November 2, 2022 — Library Commission Regular Meeting

Transcript

Captions from City of Boulder YouTube recording.

[0:00] So I'll cool. Great to order. Welcome to Wednesday, November seconds, Library Commission meeting. We usually start with a review of the guidelines, but it does meeting guidelines, but it looks like we do not have any additional members of the public joining us. So we're gonna skip over that. And then I'm gonna ask if we can open up the chat so that Commissioners can log their their time. Kate will be very happy to hear that we do this now, and we'll move on to Item Number 3, which is an approval of the agenda. Does anybody have any changes or anything that they'd like to add to the agenda Okay, alright. So should we move to approve the agenda Okay, okay, Scott, you're gonna do that. Do we have a second all days in favor, Steven in favor?

[1:09] approved. And then we're gonna move on to the approval of the minutes from the October fifth meeting. can. I just say I read a lot of minutes like in my life? Silly. You are fantastic at writing meeting minutes. Can I just point that out to you? You do a few fantastic job. I read that, and I'm like nobody like summarizes it quite like this. I believe everybody was there, so we can all vote. Does anybody have any changes, or any anything that they'd like to see amended in the minutes Stevens a second, all those in favor Okay, approved. Okay, So we have 2 presentations again tonight, which is our favorite thing as a commission.

[2:02] I'll speak as a whole, as we love getting the staff presentations and finding out what's going on at the library, and this first one is the hotspot program 1 One which I think is amazing. And I can't wait to hear more about this presentation. awesome. Thank you so much for allowing me to come to this meeting tonight and present to you. what you know what the Hotspot program was, what we learned, and everything in between. So let me share my screen here, so you may have to help me. okay. I'm not a zoom regular zoom user here. Hmm, Nope, I've got apps, live Transcript. Stop, recording. Raise hand. Oh, there it is

[3:15] Okay. Okay, everybody. See a big purple box. Fantastic? Okay. Good evening. For those of you who don't know me. My name is Amy Sham. I'm the East services manager here at the library, and again thank you for allowing me time to present to you some information about this Digital divide. Project that has spanned the last 2 years. I hope you learned something from these slides, as I did, managing the project This presentation is going to be divided into 2 phases, in which the library in the city responded to the needs of our community phase.

[4:02] One started in March of 2,020, and, as you will see later, in this presentation phase, 2 started in September of 2,020 On! March! The thirteenth, 2,020, the pandemic closed down the world, and suddenly families were faced with the challenge of how to keep kids in school without leaving their home within the State of Colorado school, saw a 78%, classes moving to distance learning using online resources 15% of classes moved to distance, learning, using paper materials and 32% of classes were just canceled. In general, in a very short amount of time. We saw the socio and economic disparities among our community analysis from the Colorado future Center, at Colorado State University found that 54, 54,000 school age children in Colorado did not have Internet access in may of 2,020 children without Internet access were disproportionately Hispanic and Latinx in elementary grades, and had parents who were essential workers.

[5:01] Disparity appeared particularly severe on the front range, where Hispanic children made up more than 70% of the students without Internet access, but accounted for just over 30% of the student population in boulder county Bbsd had over a 1,000 students without internet access and school administrators were scrambling to connect students, to virtual learning. Their staff started connecting families to the Internet through live wire or comcast, and for families who could not take advantage of those resources, we gave them Hotspots with the help of the library foundation the library went into action by march 30 first just 12 business days after we closed the library, had purchased 100 hotspots that went directly to Bvsd students. By April thirteenth we had purchased an additional 175 hot spots to distribute. We worked with the city's community connectors to distribute 60 of those hot spots in mostly Hispanic and Latinx neighborhoods, and the remaining 115 hotspots were distributed by staff from the North boulder rec center and the noble corner library Twitter provided technical

[6:04] support in English and in Spanish for all 275 hotspots. So I want to share a little bit about the outcome of distributing these hotspots, school age, children. We're able to continue learning by attending class. Virtually I have a story that really sticks with me. that happened from this distribution picture that you see here. It was this very event we had these 2 little girls come to the table, and they wanted to know what we were doing, and when we explained to them that we were handing out Hotspots their eyes got really big and they ran home, and they got an adult and they brought that adult back and we explained that we were from the library. We had these high spots. We knew there were families without Internet connection, and we wanted to give them a hotspot if they needed one. No strings attached. We would pay the for the data. All they had to do was use it for their virtual learning, for any kind of virtual work that the parents were doing so.

[7:02] family did not have Internet, access, and these girls were having to do their all of their virtual learning in the hallway of their apartment, complex because they were using their neighbor's Internet. And so by giving them a hot spot, they were able to actually continue their virtual learning from the comfort of their own home. Adults, were able to continue working virtually, and this includes many library staff. We had many library staff that had to work virtually, but did not have Internet connection, so we were able to provide them with a hot spot and older adults were able to stay connected virtually with family and friends They attended virtual doctors appointments. They did online grocery, shopping, and like all of us, they watched a lot of Netflix to pass the time So now we're gonna move into phase 2. During this pandemic we really didn't know what. The next day would look like we thought we had helped everyone who needed access to the Internet, but we were wrong phase. 2 started in September of twenty-twenty.

[8:00] The city, received a cares, grant and they allocated a $100,000 for our bridging the digital divide project. The library worked closely with our partners at children, youth and families, senior services. And the Boulder County Area Agency on aging to specifically reach out to Hispanic and Latinx families with school age, children, older adults, sister Carmen, and older adult services, provided technical support. For those older adults who needed just a little bit more assistance, setting up those devices Distribution, started at the library, in October of 2020, and it concluded in December of 2,020. The library, saw long lines and devices were gone. Within hours. Family services met with specific families in need. At The lower income schools to provide devices and older adult services also provided a distribution event, and they delivered devices to homebound adults overall. We distributed 280 chromebooks, 78 ipads, and a 174 hotspots.

[9:01] So some more outcome for phase 2 in September of 2,021, I worked with a volunteer from Ketchupar to survey the older adults who participated in the program, and what I found was the program had had major impact on their quality of life, and it enabled them to function more efficiently and stay safe during Covid, and these are just some of the things that these older adults did with the chromebooks and hotspots that they had there was one patron in particular. She was one of my favorite patrons. She probably called me weekly because she had trouble with her chromebook, and so I kind of became her personal tech advisor, and she was just so happy to be able to order her groceries online and have those groceries delivered to her house. It was just invaluable to her. She didn't have Internet access or a computer before this program. Okay, So now we're gonna be looking at this program by the numbers. Unfortunately, during phase, one supply and demand tripled the cost of the hotspots costing the library foundation $81,000, which did include the monthly data on those hotspots, for twenty-twenty.

[10:06] We discovered that many of the recipients did not have Internet in their homes, but relied on the library or other locations. Once everything closed down and people were without Internet, they would have to come sit in our parking lots to access the Internet that we provided most of our recipients were from North Boulder which we suspect was because our first distribution event happened in north boulder when the older adults were surveyed They did live in all areas of the city For phase 2, The supply chain for these devices had improved greatly, as you can see. From this slide we were back to paying only on the data for the hotspots which allowed us to diversify what we could purchase for our community. What was interesting was that we saw heavy use of those hotspots from the time we just distributed them. In the fall of 2020 until June of 21. The used to declined sharply. In July of 2,021. This was likely, because school was out and covid numbers were lower, which meant older adults felt safer going out in addition to the cares money we received, the library was also able to secure additional grant funding to keep paying the data on these hot spots and we're actually sunsetting this program at the end.

[11:12] Of 2,022. When we surveyed older adults in last December of 2140% of Those older. Adults who received a hotspot still needed that device into 2,022. Which is why we decided to keep paying for it through 22 Okay, So what? Did we learn from all of this? We knew the digital divide existed, but we really didn't understand the complexities of it. Through this process. We learned the importance of a level playing field for everyone in our community, despite their socioeconomic status or age. Now our focus has turned to checking out these devices for other people in need. In 2,020, we had 18 hotspots to check out. Now we have 52, and there are 30 people on the hold list for those 52 hotspots.

[12:02] We had 6 chromebooks in 2,020. Now we have 26 based off Hotspot used. Participants were using the hotspot for school and online meetings, and not just for entertainment. Many of these folks had slower Internet or older devices that couldn't connect to online meeting or learning platforms. So they relied on the library for those devices from an administrative perspective. We never anticipated, anticipated the supply chain issues, and having to pay 3 times more for the devices that were free in 2,019 a colleague, and I had to drive to 7 different stores in the Denver boulder area. Just to scrape up 30 ipads, and the cool thing is is we were able to reach community members not familiar with library services, thanks to our partners at housing and human services, and the community, connectors. It was really all hands-on deck approach, and the success of this project could not have been possible without library staff staff from every work, group, pitched in at every point. I was delivering hotspots to staffers to their homes, so they could process them for distribution.

[13:03] Staff were working in our buildings to help manage the crazy lines that we had from from the community members picking up these hotspots and lot of staff signed up for those distribution events up in the North the north boulder area throughout all of the bad that was the pandemic This was the good overall. This program has helped close to 600 families over the course of 2 years. And we hope to continue to respond as needed in the future. Those hotspots that we're checking out. They've averaged 5 checkouts per year to date, and they have helped connect victims of the martial fire. They've helped Afghan refugee families moving into the city. They've helped countless people experiencing homelessness and many, many more Hey, mate, Thank you so much for that presentation. I think that this program is just. There are no words for how amazing this program is, and how well you guys pulled it together.

[14:03] It's such a success story. I remember, during the pandemic reading so many stories about people across the country that were sending calls, whether kids accessing Internet from buildings and stuff and it, was just a halt woman to know that at least in bolder this program we've been put together to help people stay at home, and comfortable, Why, they're learning and connecting people. It's just I mean, it's just an amazing story. I have a question. And maybe this is me that wasn't keeping up with that presentation. But when you say you're sunsetting the program at the end of this year, are you still? Can you still come and check out a hotspot or a device? Thanks so much. You have any questions Just, is it? Can you just explain the difference between what will be available after the end of this act, this calendar year, and and what won't be Yeah, So we're sunsetting, paying the data on those hotspots that were distributed to the community. So the the 40% of the older adults that still have a hotspot and we have a handful of other families that have hotspots.

[15:00] We're sunsetting, paying the data on those hotspots, we will continue to check out hotspots and chromebooks, and it's clear that the that they're needed. I mean, 52 hotspots, and there's 30 holds We will be continuing to add hotspots as we can, and pay for the data for those hotspots. we have seen a high loss rate, particularly on those chromebooks, but we really feel like the benefit outweighs the loss at this point. obviously, if I can continue to find Grant money to pay for this program that makes it even that much more powerful for our community. Okay. Yeah, I yeah, I can imagine that there's some things that we've just moved on as a society. So pulling that back from somebody could be really difficult. There's such an assumption that the changes we made during the pandemic is something that can go forward without thinking about the fact that some people don't have that availability I wonder whether it's something that we keep an eye on so that depending what So

[16:12] Absolutely, and we've been in touch with these folks throughout this entire process and have checked in with them to see how things are going, and many of them are can now get Internet access on their own I think with the pandemic it it opened. The eyes for companies like Comcast to find lower payment options, you know, lower tears that they could offer lower income families, their subsidies, and things like that that just weren't available, you know during the pandemic that they can take advantage of so Yeah, I anticipate most i'm the outcome of the library district, and the role of foundation will move in is that that's something that we can continue to look at offering people and grant money and things. Like, that, I think it's definitely something to continue to consider for the future Yeah, and one last question, you mentioned some that some of the people you were connecting with had didn't have any contact with the library before this. hoping most of the people will be able to continue Internet access in another way, unless, of course, the library Content decides to continue supporting this

[17:09] I think so. I personally have not followed up with those families, but I think we are seeing more families coming to programs. It was particularly the the lower income. Hispanic Latinx community that did not use the library, and they came to us because of the community connectors and because of the people, that we have in those lower income schools the the partners. That we have so you know, I think we'll see. We'll see the the benefit is just not going to be like. Have you found that this program is open? The doors to other programs at the library for the people that weren't familiar with library services it will be over a long period of time, I think, building that trust Amy. I have a a more direct question

[18:02] Given that you're saying the programming is sunsetting, and you had some high losses on the chromebooks, Have you or your your colleagues? Have any of you gone directly to Google and said, Here's what's happening. Can you set up a program to give us X number of chromebooks each year? I mean, it's not like Google's got. Doesn't have any money, and it's not like they're and it's not like they don't. Have. It doesn't. It's not like they. They don't have a need to not generate. Good. Yeah, Scott. That's a great question. Scott, David and I went to Google 6 years ago, when we were building the makerspace asking for money, and they kind of said, Thanks, but no thanks, I have not spoken to them since David. no, I did. I I propose this program to them. Scott and I. You know they were interested. I don't. I don't want to say they were not they.

[19:00] They flew, Somebody how to speak with you from I don't know where it is, Cupertino, or some place like that. And then another guy from Texas came up to talk. In the end they opted not to. They said they really weren't in the business of they. They they were. They wanted us to circulate an education platform that Google was real. Alphabet was rolling out, and I told them maybe if it was consistent with what the schools were doing, but if it wasn't consistent with what schools were doing, I wasn't interested, and Yeah, we we made it down. The road but we didn't. We didn't get to the final We didn't get to funding, so it's something we we would go back to them on I mean, Google has funded a similar program for school age. Kids in New York City. They supply all school age kids who need a chromebook and a hot spot for entire school year. So yeah, that's that is a a model program. And I just don't know that they see the need.

[20:06] I I don't know if they they we didn't make right. They didn't. Well in the community Good. We didn't get it on the we didn't get the funding but I'm not willing to give up, because I think they are interested in in precisely what you said. Yeah. Well, then, you know David, David, the other the follow up on that, too, is it's not like we don't have any tech entrepreneurs or don't have any technology companies in boulder there has to be somebody whether either through text stars or you know somebody along the line of a brad feld or whomever is out there, and I'm just picking out some from random names, but there's gotta be some people out there who have an interest in in participating in this fashion, so it's just a matter of finding the right people on the right companies and saying do you want to I don't know if you have spoken to Google

[21:02] I think what I found interesting is, if you look at census data, and you look at households that have internet broadband and a computer, the The percentages are in the the low to mid nineties but what we learned. Was, Yeah, they may have Internet and they may have a device. But neither could handle the bandwidth that was needed for online learning and for Zoom Meetings And things. So Well, thank you, Amy. I really appreciate his presenting this and all of your hard work to do this and to your team, who was able to pull this together so quickly and make such an impact the community amazing work Thank you. You have my contact information. If any other questions pop up, I'm happy to to get back to you Thank you.

[22:00] Hi, Amy! Okay. So then, moving along, we have got a presentation on volunteer services. Yeah, good to be here. So I realized that I hadn't been to the Library Commission to talk about volunteer services since the summer of 2019, So there's a bit to share So I'm I'm gonna give a little bit of overview of what happened through the Covid times and kind of where we're at today. So let me share my screen here. Okay, that work. You see it? Okay, Okay, great. So I'm gonna talk about volunteerism since 2020, but also, as as you heard at one of the recent meetings that I'm in a new, role. Which is managing the community literacy and outreach. So I'll give a little update on that at the end, too.

[23:09] Wrong screen. Hold on one sec here, there, so twenty-twenty. you know what was really phenomenal is that the volunteers continued, where at all possible, they just kept pitching in. They moved to zoom. They use Google meetings, They whatever teams, whatever they could to make it happen and so. You know, a lot of our key programs just moved online and volunteers, you know. Sometimes it didn't even know the technology, but we're willing to learn and willing to make it happen. And then programs like conversations in English, which had pretty much, I think, solely been in person moved to all online. Really rapidly, and was able to make that accessible to a large group of people. Then our program, like our home delivery program, you know, quickly, so that we could involve as soon as we started opening again, we had staff picking up the new patrons that needed to be part of our home delivery program so we still had volunteers participating and we are able to

[24:11] take many more people in and really quickly, with staff pitching in, and the other thing in 2,020 was the library shared its resources. Me. We work for the city, but I was coordinating what's called our volunteer cooperative. So it's volunteer coordinators across the city, and really helping think about how we can engage the community. How do we make it easy? What are the the Protocols? we quickly stood up. The covid recovery, Senator Center for the city through the database the whole application process, all the shifts. So we really played a role overall in the city, and volunteerism, too. The other thing is ours. I wanna give, you know, credit to our staff for being super creative. They you know, wanted to make sure. How do we serve the community?

[25:00] How we, How can we make sure that everything possible we can provide to our community? And the volunteers were just as responsive, and so like the team chats moved online, and the team volunteers provided or created a murder mystery program. Online. They were part of creating the first ever team summit online. We had a new role called the Book Drop Volunteers, and they brought all the books and the materials in that people were returning to the library, and, as you can imagine, after we are closed a long time, it was pretty crazy but they would. Put those in a room across to date, they would make sure they were quarantined, and they got all the training online and took care of that to make sure we could keep up with everything They they came up. With like the staff came up with, How do we give out the summer of discovery? Prizes, and so they had a tent outside, and volunteers you know, rose their hand. Yes, we'll help. And so they would wear their mask and sit outside. You'll see the the picture there, and they were part of giving out those hotspots and computers, too.

[26:03] So they were some of the people we had some of our Spanish speaking volunteers. Help with that they created literacy kits at home, craft kits, and they just kept going, and and they were for those who were able to volunteer. they were really excited to step up and participate As we transition to 21, we ended some roles like the book drop. We started others we started a shelf adapter program so people could come in and adopt a section of the library and keep those tidy look for grubby books things like that. We had a lot of programs starting to go online. And at this point, you know, we we just have more and more coming. Online. We had volunteers coming back in person with their mass, with their sanitizer. So we have the summer of discovery volunteers who signed up 4,000 people that summer to participate in our summer of discovery program, and The home delivery. We had tons of ebbs and flows as people got vaccinated, and felt more comfortable, they would drop out.

[27:04] New people would hear about and come in. So we had probably over a 100 patrons and volunteers coming and going, depending on the timing of that. And then another thing. I just wanted to highlight is, We opened our use bookstore paper and spine, used books. We that had been remodeled right before Covid, and we were probably within weeks of opening it, and we got. We were shut down, and so we had never been in that space that was remodeled. We had a naming contest. We did branding for the bookstore. We had to create a whole new system, and basically almost train an entire new set of volunteers because of Covid people move. People had other things happening. So we had that happen, too, as we move back into 22 a lot of our key programs are are back in person as much as possible, or still continuing in a hybrid way they found new ways that also worked for a variety of people so doing more of it at

[28:07] home, or some of our conversations in English are still online things like that. A couple of things. I just wanted to highlight. We had a 60% increase in team volunteers this past summer. That's for that's from 2019. So that was really significant teens are looking for opportunities, or their parents are, or both, and some of the main reasons that teams asked to volunteer was It came up over and over again when we asked him why was to connect with other teams and make friends. It's been a hard time for teens, and this was an opportunity, not that all of them made friends, but we did see teens making friends, and sharing things and getting to know some new people, and so that was great we had increases in Adults too, at this point we're up to, you know just tons of programs online, we every or in person, every weekend. Now we basically have a volunteer opportunity for people to participate, And with our dipole festival, we had that online.

[29:07] We were back up to 130 volunteers that participated in that festival. That's a lot of people, So people are willing to pitch in and come out. And what was great, is we again at the Chipore Festival we saw a real diversity of you ages, backgrounds, cultures, come and really make that possible. I want to highlight which is really driven by volunteers is our reading buddies program. So we were able to launch that this year, too, with with 2 sessions, 38 kids, one at Uny Hill, and one at the the main library. So there's 19 kids in each of the sessions just as a snapshot in numbers. We keep increasing, and this year, compared to last year, we already have 30 35% more volunteers. this is only since probably the beginning of October. So we're gonna have more numbers. We're not by any means up to what we were before.

[30:03] Covid, but it's significantly increasing. And one of the things to note during during 2,020 in particular, those volunteers who felt comfortable volunteering. They often volunteered multiple times, and each of those individuals on average, were given 25% more of their time than individuals in the past. So they were. They were just given given giving. If we'd ask again, Okay, we need kits. Okay, I can help, too. And so it's really fun to see their commitment and involvement in that. And you'll have a copy of the presentation. So if you want to see more on the numbers, you can, One of the things we did during, I guess it's Covid. We're still Covid in a way, is we did our first ever all volunteer survey to really do an assessment across all of our volunteer programs, All of our one day volunteer opportunities, things like that we had about a fourth of the volunteers and who had volunteered in 21 participate. So 92 people and 95% of them were satisfied or very satisfied.

[31:07] And so you know, we have a happy crew They're they're excited about being part of the library. They love the library. They like working with our staff and overall, you know, very positive things 98% of the communication was good. 80% of the the trainings, and really they volunteer because they believe in the mission, and they want to give back to our community. And so we have, you know, real advocates in our community, in our volunteers. They did. Have suggestions for how we can improve. But those weren't. There wasn't no consistent thread, but some of the teams were more interaction with Staff, which is our theme, more interaction with volunteers. some improvements on trainings and some of the programs and snacks. So we hadn't had snacks during Co. We? We! They had been sitting there all that time, and we haven't gotten back to snacks. But we'll get there

[32:01] a volunteer help to go through all the survey data and help me analyze it. And this was just what what she said in looking through all of it, that volunteer see library staff as heroes during a trying year, volunteering at the library has provided an oasis of sanity for these volunteers, volunteers feel needed and useful and kudos to the staff and I think that's the feeling overall is just. We have amazing staff. They are so gracious and kind with our volunteers and our volunteers love the opportunity to work with them and the quote at the bottom was just one of the quotes from one of the volunteers on the survey and you know just said same thing the the kindness. Yeah, just the patience, the thoughtfulness, and all that of our staff. some of the favorite things of our volunteers are meeting other community members interacting with our patrons, being able to contribute to the work we do like in the oral history, and seeing how it makes people happy like when they're doing the tech drop in it came up a number of years ago.

[33:08] about the democrats, demographics of our volunteers, not all the volunteers filled out the demographic section, but probably about 70% did or 70 people out of the 42. So this is just a snapshot, you know, 80% white, 7% disability, 80% female, 79% heterosexual. And the age range is really a mix. The one, you know that is the least is college age, which is interesting, and gives us an opportunity to build on, that And with reading buddies. You know we do secure college students. So we'll have more college students in our next survey, and we hope to. We plan to do one again in the coming month, so you should get a survey yourself, so that before I move on That's the that's kind of a snapshot of volunteer stuff.

[34:00] I mean, really overall we're talking about people that, especially during Covid, were super eager to participate and help and pitch in. Now people are. But I think there's so many opportunities and kind of getting back into that, like everything's happening again. And so it's not as quick and easy to volunteer, or to get volunteers, and we don't. was I gonna say on that It's not as quick and easy to get them, And we have many more opportunities. So it's not like we have one or 2 All of a sudden we have 10 or something like that. So that's kind of what's happening at this stage. So with that, I'm gonna just talk, really, briefly about community literacy and outreach. I just started in that role in September, and just some thoughts I wanna share with you, and kind of where we're at with that. So for Boulder reads, you know, kind of where we're at is really we need to rebuild the team.

[35:00] Karen and Christine have been driving forward, you know, provide the services that we provided before to as many people as possible, but it's really been short. Staffed with the approval of the budget. We have 2 point, 5 people that we get to hire in this literacy area, and that's super exciting. That will be a priority and kind of building the team. That means more than half of the team will be new, and a key thing in that will be really assessing what we're doing. And prioritizing and helping bring things to scale in terms of that. It's doable for the staff and ambitious while doable, You know we've we've they've been stretched for sure, and we'll bring in some more people to support them. And I'm really excited about having a team that can really work on our literacy efforts, and that and when we do that, you know, creating more awareness of the services that are available, and what we offer and making sure we're we're connecting with the communities, that can benefit from that I do want to mention

[36:02] that I don't think I mentioned this yet that we did hire the reading bodies program manager. And she was fantastic. Unfortunately, in less than 2 months she had a health crisis and had to resign from the position. So, just when starting the program, having secured all the volunteers background checks, got the all the little buddies she had to step out. We've been able to shift gears, and get the get some staff to help, temporarily, in it but that is something now we're gonna have to rehire and kind of figuring out what's doable right away in in January again. So we have a fantastic group. It is so exciting. If you ever wanna like, warm your heart, come by on a Tuesday evening between 4 30 and 6, and see all these kids. And some are adults, but most of them are Cu students working with little kids. And just last week, for example, before the session, we had 2 parents come up and say, Can my can my child sign up again for next session?

[37:03] You know they're just getting going. They're so excited They're loving this program now, and they're asking to come back. And those happen to be 2 kids that weren't really reading and reading much at all. And then this last session, with the support of our staff, kind of pulling age, appropriate books and beginner books, Those kids actually read that their first book of the reading Buddy Session and we're so proud and and we work this week, on praising the little buddies and making it a really positive experience. So it it's going phenomenally. It's so fun to see anybody who wants to to cheer up their day. Come by on a Tuesday, and just see that it's just phenomenal in terms of outreach. We haven't had a outreach, deaf person for about a year. we are really hoping to kind of take that time to do assessment. We put out a request for proposal earlier this year for a consultant, partially because of staff, and because partially because the the proposals just weren't the right fit.

[38:05] we weren't able to move forward on either of those. We just got another proposal. We're gonna be assessing. but really the ideas, you know, there's so many possibilities, and when I started doing some outreach to prepare for the consultant, everybody's excited to work with the library. And they're super positive about the library. There's just so many opportunities, and so I'm hoping we'll still be able to hire a consultant to help us. Really assess some of the literacy and outreach opportunities, especially if we look towards the Latin Latino community and underserved communities. And I know that's been part of master plans since 2,007, and that's really a priority for our outreach is, how do we make connections to underserved communities prioritizing the Latino community and other key underserved communities in boulder. we do we are able to hire a staff person in the coming year on that, and or excited about that.

[39:02] And I really see this area is kind of I I see, outreach as part of many people of the library, not this one person. And I see us more on a coordinating role and helping define kind of what the priorities are, and helping bring staff together. So that again it's doable, and we each can take on little pieces and really make a difference in our community and bringing our library to the community and bringing the community to the library in new ways So the immediate next steps are really hiring the volunteer services manager to Re to fill my role were started. We did interviews doing interviews this week. We hope to make a decision in the next week or 2, for sure, and then moving on to the Literacy, we get to hire boulder reads, Literacy manager again and a reading buddies program coordinator So all those are coming forward and then reviewing the proposal, seeing if that's a good fit, we really would like to do some of that literacy and outreach strategic planning and kind of define more what we're we're trying to do more specifically in that that area.

[40:08] So that we can really focus our resources in our our time. That is volunteer services, and a little bit about community literacy and outreach Any questions? Yes, Scott Kate and I have a actually have a question about one of your pictures and those on this slide that said Boulder reads 2022, 23, and he had a big picture kind of in the right hand corner. Okay. And it was. I don't know where those all your volunteers or See. Because it relates to a larger. It's to me it's a It's a larger question that is going to accompany what I'm seeing in that picture So this picture is one of the they used to have annual celebrations of the learners for Boulder reads, and this picture is is this the picture you're talking about?

[41:10] Yup There are almost no men in this picture, and when we start talking about literacy and and and in terms of your volunteers, it's 80% women 20% men roughly, And So my question becomes this is where are the men what are we doing to encourage men to volunteer. At the library. How are we looking at men as being an under under underserved community? Analysts within literacy. How are we looking at all those issues? Because the research is very, very clear that boys and men don't read, and and reading and soft skills is a crucial crucial deal for men and boys as they advance, and move into careers.

[42:05] And if I saw a picture like that, and I saw nothing but women, and I was on Guy. I probably would not participate. I would say, I'm not welcomed. I'm not included in this, and so I think I think that's a good and and I know there are some challenges in trying to get men and boys to participate. Yup. So this was one of those celebrations of our learners, for Boulder reads I think that's something that we can definitely look at in the future. I mean so far, you know, the last few years, the the area hasn't even been fully staffed, and mainly it in my sense, it's responsive to who comes in the door I think one of the things as we go forward is looking at where do we get out the word who do We get out. The word to How do we reach people? And one of the things we could look at is, how do we reach men in particular?

[43:00] What you know so far we're at a place that we haven't. We wouldn't We haven't been able to serve, really. Probably the full demand of what's or anyway of what's in the community. And so it's been license, and I can see if I'll double check with Karen, who manage. Who runs. That program. Is just that. It's it's who has been the partners already. But I think that's something that we we that really needs to be looked at And then who who comes to us? But I think that is something to look at, and and the same for volunteer services. I mean so far it's been because of the demand for volunteers and what we're managing. Yeah. my guess is that over the past, you know, since March of 2020 it was more a matter of We'll take any volunteers we can get.

[44:05] It doesn't matter who they are. Well, whatever we can get, we'll take them, But I think I think now that we're we're past some of that I I think it's it's you're right. We need to start. Looking at that in sort of an intentional instructor way to say, You know, How do we? Which groups do we want to target? And how do we bring in members of those various groups? And you know, and moving on, instead of just saying Oh, we're so thankful for anybody we have this time. It's kind of who's come to us, and then leveraging that more than it is going out and targeting different populations, and hopefully we'll get to a place that we have the opportunity to do that but in the past few years you know we haven't had that that capability And I think one of the priorities for us too, is is making sure that volunteer opportunities are accessible to anybody who would like to participate, and that they're familiar with it. I mean, I think I would imagine if you looked at volunteerism across the board, not just the library. But let's see how we can figure it out. You're gonna see more women volunteering in general, not just just at our library, but really like, how do we make it accessible to people from other cultures?

[45:01] How do we make it accessible to people with disabilities? What opportunities do we have. And so I think if we look at different ways that people, different people and backgrounds and cultures, there's lots of things we might be able to do with that thanks for being Hey, Kate! Was it excellent presentation, so good to see everything? Is you're doing. I have to say that I I often see volunteers when I'm in the library, especially when it comes to the things like summer reading, sorry summer of discovery. And I don't see those team volunteers getting involved. I think that's so great that you've made it accessible to to younger people to get involved, And I think it's really important. Any other questions. Thank you. They'd love to see meeting buddies back. Thanks for doing

[46:00] Yeah, Okay? Well, thank you. Thanks. Thanks for the opportunity to to share that. Yeah. Thanks, Kate Bye Okay, So moving on to item Number 8, This is the Library Policy Review, bringing back policies that we've seen for the last. I think 2 meetings, or maybe the last meeting. The first one is the would be attachment A, and it is the rule? Changes to the library rules of conduct. Thank you for putting the changes really clearly in yellow and summarizing the changes. Well, no. We just. We took the the rules, changes the staff proposed to you all and that you approve last meeting, and have the attorneys review them.

[47:09] our attorney also worked with the group that prosecutors to review these, to make sure that they're all enforceable. And so the changes that they made our like, you said summarized for you. and this is your opportunity to ask questions about those changes, and if you have any others to offer, if you don't, you can approve them tonight, and they'll move to the next stage, which is we'll have them translated and posted for public comment for 2 weeks if there are no public comments. They come, they go to the city manager for approval, and then to you all for approval. Jennifer, did you? I don't know if you wanted to say some pieces about this before there's any discussion or anything

[48:01] So? Does anybody have any questions or feedback on the changes? And, as I said, they're highlighted in yellow, and, I believe, summarized as well. In the first part. Go ahead, scope. Any other comments or feedback I, too, I agree with what Scott, said I. The changes clear. I'm eager to move this along so that you guys can get this in place so that it is something that you have at your in your toolkit going forward. So if they's no other questions or changes, I say that we move to vote, to approve these changes and move them onto the next stage. that? Okay, we'll take Silvia. If there are public comments, then we consider those, and they they may add another step in the process

[49:02] I think I saw her first. All those in favor Yep. Okay, Approved: Thank you. Okay? And then moving on to the next item, which is item number 9. Another policy Review. This is the these are the changes in input to the policy that we started on last week about the Carnegie Library. Local history policies. And I'm just moving down. We just find that is that also attachment? I'm not sure why they're all labeled. A: okay. This has been so strange. It's actually page 23 in your packet. Memo. And so the the piece that you all need to review tonight is just the change that was recommended to the archive collection policy.

[50:01] So I took all of your feedback to back to the team and went. We went through it together. They really liked the suggestion to change. How to contribute, to how to participate, and some of the other moving some of the other information around to kind of highlight What the Maria Rogers or History program has to offer volunteers that sort of thing so They agreed that all those changes were were great they just discussed the suggestions. There were a couple of suggestions, for there was a, I guess, like to back up. There was a question about a reference to the museum of Boulder in in the archive collection policy, and some of the commissioners had said that that was somewhat ambiguous or didn't make sense didn't go with the policy and there were a couple of suggestions made I

[51:00] pose those both to the team, and they they decided that. Yes, it it is unclear, and it probably doesn't really belong in the policy. So they propose removing it wholesale, and the reasons why they did that is, they feel like the information that preceded that section, a sentence really in a positive way. Presents, what the archive will collect, and it doesn't prevent them from making a different decision If somebody offered them an object they felt was appropriate to, except into the collection. they also felt like we covered, recommending where people could donate objects in the how to participate. Section. There's information about how you can donate materials to the library or to the archive, and that if they have something that's like a painting or personal effect that they consider offering it to the museum of boulder, and then they also had a a nice example, of how

[52:18] we work with the Museum of Boulder. We work together to make sure that donations of any kind really find the right place. it's not always with the archive. Sometimes like in the example, there was both a T set and some paper materials donated, offered to both the museum and the archive, and the staff. From both got together and decided that they, the Museum, would take the tea set, and we would take the guest book in the personal papers, and you know we core. We collaborate with the museum and exhibit. So if they ever wanted to exhibit that tea set, and they wanted the the copies or the original guest book to put on display, we would certainly consider loaning it to them.

[53:10] And we do that often. The other thing that they pointed out was that sometimes they get offered things of historical value, but they just don't belong in our archive primarily, because we just don't have a whole lot of space to have things outside of folder county and so they they work with their colleagues at other historic institutions, like archives and museums. the Denver Western History Library is is one that I know that they have the had some materials offered to them, and they decided that they'd be better if they were sent to the the Denver Western History Museum. That's it. Okay.

[54:07] Thank you. Thank you. And for the background on that, and for indulging the Commission in that process, I think that the changes make it clear, and if there, please let me know if anyone has any questions or comments, or changes they'd like to see Okay, then, I propose that we move to the. We vote on approving the changes to the Carnegie Library for local history policies. So they they make sure that things of historic value find a home and find a place where people can access them Do the second, Steven. Thank you. All those in favor. Okay, thank you so much, Jennifer. Okay, So then we've got item Number 10, and that is the library Commission application questions.

[55:03] So, as we know, everyone knows we will be getting a new Well, we hope to get a new library Commissioner in next April, and so at this time of year we put the application materials together and I believe they typically open application sometime in January And that is the process for interviewing people for the open position. So it's gonna be an interesting time to recruit a commissioner. we'll find out next Tuesday hopefully what that new Commissioner's role exactly will be. How long that commission is role will be. But it any way that this goes is going to be an important time. So we want to make sure that we have the best questions out there to recruit a new commissioner. So we've got a a attachment, a number page 27 is the the list of existing questions.

[56:08] Now, if I remember rightly, we look at these every year. We don't necessarily want to expand the number of questions, because we don't want it to be too We don't want to not encourage people to apply. So I think it's a good number of questions initially. When I looked through these. To me it looks like Question Number 5 and question Number 10 is essentially the same question. Have you participated in other community organizations? Please describe how your involvement in the community has led you to applying for the Library Commission, and then question 10. Is, Please describe your involvement in other organizations. How is your past involvement led you to applying for the Library Commission? So I think my first, my first thought is that we take one of those questions out, and probably question Number 10.

[57:05] so that that was my feedback. I suppose the other thing I was wondering about is, do we put something in there about the library district again? This is kind of a tricky time to ask this question, because, as of next Tuesday we've know whether that's a really important piece to put in there or not, and I don't know how long do we does this have to be moved forward in november or could we wait to our december meeting. I think it's new. December fifth. Do we know? Oh, and let's look at the day about December. hmm! So December seventh is our next Commission meeting. I wonder, Do you think that the city would let us have 2 extra days on that? Or if you think that's a hard deadline

[58:05] Yeah, cause I feel like it would really change the next month. Whether we ask that question or not. Scott, you had your hand up, Do you want to? yeah. Yeah, no, I I think, if if if we can get those couple of extra days, because I'm I'm looking at those questions, and I and I'm thinking we almost need to, to redraft almost all new questions, for example, in question 8 it says you know how do you participate in it as an Is, that Well, these to be clear, these people would be still applying commission. advisory capacity. If If the district goes through the Trustees commission become more of a government's body. The trustees would be a separate group. So maybe, if we could possibly get an extension. I wonder if we could think about this is over this next month, knowing that if we were to get an extension of 2 days, that we would. The changes we want to make to these questions we would need to do quickly, Maybe even in real time, in our meeting, if we have the time to put that aside, because if we was to ask for 2 extra days, we'd want something to them the morning.

[59:12] Of probably 8. So maybe as a commission. Could we consider these questions individually? Next Wednesday or Thursday, depending on how celebrations or commiserations go for what happens next Tuesday, so that we could come as a working group in December with those questions with questions in mind of what we would change considering the outcome of next Tuesday does that seem like a good idea, and I suppose the backup would be is if we were to ask the city for those 2 extra days, and then they do not allow us to have those days, and said that the Deadline would be December Fifth I think that's what you said then let's we would We could

[60:00] work it by email in the meantime, to get that to make that in that first edition, if we were not granted extra time. Does that seem like a good plan Okay, alright. Well, let's move forward with that working plan. alright. Most of the update is around the adjustment to base, which, as you can see, this is something for Sylvia, since you're relatively new we do adjustment to base twice a year it's mostly to reconcile the books you can see in this in this case. it's for accepting on the approval of grant expenditures, grant revenues to accept them in the budget, and the second big one, which is the largest, one is the roughly 2 million dollars that we had needed to draw down in order to meet the contract for the overall library so we did we are

[61:01] in the contract we have a building permit. We're pretty much ready to go, but we required spending expending We're allocating these funds and getting council to approve the expenditure of those money So we could enter into that funnel contract the rest of it's pretty straightforward the one bit the closure schedule for twenty-two-three is something that we bring to you each year meeting, You know you you guys need to take a look at it. I believe the 2,023 closure. It does include Juneteenth. Right? I think that's the big difference from previous years. This Juneteenth is now national holiday, so that'll be a day where the library is closed, and then, at your request, we updated jennifer updated the the current estimate costs for library services based on the 2023 Budget which has now been approved by Council and so you can see that there in front of you. You know I I feel because there's been so much

[62:06] Talk about it. I I feel that I feel that compelled to be very clear with you. Right? So beginning in 2,023, the budget itself will be the 1711 point, 0, 6 plus the 3 point, 6 million, which is the cost for everything from it, and facilities to communications to lawyers to everything else, like that and then the capital maintenance budget is an average that's an average annual expenditure over the course of about 10 years We don't have a 1 million dollars set aside in 2,023, but that's the the average annual amount. So 15, point, 6 7 million dollars would be the budget. The other 2 items, the operating deficit due to cuts that we made, which still exist, and we haven't fully restored funding back to pre-pandemic levels and the capital maintenance for deferred maintenance neither one of those have funding so I I

[63:04] mean you You may say that that is the cost to running the library. That's what it cost to run the library. Well, or something like that. That's not a dollar amount that we've ever had in the bank. That's never a dollar amount that the the 15.6, 7, is what it costs to run what it currently costs. The taxpayer to run the library. The 17.5 7. That may very well be the cost of running the library. That's what it would take us to do if we were to actually be restored to the pre pandemic staffing level as well as to have funding for addressing the facilities backlog which we never have had the city's. Never granted that money this point they've not identified it. Revenue source Is that clear? So it's just I know it's a little bit like slicing turnups at this point, but I feel compelled to be very specific about it because there's so much talk about that those numbers so and that's pretty much the end of my

[64:04] report is there. Do you guys have any questions? Yes, Scott I have one question and it may be an easy one to answer when it looking at, though it's not with the budget, with the library closures for the dates at the end of December It's It's the library. Yes. Is closed on, I wanna make sure the correct dates when I'm looking at the information So it's Friday, December 20 ninth, and then again Sunday December 30 first. So I want to understand why not just close on the thirtieth and thirty-first? Or is it because the first, and then maybe the second, or also closing, dates, because of New Year's? Yeah. Scott. You sound like one of my staff members Is, that It makes it makes such incredible. It makes such a good sense right to do it as you describe. The reason why we do that is because the city, the majority of city staff, work Monday through Friday, and so the actual holiday for city staff is on a usually on a Friday or Monday, and so we honor that as well, so we will actually close on a Friday open on a Saturday, close Hmm.

[65:18] on a Sunday. Yeah, that's the That's correct. Yeah, it's And then be close again on Monday. The first. Okay, that makes sense. I suspected there was something to do with it, but I thought, Well, I'll ask sorry, I have a follow up question. That so you saved the difference between weekend stuff and and people that work in the day in the weekend and weeks. Day stuff. That is so? It's to give each So you So, as you say, you move the holiday over to a weekday. It doesn't make sense, Scott, but I but I appreciate you saying it does. That's that's yeah

[66:00] the city moves a holiday date to the weekday. Right? If it falls on a weekend, and then open the and then close the actual day of the holiday So for a holiday we would be close then on when it falls in the weekend we close on New Year's Eve and New Year's Day as well. Yes, Okay, Okay, Yeah, alright, sorry. I just need that. Describe one of the time. I have a question I don't know whether it's just me, and I should have probably brought this up in a pre-meeting, but I can't get into the performance reports I don't know if anybody else could it's keeps redirecting me with the Link and So okay, yeah. so I don't know whether it's my. Does anyone else have any problems with that I'm checking it now Oh, Jane, I'm sorry I It looks to me. One of them was a broken light. Think. Yeah.

[67:03] That's okay. Would you mind? Could we just repost them in next month's meeting packet? Yeah, it's the redirect takes you to the masterpiece So it is available for anywhere, or maybe can we go back and correct it for the packet as posted, so that is available online. Yeah. No nothing, nothing particularly. You know. Our numbers are still down. I don't know when they're gonna come back fully. but yeah, you can see in both the attendance and in circulation, with the exception again, of circulation of ebooks, our numbers are dropped during the pandemic and I'm in only gradually coming back So I know another a number of area libraries. Are reporting that their numbers are back to normal levels. You're close to. Okay. And then I I wonder, is there anything out of the ordinary in any of those reports? That would be that we'd need to discuss in this meeting

[68:09] gee! If do you think there's anything to do with the days that are closed? We have increased, we have decreased hours in some location. I haven't actually seen the data, but that's what some other libraries are reporting, and I I will tell you that's not the case for us. It's possible, Jane, I I don't know, you know, with before. Well, I don't know. That would be interesting to test whether there's a correlation I mean the the number of hours that we reduce during the pandemic obviously we're we were significantly ratcheted down with Reynolds. And mobile, but being closed, but for the year 23 they've both reopened and admittedly with reduced hours. But it's not a profound reduction. I mean, we are now. I think it. I think 55 or 56 h per week at Main.

[69:02] Where used to be 63, Reynolds is obviously still close to date, but I I didn't. I didn't bother to I That's a great question. I mean. I'll I'll look at see if the percent reduction matches the percent that we having come back. It would be curious to me that just typically there's not been a direct correlation between the hours that were open and the items that go out, or the visitors because they tend to come. No matter What the hours, are if they're coming Now I mean just anecdotally walking around the library. It still seems at least to me, that our numbers for children are are grabbing back up, so that number was one that was down dramatically through the beginning parts of the year, and really didn't begin to pick up until this summer they've kind of dropped again during the school year which is expected. But the group that really hasn't returned, and quite the numbers that were here before is the senior population.

[70:03] So and I'm not sure if that is concerned about the pandemic or other concerns, that they may have. But that's the number that when you look around the library, it's noticeable to me that that group is not back in the manner in which it was because they were you. Could it be to do with that? Or is that too simplistic Know, after children, families, and you know the college age crowd. That was the biggest demographic in the library, and it doesn't doesn't appear to be the case now. Yeah, I don't know, and I haven't read a lot about it, either. I haven't seen a lot of reporting on the activity of the 60 plus crowd at whether or not they're going out in the manner in which they did prior to the pandemic yet, or not and that's my suspicion is that they are finding that just not either not as they don't

[71:04] feel safer. It's convenient or worth our time. Hmm! That's interesting. Wonder whether people develop new new routines and new ways of doing things and haven't come back Jane. I just want to double check what page you were getting, because I I just checked the links, and it looks like it is the page that has the performance measures They're a little bit further down the page. Okay. It's the annual or the library master plan is at the top, and then, if you just scroll down like it's maybe halfway down the page, there's the list of performance measures so Very miss that Oh, yeah, Yup, that was me. Then. Sorry I came up to most of plan. And that's an yeah, okay, hi polish everyone. Okay, Does anybody have any other questions for David or anything else to discuss in the report? Something I don't know Thank you for adding, in the reading buddies update, It's great to see that up again.

[72:06] okay, So let's move on to item Number 12. At item number 12 updates from Commissioners recording commission in other areas. Do we have a border library foundation update there's there's only basically 2 things. They have their big event on the seventeenth, And the other big thing is that they approve their strategic plan. And they're getting ready to start to move into some of the implementation phases. So. Probably Chris and Juliet and the consultant. Oh, Steven! We're gonna be working on that piece of it for the next few months, and then I think, though, I'll be, bring that back to the foundation board and say, here's some of the implementation pieces

[73:08] That's a good question. I think they will be willing to share up. I think they wanna. Make sure that they've got got it more or less nailed down. And as an aside to that, Jane, I I broach this with Chris, and I haven't said this yet to David, but I think I should tell him now but I've suggested and we wrote on on that at the strategic planning. Retreat. One of the comments that I read was, they said, Oh, geez, we don't seem like we have enough to information from the library. Commission I'm like. Well, you know, you always put the Library commission at the end of the meeting, and so our reports don't always get through because it takes you on. But I thought I suggested that it would be a good idea for the foundation and the Commission to meet at least once, if not twice every year, especially in these first few years, going forward, you know, depending on what happens with the district I think that would be a positive thing, so to work, through some things, especially kind of in Okay, is that is that strategy plan going to be published or shared anywhere

[74:16] That's a great idea. Yeah. Okay, and then thank you for that, and then update on emails and phone calls to the Commission. Yeah. I don't believe we've had any this month, so the only other update we have is that next month we'll be meeting hybrid. And then in January we'll be meeting in person as a commission So that's definitely exciting. So do we know how many of you in intend to to come in person, and how many intend to log in virtually this, I say, in the environment we're going to be in for the next, save 12 to 36 months I'll have to look at the date, but if it, if I can, I'll come, in.

[75:00] And see you I have to attend virtually because I'll be in Las Vegas. Okay. So yeah, no, no, I'll be I'll be up in my room, I promise I'll be there. I'll be. I intend to come in person And then, and I'm sure you'll send this in the update in the back in the olden days. It means to me. We were bed. Is there a Is it in the budget? At the roulette table Is there a plan to feed commissioners? Or is it? Will it be starting at 6

[76:15] There you go. That was the real reason why some of us became commissioners. Chicken salad. I'm making chicken salad. Celia is bringing the bread I think we can figure out how to feed you guys One week. I don't know Are there any requests besides chicken, salad. Okay. There are several good places up near the Brenton building. I I remember back in the day, just being all good all the time, so to pull out your notes and see which which catering companies made up. So Oh, David. Here's a suggestion on that. When will the new? We'll see if one of those will work Yeah, great question. Like we, we got a a delivery of equipment on Monday and I think Jennifer is gonna be there tomorrow to do this.

[77:05] Espresso machine is coming in. We're hoping for mid November, but I I I don't know. Yeah. the new. When will the vendor who's gonna take over the area in the library when will they start There's a long, long lead time on the dishwasher, and I I hear from the cafe owner that the health department requires that you have all your equipment installed in, and you have your instruction as if you're ready to start the next day, So she's gonna see if she can get a a temporary used one that we can have installed before the new one arrives. Hmm. yeah. and if that doesn't work out, if they'll if they'll accept them, just using disposable kind of stuff for for the patrons, and then you know, hand Wash the any of the I don't know I don't know what they'll use

[78:06] I will. I will check with their Scott because she's very. bachelors. Yeah. She's a very ambitious person. Well, no what? What What prompted that question is that, I'm thinking, if if they're new, and if none of us have been there, that maybe we could they could be the the the food, choice for one of these upcoming meetings whenever whenever they've got their okay, to be open and with the would know as Yeah. Yeah, that's very exciting. Okay? Well, look at that. long as the timing works Wait. And I have a question. You. Wanna Do you want to discuss a retreat? 7, 30 makes up for all those long meetings. We go right. Yay. So if we have no more comment, so anything like that, Yeah. Dates tonight. I feel like maybe we should wait and see next month. I feel like we might know far more about what the future looks like, and that might be, an appropriate time to discuss.

[79:01] Okay. Once we know what we're in for in the next year. If that works for everybody else. Okay, So the only thing to be thinking about, of course, is next Tuesday. But let's also keep those questions in mind for potential new Commissioner, so that we can come back next month and take care of that in the meeting, so we can move that forward. I love that idea. Yeah, I can't wait. But I'm gonnaHi!Yeah.