12.02.20 BLC PacketCity of Boulder
2020 Library Commission Agenda
Meeting date: Wednesday, Dec. 2, 2020
Location: Zoom Meeting
Meeting start time: 6 p.m.
1.Review Online Meeting Guidelines
2.Reminder: Commissioners please log monthly volunteer hours in Count Me In Boulder
3.Approval of agenda
4.Public comment
5.Consent agenda
a.Approval of November 4, 2020 minutes
6. Student One Program Update – Anne Ledford, Youth Services Manager
7. Technology Strategic Plan – Aimee Schumm, eServices Manager
8.Library Commission update
a.Finalize annual letter to City Council about priorities
b.Items from commission
i.Ongoing outreach efforts
c. Updates from commissioners representing the Commission in other venues (verbal)
i.Boulder Library Foundation (BLF) update (Sykes Wilson/Koenig)
d.Update on emails and phone calls to Library Commission
9.Library Director’s report
a.North Boulder Branch Library update
b. Update on current library services
2020 Library Commissioners
Juana Gomez Joel Koenig Jane Sykes Wilson Steven Frost Scott Steinbrecher
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Library Commission Minutes November 4, 2020
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CITY OF BOULDER
BOULDER, COLORADO
BOARDS AND COMMISSIONS MEETING MINUTES
Name of Board/ Commission: Library Commission
Date of Meeting: November 4, 2020
Contact information preparing summary: Celia Seaton
Commission members present: Juana Gómez, Joel Koenig, Steven Frost, Scott Steinbrecher
Commission members not present: Jane Sykes Wilson
Library staff present:
David Farnan, Director of Library & Arts
Jennifer Phares, Deputy Library Director
Celia Seaton, Administrative Specialist
City staff present:
None
Members of the public present: Joni Teter, Library Champions Leadership Representative
Type of Meeting: Regular | Remote
Agenda Item 1: Review of Online Meeting Guidelines [0:00:02 Audio min.]
Agenda Item 2: Reminder: Commissioners please log monthly volunteer hours Count Me In Boulder [0:00:05 Audio min.]
The Commission logged their service.
Agenda Item 3: Approval of agenda [0:03:12 Audio min.]
The meeting was called to order and Gómez asked if there were any changes to the agenda. Being none, there was a nod of
approval from the commission for this agenda.
Agenda Item 4: Public comment [0:03:03 Audio min.]
None.
Agenda Item 5: Consent agenda [0:04:04 Audio min.]
a.Approval of October 2020 Meeting Minutes: Frost moved to approve these minutes. Koenig and Steinbrecher
seconded, and the motion passed unanimously.
Agenda Item 6: Update from Library Champions – Joni Teter, Library Champions Leadership Representative
[0:05:17 Audio min.]
Teter, former Library Commission Chair and Library Champion spoke in advocacy of library district formation. The path to
the district with a City Council public hearing was halted back in March 2020 with the onset of the pandemic. After
meeting with City Manager Jane Brautigam, Teter learned that November would be an opportune time to reach out to
council members. She appreciates the efforts of commission and requested that conversation outcomes be shared with the
Library Champion to help inform ongoing strategy. City Council members will be encouraged to form a district by
resolution. She is “heartened” by last night’s election results in Boulder County concerning property tax increases.
Teter spoke on importance of outreach to City Council candidates before the 2021 election. Brautigam noted that library
funding was still on council’s workplan. Teter suggested regrouping on strategy in January 2021. She mentioned the
complicated logistics of running a campaign in the midst of the continuing pandemic. The Boulder Library Foundation will
support this campaign effort.
She welcomed any questions. Gómez asked her to address the tax implications of the Community Culture and Safety tax.
Teter noted that this is among a few taxes that are coming up for expiration/renewal. Community Culture and Safety tax is
partially funding the new north Boulder library building. City Council will have to decide on extensions for these taxes.
Frost wondered what framework of priorities Library Commission should present when providing feedback for a new City
Manager. Teter’s recommends finding a candidate who is able to empower and simultaneously provide structure for
council. She suggests a future City Manager who will support the social structures that bring a community together with an
eye on services for seniors, youth, and Latinx community members. Farnan, referring to previously budget discussions,
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Library Commission Minutes November 4, 2020
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noted the central question: can the City afford to run the kind of library the community is asking for? Districting would
open up a new revenue source including patrons from outside the Boulder city limits.
Agenda Item 7: Review Library Commission application questions [0:40:04 Audio min.]
Commission provided their input to these interview questions for the 2021 Library Commission applicants. Seaton will
provide the revised draft to the City Clerk to relay to City Council.
Agenda Item 8: Library Commission Update [0:56:30 Audio min.]
a.Review and vote to approve a letter to City Council regarding the Library District to submit November. See
handouts for draft. Frost moved to approve this letter from commission to City Council. Steinbrecher seconded
and the motion passed unanimously.
b.Outline an annual letter to City Council about priorities to submit in December. Sykes Wilson was not present to
provide her draft, but the other commissioners discussed the prompts of “what makes you happy” and “what made
you sad.”
c.Items from Commission
i.Ongoing outreach efforts – Sykes Wilson spoke with City Council Members Wallach and
Brockett. Steinbrecher will be meeting next week with Council Member Weaver.
d.Updates from commissioners representing the Commission in other venues (verbal)
i.Boulder Library Foundation (BLF) update (Sykes Wilson/Koenig) – Koenig reported no
updates.
ii.Library Champions – joint efforts
e.Update on emails and phone calls to Library Commission
Agenda Item 8: Library and Arts Director’s Report [1:35:55 Audio min.]
a.2021 Library Closure Information - 2021 library closures for holidays, furlough days, and staff training are listed
on the library website.
b.North Boulder Branch Library update
c.Update on Current Library Services – see relevant statistics in packet. Farnan noted that the Colorado Department
of Public Health and Environment announced that Boulder County will move to a more restrictive level of
recovery called, “Level Orange: High Risk,” effective Friday, Nov. 6. This is a transition from the county’s current
status of “Level Yellow: Concern.” This will result in new capacity restrictions in Boulder County for offices,
retail, restaurants and a variety of other types of businesses and facilities. Library will limit capacity public (50)
and staff (25%). A reduction of computer stations will also ensure that the health and safety guidelines are
followed.
d.Update from Volunteer Services
e.City of Boulder 2021 Library Budget Update and Library’s 2020 Second Adjustment to Base Request – per the
Director’s memo, “The 2021 library operating budget was approved with an additional $100,000 restored by City
Council during Second Reading of the 2021 Recommended City of Boulder Budget on Oct. 20, 2020. The total
approved 2021 library budget is $7,886,202. $100,000 are one-time capital funds from the Library Fund to
reconfigure the public spaces at the George Reynolds Branch Library.
The additional $100,000 from City Council will be used to partially restore service levels for children and families
at the Main Library as pandemic health and safety restrictions permit. This includes reinstating some of the library
specialist FTE cut in Public Services and Youth Services workgroups.”
Agenda Item 9: Adjournment [1:51:02 Audio min.]
There being no further business to come before the commission at this time, the meeting was adjourned.
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Library Commission Minutes November 4, 2020
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APPROVED BY: ATTESTED:
_________________________________________ ________________________________________
Board Chair Board Secretary
_________________________________________ ________________________________________
Date Date
Date, time, and location of next meeting:
The next Library Commission meeting will be at 6 p.m. on Wednesday, December 2, 2020, through a virtual setting.
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Basic Stats of Student 1 Program
BPL and Boulder Valley School District are collaborating in order to offer easy access to the library's
homework databases to BVSD students without the need for students to enter the library building by
making student id numbers database-only accounts. Students who wish to access BPL's entire
collection may select to upgrade to a full library account by coming into a BPL branch location.
Jan 1, 2020 May 31, 2020 Nov 19, 2020
Student Accounts 12,667 13,407 10,505*
Accounts Upgraded to
regular access accounts
/ % of Student 1
accounts
296 (2.3% of accounts) 343 (2.5% of accounts) 358 (3.4% of accounts)
*enrollment is down at BVSD for several reasons, including the COVID pandemic.
2,718 students used their card between 10/16/19 (project start) and May 31, 2020.
o This was broken down by 343 upgraded cards + 2,375 database cards
o This means 20.2% of all accounts were used between the project start and the end
of the 2019-2020 school year.
o This is up from the 1,684 (296 upgraded + 1,388 database cards) or 13.3% of accounts
that had been used by Dec 31, 2019, the end of the first three months of the program.
Change in usage stats for our K-12 databases:
Page views for all the BVSD Student 1 pages for Oct – May was 11,807 views.
BVSD page views by month
Month Pageviews
Oct 1296
Nov 3942
Dec 693
Jan 1761
Feb 2142
Mar 1225
Apr 532
May 216
11807
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The table below shows the increase in database usage in the 2019-2020 school year vs the 2018-2019
school year. (The middle column shows clicks to databases from the BVSD Student 1 page.)
NOTE: Oct to Feb time frame given to show period before impact of COVID 19 when schools closed in
mid-March. Before COVID, there was a trend of usage upwards of ~20% .
Teacher Librarian Feedback
Results from a survey of BVSD Teacher Librarians indicate:
Rate the success of the program as a 3.8 on a scale of 5
Rate ease of use of the databases as a 3.9 on a scale of 5
Rate teacher awareness of program as a 3.9 on a scale of 5
Rate ease of access of databases through Student 1 portal as a 3.3 on a scale of 5
“I think it's a fantastic resource and, over time, our staff and students will become
more familiar with navigating the site.”
“I just looked on the site and it looks a little easier to find than it was before. Thanks
for making that improvement. I introduce Novelist to a lot of kids and all the
teachers, but it's always hard to truly get a tool to be used regularly unless there is a
lot of promotion and it is revisited regularly. There is now a link to BPL on the Portal
page but it is still a LOT of clicks for elementary students (if you know where you are
even supposed to go) in order to get to the page for the databases. I think these steps
need to be easier for the databases to be used regularly.”
“Thank you so much for this partnership! It is a huge opportunity for our students and
we appreciate it.”
https://research.boulderlibrary.org/student-1
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Boulder Public Library
Strategic Technology Plan
Final Review Draft
1
2020 Strategic Technology Plan
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Boulder Public Library
Strategic Technology Plan
Working Draft
2
1. A Word from David Farnan, Library and Arts
Director and Aimee Schumm, eServices Manager
We are pleased to introduce the Boulder Public Library’s first ever Strategic Technology Plan.
The year 2020 has brought massive turmoil and change to the library’s resources, funding and
operations. But in large part thanks to technology, the staff was able to pivot and deliver
outstanding service in new ways to patrons. This plan lays out a path for how we can continue to
work with technology in the coming years to improve upon our collaboration across library
divisions, City departments and with our partner organizations.
Boulder Public Library staff are known for their innovation and adaptability. We have
demonstrated it again under tough circumstances. We are both confident that with help from this
plan we will continue to surprise and delight our patrons into the future.
2. Executive Summary
In many ways, creating a strategic technology plan during a time of great change is the perfect
opportunity to clearly see the difference between necessary and agile reaction, and the need for a
strategic, proactive vision for the future. A plan is only as good as its primary goals, and the best
goals are relevant regardless of what the present and future hold.
This strategic technology plan is more than a collection of technology-related tasks. It is a
framework that allows the library to address technology in an agile and comprehensive manner.
This plan considers that while the members of the library’s eService’s division are the stewards
of the library’s technology, all library staff members are collaborators in harnessing technology
to serve and improve the lives of library users.
Although the changing landscape brought by the COVID-19 pandemic resulted in many changes
during the development of this plan, it also provided a real-world test of the core goals and
desired outcomes. The goals have to work regardless of the circumstances, and the planning team
believes that they do.
The Boulder Public Library is fortunate to have started the planning process in an admirable
position. Library leadership is in tune with the needs of the Boulder community; library
eServices staff is held in high esteem by their other library colleagues; and library staff members
in general demonstrate a high level of innovation and skill. And all of the individuals and groups
the consultant met with as part of this study, clearly share a priority for the highest levels of
customer service. Even high-performing organizations have room for improvement, and this plan
endeavors to guide technology efforts to the next level at Boulder Public Library.
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Boulder Public Library
Strategic Technology Plan
Working Draft
3
As with the rest of our world, the COVID-19 pandemic had a significant impact on the planning
process. The original aim of this plan was to create a document that would strategically guide
technology efforts in two scenarios: remaining a city department and the possibility of becoming
an independent library district. With the response to the COVID-19 pandemic and impacts to
staffing levels, a third, immediate-strategic area was added and the timeline for the overall plan
was extended to recognize to provide for a near-term mission critical response, and address core
strategic technology needs when the current crisis is resolved.
These goals were the result of extensive information gathering from library staff and the Library
commission through engagement sessions, tours of facilities and direct conversations with staff.
They are designed to work together interactively as the library pursues its vision for technology.
Goal 1 (Foundation): Further build strong communications systems and practices
Goal 2: Shift from a reactive to a proactive technology posture
Goal 3: Further build upon BPL’s culture of innovation and customer service
Goal 4: Improve and develop new digital services for patrons and equip staff
Figure 1: Strategic Technology Plan Goals
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Boulder Public Library
Strategic Technology Plan
Working Draft
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A Future-Ready Plan designed to Fit Possible Scenarios
The four goals were designed to support the library’s strategic technology direction in a highly
resilient manner that is immediate and strategic, based on current conditions in 2020, and to
provide a framework for the post-COVID future, that may include forming a library district. The
goals and actions identified in this plan are designed to support the libraries current and possible
future needs within the following conditions and scenarios:
•Immediate/Strategic: For the duration of the library’s response to COVID-19, it will
make strategic and agile decisions and actions around its technology services to serve the
community and support staff.
•Scenario 1: The library remains a department of the City of Boulder (it’s current status)
•Scenario 2: In the future, library supporters may pursue the formation of a Library
District, where the library would be a separate governmental entity.
Frameworks for Resilience
As well as having goals that have held strong
during the real-world tests of the COVID-19
pandemic, this plan contains strategic
frameworks, including recommendations about
library channels of service to patrons, and
collaboration to further support technology
mastery by all library staff members to help the
library adapt to future changes or challenges.
This graphic demonstrates a model of library
service that shows library patrons as the
purpose and primary focus of all library
workers. It also shows that technology is an
important tool for all library workers, and not
just the IT Department. To make the best use
of technology, collaboration among all library
staff (including sharing knowledge, needs,
learning, techniques and more) is a powerful way to harness tech to serve patrons.
Figure 2: Collaboration
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Boulder Public Library
Strategic Technology Plan
Working Draft
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Goal 1: Continue to Build
Strong Communication
Systems and Practices
Goal 2: Shift
from a Reactive
to a Proactive Technology
Posture
Goal 3: Further Build Upon
BPL’s Culture of Innovation
and Customer Service
Goal 4: Improve Current and
Develop New Digital Services to
Serve Patrons and Equip Staff
Services
Definition of Goals
For technology efforts to thrive,
strong communications practices
and systems must be cultivated.
Agile technology departments
require a balance of reactive and
proactive work.
In an ever-changing world, a
focus on Innovation and customer
service are essential.
Technology powerfully supports
the library’s three service
channels: Inside, Outside and
Technology.
Target Outcomes: to achieve this goal, we will…
Improve communications around
technology (all staff, all levels,
all partners, all interactions)
Re-tool the eServices to meet
technology aspirations.
Foster an environment that
encourages and supports staff in
co-creating technology-driven
services.
Maximize our technology
channels to serve our
communities.
Initial Target Areas (Ideally a two-year time horizon):
Make current communication channels
more visible and implement ongoing
design improvements.
Create pathways to identify emerging
technology needs from all parts of the
library to inform tech decisions.
Strengthen communication with partner
organizations via active outreach and
improvements to current
communications structures. Review and
refine the support and communications
structure in an ongoing manner
Review and optimize the structure of
eServices.
Identify and create technological
leadership opportunities for eServices
staff.
Increase reflective/strategic time for
evaluation of practices and to design
ongoing process improvements.
Create a policy with built-in agility for
emerging digital and technology
services by spotting new and emerging
needs and modifying library policies to
support users.
BLDG 61 and Carnegie provide lessons
learned, teaching and examples for
library colleagues to build upon.
Promote deeper collaboration around
technology among all staff using the
format and principles of the
“Collaboration Framework” process.
Promote, support and equip technology
learning culture for all staff - equip staff
with technology confidence and
mastery.
Provide increased technology support
for Boulder Reads.
Design a comprehensive roadmap for
digital transformation, to include:
•Improvements to discovery by
greater involvement in PIKA
development.
•Create a patron-centered
strategy for online library use
for digital users of library
resources.
•Implement technologies that
support multiple languages
beginning with Spanish.
•Automate data collection where
possible today and ensure
future data collection is
automated.
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Boulder Public Library
Strategic Technology Plan
Working Draft
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Goal 1: Continue to Build
Strong Communication
Systems and Practices
Goal 2: Shift
from a Reactive
to a Proactive Technology
Posture
Goal 3: Further Build Upon
BPL’s Culture of Innovation
and Customer Service
Goal 4: Improve Current and
Develop New Digital Services to
Serve Patrons and Equip Staff
Services
Future Target Areas (Three-year plus Time Horizon):
Increase technology support to staff for
off-hours (nights and weekends).
Provide support for multiple computing
platforms, matching use/outcomes to
best platform.
Create multi-modal technology learning
opportunities for patrons.
Deploy the comprehensive digital
transformation roadmap, and add the
following elements:
•Assess
Inside/Outside/Technology
service channels to determine
the effectiveness of each
separately; where they are most
powerfully converged; and
possibilities for the future.
•Improved technology
integration online and in the
brick and mortar buildings
•Assess the current web “bench”
(internal and partner skills).
Evaluation Metrics:
Survey staff satisfaction with
technology communication, annually.
BPL Information Technology
Department (ITD) self-evaluation of
partner communications, annually.
Design and report on results of
restructuring efforts.
Evaluate effectiveness of restructuring,
annually and adjust as needed.
Design and implement evaluation
methods for each activity (varies).
Ask staff to self-evaluate their
technology skills, needs and desires via
survey instrument, annually.
Report and assess progress on roadmap,
quarterly.
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Commission Memo
Meeting Date: December 2020 – via Zoom
Library Commission update
a.Discuss, amend, and approve the annual letter to City Council drafted by Jane and Joel.
b.Items from Commission
i.Ongoing outreach efforts – report on contacts with Council
ii.Outreach efforts to potential Commission applicants
c.Updates from commissioners representing the Commission in other venues (verbal)
i.Boulder Library Foundation (BLF) update (Sykes Wilson/Koenig)
____________________________________________________________________________________
Letters and emails to Commission
None
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DECEMBER 2020 LIBRARY DIRECTOR’S REPORT
North Boulder Branch Library Update
An oral update will be given at the meeting if there is new information to share.
Update on Current Library Services
An email was sent to the commission from David Farnan on Nov. 19, 2020 “New Health Order Update”
with the most recent information about library services.
As I am sure you have heard by now, the governor's office issued a new health order, and
Boulder County has been re-classified as Red on the state COVID dial. I just wanted to let you
know that there will be minimal impacts to the library given the new order. This is attributable
to "libraries" being reclassified as "critical services" and our conservative approach throughout
the year. Main will remain open for limited browsing and holds pickup and Meadows will
continue carryout service as they have been doing. We do plan to close the 2nd floor of Main
including all the hour-long computers to remain within the intent of the order to minimize
gathering of people from different households. I realize this will cause a hardship for many of
our unhoused population. But in order to keep us all safe and restrict the transmission of
COVID - I believe it is the right decision at this time.
State and County health officials reserve the right to re-evaluate the current red designation for
Boulder County at any time, but has committed to re-evaluating at the latest on December 18,
2020. This means we are in this current phase for at least 1 month and perhaps longer if
transmissions do not decrease.
This new level goes into effect Friday November 20, 2020 at 5 p.m.
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