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Libary Expansion 02-05-98 CITY OF CUPERTINO LffiRARY EXPANSION ADVISORY DESIGN COMMIQ§C 101 February 5, 1998, 7:00 p.m. vv'ORKS City Hall, Conference Room A FE: B 1 7 1998 1. CALL TO ORDER Chairperson Jillian Hamer called the meeting to order at 7:00 p.m. and lead the group through a discussion of the best dates for the next meetings. Initial meetings for this group will be on: February 18, 1998. Library Story Room February 23, 1998 March 5, 1998 March 26, 1998 The group's charge is to oversee the work of the consultant, to do a needs assessment for the development of a Building Plan, to insure broad community input, and to draw up an RFP for an architect. Chairperson Hamer asked the group members to introduce themselves, and reminded the group that meetings will come under the Brown Act rules and responsibilities. Requirements include provision for both oral and written communications at each meeting, and the posting of agendas. 2. ROLL CALL Present: Jillian Hamer, Cupertino Library Commission, Chairperson Jean Bedord, Cupertino Library Commission Don Burnett, Cupertino City Council Karen Burnett, Director of Information Services, FUHSD Dr. Michael Chang, Mayor of Cupertino Jean Gallup, Friends of the Cupertino Library Jia-Li Lee, San Jose Public Library, Asian Parents Association Dorothy Stow, Cupertino Library Foundation Bert Viskovich, Director of Public Works, City of Cupertino Mary-Ann Wallace, Community Library Supervisor, Cupertino Library Absent with prior notice: Julie Farnsworth, Deputy County Librarian, Santa Clara Co. Library 3. ORALCO~CATIONS None. 4. WRITTEN CO~CATIONS None. 5. NEW BUSINESS Mayor Chang wants to be sure that there are specific decision points along the timeline where the committee will meet with the City Council to appraise the council of progress. There is library support on the council, but there are also very legitimate questions of cost, location, etc. Chairperson Hamer reviewed background information with the committee as to how the library commission had come to the decision that something needed to be done about the crowded conditions in the library. The commission had tried to find solutions to various problems over the last couple of years, but came up against barriers inherent in the building design. For example, in trying to find space for a teen study room, the commision had come up against construction barriers. The current library building design is not flexible. While the volume of business at the library is huge, space for collection and seating is very limited. With a concrete core and an elevator in the middle of the building, there are effectively no sight lines. Multi-floors make it expensive to operate. The commission asked for help to study the problem. The present building, while architecturally interesting, is not a functional library design. The library commission wants to look at the library from the ground up, to be sure that all the functions of the library are provided for and to develop programs to meet the needs ofthe community. ABAG and other projections need to be carefully considered. Flexible space for changing needs and changing technology is important in a functional design. This committee needs to define its role in the process and needs to decide how best to gather public input. The library commission took a short public survey at last summer's Cupertino Art & Wine Festival to begin to make people in the community aware of the need to start thinking about what they want to see in the library. Chairperson Hamer passed out the results of the survey, which showed that most people wanted more of what the library was providing. Deputy County Librarian Julie Farnsworth will help draft the RFP for the architect after the needs assessment has been completed. Librarian Wallace passed out a 9-page survey from library design consultant David R. Smith for each member of the building committee to fill out. David Smith would like the surveys returned by February 17th. Committee members may turn them in to Librarian Wallace by February 17th, and she will send them to his assistant to tabulate. The committee discussed how best to gather community input: surveys, focus groups, face to face interviews, forums, town hall meetings. Input will be gathered from as broad a spectrum of the community as possible, including: schools, parents and teachers' groups, Chamber of Commerce, business groups, senior groups, service groups, other clubs and affinity groups, library users and non-library users. Members of the committee think that a town meeting or public forum will be more useful later in the process, when there is something to show the group, or there are choices to consider that might elicit a more focused response. Surveys can have more than one purpose. They can enhance community awareness of the process, can encourage community buy-in, and can enlist people in the effort to support the process, in addition to finding out what we don't know and what we need to test. Committee member Karen Burnett told of her experience with a random telephone survey conducted in the city of Fairfield that produced good data. The city of Cupertino also recently had a group conduct a telephone survey. Another phone survey could be considered. The recent city phone survey, conducted by Godbe Research and Analysis, targeted a cross-section of the community, and most people have perceived it as a good indication of community interests. In that survey, 87% of citizens said they had used the library in the past year, and 77% said that they would support the use of city money to support the library. The question of the cost of the survey came up, and will be checked. The design of survey questions in order to elicit the most useful information is another aspect to be considered. A phone survey of about 10 questions could raise awareness and elicit good data. The city's web page was also suggested as a possible survey location, as was an insert in the Cupertino Scene. An in-house written library survey might be conducted, perhaps targeting every 5th library user in line. Since shopping malls tend to attract people from far-flung areas, it might be better to use a local grocery store to target non-library users from within the city of Cupertino, if a written survey of non-library users is also conducted. The type of survey and the order in which they might be used may look something like: telephone survey, written survey, focus groups, town hall meetings. The group also discussed library operating costs, and the optimum use of staff, since staffing is usually the largest component of the operating cost. What are other needs? Longer hours, more space for collections, more seating, more space for community groups to meet, etc. Committee member Dorothy Stow stated that when the library's architectural design is under consideration, there may well be interest from various corporations in funding specific pieces, such as a technology room, a children's reading room, etc. 6. COMMITTEE MEMBERS' COMMENTS AND AGENDA BUILDING Open questions are: What will the consultant do? What help can we count on in devising a written survey, or phone survey? Who will facilitate the focus groups? What are the groups we need to approach? How best to identify groups? What is the best way of getting invitations to the groups? When should we plan study sessions for this group with the city council to be sure that all council members are apprised of the process? 7. ADJOURNMENT Chairperson Hamer adjourned the meeting to February 18, 1998 at 7:00 pm. The next meeting of this committee will be with the library design consultant, David R. Smith on Wednesday, February 18, 1998 at 7:00 pm in the Cupertino Library Story Room. Respectfully submitted, ~~9frdt ð~~ Mary-Ann Wallace Community Library Supervisor Cupertino Library