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LAB Minutes 11/15/202330.A.4 Naples, Florida, November 15. 2023 LET IT BE KNOWN that the LIBRARY ADVISORY BOARD met on this date at 10:00 a.m. in the Headquarters Library with the following members present: CHAIR: Connie Bettinger- District 3 VICE -CHAIR: Joan Hochschild - District 1 SECRETARY: Joy White - District 4 Marjorie H. Gagnon - District 5 (via Zoom) Carla Grieve - District 2 ALSO PRESENT: Catherine Cowser, Library Director Rosemary LaBarge, Library Assistant Director Karen Tibbetts, Library Operations Support Specialist I Susan Maunz, Manager. Headquarters Library Julie Blatt, Manager, Naples Regional Library Chloe Snider, Branch Manager, Vanderbilt Beach Branch Library Matthew Etzel, Library Program Coordinator Alaina Jackson, Library Program Coordinator Cindy Ruddy, FOL President Melanie Wicker, Collier County Resident CALL TO ORDER 1) Grant LAB Member remote attendance (Motion & Approval) • Due to inclement weather, Dr. Hochschild initiated the start of today's meeting, pending Ms. Bettinger's arrival. • Ms. White moved to approve remote attendance for Ms. Gagnon. Mrs. Grieve seconded, and the motion was carried unanimously. PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE APPROVAL OF MINUTES Ms. Bettinger asked for approval of the meeting minutes of October 18, 2023. Ms. White noted one minor error. Mrs. Grieve moved to approve the minutes as corrected. Ms. Bettinger seconded, and the motion was carried unanimously. AWARDS AND RECOGNITIONS 1) Library Division Cheers for Peers Recipients for October • Copies of the October Cheers for Peers recipients were provided to LAB members. 2) County Service Awards and VIP Certificates for October • Mrs. LaBarge read the two October Values in Practice certificates for Jaya Gopalan and Jean Farrar, who worked together to develop adult programs, which are held in the teen area at the Headquarters Library. • Their first program on painting was successful, and their next program will be on stress relief. Mrs. Maunz invited LAB and FOL members to the Headquarters Library staff plus one Thanksgiving luncheon to be held on November 30 from 11:30am-2:30pm. Ms. Tibbetts will forward the kudos form to members if they would like to participate to recognize library staff. Packet Pg. 612 30.A.4 Ms. Bettinger added that in the past, library staff could nominate one of their peers to be reviewed and selected by LAB members to be recognized in its internal employee of the month recognition program. Years ago, this program was ended: however, employees can still be nominated to be recognized through the County's employee of the month recognition program. BOARD REPORTS 1) Report of Officers -None 2) Report of Committees a. Review of By -Laws (members to review after today's meeting) Ms. Bettinger confirmed that LAB members will meet after today's meeting for its annual review of its By -Laws. PRESENTATIONS 1) Report of the Friends of the Library (FOL) • Mrs. Ruddy stated that the majority of funding received by the Friends of the Library comes from individual donations. • She stated that Dr. Papadopoulos, a former Naples cardiologist, donated over $250k throughout the years to the FOL. • She added that recently the FOL was bequeathed a donation from Naple's resident Marilyn Montgomery for $300k. • Mrs. Ruddy stated that the Friends of the Library is actively seeking new board members and encouraged everyone to spread this news • The FOL Local Author Book Fair will be held on Saturday, November 18 from 10am-3pm at the South Regional Library, Over 45 local authors will be present. • Ms. Bettinger stated that she has seen many social media posts about this event and the authors. • The Librarians coordinated interviews with some of the participating authors to post through social media ahead of the event. • Mrs. Cowser added that the FOL Signature Series event was held yesterday at the Headquarters Library. • Mrs. Cowser thanked the Friends of the Library for their recent three donations in the amounts of $16,820.78, $10,949.26 and $20,000.00 to provide funding for various library programs and projects by the Collier County Public Library. • She added that the FOL will be purchasing gift cards for Library volunteers. • The FOL provided $6k in funding genealogy databases and continues to support library wish lists, eBooks, Mail -a -Book, Summer Reading Programs, and supplies for library programs. 2) Report of the Library Director a. Statistics i. Review from October 18, 2023 LAB meeting • Mrs. Grieve asked for clarification on one of the handouts provided at last month's meeting, as it did not indicate what the statistics were for • Mrs. LaBarge stated that the chart indicated door counts at the Library. • The Library compared operating expenditures among 67 Florida counties. • The big takeaway of the comparison is that the Library needs more eBooks. • The comparison report showed that the funds raised by the Collier County FOL topped the list at $325k. i► Packet Pg. 613 30.A.4 • Mrs. LaBarge reported that additional data points needed to be added to the State Aid application as many factors with services and storms affected the statistics gathered. • Dr. Hochschild asked if the libraries are penalized, as the public schools are, if they receive donations from other sources. • Mrs. Cowser replied that State Aid funding is awarded based on expenses. • Mrs. Cowser reported that the biggest area of concern for the Library is staffing to accommodate the seasonal population of the County. • South Regional. Naples Regional, Marco Island and Vanderbilt Beach libraries experience the most seasonal fluctuations. • As the Library currently cannot hire temporary labor, current staff have been reassigned to other locations to ensure library services are provided b. General Operations L Facilities • Mrs. Cowser stated that as the Library's facilities are getting older, it is important to schedule preventative maintenance. • Recently the FOL provided funding to replace the carpeting in the Rees Room, Genealogy Room, and West Hallway at the Naples Regional Library. • Ms. Blatt is currently gathering carpeting prices through Mohawk for the children's rooms at the Headquarters, Naples Regional. Estates, and Immokalee locations, and the circulation area at Headquarters. • Mrs. Cowser added that the children's rooms are a priority as there are many small children that come to the library on a regular basis. • Naples Regional has been experiencing issues with the brick portico on the east side of the building. The County is performing structural and soil testing to firm up the foundation that has been compromised by storms. • The Library has been doing a system -wide clean-up and review of its assets and supplies. • Staff are encouraged to offer any items or surplus office supplies to other locations to minimize any additional purchases. ii. Programming • Mrs. Cowser stated that the Library has been increasing its programming as a result of FOL sponsorship. • Staff are currently looking for alternative presenters, as recently the Mini Moo Zoo has permanently closed. • Mrs. Cowser stated that the Library has not reached it programming limits since COVID. • She was excited to report that 70 kids attended a recent story time. • Ms. Snider reported that Library staff will be attending the upcoming SnowFest outreach event to be held at the Paradise Coast Sports Complex on Saturday. December 2. • Library staff will also be in attendance at the Winter Celebration at the Golden Gate Community Center on the same day. iii. Staffing • Mrs. Cowser introduced Alaina Jackson, who recently accepted a Program Coordinator position at Headquarters. • She will be helping with staff training. 3 M M 0 m L 0 a J LO ti N M N O N �i r aD E aD 0 z Packet Pg. 614 30.A.4 • Mrs Cowser has not received any news on when the Library can resume posting its vacant positions. She is hoping to have an update after December 1. • She added that staff are actively recruiting volunteers, as volunteer hours have continued to decline. • Students that need service hours for their graduation continue to provide help: however, their hours are limited to afternoons and weekends. • Ms. Bettinger asked if any staff are retiring. • Mrs. Cowser said fortunately not, and that Janet Pereira, Program Coordinator in Technical Services, will be celebrating 25 years of service and will be recognized at the BCC's December 12 meeting. • Ms Bettinger asked if Mrs. Pereira could also be recognized at the Library's November 30 luncheon. Mr. Etzel reported that the Library will be ending its $8k annual subscription with Evanced. the software used for meeting room and program sign ups. He is currently working with another vendor that is used by Parks and Recreation to provide these services for a one-time set up fee of $5k. He added that another vendor offered the services at $20klyear. PUBLIC PETITIONS TO THE BOARD FOR FUTURE CONSIDERATION • Melanie Wicker, M.A.T.S recently wrote a letter to the editor of the Naples Daily News, entitled "Speak Out to School Board", which was published on Saturday, November 11. • She wrote about the censorship and banning of books and the Board of County Commissioners decision to terminate the Library's ALA membership. She encouraged members of the public to attend upcoming Collier County School Board meetings and Library Advisory Board meetings • Ms. Wicker holds a Master of Arts and Theological Studies degree and as she listened to today's meeting, she came up with a list of questions about her concerns. • Have there been any impacts caused by the recent cancellation of the Library's American Library Association (ALA) membership by the Board of County Commissioners? How is this affecting the Library and its staff? • Ms. Bettinger asked if she could compile her questions and send them to LAB members and Library administrative staff to review and address at their January 17, 2024 meeting. She encouraged Mrs. Wicker to attend the meeting for discussion. • Discussion ensued regarding the BCC's decision to immediately end the Library's ALA membership at their October 10 meeting, • LAB members were surprised and disappointed that the BCC did not contact the Library Advisory Board, or meet with the Library Director, for their input ahead of this meeting. Ms. White attended the meeting and spoke to the Commissioners in rebuttal of the untruths presented by the other speakers on this agenda item. She reported that she has seen a trend across the Country from these groups bypassing Library Directors and Advisory Boards, and instead going directly to County Commissioners with their agenda. • Further discussion ensued regarding this group selecting specific wording out of context and not considering the true content of published materials. The concerns the group presented referenced issues with Public School Libraries, which differ from Public Libraries; however, the Commissioners did not recognize this fact. • Ms. White added that she received a note from the ALA's President, Emily Drabinski. in response to the comments she made at the BCC meeting. The note was delivered to her attention at the St. Ann's Catholic School, as Ms. White had informed the Commissioners that she is building the collection of its library materials, using her personal ALA account El N O N ti M c M Packet Pg. 615 30.A.4 for reference. The note thanked Ms. White for going before the BCC and expressing her opinion on the comments Ms. Drabinski had posted through social media. • LAB members were also concerned that Commissioner Hall had a meeting after the vote that was only publicized to constituents in his district through his social media site. They felt that the meeting should have been publicly announced and available to any concerned County citizen, and not be restricted to limited attendance requiring an RSVP. • In addition, LAB members who were able to attend were disappointed that the meeting was not facilitated by Commissioner Hall, but by a County employee who talked about transportation, roads, waste pickup, recycling, etc. and any questions were to be directed to the employee, not the Commissioner. Also, no time was allowed for the public to discuss any other matters or concerns. • Ultimately, LAB members felt that despite Ms. White's career credentials as a Librarian and her conversation with the Commissioners at their October meeting, their decision to terminate the Library's ALA membership was predetermined and not based on facts. • Currently.. the Library has a Request for Reconsideration process in place for anyone who has an issue with any Library materials in its collection. The Library has been supported by the ALA's Library Bill of Rights and Freedom to Read statement, which were established to protect Americans' freedom to read. • Ms. Bettinger stated that throughout the 16 plus years that she's been on the Library Advisory Board, no reconsiderations submitted ever proceeded past review by the LAB. Any misconceptions or concerns brought to their attention for review were resolved by Library staff. PUBLIC COMMENTS ON GENERAL TOPICS RELATED TO THE LIBRARY DIVISION - None UNFINISHED BUSINESS - None NEW BUSINESS 1 j 2024 Library Advisory Board Meeting Dates 1 Locations (Motion) • Library Advisory Board members reviewed the draft of the 2024 LAB meeting schedule. • After review and discussion regarding the branch library location meeting history, they decided to meet at the Estates Branch Library in June and the Vanderbilt Beach Branch in September. As the Library's hours of operation have changed and branch library locations open at 10!00 am, members decided to change the start time for the LAB meetings to 10:30 am to allow adequate time for staff, members and the public to set up for and attend the meetings. Dr. Hochschild moved to accept the Library Advisory Board's 2024 Meeting Schedule and 1 &30 am start time for the meetings as agreed upon. Ms. Gagnon seconded. and the motion was carried unanimously. PUBLIC COMMENTS ON GENERAL TOPICS RELATED TO THE LIBRARY DIVISION - None ADJOURNMENT There being no further business to come before the Library Advisory Board, the meeting was adjourned at 11:25 a.m. N O N L c �a 0 m 0 a L 72 J Ln I- ti N M N O N L aD 0 z Packet Pg. 616 30.A.4 Mrs. Cowser will update LAB members as to the format of the Library Advisory Board meeting scheduled to be held on Wednesday, January 17, 2024, at the Headquarters Library, 2385 Orange Blossom Dr., Naples, FL 34109. 239.252-7311. The annual Library Advisory Board meeting, at which an election of officers will be held, will begin at 10:30 am. Their regular meeting will follow. Library Advisory Board members met after today's meeting to review their by-laws. After discussion and review, they agreed to keep the by-laws as written. Dr. Hochschild moved to accept the Library Advisory Board By -Laws as written. Mrs. Grieve seconded, and the motion was carried unanimously. Approved by:: C , Connie Bettinger, Chair Library Advisory Board I N O N ti L c CU L M0 W L O Q L J LO ti N M N O N L d E a) O Z Packet Pg. 617