Min - Library Board - 2023 - 02/07 - Regular ALLEN PUBLIC LIBRARY BOARD
REGULAR MEETING
TUESDAY,FEBRUARY 7,2023
Board Members Present:
Maroba Zoeller, Chair(Place 2)
Adyna Akins, Vice Chair (Place 6)
Laura Wooten, Secretary (Place 3)
Bryce Farlow(Place 1)
Jeremy Wallace (Place 4) -
Rekha Mathai (Place 7)
Board Members Absent:
Kimberly Hinton(Place 5)
City Staff/Official Present
Jeff Timbs, Library Director
Claudia Wayland, Assistant Director
Visitors Present
Rekha Kumar(Allen Library Endowment Board)
Anela Shanks
1. Call to Order and Announce a Quorum is Present.
With a quorum of Board members present,the Allen Public Library Board was called to
order by Chair Maroba Zoeller at 6:30 p.m. on Tuesday, February 7, 2023.
2. Accept Jeremy Wallace's Resignation as Vice-Chair and Elect New Officers As
Needed.
The Board unanimously accepted Jeremy Wallace's resignation as Vice-Chair. He will
remain on the Board as a member.
MOTION: Jeremy Wallace nominated Adyna Akins as Vice-Chair. The Board voted(6)
approved, (0) opposed.
This necessitated electing a new Secretary.
MOTION: Adyna Akins nominated Laura Wooten as Secretary. Rekha Mathai seconded. The
Board voted(6) approved, (0) opposed.
3. Approve Minutes of the November 1,2022,Regular Meeting.
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MOTION: Upon a motion made by Adyna Adkins, Laura Wooten seconded. The Board voted
(6) approved, (0) opposed.
4. Discuss the Library Board Annual Report to the City Council.
The Board presentation to the City Council was scheduled for March 28 [later
rescheduled by the City Secretary for April 11]. Mandatory items include Board purpose,
names of members,photos, activity data, accomplishments to note, and updates on
projects. Library staff will create the presentation which the Library board will review
and provide feedback and recommendations for changes. Available Board members plan
to attend. Also that night, the Mayor will issue a proclamation for Library Week April
23-29.
5. Receive Updates on and Discuss Library Expansion.
The soil samples for geotechnical testing have been scheduled. A materials sorting
vendor will be onsite at the Allen Library February 9 to review the location and
recommend configuration of the sorting machine. The Library will invite interested
vendors to submit bids when the project goes out to bid. Library staff has been working
with the architects to develop a schematic design. The Library Expansion steering
committee will meet February 1-5 to review,postponed from January 31 due to inclement
winter weather.
Phase 2 of the design process will begin soon. This projected 12-month process includes
the development of construction documents and applying for permits. The project is on
track on track for bidding to start in June. The contract is expected to be ready to submit
to the City Council for review and approval in September.
Library leadership will consult with the architects and contractors to determine
construction staging and assign temporary work areas for staff. The ideal goal is to
disturb the Children's Library as little as possible in the summer of 2024 during the
Summer Reading Club.
6. Receive an Update on the Vega Discover Project -
Asst. Director Claudia Wayland provided a demo of the Vega Discover layer for the
online catalog to run_in tandem with the Polaris library software. The improved interface
and rollups have a better user interface than Polaris, integrating additional information,
clearly delineating which items are available to check out and in which format,provide
opportunities for patrons to review and,provide recommendations. It can also provide
reader level, age and grade level. The new system will enable patrons to check out digital
items from Cloud Library without leaving the Polaris catalog. The Library will also be
able to include Cultural Arts programming currently on the Allen City TV YouTube
channel into the catalog. Library staff is still training on the system. Claudia estimates
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that the system will go live in 6-8 weeks.
7. Status Report on Digital Collections.
There are 62 participating libraries in the Texas Cloud Consortium. Patrons have access
to 237,000 digital copies of material, including 102,000 unique titles. Digital audiobooks
account for 32% of the collection. The estimated average cost of each digital asset is $40
a copy, and the aggregate value of the collection is approximately $9 million dollars. The
challenges with digital content is that the Library licenses rather than purchases, as with
physical books. The publishers typically limit either the number of uses for digital copies
or the time period.
The Library has applied for a third Texas Treasures grant to digitize the remaining Allen
American newspapers through 2002. The University of North Texas digitizes the
newspapers and hosts the resulting files.
Assistant Director Claudia Wayland presented the Library's digital resources to the Noon
Rotary Club including the Texas State Library online databases including Udemy online
training. The Library is working to provide database access through library account
barcodes.
8. Status Report on Library Initiatives and Services.
The Library closed at 5 pm Monday, January 30, due to icy weather and remained closed
through Thursday, February 2. The Library reopened on February 3 and was busy that
day and through the weekend as Allen schools remained closed. During that three-day
period, the library saw 3000,visitors who checked out more than 14,000 items, and also
issued 54 new library cards.
November—DiNovember—400 guesses in the fossil guessing game, 300 participants in
the scavenger hunt, and 1000 votes for weekly battle voting. The Dinosaur Company did
a program in the Auditorium that was well received. In November, staff had in-service
training that included active shooter, CPR, and defibrillator training and a tour of the
Credit Union of Texas Allen Event Center.
December- The 2022 Winter Reading Club, Yeti Set Read, ran from December 12
through January 13. Almost 1500 people participated and received a total of nearly 1700
prizes.
The Library will discontinue the use of ReadSquared, an app to log reading activity and
will be canceling that contract. The program did not work as expected, and patrons were
not happy with the interface, decreasing participation. This change will impact 1000
Books Before Kindergarten, a program that helps children prepare to start school,
tracking will take place via spreadsheet for now. Children receive prizes for every 100
hours they have logged. The program is popular and provides a sense of accomplishment
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for parents and kids. The Summer Reading Club will move back to paper logs. The Board
will receive a Summer preview at its May meeting.
Library staff will participate in the conference for City staff from all departments on
Monday, February 20. The next Library in-service will be Friday, May 5.
9. Review and Discuss October,November, and December 2022 Library Statistics.
Fiscal Year 1st Quarter: Checkouts are consistent with 2022. Digital checkouts are
increasing as is in-house use. More people are coming to the Library and staying for
longer periods of time to work, study, or read.
October: Total checkouts were virtually identical to October 2021. Digital checkouts
increased 17.6%, in-house use 27%,new patrons 19.5%, and visitors 22%. New titles
decreased 50% for some of the reasons discussed at the November meeting (supply chain
and quality control issues as well as contraction in the publishing industry). Program
attendance decreased 25.6%, holds 11%, and information requests 2%.
November: Total checkouts were virtually identical to November 2021. Digital checkouts
increased 17%, and in-house use 59%.New titles decreased 29%. Program attendance
was up 11%, new patrons 29%, information requests 5%, and visitors 11%. Holds were
down 2.5%. -
December: Total checkouts were down 2%. Digital checkouts were up 18%, in-house use
70%, and new titles 7%. Program attendance was down 1.4%year over year. New
patrons increased 31%, information requests 14%, and visits 43%. Holds were almost the
same as December 2021.
10. Recap Friends of the Library,Endowment,ALLen Reads.
The Friends are continuing to do well with its book sale and the sponsorship of Arts
APL and Cultural Arts programs at the Library. They will provide lunch for Library staff
during the May 5 in-service.
The Allen Library Endowment Fund received a$9,400 check at the December 13 City
Council Regular Meeting from the Chamber of Commerce "State of Allen" event.
Endowment Boardmembers will provide a staff appreciation luncheon during Spring
Break Week in March.
ALLen Friends plans to bring in author Gary Schmidt in October. He was here in March
2013 for his book Okay for Now. The adult selection is Station Eleven by Emily St.
John Mandel,the middle grade companion book will be Gary Schmidt's The
Wednesday Wars (the prequel to Okay for Now), and the elementary book will be
Flibbertigibbety Words: Young Shakespeare Chases Inspiration by Donna Guthrie.
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11. Discuss Items for Future Board Meeting Agendas.
• Expansion update.
• Summer Reading Club preview.
12. Items of Interest. [Board announcements regarding local civic and charitable events,
meetings,fundraisers, and awards]
i. February 20, 2023 —Library Closed for Citywide Staff Training.
ii. March 4-12, 2023 —Food for Fines.
iii. March 28, 2023 —Library Board Annual Report to the City Council.
iv. April 9, 2023 —Library Closed for Easter.
v. May 2, 2023 —Next Scheduled Library Advisory Board Meeting at 6:30 p.m.
vi. Other Calendar Items.
13. Adjourn.
MOTION: Upon a motion made by Board Member Rekha Mathai and seconded by Vice-
Chair Adyna Akins, the Board voted 6 for and none (0) opposed to adjourn the
Board meeting at 7:28 p.m. The Motion passed.
These minutes approved on the 2nd day of May 2023.
APPROVED: ATTEST:
CHAIR PERSON ECRETARY