Library Board - Regular Meeting

Roll call, please.

Bowie? Coleman? Here. Johnson? Kim?

Here.

Naker? Here. Yang? Here. Chair Jones? Here. Sorry. I have five present, two excuse being council member Johnson and council member Bowie. Sorry. The first the first item up on the agenda is the approval of minutes, minutes 26 dash six, library board's minutes for 01/14/2026.

Wonderful. So the first item is approval of meeting minutes. I'll take a motion from council president Nacre to approve this item. Is there any discussion? Okay. Council president Nacre.

Thanks, miss Jones. Huge issues with the minutes. No. I don't know that we have our agendas in front of us.

Yeah. I was

wondering about that. Oh,

shoot. And so I don't know if that's

Here, you can. I don't know if we usually have them all printed. Okay. There's some over there. Oh,

okay. Well, no worries. I just I was looking at the org committee and thinking. Okay.

I do move approval of the minutes.

Okay. All those in favor say aye. Aye. All those opposed?

Five in favor, zero opposed. The minutes have been approved. The second item on the agenda is the staff report, staff report twenty six dash eighteen transforming libraries update.

Wonderful. And, I will turn it over to Director Hartman for this update.

Chair Juste, members of the library board, thank you. We are moving out of planning mode into implementation mode with transforming libraries. So, Rica Stalak and Josh Schieff are going to give you all an update about what's moving forward this year in 2026. Wonderful.

Thank you for that. I'm Mary Kostalek. I'm the Library Project Manager, and I'm here with Josh, the Deputy Director of Operations, to talk about transforming libraries. And just like Director Hartman said, we are moving into the actual work of it, it's very exciting. So just a reminder that Transforming Libraries is the facility investment in three libraries: Hamlin Midway, Hayden Heights, Riverview Libraries, and then also investments in infrastructure of technology rich spaces and play and learn spaces in all of our libraries.

So, we're shifting from planning to implementation. So, we're actively engaged in managing and completing our projects, which is so exciting. We're continuing fundraising efforts through all of our avenues. We're listening to the needs of patrons and staff and balancing the priorities while maintaining focus on established timelines. I'm gonna talk first about Hamlin Midway.

Hamlin Midway is moving very quickly. The sign went up last week, I believe it was, and it was so exciting to have that monumental step of like, it now looks like a library. And we've got a couple of photos here that show that the archway is up and in and cleaned up, so no more pigeon poop on it. It's looking really beautiful, sparkle wash. And then we've got really big beautiful windows that are really helping me visualize the connection to the community.

You can see right outside the window and see Ginkgo right across the way, and it's like, here we are. We're right part of the community. It's that that storefront being up to the street really does make a huge difference. The Storytime garden fences in. It looks like it's moving along.

We are starting to paint right now, so we're getting some color in there. It's going to be this is the time when the community is really going to be I think it's going be the hardest in the community because it's going to look done for a while now. And we know that we still have a lot more work to make it into a library to get the bookshelves, the furniture, all of the of library systems going. And we are moving very quickly and on our timeline that we are hoping for. So, excited to have that ready for the public later in 2026.

So, as you know, we've been doing community engagement. We had the design and construction documents complete. We closed in May 2023, and so the the public is really have been waiting a long time for this library. Construction began May 2025, and we are still saying that we are gonna be open by late twenty twenty six open to the public. So moving from that to Hayden Heights, I'm so excited to say that we have another project that is underway.

The Hayden Heights Library is getting ready to have its its transformation happen. This photo is a good this rendering is a good reminder of one of the big pieces of what's going to happen is that visual impact from the outside. People will see it's a library from the street, from the sidewalk, and be able to have that visual connection for what happens inside. And here's another space or another way to see that space. We are going to be taking the whole building and reformatting where things are so that there can be loud areas for play and movement.

This has connection to nature so that the community can go outside and enjoy some green space and some shade within that neighborhood that is really lacking with green space and shade right along White Bear right there. And then, this new play and learn space will be a dynamic space. On the other side of the building, we'll have study rooms and a quieter kind of reading area. And so people will have that kind of flexibility of space. The Hidden Heights timeline is that the design and construction documents were complete in December.

And then in January month, we opened up the bidding process and we are going to be awarding the general contractor bid this week, very soon. And so, this is very exciting news. It means that we can move very quickly. So, this spring, we're going to be closing the library to the public, and we're going to be beginning the construction this spring as well. We know that the we will learn more about the time line once we do hire the general contractor, but we are anticipating that by 2027 we will be open to the public again. And I'm going to pass it on to Josh to talk about technology rich libraries.

I'm going to talk about the transforming libraries elements that affect all of our locations. So we've got the three major renovations and new construction at our libraries and then technology rich spaces and play and learn, are something that's happening at every one of our locations. So technology rich, as you recall, is our effort to make sure that our libraries are an environment that offers people access to the technology they need, as we often say, to do life. What we're finding now as we're in implementation is that is so much more than what you might think of just providing hardware, like buying more computers, buying iPads, putting them in spaces, ensuring we have WiFi. It's really about creating the environment where people can take advantage of what we have to offer, the technology that they may be bringing into the space, and using that.

So what we want to ensure is that we are providing you access if you're bringing your own device. We're providing you a comfortable study space or meeting room to use that technology, and we have staff who can assist you in using your own technology, using our technology with their expertise to ensure you're able to get done what you need to get done. So a lot of what we're seeing is that's not just, like I said, buy more computers. It's facilities updates that help ensure, one, that our spaces that are existing are able to meet the needs of the community. So that's where we have a current community meeting room, maybe upgrading the PA system, the AV equipment that we have in there.

We're adding accessibility features like hearing loops. So if people have hearing issues, they can come in, access that, and be able to engage in any kind of meeting. We're offering technology for hybrid meetings, so people can really take advantage of the space with whatever their needs are. It's also adding study spaces where we don't have them. That's a constant demand we hear from patrons is more areas where I can go and be by myself or with one other person. I can conduct a virtual meeting, or I can just have a one on one meeting with somebody. So it's where we don't have those, adding them. Where we do have them, making sure they're adequate. They're soundproof. You can do what you need to do in there.

You're not hearing everything that's happening in the meeting behind you. So it's really just upgrading a lot of that. And then making sure these are all really evident and welcoming to people. I come in, I know what's on offer, I know how to take advantage of it, I know how to reserve it, there's staff that can help me figure that out. So what we've done already in 2025 is made some updates at our Merriam Park Library. If you've been there, there we have a meeting space. It's down on the lower level. It had the old operable partition wall that didn't really work that great. And if you had two meetings going out at the same time, everybody was hearing everything. So we made it one large meeting room.

We've added some new technology. Here, we've added the hearing loop. We've also done space upgrades so that it is more welcoming to the community. People want to reserve that space and take advantage of it. Likewise, at Rice Street, we added some soundproofing. Here it says, for professionalism. It's so you can't hear the toilet flush when you're in your meeting. That that's a little more professional. We added to the AV system. They're really taking advantage of some of the technology like OWL meeting bars and cameras so that hybrid meetings are more functional.

We've all probably been part of a hybrid meeting effort that didn't go as planned. You spend the majority of the meeting trying to figure out who is where and how you can hear them. So we're really focused on making that more functional. At GLCL, we had the two new study rooms. I think we've shown some examples of those in the past, but those have been really great, really popular. And we're now that balcony on the 2nd Floor, which formerly housed our St. Paul collection, has been relocated, we'll talk about that another time, some great work's been done with that. But that balcony is going to become a really nice large community meeting space, with some study space along the sides. It's a really desirable space, and we're hoping it's very popular. Upcoming for Tech Rich, Rondo Oh, sorry, go ahead.

Council President Nick has a question.

Thanks so much, Chair. What where does the St. Paul collection move to then?

Yeah, Chair Jones, Council Member. So it's now in our back stacks. We we did a lot of space out of there. Staff were able to put that in there, give some more organization to it, as well as add some study tables in among the collections so that people can go in there and spend more time, particularly with materials that are reference only and not able to be checked out. So if you'd like, come by, we can give a tour of it. It's a it's a really nice new space.

And so it's still accessible to folks, just you have to

go into the back stacks?

Yep. Okay. Yeah. We we did a great project with some consultants who came in and did some collection assessment with us and helped us to define how we could make that more accessible. That's one of our really big goals with that.

Thank you. Okay,

carrying on. Next slide then. So we're on to play and learn. So like I said, this is happening across all of our locations as well.

Did you

forget the twenty twenty six projects?

I did? Yeah. Oh, I thought I talked. Yeah, you're right. Sorry, you threw me way off.

No, the Rondeau Library, we've talked about the renovation that's happening there. Because of that project, we are taking advantage of this time to complete both TechRich, and we'll talk about play and learn in a little bit in that space, really be able to work with the contracted design partner that we have, be able to just get this work done where it's the least disruption possible, and we're not closing spaces while the library's open. So what we'll be doing there is updating the multipurpose room, that large meeting room at the front, adding some new technology, opening that up to a larger space, removal of that operable wall, just like we did at Merion. And with community feedback, and again, like I said, hearing that we need more study spaces, we're gonna be adding some study spaces to Rondo, as well as another small community meeting room, like a six to eight person community meeting room. That's our most utilized space for partners and community members.

So the more opportunities we can have there for different size meetings would be really, really advantageous. Nicholson, the new public meeting room is gonna be completed this year. So we're hoping that, we can invite everybody there and that you'll all use that to host meetings in a really beautiful space. And the balcony coworking seating space will begin. So that's the areas alongside that meeting.

Now

we're on to play and learn. So play and learn is taking what's formerly been just considered a a children's space and turning that into a more dynamic child and family space. Our goal is that this is somewhere where parents, very young children, tweens, all have something that they can engage with in that space. So if I bring my children there, the very youngest have some play areas, things that are engaging. They can climb on and around.

A little bit older kids have books and materials that they can read. And if parents need to do work in that space while at the same time being able to monitor their kids, there's furniture that fits their needs. There's access to technology, and everybody has what they need in one place. In 2026 is where we're really hitting the ground on these. We started last year with our design firm to create a system wide design guide, which basically outlines the philosophy of what we're talking about when we say play and learn.

So it'll have the elements of design that we need to see in every space and then the options that can be represented in each space based on the different community needs that we see in our locations. Sunray, Rondo, and then Hamlin, because it's a new construction, is gonna fit with that play and learn philosophy. The Sunray and Rondo Libraries will be opening late twenty twenty six, so we're really excited to host those as demonstration spaces for you all, as well as for donors to the Friends of the Saint Paul Public Library's Capital Campaign. So some of the challenges that we're seeing, but there are a lot of challenges that are out here right now. As you're all well aware, this shifting federal landscape from week to week, we don't know what decree is gonna be made about federal funding that's coming to us, what impact tariffs may have on the cost of major construction and materials.

We've seen that play out already. We're estimating for it in the future. Supply chain disruptions that can greatly impact our timelines. Funding gaps that we have, we still have a lot of money to raise toward the Riverview project, which is further out. We didn't discuss here today. And staff capacity. We're adding on a lot of major projects right now. You know, we've been in this kind of planning mode for a long time. Now we're in the doing, and it's needs a lot of dedicated time and effort for Marika and a lot of other and myself and a lot of members of our team. So trying to continue to move forward and ensuring that we're not overloading anybody.

Our capital funds, that's limited you know, that's across the city. Whenever the CIB capital funds open up, we know it's a huge competition for everybody's projects and a small pool of money for what the requests are. And then the evolving use patterns and needs of the public. We are continuing to pay attention to what patrons ask of us and how we can be responsive to that. This is a multi year project that began many years ago, so we don't want to continue to rely on something we may have heard a long time ago.

We wanna continue to ask our patrons what their needs are, hear from them through directed community engagement, through interactions that our staff have with patrons and bring forward to us, and ensure that we're continuing to pivot and stay responsive to that. And then why is this work important? We've talked about this a lot here that we got told and we continue to hear this part is relevant and evergreen, I think, that libraries need to be places that are safe, inviting, and affirming. They need to be comfortable for people of all cultures, abilities, and communities. And these really are the places where people in our community come to do life, to do the things that they need to do in their day to day.

And they provide connection, particularly right now with other community members, access to information. We want to maintain ourselves as a hub for people to feel this is a safe space that I can go and do what I need to do and talk to people who will help me get my needs back. So that, I think, is the end. Great. You. Open it up.

Questions from my colleagues? Okay. Do you have a okay. I'm sorry. I

don't have any questions, but I really just wanted to take the time to commend all of our staff in Saint Paul Public Libraries and also the friends to our community partners like our district councils and all the commissioners on our board here for their leadership in this grand project envision around transforming libraries. When I looked at the picture you had of Hayden Heights Library, I mean, just brings me so much joy. It really does. And the first thing I think about is how many times I hear from my residents, I didn't know there was a library there. Especially from people who just moved there.

But even if they've been there for a few years already, they also don't know it's a library because it's a box building, white paint all around, no windows. I mean, the library sign is right there but then it's also not very visible too. And so, I have also heard from residents who have lived in the Greater East Side for over thirty years and they say they share with me this library just has never gotten renovated the way that we need it to. And this like, this is what this is a project for them. It's a project for our residents in the East Side.

It's a project for everybody in Saint Paul who's coming to the East Side to visit and wanting a public space to go to and to meet and to just be able to be with their family and their friends. And it's so meaningful. And so I I just wanted to really put into perspective how impactful that project is going to be and that I know that impact, it really is mirroring the impact that we know the project is going to have for many other communities too like the Riverview Library and Hamlin Midway Library. So wanted to really say thank you to all of you. I mean, when I think about my five years on the council here, just the amount of projects and the funding that's been secured to make those projects happen has been phenomenal.

I mean, I think for me initially, I would think it's going to take longer than this to be able to get those projects going. But actually, it happened. And I think for the I would even be confident in saying that sometimes it takes even longer for these sort of projects to actually get from point a all the way to point c. And so it's phenomenal seeing the community support behind all of this, the the trust that's been built between our libraries and the public. And it really just goes back to the incredible work that our staff are doing every single day, all of you. So I want to say thank you for that. And I'm really excited about all the plans for transforming libraries and just looking forward to the work ahead.

Thank you, Councilor Yang. Council President Nager.

Thanks, Chair Jost. Ditto to everything Councilor Yang said. And can you talk a little bit about the plans for Riverview and the timing and the funding?

Yeah, Chair Jost, Council Member

or

Council President Nager. We can we're looking at late twenty twenty seven likely for a start on on the Riverview project. You know, that's the one where we do have the biggest gap in the funding that we need yet. We were able to successfully get some CIB funding in the last round, and we're hoping you know, we're definitely going to be applying again, I believe, in 'twenty seven for some twenty twenty eight capital dollars. We do have some dedicated funding from the Friends of St.

Paul Public Library. Their campaign is continuing. But that's the one where we have most work to do. We will be, hopefully, beginning of next year, able to do some independent work. I think I've talked about this a couple times with a federal earmark that we had previously received that's going to allow us to do the roof replacement or repair, I should say, if we're able to reuse the old slate, we will.

And some of the exterior mortar repair and water intrusion mitigation, those can be done independently of the larger project to put the addition on the building. So we'll do that as soon as that's feasible in our project calendar, which is likely the beginning of next year. But then I think as we continue and work toward more funding for that, which is, I think like Marika had said, looking at every possible avenue, that's going to be some more requests for congressionally directed spending and looking at state funds as well and any bonding that we can get through the legislature and then the CIB dollars. So we're hopeful that we can get there with either a late twenty seven or early twenty eight start.

Thank you. Yep.

Great. Council Vice President Kim has

a question.

That was that's more of a comment and connected to what you just replied with, actually. So as a current neighborhood that has been championed by all of my colleagues here on this council to establish the North End Community Center that required local, state, even federal dollars to get this done. I just want to lift up that I will, I guess, sort of return the favor, but recognizing to your point that every St. Paul Light across the city benefits when we improve our infrastructure. But seeing that the Riverview Library renovation is being is one of the priorities and looking at the fact that it's a bonding year, count me in to make sure that the gap gets filled and that we continue to kind of line our projects up in the chutes.

And again, just similar to Councilmember Ying, I think the secret sauce of St. Paul's staff and all the great work that you all do and the projects that you bring forward. And I think seeing the mock ups of the library is incredibly exciting. And so I do hope that neighbors are feeling the momentum behind what this project can look like, but also feel kind of like what it delivers for the community. Because I know for the North End, the North End Community Center just inherently changed the way that folks move through the neighborhood, the way that they access resources, but also the way that they connect to their neighbors.

And so similar in the way that libraries are incredible space for congregating, getting to know each other, getting lost in a book, taking an adventure somewhere, I'm really, really excited and will be incredibly supportive of this project. The project's getting to completion and will help champion them along the way as well. So thank you for this is a great staff report. It's always fun to hear that there's really, really good, cool things happening in the city during a really tough time. So I appreciate the update.

Thank you. Any other questions or comments? Well, I appreciate that council vice president. I think that, you know, what I'm hearing is we we're gonna be opening a new library this year. We're gonna open a new library next year, and maybe the year after or the year after that. I don't I don't know exactly the timeline for Riverview, but

that's so exciting. I heard 2027. I know. The start. That's the start. Yeah.

I can put

it in the middle.

And and, you know, the transforming libraries projects, whether it's those three projects or these, you know, tech rich and play and learn spaces are so vital to our communities, especially right now. Making sure that our neighbors have safe spaces to gather where they can, you know, connect with each other and just continue to do life is is just, you know, what's really keeping all of us going. And so thank you so much to to you, director, and to Josh and Marico for all of your help and all of your staff. And just to echo what my colleague said that, you know, we're very committed to transforming libraries into these projects. And we understand there are some, you know, challenges, and there's a larger gap with Riverview.

But we, you know, we look to bring that same level of commitment to to seeing, you know, all the projects through to the very end. And so I really just appreciate everyone's help. Really appreciate the friends for all their support. We wouldn't be here without them. But this is really an exciting year coming here coming up to open the first of the transforming libraries projects at the Hamlin Midway Library. So thank you so much for that.

Thank

you. I'm gonna turn it over to director Hartman to tell us about this really briefly, if that's all right.

Chair Josie scared me for a second there. In front of you is this year's Read Brave book, it's Lobizona by Romina Garber. We launched this program last week. As you know, every year we pick a young adult or a teen novel and we bring people together through the power of the stories. And, the author comes and visits the schools and we do a public event.

We'll be doing that the first week in March. This year, every year we select our titles in the summer of the previous year. So, last year and beginning of the summer, my team and I thought really hard about what does it mean? What will it mean to read bravely in 2026 in Saint Paul? And, we knew then that it was important to select a story about immigrants, but we could not have imagined that when we launched it this month, we'd be launching in our current reality of Minnesota in 2026.

So, we took some extra time just to make sure that as we launched it, we were putting it in the appropriate context, But, still also believe that it's the library's job to raise up stories and to tell stories and to be together in community that reading is both a mirror so that people can see their own experiences reflected and a window, so that we can see and experience those, the lives of other people. So, the author is thrilled to come here. She is looking forward to our event. She's looking forward to talking to young people, and has already had reach outs from a lot of them as you can imagine. So, please please share this widely.

It's a It may not appear to be, but it is this beautiful young adult fantasy. But, it starts in a world very similar to the one that we're living in right now with families and with ICE and and also it gives us an opportunity to talk differently about who belongs and where do you belong to. So, I hope you are able to participate and share it widely. We're really proud of it.

Thank you so much. I mean, I've really enjoy participating in the Re Brave program. And you and your staff do an amazing job picking what book that we're going to read this year. And I don't know if there's a better book we could have picked for this moment. So I'm really looking forward to the event coming up. I know you shared the date and probably the time at some point, but the author will be there. And then there's usually young people there too that are on a panel. Is it the same program? So I'll turn it over to you.

Churchill, Yeah. Thanks for reminding me. I didn't actually say the specifics. It's Thursday, March 5 from 05:30 to 08:00 at the Arlington Hills Library and our mayor will be there, I'll be there. Young people will be in conversation with the author. And, we're also going to be live streaming that as we recognize that not everybody may feel they can attend in person. But, we'll also be doing a community meal as well and bringing folks together around the book and just to be together.

Wonderful. So folks have about a month to read this book. And I look forward to reading it. You can also check it out digitally on Libby. And you can listen to it, too, which I really enjoy being able to experience the book in a lot of different ways to make sure that I get a chance to read it. So encourage everyone to to get involved. Read Brave, again, is one of my, you know, favorite events that and programs library puts on every year. So I'm really looking forward to it. And there are more events usually too, right, on top of that that we'll we'll get updates on. So nothing else to come before us. I appreciate everyone else's everyone's work and participation, but we are adjourned.