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LDAC Board Meeting Minutes February 2023

LDAC Member Attendance:

Attending:

  • Jen Obermaier, Clearwater
  • Lisa Kothe, Safety Harbor
  • Betcinda Kettells, St. Pete Beach
  • Lois Eannel, East Lake
  • Stanley Silverstein, Gulf Beaches,
  • Mika Nelson, St. Petersburg
  • Lorie Tonti, Seminole (Chair)
  • Cari Rupkalvis, Tarpon Springs
  • Dave Mather, Gulfport
  • Susan Hurley, Oldsmar
  • Gene Coppola, Palm Harbor
  • Dave McMurrin, Pinellas Park

Staff Attendance:

  • Cheryl Morales, PPLC Executive Director
  • David Stoner, PPLC Technology Coordinator
  • Gary Earl, PPLC Countywide Services Coordinator

Not Attending

  • Phyllis Gorshe, Dunedin
  • Casey McPhee, Largo
  • Whitney Harrison, PPLC Data Integrity Manager

Minutes

  1. Roll Call
    1. Beth Lindsay attending for Mika
  2. Acceptance of January 2023 Minutes. Lisa moved minutes be approved with minor changes. Jen seconded
  3. SIG Reports
    1. E Content SIG – Jen
      SIG discussed changing ratio formula of ebook/eaudio from 60/40 to 50/50. Discussion of holds/hoopla eaudio circulation. Expenditures per holds/circulation for different platforms also discussed. PPLC staff
      tasked with contacting Hoopla/Overdrive for further statistical insights.
    2. YS SIG – Lois
      Meeting Friday, February 10th. Evan and Vanessa Blum presented bilingual children’s programs and gave pricing. Library staff programs are at a similar level. Discussion of Summer Reading marketing and social media. Baby sign language classes were also brought up 4 libraries at a time for 4-6 sessions. Libraries may have to wait a bit to get in the rotation for baby sign language class. Contact Rosa Rodriguez to get on the list. Next meeting march 10th. Items up for discussion are comfort closet and more Summer Reading discussion.
    3. CAT SIG – Susan
      Cat sig won’t meet until Wednesday
    4. CIRC SIG – Mika
      Cat sig will be meeting Wednesday also.
    5. ADULT SIG – Casey
      Next meeting is in April.
    6. DEIA SIG – Jen
      – Meeting last Thursday. Discussed membership push for who in the county wanted to participate. “A” added to DEI for Accessibility. Largo Library had a classroom of handicapped children from a school. DEIA may be a good topic for Staff Development Day.
      – St. Pete Pride discussion – It’s now two weekends, one for Adults and one for families/children. Discussion of benefits of the split. Table for the family/children was approved. T-shirts with PPLC logo will be tie-died for the event. Discussion of Banned Book vs Freedom to Read as a theme. Discussion of to notifying city folks about participation and t-shirts with city library names on it. Discussion of table makeup, flyers, events and printed material.
      – Discussion of working together to create DEI subject headings in common languages to improve access.
      – Gene brought the possibility of a DEIA program guide like the monthly guide. Cheryl will bring it to the SIG. Also discussion about inserts featuring other marginalized groups.
  4. Old Business
  5. New Business
    Reminder that items returned damaged and sent to the original library needs to stay on the account record. PPLC can find who damaged items were checked out to even if they have been checked in.
  6. PPLC Topics
    – Gene volunteered to spearhead LDAC retreat at the Staff Development Day and requested topics. Some ideas difficulty of filling positions – expectations of newer librarians for the profession/working conditions – public service difficulties in the current age/burnout. Discussion of possible topics. Gene requests all to email him with topic ideas that would fit into an hour/hour and half timeframe for Staff Development Day.
    1. JCLC report. Thanks to Jenny at Barbara S. Ponce and helping with the booth. She was able to attend programs. JCLC organization was not great about allowing others to attend sessions but then didn’t check badges. All who staffed the PPLC booth: Phyllis and Christina from Dunedin, Jenny from Pinellas Park, and Rosa and Cheryl from PPLC.
    2. St Pete library got 4 boxes of both children’s and adult books from publishers. JCLC agenda didn’t come out until the week before, which caused difficulty. It was mostly great DEI stuff in the program. There were attendees from all over the country. There were a lot of recruiters from Library schools also. Largo’s swag was very popular. FLA was also there.
  7. PPLC Board Meeting – LDAC Chair Report
    Wednesday January 25th. The first Career Online High School graduated from Dunedin. Courier renewal coming up. DEIA SIG discussed. Library Legislative Day coming up, internal audit. Election of officers held and everyone kept their positions, so Karen Roth is Chair, Mike Jefferies is Vice Chair, and Henry Schubert is the Secretary and Treasurer. Overdrive circulation trends, were discussed more data was requested including a comparison of digital vs physical in print and audio.
    New business, minimum wage increased to $15/hr, some job title changes and the board voted to allow Cheryl the ability to make small modification to the job descriptions without requiring board approval if it does not affect the budget. Cheryl gave an annual strategic plan update. Next meeting Wednesday February 22nd.
  8. Public Comment
  9. Announcements from PPLC Libraries
    1. Lois (East Lake) Just had their annual homemade soup day. Staff donated 125 bowls of soup and they made $600. Pie day is next month March 14th. Next Friday is beyond books open house and edible books sale coming up. The open house is to showcase library programs and services. April 1st and 2nd will be the annual murder mystery. Lois will play the victim and her twin sister, a suspect.
    2. Stanley Silverstein (Gulf Beaches) – Construction is done, open invitation to come to the Beach and he’ll show folks around. Starting the new haiku contest.
    3. Dave (Gulfport) Annual ReadOut starts Friday night. First one in person since COVID, and it’s a hybrid zoom/in person. A gazillion attendees expected.
    4. Casey – Black History Month has a lot of programs. One partnering with the Dali Poetry, surrealism and negritude. Ordered a trolley cart with a donation, which means a lot of nutrition and cooking programming. When it arrives we’ll have pictures.
    5. Gene (Palm Harbor) Eric Head has been promoted in Citrus County, so George Taylor from Lake County and Gene will lead the Library Director meetings. An internal has been promoted to Eric’s position (per Jen)
    6. Dave (Barbara S. Ponce) First COHS graduate – her daughter is applying and progressing well. Our Blind Date with a Book display books are flying off the shelves. Staff recommendations have been very well received.
    7. Lisa (Safety Harbor) Links for the Library fund raised 10K, 230 people participated. It’s the 85th Birthday for the library, will celebrate for National Library Week. There’s a Name the Book Bike contest going on until the end of this month. $40 gift card in play.
    8. Beth (St. Petersburg) Operating Budget due this week.
    9. Lorie (Seminole) Kora, a stringed instrument from West Africa program coming up. Ash Divine coming back for a Women in County Music (Find Her Voice). Loretta Lynn and others featured Saturday March 5th at 3pm. Friends had a full inventory sale made over $2000. Cari (Tarpon Springs) City departments coming over to Touch a Truck with Fire and Police: face painting, craft games, etc February 25th from 10-2.
    10. Jen (Clearwater) Just launched a seed library at Countryside January 17th. May explore at other locations if it does well. Moving forward with Main library renovation. 6th annual Comic Con on March 4th. It’s family friendly, draws a lot of kids. Black History month program on segregation in Pinellas County Schools February 24th.
    11. Susan (Oldsmar) Had a program on Saturday – the Friends Ice Cream Social. Question for others about Veteran’s Day
      scheduling.
  10. Adjournment

Next Meeting: Monday, March 13, 2023 –Zoom