Library Board of Trustees - Regular Meeting

of the attendance for that. We'll call it this meeting of the library board and take attendance of a couple members online if you would say your name. This is Michael Boramo line. Thank you. Anna ve I'm also online in person we have Barb and myself are here and so is Jandy. Um our first order of business is to approve the meeting minutes from our last meeting. Um Jandy emailed those out just a little bit ago. Hard copies. Hard copies you need to see those. And then our agenda for today as well. So, if you have an opportunity to take a peek at those and then uh we'll take a motion to approve. I just have a question. Yes. They look fine to me. I can read them. But when it says roll is done, do you need to record who was actually here? I mean, all five of us were present. Yes. Do you have to do that? Yes. Let's let's add that. So, it just has everyone's name specifically first. So, I'll make a note of that really quick. That was the only suggestion. Is there anything else? I move approval of the minutes for May 14th. We have a motion. Is there a second? This is Michael. Second. You. All in favor say I. I. I. Hi. So, the um meeting minutes and agenda are approved and we'll move on to

citizen comments. Jenny, there's no one here. Is there anyone online? No, I don't have anyone online at this time. We will have another opportunity for citizen comment at the end of the meeting in case anyone joins. So, we will move on to reports and our city administrator Mark Makoy. Thank you, Mr. Chair. Um, I I don't have a formal report, just a couple of items to brief the board on. Um, if you were in attendance at the last council meeting, you heard our updated briefing on the facilities master plan, which included some discussion about the library project. And I say that only to remind the board that our plan right now is to bring back options that council directed us to uh put together through our contract with Turner and Towns and Harry at the July 15th council meeting. So uh that is currently our schedule. We don't see any reason why at this point uh we can't meet that schedule. So, our plan is to bring those options forward to the council for their um review and discussion on July the 15th. And beyond that, um we were planning to have some public engagement. And it probably is more appropriate for Jandy to kind of walk through what that may look like. Um, we wanted to give the council an opportunity to see those options first and ask questions and state preferences and then downstream of that bring uh public um engagement into the process to kind of refine those down to a preferred option that we would potentially move forward with. So, that's right now the the plan and the schedule. Um, other than that, I don't know that I have any other things to brief to the board. And if you have any questions about that, I'd be happy to answer. Anybody have questions, Michael? I have

hearing none. Thank you. Uh we do not have Brad Hamlet here today for the friends group report. So Jim, you will offer that. Say that maybe. Yeah, please do. Please do. We'll do that. We got the last week. um in May. And coming up this weekend, um this Friday and Saturday, it's the Friends book sale, which actually the date is on the 13th of May. Um and then planning is well underway for the big fundraiser, the Suare, which will be held on July 16th. and they were pretty close to already selling out tickets at the end of May. So, I don't know how many are still remaining, but pretty sure that will sell out for that. Yeah. And it's supposed to be nice weather this weekend. Not raining. For sure. We have been in inundated with books at the library for the um book sale. Um this year especially, we just always have so many books coming in. Um, but yesterday our table was just completely buried with book sale. Good. I don't know that all of those books will make it in this round because it's in two days, but they will hopefully make it in the next round for sure. I think those were the two important things. Yeah, thank you. Uh, and Janty, the director's report. Okay, so I have a couple of things to brief you guys on. The first is that we are currently hiring for a children's librarian. Um, Miss Aaron, who is our children's associate, is still with us. Um, she has just asked to move down um to part-time hours. So, um, in the past, we have had a full-time children's librarian and then someone who assists like um 20 to

30 hours a week. Um, that kind of changed during CO. So, um, with her wanting to step back, that gives us the opportunity to bring, um, our staff back up to, I guess what we'd call like full capacity. Um, so we'll have a full-time children's librarian and then Miss Aaron will be working 30 hours a week assisting with all of our children's programming. Um, we posted the position um, almost two weeks ago. Um, I'm hoping to have someone in place in um, August so that they can start um, kind of start with the ground running in September with back to school programs. So, I'll update you guys as we have more details um, on that. Um, our summer reading program starts next week. We always start it when school gets out. So, um, this week, this year is a little bit different because school gets out on a Tuesday. So, we are um, starting summer reading next Monday, the 16th. The theme this year is color your world. So, kind of an artist's coloring theme. Um, I have some of the graphics in the presentation I'm going to show you guys in a minute. So, you'll get to see a little bit more. Um, but we normally will hand out reading logs for everyone. So, we have a 0 to 5 age group, 6 to 12 age group, a teen age group, and then an adults age group. And they it's a paper reading log. They mark off when they do their reading. and they get to come in for free prizes during the summer. But that's the kids version. Um the adults, they have to read um four books. Um there's also other things on that. Um we learned the average adult reads six books over the course of a year. So four in like two months felt a little bit squished. So um on all of the reading logs, including the kids, we have other challenges like if they attend a library program, they can mark something off. if they try a new recipe, they can mark something off. If since it's an art theme, if you create a work

of art, you can mark something off. So, just particularly for the adults, we wanted to kind of make it a little bit less of a barrier to entry um to get some more adult participants. So, um yeah, we're going to be busy at the library. Um next week on Wednesday is the city staff barbecue um at Orchard Park. So, we'll be closed for the morning on Wednesday, so staff can attend the barbecue and then Thursday, um, all of the city facilities will be closed for Junth. So, our first week of summer reading is just like a little bit of a different schedule than what we normally have. Um, but kids and adults can come in all summer and pick up reading logs. So, it's not just like only one day or something like that. Um, as far um, to kind of piggyback off what Mark was saying, uh, I've been attending a bit every two to three weeks, we've had a meeting with BC, which is our architectural firm on the library project at Town Square. Um, we will be bringing something back on July 15th. Right now, we kind of have three different design iterations. So, we're hoping to get some feedback from council on July 15th that we can narrow down. And then we're planning to do a community openhouse um at the library where city um members of the public can come and see you know conceptual drawings of what the exterior would look like, the whole layout of the park, what that would look like. Um give them some options on that and then some options on the design layouts to kind of get public input on what which design they prefer. So um that'll be sometime after July 15th. We haven't nailed down a date on that yet. Um, my question. Go. The staff barbecue um at Orchard Park. What day was that on? Just so I can Yeah, it's Wednesday, July 18th.

Excellent. Sorry, June 18th. I don't know what day you're gonna lose a whole month. My question was about Junth. Do you have any books at the library that you put out about June? Yes. So, um, over the last few years, we've gotten more books on Junth. Um, so we have picture books, um, chapter books, and then some adult kind of history of Junth books as well. Right. Yes. So, yeah, we always try to, um, put books up around whatever holiday um, with our display. And while you were talking about the um designs that are going to come to city council, I was curious about the survey that went out and what the feedback that came back through the survey list. Yes. Um normally we give council like a very detailed report on it and I'm sure that's something we could share with the board as well. Yeah. Yeah. I think they're still going home is now but yes once uh we're completed with the um not collection is complete but the analysis um we would share that with everybody right yes um total for survey responses um 699 fully completed like every single question answered and then I think it was like 743 I don't know high 700s of like somebody who had at least done one response So, none of the questions are like required to answer. So, yeah, we had a really really great turnout um with the survey. We're really pleased. Um and that's everything I had for this this report. Okay. So, we will move on to business and the annual report that's going to city council next week. Yes. So, I'm going to share my screen. Um,

Jennifer has been assisting me with this annual report and I wanted to show you guys and get your feedback on if there's anything else you think we should add. Let me make it bigger. So, I'm going to go to present. Oh, there's the present button. Here we go. Full screen. Okay. So, um this is our annual report that we um are required to give to council um once a year. Um we switched it to um providing this report in June because it falls right after I have to submit all of our statistics to the state. So, it made it made sense timing wise. In the past, we would do it at the end of the year, but the numbers were never fully completed because, you know, we still have more days left in the year. So this is a fully um fleshed out report. Okay. So um I have these stats which you guys have seen previously. There are some statistics we're required to put in the reports as far as the ordinance goes. Um so that includes the number of library cards, the number of visitors. Um, I included the meeting room reservations and then our physical book usage versus ebook usage because that's something that council has been interested in lately. Um, so I'll go over those numbers briefly. And then um, we are required to provide the details of our physical collection. And now I'm seeing that I'm still missing two numbers. So good review those two numbers. Um so um we're required to let them know what our um physical collection is looking at. The main thing I want to point out is um on our book collection, our physical book collection, you can see that the number is you know only changed by like a hundred um and that's

because we have no um further room for expansion in the current library. So we are basically at the the tipping point of if we bring something in, we have to get rid of something. So um the current um population growth, we just got new numbers from um city hall last week. Our current population is 14,100. So our the number of books that we should be providing to our community right now are at 28,000. So currently we are 3,000 below um what our usage and what our collection size should be for a community of our size. So when we're looking at buildout of you know is it 22,000 Mike Mark? What's the current buildout projection is 22,000? Yes. So we would need um a current a physical collection of 44,000 items per capita. So um we are out of space. Um, this is our electronic collection. Um, it is growing healthy. Um, we have really great usage on it and of course because it's electronic, we have plenty of space for it. Um, so these are materials that we share with the rest of the state of Washington. So, everyone pays into it and all of the patrons in Washington can use it. So, there's that collection size. And then these are our operating expenses for 2024. So our 2024 budget was 700,000 716,000. We expended $673,000. And now I'm seeing another dollar sign. And um we made a whopping $2,900 in fines and fees. Um so these would be for lost or damaged books exclusively since we don't charge overdue fines. So just

items that were damaged. Um so total um property tax funded is $670,000. Um our technology update. So we talked about this at the last meeting and you guys gave me some really good tips that I incorporated. So we are at 3,237 computer sessions in 2024 um with um 185 computer sessions in 2023. So, um, our usage has gone up significantly. The current challenge that we have is that we only have four computers that people are able to use at the library and we don't have any room to expand or add additional machines. Um, as you guys saw on our on your tour last week, there's nohere to put additional computers. Um, and there is a lack of privacy. So, if someone is, you know, you're sitting right next to three other people and if you need to make a phone call to your bank, like everyone can hear your conversation, everyone can see what's going on as they walk by. Um, so if we were into in a new space, we would want to incorporate, you know, more carols or more privacy screens to help. Um, and we would want to have at least um eight computers in the new in a new library space. So, double the machines that we have right now. Um, the other big challenge we have is a lack of power outlets throughout the library, which makes studying and working hard for our patrons in 2025 when everyone has a laptop, everyone has a phone and they want to be able to plug in and charge. So, right now it's they can sit down at the table, but once their computer dies, like they have to leave um because we don't have enough power outlets throughout the floor and on the tables throughout the library. um our youth programming attendance. So um we are our attendance for um 2024 was

12,919. Um it's up 4,000 from last year. Um we are really really thrilled with the attendance that we've had at programs this year. Um we had um our storytime usage saw the most significant growth. Um, we had an increase in 2024 of 2,000 more people who came to story time throughout the year. Um, so this kind of leads me into my next slide. Um, we um, our biggest challenge right now is our parking and our meeting space. So when people come to story time, they are parking in the parking lot. They are parking next door at the police station. They are parking along Madson. Um because we do not have enough parking spaces for the number of families that want to come to story time. Um our meeting room can accommodate 39 people and um we are consistently getting over 70 people at story time. So basically double the amount that we have space for in that room. Today I hosted story time and it was 72. Wow. So huge attendance. Um the um other thing that is a challenge for us is that we don't have a dedicated team space in the library. So right now um when teens come to the library, they don't have a place where they can hang out. You know, they come they can get their books in the teen area, but it's the only work space that we have in the library. It's the only place that people can sit down, plug um sit down with their laptop, have a group meeting. And teens don't want to hang out with the adults. They also don't want to go into the kids' room and like hang out with the kids or babysit the kids. So, um, as you guys know, um, a lot of libraries are very close to like the middle school or the high school because it's a safe place for the kids to go after school.

You know, if your parents are gone from 3 to 6, like what are you doing? Um, the library is a safe place that they can go and hang out where there's some supervision and they can have a snack and they can do a fun activity or they're driving around town on golf carts doing who knows what. So, we would love to be able to provide a real dedicated team space in our library for the teens exclusively where they can do their programs. Um, and I feel like that would give them a better feeling of ownership of the library if they had their own space where they felt safe and could hang out with their friends. Um, one of the other opportunities that we're taking away from this year is um last year we implemented um team programming every single week. So, every Tuesday was Teen Tuesday. Um, and as you know, we offer story time four days a week. So, um, something that we're looking at for 2025 this fall is, um, offering consistent weekly kids programs. So, it would be for our school age kids after school. Um, we're thinking Wednesdays, they'll come to the library every single week and have a program that they can do. So, just offering that consistency to all ages of youth is something that we're trying to implement um, consistently for 2025. So, um, this is the graphic I was telling you about. This is our theme for summer reading, color our world. Um, we love the artwork this year. It's an artist's art theme. Um, and like I told you guys, summer reading is starting next week. So, I'm going to, you know, invite council and let them know that that starts next week, you know, as we're presenting to them. Um, so I think I have two more slides. So, this is our total program attendance. Um, and as you can see, like I added the numbers on here. So, I'm going to go back and do that um on the youth page. Um but in 2024, we offered 306 free programs to

our community over the year. Um and this was achieved by a team of three people. So, Michaela as the adult teen and adult librarian, Aaron as our children's associate, and then assisted when I can by myself. Um, and so our total attendance for the year, this is for teens, adults, everybody, is 12,919. Um, which is incredible. Um, so I'm really pleased with the, um, number of programs that were able to provide to our community last year. Um, and all of them are free and open to everyone. Um, the last thing I had, let's see, is volunteer hours. Um, so we have two volunteer groups at the library. Um, we have our teen advisory group. This is mainly high school students, but we do have some older middle school students that participate as well. In um, 2024, they offered 255 and a half um, hours of volunteer work at the library. Um, they assisted they um, developed the steam camp that we did um, for a whole week in July last year. They also assisted with the Halloween party. as far as planning, decorating, setting things up, cleaning stuff up. Um they volunteer at a lot of Miss Aaron's kids programs and help her um set things up, but also help the kids with the different activities that they're doing. Um they also assist with summer reading and then any, you know, um cleaning tasks that we have at the library. A lot of them will set up displays in the teen section of the library each month. So, they did an incredible job last year. Um lastly is our adult volunteers. We have at least one volunteer that comes in each day of the week. Um each day of the week, Monday through Friday. Um some days we'll have two. One that comes in the morning, one that comes in the afternoon. Some of our volunteers are just once a week and some of them come in multiple days like Monday, Wednesday, Friday and volunteer at the library. So

total um volunteer hours last year were 688 which is incredible. We love our volunteers and we couldn't do it without them. doesn't include the friends though. No, that's just like our exclusive volunteers um who shelf and hold bowls and do other tasks for us. So yeah, it doesn't include the friends which is a lot. They provide an incredible number of volunteer hours as well for sure. Um lastly, these are some new services that we are offering um this year. Um we have brought back proctoring which is something that we did prior to CO and we've brought back um it's for people who need um a proctored test. Um so that's something that Michaela offers is that you can schedule an appointment. Um a lot of the tests are done online but we do have tests that still get emailed to us and then we like fax them back to SDC. Um so you can come and it's for mainly online students who need um supervision when they're taking a test. Um, Michaela's also started implementing tech appointments where people can schedule a one-on-one time help with her. She does a myriad of things from like setting up a Kindle to helping someone get their book published on Amazon. Um, last week she helped someone who needed to learn how to use Zoom for the first time. So, she walked them through it and then they actually like got on different computers and like practiced um how to use Zoom. So, it's just what it's by request um and it's whatever topic that they need help with. as far as technology. Um, she does also offer like once a month tech hours in the evening on a Thursday that we advertise. Um, so it is one-on-one and advertised hours as well. And then lastly, our mobile printing that we use um that we do through the printer on app. So people are able to print right from their phone. Um, yes. So that's everything that I have. Can you guys think of anything that I might be missing that we maybe want to include in the annual report?

presentation. Okay. So, me and Jennifer will be presenting to the council on Tuesday um at the meeting. Yes. Okay. Thank you. That looks really good. I think that will be well received next week. Uh, so that takes us into action items and reviewing the circulation policy. Yes, I'm going to pull up the red lines that I had. These were also posted in the agenda. Um, so people in the community had the ability to, um, read through them and make public comment if they desired. Um, let me zoom in. So, um, it's right here in red. Um, claims returned, claims never had. A claims return occurs when a borrower borrower's account lists an item that the borrower claims has been returned or never borrowed. Borrowers are limited to three claims returns or claims never had for the Liberty Lake Library, sorry, for Liberty Lake Library items. If the claims returns never had is for materials borrowed from a CIN library, it is up to the lending library whether they will allow the claims returned claims never have. So if everything looks good, we can entertain a motion um for this. In that lane that says borrowers are limited to three, then the assumption is if there's a fourth, that's where they Yes. financially responsible for that. Yes. Um, but the nice thing about the software is if that item is found, like say a year later, we find it underneath the shelf in the back corner somewhere and we check it in, it is able to remove it off their account account. So in that case, it would go down to two or one or

zero. Um, so that's really nice thing um about this software that we have now. So if there's a mistake, it's they are not being penalized for it. Any other questions on the vote? So, I'm going to scroll up to the agenda um because I had written out um what the action item is right here. Um approve the edits to the library circulation policy and recommend that they be sent to council for approval. So, so is there a motion for that? So, move a second. I'll second it. Okay. All in favor say I. I. I. And I think you were on there too. Yes, I said I. I think. The motion passes to approve the edits to the library circulation policy and recommend that they be sent to council for approval. So, our next steps is um we're going to go to the council meeting next week. Um but I'm not planning to include this in that since it is our annual report. My plan would to be to bring it back at another council meeting where we could focus just on the policy since this is our first policy that we're bringing for to the council for approval. So, I thought we could make a presentation um and talk them through this policy and then see if they have any questions um just like I think we talked about at the last meeting um so that this could be the full the focus of that presentation if that makes sense. Does that sound okay to everyone else? Are there any questions about that timeline?

Okay. Okay, today if that brings us to citizen comments again. Do we have anyone online? Sorry, I'm switching. That's okay. Okay. Um, no, the only people online are Michael and Anna. And we don't have anyone in chambers today. Okay. So, if there is nothing left, do we need to move to adjourn the meeting? Yes. Um, our next meeting will be July 9th. Um, does anyone have a conflict in this going to be like on account for summer vacation? Yeah. Okay. No, that works. All right. Then I will take a motion to adjourn our meeting. Motion to adjour the meeting. Second. All in favor? Okay, we'll see you guys next month. Thank you. Thank you. See you next month. Thank you so much.