LAB Minutes 01/20/2016 Naples, Florida, January 20, 2016
LET IT BE KNOWN that the LIBRARY ADVISORY BOARD met on this date in regular session at
10:00 a.m. in the Naples Regional Library with the following members present:
CHAIR: Doris J. Lewis — District 4
VICE-CHAIR: Loretta Murray— District 1
Carla Grieve — District 2
Connie Bettinger-Hennink— District 3
Marjorie H. Gagnon — District 5
ALSO PRESENT: Val Kocin, Library Director
Tanya Williams, Assistant Library Director
Karen Tibbetts, Administrative Assistant
Jon Zoler, President, Friends of the Library
APPROVAL OF MINUTES
Mrs. Lewis asked for additions or corrections to the minutes of December 9, 2015. One minor
correction was noted. Mrs. Grieve moved to approve the minutes with the minor correction. Ms.
Gagnon seconded and the motion was carried unanimously.
REPORT OF OFFICERS — None
COMMUNICATIONS
a—Written
• Mrs. Grieve reported that her Naples Daily News letter was featured as the Letter of the Day
"Color Away" on January 5. Her letter announced that the Vanderbilt Beach Branch Library
was featuring coloring sessions on Thursdays from 5-6:30pm beginning January 7.
• She added that this program became full very quickly.
b— Personal — None
PUBLIC COMMENTS — None
UNFINISHED BUSINESS
1) Employee of the Month —January
• Ms. Bettinger-Hennink nominated Carey Hunt from the Technical Services department for
the January employee of the month. Mrs. Murray seconded the nomination and the motion
passed unanimously.
2) Employee and Employee Nominator of the Year Drawing
• Ms. Gagnon was selected to draw the winners, who will receive a ticket to one of the
lecture and lunch events sponsored by the Friends of the Library.
• Karen Tibbetts from Administration was selected as Employee of the Year.
• Janet Pereira from Headquarters was selected as Nominator of the Year.
NEW BUSINESS
1) Happy Birthday to Doris Lewis and Maggie Gagnon
2) Community Assessment Update
• The Community Assessment Update is waiting for the County Manager's approval.
• Once approved, the assessment will go out for bidding, and vendors will have three weeks
to respond.
• A committee will review the bids and determine the timeline and schedule for
presentations.
• Mrs. Kocin would like to have the assessment done while the seasonal residents are here.
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3) Circulation Policy Recommendation
a) Increase renewals from 2x to 8x
• The Library is considering to increase renewals for materials that do not have any
holds pending from 2 times to 8 times.
• The Library would get feedback from the community before reprinting the brochure.
• After discussion, Ms. Bettinger-Hennink moved to increase material renewals from two
times up to eight times, as long as there are no holds on the materials. Mrs. Murray
seconded and the motion was carried unanimously.
b) Material reserves via phone
• The Library is considering to allow patrons to reserve materials via phone.
• The Library would get feedback from the community before reprinting the brochure.
• Discussion ensued and there were concerns about the impact this would have on staff,
as some locations have lines of patrons waiting for service at the circulation desk.
• Mrs. Kocin stated that it would be a soft-sell to the public.
• Ms. Bettinger-Hennink moved to allow Library staff to accept reserves for materials by
phone. Ms. Gagnon seconded and the motion was carried unanimously.
GENERAL CONSIDERATIONS
• Mrs. Grieve shared an old Library pamphlet entitled "Honor Book Program" and asked if the
program still existed and if she could write an article about it.
• Ms. Williams replied that the pamphlet was replaced with a "Memorial Book Record Form".
• Mrs. Kocin added that she wants to fine tune the parameters for donations to the Library, and
an updated form and instructions will be created.
• Ms. Bettinger-Hennink stated that year's ago, members of the Naples Women's Club, which
started the first library in Naples in 1932, would purchase a book in memory of any member of
the club that passed away and donate it to the Library.
• Ms. Gagnon commented that the Immokalee community has experienced an increased
population of stray dogs in the past few years. Animal services put the crates that stray
animals could normally be placed within in areas that are not easily accessible.
• Ms. Williams replied that the Sheriff's office should be contacted when strays are found,
however, she agreed that the area has not received much support regarding this issue.
• Mrs. Kocin will contact the County Domestic Animal Services Department to see if any help
can be provided regarding this concern.
• Ms. Williams added that she was notified just before the meeting began that the Immokalee
Branch Library was vandalized with graffiti and rocks thrown at the entrance. Fortunately, the
glass is hurricane rated and no damage was incurred.
• The Sheriff's office will be investigating
• Ms. Gagnon expressed concerns about the safety of the newly installed fence in the back
patio area of the Library.
• Ms. Williams replied that the fence was processed and installed by Facilities and Risk
Management and has been a successful deterrent so far.
• Ms. Bettinger-Hennink asked if any of the Library locations were damaged by the recent storm.
• Mrs. Kocin replied that most locations had lots of debris and some power outages. The Golden
Gate branch had a large tree that was uprooted.
• Mrs. Grieve commented that the recent meditation class held in the Sugden Theater at HQ
experienced some unusual water sounds. She suggested that the instructor should undim the
lights before participants get up to leave the room.
• Ms. Williams replied that the staff restrooms are located outside the theater, and staff will be
informed of this request.
• Ms. Bettinger-Hennink reported that a time capsule was created in Golden Gate to be opened
in the year 2040. She added that an unassigned library card was placed inside.
ASSISTANT DIRECTOR'S REPORT
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1) Current Statistics
• Ms. Williams reported that she is waiting for the December statistics to be generated.
• The Library has been capturing additional electronic resources statistics, such as
NewsBank, which is an electronic newspaper database.
• InterLibrary Loan circulation statistics are collected in the following manner:
o Materials sent out from CCPL are included in the HQ statistics
o Materials requested by CCPL patrons are included in the ILL electronic statistics
• HQ door counts are needed for December
• Mrs. Grieve asked how many people visit the Library website.
• Ms. Williams stated that the Library website has shown just under 2 million visits.
• She is working on comparing the visits that are made directly to the Library website vs.
access through the County website. This information should be easier to gather once the
IT migration is completed.
• She added that the Library Webpage is being reviewed to be refreshed.
DIRECTOR'S REPORT
1) Computer Migration Update
• Mrs. Kocin reported that the IT Migration is going well and HQ has new public computers.
• The Library has 360 computers; 280 which are for public use.
• The Library is focusing on replacing computers that require internet access.
• Computer usage is being evaluated. Some locations may need more than one catalog
computer. Others may not need as many public or staff computers.
• NR is next in line to get new public computers, followed by SR.
• Once all the computers are networked with the County IT Department, issues can be
evaluated and sometimes fixed remotely.
2) FY17 Budget Planning
• Each Library location is reviewing the capital improvements ($1,000+) that need to be
done. Facilities staff are visiting each location and will prepare final audit information for
review to determine what items they will pay to improve.
• Facilities has a budget for all County buildings and the audit helps to prioritize the
improvements County-wide.
3) Staffing Update
• Mrs. Kocin reported that HQ has two new staff members: Jared Del-Re, Applications
Analyst and Jeff Sykes, Courier.
• Jared formerly worked for the County IT Dept. and is familiar with the IT Migration and has
internal knowledge of the Library.
• Rand Bass, who headed the Mail-a-Book program retired at the end of December, and
Pamela Moore, children's Librarian at HQ retired mid-January.
• The Mail-a-Book program works in conjunction with other organizations that provide free
services for the blind. The postage of materials is free.
• There are approximately 300-350 active Mail-a-Book patrons.
• Mrs. Lewis commented that a friend of hers began volunteering at NR and received a pin
and a $5 Dunkin Donuts gift card from the Friends of the Library.
REPORT OF THE FRIENDS
• Mr. Zoler reported that the Friends of the Library Board adopted an endowment/investment
policy. Four board members are lawyers and assisted with creating the document. $500K will
be set aside in this restricted endowment.
• The FOL would like to have money available to pay for any slack on programs that may be
less profitable than expected.
• The FOL is in negotiations with the County and Library regarding the policy that was
established 50 years ago pertaining to the discretionary funds the FOL provides to the Library.
• The FOL is reviewing the early registration privileges for its members.
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• They may consider providing programs that are reserved for FOL members only. This may
require a Resolution to be created by the County.
• The FOL has assigned one of its Board members to each of the Library locations. This will
help to develop a relationship with each branch and a system to determine funding for
programs at each location.
• Mr. Zoler handed out information pertaining to the compilation of Library branch
enhancements requests from each location.
• Joe Hessenthaler, FOL Vice President, will keep in touch with Mrs. Kocin regarding this list.
• Ms. Tibbetts will request a list of the FOL Library Liaison's for the next LAB meeting.
• Mr. Zoler stated that each liaison spoke with each branch manager regarding the LEAP
program. Some locations may need more than one student.
• The FOL is considering a senior LEAP student that has transportation available in order to
rotate among the branches.
• Mrs. Murray asked how LEAP students are solicited.
• Ms. Williams replied that the Library notifies the schools about the LEAP program in May, and
the positions are posted on the County's website in June. Interviews and hiring is done during
the summer so that students are ready to begin the first part of September. Selected
applicants are given background checks, drug testing, etc. as are all County employees. The
students are set up with a work schedule based on the school year.
• Ms. Williams added that any student volunteers that become LEAP employees cannot return
to volunteer status at the Library.
• Ms. Lewis asked about the iPads that the FOL purchased for the Library.
• Mrs. Kocin replied that in addition to the 15 iPads initially purchased by the FOL, the Library
purchased two additional sets of 12 iPads to rotate among the branches.
• Mrs. Grieve asked if an old Kindle with ebooks on it could be donated for patron use, but due
to digital rights management, electronic books cannot be donated.
• Discussion ensued regarding the changing roles of the Reference Librarian. It is important for
them to know how to search and evaluate websites to help guide patrons to legitimate
websites for online information.
• Mr. Zoler suggested adding a program on "how to search websites".
ADJOURNMENT
There being no further business to come before the Library Advisory Board, Mrs. Grieve moved to
adjourn, Mrs. Murray seconded and the motion was carried unanimously. The meeting was adjourned
at 11:30 a.m.
The next Library Advisory Board meeting will be held on Wednesday, February 17 at the
Headquarters Library.
Approved by:
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Doris J. Lewis, Chr, Library Advisory Board
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