm.

So you just go and got the shot.

This one is oh, I booked someone on you guys. Slowly walk over there. Mhmm. Posting an object there. But I will continue to push her outside.

Push her outside. Yes. You know,

the later thought in other libraries, even in the media, I've seen, like, there'll be a large and large collection of books outside with a little, you know, Dropbox that people can just take a book and drop a dollar or something like that.

Oh, like, a little free library kind of thing? That's our model. That's our model. A week's actually.

Free library with the No.

Not a free library. This is Yeah. You've got a selection of books where, you know, you'll say all hardbacks are a dollar. All paperbacks, 50¢. People just put you know, a lot of people lose the fact for more than, you know

Weeks is merit is a is a merit. So On a merit.

There are Okay.

We don't have one like that here.

No. We've though we again, we've talked about it, and a bit now, but actually the bookstore is looking really good, and we've been talking about different options. So, definitely, that's one of the things we've talked about here also.

Because that's available whenever the library's open versus only when the bookstores.

Yeah. So we've talked about that. Yeah.

I mean, that's a good point you say that we are only putting on the first of the month. Our goal, again, after fundraising, once we have volunteers and the money behind it, is to be open every Saturday so it's consistent. Everyone knows that we're open. Because right now, it's getting the word out that the world in first and third. It's only word-of-mouth. It's only if you're known, you've told because you can call them second and fourth and go, oh, no. They're open. Yeah. We're Yeah. So we're losing sales that way.

All the wonderful things you would like to see, including the

physical labor and get all the books outside, we are happy to have your volunteers.

Your neighbors and friends, please bring your muscles. Thank you so much, mister. Thank you.

It's all together,

we really love to have you. So take care, everyone.

Thank you. Bye bye. So next letter writing committee has a a new agenda item that was added, protect the Internet access letter. Please prevent that. Oh, Oh, well, I received an email from the ALA about the directive ESpa E Rate hotspot funding that is now making its way to the house of representatives after passing the, senate.

So I figured that might be something that since ALA has requested folks to contact their representatives, to do a letter on. So I did a draft. And, of course, there are some some little issues with it, but I assume that somebody with the letter from the letter can fix that underlying that I couldn't. But that's the basic letter that I got the. Alright. Oh, so you did it all. You're a proof

of what? That looks good. That's.

Yeah. I thought it was good. Yeah. That's the one

we all got. Right? The attachment? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

So this is added before it went out to the public. So we could vote on this today. Yes?

Yes. Well, it's on the it's on the agenda. So you can

do it. You, everyone. Is there any discussion about the left?

No. Thanks for drafting it.

Yeah. I think it was just awesome. Because I didn't hear about Dave. Oh, no. Okay. From the. I get a million

people from all different library organizations. But, yeah, this is awesome.

Yeah. Well, you know, I just figured he probably won't send a letter on it, so let me get a letter now. Wouldn't have to wait a month.

I will say that, when sending the previous letter by the IMLS, it's really difficult to send one from the commission. So I had to print them and mail them for it to come from the commission itself rather than my own personal email address because all of the representatives are pushing people to their contact us form rather than an email address that we could send them to. So I just will I just wanted to note that that it's it's if it if it's coming from the commission itself, it's likely that I'll have to email mail it. Like, literally mail it.

Yeah. I didn't know what the process of cut and paste it and put it in a an email to the representative. No. They don't

give their email addresses when I'm trying to articulate. Oh. So that's why I have to print them out and mail them. No. They have contact forms that you have to fill out, put in your personal information.

What should we Could we make a commission email?

It's not just email. It's address, everything to prove that you were consist constituent. I don't know.

So they form. Okay, folks. So try try to answer your question.

Right. So the address that I used was the city of Hayward's address. Right.

Yes. I I can get you the district director's email for well, if you wanna email it to her. Right? So that'll be

an email address, not the contract. So then you're not going through the regular contract form. Yeah. That would be great. Yeah.

And, essentially, she's our local person.

Yeah. And we can also mail it. I mean, you know, if you have No. Have my mail.

Yeah. I'm just informing you all that it's not necessarily just sending an email. It is I literally well, yeah, it was fine. I'm just telling you

what to do. I will text you, Mallory. Alright. Do we have a motion on the letter?

Motion to approve the letter and send it. Am I saying goodbye?

Close enough. Thank you, Commissioner Cortez. There's a second.

I second. Thank you, Commissioner Navarro. Is there any further discussion about the letter?

All those who approve this coming from the commission, please identify by saying aye. Aye. Those opposed, please say nay. Any of the abstention?

No. I can't say that

one today. Measure passes. Thank you. I mean, the letter passes. Moving to old business, back to the letter writing committee.

Thank you. I think I have one.

Excellent. Sounds good. Report from

the Walker Committees. No report.

Thank you kindly. Report from CSU East Bay Chabot Partnership Committee. I did get to have lunch with the president of Chubot. So, yes, I could work in the background, and and he is open to a conversation. So I can make that introduction.

Anything from it? No. We are just, you know, continuing to do that work, but I don't for that. Okay. So,

again, I have to tell him all about the library. Our our work with the library and that he is interested in in something for college students at weeks. Report from the budget support committee. Commissioner Demagao is not here.

Report from the community outreach committee. Mhmm. The outreach is still dependent on like, what my coworker Val has had some family emergencies and so have I. So we've kind of got things on right now that I'm hoping to pick up. I don't know when she's gonna be able to pick up the pieces on her end, but I'm hoping to pick them up and start going out to the places we've identified and making sure they have the information, both in paper and how to access library services online. And, actually, making that happen. We had some very plans because it's gonna get overlooked. I wish so. I'll be picking.

Thank you so much, Commissioner Porter. Any recommendations from the commission?

I well, I Yes. I'm gonna base my recommendation off of the presentation, with the Hayward Public Council. Can I get the Literacy plus? Yes. I would recommend that they, look for, like, a volunteer intern college student to support that electronic digital space they're trying to grow in. I don't know if I can propose that recommendation. I think it would be great for them to have a college student from Chabot or from CalPFA that can help them in that digital space. Yeah. Thank you very much. We're gonna move to our reports.

Director Adelman.

Thank you. So let's see. Quite a bit happening, but I'll just keep I will try to keep brief. Just want to mention as part of our state library program, we did do host a training on censorship and intellectual freedom at the library here. It was for Northern California.

And we had quite a few attendees. There were three speakers, including myself, and part of it was because of your action. You remember it was almost three years ago now when you all passed the, you know, endorsement of the ALA bill of rights, and it really and then we took it to the city council, and we'll approve the unfettered access to information. And so that's a really big deal then. Because once you get a complaint, it's very hard to do that. You know? Because say, oh, now we need to come up with the policy. But thank you, actually, because you really helped us make this happen, and we were really ahead, you know, of the goal. So that was great. And we kind of held up as an example of what the stage is.

Mhmm. So our community hub, we had the ribbon cutting on June 6. That was excellent. Really helpful. You know, all our community partners here that went really well. We had an interesting group visit, which came, you know, part of HPN. And through CSU, we had a group from Northwest University in South Africa who came, and we gave them a tour, and we gave them you know, oriented them on what libraries can do and to support of entrepreneurship and supporting their community. And you have never seen such an impressed, happy food. Because this lovely, how happy they were, and they stayed for a very long time. That was very nice. One of the

things we're doing is

a safety evaluation of our building. Our city council had asked us to come up with some kind of a report on what kind of things we can do to keep the building safer. So right now, we're working with HPD to look at things like way. We don't want to be too expensive, so really looking at maybe where we should have more cameras and things like that. So that's something that's in the process that we're working on.

You know, a couple of days ago, last week, we had the ceremonial raising of the pride flag in City Hall. And as you can see, our decorations are really up. We've been getting a lot of compliments over and over. We've even had museum from Oakland reach out wanting to know how we do our decorations because they really love what we do. So it's very back end for us. Very nice. And I think that's also one of the things that we are seeing as a model around the state because we are sort of reimagining what library should look like.

And so that's really really great

And the attention we're getting. On Wednesday, we have the raising of the Pan African flag for Juneteenth. That's sitting all. I invite all of you to join us. It's going to be at noon in front of City Hall. And then it's I know. What's birthday. Know. It is everyone's birthday. I realize that.

But if you can, it's it's really nice if you can come. And just a lot of we have a lot of activities and displays for both Juneteenth and as well as for Pride Month. So there new spots around the library. We also have one for Men's Health Month because it is Men's Health, and it's kind of you know, it sort of gets overshadowed because of Pride and Juneteenth, but we do have a display for Men's Health Month also on the you know, one thing I just want to mention because citizenship site came up, and I just want to mention kind of jumping on here. But one of the things we are doing is we're working with our with our elected officials officials in Washington, DC, and we're going to try to make our library swearing in site.

Yeah. Because if actually they used to be in San Jose, they lost their site. We've been working for a while to try to have one session, but then the San Jose site closed down. And right now, they're having their swearing in in in a parking lot in Canada. So it's sort of there's very little dignity to you know? And that they used to have this white noise. So we are in the process, and we are hoping either July or August to have the first wedding in. Also exciting. Yeah. And then, of course and at least one of you was here on Saturday for the no kings protest, and you also I'm

sorry. But that

was I just want to say it was really heartwarming to see that till now that Hayward, it was so amazing. Yeah. And, you know, we said I I would say there were at least 4,000 people. I would say. At least, if not Four or 5,000. Four or 5,000 was the number. Yeah. So Pouring in. Homeownership. So, anyway, I just want to say it was really very heartwarming to see all of that.

And one of the things you may have had talked, I know in July, there was some talk of talking about what you want to do for. I would send you a list of some of the things that they're already planning because I think we ought to duplicate what we do or to create, you know, just sort of we do a lot of stuff. So I will send that out, and then we can continue to plan. And then just a reminder, July is our, you know, kind of it's a special meeting, but just

a reminder of that. So Yeah. Thank

you, director. Have for our director. Yeah. Was just happy to come. You were a lot of people. Yeah.

I was like, they kept coming and coming and coming. I actually left at 01:30 because I'd been there early, and

there was just swarms of people just coming from everywhere. It was pretty Well,

it was almost nonstop from 11:30 to 03:30. It was nonstop. It was and so many people came in. Yeah. Well Only one. But he was pro. He was somehow prodigious by being an an annoyance. Was that the one you're talking about? No. No. No. No. No. No. That's a big flag that kept flying around. And Oh, there we go. I can see that.

Oh, that one. Okay.

Oh, you missed him. Yeah. Yeah. But it was the. Yes.

It was really cool because one at one point, you know, the crowd sort of just took over the street, which was not planned. And the, you know, the police did a great job of just corralling it because they went down they took over Mission and then up D Street and all the way to Foothill and back

down A. And so we

cut over and caught them coming down A. And it was so cool because they took over the whole of a street, a huge deep, wide crowd coming down a street. It was really beautiful. The whole thing was just so moving to see. I've never seen a protest like that in New York that big. And it was peaceful, and, you know, yeah, it was just really moving. Yeah. And I just want

to say a lot of them came into the library. Obviously, we have to have rooms, but so many were getting library cards. Know how nice the library looks. So it was very gratifying to know

all about. And Zocalo did a bang at business that day.

Oh, I But they had

a constant snake of a lion going through Zocalo. Yeah.

They could get no snacks today because they had sold everything out. I I don't know.

I just wanted to comment on the potential of becoming a swearing in site for new citizens. And I hope that when this happens, we also comment on the how far we come as a city when this area this downtown area used to be a place where people who were interned, during Japanese internment were picked up and taken away. And for us to come this far to do to hopefully swear people in to be citizens is monumental, and and I hope that that day, we we remember those people.

I I don't know. Is that because I so I was I'm a naturalized citizen. I was naturalized in, I don't know, in the late early twenty early twenties. And it like, the dignity factor is huge because it was in a strip mall. It was like they took over an open space, and then they did the thing, and then somebody, like, went over a corner and hit hit hit play on Boombox. You know? That song, I'm proud to be. And I know. And that came on, and I was like, what? It's like this. So I think to have a beautiful space, to have it be a real dignified ceremony is so important. I wish I wish I had that experience. So I love it. Let's do it.

Okay. I was just gonna say my sister-in-law was naturalized, and I in Oakland, and I believe they were in Scottish rights to enforce on being too. No. They don't that's gonna be. It was I thought everybody had it dignified for that. Yeah. And I do wanna say, Tiakia, that the library decorations just floored me when I first walked in and saw the umbrellas. It's a really nice job. It looks really, really Thank you. I

think there's opera in the past. Right?

I'm not sure. I'm not I'm I'm sure. Sure. I'm I'm So San Jose no. San Francisco Opera is, you know, we've been partnering with them.

So the OIM, they do a a bridge version of it, OIM out of the box, and it's going to be from February on twenty eighth and twenty ninth. We're gonna have two sessions. So we're really excited. It has cost us nothing, I mean, except a little bit for just setting up the place. And from 01:30 to two, they have a children's program, which is, you know, like, introducing kids to opera, and you bring on all some some doll or stuffed animal, and then we kind of dance to new centers, all the sets. It's it's very sweet, and it's very, very exciting. Thank you.

And

first time ever. Right?

First time ever. Yeah. Is it the exact same program on Saturday and Sunday? Yes. But it's exactly the same. Yeah. We are hoping people come on Saturday and then come back again on Sunday. The Saturday is very special, and it is a live performance. These are real performers from the opera will be yeah. Yeah.

We did have the advertisement through the school district as

well to really incorporate the kids into the process.

Yeah. We've really done a lot of advertising, so we hope people are ready. Because it'd be very sad if people don't come because they didn't know about it. So if you can just put it on your social media, Nextdoor, whatever you use, really help us let the word out. Thank you, Director Allen. Very important.

You. I let's see. So the biggest thing we're dealing with is the budget. Tomorrow night, we're supposed to adopt the budget, and you probably read that where, like, the deficit number has gone up and down, but it's all bad. Like, it's a it's a deficit. And then so we'll be discussing that tomorrow night. My understanding is we're closer to 8,000,000, I think, do you know?

I think we're Yeah. It's Yeah.

As far as the deficit goes, which will which will compensate from the reserve. But but just a lot of work going on trying to sort of understand, like, how we start sort of moving away out of that deficit. And and what that means for us from the federal government as well because with our sanctuary city sanctuary city status, I think Trump came out with a list of all those cities in the country that are on this list, and he, of course, is one of them. And so there's just this sort of growing concern that what will that be now for funding that won't come our way because, you know, they've identified all of us who are sanctuary cities. So kinda trying to bat down the hatches on where that would, you know, where that

would affect us. I understand this last time

I heard, we're we're roughly in for about 15,000,000 in federal funding that we worry about coming in whether we would lose that or not. So so that that will be a big concern as we move into the next, you know, I don't know, year or so right now. That's sort of the biggest thing. What is you know, we're all sort of playing with this until we get past the budget tomorrow, and then understanding we're gonna have a of work to do that well, staff really has got

a lot of work to

do to sort of see how we're gonna do that with this, and the council will just have to support what their recommendations are, which

is what I'm hoping to do is, like,

get everyone to just sort of, like, hold it down and not offer new programs or not demand new programs because it's our time to do that. And then the other thing is, hopefully, tomorrow night, there's hope that we are gonna be appointing, like, a long term interim city manager. Because right now, we've had a acting city manager, our city attorney, Mike Lawson, who stepped in for that to get us past, you know, the emergency of maybe to put Doctor. Alvarez on administrative leave. So tomorrow night, we're supposed to sort of have a sort of more like a six month sort of, you know, person in that role going forward while we then launch another, you know, recruitment. It's for a city manager. You know, we hope to learn from our mistakes from last time. I mean, I can't even say it was a mistake. I was very bought into Doctor. Alvarez when she came on board.

And and so I you know, looking back on it, I don't know how I would have done it differently, but definitely trying to learn from how who else we need to bring in to, you know, help us vet these people and and then also just get more candidates. We we did have a lot of candidates that applied, but only a few time we made it to the end as far as who we interviewed. So that that will be a challenge going forward too because we wanna try to sort of solidify that position for the years to come. And yeah. So that's gonna be the work that will be coming up as well.

And then let's see. Council goes on recess after so June 24 will be our last meeting, and then we're on recess, I think, until early August. And then the final thing is, I I think Crystal mentioned it, Juneteenth is coming up this Saturday from two to 6PM out here in Heritage Plaza. So that should that should be a really exciting day. Encourage you all to come. We're still looking for volunteers. Council and branches. That's all of you. We we need volunteers to help with all sorts of things out on that day. So if anyone has an hour or two, please feel

free to email me, and I'll let you know when I'm. Okay. Anyone if anyone has any questions? Any questions? Just push for yourself.

Is there a reason why you can't recruit some inside Hayward from the city manager? Because just in reading some of the stuff going on, that seemed to be some of the grumbling. Maybe. Yeah. There is no reason we can't be recruiting from within, and and that's definitely part of the conversation. As it was last time, we had a candidate. One of our assistant city managers was was a candidate, but he wasn't selected. And So you're one who likes to stand me under? Yes. Yeah. Yeah. And he's been with the city for a long time. You know? But, no, there's no reason we can't do it. It was just where the process went last time.

And Yeah. We're very hopeful about again, Doctor. Was this sort of amazing candidate and had this great sort of resume with a great hope about, you know, what kind of face should we be for the city.

Bravo for fixing it fast. No.

I mean, it was done fast.

Yeah. It was. I know. It was a hundred days. It was very fast. So bad we can't do that with other people.

Thank you. Thank you so much. I think I

something I did add to Peter's, update. So we're gonna move past the Friends of the neighborhood library report. Any reports from commissioners?

I have one. So, unfortunately, this is my last commission meeting. Good job.

I've taken, I was asked by our the, my the system office of my job to come and do an interim role for six months, and that's gonna be in Zokal. And I have to be there three days a week, and one of those days is Mondays. And so I I was trying to figure out how to make it work, but I just can't. And and I will start missing meetings, then I will get some. And I would like to not do that.

And so and even in July, I have to travel for work. The the I miss our dinner every single year because I'm always traveling that one that one dinner. Only made one. So it's with a heavy heart that I had to resign today. I've already sent an email to the mayor, our liaison, and our director. And I hate I hate to do it. And I'll probably be around to volunteer in something, but I just can't leave when I'm

not here. So thank you all for

your service. Thank you for allowing me to be your chair, you know, being in service of the library. You all I'm gonna cry. You guys know how I feel about the library, and it's it's an honor to serve on the commission and to serve as your chancellor.

Yeah. If I don't on behalf of the library. Sweet.

At all. Can get out

of here. Sure. Thanks for talking about So I just want to speak on behalf of the library and the city to really thank you for how much you've done, what an impact you made. You came in, and, well, you suddenly whipped us into shape. But but you've been so amazing, and you put your eye on the pulse of the community, of what's happening at the national level. You have been an amazing partner, Shonda. I just can't tell you how much we valued you. And from the library's point of view, you've been a great spokesperson and and just amazing for us. I really, really appreciate that. I'm just gonna put it out there that she can always come back. Right? Right. Gone for six months. Right? Yeah.

That's right. Exactly. Oh, and what is it? January 1 to July? No. January 4.

Just just put her on the reserve. Right? Yeah.

I I wanna add to that. Yeah. I just I just really appreciate that you've come to Tara and and really, like, take over and run

a meeting. Do know how to meet each other? I love it.

I and I found a new friend too.

Like, we've become

add as much as y'all gonna actually go eat.

Yeah. In a chair. But yeah. Yes. New chair. It's a dinner meeting. So we will once again send out the list of, you know, possible restaurants to get feedback from all of you. I am gonna actually just add right here because he did send it in also commissioner Miguel. Then Miguel is also. Oh, no. Yes. So yeah. Exactly. It's going to be a new year on a logical basis, but I just think he actually has said he's going to not not re up because, you know, there are several of you. So he just let us know.

Okay. So so it'd be interesting. But I hope at least maybe those of you even think of who are you think. Because you won't be here, but you will join us for the dinner. I think it would be nice to say thank you during those in London coming back.

So on July, you all have your we'll be finalizing or at least half of the so that you can put it

on the agenda. And when you

come back

in September for Banned Books Week so you can execute in October, Commissioner, you will be out because you will as the vice chair, you gotta stand in

my in his feet. That's not what they said.

That's what you were great. Know?

You know? I'm sorry.

It's it's the short meeting, and then you get to send everybody That's the good one.

Oh, you got it. That's the easy one. That's the easy one. Right?

And then the and then the commission will be in for the month. Alright. Is there anything else? Hearing nothing, we are adjourned at 07:53PM.