SANTA  MONICA  PUBLIC  LIBRARY  BOARD

 

Minutes of the REGULAR Meeting of October 6, 2005

To Be Approved

 

 

 

 

A REGULAR meeting of the Library Board was called to order by Chairperson, Edward Edwards, at 7:00 p.m., Thursday, October 6, 2005 at the Montana Ave. Branch Library, 1704 Montana Ave., Santa Monica.

 

Call to Order

PRESENT:

Boardmember Breisch, Chairperson Edwards, Boardmember Field, Boardmember Oppenheim and Boardmember Stern

 

Roll Call

ALSO PRESENT:

Sherrill Kushner, community member; Jean Ann Holbrook, community member; Councilmember Robert Holbrook;  Susan Annett, Principal Librarian for Public Services; Rachel Foyt, Administrative Analyst

 

 

Community member, Sherrill Kushner, addressed the Board regarding issues related to Montana Ave. Branch maintenance and landscaping. She also informed the Board that Santa Monica Public Library, Librarian, Sylvia Anderle, won the New York Times Librarian of the Year Award. Ms. Anderle is the Children’s and Latino outreach librarian. The Library Board will send a congratulatory letter to Ms. Anderle.

 

Communications from the Public

Boardmember Field made a motion to approve the minutes of the Library Board meeting of September 1, 2005.  Boardmember Oppenheim seconded the motion.  The minutes were approved in a unanimous voice vote.

 

Approval of the Library Board Minutes

Rachel Foyt, Administrative Analyst, gave a report on the Friends of the Library activities to the Board.

 

Report from the Friends of the Library, a Library Support Group

Jon Arenberg, Chair of the Friends of the Library, is working to enhance the Friends website to enable on-line contributions. August memberships were particularly strong. The Friends are moving forward with their Grow the Friends membership program.  They are in the process of developing a brochure in conjunction with the program.

 

 

Kent Lewis, Book Store Chair, reported that the draft of the volunteer manual is complete and he has a list of 64 potential volunteers for the book store.

 

 

Susan Annett, Principal Librarian for Public Services gave a report on the New Main Library construction activities.   

  • Striping & signage in the garage and surface parking lot is ongoing
  • Landscaping to be completed
  • Workers will be cleaning the exterior surfaces of the building windows, ledges and roof levels
  • Sandblasting the Santa Monica Blvd. sidewalk in the transit mall diamond pattern
  • Street re-striping
  • Interior work is being completed - Installing the end panels, interior signage, fire alarm and life safety systems, terrazzo floor and painting
  • Clean up crew will start major cleaning
  • Punchlist work is on-going
  • Staff is working with the Santa Monica Police Department on security and the Santa Monica Fire Department on emergency preparations
  • Extensive training on building systems is on-going

 

 

Update on the New Main Library

Construction Update

Ms. Annett gave a schedule of activity related to the move in to the new Main Library. On Monday, October 17, books will begin to arrive from warehouse storage. The furniture installation begins on November 5. Beginning November 21 the Children’s collection from the Ocean Park Branch will be moved into the Main Library. On December 5 the Temporary Main Library will close and staff will move to the new Main Library.

 

Schedule of Activity

On September 27, City Council approved GW Inc., the owner of Bud’s Deli and Gary’s Grill, as the café vendor for the café space at the new Main Library.

 

Café Vendor Approval

The Board received the calendar of grand opening events for January and February. Ms. Annett stressed that there are a number of new adult program series beginning during these two months. Training for the docent and library guides is beginning soon with an orientation at the Montana Ave. Branch. 

 

 

In response to questions from the Library Board in September Ms. Annett gave a report on the estimated timeline and hours of operation of the Santa Monica Historical Society Museum (SMHSM).

 

Santa Monica Historical Society Museum

To be in compliance with the lease agreement with the City, within 30 days of the library certificate of occupancy, the SMHSM should submit design development plans, a preliminary budget, a construction estimate, a project schedule, a funding plan and a plan for digitizing the photo collections. The Landlord (City) then has 60 days to review and approve or request modifications and the tenant (SMHSM) has 30 days to respond. The premises will be available to the tenant after above approvals and the tenant has submitted an operations plan that includes a staffing plan, a maintenance plan, a program plan, a security plan and the facility is substantially complete. The term of lease is 20 years. Operating hours for the SMHSM are a minimum of 1000 a year. A minimum of 4 hours per week evening hours and a minimum of 6 hours per week on weekends.

 

 

A subcommittee of Boardmember Oppenheim; Chair Edwards; Gordon Anderson, Assistant City Manager; Clyde Smith, Martin Luther King Jr. Coalition; Nat Trives, Martin Luther King Jr. Coalition; and Greg Mullen, City Librarian met to discuss the quote and artwork for the auditorium foyer. Community and Cultural Services will be taking over the completion of this project.

 

Martin Luther King Jr. Coalition

The California Library Association Conference will be held November 4-7 in Pasadena. Chair Edwards expressed interest in attending the workshops on Sunday. He encouraged other boardmembers to attend workshops or the exhibit hall.

 

California Library Association Conference

The Board reviewed and discussed several current Library journal articles. The Board requested that a letter from California Association of Library Trustees and Commissioners regarding the Public Library Construction and Renovation Bond Act of 2006 to be placed on the agenda for the November Board meeting.

 

Nationwide Current Library Trends - Review of Library Journal Articles

On September 23 there was a break–in at the Fairview Branch Library. Items stolen value $5700.00. The building was re-keyed. The City Librarian discussed security precautions with the branches.

 

Secretary’s Report

Fairview Branch Incident

The Board would like a security report on the November agenda.

 

 

The Library has implemented Smart Access Manager a new internet reservation management software. The Branches are using a queuing system while the Temporary Main Library accepts reservations via phone or in house. The software is working well. Patrons are allowed to reserve a one hour session per day. However, with the new software the session can be broken up into segments and used throughout the day.

 

Implementation of Smart Access Manager

Ms. Annett distributed a list of the top 20 most downloaded audiobook titles. Over the past two months the program has experienced a growth from 99 users to 284 users.

 

Net Library Downloadable Audiobooks

The Board asked that a discussion of City activities to support the Gulf Coast City of Bayou La Batre be included in the November agenda.

 

 

The Library Board asked that the following items be included in next Library Board agenda: City activities to support the Gulf Coast City of Bayou La Batre; Letter for Sylvia Anderle; Follow up on the Martin Luther King Jr. Westside Coalition; Public Library Construction and Renovation Bond Act of 2006; security report and a report from the teen council.

 

Agenda Building and Discussion of Long Range Agenda Items

Boardmember Oppenheim moved to adjourn the meeting.  The meeting was adjourned at 7:57 pm.

 

Adjournment

Attest:

Approved:

 

 

Greg Mullen

Edward Edwards

City Librarian

Library Board Chair