WEBVTT 00:00:01.346 --> 00:00:07.857 - I'd like to call to order the meeting of the Monroe County Public Library Board of Trustees for July 00:00:07.857 --> 00:00:13.916 - 15, 2026. Do we have any public comment? No? OK. I would first like to welcome a new trustee, 00:00:13.916 --> 00:00:20.362 - Becky Hill. If you want to introduce yourself, tell us anything that you would like to, and then we 00:00:20.362 --> 00:00:23.134 - can go around and all introduce ourselves. 00:00:25.218 --> 00:00:33.448 - That was my second foray as a trustee. I used to be a trustee in Zionsville for the Hussie Mayfield 00:00:33.448 --> 00:00:42.008 - Memorial Public Library there, so I had done that. I sat on the Dean's Council for Libraries at Purdue, 00:00:42.008 --> 00:00:50.320 - and I've served on Indiana, oh my gosh, Federation Library, Federation Boards, and I have a master's 00:00:50.320 --> 00:00:51.966 - in library science. 00:00:52.770 --> 00:01:00.481 - That's kind of in a nutshell who I am. That's great. Thank you. I'm glad to be here. Thank you so much. 00:01:00.481 --> 00:01:07.896 - And then we're kind of introducing ourselves. Yes, I didn't want to say more than you meant or not. 00:01:07.896 --> 00:01:15.310 - I forgot what my job was for a minute because I'm not there right now. Hi, I'm Nancy Van Allen, and 00:01:15.310 --> 00:01:19.166 - I'm the librarian at Edgewood High School. So yeah. 00:01:19.842 --> 00:01:27.391 - been here on the board for a little over a year, so I'm a newbie. Hi. Jamie Burkhart, board president. 00:01:27.391 --> 00:01:35.306 - I also have an MLS, and I've worked as a librarian. I currently, though, a director at IU in cybersecurity. 00:01:35.306 --> 00:01:42.782 - Carson, we met previously to do orientation, so library director here at MCPL. I'm Amy O'Shaughnessy. 00:01:42.782 --> 00:01:49.598 - I'm the development director for WFIU and WTIU, the NPR and PBS station here in Bloomington. 00:01:49.730 --> 00:01:56.288 - Happy library patron and glad to serve on this board. And I'm Chris Hall. I retired from the library 00:01:56.288 --> 00:02:02.912 - in the public elementary schools. So I had been a classroom teacher for a number of years, and I went 00:02:02.912 --> 00:02:09.470 - and got my library certification. So I was able to enjoy being on this board for another few months. 00:02:15.042 --> 00:02:21.930 - Do I have a motion to approve the consent agenda? The minutes from June 17th the monthly financial report 00:02:21.930 --> 00:02:28.624 - the monthly bills for payment personnel report and the board meeting calendar All in favor say aye aye 00:02:28.624 --> 00:02:35.318 - those opposed say nay Okay, and now we're gonna hear from Greer for the directors monthly report Okay, 00:02:35.318 --> 00:02:37.982 - some highlights from this month's report 00:02:38.338 --> 00:02:46.898 - We hit the 60,000 registered patron mark in June. We haven't had that since 2022. We're usually around 00:02:46.898 --> 00:02:55.292 - the 54 to 56,000 registered patrons, pushing up to 58,000 by the end of last year. We are now 60,044 00:02:55.292 --> 00:02:59.198 - as of July 1st, so that's really great to see. 00:03:00.162 --> 00:03:05.356 - Circulation of physical items reached its current year peak last month. Some of this is due to summer 00:03:05.356 --> 00:03:10.448 - reading engagement, because patrons often focus on checking out print materials in June and July to 00:03:10.448 --> 00:03:15.642 - complete their summer reading cards. So we tend to see this during the summer months. We also tend to 00:03:15.642 --> 00:03:20.784 - see a slight dip in digital circulation around this time, and that was also true last month. But the 00:03:20.784 --> 00:03:25.978 - overall trends are still pretty clear. Physical circulation is still a large part of our patrons' use 00:03:25.978 --> 00:03:29.950 - of our collections, but it's admittedly in gradual decline from year to year. 00:03:30.178 --> 00:03:36.143 - Digital circulation has seen steady and occasionally sharp increases over the past five years, with 00:03:36.143 --> 00:03:42.167 - notable increases beginning early 2025 and climbing nearly every month since then. Most important of 00:03:42.167 --> 00:03:48.131 - all, total circulation is the strongest we've seen since before the pandemic of 2020, and we are on 00:03:48.131 --> 00:03:51.710 - track for a record year in terms of overall collection use. 00:03:52.162 --> 00:03:57.626 - We can never conclusively say what's driving circulation at any single point in time, but there are 00:03:57.626 --> 00:04:03.200 - some foundational efforts across library departments that certainly contribute to these trends. First 00:04:03.200 --> 00:04:08.719 - and foremost, the great selection work on the part of our collection development librarians who take 00:04:08.719 --> 00:04:14.293 - the curation of our collections to heart. Second, our public services staff who help patrons not only 00:04:14.293 --> 00:04:17.790 - find what they're interested in, but also suggest other titles. 00:04:17.890 --> 00:04:23.597 - whether through readers advisory support in depth reference support or the many face to face and virtual 00:04:23.597 --> 00:04:29.141 - conversations they have with patrons about their reading listening watching and playing habits. Third 00:04:29.141 --> 00:04:34.576 - we are very strategic about how much digital circulation we allow for a given platform. Each of our 00:04:34.576 --> 00:04:40.120 - platforms is expensive and the cost is associated in many cases with how many downloads or streams we 00:04:40.120 --> 00:04:40.990 - allow per month 00:04:41.474 --> 00:04:47.322 - patron. We adjust this as our budget allows and almost always with an eye toward increasing those monthly 00:04:47.322 --> 00:04:52.838 - allotments for digital use. Fourth, our circulation services team and branch materials handlers who 00:04:52.838 --> 00:04:58.465 - shelve return materials quickly and make sure that our shelves are orderly and easily browsable. They 00:04:58.465 --> 00:05:04.203 - also maintain our holds queues so that holds our process quickly and easy to find on the whole shelves, 00:05:04.203 --> 00:05:09.278 - particularly for patrons who want more of that self-service type of experience at checkout. 00:05:09.666 --> 00:05:15.285 - And finally, our communications and marketing department does a first rate job promoting collections 00:05:15.285 --> 00:05:21.071 - and resources at strategic moments throughout the year. There are other factors contributing to overall 00:05:21.071 --> 00:05:26.912 - increase in collection use, no doubt, but these are five mainstays of collection development, collection 00:05:26.912 --> 00:05:32.587 - access, maintenance, and collection promotion, which result in positive trends in circulation. We are 00:05:32.587 --> 00:05:33.310 - doing a soft 00:05:33.762 --> 00:05:40.471 - reno upgrade of the vital space, specifically the vital tutoring rooms, the staff spaces, some of the 00:05:40.471 --> 00:05:47.509 - meeting spaces and some aesthetic improvements to vital. We haven't done this in a while. We just finished 00:05:47.509 --> 00:05:54.283 - the Ellisville staff area renovations, which we talked about a bit last month while out at Ellisville. 00:05:54.283 --> 00:06:01.123 - So now we're working on vital. The Southwest branch address is officially changed. We are quote unquote 00:06:01.123 --> 00:06:03.294 - moving from 890 West Gordon Pike 00:06:03.554 --> 00:06:09.463 - to 865 South Laura Bachelor Drive. The change was made by the Monroe County Planning Department on June 00:06:09.463 --> 00:06:15.259 - 25th and goes into effect July 31st. We have a full year to update all legal documentation to reflect 00:06:15.259 --> 00:06:21.281 - this address change. And we are currently reviewing what public facing materials warrant immediate change 00:06:21.281 --> 00:06:27.077 - and what materials we can afford to leave as is until they need replacing. So an example of something 00:06:27.077 --> 00:06:32.702 - we're going to have to change pretty immediately is the address on the front door of the building. 00:06:33.314 --> 00:06:39.362 - and certainly all of our public facing information on our website through our social media promotions 00:06:39.362 --> 00:06:45.766 - and so on. We're probably not going to order all new library cards that have the updated Southwest address. 00:06:45.766 --> 00:06:51.873 - That might be a little premature. We'll run out of library cards like we typically do when we reorder. 00:06:51.873 --> 00:06:58.039 - We'll update the address. No one's going to have any trouble finding the branch. Could be a collector's 00:06:58.039 --> 00:07:03.198 - item for sure. So we're reviewing what we're going to prioritize in terms of changing. 00:07:03.650 --> 00:07:11.453 - To their credit the planning department did reach out to us as well as obviously MCCSE and maybe some 00:07:11.453 --> 00:07:19.102 - other groups, I'm not sure, to ask for input on changing the name, so we submitted some suggestions 00:07:19.102 --> 00:07:27.134 - which were respectfully declined. So South Laura Bachelor Drive is the name of it. That is the decision. 00:07:27.554 --> 00:07:34.197 - That is the, yes. That is the decision. That's the decision. So Laura Batchelor is the person after 00:07:34.197 --> 00:07:40.840 - whom Batchelor Middle School is named. One of the suggestions we made had to do with, I want to say 00:07:40.840 --> 00:07:47.550 - it was Reading Road or, no, Branch Drive. There are three other roads in Monroe County that have the 00:07:47.550 --> 00:07:54.392 - word branch. So I said, interesting idea, but we tend not to do that. So fair enough. So it was a good 00:07:54.392 --> 00:07:57.182 - process. Couldn't even go mascot? Mascot? 00:07:57.442 --> 00:08:03.252 - No, there was another really good suggestion, though. Bulldog. And it wasn't specific. The pound? It 00:08:03.252 --> 00:08:09.293 - had something to do with education and literacy. We try. We came up with a few good ideas, not expecting 00:08:09.293 --> 00:08:15.218 - them to take our suggestion. But this is great. So our address actually changes. I can't tell you that 00:08:15.218 --> 00:08:20.971 - I fully understand why our address changed when they finished the Gordon Pike project, but they did 00:08:20.971 --> 00:08:26.494 - give us a long heads up that it was going to happen, which is fine. So that is our new address. 00:08:27.074 --> 00:08:34.323 - Southwest. And you said it takes effect at the end of this month? Yes, July 31st. It officially takes 00:08:34.323 --> 00:08:41.642 - effect. I do not know when Google Maps will update that, so we'll have to wait and see. I would expect 00:08:41.642 --> 00:08:48.820 - it to be relatively quickly, but I don't think it'll be overnight. Really good news. We have met our 00:08:48.820 --> 00:08:55.358 - FTE reduction goal, five FTEs over a two-year period. We announced this to staff last week. 00:08:55.906 --> 00:09:02.271 - It's been, you know, a bit of a challenge. This, of course, harkens back to the introduction of Senate 00:09:02.271 --> 00:09:08.698 - Bill 1 and the fact that we were going to see three successive fiscal years with a reduction in revenue 00:09:08.698 --> 00:09:14.321 - from property tax caps. So our plan, once again, was to look through all of our costs, and 00:09:14.321 --> 00:09:20.563 - because compensation makes up close to 70% of our operating budget, that made the most sense to find 00:09:20.563 --> 00:09:25.630 - a way to reduce by the equivalent of five full-time positions, but as we've said, 00:09:25.730 --> 00:09:32.039 - repeatedly, the key is to do it by way of attrition and not through layoffs, which means we were confident 00:09:32.039 --> 00:09:37.994 - that if we let people choose to voluntarily move on to other positions, retire, whatever their plans 00:09:37.994 --> 00:09:43.949 - might be, and we were very careful about which positions we filled versus transferring internally or 00:09:43.949 --> 00:09:49.904 - what have you, that we could reach the goal of five FTE reductions in two years. So we've done it in 00:09:49.904 --> 00:09:53.854 - a year and a half. We reached that goal a little before last week. 00:09:54.146 --> 00:09:59.061 - And we're happy to report to you all that that is done. Doesn't mean we're going to turn around and 00:09:59.061 --> 00:10:04.024 - fill every single position every time there's a vacancy necessarily. We'll continue to be strategic. 00:10:04.024 --> 00:10:09.086 - But it's good for all of us, and particularly for all staff here at the library, to take a deep breath 00:10:09.086 --> 00:10:14.443 - and say, OK, we kind of got through that challenge. And we don't have to worry so much about maybe someone's 00:10:14.443 --> 00:10:19.554 - going to get transferred. Maybe we're not going to fill a position that we really need or anything like 00:10:19.554 --> 00:10:22.110 - that. So that's very positive. Very happy about it. 00:10:24.002 --> 00:10:34.244 - Happy to answer any questions about the director's report. Yes, so they did that DNR did that five years 00:10:34.244 --> 00:10:44.291 - ago maybe they tried this out and at that time we had as part of our new library of things collections 00:10:44.291 --> 00:10:47.998 - these circulating backpacks that were 00:10:48.130 --> 00:10:54.082 - basically designed to take out into state parks and do hiking and camping and all kinds of stuff and 00:10:54.082 --> 00:10:58.974 - it had a bunch of peripheral peripherals in it and one of the pieces was the state 00:10:59.106 --> 00:11:04.596 - Park Pass, and they allowed libraries to more or less circulate these. And it kind of ran into some 00:11:04.596 --> 00:11:10.141 - challenges, so they discontinued it for a while. Our backpacks were also challenging to maintain, so 00:11:10.141 --> 00:11:15.740 - we stopped offering those through the Library of Things collection. And then recently they've resumed 00:11:15.740 --> 00:11:21.450 - the project just for public libraries. So as soon as they did, we kind of jumped on it and said, great, 00:11:21.450 --> 00:11:24.414 - let's bring those back in. And they are very popular. 00:11:28.034 --> 00:11:36.485 - What was the total amount of savings on that, do you think? I don't know, Gary, if you've got a number 00:11:36.485 --> 00:11:44.690 - on that. The total amount of savings we have from the five FTEs, the goal was $350,000. And we were 00:11:44.690 --> 00:11:51.582 - taking an average of about $70,000 as the mean total salary for an FTE. OK. Thanks. 00:11:59.522 --> 00:12:06.089 - I want to throw one other fun anecdote in there because it stands out. There's a really good story about 00:12:06.089 --> 00:12:12.593 - a young patron coming in for summer reading and pretending to faint when they found out that they saved 00:12:12.593 --> 00:12:18.848 - $300 by checking out library materials instead of buying them. I wonder, did they go all the way to 00:12:18.848 --> 00:12:25.790 - the ground? I should have followed up. That's a really good question. I don't know. You didn't witness it? No. 00:12:26.082 --> 00:12:32.055 - As you all know, when you're used to reading the director's report, we try to keep some really choice 00:12:32.055 --> 00:12:37.969 - anecdotes in there that kind of stand out. And there are two, at least, this month. One is that, and 00:12:37.969 --> 00:12:44.001 - the other is the heartfelt farewell to a library assistant in children's, which a lot of people talked 00:12:44.001 --> 00:12:49.916 - about when that happened. So those are great. Yeah, I don't know a lot about that program. I know it 00:12:49.916 --> 00:12:54.366 - was successful, but I don't know where they did it and exactly how it went. 00:12:59.618 --> 00:13:07.266 - Hey, do you want to tell us more about the AI statement? Sure. So needless to say, artificial intelligence 00:13:07.266 --> 00:13:14.556 - is on everybody's mind these days. It's probably the hot topic in our country and beyond right now in 00:13:14.556 --> 00:13:21.847 - terms of the way it affects everybody's work and personalized use of technology, communication norms. 00:13:21.847 --> 00:13:29.566 - And there's no different here at MCPL. There's a lot of talk about AI, both positive, negative, ambivalent, 00:13:30.114 --> 00:13:36.194 - nervous and we've had some staff conversations particularly with some departments that maybe have some 00:13:36.194 --> 00:13:42.215 - immediate concerns about whether or not the library is going to fully adopt certain types of tools or 00:13:42.215 --> 00:13:48.176 - a policy with respect to collection development and of course the overall concern that everybody has 00:13:48.176 --> 00:13:54.079 - these days about how long am I going to have my job? Is it going to be made redundant by AI at some 00:13:54.079 --> 00:13:58.270 - point? So we decided to issue a statement to staff that basically says 00:13:58.530 --> 00:14:04.903 - This is our position with respect to three areas of library operations. We're not going to get into 00:14:04.903 --> 00:14:11.532 - the larger societal existential questions because that's not really what we do. What we do is we employ 00:14:11.532 --> 00:14:18.352 - people for purpose. We establish expectations and norms for communication, collaboration, use of workplace 00:14:18.352 --> 00:14:22.558 - tools, and we select materials for circulating collection for the 00:14:22.786 --> 00:14:28.796 - public which is first and foremost a popular collection which means it responds to popular need and 00:14:28.796 --> 00:14:34.925 - demand and as far as those three areas go the statement basically says number one nobody is forced to 00:14:34.925 --> 00:14:41.115 - use artificial intelligence tools in the workplace. You are more than welcome to do so. We have plenty 00:14:41.115 --> 00:14:47.185 - of staff who do that particularly for email communications. You're not expected to use it but you're 00:14:47.185 --> 00:14:50.430 - also not prohibited from using it. The third piece is 00:14:50.626 --> 00:14:55.707 - really about goal number five from our current strategic plan of being an employer of choice and really 00:14:55.707 --> 00:15:00.886 - being a great employer, which means if we're going to hire people to do a job, we're going to hire people 00:15:00.886 --> 00:15:05.869 - and we're going to take care of people. And that's just part of who we are. It's part of our internal 00:15:05.869 --> 00:15:10.804 - ethos. And that is not changing in the face of potential automation solutions or anything like that. 00:15:10.804 --> 00:15:15.934 - It's not anything we're really looking at right now. The second piece in there is a little more complex. 00:15:16.162 --> 00:15:22.394 - And it has to do with not just what do our collection development librarians look for, what do they 00:15:22.394 --> 00:15:28.875 - try to avoid, what makes a good piece or a good book versus a not so good book, but it really gets down 00:15:28.875 --> 00:15:35.294 - to the question of what is authorship? What is creativity? Is it exclusively a human endeavor? And all 00:15:35.294 --> 00:15:41.712 - kinds of things that on a philosophical level do go quite beyond what we do here at a library, but the 00:15:41.712 --> 00:15:43.582 - question of how do you select 00:15:43.714 --> 00:15:49.889 - good pieces for the collection and what criteria do we continue to use and perhaps add in an effort 00:15:49.889 --> 00:15:56.063 - to make those choices is very relevant to the collection development department. So we've had those 00:15:56.063 --> 00:16:02.238 - conversations and have decided as we often do, just because there are new tools, just because there 00:16:02.238 --> 00:16:08.536 - are new questions or even new threats does not mean we're going to rewrite our collection development 00:16:08.536 --> 00:16:11.870 - policy. In fact, our collection development policy is 00:16:12.002 --> 00:16:18.896 - is, I think, very, very well written such that our collection criteria do not need to change very often. 00:16:18.896 --> 00:16:25.462 - And the introduction of AI-assisted content and even AI-generated content does not necessarily warn 00:16:25.462 --> 00:16:27.038 - a change to the policy. 00:16:27.170 --> 00:16:33.424 - The best example I can give, maybe two, one would be we have AI-assisted content in the collection whether 00:16:33.424 --> 00:16:39.269 - we know it or not. And there are no clear mechanisms within the industry for identifying whether or 00:16:39.269 --> 00:16:45.348 - not something was partially created or largely created by AI. But more importantly, if we have a patron 00:16:45.348 --> 00:16:51.426 - who says, I'm really interested in this title, and it's a popular title among libraries or it's popular 00:16:51.426 --> 00:16:56.862 - on book lists or whatever it is, whether it's AI-generated or not shouldn't really determine 00:16:56.962 --> 00:17:03.193 - our decision to buy it or not. Now, there are various, I say, complex and nuanced exceptions to that, 00:17:03.193 --> 00:17:09.668 - and we do use our own intuition and our own research skills to determine whether or not an item is worthy 00:17:09.668 --> 00:17:16.388 - of being in the collection, and that's a different issue. But the fundamental question for us with collection 00:17:16.388 --> 00:17:22.925 - development in AI is, if and when we get to the point where publishers are relying on AI tools to generate 00:17:22.925 --> 00:17:26.590 - original content, and so it's not created by a human being, 00:17:26.978 --> 00:17:33.823 - if our patrons are interested in that content, we should purchase that for our collection. So that's 00:17:33.823 --> 00:17:41.007 - basically what this statement says. Two things I want to issue as caveats. The first is, in the beginning 00:17:41.007 --> 00:17:47.852 - of this statement, it says this up front, this is where we are now. This is a very dynamic issue. So 00:17:47.852 --> 00:17:54.900 - we're gonna continue to pay attention to it and have conversations. We will likely shift in one respect 00:17:54.900 --> 00:17:55.646 - or another 00:17:55.778 --> 00:18:02.127 - when it comes to figuring out AI in libraries or at this library in particular. So this is where we 00:18:02.127 --> 00:18:08.793 - are right now. The second is I do want to acknowledge this is far from consensus among MCPL staff. We're 00:18:08.793 --> 00:18:12.158 - not going to have a consensus among MCPL staff about 00:18:12.386 --> 00:18:18.535 - a statement like this. There are plenty of staff who feel very uncomfortable with AI in any aspect of 00:18:18.535 --> 00:18:24.623 - their work. There are plenty of staff who want AI tools as a part of their work. So we're not trying 00:18:24.623 --> 00:18:31.013 - to represent a consensus among staff. This is more of an institutional statement on where we stand today. 00:18:31.013 --> 00:18:37.041 - So I'm including it in the packet just to put it out there and so you all can see it and talk about 00:18:37.041 --> 00:18:41.502 - it and ask questions about it, but also so the public can see that we are 00:18:41.602 --> 00:18:49.297 - very aware of this. We're careful and thinking and talking about this. And this is the library's position 00:18:49.297 --> 00:18:56.556 - right now. It's your library in Monroe County. This is your library's position today. So that's why 00:18:56.556 --> 00:19:03.815 - it's in the packet today. I have a question. I don't even know if this makes sense. But like Hoopla 00:19:03.815 --> 00:19:10.494 - and Libby with the e-books, have they sent out any kind of statements or anything yet about 00:19:11.554 --> 00:19:17.995 - AI selections that they would have? I don't know if those in particular have. I know that a lot of libraries 00:19:17.995 --> 00:19:23.964 - have done something like this. And I know that Ingram and some other vendors that we use have issued 00:19:23.964 --> 00:19:29.991 - statements saying, you know, just reassurance that we're very careful and we're not going to let slop 00:19:29.991 --> 00:19:35.960 - into what we offer and things like that. I don't know that the digital platforms you're referring to 00:19:35.960 --> 00:19:39.742 - have issued any statement like that, but I can certainly check. 00:19:42.498 --> 00:19:51.731 - some point yeah I think they're going to have to have to do that maybe ten years from now but I think 00:19:51.731 --> 00:20:01.236 - so yeah because our catalog does not well you find all those things on those two apps especially through 00:20:01.236 --> 00:20:08.478 - our catalog but you can also have the apps and not go through the Monroe County 00:20:08.802 --> 00:20:15.558 - catalog, is that right? And so that would be interesting to see if there's ever a problem with that 00:20:15.558 --> 00:20:22.044 - or what happens there. It's almost too crazy to think about right now how that could be solved, 00:20:22.044 --> 00:20:28.801 - but yeah, okay. But no indications yet from that. Not just those, but any of the other platforms we 00:20:28.801 --> 00:20:35.557 - subscribe to to see if they've issued statements. I just had a quick question about whether or not, 00:20:35.557 --> 00:20:38.462 - you know, if we decide to add AI generated 00:20:38.690 --> 00:20:45.835 - materials to the collection, whether or not in the catalog or, I don't know, will there be a description 00:20:45.835 --> 00:20:52.912 - that it's AI generated? It's a great question. We don't know yet. Okay. Some of it depends on the tools 00:20:52.912 --> 00:20:59.989 - that the publishers and distributors offer so that it's easily identifiable on our part. So that's more 00:20:59.989 --> 00:21:07.134 - of a mechanics kind of question. Can we actually do that if we're going to say we'll identify AI content 00:21:07.362 --> 00:21:13.289 - if and when we have it, are we able to do it consistently? That's one question. The other question is 00:21:13.289 --> 00:21:18.634 - almost an ethical question. Do we want to do that? Do we want to say, all right, if we have 00:21:18.634 --> 00:21:24.561 - enough AI-generated content, whatever your opinion may be of it, do we want to section it off and say 00:21:24.561 --> 00:21:30.429 - that is a separate thing? That's a much tougher question. I actually thought when you were speaking, 00:21:30.429 --> 00:21:36.414 - I thought, whoever thought that AI would be a genre sticker? Yeah. Right? I mean, it takes this topic. 00:21:36.642 --> 00:21:45.063 - out of libraries specifically and into higher level issues like almost immediately. It's fascinating 00:21:45.063 --> 00:21:53.652 - and a lot of uncertainty. So it's a great question, yeah. We'll just keep learning. That's right. Keep 00:21:53.652 --> 00:22:01.406 - learning. Like the AI does. I'm glad that the library has this, the organization I work for. 00:22:01.730 --> 00:22:07.517 - Folks who are donors or patrons of our organization are like, do you have a policy on AI? And IU does 00:22:07.517 --> 00:22:13.361 - kind of generally, but it's not up to departments and schools whether they have a philosophy about it. 00:22:13.361 --> 00:22:19.318 - And I think it's nice that, in general, the library is very proactive about saying, this is not forever, 00:22:19.318 --> 00:22:25.389 - but this is where we are right now, to be able to point people to that. So thanks for that thoughtfulness. 00:22:25.389 --> 00:22:31.006 - And that sort of reminds me. The other thing I want to share as sort of an acknowledgment is that, 00:22:31.810 --> 00:22:37.937 - The peer libraries we've looked at who have statements are not saying the same thing about collection 00:22:37.937 --> 00:22:44.244 - development. We are seeing more along the lines of we are about human creativity and so we will endeavor 00:22:44.244 --> 00:22:50.372 - to focus on human authorship however possible and so on, which is totally understandable. The biggest 00:22:50.372 --> 00:22:52.414 - issue that we've had with this is 00:22:52.514 --> 00:22:57.611 - I'm not sure how you can do that. I'm not sure what the steps are that you can commit to that ensure 00:22:57.611 --> 00:23:02.809 - you're doing everything possible to keep AI-generated content out of your collection. If it's possible 00:23:02.809 --> 00:23:07.855 - to do so, we'll see an example of it. But I don't know of mechanisms that allow for that right now. 00:23:07.855 --> 00:23:12.901 - So I don't see it as reasonable to commit to something like that, even if we wanted to with respect 00:23:12.901 --> 00:23:17.342 - to popular demand and all of that. I don't know how we could ensure that at this point. 00:23:18.402 --> 00:23:26.590 - good at media literacy to maybe part of that is educating patrons from a media literacy point of view 00:23:26.590 --> 00:23:34.779 - about artificial intelligence and where it's cropping up and where they might see it and how they can 00:23:34.779 --> 00:23:35.742 - distinguish 00:23:36.098 --> 00:23:42.474 - It's a great point, and it's one that a few of staff have brought up very, very quickly, that maybe 00:23:42.474 --> 00:23:49.297 - our role is less about, do we buy the thing or not, and more helping patrons understand what it is they're 00:23:49.297 --> 00:23:55.673 - getting, which is really not that different from what we always do. I can imagine a teen program of 00:23:55.673 --> 00:24:02.049 - spot the AI generated, and both the facilitators and the teens being very good at that. Yeah, I can 00:24:02.049 --> 00:24:02.942 - see that too. 00:24:06.370 --> 00:24:17.593 - Other questions before I move on? OK. Do I have a motion to hear from Gary about the resolution to surplus 00:24:17.593 --> 00:24:28.187 - items, CATS equipment? So moved. So the CATS department has requested to surplus a lot of equipment. 00:24:28.187 --> 00:24:36.158 - They must have been cleaning house recently. But that's what this is about. 00:24:36.866 --> 00:24:46.131 - Are there any questions about any of this other than the spelling? It's a lowercase L. I was like, is 00:24:46.131 --> 00:24:55.578 - this code for something? I almost looked up the terms. That's what I said. I asked. I was like, is this 00:24:55.578 --> 00:25:04.661 - code for something I don't know? I think I had asked previously about recycling, and we try best we 00:25:04.661 --> 00:25:06.750 - can. We do. Right? OK. 00:25:07.490 --> 00:25:17.722 - to state that for those who may be concerned. They can have to recycle equipment whenever we can. OK. 00:25:17.722 --> 00:25:28.254 - Any questions? OK. Next up, we're going to hear about our 2027 draft budget. And a lot is new this year, 00:25:28.254 --> 00:25:37.182 - but Tom brought up a good point. Oh, sorry, sorry. Yeah. That sounds good. I moved that. 00:25:37.602 --> 00:25:46.087 - Motion to approve the resolution to surplus items. The CATS equipment, all in favor say aye. Aye. Those 00:25:46.087 --> 00:25:54.327 - opposed say nay. All right. Resolution passes. We'll sign it now. Becky? Thank you. Sorry, Gary. Oh, 00:25:54.327 --> 00:26:02.730 - no problem. Please keep going on the 27 budget. We're very eager to hear. So normally, the 2027 budget 00:26:02.730 --> 00:26:06.238 - agenda item in July is not an action item. 00:26:07.042 --> 00:26:17.176 - but it is tonight. So Tom and I were kinda talking about this. It would be good to have a motion to 00:26:17.176 --> 00:26:27.512 - approve the county budget form for the 2027 budget, which we will then submit to the county. Okay, we 00:26:27.512 --> 00:26:34.302 - would like to have a motion right now to hear the 27 draft budget, 00:26:35.234 --> 00:26:45.700 - County budget form from Gary, all in favor say aye. Those opposed say nay. Ayes have it. So tonight 00:26:45.700 --> 00:26:56.585 - we'll go over the 2027 budget. Looking back to last year at this time, Senate Bill 1 was the main topic 00:26:56.585 --> 00:27:03.806 - because of its reduction to the library's planned revenue increases. 00:27:03.938 --> 00:27:11.993 - To manage the revenue reduction, a goal was set to reduce operating fund staff by five FTEs over two 00:27:11.993 --> 00:27:20.207 - years. The staff reductions would be done by managing attrition rather than layoffs, and we've reached 00:27:20.207 --> 00:27:25.630 - that goal. 2026 is shaping up to be a pretty good year financially. 00:27:25.858 --> 00:27:38.805 - The Senate Bill 1 reductions to the library's property tax revenue have turned out to be less than the 00:27:38.805 --> 00:27:52.254 - projected impact. So this is the revenue and expense summary for the 2027 budget, showing the 2027 figures 00:27:52.254 --> 00:27:55.774 - along with the 2026 budget. 00:27:57.730 --> 00:28:09.382 - And so last year, we had the Senate Bill 1 to deal with. This year, we're faced with new legislation 00:28:09.382 --> 00:28:21.611 - that changes the budget approval process. To summarize the change, after the library's budget is approved 00:28:21.611 --> 00:28:25.534 - by the Library Board of Trustees, 00:28:25.794 --> 00:28:35.281 - It must go through a process of a binding review by the county council. We talked about this approval 00:28:35.281 --> 00:28:44.860 - change at the library board meeting last month because it changes the process for approving the public 00:28:44.860 --> 00:28:54.533 - advertisement, the public hearing, and the adoption of the 2027 budget. So this is a look at the county 00:28:54.533 --> 00:28:55.742 - budget form. 00:28:56.386 --> 00:29:09.845 - It has the same numbers in it that the information in your packet has. It's a little different format. 00:29:09.845 --> 00:29:22.782 - It shows the current year budget, last year budget. And then it goes to actual results for 23, 24, 00:29:23.650 --> 00:29:34.414 - So those are actual spending numbers. And this whole form is just budget spending. There's no revenue. 00:29:34.414 --> 00:29:44.865 - So this is the county budget form. County units are using this form to enter their 2027 budget into 00:29:44.865 --> 00:29:47.582 - the county budget system. 00:29:48.194 --> 00:29:56.626 - I've completed the form except for the approval signature from the library board. The county requires 00:29:56.626 --> 00:30:04.893 - that the budget form be signed by the president of the library board of trustees. Then it has to be 00:30:04.893 --> 00:30:13.160 - scanned and uploaded by the end of July. Next year, I can provide some budget estimates at the June 00:30:13.160 --> 00:30:17.790 - meeting. I can use an estimated growth quotient in June 00:30:18.146 --> 00:30:30.989 - And we want to avoid seeing the budget for the first time in July if that is when it has to be approved. 00:30:30.989 --> 00:30:38.206 - Keep in mind that the employee count, there's a column for 00:30:45.922 --> 00:30:55.251 - that keep in mind it's only operating fund employees so it's a lower number than you would expect to 00:30:55.251 --> 00:31:04.673 - see. So the library has to submit its budget in the state gateway budget system by the end of August. 00:31:04.673 --> 00:31:12.894 - The final library budget approval steps happen at the county level starting in September 00:31:13.986 --> 00:31:21.970 - We'll keep the library board updated every step of the way. I have a budget workshop scheduled with 00:31:21.970 --> 00:31:29.954 - our Department of Local Government Finance representative on July 21st. The purpose of this meeting 00:31:29.954 --> 00:31:38.018 - is to make sure that the information I've entered into the state gateway budget system complies with 00:31:38.018 --> 00:31:39.774 - all the budget rules. 00:31:43.874 --> 00:31:51.825 - Yeah. So you mentioned that you have to have it scanned in by the end of July. But then you were talking 00:31:51.825 --> 00:31:59.701 - about, is that the state gateway you're talking about when you mentioned August, this is the same scan? 00:31:59.701 --> 00:32:07.425 - No. That's why, yeah. The state gateway form has to be, it's a different, I think Greer will actually 00:32:07.425 --> 00:32:12.574 - submit that. OK. So. And I'll submit the county form to the county. 00:32:13.058 --> 00:32:23.881 - So that's the scan for July? Yes. OK, I just missed who that was going to. I just wanted to clarify. 00:32:23.881 --> 00:32:35.026 - Thank you. Sure. So this is the revenue and expense summary. The 2027 growth quotient is 6%. This means 00:32:35.026 --> 00:32:42.206 - the total budgeted spending and all the library funds can increase 00:32:42.466 --> 00:32:52.477 - by 6% of last year's total budgeted spending. It also means the library's revenue from property taxes 00:32:52.477 --> 00:33:02.683 - will increase by 6% before the tax cap adjustments. The 2027 library property tax revenue increase will 00:33:02.683 --> 00:33:07.198 - still be subject to Senate Bill 1 reductions. 00:33:08.034 --> 00:33:18.730 - This is the second year out of three years that the Senate Bill 1 reductions will be in place. I am 00:33:18.730 --> 00:33:28.678 - basing the Senate Bill 1 impact for 2027 on what we have seen for 2026. So on this schedule, 00:33:28.678 --> 00:33:37.342 - looking at 2027, the second line is the SB 1 impact, and I'm estimating 225,000. 00:33:37.538 --> 00:33:50.172 - for next year. So this slide shows the 2027 budget for revenue and spending for the operating fund, 00:33:50.172 --> 00:34:02.174 - debt fund, and rainy day fund. The 6% growth quotient for 2027 is a relatively large increase. 00:34:02.306 --> 00:34:14.684 - The growth quotient calculation is based on personal income increases for all Indiana residents over 00:34:14.684 --> 00:34:27.798 - a six-year period. For 2024, 2025, and 2026, the growth quotient was set at 4%, and the actual calculation 00:34:27.798 --> 00:34:31.230 - was not used. But for 2027, 00:34:31.426 --> 00:34:42.844 - The actual calculation is being used, and it was done based on the average increase in personal income 00:34:42.844 --> 00:34:54.372 - for Indiana residents over a six-year period. Looking at the revenue estimates, total operating revenue 00:34:54.372 --> 00:34:59.582 - for 2027 is estimated to be about $12,485,000. 00:35:00.450 --> 00:35:13.047 - It's a 6.69% increase from 2026 revenue. Revenue in the debt fund is estimated to stay fairly steady 00:35:13.047 --> 00:35:23.774 - at about $670,000. Then moving down the page to the operating fund spending for 2027, 00:35:23.938 --> 00:35:34.432 - There are no plans for major increases to the current level of library services. There may be some slight 00:35:34.432 --> 00:35:44.331 - staff adjustments, but there are no dramatic changes in service planned for 2027 that would require 00:35:44.331 --> 00:35:52.350 - more staff. For the 2027 budget, we're using an estimated wage increase of 2.75% 00:35:52.514 --> 00:36:01.324 - or 75 cents an hour, whichever is greater. When we get to year end and we know what healthcare related 00:36:01.324 --> 00:36:10.219 - costs will be for 2027, then we will make the final decisions on the wage adjustments. We have had some 00:36:10.219 --> 00:36:18.174 - indications that healthcare costs for 2027 could rise by more than we've seen in past years. 00:36:34.946 --> 00:36:48.487 - This slide has operating surplus data on it. So this shows actual operating fund revenue and expense 00:36:48.487 --> 00:36:59.614 - for the years 2022 to 2025. And for 2026 and 2027, it shows estimated projections. 00:37:01.794 --> 00:37:13.866 - For the budget year 2027, the report shows an estimated surplus of about $347,000. The bottom line on 00:37:13.866 --> 00:37:26.412 - this report shows that the actual operating surplus for 2022, well, it shows the actual operating surplus 00:37:26.412 --> 00:37:30.910 - for 2022 to 2025. So the 2022 surplus 00:37:32.546 --> 00:37:43.443 - which was over a million dollars, was used for the construction of the southwest branch. The surplus 00:37:43.443 --> 00:37:54.772 - for 2023, 2024, and 2025 is accumulating in the rainy day fund to eventually be used for library service 00:37:54.772 --> 00:38:01.246 - expansion. The rainy day fund balance as of the end of 2025 00:38:01.538 --> 00:38:13.980 - is about $3,365,000. So looking at the long term, the library borrowed about $6 million in 2021 to build 00:38:13.980 --> 00:38:25.830 - the Southwest Branch. There are about 15 more years left to pay on the loan. The total cost for the 00:38:25.830 --> 00:38:31.518 - Southwest Branch project was about $14 million. 00:38:32.226 --> 00:38:41.065 - $6 million came from issuing bonds, and about $8 million came from years of accumulating operating fund 00:38:41.065 --> 00:38:49.819 - surplus in the rainy day fund. The 6% growth quotient for 2027 is relatively high compared to previous 00:38:49.819 --> 00:38:58.827 - years. The library does not plan to make dramatic increases in library service in the next several years. 00:38:58.827 --> 00:39:02.142 - Any operating surplus for future years 00:39:02.338 --> 00:39:11.098 - will be accumulated in the rainy day fund. If we see growth quotients in the 5% to 6% range going forward, 00:39:11.098 --> 00:39:19.531 - then we should be able to accumulate a substantial cash balance over the next 15 years. At that point, 00:39:19.531 --> 00:39:27.718 - the Southwest branch loan is paid off, and we should be in a position to make a substantial service 00:39:27.718 --> 00:39:30.174 - expansion of library service. 00:39:31.330 --> 00:39:40.881 - Are there any questions? Are there any restrictions on how much you can have in the rainy day fund? 00:39:40.881 --> 00:39:50.814 - No. OK. I say that, but if the community is not getting good library service and there's a lot of money 00:39:50.814 --> 00:39:56.926 - in the rainy day fund, that's the situation that could develop. 00:40:04.642 --> 00:40:16.613 - different than building services? Because we're working on the elevators here, right? So is that part 00:40:16.613 --> 00:40:28.467 - of the budget? Yes. And since you bring that up, the elevators, it's a big investment in this repair 00:40:28.467 --> 00:40:30.110 - and overhaul. 00:40:31.490 --> 00:40:43.742 - We originally planned on using general obligation bond money. We still have a balance that bond money 00:40:43.742 --> 00:40:55.874 - was supposed to last us through 2027. And we could have used that for the repair. But given that the 00:40:55.874 --> 00:41:00.318 - Senate Bill 1 reductions were not as 00:41:01.282 --> 00:41:11.209 - as much as we thought they would be. So for the first six months, we have more revenue than we expected 00:41:11.209 --> 00:41:20.850 - and probably enough that we can pay for elevator repairs out of the operating fund versus using bond 00:41:20.850 --> 00:41:29.822 - money. So good question. Can I ask you one more question? This may be a really dumb question, 00:41:30.434 --> 00:41:38.973 - We have lots of time. You're the expert, so I just really want to know. So if we have a high rainy day 00:41:38.973 --> 00:41:47.347 - fund, does that impact the growth quotient for the library? I mean, is there no penalty? I mean, the 00:41:47.347 --> 00:41:54.974 - legislature doesn't look at it and go, OK. You've got a lot. The rainy day fund is not part 00:41:54.974 --> 00:41:58.622 - of the calculation for the growth quotient. 00:41:59.426 --> 00:42:10.733 - Still, the county council looks at the growth quotient. They look at our rainy day fund. I think what 00:42:10.733 --> 00:42:23.038 - we just have to be aware of is that as long as we have a good plan to deliver the best library service we can, 00:42:23.330 --> 00:42:32.274 - you know, we're okay, but if we turn into a bank and start trying to build our cash up at the expense 00:42:32.274 --> 00:42:41.131 - of service, then that's a problem. So is it beneficial to show the county that we have plans for the 00:42:41.131 --> 00:42:49.899 - Rady Day Fund or portions of that Rady Day Fund? Yes. Is that important to show? Yes. We don't know 00:42:49.899 --> 00:42:51.390 - exactly how much 00:42:52.130 --> 00:42:59.294 - we will be speaking during council meetings or the adoption, because it's kind of our first time through 00:42:59.294 --> 00:43:06.390 - it. So not really sure if I would have an opportunity to talk to the county council about our long-term 00:43:06.390 --> 00:43:13.282 - plans. If we do, I can tell them about that. If the question comes up, that would be our opportunity 00:43:13.282 --> 00:43:20.446 - to let them know that we do have a plan. Thank you so much. Oh, sure. Can you customize back to January? 00:43:21.090 --> 00:43:26.980 - at our finance committee meeting, which we do every year at that time, we had talked about the idea 00:43:26.980 --> 00:43:32.869 - of further expansion at some point in the future. We even specified perhaps on the east side of the 00:43:32.869 --> 00:43:38.877 - county, but it was all sort of, this is where we may go in the future. We do not have public feedback 00:43:38.877 --> 00:43:44.767 - at this point that says we really wanna see a new branch here. We just opened a new branch. So this 00:43:44.767 --> 00:43:47.358 - is all early days of, as we continue to be, 00:43:47.458 --> 00:43:52.993 - Responsible with our service plus and our rainy day balance every year We're going to start to formulate 00:43:52.993 --> 00:43:58.475 - plans for what MCPL service expansion might look like down the road We're about to do our public survey 00:43:58.475 --> 00:44:03.904 - for the strategic plan and this will probably be the first Time we have an opportunity to gauge public 00:44:03.904 --> 00:44:09.334 - interest in further expansion But it's certainly not something that we have even a draft plan for that 00:44:09.334 --> 00:44:14.974 - We could share with County Council or anybody else in the early stages of thinking basically is what it is 00:44:22.082 --> 00:44:30.864 - Rainy Day Fund, there's not a penalty for using the Rainy Day Fund responsibly as a savings for the 00:44:30.864 --> 00:44:39.734 - library to fund future projects. Correct. Yeah. We did it for the Southwest branch and it's a way to 00:44:39.734 --> 00:44:49.043 - plan with your cash. Okay. Thank you. I think just I need a reminder if you don't mind. Didn't we discuss 00:44:49.043 --> 00:44:51.326 - replacing elevators here? 00:44:52.642 --> 00:44:58.868 - Or less getting the elevators. We're not replacing the cars, but we're replacing pretty much everything 00:44:58.868 --> 00:45:05.153 - else because they've hit their life expectancy. So yes, we are in the process. In fact, we got our draft 00:45:05.153 --> 00:45:11.259 - RFP from our elevator consultant just this week, and we're ready to advertise it next week. And we'll 00:45:11.259 --> 00:45:17.365 - put it out for, we say, five weeks, five or six. And then we'll receive the bids, and we'll open them 00:45:17.365 --> 00:45:18.622 - at a public meeting. 00:45:19.170 --> 00:45:25.300 - know exactly how much we're going to be spending, but it is going to be expensive, and they need more 00:45:25.300 --> 00:45:31.429 - or less total replacement. What's the term that you used, Gary, for that? Or what is the correct term 00:45:31.429 --> 00:45:34.494 - if I were to tell someone, oh, the public library? 00:45:34.754 --> 00:45:45.202 - Overhaul, okay. Okay, keep them in working order from week to week. Whatever term you were using I was 00:45:45.202 --> 00:45:51.998 - thinking, oh, I guess maybe we aren't overhauling them. We're just 00:45:52.354 --> 00:45:58.417 - maintenance or something, I guess is what you said. So that is maintenance, yeah. It's fixing the broken 00:45:58.417 --> 00:46:04.307 - parts. We've been in maintenance mode with our elevator maintenance vendor for many years. And that's 00:46:04.307 --> 00:46:10.196 - basically the spot treatment approach to fixing the issues we have. They're so frequent at this point 00:46:10.196 --> 00:46:16.202 - that we're like, it's just time. So it is proceeding that we're doing major maintenance or overhauling? 00:46:16.202 --> 00:46:21.918 - We are going to do the major overhaul of three elevators at the downtown library within this year. 00:46:23.650 --> 00:46:32.550 - So we can say overhaul. Yeah, that's appropriate. Yeah. OK. All in favor of approving the 27-county 00:46:32.550 --> 00:46:42.340 - budget form, say aye. Aye. Those opposed say nay. Ayes have it. Next up, we're going to hear from Information 00:46:42.340 --> 00:46:46.078 - Technology, Ned Ball, the director of IT. 00:46:51.330 --> 00:46:58.549 - I'm Ned Baugh. I'm the IT department director, and this is my annual IT department update. The IT department 00:46:58.549 --> 00:47:05.239 - is a relatively small department. We're made up of five people, including myself. There's Paula Gray 00:47:05.239 --> 00:47:11.598 - Overtoon, our web administrator, Vanessa Schwegman, our Polaris and phone system administrator, 00:47:11.598 --> 00:47:16.830 - Cody Mullis, our network administrator, and Dakota Erickson, our tech support. 00:47:17.090 --> 00:47:23.305 - Together, we support library staff and patrons in all things technical and computer related. That includes 00:47:23.305 --> 00:47:29.113 - maintaining the database of our library collection and our patron accounts. That includes our staff 00:47:29.113 --> 00:47:35.095 - computers, phones, the public computers, our internal network, and our Wi-Fi access for both staff and 00:47:35.095 --> 00:47:40.903 - the public. I presented to the board with a department update around this time in 2025. And in that 00:47:40.903 --> 00:47:44.446 - update, I covered our implementations of Vega and Communico. 00:47:44.642 --> 00:47:50.992 - and the work we started on website accessibility, particularly with getting our PDFs cleaned up that 00:47:50.992 --> 00:47:57.091 - are on the website. So tonight, I'm gonna follow up on those projects and mention a couple more. 00:47:57.091 --> 00:48:03.566 - So first, going live with Vega. The library's database of our collection is called Polaris. That's the 00:48:03.566 --> 00:48:09.979 - vendor, and it's also the name of the database. It stores our patron data and all the collection data 00:48:09.979 --> 00:48:11.614 - that we store and manage. 00:48:12.002 --> 00:48:18.311 - related to books, magazines, movies, games, connections to other databases, and that sort of thing. 00:48:18.311 --> 00:48:25.061 - Patrons can access all this through the web. Vega Discover is the latest iteration of the Polaris website. 00:48:25.061 --> 00:48:31.622 - And that's how patrons can search for materials in the catalog, place holds, see what they have checked 00:48:31.622 --> 00:48:37.931 - out, that sort of thing. Polaris describes Vega as a user-friendly discovery platform that enhances 00:48:37.931 --> 00:48:41.022 - the public's experience with our online catalog. 00:48:41.122 --> 00:48:46.947 - by rolling all formats into a single display, integrating e-content and more. I think of it as sort 00:48:46.947 --> 00:48:52.772 - of a wrapper that goes around the catalog and presents it in a way that makes it easy for people to 00:48:52.772 --> 00:48:58.597 - find things in a web format. And when we went live with it last year, we included updates to what's 00:48:58.597 --> 00:49:04.538 - called the account portal. It's basically a way to look at your profile and see what you have checked 00:49:04.538 --> 00:49:07.742 - out. This was an update to the patron profile display. 00:49:08.450 --> 00:49:14.334 - But we soon discovered after going live that it wasn't yet ready for prime time, and we ended up rolling 00:49:14.334 --> 00:49:19.938 - it back. Polaris has made a lot of improvements to it since then, and as things stand now, it looks 00:49:19.938 --> 00:49:25.710 - like it has evolved to the point where we'll be able to bring it back, hopefully this year. That's the 00:49:25.710 --> 00:49:31.426 - plan. But when I was talking to my staff about this, I was told I cannot announce a go live date yet. 00:49:31.426 --> 00:49:37.534 - But we want to make sure it's really ready to go this time before we roll it out. But I do expect that to be 00:49:38.370 --> 00:49:43.545 - Well, I'm not going to say this year. It's going to be this year. Related to Vega, we also implemented 00:49:43.545 --> 00:49:48.570 - a new backend system for delivering texts and automated phone messages if patrons requested that as 00:49:48.570 --> 00:49:53.745 - a type of notification. This gave us more compatibility with network providers as the method we'd been 00:49:53.745 --> 00:49:58.920 - using had been deprecated by several phone companies. So hopefully that's been an improvement. I don't 00:49:58.920 --> 00:50:03.995 - know if patrons would have noticed that unless they were having a problem with messages before. It's 00:50:03.995 --> 00:50:05.854 - definitely a backend thing, but it's 00:50:05.954 --> 00:50:12.328 - It's been a big improvement for us, and it's definitely the way moving forward we'd need to make that 00:50:12.328 --> 00:50:19.139 - change. Related to that, we've also upgraded how messaging works with Author Alert using similar technology. 00:50:19.139 --> 00:50:25.450 - And that, again, is not something patrons will necessarily notice, but the connection between Author 00:50:25.450 --> 00:50:32.011 - Alert and the Polaris database was improved. And we're sending those texts through a more modern process 00:50:32.011 --> 00:50:35.198 - as well. Again, it's the sort of thing that people 00:50:35.426 --> 00:50:42.676 - probably won't notice, but it was a big improvement for us. We're continuing. We will be upgrading the 00:50:42.676 --> 00:50:49.715 - Polaris backend this year, updating the catalog database. This year's update includes new features, 00:50:49.715 --> 00:50:56.754 - but most of them are staff-facing. So the patrons shouldn't see any big changes due to that, but it 00:50:56.754 --> 00:51:04.286 - is another big project for my staff. Vanessa and Paula, working with Christine Sneed, our ILS coordinator, 00:51:04.514 --> 00:51:10.671 - have both put in a lot of work on making the transition to Vega Discovery a big success, and they continue 00:51:10.671 --> 00:51:16.540 - to work to improve it. Website accessibility was another one I wanted to cover. Website accessibility 00:51:16.540 --> 00:51:22.409 - is an ongoing process. It's not something you can say you ever really finish. Paula has done a lot of 00:51:22.409 --> 00:51:28.278 - work along the lines of making our website more accessible, both in the pages created in-house and in 00:51:28.278 --> 00:51:32.766 - working with our vendors to ensure their products meet web standards as well. 00:51:33.474 --> 00:51:39.273 - We've always strived to make the website as accessible to everyone as we can. Last year, the Department 00:51:39.273 --> 00:51:44.961 - of Justice updated its regulations for Title II of the ADA, the Americans with Disabilities Act, with 00:51:44.961 --> 00:51:50.648 - specific requirements about how to ensure that web content is accessible to people with disabilities. 00:51:50.648 --> 00:51:56.224 - And Paula has been going through those requirements for the past year and seeing how we can improve 00:51:56.224 --> 00:52:02.302 - it. And as I said, this is ongoing work. It's not something we really can check a box to say we're complete. 00:52:03.138 --> 00:52:09.757 - always needs to be reviewed. So that's what Paula is doing. She's constantly reviewing the website with 00:52:09.757 --> 00:52:16.503 - accessibility tools to see how and where we can improve accessibility. Among other things, she's improved 00:52:16.503 --> 00:52:23.185 - functionality for patrons with visual disabilities or for those using screen readers to access our site. 00:52:23.185 --> 00:52:29.740 - That includes things like adding proper alt text for images, updating form labels, and maintaining tab 00:52:29.740 --> 00:52:32.286 - structure for navigation within a page. 00:52:32.578 --> 00:52:37.924 - An example that comes to mind is the skip to links on the library catalog. You might see them if you're 00:52:37.924 --> 00:52:43.270 - using the mobile version. It's not something you see unless you're using a screen reader on a computer, 00:52:43.270 --> 00:52:48.461 - but it gives the option to skip past all the menu structure to get right to the main elements of the 00:52:48.461 --> 00:52:53.961 - page. So if you're using a screen reader, you don't necessarily want to listen to all of the menu options. 00:52:53.961 --> 00:52:55.966 - You just want to get to the main data. 00:52:57.026 --> 00:53:03.286 - That sort of thing helps with screen readers as well as with improving the experience of patrons using 00:53:03.286 --> 00:53:09.546 - a keyboard to navigate the website rather than a mouse. Part of those rules also involved requirements 00:53:09.546 --> 00:53:15.746 - for making all published PDFs accessible as well. Paula's converted many of our existing PDFs to HTML 00:53:15.746 --> 00:53:22.006 - for better accessibility. She had done that last year. She's also deleted obsolete PDFs in preparation 00:53:22.006 --> 00:53:26.078 - for converting the links, or excuse me, for converting linked PDFs 00:53:26.242 --> 00:53:33.483 - to accessible documents. Sometimes we make an HTML version of it. If we can't do it, make the PDF accessible. 00:53:33.483 --> 00:53:40.197 - The next phase is then to update or upgrade how we produce PDFs for public consumption in the future. 00:53:40.197 --> 00:53:46.779 - And it might not seem like we do that many PDFs kind of seem like old technology at this point, but 00:53:46.779 --> 00:53:50.334 - our board packets, for instance, still go out in PDF. 00:53:50.946 --> 00:53:56.263 - We're working on that this year. We've just begun to work with some new software that we hope will make 00:53:56.263 --> 00:54:01.631 - it easier for staff to create accessible PDFs to begin with. We're starting with a small number of staff 00:54:01.631 --> 00:54:06.897 - getting training in that software, and hopefully that will improve the accessibility of PDFs we create 00:54:06.897 --> 00:54:12.163 - from here on out. I'm not going to get into exactly how that works, but you could think of it as being 00:54:12.163 --> 00:54:15.742 - like having templates that start out with all the accessible features 00:54:16.546 --> 00:54:23.694 - and make it easy for staff to just populate that with the data that they want to provide via PDF. On 00:54:23.694 --> 00:54:30.983 - the board website, we made that change late last year, maybe? Yeah, that sounds right for the agendas. 00:54:30.983 --> 00:54:38.272 - Yeah, the board packets are more of a challenge because they've got all the charts and everything. OK, 00:54:38.272 --> 00:54:43.934 - and then some new things I wanted to share involving IT in the CATS department. 00:54:44.194 --> 00:54:50.249 - The IT department has always worked with CATS in various computer-related projects, but in the past, 00:54:50.249 --> 00:54:56.364 - CATS has always been very self-sufficient when it comes to setting up their servers and the equipment 00:54:56.364 --> 00:55:02.539 - they use for video production. If you go down there and look at master control, all that equipment and 00:55:02.539 --> 00:55:08.593 - stuff that CATS, in the past, has pretty much done on their own. They've asked IT for help when they 00:55:08.593 --> 00:55:12.670 - need it, but they've done that mostly on their own. Moving forward, 00:55:12.802 --> 00:55:18.757 - We're hoping to play a more active role I.T. is in supporting them. One of the first projects our department 00:55:18.757 --> 00:55:24.548 - worked on with cats this year was the expansion of their storage capacity. As you know they try to record 00:55:24.548 --> 00:55:30.066 - every public government meeting at the city and county level and that creates a huge amount of video 00:55:30.066 --> 00:55:31.486 - data to manage and store. 00:55:32.002 --> 00:55:37.618 - to help prepare them for their needs in the future, we increased their network drive space and made 00:55:37.618 --> 00:55:43.346 - it redundant across two locations. So they have data storage here at the downtown library that's been 00:55:43.346 --> 00:55:49.187 - greatly expanded. And we've also set it up so that that data is replicated out to the southwest branch. 00:55:49.187 --> 00:55:54.915 - This gives us fault tolerance and redundancy in case of failure. That was a project that was good for 00:55:54.915 --> 00:56:00.756 - IT to be involved with from the beginning so we could add our input and be aware of how it fits in with 00:56:00.756 --> 00:56:01.598 - our overall IT 00:56:01.858 --> 00:56:08.238 - infrastructure, and it makes us more familiar with the CATS workflows. So moving forward, we can hopefully 00:56:08.238 --> 00:56:14.319 - help them more in the future with what they're working on. And then the other thing that's related to 00:56:14.319 --> 00:56:20.400 - CATS as well is something we just presented to the board recently. I was gonna cover it briefly here. 00:56:20.400 --> 00:56:26.482 - That's the creation of new apps for patrons to access CATS recordings. So all the CATS recordings and 00:56:26.482 --> 00:56:30.238 - live streams are available on the web right now at CATSTV.net. 00:56:30.370 --> 00:56:35.673 - We also put some content on YouTube, but that's just a subset of everything that we have. Cody on my 00:56:35.673 --> 00:56:40.976 - staff had been toying around with the idea of putting together an app for Apple TV to make it easier 00:56:40.976 --> 00:56:46.280 - to view on his television. And this year, he had a breakthrough with it. So after putting together a 00:56:46.280 --> 00:56:51.583 - working prototype, we discussed it with the Katz folks, and they were very enthusiastic about making 00:56:51.583 --> 00:56:52.318 - it available. 00:56:53.314 --> 00:56:59.544 - And we presented that to the board in the context of the app privacy policy aspects of publishing it 00:56:59.544 --> 00:57:06.022 - to the Apple App Store, basically. They want you to point to your app privacy policy. This was our first 00:57:06.022 --> 00:57:12.067 - app, so we didn't have one. Now we've got that online. Since then, Cody's ported it to Roku, iOS, 00:57:12.067 --> 00:57:18.236 - and Android, so it's available on all of those platforms as well. We're hoping that makes it easier 00:57:18.236 --> 00:57:23.294 - for patrons to access cast videos on those platforms. And he was just showing off 00:57:23.490 --> 00:57:29.064 - It's a... yeah, I'll just go ahead and say it. He continues to work on it, and we hope to have better 00:57:29.064 --> 00:57:34.747 - search functionality released to those apps in the near future. I mean, like, very near future, because 00:57:34.747 --> 00:57:40.485 - we were just looking at it upstairs. By default, it started out with just streaming videos and basically 00:57:40.485 --> 00:57:46.113 - duplicating what's available on the website, except for the search function. It was a first prototype. 00:57:46.113 --> 00:57:50.430 - You could see, like, the last 10 meetings of every meeting that was available. 00:57:50.626 --> 00:57:57.145 - So we knew that we wanted to add search to it, and I think Cody's got that perfected, so I hope to see 00:57:57.145 --> 00:58:03.664 - that very soon. And then in addition to those larger ongoing projects as a department, we're typically 00:58:03.664 --> 00:58:10.437 - responding to between 60 and 80 help desk requests every month, the bulk of which fall to Cody and Dakota. 00:58:10.437 --> 00:58:16.766 - Vanessa and Paul and I respond to those as well, but Cody and Dakota get the lion's share of those. 00:58:16.930 --> 00:58:23.301 - include replacing PCs, fixing printing issues, installing software, troubleshooting public computer 00:58:23.301 --> 00:58:29.736 - issues, that sort of thing. So those are some of the projects we've been working on since I spoke to 00:58:29.736 --> 00:58:36.299 - you last. But I'm happy to answer any questions you might have. Very easily accessible. And it doesn't 00:58:36.299 --> 00:58:42.861 - seem like you guys are having to do anything. So thank you. Yeah, believe me, they do a lot. But thank 00:58:42.861 --> 00:58:46.238 - you. Because you make it so easy. Thank you so much. 00:58:46.370 --> 00:58:56.448 - Yeah, thank you. Thank you for sharing. All right, thanks. Thank you. Any other questions? No? OK. Is 00:58:56.448 --> 00:59:06.526 - there a motion to adjourn the meeting? So moved. Second. OK. All in favor say aye. Meeting adjourned.