Minutes of Regular Meeting

October 24, 2001

Call to Order

The regular monthly meeting of the Library Board of Trustees was called to order at 7:01 p.m. In attendance were Board President Hope Furth, Trustees Toni Cox-Burns, Betsy DeSoye, Janet Elmiger, Campbell Geeslin, P. Lynn Oliva, Nancy Smith, Head of Public Services Patricia Thorsen, and Library Director Sandra Miranda. Absence with notice were Trustees Simmons and Yanofsky, and Assistant Library Director Charlotte Szabó. Trustee Elmiger was appointed Secretary Pro-Tem on a motion by Trustee DeSoye, seconded by Trustee Geeslin.

Minutes of Regular Meeting of the Library Board of Trustees

The minutes of the regular meeting of September 19, 2001 were approved on a motion by Trustee Geeslin, seconded by Trustee Elmiger.

City Revenue & Expenditure Budget Reports

City Revenue & Expenditure Budget Reports 2001/01 Final and as of 9/30/01 were reviewed by the Board.

Bills: 2001/02 Budget: #3 & #4

The payment of bill vouchers #3 and #4 were approved on a motion by Trustee Cox-Burns, seconded by Trustee DeSoye.

Report of Library Administration

Department reports for September were reviewed by the Board. Board President Hope Furth complimented the Department Managers on their concise and informative reports. Trustee DeSoye asked if the Board’s decision on the Sculpture Garden was communicated to Mr. Schoenberger, and Library Director Miranda reported she needed to follow up with the Mayor’s Office on the status.

WLS

Board President Furth reported she will be attending the WLS Annual Meeting, and she invited Board members planning to attend to join her in making a table.

Friends

Trustee Elmiger reported she worked at the Friends book sale, however sales were slow. Mrs. Elmiger reminded the Board that the Friends Annual Conference will be held November 8 at the Harrison Public Library.

Foundation

Mrs. Miranda reported: 1) Mrs. Conte is still awaiting response on several grant proposals and annual appeals will go out in early November; 2) The Westchester Foundation for the Deaf reception and dedication of the ASL Video Collection held at the Library on October 13 went very well, and she thanked Tracy Conte, Director of Development, for her excellent work in getting this gift and planning this event; 3) The Executive Board of the Foundation will meet on October 30; 4) An Executive Session of the Foundation was called for November 13.

Advocacy

Library Director Miranda reported WLS is heavily advocating for the County to give new appropriation of funds, but that the funding climate is not encouraging. Mrs. Miranda reported that when she

attended the NYLA conference, she was very pleased to hear the State’s Commissioner of Education, Richard Mills, speak very forcefully on behalf of libraries.

Outreach

Trustee Oliva reported the next outreach meeting with the Youth Board will be on November 1 at 8:00 p.m., and she asked the Board to attend. Mrs. Miranda noted the meeting will be held at the 111 South Kensico headquarters.

Board Terms Expiring

Discussion was postponed for next month’s meeting.

Library Garage

The Board reviewed various correspondence regarding parking and security in the Library and Library Garage. Many questions were asked, and various concerns expressed about the closing of the Library Garage to the public. Trustees Furth, Cox-Burns and DeSoye reported being approached by residents with questions and concerns. The Board reviewed and discussed a Plan of Action and decided to begin after the Election by sending a letter to the County Board of Legislators requesting a meeting, with copies to the Mayor, County Executive and Parking Authority, and a draft of the letter was developed. The Board also decided to send letters at the same time to the Mayor and Parking Authority expressing confidence and appreciation.

Mrs. Miranda asked Patricia Thorsen, Head of Public Services, to report on what the public and the staff have been experiencing. Mrs. Thorsen expressed deep concern about the impact of the parking on the public. She reported that many White Plains residents have approached her and many staff to express concerns about parking access. She noted that a decrease in patron visits and children’s program attendance was evident, but that there has been an increase in telephone renewals and renewals-on-line. Mrs. Thorsen also reported that several patrons have told her that they are now utilizing other libraries. Trustee Smith expressed concern that if the difficulty with parking continued, patrons would develop new use patterns and it would be difficult for the White Plains Library to get them back. Mrs. Miranda gave out charts to illustrate week by week comparisons of circulation before and since September 11. She noted that although attendance was dramatically down, borrowing had thus far not dropped significantly; in fact circulation on Sundays was continuing to steadily increase. She said that statistical comparisons of turnstile, programming, circulation and other key use factors would continue in order to assess ongoing impact and determine how people were changing their habits of library use.

Regarding handling of public complaints, the Board asked if patrons should be directed to send their letters of concern directly to the Mayor’s Office in lieu of the Library, and after some discussion, the Board agreed that letters should continue to be collected at the Library. The Board reviewed the parking petition started by the Friends of the Library at their booksale and on a motion by Trustee Cox-Burns, seconded by Trustee Elmiger, the Board authorized the Friends petition to be made available to the public at the Library and thanked the Friends group for its advocacy efforts. The Board also expressed thanks to The Old Guard of White Plains, which did its own petition and obtained 150 signatures at a recent meeting. The Board decided that the petitions and written complaints would be held for further discussion at the next meeting. Mrs. Miranda reported that she will continue to outreach to community groups with a positive message about using the Library and accessing parking and to answer questions and gather suggestions.

Mrs. Miranda reported that security concerns within the Library had reached a critical stage and invited Mrs. Thorsen to speak to this issue. Mrs. Thorsen observed that there have always been problem patrons at the library, however in these difficult times the tension level has increased with patrons as well as staff. Mrs. Thorsen noted that the staff consists mostly of women, and none of the staff are hired or trained as security personnel. She reported that the staff in general is feeling nervous and vulnerable during this time of heightened awareness, and that patrons are increasingly hostile and volatile. Mrs. Thorsen also noted that there are many times when the Library is open with a skeletal staff, such as evenings until 9:00 p.m. She reported that hiring and retaining adequate part-time security has been a losing battle despite the fine recruiting job done by Assistant Library Director Szabó who is also responsible for hiring and training security personnel.

Library Director Miranda noted that the heightened security in the garage has contributed to the nervousness of staff and patrons. She reported that part-time security at the Library has not been adequate and as a consequence recommended that we consider alternatives. One possibility would be to take a vacant position and redesigate it for security, possibly as a position filled by the Public Safety department. She reported that she has made preliminary inquiries to both the Personnel and Public Safety Departments. In response to questions from Trustees, Mrs. Miranda reported that the two possible positions would be a police officer or a public safety aide and noted that a major benefit of hiring security through the Public Safety Department would be its expert handling of recruitment and training. Upon discussion the Board expressed a preference for the public safety aide position and asked if a motion was needed to proceed. Mrs. Miranda said that before doing this more information was needed on cost and impact on the Library budget and impact on other vacancies that we might not be able to fill. Board members asked whether the Library could ask to fill 42 as opposed to 41 of its 44 authorized positions, assuming the budget impact could be managed, so that other service priorities would not have to be sacrificed. Mrs. Miranda said she would investigate. Library Director Miranda agreed to report back to the Board on this issue next month.

On another security matter, Mrs. Thorsen reported that in response to staff concerns about unattended and sizable parcels and personal items, she suggested that a large plastic container be displayed as a guideline to help patrons visualize what size personal items are acceptable to bring into the Library. She showed a sample to the Board, and there were no objections. Mrs. Miranda noted that the Library’s Code of Conduct limits people from blocking seats or aisles with personal belongings, but that it has been difficult to communicate our expectations in this regard.

The Board endorsed the Mayor’s directive for staff to wear picture I.D. badges on a motion by Trustee Oliva, seconded by Trustee Geeslin. Board President Hope Furth suggested the Board send a letter to WPPL staff to assure them the Board is addressing their concerns, and to thank

them for their commitment to the Library. The Board approved sending letter to staff, as suggested by Mrs. Furth, on a motion by Trustee Elmiger, seconded by Trustee Cox-Burns.

Library Director Miranda requested the Board retain all materials pertaining to parking and security issues at the Library for future reference.

Policy revision: Collection Development

The Board approved the Collection Development policy as presented on a motion by Trustee Smith, seconded by Trustee Geeslin with thanks to Library Director Miranda, Assistant Director Charlotte Szabó, Librarian Christiane Deschamps and staff who worked on it.

Capital Projects

Discussion postponed to next meeting.

Personnel Added & Deleted from Payroll

The Board approved Personnel Added & Deleted from Payroll, July 1, 2001 through September 30, 2001 on a motion by Trustee Cox-Burns, seconded by Trustee Elmiger.

Member Library Statistics - Year 2000

Mrs. Miranda asked the Board to carefully review, and discussion was postponed to next month.

Adjournment

There being no more business before the Board, the meeting was adjourned at 9:08 p.m. on a motion by Trustee DeSoye, seconded by Trustee Oliva.

Janet Elmiger, Secretary Pro-Tem

Library Board of Trustees