Video Description:
Library Advisory Board – December 2023
Read along below:
Speaker 1 0:00
Hey, well, first thing is approval of the previous month’s minutes. I was not here. Thank you so much, Catherine for leaving that meeting. So do from somebody that was here. Do we have a motion to approve the minutes? I’ll move to approve makes a second. What’s the second thing? So minutes from last month approved? And I’m not sure if I need to sign or Katherine does. I think it’s okay. Well, I don’t know. I don’t know. Let’s do that.
Unknown Speaker 0:41
Real Yeah, of course.
Speaker 1 0:52
Spelling Okay, so does not appear that we have any of the members of the public here. So we’ll move on now to
Unknown Speaker 1:05
some new business
Speaker 1 1:07
and volunteer to do our monthly icebreakers there. Thank you.
Speaker 2 1:12
Yeah. Hey, everybody, I hope you enjoy Thanksgiving if you celebrate and a little time off, you don’t, hopefully. And when he does every night at dinner, we do a quick little check in as a rose authority. But I metaphors, of course, and we’re the English teacher. So if you I was just going to invite you to share kind of reflecting at year’s end, a rose from your year. If you’d like authority, you don’t have to that might not be what you want to say. But either way, and then about something you’re looking forward to in 2024. So I can go first or someone else’s you feel so moved can go.
Unknown Speaker 1:58
If you don’t mind. Give us a moment.
Speaker 2 2:00
Yeah, yeah, that’s fine. Um, okay. Let’s see, I put this in my holiday letter. Actually, my bros for the year was this, like a dorky law school thing. But the hell versus state of Montana case? Did any of you follow the kids who took on the state of Montana? I get they basically, Montana has a constitutional right to a healthy environment. And it’s sued the state because the state was giving a lot of deference to extractive industries. And so they sued the state saying, Hey, you’re not protecting the environment for our futures. And they won. So it was a big deal. Yeah, it was a long time coming. You know, some of the kids were like to win the case started. And, of course, there was many different stalling tactics along the way. So they’re like, some of them are adults now think they were youth when they you know, started out, but I just found it really encouraging. And I’m getting involved in the gets called a green amendment. So trying to have a right to, you know, a stable climate, etc. I’m getting involved in a movement to try and get that on the Colorado ballot. So yeah, it inspired me this year. And my thorn was definitely getting COVID twice in a row this fall. That was torture. And my bud is, I’m going to be quitting teaching this spring. So my last semester of full time teaching in the classroom for 20 is going to be the spring semester. So it’s like a kind of a but and we also do a focus something you’re dreading. You don’t have to do it from us. But it’s sort of a banana fungus for joining.
Speaker 1 3:48
Thank you. Yeah, that’s a great question I’ve ever heard Rosen thrown I’d never heard of but before and I like to find guests as well. I’ll go next. Roads for us. Sort of a personal note, we’ve been working on our backyard for what feels like forever. Finally, like got the Deccan gas like grass in so it’s functional. So that was a big rose. I’ll say 13 Was the results of the landmark ballot measures. A new for the library as well as I was really hoping for the Performing Arts Center and a butthead to look forward to it’s just down I’m hoping for some good travels and get back into hiking this year. So looking forward to that and I’ll pass to whoever wants to go next.
Speaker 2 4:42
Okay, next so for going off as I travel probably that would be my big risk for the year it was like a go to a couple of countries, which is the most I’ve ever done before, so I was glad to be able to have those experiences. Thorin repeat Katherine’s I also got to twice in a row after. Yeah, so that was no fun this year. And then probably, but for next year is I’m having friends reach out from out of state saying that they’re gonna come visit us. So looking forward to that for next year
Speaker 3 5:24
I can go next. I don’t know who all is in the room. So, but I’ll go. So my role is is I was selected by the city council to be Mayor Pro Tem. So I was very excited about that. Oh, yeah, I was like, yeah. Thank you. Thank you. Um, Thorne is right now I’m at home with a respiratory infection. I is actually better this morning. It was just a little slit and it was really swollen. So I think all the, you know, the antibiotics and kind of flushing it all out. I had not been this sick since COVID. And it’s been lingering on for about three weeks now. So and my kids I had seven out today don’t six out today. Seven out Friday. And yeah, it’s just it’s bad. So the sickness stuff is that’s a thorn a bud. So my daughter is, she lives in Phoenix. She’s actually decided to study law. So she’s currently she had stepped away from school. She decided to go back. So she’s just going to, she’s going to community college there. She’ll be transferring to ASU next year. And she’s studying law. So that is like, I’m living vicariously through her right. I’m very proud of her. So she’s she’s overcome many obstacles. And I’m just proud of the young human being she’s become so yeah, that’s what I’m looking forward to.
Unknown Speaker 7:16
The few of us left or
Speaker 1 7:19
just let y’all know you can’t see here’s industry was myself, Cynthia, Jamie, John and Tracy is always there, like public media representative. So that is who you are talking to.
Speaker 4 7:33
Sure, I’ve got my rose and Thorne are kind of in the pet st package, because we’ve had car troubles for the last I don’t even know how many years. And our last car which was a Subaru, which should have been really good. But we got it from Pennsylvania and had a lot of rust, unfortunately, kind of just quit on us. And so I commute from Fort Collins, it’s definitely a need for us to have a car. So it was a big struggle in the moment. And my dad bless us hugely by just buying us a brand new car. So that was a huge rose. For us this year finally did not have to stress about that. And so it was just a huge blessing and not have to worry about it. And then but I would say it’s just going to actually visit family this next year. And then also celebrating my mom’s 60th birthday and my grandma’s 80th birthday. All in one kind of big party. So looking forward to those.
Speaker 5 8:33
I’ll take the plunge, why not? I’m in a weird headspace tonight. So this is actually challenging me. It’s um, interestingly, it’s an exercise that my family has done for probably 10 years, at least around the dinner table, and we still do it. And we come up with our own stuff to add to which is funny. I’m used to doing it about my day. So when I think about the whole freaking hair, oh, my gosh, you know what? I got to do a lot of neat stuff this year for the first time, like try different things, volunteer in different capacities. I’m not like, I’m not making this up. I think that being a part of this board and part of this work, and my work with the friends and volunteer, the central elementary library. Like those have definitely kept me afloat and connected me to something that I have a passion for. So yeah, those were highlights to my year getting to participate in a an election in the way that I did. You know, actually, I think I was more informed about the issues and the candidates and everything going on in Longmont and Boulder County than I’ve ever been. I mean, this is my second year in Colorado. Hello. So I took me a minute my my thorn. I also tried to do some neat stuff that didn’t quite pan out. So my thorn is going to be tied to my bud in that I am hopeful that the next year brings new opportunities and kind of new paths for me.
Speaker 1 10:35
Okay, I guess. Yes. And we’re always hoping to pass.
Unknown Speaker 10:40
No, no, it’s fine.
Unknown Speaker 10:41
I agree. Yeah.
Speaker 6 10:44
So in all cases, this is all very personal for me. I mean, there’s certainly work things that are tied into this. I think everyone, or at least most everyone knows that when I started here. Last year. My wife had passed away a week before. And so my, what does it goes? Like? I mean, you know, I’ve made it through this first year, I guess, is my rose, you know, I mean, and a lot of that has to do with lawn lawn, and the people here. And everything about it, you know, is has kept me my family. Of course, my wife’s family in particular, actually. So, um, you know, there’s, I tried to keep a positive spin on things. That’s something that came from Laurie if you knew her. So my thought is that she’s still not forgetting here. So you know, that’s gonna be my thought every year for as long as I can see. Without that goes without saying, but my bud is I’m still here. Talking everybody, I did make it through a year, I wasn’t really sure what this first year was going to bring, if I’m honest. So I’m here to tell about it. And in this year, I’ve done some things for her. I’ve spread some ashes in some places that I wanted to do for her so. So there’s a holding one of those things that keep the good memories there.
Speaker 1 12:17
Well, thanks so much, Catherine. Thank you all for sharing. I really wish that we were sitting around the table, if you drink having a drink, great. Continuing on with business, but I really appreciate the question. And everyone’s responses. Okay, let’s see. Moving on. The next item I put on was I wanted to talk a little bit about sustainability in the future. And I think that this can be a continuing conversation. So of course, we don’t have to have it all right now. But I wanted to pose the question is what is going to be sustainable for the library going forward, and I’m, I’m thinking, particularly in the short term. Now that we know the will of voters with that ballot measure earlier this year, as well as learning that the budget will stay the same, which in my mind is a cut with the collections budget increasing? I think that in my time on this board, I’ve just been blown away by the commitment of the staff here, and how much they’re doing and their time from our conversations. Burnout is a concern I would have, just because there is so much that everyone here is doing. So John, I don’t know if you have any thoughts on this. And like I said, I just hope this is a continuing conversation. And Susie is their liaison, and I was gonna ask you a little later during your report, but if you’re I’m not sure if you’ll continue to be early as on in the new year or not. But just just any, any ways that we can get this information to counsel that? There might, I don’t know, there might need to be some things that change in the short term. But John, I’ll pose that to you first, because I’m not sure if that’s actually the case.
Speaker 6 14:19
Yeah, I know. I mean, I think it is, you know, the staff here long before me have just been tremendous and what they provide it a level that’s way above what I think anything is realistic for a staff of the size for those city of the size, honestly, and everyone just works tirelessly. And that’s with, you know, programming and services we do. And I you know, I don’t know you mean for the benefit of retaining good staff, you know, and not burning them out. I don’t know I don’t know, at least going forward in whatever it’s going to look like certainly in the next year or but, and maybe beyond, you know, if we can really sustain that without losing good people. And what does that look like? I don’t have exactly that answer. You know, I could, just thinking about the sheer number of programs that we do in a year between children and adults. And outreach, which I’ll talk to you specifically in a second, but I don’t know, you know, the, we may have to really take a deep look, that’s something I’m talking with my leadership team here and really prioritize and make some a previous boss of mine would call forced choices. You know, so what, what do we prioritize? And what can we let go, at least for now, in order to maintain sanity here? You know, I think people have plugged along all along, thinking there’s some future here of support. And it was twofold, right, the voters had to say, and then the city didn’t do anything for my budget. So you know, it’s like, the knife was turned a little bit. So that hurts. For outreach, specifically, and I probably said this before. But you know, it’s a, it’s a department of one, and my priorities for like budget requests, as well as the election more to support that new department, and really get out there long line, and continue to make the difference that Lillian is making, and you’ll get to meet her at some future meeting here. She’ll come here, if you’d have a matter, but she’s fantastic. But you know that that candle is burning. And so I’m talking with her, probably more than anybody in this kind of prioritization and forced choices, like what? What needs to go so that, you know, it’s something that she can continue to do without burning completely out, and we’re left with nothing, which would even be worse. So, you know, these are things on my mind. And that sense, when I think of sustainability Summit is going to be a matter of fact, collections you brought up and I see your hand, Katherine, just one second, while I ramble. But with collections, the biggest thing there and then I tried to budget for is, when I started here, we were just starting in pre processing materials, right? We didn’t do that before. Here, we have the staff that did all the physical labor of jacketing and stickering books. Now we pay for it as a part of getting the books in, which is still a way better decision, because it gets materials on the shelves much faster. It streamlines everything regarding that, however, that comes at a cost. So without a budget increase to collections, that effectively means a cut, because we have to pay for that pre processing through that collection budget. And that’s across the board. So that’ll mean less adult books, less children’s books than we’ve had in your previous until we can get that resolved. And it may not be immediately obvious to a lot of people that you know, think about for sure, things that we would normally do, like, you know, a top selling author that has a new book out that everyone wants that we would probably buy a minimum of 10 copies of, we’re probably going to have to cut that in half, or maybe just buy a few and rely on the consortium borrowing to fulfill that. So that’ll hurt at some point. Okay.
Speaker 2 18:47
This is just a quick question. And Susie, you might know the answer, but did prior to you meeting and getting the information that your budget was not being increased in our letter go out to counsel? Yeah, I sent the letter. Sorry.
Speaker 3 19:05
And I mentioned it as well during our counsel.
Speaker 2 19:11
Okay, so our, our attention, please. I want to on deaf ears. All right. Well,
Speaker 3 19:15
I mean, it’s a process. It’s a process. So we cannot just add, you know, we had our,
Unknown Speaker 19:25
our, our or
Speaker 3 19:27
our organizational meetings. So we have the election. We had our organizational meeting where we were assigning positions, you know, for liaisons and so the the last meeting we had where we did the reorganization, there wasn’t any major business to be conducted. And then this last one was just kind of filling in past ordinances and readings that we that we had to hear prior to the election that were on the docket. So I’ll continue more during our, our accounts or my counsel update. But I don’t think it fell on deaf ears. It’s just going to be a process in how we can really look at the look at things. And really what’s going to come up to council for vote. It sounds like right now a lot of the stuff was and John, you can correct me if we do have something we can kind of get in there. You know, I think if we look at reallocation of funds, I don’t know if we have all the council’s support on that. But, but a lot of it is Harold.
Unknown Speaker 20:45
So Harold decides where I sit
Speaker 3 20:49
when we’ve already voted on our budget. So then there’s like the reallocation of funds or sound footage. There’s a word for it. It’s not reallocation of funds, and I can’t, it’s escaping me right now. I’m taking a lot of cool.
Speaker 3 21:10
Yeah, so, you know, I’ve had conversations, it sounds like, you know, there’s some things that are organizational, and there’s some things that will become just as a policy. Does that make sense? And I’ll get into more detail when we when I bring up my council update because I have some ideas.
Speaker 2 21:32
Okay, I just wanted to clarify in terms of John’s sharing, yes. feeling about it, that we were given a hard no, after they read our letter.
Speaker 3 21:41
I know there was no hard No, there was no like they they took it in five
Speaker 2 21:46
Herald though. I mean, the letter never went to her old or Harold didn’t get I don’t know about the timeline kind
Speaker 1 21:53
of at all. So I will, I was sure. And then John and Susie, please let me know if I’m wrong. My understanding is that the budget news was communicated prior to our meeting. And then thank you all for working on that letter. I sent that out after y’all met ICC on my communications. So I sent it to council, and then ICC on the city manager mitigate the title Rhonda, assistant city manager, as well as the head of his department. So Jeff, it just kind of as a matter of course. And so it sounds like to me that just nothing changed, like right after that. Is that am I getting that timeline? Correct on as far as you know, pretty
Speaker 6 22:42
much. I mean, the only slight difference there as far as Harold in the city goes is I believe I had met with him before the letter went out. And that’s when I was told that my budget wouldn’t be changing. And just to echo what what Susie was saying, the budget and went to Council, as it was without the without any changes to the library that was voted on. And so, me coming to Harold after the election is after hoping that there was something that could be well, I’ll use Susie’s term reallocate? Because I don’t know, either. But, you know, and that’s where I was told that there’s really no movement there. And then I believe your letter went on after that. Now, I haven’t received any communication, at least personally, from the city or anybody in that sense. And, and then, as soon as he stated, you know, they haven’t had meetings where they can address that. Yeah, anyway.
Speaker 1 23:51
Well, thanks for clarifying that. Thanks for asking that question. Katherine. I think it’s been a timeline. Susie, I think that will just continue. I think I said, I think this is an ongoing conversation, I’m thinking towards our next communication to Council, which is probably going to be you know, I like it to be at least early spring what what format that is I think we can decide whether if it’s a communication, like we passed last time Council night to be heard or so on. But I think that whatever our next communication is, and that’s, you know, our scope is an advisory board is to make that communication. That I think it can be based on this, this continuing conversation. It’s really easy for me to, to suggest that, you know, services be dropped because I know the nature of this work, that if you’re not doing something, somebody’s missing out. You know, it’s a statement across education as well. And and since I’m not an employee here, it’s easy to say that from the outside, but I just really want it as far as I’m concerned. I want to Janet also that he has, I have no idea speak for the board, but he has my support in that. Like sometimes things need to drop if they’re not even supported, which is a really hard thing to say. And so I just hope that, like I said, this can be ongoing. So I plan to add this to old business when appropriate in the next few months.
Speaker 5 25:27
Speaking in my role as liaison to the Friends of the Library, I’ve been thinking about this question a lot, certainly, you know, from before the election, really, and then all the way up through till now. And I just came out of a weekend where the friends were putting on their quarterly or seasonal book sale, and volunteered quite a bit. I love doing that. It gives me joy, it puts me in contact with the community sort of fills my cup with this kind of work. And because of what happened with the election, and with the budget, I was so acutely aware of not only how much work this group of volunteers does,
Unknown Speaker 26:24
but the
Speaker 5 26:28
not sustainable nature of it. Specifically, you know, I can say more about the friends when that part of the agenda comes along. But in regard to library sustainability, the amount of money that the friends raises for the library, and what it covers, ie operational costs, program costs. I would be very, very sad to hear that any council members or anyone with the city. thought oh, well, the friends fill that gap. So we don’t have to try harder. This is a group of largely folks over 60. I’ve sat around a table with the board members and heard them talked about, you know how one bed full may take them out of volunteering. So in terms of legacy planning for that group, you know, they have their own work cut out for them in terms of recruiting members, and some other organizational stuff. However, the fact that we’re all relying on this group of volunteers, they, it’s so physically laborious to go through those couldn’t collect those donations, sort them, get them up here, put them out, move them around, get him out of here. It’s a little I’ll just be transparent, I’m a little ashamed that our city is okay with this. It’s, it’s quite a big chunk of what keeps the library going and allows for all of these wonderful innovative programs that we do offer. Going into next year, if we’re not going to Oh, the other thing is that it’s not it’s it’s not reliable, right? You can’t predict how much money you’re going to bring in in a given month or a given year, from selling the used books with the bookshop. It’s you can estimate but you can’t really know. So you can’t really budget for what the friends are getting. So going into next year, I would just like to revisit the aspect of the conversation that I may have missed before I joined, which is around what fundraising avenues are available to us. Because we are under the city. I don’t know how that works. Is it are the friends the only avenue that we can use? What would be involved in setting up a foundation, on and on and on? What are just the options even if they will require work. I would rather think of a way to put some energy toward that. Because I feel like we run the risk of going off a cliff. If something it’s would not take much, too to derail everything that the friends is doing right now. And in that interest As I fear that the library would be in a very tricky position.
Speaker 1 30:09
Because, Jamie, I really appreciate that context. And I think it’s incredibly important to keep in mind, there were some brief conversations, Katherine might have a better memory of looking at into what does, why don’t we? What is the foundation for the library? Why don’t we have like, what does it take to set up, I can look back Tuesday might need your assistance. But I can look back at some of our notes, I think that would be a good conversation to have in the spring. I’m also interested to hear about how the museum fundraising is going. And I just want to add, from my perspective, as well, as amazing with the front set, provided, you talked about, you know that the right like one bug could derail that organization on this side. I think it’s really important for the library to be making the calls to who is coming, who is not coming, what speakers are competing who is not, and not having a volunteer organization make some of those decisions? Don’t think they are? Don’t we have to? I mean, they always say say yes, so far, but there you submit request to them for purchase
Speaker 6 31:16
if we need funding. All right. Yes, they have to approve it. And the funding. To my knowledge, that’s never been. No, but but but technically, you’re right. So if we funding for an author to come in, and for some reason, the friends habit or for you know, disapproved of it, he has something that then we would either have to find a different way or not proceed? That’s technically true. Yeah. And
Speaker 5 31:42
I just know, for the friends. Yeah. part because I go to all their board meetings to is they just want to help us? Yeah, bear right. Yeah. They they want to say yes, to as many things. The only reason why they might say no, is if they didn’t have the money. That’s the only way to do it. Yeah. I mean, they’re willing to support things financially, that really they shouldn’t be. You know, and I think about the hours they put in, and that it’s free labor, and I don’t want to take advantage of them. Right. But yeah, you’re right, that boundaries, a little soul shake.
Speaker 1 32:23
I mean, not with this group. But I’m thinking, you know, in the future turnover,
Speaker 6 32:28
right. What is the friend stitch and Joel, dynamic could change, right? Because it’s, there’s some power in having the purse strings. Technically,
Speaker 1 32:37
yeah. And anyway, we’ll talk a little bit more about thanking them. I think once we get to the reports and information items, before we move on for this agenda item for now, John, is there anything you’d like to add? Or is anything anyone else would like to add?
Speaker 6 32:55
For me, I think for for this current meeting, I think I’ve said what I wanted to say.
Speaker 2 33:05
Yeah, just curious to clarify, when I first started, we also had kind of like another staff member. And it sounds like we sent that person the letter as well. But I was wondering, like, sign up, maybe some of the city processes or discussions like, I don’t know if that was like temporary to have that person sit in these meetings as staff or be a part of the orientations to bring us on or if that’s something next year that we want to have someone from the city, whether the same role or a different role will be a part of these meetings to have kind of like that understanding or be a part of like hearing, when we’re contributing to things like putting the letters together or just expressing our support or because I know, it’s super helpful to have John and Susie and folks from the city here, but if we maybe need another role, or staff member have a better on the city side for them to kind of better understand what the library is going through. I’m not sure if like bringing another person would be useful and kind of making that happen. So yeah, Jeff. Sorry.
Speaker 1 34:09
Yeah, I think you’re speaking of Jeff, who is the head of making the partner culture, recreation culture so that as the Jeff John’s boss, the rec side, the golf courses, all that stuff, in my understanding funnels up to Jeff. I think that’s a great idea to see if we could have this conversation and meeting he could attend. I don’t know if that’s a possibility, John, or
Speaker 6 34:35
Oh, yeah. All right, just just with some notice. All right, Jeff. And then if it’s relevant, I mean, we tossed around some ideas here and there before about maybe it was a little bit related, but unrelated, but having someone from the city attorney’s office here because we’re discussing something very specific, that where that might have been relevant. That might be also Rihanna. You’re getting Yeah, where we’ve kind of talked about that, or other other city officials where it might might be relevant to happen here. But certainly with enough with notice that’s generally possible. I know some assistant city managers have attended some other boards and commissions when when requested. So Jeff’s boss’s.
Speaker 1 35:26
That’s a really great suggestion. Thanks for bringing that up. So I’m gonna try to I think we have a few things to talk about in the spring, I’ll try to plan out our agendas a little further in advance so we could get the right people here for those conversations. covered, I
Unknown Speaker 35:43
think you’d have your hand up. It did, I can’t remember what I was thinking about.
Speaker 2 35:53
Oh, I just wanted to echo Jamie’s point. In terms of the reliance on the friends and just say that for the five years, I’ve been on this board, it’s been an ongoing point of pain and gratitude, of course, but also just embarrassment, and why can see, do you not see that? I don’t understand. Seems very confusing.
Speaker 1 36:21
Susie, yes. Jackie, Susie, do you have any anything to add to that?
Speaker 3 36:26
Yeah. So you know, some of the ideas that I had been thinking about, and, you know, I know, that we put in for grants for mental health are different, you know, we have a lot of ARPA dollar coming in opioid money, you know, different sources or pots of money coming in from the federal and state vote for Rob Crowley, the federal, but I think in about opportunities where we have not for library, but for other departments, where it might free up some dollars, you know, so kind of, you know, wanting to look at that, where if they put in for a grant for something that we had maybe initially thought we would be funding? You know, it kind of puts that money, it’s like, okay, well, not that it’s extra money. But if a brand is covering a certain program, and being in a for we’ve seen, how can we kind of manipulate things to kind of move funding from one source to another? No, I think that would be kind of taken an avenue of general fund, where, you know, maybe general fund dollars, that would be going to public safety, if they received a grant for X amount of dollars, maybe that X amount of dollars from general fund could actually try to go towards the library, if that makes sense. So trying to crap time, trying to create a creative approach. The other thing you know, and I taught, I told Harold about this, and I was very upset with the idea of cutting children funny. And, you know, not to punish the adults, but it was really adults who made the decision that they don’t want to fund the library. So I think, okay, and, you know, it’s, it’s hard because people who have participated, I can see Assad some of the pictures, friends of mine, who took some of those classes. I think there was one that was like little books that your your ratings are one class, you know, so there are people who are passionate about the library who want to attend and participate in these programs. But I’m thinking of the two, you know, it’s it’s are you, I mean, we’re really what I had a chance to have a debrief with the youth council, they were very disappointed to hear about the library, the Performing Arts in the library, I think were the two that they were most upset about. That, you know, library serves as a great equalizer, people who don’t have access to books or don’t have access to quality technology. And it’s usually our low socioeconomic status individuals, and I see what it will do to our kids in the future. You know, right now we’re trying you know, one of the things I talked to Harold about after that incident that happened at countryside, Willow Park, the drive by I don’t know if y’all heard about that. Yep, those are my those are our families that go to new peaks. So, you know, the next day we were here in the last couple of days, even today, you know, kids are traumatized. So what are some ways then that maybe we won’t have a brick and mortar facility? But how we can create some kind of library mobile library? And I’ve heard that idea kind of be thrown around before, but maybe let’s look for a resurgence of that. And how we can set up satellite stations. I really like see one in that community room over there. All right, I hope you don’t have to pay me, I’ll do it. But if, you know, so kind of getting a little creative, where maybe it’s not as expensive to oversee, as opposed to building a ground up brick and mortar branch, but how we can get the services out to community and, and really keep the youth portion going. And, and then, you know, I kind of I’m still talking to Errol about okay, well, we get this money for public safety, or we get this money for, you know, the space or how can we kind of free up some dollars that could make its way back to library. I think the capital campaign, I was trying to look up the last numbers I got for the museum was 6.5 million. And that was as of November 6, so that was prior to the Colorado Gibbs. So I’m sure it’s more now. But yeah, and then looking at at how we can create a foundation, that will be another option. For people who really want to see this can help contribute.
Speaker 5 41:35
It’s tricky, right, Susie, I hear you on the grants fund. My mind is kind of going in that direction, too. And I work for the county. And I don’t know if you know, following what’s happening to the county budget and public health got slashed. And we’re trying to figure all that out right now, heading into next year. But there’s always the conversation where I’m working right now, around grants, and that you can’t really count on that long term, either. Because there’s no guarantee, you know, if you get a grant for three years, five years, there’s no guarantee that you’re going to get that grant again. So I would worry about you know, reallocating money from like, the police or health and safety, public safety, and that would be awesome. And what if that department doesn’t get that grant? Again? Would the library have to give that money back? So that’s one question. With that piece, also, I don’t know, John, I’ve worked in libraries, where a lot of the youth programs beyond storytimes cost money. And that’s how they that’s how the library could fund craft and, you know, musicians and puppets and all of that is like us $5. And I think that would be a really sad direction for this library to go to because of the the accessibility inclusivity angle. Yeah, yes, just so hard.
Unknown Speaker 43:23
Thanks for this points.
Speaker 2 43:29
Okay, maybe I’m just being stubborn. But I feel like even having this conversation is just letting the city off the hook for not providing a basic service it owes to its citizens for the tax dollars we put into the pot. And I 100% believe it’s a responsibility that the city has a similar to education and preschool and all the things we should be providing for edgy for children as part of their education, but also for adults. And for all the reasons we all know. And I just feel like saying we should have a nonprofit pay for. That’s like saying we should have a nonprofit provide us with our water. Like or our power. This is a city is like in my mind is the same thing as a utility. It’s a responsibility. Government officials have to its citizens to provide the functioning library. And we’ve been told by the city’s own study that we’re not doing that. So I personally love how creative you all are. But like, I just feel like no, they should fund the library.
Speaker 5 44:30
I agree with you to Katherine like that in another reality where things everything made sense. The friends would be fundraising for all of these expansion and innovation ideas of mobile library satellite, and the city would pay for the things that the friends are paying for. Right because your your friends the other friends groups I’ve worked with, they raise money to further the mission. Not to just kind of need the date.
Speaker 2 45:04
And the city doesn’t want to lose the library. It’s crown jewel that everybody loves. They won’t let us become a district. But they will fund it. It’s kind of one or the other. In my mind, you can’t keep saying like, Hey, you can’t go be a library district. We love you so much. And then it’s a bait and switch like we love you so much. Yes, please stay, but we’re not going to actually fund your program.
Speaker 1 45:28
I think that one of the points that I would like to, to continue to raise with the city is exactly what you did that this is a, this seems to be considered an essential service. And it hasn’t been for a number of reasons. And so what is our role within this, which I think is dictated Chintu to communicate that to the CCP essential service. And we need to it sounds like there’s some ideas for appropriate staff, city staff to come in to hear that as well. So I really think that those are important points they’re raising. And I would like to, to let that kind of set the, the framing of of our ever conversations, because this is an essential service, in my mind, as well. And I think in all of our minds, so. Okay, well, I think that we have discussed this as much as we can tonight. But I would like to just open up one more time for final comments on this issue before we move on to IRL business. Right, we’ll continue the conversation, I was also taking notes, just in terms of strategy for next year. And like I said, we’ll continue in 2020 for this as appropriate. Action Plan update is our only old business item and I’ll turn it over to John. Okay, so I,
Speaker 6 47:07
I will fumble around and bring up the dashboard on this talk through the action plan. We’re where we stand with that. So a couple of items on there that I wanted to do this year was formed a couple of committees one of selectors, those are the various staff that actually do the purchasing for our collections. Throughout the library. It’s it’s many libraries do this in a centralized forum, but we have it throughout each department. So children’s staff, choose children’s books, adult staff choose adult materials, what I should say, anyway, form these committees to create a little more cross departmental knowledge of what’s going on with selection, but also some larger items within selection in particular that impact the library overall. And the biggest thing that’s come out of, of these meetings have recent is really discussing challenges, right to our collection center censorship kind of stuff, that this library, fortunately, hasn’t really faced too much of that at least since I’ve been here, however, you always need to be prepared. And what we’ve discovered as a selection committees that our, our process, even just even down to the form, the someone would fill out and submit to challenge an item or items in our collection is a little bit out of date and needs rewriting. So there’s been some real good progress in this, that’ll continue a little bit and rethinking about how we approach this. And in some ways, thinking about worst case scenarios that were prepared to handle something a little bit better than we are now. I’d rather be set up for that. So we’ve been doing a lot of research into other libraries and Colorado, in particular, and how they manage challenges. And kind of taking note of that and seeing what we want to implement here. And just to give you a couple of examples. Currently here, anybody, any buddy can challenge something in our collection. And I say that because many libraries restrict that to being minimally a resident of the city that we serve, or the what we would call in library land service population, right? Because if in Longmont, it’s easy. We serve the law city of Lompoc, because we’re a municipality, if you are a county or a district, it would be different. We don’t really have anything written that states that we restrict that and I feel and the committee feels strongly that we really should. In that sense of if you really want to go as far as to question something in our collection or programs that we do or something even on display you Do you need to live in long run? And then other items to like, Should we take that a step further and require that they have a library card as well. And many libraries do this. And many libraries require both. Now, some libraries are taking this even in a completely different direction. And they’ve taken away any form you fill out. And if you want to challenge something, you have to have a one on one meeting with the director. And you have to prove that you read the book, or whatever it is. So interesting how other people are approaching this. So I could go on, I just want to let you know, that’s one of the results of that committee that I think is really good for this library and Longmont. I mean, we obviously talked about other things, selection wise, but a lot of it is data informed and how we are choosing what to take out of the collection, what we should be adding and having common practices and how we evaluate that which we don’t have, like, from what I can tell. And that’s another benefit of forming this this type of thing this past year is to realize that you know, what, maybe, for example, children’s staff do to evaluate what they need to keep or remove from the collection might vary very differently from what adult services does. And in some cases, that might make sense, it’s going to be different, removing picture books, for example, as opposed to mysteries, right, you know, your criteria might be different. But there’s also some commonalities, anyway, was a long explanation of that. The other committee I found was for programming, so we could talk about it, again, cross departmental within the library, but even bigger than that, within recreation, and culture, thinking about cross departmental programming, what are we doing as a big department, we haven’t really touched that level, but at least in the library, really having a better understanding of what everyone’s doing with programming, where we even internally could do cross programming adult in children, right, in particular. So sharing ideas like that, but a couple of big things that have come out of this committee was really in how we promote our programs and how we get that out. So one of the first steps we did is the recreation of course, there’s a camera, you know, you’ve all seen this, you probably get the male direct guide, right? So the library has not had a presence in here in a number of years. So one of the first things that I wanted to do is make sure we have a presence. So now we have a page. And and you know, it’s a thing, right? Just people get this, and they need to know what what’s happening. And then it’s one page. So it’s obviously not everything. But we talked a lot about prioritizing what will go in here, and so will be in here going forward. And then the second thing, and this will involve sharing, so bear with me, but internally, we wanted to create a new brochure, what we do now and can you online, see my screen? And this cover page? Yes, I can see it. Thank you. Okay. So right now, in a lot of, you know, this, you know, for the public, they come in, and if there any service point, we always have a paper calendar of events. That’s great. People love it, they take it home, they asked for it. I wanted something where someone can grab one thing that has all the calendars of events, but also promotes other things going on in the library. So our wonderful marketing person worked with us in the programming committee and made this brochure which should be out and in fact, it shouldn’t be delivered here. I think next week Tracy right because we put in the order for professional printing services. So this will have this is almost like our own little library specific rec guide. You see my things anyway, but it’s just for the library. They convinced that I should have a little from the director which I resisted completely, but whatever.
Unknown Speaker 54:23
So it goes right. It’s there
Speaker 6 54:25
and that might have been partially go goes through but doesn’t matter. So we have really good stuff here like what’s new everything a lot of stuffs QR coded. You can just see the how this is going to look so it’ll be sort of like a little booklet right? Someone can grab from any desk will of course ticket to outreach. This is stuff that’s coming up starting pretty much in January and not expecting you to read Although some going down so that you can kind of see when we get to the calendar point. And what you can’t see, as you see this represented in the PDF here is that the calendars in this little magazine will be perforated and you can tear these out and put them on your fridge or whatever. Whatever people do with these things, how often would this come out every about quarterly, kind of in line with the record. So this goes through, I think, April. So this is something new, we’re starting now. And again, a direct result of forming this committee circling back to the action plan. So this is an outcome of that, that I think is really beneficial and positive. And I’m just a real fan of streamlining stuff that we produce out of here, pieces of paper with calendars and bookmarks. And I’m just like, it makes me like nauseated a little bit. So I just, I like things neatly packaged, and everyone gets everything they need in one thing. And it looks professional. Because the other thing, not that the paper calendars. I mean, they are what they are. And they’re useful, but something that people look at this and think they’re getting something from, you know, a professional organization, not just printouts from someone’s copy machine.
Speaker 1 56:27
I love this. Maybe I’m wondering, green, assuming I got right, who’s paying
Speaker 5 56:34
for this? We are. So it’s coming out of the library budget? Yep. Yeah. So is there something else you have to let go in order to make this?
Speaker 6 56:44
Well, because printing he know it’s not cheap. And neither is the one page in the wreck guy, by the way. So I planned enough to get through this year, which maybe isn’t the smartest thing. But I will figure it out next year. We have a budget for this. We have a budget that covers like advertising and marketing. And we haven’t really always tapped into it. So let me start there. So there, we don’t always expand. But this will go quickly. So are we going to have to give something out? Maybe maybe not. We have some other budgetary items, if we get into the details that are kind of older items that have been in place for years that we never use, like we used to send magazines to a pine tree and have things bound like a college or university would but we still have that line item. So it’s really some of this as a matter of reallocating, but the money’s there is just not in the right place. So I’m not exactly concerned about that or that something has to go in order to make this happen. And
Speaker 5 58:02
Are there restrictions because we’re this city? Are there restrictions on say, taking in revenue from sponsorships, community sponsorships? Like grants?
Speaker 6 58:16
Well, the rep guide has it going
Speaker 5 58:19
I’m pretty sure those are free, those are paid placement? That’s
Speaker 6 58:23
a good question. And now I don’t see any ads. I’ll look into that I you know, I can’t speak for here because I haven’t done it. Because if you are one of my last organizations, we definitely sold ads for sponsors. And that in this case can pay for it. Especially for the library. One, I can’t really control the wreck guide that’s really controlled by others. I just thought it was good to be in there. Because the museum has been there for a while. Yeah. There is doing sets. My next thing is I’m going to try to convince my boss to rename the rec guide, the recreation and culture guide. Now that culture is in there, but you choose your battles, and you pick your time. We’ve only had one page so far. So anyway, that’s something I’ll explore actually, Jamie, because I think that we probably couldn’t do something like that. And if something we produced like that looks that good. I think someone would want to be in there and be a part of the library in that way. And it builds community partnerships. I mean, there’s a lot of benefits to it. So
Unknown Speaker 59:35
let me I’ll stop that for now. So go back to seeing everybody.
Speaker 6 59:44
Okay, a couple other things related to the actual plan so that we wrote a new computer use policy, which this library didn’t have. It’s pretty standard. I probably shouldn’t have thought to either bring that or put In packet, but I can do that next time. It’s the group that did it really looked at a lot of other libraries, we had some form of that here before. So it’s not exactly a new invention. But it kind of fell off and it needed to be revised. We needed something with the amount of computer use, we get, you know, just things that come up, and you know how much time you get our computer and, and privacy things and what the library is responsible for. So I will try to remember to share that here next time. But it’s like a one pager, it’s gone through the city attorney’s office here. And it was fine. With very minor tweaks, and it’s publicly available as far as printed, like for people who come in, it will be on our website in the Policies section. Later, our marketing person gets back from her vacation. So that’s done just keeping updating on policies was another goal this year. And then lastly, when it comes to action plan, I had a good productive meeting with the school district with a project that’s been going on long before I got here on student IDs, and importing those into to work as library cards effectively. And I kind of just jumped in after a while because it wasn’t moving and realize there were some complications in there. And, and some assumptions that were not correct, and which I think was causing it to not really move forward. So I and also, including myself, all the players have changed. So the person from the school district, Susie, I didn’t know him the person’s name was Zack, something you probably know what I’m talking about, but came up with this idea at some point. And everything’s in place, there’s an MOU between the city and the school district. We’ve done test runs of importing student IDs into our system. The glitch was the district at least at that time, and maybe still currently felt they needed. Well, they do need I shouldn’t say felt they need parental permission because of getting library access. But where I came in was proposing the idea of how much access is needed. And therefore it could it be more of an opt out rather than an opt in, you know, which is a little bit easier. And it’s something I did successfully previous to here when I was in Inglewood. We didn’t import anything other than the ID. In fact, we didn’t have a student name or anything. We just called them like student one, student two, so that they could have access to all our databases and everything they would need. And if they wanted to library card, they would come in just like anybody else. But it was an easy conversion. So we made some progress in that meeting. I helped contribute to a document that they started to describe the benefits and the whys kind of in a way starting over a little bit now that there’s new players, and maybe rethinking how it’s approached, particularly through the school district understanding there’s a lot of things they have to consider with parents and what they know what their students are doing or not. Understandable. So I think we’re getting a lot closer now. That won’t happen before the end of the year, obviously. But we’ll see. We’ll see. That’s that document and the MOU is gonna be taken back to some people within the district to talk about and bring that back forward and and see what if anything else is needed in order to move this forward. And I think in particular, federal school districts aspect is can we do this as an opt out?
Speaker 6 1:04:11
Not having worked in schools, but I think that would be a lot easier, right? They have access unless you say no, right. So and I think this district has decided, or almost decided that this would make a lot more sense to start with just high school students. Because they already don’t have limited access to library materials. Currently, the school district has access to eBooks, through Libby through a program called Surah, which I’m sure many of you know about. And if you’re in middle school or below it, it restricts access to what you can borrow, which, which is good for a lot of people but the high school students don’t have that restriction. They have the full collection. So it takes if we just do high school at least to start and it takes away any copper session about should they not have access to this A versus B versus C versus D?
Speaker 1 1:05:08
That sounds really promising. I think all of these updates are both important if promising. John, so just want to commend you. You’ve been here a year, like this is a lot of progress across the board. So great job. Thank you for those updates. I think they’re all wonderful. Just
Speaker 5 1:05:31
strict. Who’s what who’s going to pay for this? Is there are costs associated with this project?
Speaker 6 1:05:38
There’s not any cost. I mean, their staff time cost, but there’s not like a an actual, someone has to pay anybody. It’s a matter of an agreement that we can take in certain data points of students and import it into our system. Good question. And just one last thing on the action plan, I’ve met with my leadership team, because here we are in December, I see you, Catherine of next year. So we had some conversations I proposed at this point that at least within the library, they go back to their departments, children, adult tech concert, talk within there and think about goals they have for next year. However, I’m also thinking about doing a larger strategic planning process, which I’ve mentioned here before, but within the city, the museum had a pretty successful experience doing this with our very own assistant, city manager, Sandy cedar, and they felt really good about, it’s just spent a day on planning for their next few years. So that could impact whether we actually have an action plan, a strategic plan. But regardless, we’re starting to think about next year, Kevin?
Speaker 2 1:07:03
Yeah, I just had two thoughts about the school piece. Are you aware of any student groups that have been like, involved in that conversation?
Unknown Speaker 1:07:13
Student groups, I’m not aware. Okay, because
Speaker 2 1:07:16
I just like I know, in our school, we have a national English honor society. And, you know, I think they might be get kind of excited about the idea of library cards and promoting library access. And, you know, you might be able to get some more support that way, too, you know? And then has there been any, like in terms of parent pushback, or parent concern? Has that been primarily in like elementary conversations, or I’m just curious, though, so
Speaker 6 1:07:53
basically, you know, when this all came into place, and they started some testing, the district decided to do some, like a test pilot program, right to test the importing of the data and whatever. But they, they still needed parental signatures, and they chose a couple of middle schools. One was here, a long one, I don’t remember which one, and the other one was in Erie. And they were basically having trouble getting parents to respond. So like, the response rate was low, like, and part of that, that I learned to through some of these conversations, there was like a period of time where they can respond to this request to allow access. And then when that period ended, there was no option to just like you couldn’t come in later and just say, oh, yeah, I want my kid to have this. They have a period of time where they were allowed to do that. I’m not sure how they came up with that. I think they in me being in a couple of meetings, I think, from what I can tell, they’ve talked about that process, and maybe, particularly if they moved to opt out, I don’t think they need to have a timeframe. But it gets into rules of school districts and things like that, that I just don’t know of how they come to that stuff. So if there was no Elementary School Volvo think they have any intent of involving elementary schools at this time for for something like this. But
Speaker 2 1:09:21
yeah, I was just curious, you know, in terms of like, the role of parents in that conversation. I mean, yeah, I’ve been on both sides of that. I’ve had my kids bring home books that I’m like, oh, okay, we’re not reading that right now. Or we’re gonna read that together, you know, but then, of course, I’m also a huge advocate for students having access to library. So yeah, I think it’s, you know, it’s complicated in many ways when kids are very young, for sure. And then they evolved. That’s
Speaker 6 1:09:50
right. And I think, you know, in this case, it’s, you know, the primary goal and because all students get a device, I don’t know what they get At these days, they either get a tablet or a laptop or something, but and so they they have what they need to access digital resources. And there still is, you know, an aspect there a parenting of what’s in there, right? You know, I mean, you can search for, you could be doing a paper on breast cancer research and find all kinds of stuff in EBSCO that I’m sure some parents wouldn’t like. But you know, it’s just, it’s a reality of what’s in there and different, you know, there’s different opinions. But when it comes to physical collection, this particular model doesn’t give them instantaneous access to our physical collection that still requires parent, parent or guardian signature in order for them to check out physical materials. So it still comes back to how the public library functions, which is the parent or guardians responsibility for that. But we also won’t allow it without that, Digital’s a little different. But there’s also if we either have the opt in or opt out from the school district, and the parent has either agreed or not that their student can access it. So you kind of cover it that way. As far as what you might want a student might access. But again, if it’s only high school, at the beginning, I think there’s a lot less concern, not that there wouldn’t be some parents concern, but I don’t know, at some point as a public librarian is like, I don’t know. I mean,
Unknown Speaker 1:11:29
it seems to make us instead the opt out.
Speaker 6 1:11:31
I hope that that’s how they move. But I
Speaker 1 1:11:35
don’t know, how does AP classes, especially the research junior and senior year one, do it without scholarly resources?
Speaker 6 1:11:42
I don’t know. And I feel like the district at least from what I can tell, they’re fairly limited. And look, they are able to provide their own students. So I mean, just it’s a partnership. That makes sense. Yeah.
Speaker 1 1:11:54
All right. Well, thanks so much, John, for this update. And just to circle back quickly beginning I think that sounds wonderful that y’all are also thinking about restrictions to service populations and challenges. Students like that’s a really important conversation to be had as well. Alright, so let’s go ahead and move on. And let’s continue with John, give you the report from any updates from last month.
Speaker 6 1:12:17
I’ll just share our programming highlights, which I like to do, it’s always positive aspect of everything that still goes on here. What I what I’ve named our monthly highlights, right, so just going through everything. So some really good stuff in November, a lot of crafty things coming out of I’m sorry, this is children and TV. And if you didn’t catch that
Speaker 6 1:12:56
literally making hats and gloves. This, I was going to comment if he was here, because she was here with her daughter for this program. Came out with some jar of something very sugary looking look terrible, but they had fun. They had fun. That’s what matters. Not for me. The twin stuff is still going strong, as you can see here
Speaker 6 1:13:28
are in the teen programming stuff. So we’re getting good stuff here and you get 15 Kids come into Dungeons and Dragons every other week. I mean, that’s, I’m, I’m feeling pretty good about that. That’s that bi weekly one here. So this continues to grow. Of course, part of that is because we have this team library that started last year, so it’s getting stronger as we go. We do a lot of passive programming and kids. So things that don’t involve staff that people can just come in and do. So I’m sure some of you may be having experiences. Those we have some numbers here, so just a little bit of data. So people get programs 52 programs, and over 1200 attendees just kind of stuff. I can see why. Sometimes I worry about how much we’re doing. adult programs. Had a really good author command. I’m not sure if anyone was able to go to that I was not but it was really popular. We actually had two authors. We had a second one on climate change. This conversation was really good. So the first one broader over 50. This one brought in almost 50 people for adult an adult program and pretty highly received our ongoing groups really success Double, and then some numbers here. So all these different programs and then totally almost 200 tendons for adult, which is pretty good. Actually, they don’t do, which is normal near the programming that kids and teens generally do. And then can all now reach doing their usual Park visits that’ll died down a little bit here in the winter, you know. This is Lillian, who I refer to often here. So she has a couple of programs at parks in the winter show plan on it. But if it’s looking like bad weather, she’ll cancel it, she’s actually talking with someone who might be willing to donate space in the winter, so we can continue it on an indoor space. So that’s other other stuff Lillian does in the background, besides just delivering the program itself. But you know, we’ve actually had some nice days here this week or so much to my pleasure, I love it. Anyway, so. And then this is at pi parents about their education, which is talked about a few meetings ago really developed into a full blown outreach program, it used to be basically babysitting. Now they did yoga last week, one of the other the time before the month before they did something with anime arts. So it’s just it’s turned into something really fantastic. And a lot of attendance here. And just it’s really good. Lillian’s very proud of it. And I like to see that. Just another slide from that she’s really good about recording these pictures by the way. Intercom you intercambio, who Lillian connected with so they’re coming into the library a lot more than they ever used to maybe at all, actually, as a result of one of her outreach at Timberline and that Timberline outreach, I think was I can’t remember what the program was there. But this is what happens when Lily goes out a lot. So this family was there never been to the library never has been to the library. But because of her going, they wanted to come and they connected with her. So they got a personalized one on one tour, which Lilian does often and no less than an hour or two. And just going in depth on everything that’s here. And of course, in most cases, just as with this family, you know, largely Spanish speaking. So that’s also where it’s a true benefit. That’s why we have that role to connect with that population who really wants to learn but needs to have that support in understanding in their own language. Just really good. I mean, this is just one family of many that this happens. But I love that she captured this. If any of you were here for the tree lighting that was pretty well attended, the lien was there reading stories and all kinds of stuff that night. So a couple of photos from there. And then this is everything that happened in November, still a lot for a winter live. December will be a lot less just because it’s December and Lillian, she spent this the last couple of weeks in December back with her family in Mexico. So which is just fine. It’s it’s not the month to really be out there a lot in the end. You know, so this is how many, this 649 is how I’ve talked about this before. That’s how a million tracks just interactions with people any interaction that she has had. But the real interactions, it’s not just I waved at you. It’s she talked to somebody about the library. So it’s it’s a very real number of what’s going on there. And overall November, you know, over 750 people that she talked to just about a month ago. So you know, I’m a broken record, but you can see why I’ll which is a priority for me. So that’s that that’s my only addition to everything I’ve been blabbing about for the last whatever, but that’s my director.
Speaker 1 1:19:30
Okay, thanks, Stan. I’m so mad that first of all, is taking a vacation. And second that I think I understand why quantitative data is important, but I don’t ever want to pin success based on numbers. So it’s so wonderful to have the pictures and the stories as well that really speak to like the true successes there. Any questions for John on the
Unknown Speaker 1:19:58
updates? All right,
Speaker 1 1:20:02
let’s move on to friends. But before I passed off to Jamie, I did want to share it, Jamie, I think I may steal your thunder here, had the wonderful idea of making sure that this group thinks the friends for further work from the advisory board. So we have, I have letters to each of the fret board members that I can pass to you to sign in a moment. However, what I could also do is leave them with Oh, right at the circ desk, or wherever it would make sense. Had Rihanna if y’all would be coming by the next few weeks. We could do that. If you wouldn’t mind just signing these, but it’s
Speaker 2 1:20:37
imagining I would bring them on Wednesday. Nevermind. No, no
Speaker 1 1:20:41
that way. Okay. I wasn’t sure when the meeting was, um, don’t worry about it. We could
Unknown Speaker 1:20:45
do it at the January meeting.
Speaker 1 1:20:48
No, it’s just during the holidays. We’ll just Jamie and I will just sign these. I think that works. And I wrote on behalf of the Walmart library advisory board, so it’s coming from all of us. I’m
Speaker 5 1:21:01
happy to forge anybody’s signature. Yes, i.
Speaker 1 1:21:12
So, yeah. So I’ll pass off the update to you. And you can sign these.
Unknown Speaker 1:21:20
Maybe we’ll split these.
Speaker 4 1:21:24
The student name, your name on All right. So, okay,
Speaker 5 1:21:29
thank you for doing that. I was all ready to order some cards. And there’s just one less thing on my list. One thing, fewer. So, yes, the December book sale, I understand that this is the first time at least in a long time that the friends have done a December sale. So there was a little bit of an experimental angle to it. I think, at least in recent history, they were doing maybe three sales a year and it was like roughly beginning of the year springtime. And then and then that full time. What we all observed in volunteering this weekend, this is started Wednesday night for friends, members, Wednesday evening. And then Thursday, Friday, Saturday, the sale was running during library hours. We took in less money than we had been. And so there was a question about, you know, is the market saturated right now? Is this one sale too many? Is it timing related, like the sale have brought more more folks in during a different time. Maybe it was, you know, fewer things are going on in people’s lives or whether it’s different. I know that the board is going to be looking at those numbers and having those discussions in the next few meetings. They have their dates already picked out for 2024. And they made bookmarks already. And those dates suggest that there will be for sales again in 2024. So the friends are at least committed to doing for sales next year. And then 2025, you know, remains to be seen. I believe another angle that they will be exploring is maybe at least one of those sales is more specialized. So instead of having four sales that are pretty much the same. You might have one sale that’s just paperbacks or you have one sale that would be more geared toward children, and maybe could be paired with some programming to have a full robust children’s event that would bring folks into the library. So those things are to be determined. Pricing I think they’ll be looking at I’ve only been volunteering with this group for the past maybe a year and a half. And pretty much every sale somebody suggests raising prices for these use books because it is definitely the best game in town, especially on the last day of the sale when it’s $5 a bag day. The bags that are used are certainly bigger then they they’ve been in some of Have some sales last year, they purchased some paper bags with branding Friends of the Library logo. And so that’s a little bit of outreach or, or brand awareness, but also they hold more than the flimsy plastic bags that were, you know, single use stuff that it’s yeah, it was just not. Not good on a lot of times. I did feel the question from a friends board member that I would like to get back to them on and that was someone had been asking this board member if I make a donation, and I want it to go to the library specifically, do I send it to the library? Or do I send it to the city? And so the board members understanding was that they should make a donation to the city, and then it would go into the general fund and earmark funds. I mean, I have my suspicions, but I want to be able to give them reliable information. My question was, why aren’t they donating to the friends? Yes.
Speaker 6 1:26:23
I haven’t answered. Oh, okay. The best way for that is to donate to the friends. It directly comes to the library, that’s our only source of money, that there is no way the city can touch. If it’s in the library fund, right, the library fund is the friends money, basically. I mean, there’s other forms of donations that can come in there. That’s like the easy way of looking at trees. Yeah, I think that’s the easiest route. If you write it to the to Longmont libraries in the city, it it’s just a little more wishy washy in my mind, the friends is the best route.
Speaker 5 1:27:05
That was my instinct. So I will confirm that with them. Yeah. It’s clear, it’s fine. It’s fine for this to go on the record. But, you know, I still remain concerned and for my self will continue speaking with this group about their efforts to increase membership, and their efforts to increase non sales and non membership related revenue. In other words, an annual campaign Colorado gives other solicitations throughout the year. I think that those two do significantly more work in either of those two areas will require more capacity than they currently have. They are really good at doing those sales. And it sure takes a lot to pull them off each and every time. I just don’t think that they have the bandwidth to take on more energized membership and development initiatives. And that frustrates others. That’s all. I wish for their ranks to grow and expand with many different generations of volunteers. And then they could have people you know, assigned to all sorts of different tasks, but very grateful to them for all the work that they do. And if there are any questions from this group, that I can either try to answer or take back to the friends I’m happy to do that. I think having a mutually respectful and congenial relationship between library staff, the Advisory Board and the friends not only is crucial, but it’s very It feels very new. I think there was maybe some past trauma that is now really passed. And we can move forward being more collaborative with one another.
Speaker 1 1:29:45
Thanks, Jay. I really appreciate you’re keeping an eye out for sustainability as we were talking about earlier. For Yeah, I would love this board to make sure that the writtens Alright, look at for instance, know that how much this board appreciates their efforts, as well as library staff. It also made me think how did I know a couple years ago to get set up a kudos board for some of the library staff? Maybe it’s something we can do to get into spring. Just because I want to make sure they realize that as well. And I did have a question. I guess this would be for John. I was looking back in the notes. We had somebody come in, like maybe it was late spring talking about a specific bank account, like there is now a way to have funds earmarked. Thanks, Catherine have realities as well. It seemed like there was somebody who came in and was talking about there’s no way to have fun to earmark specific to library Am I just missed completely misremembering this? Okay, so I was, if somebody jumped on that I was gonna say, Great, I might be, it might just be in my head. So I will look back at my notes and see if I have imagining things. I think I just made that up. Because I didn’t find it in the minutes. Any questions for Jamie about the friends? Okay, Susie, do you have any updates to share?
Speaker 3 1:31:20
Um, yes. So tomorrow will be voted on or finalizing the selections or appointments for boards and commissions? And yeah, as you know, we didn’t I don’t think there were there any openings this round? Not for now, though. It’ll be June, correct. I know, the museum, I believe is on to the museum board. And they did have openings, but nobody applied. So what challenges that we’re dealing with is getting people to apply to these boards and commissions. And, you know, I, I see things posted on Facebook, you know, the applications and it could be, you know, maybe I’m looking for them or because I rehab those, you know, the city page already liked and thanks. So it shows up on my feed. But oftentimes we hear why didn’t know about it, I didn’t know about it. So you know, just trying to get that communication out to people, as well as something that I’m very passionate about is that access to language. So we have communities within our city, who come in with a different perspective, that the barrier is language. So I think that a lot of my parents, their first language is Spanish, they can speak English, they can understand English, but to have a meaningful conversation. It’s, it’s very challenging, and they prefer, you know, to be able to get to that higher order thinking and critical thinking, you know, folks feel more comfortable expressing that in their primary language. So something how can we bridge that gap, so we can get a more diverse pool of applicants in our, in our on our boards and commissions. You know, at this point, I doubt I’ll just be happy if people like. So that’s kind of that’s something we’re looking through and working out to kind of expand that and get more of a, a diverse pool, I really liked. In the Senior Center, we actually have, you know, some folks coming in, you know, folks coming in with one is not her language is not is not predominantly English, but she participates in the senior services. And so we had, we do have a few bipoc applicants who came in, but it was interesting, like looking at some of the folks that have lower socioeconomic who are wanting to engage. But, you know, because we’re on Zoom, it was it was really evident the lack of technology, you know, one all in and the other one had trouble with the technology piece getting the app and, and doing all this so it’s it’s really interesting how we expect people to conform to our structures and how we do business rather than us making those arrangement our changes to accommodate people and meet them where they’re at. So that’s that’s something that is ongoing. And I saw him though. I don’t know if there isn’t the whole all of you all.
Speaker 6 1:34:39
Oh, it’s John. Yeah, I didn’t I don’t know how that shows up on the other side. I just wanted to say quickly, you know, when it comes to that kind of like, digital literacy or digital like navigation, digital navigating, library can play a huge role in that we already do. You know, so we already I mean we have a program have that in place, not for that particular purpose. But we do a class once a month, and it’s specifically we have a Spanish instructor come in, and it’s for basic computer skills for non English speakers. I mean, particularly Spanish speakers, but and there’s a whole statewide grant currently being written for a whole digital navigator program to be implemented statewide. And I’m on a committee in Boulder County. That’s a part of that, to talk about that. So long lead already does some stuff there in that besides the library. Anyway, I just want to, you know, I’m happy to talk to you more about that. But wow, I’m just thinking, to get more engagement on this level, you know, we can definitely play a role in that to help people, whether they’re on the library board or any other board or commission.
Speaker 3 1:35:59
No, I think that’s been handling and finding ways to, you know, to bring different departments together, and kind of how, you know, what, what we all are doing here in the library and how they can can support others. You know, and then tomorrow, before Council, we do have our boards and commissions update. So Council, all the liaisons we share out and I will definitely be sharing what we discussed here tonight. And the importance, I mean, there’s so much room to have a library be an integral part in, you know, building that bridge for people who want linguistic, socio economic, you know, there’s all these these avenues that we can you tap into the library resources, we just need to fund it better. So I’m going to keep key I’m going to keep hounding, you know, maybe one of these days, it’ll what is it? They say that how long does the person have to hear the same message before? They’re all like, oh, I have an idea. Such? What is it 777
Speaker 6 1:37:13
Or a million somewhere here?
Speaker 5 1:37:17
They all sat here in different places.
Speaker 3 1:37:20
Yeah. Different people as well. So yeah, I think you know that, that was kind of the big thing we’re looking at right now. We have our new council member Dieter is was on board. We did make our appointments for liaison, so I’ll still be on the library. You’ll have me. I got to pick up your game woman. And also be part of the I’ll continue on as the museum as well as the Arts in Public Places like that. That’s cool way to kind of link those stuff. Yeah.
Speaker 1 1:38:09
That’s a fun one. Because it sounds like thank you so much, Susie, I’m so glad to hear you’re continuing as our as our liaison because I think it takes a little bit of time to get someone up to speed on the functions of the library, and the value of the library. So we really, I think next year, will be leaning on your your advice and expertise on on how to spread this message more effectively.
Unknown Speaker 1:38:32
Yeah, yeah. No, I’d be happy to thank you.
Speaker 1 1:38:37
Any questions for Susie on that update? All right, well, our next teeny item is library profession news. There’s nothing in this just to share if there’s anything happening in the greater world of libraries in Colorado or the US or beyond. I had nothing. So I’m ready for the semester break that my mind has not been thinking about the big picture of libraries recently. Besides this one. Anyone else have anything from the world of libraries they want to share?
Speaker 1 1:39:12
The screen I’ll open up to any other library board comments. Great, well, thank you all so much. Our next meeting is January 22 2024. And I will call this meeting at 841. Thanks
Transcribed by https://otter.ai