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LAB Minutes 09/27/2017Naples, Florida, September 27, 2017 LET lT BE KNOWN that the LIBRARY ADVISORY BOARD met on this date in regular session at 1O:OO a.m. in the Headquarters Library with the following members present: CHAIR: VICE-CHAIR: SECRETARY Loretta Murray - District 1 Connie Bettinger-Hennink - District 3 Joy White - District 4 Marjorie H. Gagnon - District 5 Lynne Nordhoff - District 2 ALSO PRESENT:Tanya Williams, Library Director Karen Tibbetts, Administrative Assistant Cathi Johnson, incoming President, Friends of the Library PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE APPROVAL OF MINUTES Mrs. Murray asked for additions or corrections to the minutes of August 23,2017 . Ms. Bettinger- Hennink reported that a sentence was duplicated in the minutes and needed to be removed. Mrs. Nordhoff moved to approve the minutes as corrected. Ms. Bettinger-Hennink seconded and the motion was carried unanimously. REPORT OF THE FRIENDSo Cathi Johnson introduced herself as the incoming Friends of the Library President.. She reported that the FOL office experienced significant water damage and will need new furniture and equipment.o Ms. Williams reported that the drains on the flat roof of the Naples Regional Library became clogged during Hurricane lrma, and the ceiling gave way due to the water pooling on the roof above the FOL office.o The FOL office has been temporarily relocated to another room on the east side of the building, however, the phone and internet are not workrng at this time. REPORT OF OFFICERS - None COMMUNICATIONS a - Wrifteno UIrs. Nordhoff shared a copy of the September 20 Naples Daily News newspaper article written by Carla Grieve.. Ms. Williams reported that the Library's 60th Anniversary event did not take place as Headquarters did not have power until Friday, Sept. '15, and the parking lot was not accessible.o She added that the event will be rescheduled for December or March and will be the 60-1/4 yeat ot 60-112 year Anniversary event. b - Personal - None PUBLIC COMMENTS - None UNFINISHED BUSINESS I ) Employee of the Month - September. Mrs. Nordhoff nominated Jared Del Re, Applications Analyst at Administration, as the September employee of the month. Mrs. Gagnon seconded the nomination and the motion passed unanimously. 1 . Ms. Gagnon was pleased that Joanne Gardner from lmmokalee was selected as the July EOM at the August LAB meeting.. Ms. Williams reported that Silvia Puente was recognized as the County's July Employee of the Month at yesterday's BCC meeting. She added that Silvia and staff at the lmmokalee Library have been a tremendous help to the lmmokalee community during the month of September. 2) 2018-2022 Strategic Plan & FY18 Annual Plan of Servicer Ms. Williams distributed copies of the Library's 5 year Strategic Plan and FY '18 Annual Plan of Service. o She explained that FY1 8 will be the kickoff for the strategic plan and workgroups will be created to design the Library's annual plan of service and new processes as a benchmark for the next five years. o Ms. Williams will review the status of these plans in May.o She added that the Library will begin generating the FY19 plans in January, and the information should be ready to present to LAB members in February.o Mrs. Gagnon asked for clarification regarding the g out of l0libraries mentioned on page 9 of the Library's Annual Plan of Servrce document.o Ms. Williams explained that a Master of Library Science degreed librarian would not be necessary at the Everglades City location.. Ms. Bettinger-Hennink asked if a bookmobile would be an alternative to reach residents in remote locations. o Discussion ensued regarding the possibility, however, the minimum cost for a bookmobile would be $250K, which would not include the added services of maintenance and staffing. The conversation led to the discussion of the status of Libraries Post-Hurricane lrma. Ms. Williams reported that Everglades City experienced a storm surge with about one foot of water through City Hall.r The Everglades City library lost 96 books from the collection, and under the direction of the interim Mayor, a crew began cleaning the library and boxing up materials in order to work on restoring the building.. Everglades City is currently without power, and it is estimated lo take three to six months for City Hall to be back in operation.o Everglades City consists of less than 1 ,000 homes. 23 were destroyed and over 500 sustained major damage.. Bill Wilkins, Library Operations Coordinator, will be visiting Everglades City today, and will provide a report on the restoration progress.. The Library will tailor its services to fit the space allocated for the library to operate in the interim.. Ms. Williams stated that it is important for residents to have access to computers and Library materials.. Dan Summers, Director of the Bureau of Emergency Services for Collier County, stated at yesterday's BCC meeting that the County is still operating in disaster-response mode, not recovery mode.. Ms. Williams stated that the bulk of damage to the Libraries was from debris.o With the exception of Everglades City, the East Naples Branch was the last location to reopen, which was mainly due to the parking lot being inaccessible.. All Library locations were open through Thursday, September 7.o When the full activation of emergency services occurred at 8 a.m. on Friday, September 8, many Library staff were reassigned to emergency duties or other library locations.o The three Regional Libraries and the Golden Gate branch were open to the public on Friday, September 8.. Ms. Williams stated that when an emergency is declared in the County, Library staff are primarily responsible for family assistance/childcare for County staff and first responders. 2 a Ms. williams began assisting with chirdcare on saturday, sept. 9, and reported that the kidswere able to experience Hurricane rrma on the television as we as through the windows. Thesignificance of the hurricane was exprained to them and they were arso brought outside toexperience the "eye" of the storm. ln addition, staff assisted with.the Emergency phone Bank Ho ine, the special Needs phone Bank, and severar sherters. These duties rasted for two weeks, when "r"rg.n"y ,L;i"".were deactivated at 6 p.m. on Friday, September 22. south Regional and Golden Gate branches were open to the public on Friday, september 1s. The south Regional location parking lot was used as a staging area for heavy equipment andgenerators pre-storm and post-storm. The Collier County Sheiiff's Department alio utilized theparking lot. The county has estimated the damage from Hurricane lrma to be $100 million, with approximately $10 million estimated for debris removal. Ms. Bettinger-Hennink asked how Library fines were handled. Ms. Williams reported that fines were suspended through September 20. She added that some book drops were locked during the storm, and no significant water damage occurred in the book drops. Mrs. Nordhoff shared a Mallard Fillmore comic strip which featured Danvers, Massachusetts' residents paying their Library fines with chuck E. cheese tokens. The collier county public Library did not experience this. Mrs. white asked if library cards within a family unit could have their accounts "linked" so that any member of the family could check out materials for another family member using their own card. Ms. Williams stated that Federal law, Florida Statute 257, prohibits the Library from sharing patron information. Parents are able to access a minor's account for the sole purpose of recovering materials and paying fines. Minors are children aged 16 years or less. Mrs. Gagnon stated that although she does not like the email reminders, she appreciated being able to access eBooks during the hurricane. a a a a a NEW BUSINESS - None GENERAL CONSIDERATION. Ms. Bettinger-Hennink asked if the self-check-out stations can alert a patron whenever their library card is about to expire. Currently, the system will automatically adjust the due date to default to the library card's expiration date whenever items would be due after that date.. Ms. Williams will see if the system can include this alert.o Ms. Bettinger-Hennink reported that the Collier County Public School Board revised the academic calendar, and she wanted to alert the library locations that hire security guards for early release days of the revisions. DIRECTOR'S REPORT 1) Staffing Update. Ms. Williams stated that six positions were posted before Hurricane lrma.. Applicants are currently being interviewed for the five Library Assistant positions.o The verbiage forthe vacant Teen Services Librarian position has been reworked and this position will repost for three weeks. lt will also be posted on the FLA website.. The postings for the Branch Manager positions at the East Naples, Estates and lmmokalee branches are pending BCC approval at the final budget hearing to be held on Thursday, September 28.o Ms. Williams stated that these positions may need to be reposted, as some people may not have applied since the position was pending approval. 3 The only Library staff member retiring will be Margaret Norona, who has been a Library Assistant at Naples Regional for 17 years. Her last day will be October 11, 2017 . Mrs. Nordhoff asked if any help was needed for the Fall Book sale. Ms. williams instructed her to contact Carey Hunt. 2) Status of Libraries Post-Hurricane lrmao This item was discussed earlier in the meeting.o Ms. Williams reported additional information pertaining to the lmmokalee Branch Library.. The lmmokalee location was in a unique position as the nearby Career Resource Center was damaged during the storm and the lmmokalee Parks & Recreation Sports Complex housed residents in need of shelter. As a result, representatives of various government offices needed a centralized location fortheir operations, and the lmmokalee Library accommodated them.o silvia Puente worked to coordinate over 50 non-profits to help serve the community. Congressman Mario Diaz-Balart also set up operations at the lmmokalee Library.. silvia also transported staff from the county Manager's office to residents in need.. Ms. Williams would like to advocate additional staffing at the lmmokalee Library as well as expanding the building. She added that the library's location is at the center of the lmmokalee community.. Ms. Bettinger-Hennink asked if any Library staff experienced any serious damage from the storm.. Ms. Williams replied that she continues to work with Carolann Adams, who lost her mobile home. Although the County offers transitional housing, Ms. Adams declined the offer. John Alexander from the Marco lsland library experienced roof damage. Most everyone else experienced minor damage and a lot of debris cleanup. ADJOURNMENT Mrs. Murray asked if there was any more business to discuss. There being no further business to come before the Library Advisory Board, Mrs. Murray announced that the meeting was adjourned. The meeting was adjourned at 1 1 :15 a.m. The next LAB meeting will be held on Wednesday, October 18,2017 at the Headquarters Library, 2385 Orange Blossom Drive, Naples, FL 34109. Approved by Loretta Murray, Chair Library Advisory Board 4 X.rffi.