Operations Minutes - January 04, 2022

Capital Projects 
 

Belle Isle Renovation/Addition – Drywall work is complete and painting is ongoing. Ceiling tiles are being installed. They are currently projecting construction completion by the end of January 2022, with a completion of punch list items by February 15^th.  

New Almonte Library – The construction documents are 35% complete. Several add/alternates were discussed with the architects in case construction bids are too high. The drawings will undergo updates and this phase of the project is expected to take at least 120 days (about 4 months). However, the city will not sell bonds (receive funds for construction) until May 2022.

Wright Library Renovation – The construction was awarded to Homeco, who has worked on several library projects. This project will require a library closure, but the exact timing is to be determined.

Community Libraries ADA Restroom Assessment – We are working on a plan of execution to address these issues before the end of FY2022.The business office has requested a quote from Studio Architects for prep of the specs and drawings so we can go out to bid for ADA compliance updates at the libraries.

Downtown and CH signage project – The contract for construction was awarded to Homeco and they have completed the electrical prep work before installation of the scaffolding that will be used for the project. The projects will not interfere with normal public access to the library as most of the work is either outside or in the far west stairwell downtown facing Hudson Street and on the vacant second floor of the Capitol Hill Library. The work should be complete on both signs by mid-January 2022.

Facilities Maintenance Related Projects

Midwest City – Maintenance is working to make sure the boiler is working correctly.

Ralph Ellison – Maintenance has completed repairs to the boiler and it is now operational.

Northwest Library – A fire sprinkler leak occurred on Sunday night. As of 1/4/2022, the leak was confirmed by Firetrol to be fully repaired.

Edmond Library – The City is working to obtain quotes to determine the needed repairs for the masonry and other surfaces impacted by the collision with the vehicle during the high-speed police chase. The last update we were provided with was there were challenges getting vendors to respond to quotes and they continue to work through this process.

Permanent curbside signs – Maintenance has started installation of permanent curbside signs at all MLS locations. The mobile stands have been sent to each library. The materials needed for anchoring the poles in the concrete have been received. Maintenance is working to schedule installation as soon as possible.

Removing exterior electrical outlets – Maintenance has started the process of removing and disconnecting exterior electrical outlets at MLS locations. We will not disconnect outlets on enclosed porches or other areas that are not readily accessible to the public after Library operating hours. Maintenance will be in contact with managers about this and to discuss any requests regarding which outlets they may or may not want to disconnect.

Landscaping/Maintenance – We received proposals from Northwest Lawn Maintenance to address Landscaping needs at many of our library facilities in the amount close to $36,000. Northwest Lawn Maintenance has begun the beautification projects at the Service Center, Bethany Library, and Choctaw Library, and they will continue over the course of the next few months at the following locations: WR, WA, VI, SO, RE, NW, DTN, CT, CH, BE, Service Center.

FY2022 Facilities Related Projects – Several improvement initiatives are in the FY2022 budget to include installation of bottle filler water fountains, flood sensors for mechanical areas, LED (Light Emitting Diode) lighting upgrade for the Midwest City Library, carpet replacement at Warr Acres and the Choctaw Library. We are in the process of putting together plans/timelines to address these items and some may require separate workgroups to work through the details of purchasing and/or the improvement project details.

Security Related Projects

Capitol Hill - Access Control installation is ongoing.

Bethany - Access Control installation is complete.

Northwest – Working with Maintenance on a high–angle procedure to access the Adult Patio to replace the cameras there. Other cameras replaced or domes repaired.

Wright – TriCorps installation agreement is with Legal. Upon acceptance the monitored cameras/talk down speakers will be installed. Walking site with IT on 11/30/21 to see feasibility of changing the small number of cameras onsite to the Milestone platform.

Multiple Locations – New cameras installed, existing damaged cameras replaced or repaired.

Security Review – Security Review presented. Larger distribution to PS Management Group complete. Next steps evaluate acceptance and initial timeline for execution of recommendations. Several items are budgetary, or policy related and will have to be worked out over time. The items that Security and Maintenance can complete or being listed for action.  

PITS Snapshot – The table that follows shows the high-level view of incidents and informational categories for MLS to date (11/29/21 Submission date). Note that counts are compared to last year, last month and gives the count for month to date.

Marketing/Communications/Public Relations Updates

PR & Advertising News:

Earned Media-December:

For our earned media stories last month, we are back to our winter-time average with 17 news stories placed/aired. The majority of these were about the Ralph Ellison 100-year centennial. We also had some coverage about our Take Home kits, and we had two articles in the OKC Chamber of Commerce's "Velocity" newsletter that goes out to all members and subscribers.
 

Advertising:

For TV/radio advertising in January, we are targeting women ages 18-35 to push the Winter Reading Challenge. To reach this demo on channel 4 (KFOR), our CPP (cost per rating) is a lot higher since we needed to get some prime time and morning news and they are expensive for that demo. On Cox, we're also trying to reach some stay-at-home moms by advertising on Lifetime, Hallmark channel, Food Network & the Weather Channel among others. KOCO we are still doing some daytime rotators (could be on any show during the daytime), 9am & 6pm news and Jimmy Kimmel.  We are running two :15s spots to be run as bookends (one :15s ad runs as the first commercial for a break, then other ads run, and then the second :15s ad runs to end the commercial break and go back to programming).

Here are links to the spots: ad #1- https://vimeo.com/662043033  and #2: https://vimeo.com/662042974

For print advertising, we are running ads to promote the Winter Reading Challenge. We had an ad run last week in the Bethany Tribune (it will run again this week as well), an ad this week in the Midwest City Beacon and Choctaw Times, and an ad next week in the OKC Friday.

We are also running two billboards for the Winter Reading Challenge.

Marketing news:

Check it out!, the January email newsletter, went out yesterday and was sent to 84,424 customers with email addresses and have used the library at least once in the last 18 months. It covered summaries of:

• The Winter Reading Challenge
• Genealogy research information
• Info Magazine - January
• Recap of fines wiped when we went fine free (and to serve as a reminder)
• Top Checkouts for 2021
• New Device tech assistance

After 24 hours of sending it, we've had more than 26,523 opens (10% of them on mobile devices) and 2,805 clicks. We have had 87 unsubscribes which is low for the last few eNewsletters, but it's still early. The past four eNewsletter unsubscribes were: September 120, October 137, November 119, December 170.
 

February Info Magazine:

The February issue of Info Magazine went to the designer on Friday. Besides the usual events and book reviews, it has an article on Marion the (first) Librarian and MLS's history of Black History Month programming. There is an ad for Winter Reading Challenge, "We're Open", and hopefully if there is room, the Friends of the Library Booksale.
 

February Library by Mail:

The draft of the February Library by Mail newsletter went to Kim Rickey in DOES last week. As soon as I hear back from her on it, I will get it to the printer.

Next meeting: Tuesday, February 1 at 2:00 pm