Board Minutes: May 2006

350 West Georgia Street
Vancouver, B.C.
Canada V6B 6B1

DATE: Wednesday, May 24th 2006

CHAIR: Joan Andersen

PRESENT: Joan Andersen, Chair; Elizabeth Ball, City Council Representative; John Buckberrough, Vice Chair; Shannon Daub, Vice Chair; Crissy George; Clarence Hansen, Vancouver School Board Representative; Erfan Kazemi; Tommy Tao

MANAGEMENT: Paul Whitney, City Librarian; Joan Burgess, Director, Human Resources; Brian Campbell, Director, Systems and Special Projects; Corinne Durston, Director, Branches West and Technical Services; Shelagh Flaherty, Director, Central Library and Reference Services; Eric Smith, Director, Corporate Services

STAFF: Alex Youngberg, Incoming President, CUPE Local 391; Lesli Boldt, Manager, Marketing and Communications; Laura Safarian, Librarian l, Level 6; Gerard Batty, Vice President, CUPE Local 391

GUESTS: Sonja Marchlewitz, Outgoing President, Friends; Loring Bohach, President, Friends; Bill Haberl, Director, Treasurer Friends; Patricia Moir, Director, Membership Friends

REGRETS: Michael Feder; Dermot Foley; Heather Holden, Vancouver Parks Board Representative; Larry Kuehn; Anita Zaenker

RECORDER: Georgina Bray, Executive Assistant

The Chair called the meeting to order at 5:35 p.m.

Matters Adopted on Consent

1. Management Reports

Joan Andersen advised that the first item to consider are matters to be adopted on consent. Several Library Boards are handling meetings this way and City Council is also using this format. At our previous meeting, it was agreed that for the next few months we would try this format. At this meeting we have three management reports with recommendations requiring consent. They are:

3a) 2005 Statement of Financial Information (SOFI)
4b) East Area Branches – Redefinition and Realignment
11a) Dogs (Pets) at/in Branches

Are there any Board members who would like to discuss those reports? Hearing none, I call for a motion to move the recommendations on consent.

It was moved by Shannon Daub and seconded by John Buckberrough :

THAT the Vancouver Public Library Board approve the 2005 financial statements and schedules included in the Statement of financial Information, produced under the Financial Information Act, and that the Chair of the Library Board sign the approval on behalf of the Board;
THAT Mount Pleasant be designated the East Area Branch, effective September 30, 2006.
THAT Britannia be designated a Community Branch, effective September 30, 2006,
And THAT, because of site and community characteristics, there be no alteration to service hours or staffing levels.
THAT Riley Park be designated a West Area Storefront Branch, effective September 30, 2006,
AND THAT the Oakridge Branch assume responsibility for overseeing the services of this branch, with the support of other West Area branches.
THAT VPL not install dog tie-ups at the branches.
THAT the existing policy on pets in branches be maintained.

CARRIED UNANIMOUSLY

Administration

2. Minutes

The draft minutes of the Regular Meeting held on April 26, 2006 were presented for approval by the Chair.

It was moved by Shannon Daub and seconded by Erfan Kazemi THAT the draft minutes be approved.

CARRIED UNANIMOUSLY

Additions to the Agenda

Under Other Business:

Libraries and Literacy by Joan Andersen
Joan advised that Shannon suggested that she and Larry make presentations to the Board of the ones they did at the BCLA/BCLA Joint Conference in April.
UNESCO by Elizabeth Ball

Request for Information by Chair

3. CUPE LOCAL 391

Gerard Batty reported that D’Arcy Stainton could not be present this evening. The Union Executive has decided to postpone their Workload Survey presentation until the next Board meeting. Gerard introduced new incoming President, Alex Youngberg, who was President before and also Vice President, and Secretary Treasurer of the Union. Gerard related that he will continue on as Vice President and Laura Safarian will as a member at large.

Gerard advised that the new Executive is meeting this Friday and will be holding a ‘think tank’ to hammer out the agenda for the coming year. The Board will be informed in advance of what the Union will do in response to an issue. Gerard indicated that the Union is looking forward to working with the Board.

Alex thanked the Board for their support of the Library when advocating during the budget process. The Union appreciated the support of the Board and of the community. The Chair welcomed the new members of the Union by congratulating them on their election and re-election and related that the Board has enjoyed a good relationship with the Union and hopes it will continue.

4. Friends of the Library

Sonja Marchlewitz introduced Bill Haberl, Director Treasurer and Patricia Moir, Director Membership to the Board. Sonja, together with incoming President, Loring Bohach presented, on behalf of Friends, a cheque of $50,000 to VPL. Sonja advised that this year’s contribution will bring the accumulative total, since Friends’ inception in 1995, to $333,673.00. Joan related that she wrote a piece for the Friends newsletter and it gave her an opportunity of just how much Friends contribution has meant to the Library. She thanked them for the work they have and continue to do on behalf of VPL.

5. VPL Foundation

Paul Whitney reported that a teleconference was held in early May and another will be held on June 1st. Joan Andersen advised that there is a request from the VPL Foundation Board for some operating costs. We hope to articulate what their priorities are in increasing our capital fund raising.

6. British Columbia Library Trustees Association

Shannon Daub reported that the BCLTA will be holding a two-day meeting starting on Friday, May 26th.

7. InterLINK

John Buckberrough reported that InterLINK’s next Board meeting will be held on May 30th.

Committee Reports

8. Draft Minutes - Services, Planning and Finance Committee Meeting - May 16, 2006

It was moved by Shannon Daub and seconded by John Buckberrough THAT the above draft minutes be received.

Strategic Planning Workshop

Shannon related that the SP&FC felt that Collections was an important issue that required discussion and it would be useful to receive information leading up to the workshop. The objective we have of improving access to library service for underserved communities was one the SP&FC did not want to lose as a focus.

Paul Whitney related that his understanding is that the Committee felt a separate meeting could be held prior to the Strategic Planning Workshop to discuss Collections, followed by the regular planning session to develop the strategic planning actions for the coming year. The Friday evening would be focused on access issues.

A full discussion was held with the Chair advising that this is an opportunity for the Board to take a look at last year’s Strategic Plan. We need to look at it with the intention of reinforcing what we are doing. Last year, we focused on access and the socially excluded. We tried to infuse that objective in the entire strategic plan.

Paul Whitney advised that there will also be a need to look at the issues around our facilities and at service to youth and the multicultural community as they relate to the strategic plan as well.

Shannon Daub related that she was interested in hearing about the Working Together Project as it moves forward in terms of the question of access. There should be further discussion about service to youth. We have not had a discussion on the service to the aboriginal community and we need to include this in our strategic planning.

Paul Whitney indicated that the discussion has been helpful. There are three or four items that we have keyed in on. We need to deal with Collections in a separate meeting.

The Chair asked whether trustees would like to have a discussion on any of the below information reports brought forward by management. Hearing none, the following reports were received.

RFPS – Evaluation of the VPL Library’s Bindery Operation
InfoAction Quarterly Report – January-March 2006
City Initiative: Measuring Up - Joan Andersen commented that the Measuring Up report sounded like a great initiative and she was looking forward to what the library could do to increase access.
Public Website Redesign – Phase I Results and Phase II Plan
1 Kingsway Project Progress Report March-April 2006

9. Draft Minutes - Community Relations Committee Meeting – May 17, 2006

It was moved by Crissy George and seconded by Shannon Daub THAT the above draft minutes be received.

CARRIED

VPL 2005 Annual Report – Draft Copy

Lesli Boldt reported that Marketing and Communications are currently in the process of doing a final edit. Changes have been received from the Chair and the City Librarian on their text.

World Urban, Youth and World Peace Forums

The Board received this report from Eric Smith and there was no discussion on the content.

One Book, One Vancouver

Paul Whitney reported that the first reading event for the OBOV was very successful. The author, Patrick Lane was present and there was full attendance. A presentation of the book will be made to Council on May 30th. Joan and Janice Douglas will attend to make the presentation.

Clarence Hansen advised that the School Trustees received OBOV and each trustee is going to read the book and will return it to their local library.

Public Space

Crissy George reported that the item relating to the Kokanee event was discussed at the Community Relations Committee meeting. It was decided to wait until the City Librarian’s return from vacation to discuss the policy issue. The Committee was asked by Management to bring the issue forward to the Board in June for discussion and members agreed.

Clarence Hansen left the meeting.

Information

10. Internet Filtering

Brian Campbell informed trustees that he brought his March 12, 2004 report forward to the Board because we received a request from patron, Brian Couche to reappear as a delegation on the issue. The report contains information on VPL’s filtering practice.

Paul Whitney advised that another complaint was received on the issue. Corinne Durston reported that a child under 12 years old who viewed a photo at one of our branches reported it to her School Principal. He has contacted Corinne and has indicated that he will be in touch with the City Librarian.

Brian Campbell advised that the Board had extensive discussion about this issue from 1995-2000. The policy was implemented and it was first agreed to have filtered workstations in children’s areas. Children also had access in other areas of the library. We stopped doing it as there were few complaints. In response to a query from the Chair, Brian Campbell advised that the last discussion held with the Board was a review of the issues around chat services such as MySpace.

11. Monthly Reports

The Board received the Central, Branches East and Branches West reports for the month of April.

Joan Andersen related that these reports might provide material that may be of interest to Councillors. For example, the great work that the library is doing when responding to all users relating to possible compensation to the Chinese head tax. Councillor Lee has said that he is interested in the multilingual communities. She urged trustees, when reading through these reports, to think of some items that they could email to their Councillor liaisons which could be a resource for the library. Paul Whitney informed trustees that a quarterly report is prepared for Council and this is something that management could also include.

12. Friends

The Board received the minutes of Friends Board meeting held February 28, 2006.

13. Correspondence

The Board received a letter from Linda Poole, Creative Director, Vancouver Cherry Blossom Festival to Paul Whitney thanking him and the Library for being a valued partner for presenting and enriching the diverse cultural mix of their 2006 cherry blossom programming.

14. Articles

The Board received the following articles:

Apr. 27-May 3/06 – Vancouver Sun – Aperture program takes a chance again
Apr. 28/06 – Vancouver Courier – Rising construction costs put new Little house on hold
Apr. 29/06 – Vancouver Sun – A conference timeline
Apr. 29/06 – 15 days to save the world

Other Business

15. Libraries and Literacy

Joan Andersen informed her colleagues that she was asked by Maureen Woods, Director of the Provincial Government’s Public Library Services Branch to make a presentation at the BCLA/BCLTA Joint Conference which was held in April. She provided a re-cap of the presentation she made on Libraries and Literacy during a panel discussion. Joan advised that Shannon Daub was Chair of the panel. During her presentation, Joan said that libraries contribute to community literacy in three ways: everyday librarianship; specific collection and service activities to support literacy activities in the community; and, direct provision of literacy programs (like Ready to Read) by VPL.

Joan made reference to stories from the Beyond Words essay contest on how literacy activities of libraries have made a “real-life” impact on the lives of individuals who use them. Joan reported on the funds provided by City Council which resulted in the hiring of 5 Children’s Librarians who now have a Storybus and are able to make contacts with all kinds of people. Aside from that program, there is the Mother Goose and the Man in the Moon programs. The Library plays an important role in bridging the digital divide.

16. UNESCO

Councillor Ball advised that Alma Lee is trying to get Vancouver designated by UNESCO as a World City of Literature. The UNESCO contact will be here during the World Urban Forum on June 19, 20 and 21 and Alma Lee would like to arrange a meeting with her. The City Librarian is aware of this initiative and will follow up with Alma Lee.

Adjournment

There being no further business, the Chair declared the meeting adjourned at 6:45 p.m.

Signed by Joan Andersen, Chair and Paul Whitney, Secretary

Gb:hl