06.20.2016 Library Board of Trustees Minutes - ApprovedORANGE PUBLIC LIBRARY BOARD OF TRUSTEES
MINUTES
Monday, June 20, 2016; 3:30 p.m.
1. Call to Order / Pledge of Allegiance (3:30pm)
1.1. Roll Call
Chair Nancy Collins, Vice Chair Steve Freeman, and Trustee Patti vanVoorst
Library Staff: Director Dave Curtis, Assistant Director Amy Harpster, Executive Assistant Julie Eriksen
Absent: Trustees: Marva Hitchcock and Rebecca Martinez
1.2. Approval of Meeting Minutes dated May 16, 2016
Motion: Freeman
Second: vanVoorst
Ayes: Collins
2. Library Director’s Report
2.1. Monthly Report
2.1.1 Summer Reading kick-off took place last Saturday with 175 kids/teens and 60 adults signing
up.
2.1.2 The Foundation Gala was a fun and beautiful event. “Raise Your Paddle” tallied $13,000
that will go towards collections. The Library was presented with a large check for $30,000
for books, programs, magazines, laptops and furniture for Elmo.
2.1.3 The Library promoted Kurt Keesling to Senior Library Manager and Deniss Sok to Lending
Services Manager. Their vacated positions will be advertised as “closed promotional.” The
library is also recruiting for a Page and Library Assistant position.
2.1.4 The budget passed at the June 14 council meeting; this included the approval of an
additional $25,000 towards the book budget.
2.1.5 The RFID retagging project is underway. Staff has set the sorting machine to send all old
tags to a specific bin so they can be re-tagged.
2.1.6 El Modena and Taft branch libraries received new wireless routers; Main will also get new
routers tomorrow. Chair Collins asked if the bandwidth at Elmo was ever fixed. Director
Curtis reported that it’s still running T-1 at 1.5Mbps which is slow. He stated that staff is
looking into boosting this by adding a second antenna for the public. He said this will
increase the bandwidth to 30Mbps; however, the public is limited to 20Mbps. The City’s IT
department is looking into the logistics of adding another antenna. Director Curtis stated this
is a priority Chair Collins stated that 1.5Mbps is unacceptable. She asked that Director
Curtis share the Board’s thoughts on this matter with the City Council and the City Manager.
Director Curtis informed the Board that Fiber is being installed at Taft and will be in use by
the next board meeting. This was possible at Taft because it was tied in with the fiber work
being done for the Fire Station on Shaffer.
2.2. Financial Report – Everything is right where it should be. The PT salary is over, due to current
vacancies, and is not an issue.
3. Board Reports
3.1. Report from Chair Collins – she will discuss the literacy program in Item 5.1 below.
3.2. Report from Orange Public Library Foundation Liaison – Chair Collins reported that she felt the
Gala was a great event this year and that she heard lots of positive comments. Chair Collins asked
Executive Director of the Library Foundation Linda Cundiff if she had anything to add. Ms. Cundiff
stated that she did a storytime at the Farmer’s Market and brought the Seed Library with her. The
Foundation held an event two weeks ago called “How to Grow from Seed” with 25 people in
attendance. Regarding the Gala, Ms. Cundiff reported that it takes time to collect the funds from
donors that did not leave a check or credit card info of the $13,000 “promised” from “Raise Your
Paddle.” She said this is standard practice for this event (collecting the money after the fact). She
also said that since this was her first Gala, she plans to get feedback from those that attended,
especially with regard to how the money is collected. She said she would especially enjoy sitting
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down with Chair Collins to get her suggestions. She also reported that expenses for the Gala were the
lowest they have ever been.
3.3. Report from Friends of the Library Liaison
3.3.1 Vice Chair (V.C.) Freeman attended the meeting with Trustee Hitchcock on July 13, where
they approved to give $700 towards prizes with OPL printed on them, as well as candy. This
will be further discussed in Item 5.2 below.
3.3.2 Friends appointed a new member “at large” Christine Heard Spencer, she used to be a
technical writer and will now proof all material going out. They are also looking to get a
correspondent secretary and publicity director in the future.
3.3.3 Friends reported their Internet sales are up, and are training staff how to list items for sale on
Amazon.
3.3.4 Friends held a fundraiser event at Wise Guys last week; 20% of total sales will benefit the
library.
3.3.5 Friends have a book sale next week on June 28 & 29. The next big book sale is September 16
& 17.
3.3.6 It was realized that volunteers are forgetting to return their access key card at the end of their
shift. The Board is considering a “swap” for the key card, such as holding onto their
car/house keys (or some other item) that will remind them to return the key card before
leaving.
3.3.7 Friends had special bookmark coupons made for 3rd of July event.
3.3.8 Friends are creating a tri-fold brochure that will provide information on who they are, what
they do, how they support the library, and volunteer opportunities. Chair Collins thought
these would be perfect for National Night Out.
3.4. Reports from Trustees – Trustee vanVoorst stated that she enjoyed the Gala very much. V.C.
Freeman stated that he enjoyed the Art Exhibit at the Library for OUSD; Chair Collins asked if they
would be doing it again next year. Staff will be in discussions with OUSD. V.C. Freeman also
informed the Board that National Night Out is scheduled for Tuesday, August 2. He also commented
on The Voice newsletter and encouraged the Board to read two articles, one on marketing for the
library, and another on crowd funding for specific needs. Chair Collins stated that she would like to
get adult & children’s program flyers, as well as Show Your Library Card and Save program info to
hand out at Concerts in the Park this Wednesday. Ms. Eriksen will have them ready for her to pick
up then. Chair Collins talked about getting a book/mobile in west Orange. She was reading about a
grant available for mobile literacy, which she feels is needed in west Orange.
4. Old Business
4.1. Third of July Event - starts at 4pm. Logistics schedule set.
5. New Business
5.1. Literacy Program – Chair Collins wanted to discuss the Board moving forward with getting a literacy
program for the library. She handed out information from the California State Library informing on
grant money available for literacy programs, and a copy of a flyer from Riverside on their program.
She stated that Anaheim contracts with OC READ for their program, but she would prefer the library
have their own program. Director Curtis stated that in order to do something like this, the library
would need a dedicated coordinator. He said he doesn’t want to lose sight of the infrastructure and
budgeting needed to have an actual program. The first step would be discussing this type of program
with other libraries that already have their own program in place and determine if funding is
available and how the library would go about getting that. Chair Collins reported that OC READ had
450 people on the wait list who want to learn to read. Director Curtis said that this number indicates
the need is there and this is something worth looking into. Chair Collins asked the Board if this was
something they would be interested in pursuing. V.C. Freeman stated that since this is listed as one
of the Board’s goals in the mission statement, he felt that they should pursue it, and that they should
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first contact the State to find out about funding and resources. He also wanted to ensure that they
were not encumbering library staff with more work; Chair Collins agreed that they should not
encumber the staff at this point. Trustee vanVoorst agreed the Board should pursue this. Chair
Collins and V.C. Freeman will coordinate to move forward with looking into what is needed to get
this program started.
5.2. Friends grant (purchase prizes/items for events). Approve to accept a $700 grant from Friends and
purchase items to include the Library logo and info printed on them, and candy for special events.
The Board agreed to start with the purchase of 1,000 bags and 500 magnets. They will request $550
upfront from Friends with the remaining $150 to go towards candy that Chair Collins will purchase
and provide receipts to the Friends for reimbursement. They would like these items in time for
National Night Out on Tuesday, August 2.
Motion: vanVoorst
Second: Freeman
Ayes: Collins
5.3. Approve Library Board Meeting Schedule FY 16/17.
Motion: Freeman
Second: vanVoorst
Ayes: Collins
6. Library Happenings (all take place at OPL unless otherwise noted)
6/18-7/30 Summer Reading Club begins for all ages
6/20 Booktalk, 7pm
6/21 Celebrating Music with Brother Yusef, 10:30 at Taft
6/21 Tech Talk, 7pm
6/22 OC Martial Arts (all ages), 3pm at Elmo
6/22 Anime Nights, 6pm
6/23 Family Film Festival: Space Jam (PG), 2pm
6/25 Ukulele Soup, 2pm
6/27 Create & Complete Mondays, 2pm
6/27 Monday Mysteries Book Club: The Colorado Kid, by Stephen King, 2pm
6/30 Family Film Festival: Surf’s Up (PG), 2pm
7/5 Annie Banannie, Balloon Storyteller (all ages), 2pm
7/7 Family Film Festival: Hotel Transylvania 2 (PG), 2pm
7/11 Create & Complete Mondays, 2pm
7/11 Summer Stress Relief: Coloring for Adults, 6:30pm
7/12 Reading is Magic with Magician Tony Daniels (all ages), 2pm
7/13 Grilled Summer Veggies, 6pm
7/14 Family Film Festival: Shaun the Sheep (PG), 2pm
7/16 Ukulele Soup, 11am
7/18 Create & Complete Mondays, 2pm
7. Public Comment (none)
8. Adjournment (5:04pm)
The Board will agendize their “Annual” meeting for July 18, 2016.
Motion: Freeman
Second: vanVoorst
Ayes: Collins
The next Board of Trustees meeting is Monday, July 18, 2016; 3:30 p.m.
Orange Public Library & History Center – Rotary Room