02.22.2016 Library Board of Trustees Minutes - ApprovedORANGE PUBLIC LIBRARY BOARD OF TRUSTEES
MINUTES
Monday, February 22, 2016; 3:15 p.m.
Orange Public Library & History Center
407 E. Chapman Avenue, Orange, CA 92866
In compliance with Section 202 of the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 (42 U.S.C. Sec 12132) and the federal rules and regulations adopted in implementation thereof, the Agenda and
backup documents will be made available in appropriate alternative formats to persons with a disability. Please contact the City Clerk’s Office either in person at 300 E. Chapman
Avenue, Orange, CA or by calling (714) 744-5500 no later than 10 a.m. on the City business day preceding the scheduled meeting.
1. Call to Order / Pledge of Allegiance (3:15pm)
1.1. Roll Call: Chair Nancy Collins, Vice Chair Steve Freeman, Trustees: Patti vanVoorst, Marva Hitchcock and
Rebecca Martinez. Library Staff: Acting Director Amy Harpster, Executive Assistant Julie Eriksen
1.2. Approval of Meeting Minutes dated January 25, 2016
Motion: Freeman – motion to approve noting his title should be Vice Chair
Second: vanVoorst
Ayes: Collins, Hitchcock, Martinez
Motion by Vice Chair Freeman to discuss Item 5.1 at this time so that Councilman Alvarez can get to his next
appointment.
Second: Hitchcock
Ayes: Collins, vanVoorst, Martinez
2. Library Director’s Report
2.1. Monthly Report
2.1.1 Acting Director Harpster attended the opening of the joint program held at Chapman University on the
desegregation of schools in California exhibit, this is part of the Latino Americans grant program, and reported
it was a great success that was well attended (standing room only). The exhibit will be on view at Chapman
University for two months, before moving to Santiago Canyon College.
2.1.2 Acting Director Harpster and Archivist Lizeth Ramirez met with Theresa Sears and Tom Davidson of Orange
Park Acres because they want to donate items to the library. Ms. Ramirez provided them with the guidelines on
requirements for accepting items into the local history collection. They are also interested in helping to obtain
funds for digitization purposes. Ms. Ramirez will follow up with them after her current program (Latino
Americans) has concluded.
2.1.3 Children’s has a program taking place this weekend to celebrate Dr. Seuss’s birthday.
2.1.4 The Foundation presented their Being Mortal documentary followed by a discussion with staff of St. Joseph’s
Hospital. The event was a huge success – and was standing room only.
2.1.5 The recruitment for a Library Director has moved to the next step, they have a candidate in background and the
city council will be interviewing this person in the near future .
2.1.6 The library has a new Page starting today, and another one who is in background process. The recruitment for a
PT Clerk continues with second round interviews taking place this week.
2.1.7 Tech Services is re-tagging the DVD collection in preparation for the new self -checkout system. This is taking
longer than they expected as they have two staff members out on extended leave, one is expected back March 1,
the other at the end of April.
2.1.8 The library has two printers on order for public use, and a new plotter for staff use that was purchased w ith the
funds from last year’s “Raise Your P addle” event at the Foundation’s gala.
2.1.9 Update on Read OC program. Staff member Melody Sawyer contacted Anaheim Public Library and learned that
there is a literacy grant available through California State Library system and she will look into what is required
to apply for this grant. She is also looking into other grants that might be available to the library. Chair Collins
suggested that Melody talk with the Orange Rotary groups.
2.1.10 Staff member Keisha Loidolt is working on updating the Show Your Library Card & Save program. Once the
current businesses are confirmed, she will move to the next step of adding more businesses. Staff is considering
doing another contest to see who can sign up most businesses. Vice Chair Freeman suggested involving
Economic Development again.
2.2. Financial Report – library is right on track.
3. Board Reports
3.1. Report from Chair Collins
Chair Collins reported that she finished her training to become a tutor for Read OC and has been assigned a
“learner” starting next week. She’s very impressed with this program and stated that Anaheim & Orange Public
libraries are the only two public libraries that participate outside of the county system. Chair Collins also said
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that there is a 300 person waiting list for learners that need tutors, with 10% of them located in Orange. Chair
Collins provided a list of titles that the County suggests the library have on hand in their Literacy Office and that
the dollar amount to purchase them would be around $500; she would like Acting Director Harpster to inquire
with the Friends or Foundation to provide funding to purchase these items. Chair Collins took a look at the
Literacy Office and noticed there was a PC available in the room, she asked staff to hook it up so that it can be
used. She would like to find someone to purchase & donate a printer/scanner for the Literacy Office. She
would also like to see the library advertise Read OC on the Facebook page.
Chair Collins spoke with Jeanne from the toy store about a Fancy Nancy program and Jeanne said whenever the
library wants to put together a program that she’s willing to contact the lady with Fancy Nancy. Chair Collins said
she will let her know what the library decides.
3.2. Report from Orange Public Library Foundation Liaison (no meeting this month)
Foundation Executive Director Linda Cundiff provided some updates, even though the Foundation did not meet in
February (they meet every-other-month). As previously mentioned, their event “Being Mortal” was a huge
success and she thanked Vice Chair Freeman for his participation and assistance with the event . Vice Chair
Freeman commented on what a great opportunity it was to get people in the library who don’t usually visit, and he
liked that Ms. Cundiff had pulled books from the library to make it easier for those participating to check them
out, as well as having applications available to encourage new sign ups. Since this was such a huge success, she is
working on possibly having an encore showing/program in the fall at the library and perhaps one at the Senior
Center as well. Ms. Cundiff will be holding a story time every third Saturday at the Farmer’s Market (she also did
this program last fall), this is in conjunction with the Kids Club at the Farmer’s Market. She stated that the seed
library will premier in March with the showing of “Plant this Movie” and she plans to bring a small sample of the
seed library to the Farmer’s Market to encourage customers to visit the library to view the full selection of seeds
available. The City News did an article about the seed library and the Plaza Review is doing one, as well as the
Sentry; and there was a paragraph about it in the City Manager’s weekly newsletter to the council. It’s Your
Money program will return in March. Ms. Cundiff is working on a new idea to provide “Books for Babies” and is
something that she hopes to do in conjunction with St. Joseph’s – she stated this is merely an “idea” she has and
that she has not discussed it with anyone yet. Ms. Cundiff also shared her vision for the Foundation, which is to
become more present in the community.
3.3. Report from Friends of the Library Liaison (Marva Hitchcock)
This meeting was their Annual Meeting (voting for board members), and while there were a few complications
and some confusion; however, they seemed to have straightened it all out. Mary will remain the President, Peter
will be Treasurer, Tracy Radlinger accepted to be on the board, but it was unclear what her role will be, and Mary-
Ellen will remain the Volunteer Director. The Friends is going to have a spring book sale on March 4 & 5; they
have 150 boxes set aside for this! There was some discussion about cutting back on the paper copies of their
newsletter (Courtney reported that they always have several copies left over) and would like to move towards an
email only copy. Some members felt that a paper copy is still needed. Vice Chair Freeman suggested the
newsletter include information about programs offered at the library. Trustee Hitchcock stated that the Friends
have 57 volunteers, of which, 8 work to maintain the basement, and 4 are dedicated to Internet sales. She said that
the Friend’s volunteers are really hard workers. Internet sales for January was $900. The Friends voted on adding
insurance for sexual harassment at a cost of $500.
Chair Collins suggested the Trustees continue to work on building the bridge with the Friends. Vice Chair
Freeman stated that with the new library director coming, that hopefully this will open up some new dialogue and
connections with both groups (Friends & Foundation). Chair Collins also suggested that perhaps the Friends might
want to sponsor an event at the library, like what the Foundation does. Chair Collins also recommended that when
the Friends are invited to participate in special programs with the Board of Trustees, that they make sure the invite
gets extended to all Friends volunteers.
Trustee Hitchcock reported that she will be out of town for the next Friends meeting on 3/14 at 1pm and asked if
another trustee could attend in her place. Vice Chair Freeman said he would be happy to attend and asked that
Trustee Hitchcock inform Mary to send him the agenda next month.
3.4. Reports from Trustees
Trustee Martinez asked how the Trustees felt about having an open house at the library for all of the librarians in
the school district. They all thought it was a great idea. Acting Director Harpster said that coincidentally the
Children’s Senior Manager Irma Morales was just talking about hosting one of their monthly meetings at the
library. Chair Collins suggested they do this during National Library week in April. She will follow up on this.
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Trustee Martinez stated that she spoke with El Modena High School and they do have a link on their website to
the Orange Public Library. She will be meeting with the District Office to see how the Library Board of Trustees
can help them and vice versa. Trustee Freeman suggested they work together updating the brochures the library
has for the curriculum for each grade. Trustee Martinez also informed the library that if there is a need for website
design or newsletter assistance (anything computer technology related) that there are students out there that need
to do community service hours (over 20 hours per semester), and that she could help organize getting assistance
from the students for this.
Vice Chair Freeman asked if the meeting next month could be moved to 3:30pm. The board was okay with this,
he will adjourn the meeting to state this change.
4. Old Business (none)
5. New Business
5.1. Update on Library Director Recruitment (Councilmember Mike Alvarez)
Councilman Alvarez stated he was in attendance to inform the Board they have narrowed down a candidate for
Library Director and the Council will interview this person on March 8, 2016. Councilman Alvarez wanted the
Board’s input on what questions they may have for the candidate. He said he is looking for someone that is strong
and will fight for the library and its budget. He wants to find someone who has a true passion for libraries.
From Chair Collins:
a) Do they have experience working with a Library Foundation, and do they understand the roles between the
Library Board, the Foundation & Friends of the Library?
b) What kind of experience do they have with libraries that have expanded?
c) Have they gone through a remodel or update?
d) What type of visionary are they – are they open to new ideas?
e) What experience do they have with grant writing/requests?
f) What experience do they have working with volunteers?
From Vice Chair Freeman:
a) What’s their working relationship with their Board of Trustees and support groups (Friends & Foundation)?
b) What can they bring to help build partnerships with other organizations?
c) What’s their view on the future of libraries?
d) What’s their experience dealing with local history collections?
From Trustee vanVoorst:
a) If we had another economic downturn, would they be for or against privatization?
b) What’s their thoughts on cross training staff?
From Trustee Hitchcock:
a) What’s their ability to find/search for available grants? Any experience in writing grants?
b) What’s their communication style? How do they keep an open line of communication between staff & support
groups?
From Trustee Martinez:
a) Give examples of collaborations you have worked on/with groups inside & outside the city/library family?
b) What do they know about OPL?
From Acting Library Director Amy Harpster:
a) What’s their management style? What are their staff development goals? Do they believe in mentoring? How do
they build staff morale?
From Ms. Eriksen:
a) What’s their experience dealing with a diverse community & transients?
Councilman Alvarez thanked the Board for their input.
5.2. Open House Events
It was decided who can help with each event as noted below:
Elmo High: 2/24, 6:30pm – vanVoorst
Cambridge Elementary: 3/22, 5:30pm – Martinez
Jordan Elementary: 3/29, 5pm – Collins
Taft Elementary: 4/19, 6pm – Hitchcock
Orange High: 4/20, 6pm – Martinez
Ms. Eriksen will send an email reminder with details prior to each event.
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5.3. March Board Meeting at El Modena Branch Library, 3:15pm; April Board Meeting at Taft Branch Library,
3:15pm
It was agreed that the March meeting at the El Modena Branch will begin at 3:30pm
6. Library Happenings (all take place at OPL unless otherwise noted)
2/22 Booktalk Book Club, 7pm
2/24 Anime Nights, 6pm
2/27 Ukulele Soup, 11am
2/27 Happy Birthday Dr. Seuss, 2pm
2/29 Monday Mysteries: The Relic by Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child, 2pm
3/4-5 Friends Book Sale (Friday 1-6, Sat 10-4)
3/7 The Burning Man: Local Author Presentation, 6:30pm
3/11 Musical Storytime, 11am
3/12 Wee Bit of Ireland, 3pm
3/14 Pete the Cat Storytime, 10:30am at Elmo
3/18 Musical Storytime, 11am
3/21 Booktalk, 7pm
7. Public Comment (none)
8. Adjournment (5:06pm)
Motion: Freeman adjourned meeting until 3:30pm on 3/21/2016 at El Modena Branch Library
Second: Martinez
Ayes: Collins, vanVoorst, Hitchcock
The next Board of Trustees meeting is Monday, March 21, 2016; 3:30pm
Orange Public Library El Modena Branch – Community Room