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HomeMy WebLinkAbout1997-04-01 Library Commission SummaryKENAI ADVISORY LIBRARY COMMISSION KENAI COMMUNITY LIBRARY ACTIVITY ROOM April 1, 1997 @ 7'30 P.M. AGENDA 1. CALL TO ORDER 2. ROLL CALL 3. ELECTIONS 4. APPROVAL OF AGENDA 5. APPROVAL OF MINUTES: March 4, 1 997 6. DIRECTOR'S REPORT 7. FRIENDS OF THE LIBRARY REPORT 1 1 PERSONS SCHEDULED TO BE HEARD OLD BUSINESS A. Goals and Objectives B. Library Addition Committee Report 1 NEW BUSINESS A. Sunday Library Openings 10. COMMISSIONER'S COMMENTS/QUESTIONS 11. INFORMATION A. Council Agenda of March 5 and 19, 1997 1 2. ADJOURNMENT Library Commission ***Minutes*** April 1, 1997 - 7:30 p.m. Kenai Library Activity Room Chairman Bob Peters le CALL TO ORDER AND ROLL CAI J, Members Present: Bob Peters, Janet Brown, Kathy Heus, Janice Rodes, Vince O'Reilly, Lorrene Forbes, Elissa Fahnholz Members Absent: Carol Brenckle Also Present: Emily DeForest, Debby Fahnholz e APPROVAL OF AGENDA Commissioner Brown MOVED to approve the agenda as written. SECONDED the motion. Agenda approved. Commissioner Forbes e APPROVAL OF MINUTES Commissioner O'Reily MOVED to approve the minutes as presented. Brown SECONDED the motion. The minutes were approved. Commissioner e DIRECTOR'S REPORT Library Director DeForest reported that the library is planning April Sunday openings. The hours will be from 1:00 to 5'00 p.m. She reported that the first budget hearing is scheduled for Thursday night. She stated that the library's donation money was put into the general fund and she is trying to get the Finance Director to get it moved back. Councilman Moore stated he would attempt to assist in getting the money put back. Commissioner Forbes asked if she asked for money for Sunday hours in the budget. DeForest responded that she had. DeForest reported that there has been good response so far to the Sunday openings. She stated that there will be two more classes on genealogy added and the writers group is Library Commission April 1, 1997 Page 1 meeting twice a month now. 5. FRIENDS REPORT Commissioner Brown reported that the Friends have not met yet this momh. 6. PERSONS SCHEDULED TO BE HEARD None. 7. OLD BUSINESS Goals and Objectives - Commissioner Peters suggested scratching the ending on Objective 9. Commissioner Forbes suggested changing the expansion objective to read "Cominue to" and to delete the 1997. Commissioner Brown MOVED to approved the Goals and Objectives and to present them to Council for approval as revised. Commissioner Heus SECONDED the motion. The motion was approved with a unanimous vote. Library Addition Committee - Commissioner O'Reilly reported that he will be meeting with the Seattle library next Tuesday. He stated they have been involved with Microsoft and they seem eager to meet with him. He will report on this next month. Commissioner O'Reilly stated that the committee still feels there is a need for the 15,000 square foot expansion, but due to the City constraints, they prioritized the library functions and convened these functions into priorities. He stated that they then determined the square footage necessary by priority. He reported that by addressing the priority codes one only they came up with 7,156 square feet. Commissioner Peters asked about the 10,000 square foot figure. Commissioner Forbes responded that the area for the Alaskana section was left out. Commissioner Heus questioned where the adult fiction area went. Commissioner Forbes responded that the discrepancy was in the adult fiction area. Commissioner O'Reilly suggested clarifying the numbers that they came up with. Commissioner Heus explained that even with the new figures, the adult fiction area is still larger than the dedicated space. Commissioner Rodes asked if there were items that were reprioritized. Commissioner Forbes responded that when they did their original calculations they did not include the Alaskana and adult fiction figures. Library Commission April 1, 1997 Page 2 Commissioner Peters felt he would like to present the 10,053 figure to Council. Commissioner Forbes stated that by using the bold faced figures only, they add up to the 10,053 figure. Commissioner Heus felt that the report explains very clearly what the needs and priorities of the library are. Commissioner Forbes suggested that to go with the "Area to Achieve Sufficient Capacity" column only would give another approach. Commissioner Peters rounded the figures out to about 6300 square feet. Commissioner Heus felt that could be a good point if the 10,000 was taken as way out of line. But felt that the 6,300 figure would be sufficient only to just house what they have today. The 10,000 figure is to give a 5-year growth figure. Commissioner Peters commented that the 6,300 square feet still didn't take into the account the need to widen the aisles to 48 inches. Commissioner Forbes commented that there is still no memion of additional space for the employees who are already working in overcrowded conditions. Commissioner Forbes stated that it came up to just under 10,000 square feet when the calculations were done. She stated. that this would only cover what the currem needs of the library are now. Commissioner Peters stated that even though it sounds good, it still doesn't address widening the aisles. Commissioner Heus asked if that figure was required by ADA. Commissioner Peters responded that he thought that was correct. Commissioner Forbes responded that by adding the area to widen the aisles brings the square footage figure up to 10,569. Commissioner Peters asked if there was a law about the width of the aisles. DeForest responded that there is and if the addition is done, then the aisles will have to comply. Commissioner O'Reilly suggested writing a letter to the Council with the request for 10,569 square feet to meet the highest priority functions. He stated that to just meet the requiremems the figure comes up to 10,053 square feet. He felt that they need that amoum of area to meet the projected growth figures. Commissioner Heus stated that she felt that for just the priorities the square footage requirements come up to 10,000 square feet and to just meet the requirements it also comes to 10,000 square feet. She felt that they had justified the figure. Commissioner O'Reilly excused himself and stated that he had to leave for another commitment. Commissioner Peters asked if anyone could write the letter to Council. Library Commission April 1, 1997 Page 3 Commissioner Heus stated that she felt that there will be much effort put imo increasing the amoum of the building fund started by the Friends. She felt that if they could come up with $13,000 in a few months, that it would not be beyond the realm of possibility for them to come up with several hundred thousand in a couple of years. She felt that they should still plan for what they want. Commissioner Peters felt that the Council was also concerned about personnel and maintenance costs. Commissioner Heus stated that she had heard they projected 30% more for maintenance. Councilman Moore stated he didn't feel that this would be a major hurdle if they could get the expansion numbers approved. Commissioner Forbes asked if this was a good time to approach Council. Commissioner Peters responded that they asked to get something back from the Commission during budget time. Councilman Moore suggested writing the letter to the Mayor and copying the council members. Commissioner Forbes offered to write the letter. Commissioner Heus offered to assist. commissioner Peters reported that the movers and shakers meeting will be held on the 26th t the Senior Center. He felt that it might be a good opportunity to approach the library needs. Councilman Moore felt that the main subject would be the needs of the city and felt that the library needs would fall into that category. Commissioner Peters suggested the Library Addition Committee meet on the 22nd at 7'30 p.m. Commissioner Forbes suggested discussing the letter to the Council after the Friends meeting. 8. NEW BUSINESS Sunday Library Openings - Commissioner Peters stated that everybody's help was needed. He suggested inviting the Council members to attend the Sunday openings. DeForest stated that last month there were 3,096 books checked out in adult fiction only. ® COMMISSIONER COMMENTS/QUESTIONS Commissioner Heus appreciated all the Library Addition Committee's work. Commissioner Brown felt it was a good meeting and asked for volumeers for the Sunday openings. Library Commission April 1, 1997 Page 4 Commissioner Peters commended the Library Addition Committee's dedication. 10. ADJOURNMENT Commissioner Brown MOVED to adjourn. The meeting was adjourned at 9:15 p.m. Respectfully submitted, Debby J. Fa0hnholz Commissioner Heus SECONDED the motion. Library Commission April 1, 1997 Page 5