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LIB 02-17-04 CUPERTINO LIBRARY COMMISSION MINUTES February 17, 2004 CALL TO ORDER Chairperson Janet Riddell called the meeting to order at 7:08 p.m. ROLL CALL Present: Sheila Mohan Janet Riddell Eno Schmidt Kathy Stakey Yuhfen Diana Wu (Arrived at 8:00 p.m.) Also present: Melinda Cervantes, Santa Clara County Librarian Mary-Ann Wallace, Community Librarian Guests: Nicol Lea (Arrived later in the meeting after the council meeting) Barbara Rogers (Arrived later in the meeting after the council meeting) Ralph Qualls (Arrived later in the meeting after the council meeting) MINUTES The Minutes of the January 20, 2004 meeting were approved as written. ORAL COMMUNICATIONS None. WRITTEN COMMUNICATIONS There will be a CALTAC (California Association of Library Trustees and Commissioners) conference at the Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Library in San Jose on March 13, 2004. Commissioner Stakey plans to attend. STATUS REPORT ON THE NEW LIBRARY PROJECT Librarian Wallace reported that the project was proceeding on schedule to open in October, 2004. On a recent walk-through of the building, she was able to see what the views will be from the second floor, and told commissioners that citizens will be surprised and pleased with the wonderful views of the hills and the amount of natural light in the new library. CAPITAL CAMPAIGN - Commissioners' commitment Commissioner Stakey will contact both current and former library commissioners to see what their interest is in a group contribution to the library furnishings campaign. The suggested donation is a gift of $500.00 or more. If the goal of $10,000 is reached, the commissioners will sponsor the adult seating area overlooking the plaza. CITY LIBRARIAN'S REPORT Librarian Wallace reported that the temporary library continues to be well used by the community. January statistics of circulation and visits are the highest since the temporary library opened. Even in the temporary library with only a partial collection, Cupertino has the 2nd highest circulation in the Santa Clara County Library. Only Milpitas Library with its full collection is higher at 185,205 items checked out in January. January 2004 Number of items checked out Average # of items checked out per hour % of checkout on self-checkout machines Number of visits to the library 168,241 681 38% 28,231 Children's Reference Librarian Bonnie Wang recently completed her spring series of Story times in Chinese (Mandarin) in celebration of Chinese New Year in the Year of the Monkey. There were an average of 30 children and 34 adults at each of the 3 sessions, a manageable number in the small temporary library. Children's Librarians hosted 36 children and 23 adults at the drop-in Valentine craft program between 3 and 5 pm on Tuesday, February 10th. Children's Librarian Judith Blight and Teen Librarian Gayathri Kanth recently teamed up to visit a 6th grade class at Sedgwick School to booktalk together. Booktalking consists of just giving enough of an introduction to a book to pique a person's interest in reading it, but not enough to give away the plot. Both staff members were happy to have the chance to booktalk together, and hope to have more opportunities in the future. Teen Librarian Gayathri Kanth is also happy to booktalk in the high schools. Adult Reference Librarian Judy Dana continues to visit Chateau Cupertino every other month to booktalk some of her favorite books, and to lend support to their ongoing book discussion group. Judy prepares a booklist for each presentation. Her most recent was entitled Drive the Winter Away. Library Assistant Melissa Houle designs the booklist flyers. Judy normally has an audience of between 15 and 22 senior citizens, who eagerly await her visits. Cupertino Library recently honored staff at the annual Service A wards. Staff members honored this year are: Library Clerk Bev Shenfield - 5 years, Librarian Gayathri Kanth - 5 years, Librarian Robert Sturtevant - 15 years, Librarian Cay Horner - 20 years, and Library Clerk Gail Hugger - 35 years, a combined total of 80 years of service to Santa Clara County Library and most of that to Cupertino Library. COUNTY LIBRARIAN'S REPORT County Librarian Melinda Cervantes reported that the Joint Powers Authority Board reviewed 5-year expenditure and revenue projections at their January 29,2004 meeting. The outlook generally is not good. They reviewed 4 possible scenarios, depending on whether Measure B passes or not, and what other impacts there may be from state government tax shifts. The first, good scenario would be that Measure B passes, and there is no tax shift from state government. The 2nd scenario is that Measure B passes, but the state makes a permanent shift of property taxes from cities and counties. A shift of $2.6 million dollars would be 10% of the library's operating budget. State government already shifts $10 million dollars of Santa Clara County Library's property taxes each year to the state. The 3rd scenario is that Measure B does not pass. The 4th scenario is that Measure B does not pass, and the state shifts property taxes from the library to the state. Each succeeding scenario has a worsening impact on the library's ability to provide open hours and public service. There are other rising costs that will also have a big impact on the library budget in upcoming years. PERS is doubling in cost. There are also huge increases in workers compensation costs. The JPA Board has already taken one-time money from reserves to keep the libraries open and functioning at full service through the March 2, 2004 election. What reserves does the library have? There are 3 reserves. The first is a Building Fund, which is entirely committed to Gilroy, Morgan Hill, and Milpitas for their new libraries because those cities are still under the square footage allotted by the population formula agreed to by all of the cities that are served by Santa Clara County Library. All of the other cities have reached or surpassed their population formula square footage in their existing or new libraries. The second is the Technology Fund, which is entirely exhausted through purchases of needed equipment. The third is an Economic Uncertainty Fund, which is needed to pay for layoffs, retirements, earthquakes, other natural disasters, or major building problems or failures. The next meeting of the JPA will be a study session on Thursday, March 25, 2004 at Campbell Library at 1 :30 p.m. At that point the JP A Board will know whether or not Measure B passed. The next regular meeting of the JP A will be held on Thursday, April 22,2004. The new Chair of the JPA is Cupertino's representative, Richard Lowenthal. Library Legislative Day in Sacramento is Wednesday, April 21, 2004. This is jointly sponsored by California Library Association and the School Librarian's Association, and is a great opportunity for citizens to interact with legislators and to ask for their support of libraries and of library legislation. While it is difficult to roll out a new service in a climate of such economic uncertainty, Santa Clara County Library's old bookmobile was not ADA compliant, and had to be replaced. The order was placed more than a year ago, and the new Bookmobile has recently arrived. It is wrapped in a colorful design. The library will not be adding any stops, and may be dropping stops, but the new bookmobile is now fully accessible to all citizens. The daily fine for late return of materials will be raised from 20 cents to 25 cents per day as of April 1 st to bring Santa Clara County Library into line with what the other SVLS (Silicon Valley Library System) libraries are currently charging. Charging for holds needs to be able to be captured electronically, as that is how a majority of the holds are placed. While it is possible to do in Horizon, it does mean paying for special programming - not just once, but each time the operating system is upgraded. Also, there will most likely be a lag time between the time the system is upgraded each time and the time the special programming can be completed, which would mean a regular disruption of service. NEW BUSINESS Community Connect - Continuance of Cupertino's Sister Library relationship with Hsin-Chu City Library in Taiwan: Commissioner Wu gave commissioners a packet of information on the Sister Library project at the last meeting. She has been keeping up the relationship in traveling to Hsin-Chu City. Commissioners would like to maintain the relationship by asking the city to name Commissioner Wu as the Library Commission's permanent emissary to Hsin-Chu City Library. Reliability and service response on 3M Self-Check machines: While the programming on the old self-check machines was not good, all of the new machines that are now able to check out media, are working quite well. The library did look into a couple of vendors, but in the end stayed with 3M because they were able to offer languages, which the other vendor was not yet able to offer. The goal with the self-check machines is to do 50% or more ofthe circulation on the self-check machines. Cupertino is currently doing 38% on the self-check machines and processes the highest number of items through self-check in Santa Clara County Library. Commissioners' Reception on Wednesday, February 25, 2004: Commissioners Mohan, Stakey, and Wu plan to attend. Commissioner Riddell will not be able to attend because of Ash Wednesday. Commissioner Schmidt and Librarian Wallace will attend the Cupertino Library Foundation meeting, which is scheduled for the same time that evening. CAL T AC (California Association of Library Trustees and Commissioners) membership renewal: Chairperson Riddell will contact commission liaison Carol Atwood to submit the annual group membership for the commission. Grand Opening: Commissioner Stakey has spoken to Mayor Sandra James about the commission's interest in inviting State Librarian Kevin Starr to speak at the Grand Opening. At this point in the meeting, Nicol Lea and Barbara Rogers stepped in to let commissioners know about the ongoing fundraising efforts and told commissioners about the new library web site for the Foundation, the Commission, and the Friends, for which the foundation is paying approximately $100.00 as a hosting fee this year. The web site has been put up by Nidhi Mathur, and the address is: www.cupertinolibrarv.org. This could certainly be linked back to the county library website as well. At this point in the meeting, Ralph Qualls, Director of Public Works, stepped in to let the commission know that the bids for shelving had been let as well as a bid for the design of the furniture, and that the city would borrow approximately $270,000 from the Solid Waste Fund. Work on the project continues on schedule. Community Hall looks great. Views from the second floor of the new Cupertino Library are great. He said that City Architect Terry Greene and library staff have been working with SMWM architects on the signage plan, which looks very good. For the Grand Opening there will be a small steering committee that will probably begin to plan in March. OLD BUSINESS Fine Arts Liaison Subcommittee: Commissioners Mohan and Stakey asked about opportunities for displaying art in the library. County Librarian Melinda Cervantes said that the county library has an exhibit policy for temporary displays of art, but does not display permanent art. The status of the Randall Family Fund: There are two sculptures in production for the new library and plaza. Half of the funds for the sculptures have already been received. Sister Library: No report at this time. Mayor's Breakfast: Commissioner Mohan attended and reported back to the commission. Chairperson Riddell will attend the March Mayor's Breakfast. Friends of the Cupertino Library: Commissioner Stakey reported that the Friends have a new slate of proposed officers. Most officers will remain in their current posts for this next year with the exception of Julie Goodman, who will take on the role of Vice President, and Rose Seay, who will take on the role of Membership Chairperson with Friends approval. The Friends will hold their election at the March 1,2004 meeting. The Friends have also developed the budget for their upcoming fiscal year that will run from April 1, 2004 through March 31, 2005. Cupertino Library Foundation: Commissioner Schmidt reported that the foundation continues to be very much involved in the furnishings campaign. The Cupertino Library Foundation Board recently made a donation of $150,000 to the furnishings campaign and has made a pledge of another $50,000 to follow. Calendar: Commissioner Mohan will add both the upcoming CALT AC conference on March 13, 2004 and Library Legislative Day on April 21, 2004 in Sacramento to the calendar. Reports by Commissioners: Commissioner Wu asked for an update on the Measure B campaign, which was discussed briefly. Other: Chairperson Riddell asked to make a change in the agenda format to include a section on Agenda Building for the next meeting. In this way, items that come up in the course of the meeting can be reviewed in' the end for placement on the next agenda. ADJOURNMENT OF THE MEETING The meeting was adjourned by Chairperson Riddell at 9:20 p.m. to Tuesday, March 16, 2004 at 7:00 pm. ~-~~ Mary-Ann Wallace Community Librarian, Cupertino Library