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Board of Library Trustees Meeting
September 17, 2014
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The Public Library of the District of Columbia
Board of Library Trustees Meeting
Minutes
Petworth Neighborhood Library
Wednesday, July 23, 2014

The regular meeting of the Board of Library Trustees was held at 6:00 p.m., Wednesday, July
23, 2014 at the Petworth Neighborhood Library, 4200 Kansas Ave NW, John W. Hill, Jr.,
President, presiding.

Present: John W. Hill, Jr., President, Valerie G. Mallett, Gregory M. McCarthy, Donald
Richardson, Faith Gibson Hubbard, Neil Albert, Brenda L. Richardson, Richard Reyes-Gavilan,
Executive Director and Secretary-Treasurer. Not in attendance: Bonnie R. Cohen, Vice-
President, and Myrna Yvette Peralta.

Guests at the Board Table: Susan Haight, President, Federation of Friends and Linnea
Hegarty, Executive Director, DC Public Library Foundation.

The meeting was called to order at 6:06 p.m.

Adoption of the Agenda
The motion to adopt the agenda was approved.

Approval of Minutes
The motion to approve the minutes of the May 28, 2014 Board Meeting was approved.

Public Comments
Mr. John W. Hill, Jr. stated the practice of the Board of Library Trustees to entertain public
comments at this time. He explained that people who signed their names to the sign-in sheet
would have three minutes to address the Board. Ms. Robin Diener, President of the MLK Library
Friends, came forward and briefly recapped several ideas discussed during the June Summit for
Public Libraries and Homelessness. Mr. Hill, Jr. inquired about the method the library is using to
engage the community and solicit their ideas regarding the MLK Library renovation. Ms. Martha
Saccocio, Communications Specialist, discussed Ideascale, a web platform that allows
customers and stakeholders to share, vote, and discuss their feedback regarding the
renovation.

Presidents Report
Mr. Hill, Jr. provided introductory remarks before mentioning forthcoming changes to the Board
of Library Trustee members. He shared that the Mayor has nominated two new members to the
Board Library of Trustees. These individuals would replace Mr. Hill, Jr. and Ms. Bonnie Cohen.
He shared that Ms. Myrna Peralta has resigned and designated Mr. Donald Richardson as the
Presiding Senior member of the Board in the absence of Mr. Hill, Jr., President and Ms. Cohen,
Vice President.

Executive Directors Report
Mr. Reyes-Gavilan began his report by highlighting the transcendent relationship that is being
developed between the DC Public Library and The Washington Nationals before thanking Board
Member Gregory McCarthy for his involvement in spearheading the partnership. Mr. Reyes-
Gavilan discussed the search for a new Director of Public Services and acknowledged several
staff members who have assumed different roles while the library has not been fully staffed. He

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gave special mention to Kimberly Zablud, Director of Special Collections and acting Interim
Assistant Director of Public Services and Joi Mecks, Director of Communications and Interim
Director of Public Services.

Mr. Reyes-Gavilan then discussed the FY14 3
rd
Quarter Library Performance report which was
trending positively overall. Storytime attendance was making small gains, the digital library
traffic increased significantly due in part to the addition of several databases and especially the
Washington Evening Star. Lastly, he discussed a new statistic, Customer Access to WiFi, and
its importance as one of the only metrics for users who access services without necessarily
entering the building. He also noted that there are multiple ways to measure this data which will
be explored in more depth going forward.

Mr. Neil Albert asked if yearly statistics are benchmarked against other libraries in the country.
Mr. Reyes-Gavilan explained that through the Public Library Data Service (PLDS) Statistical
survey, the DC Public Library is able to measure itself against other libraries serving a
comparable population size. During his discussion of story time attendance, Ms. Faith Gibson
Hubbard inquired about adding evening storytimes at Woodridge Neighborhood Library. Mr.
Reyes-Gavilan agreed that more convenient storytimes for working parents should be explored.
Mr. Richardson inquired if the Key Performance Indicator (KPI) library web page hits should no
longer be captured due to steady decline. Mr. Reyes-Gavilan noted that a declining statistic is
not always negative and should still be captured for historical purposes.

Finally, Mr. Reyes-Gavilan introduced Mr. Jeffrey Neher, Petworth Neighborhood Library Branch
Manager, and shared his credentials before inviting him to address the group. Mr. Neher shared
a brief history of the Petworth Neighborhood Library and information on its renovation. He
continued with statistics and demographics regarding the Petworth neighborhood. Finally, he
mentioned several popular library programs and acknowledged the Friends of the Petworth
Neighborhood Library.

Mr. Hill, Jr. asked if there is a system wide demand for using meeting rooms after hours.
Although there has not been a wide demand for this service, Mr. Reyes-Gavilan discussed
afterhours access as a means to provide revenue, and noted that use of the library for public
meetings and events will begin to influence the designs of future DC Public Library buildings.

Finance Committee Report
Mr. Hill, Jr., asked Ms. Tammie Robinson, Agency Fiscal Officer, to report on the FY14 budget.
Ms. Robinson reported that with 75% of the fiscal year elapsed, 75% of the Local Budget is
obligated ( vs.72.4% last year). Personal Services (PS) expenditures-to-date are at 71.5% of the
Local Budget and 71.4% of the Gross Budget (as compared to 70.4%for both last year at this
time). Non-Personal Services (NPS) obligations are at 85.5% of the Local Budget and 83.6% of
the Gross Budget (compared to 77.9% and 76.3%, respectively, this time last year).
Personnel attrition rates remain higher than estimated and based upon the current rate, as
noted per previous report, the Library anticipates a PS surplus this fiscal year. To mitigate the
surplus, two reprogrammings were executed to meet a number of FY14 identified needs.
The first reprogramming of $463,443 was approved to primarily support service increases due
to the augmentation in staff and for community engagement for the Martin Luther King, Jr.
Memorial Library renovation. A second reprogramming for $1,278,604, to enhance service
delivery and continue the Librarys transformation into the 21st century, will be approved in July.

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This reprogramming will mainly fund continued Information Technology improvements, tabletop
self-checkout stations for all neighborhood libraries, needed outfitting for Public Safety
personnel, telephony for new employees, HVAC, mechanical, engineering and plumbing (MEP)
maintenance and repairs prior to the upcoming heating season, furniture and specialized
supplies, building operations and maintenance equipment and additional fleet costs. (Note: A
third reprogramming, not affecting the PS budget, for $409,333 was executed to allow funding
shifts within three activities to provide new computers and associated software and printing and
duplicating services to promote upcoming programs.)

A projected Personal Services surplus of $150K to $300K remains at this time, however,
additional hiring, including for the new FY15 DC Jail initiative, will occur prior to fiscal year end
which may further reduce the projected surplus.

A one-time funding of $1 million for the Book budget was passed by the Council during in the
FY14 supplemental budget. While this funding will be received late in the fiscal year, any
unspent funding will carry forward to FY15.

Finally, the Mayor vetoed the Councils FY15 budget change, the Council overrode the Mayors
veto and the FY15 budget scheduled to be transmitted to Congress on August 7 did not include
any changes for the Librarys budget.

Mr. Richardson requested more details about the DC Jail Initiative. Mr. Reyes-Gavilan explained
that the city has given the Library approximately $400,000 to collaborate with DC Jail on
providing library services at the DC Jail and expanded reentry services such as job skills
training, job searching, GED programming, video visitation center, and STAR Early Literacy. He
mentioned that he and several staff members have met with the Department of Corrections staff
to design the program. Mr. Neil Albert asked if existing program models are being used to
design the Jail Initiative in DC. Ms. Meaghan OConnor, Director of Programs and Partnerships,
shared that she and her staff visited the Montgomery County Jail Library, and spoken with staff
of the Brooklyn Public Library who provide service to Rikers Island.

Facilities Committee Report
Mr. Albert, Facilities Committee Chair, introduced Mr. Jeff Bonvechio, Director of Capital
Projects and Facilities Management, and asked him to present the Capital Budget and Facilities
Committee reports. Mr. Bonvechio stated that the new FY15 through FY20 capital budget
remained unchanged from the Education Committee mark up through Council's vote to approve
the District's overall budget. Presently, the DC Public Library has a budget of $ 208 million
dollars to continue work on all projects related to the renovation of the Martin Luther King Jr.
Memorial Library.

Mr. Bonvechio then discussed active capital projects. First, a Request for Proposal was
submitted for the MLK Interim Library and a pre-proposal conference is scheduled on July 23.
Second, the construction of the West End Library has been officially turned over to Eastbanc
development team. Next, the chiller at the Southeast Library is broken and should expect a brief
closure during maintenance. Other temperature issues have been mitigated, which has
decreased system wide closures. Finally, the MLK Library renovation plans are undergoing a
review process by National Capital Planning Commission. The process entails a National

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Environmental Protection Act, NEPA, study and a review of the federally mandated and defined
process from the Department of the Interior Section 106-Historic Preservation.

Ms. Joi Mecks, Director of Communications, presented a mandatory annual report to the public
on the Language Access Act. Under this Act, District Government agencies are required to
provide residents translation as needed, conduct outreach, and translate documents, programs
and policies. She mentioned that the DC Public Library offers bilingual programs, bilingual
storytimes, conversational circles, translators/interpretation services and many other services
for foreign language speakers. The DC Public Library received a 12/12 compliance score from
the Office of Human Rights. Ms. Valerie G. Mallett asked if documents are translated on
demand or available for access electronically. Ms. Mecks explained that policies and
procedures are available online in a variety of languages.

Library Foundation Report
Ms. Linnea Hegarty, Executive Director, DC Public Library Foundation, presented the
Foundation report. Ms. Hegarty discussed the Summer Reading Program materials and
initiatives. She thanked the Washington Nationals Dream Foundation for their generous
donation of four thousand dollars to purchase books for summer reading participants. She then
discussed the success of the Washington Nationals players visits to Anacostia, Mount
Pleasant, Tenley and Deanwood Libraries on Saturday July 19. The event attracted press that
helped to further promote Summer Reading programs and initiatives. Ms. Hegarty thanked the
friends for their ongoing support.

She then discussed the West End Library Interim opening celebration, which was attended by
eighty-five people, including many pleased residents of the Watergate Building, all of whom
gave positive feedback. Ms. Hegarty thanked Susan Haight and Jim Lewis for making the event
a success. She then shared information regarding two upcoming events, Banned Books Week
in September and the second event in the District of Change series which is scheduled for
October.

Federation of Friends Report
Ms. Susan Haight, President of the Federation of Friends, gave her report on Friends activities
since the last Board of Library Trustees meeting. She discussed outcomes of a June workshop
and the Friends plans to develop a message for the mayoral candidates. She also discussed
plans for an August meeting to strategize and distribute the message to the candidates.

New Business
There being no new business, the meeting was adjourned at 7:34 p.m.