Operations Minutes - August 03, 2021

Capital Projects 
 

Belle Isle Renovation/Addition – Steel support structure is nearly complete. The framing for the curtain wall (glass store front facing NW Expressway) is installed and the shape of the front of the building is evident. They are currently projecting construction completion by the end of December 2021.

New Almonte Library – The preliminary report has been received. This extensive document includes preliminary detailed drawings of the library including civil, code review, mechanical, electrical and plumbing as well as interior design and landscaping. The document is under review by both MLS and the City of OKC. The next phase of the project will be final plans and specifications which is expected to take 120 days.

Edmond Library Kiosk – Information Technology is leading the effort to work through plans with the City of Edmond for the installation of the 24-Hour Library Kiosk. The concrete pad has been poured and infrastructure is being put in place for the installation of the canopy and kiosk. Work is ongoing.

Ralph Ellison- The City of OKC is working on drainage plans for the west side of the building. We are working with the City to assess how recent rainfall has impacted the roofing portion of the project. Maintenance has been working to isolate small leaks in the flat roof.

Wright Library Renovation   – Studio Architecture and the City of Oklahoma City and the Library have met to go over plans and discuss the renovations/improvement plan. Due to increases in construction costs, add alternates are being incorporated to ensure we stay within the budget set by the City for the project. We have been informed by the City that we should have a 90-day lead time of awareness before the construction work begins. This will require a Library closure up to 30 days.

Community Libraries ADA Restroom Assessment – Studio Architects has provided a report of the ADA compliance for the Choctaw, Nicoma Park, Luther, and Harrah Libraries.  The reports provides a cost estimate of $158,000 in construction costs to address all ADA issues as identified in the report.  In the preliminary FY2022 budget we set aside $150,935 for construction costs specifically for ADA improvements. Choctaw, we set aside $100,000 for carpet/other building upgrades and ADA improvements. We will put together a plan and work to address these issues before the end of FY2022.

Downtown and CH signage project – The final drawings have been reviewed and approved. They will be sent to city council for city approval on 8/17. We will follow up with installation information as soon as it is available.

Facilities Maintenance Related Projects

Midwest City Library – Quotes were obtained for full replacement of a failing compressor at Midwest City Library. The City of Midwest City agreed to reimburse us for 50% of our direct cost once the repairs are completed by our maintenance team.

Rebuilt compressor has been delivered to CMP and has been picked up as of Tuesday, August 3. We are waiting for a quote from Voss on upgraded LED lighting. Quote is almost ready.  We are anticipating a large rebate on this project from OG&E.

New Del City Library – We are working with the contractor to raise the clearance of the canopy and improve the signage to avoid such issues in the future. The contractor has had difficulty getting the materials needed, but they do now have the materials and we anticipate the project to be finished in the next couple of weeks.

New Del City Library Humidity - We met with contractors and consultants on May 28, 2021, to discuss humidity issues experienced over the past several weeks. There have been periodic reports of higher humidity at the Del City Library since it first opened to the public.

We have been in communication with 3^rd parties to include the general contractor, architect, mechanical engineer, ES2, Trane, and the City of Del City to attempt to resolve this issue.

The July 13^th meeting occurred, and it was determined that further investigation is needed. Thermal imaging and water moisture testing are scheduled for July 14^th. Mechanical data is being reviewed by the mechanical engineer that designed the HVAC system for the building to determine whether the Trane system is performing as specified and designed. A follow-up meeting is scheduled for August 10^th, Having meeting with ES2, Trane, the engineer of the project on August 2^nd. We are working with ES2 to program the units to run differently at night (Some cooling and some heating at the same time in a rotating order). 

Edmond Library – The City of Edmond had the building evaluated by a structural engineer. It has been determined there was not significant structural damage; however, further investigation will be performed when repairs move forward regarding surface damage repairs. 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.

Permanent curbside signs – Maintenance will soon begin installation of permanent curbside signs at all MLS locations. We aim to have this project completed by the end of August 2021 however this may be delayed due to the low availability of materials needed to install the permanent parking poles.

Removing exterior electrical outlets – Maintenance will soon begin 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.

Southern Oaks Fire Suppression System – During a recent fire inspection we received notification from the Fire Marshall that the water pressure at the Southern Oaks Library is no longer adequate for fire suppression purposes.  We were told that we must address this as soon as possible to stay in compliance.  We have made no building changes that would impact on this system. We have met with Oklahoma City Public Works and they are contacting line maintenance to see if there is anything going on that would be impacting the water pressure at the library. The other alternative is we have a proposal to redesign the pipe system to increase the water pressure but are total costs to repair this to get pressure back at an acceptable level for the Fire Marshall is currently unknown. Firetrol worked up a way to rework the piping system; however, it was too intensive and would be very costly to rework the piping system. Firetrol is going to give an alternate bid for pump installation.

Security Related Projects

Downtown Library Access Control – Phase one is complete. We are still seeing some occasional dropouts of readers so please pass on to your personnel that if they find a reader that is not working to notify IT so the issue can be logged, and the controller reset to make it functional again.

Capitol Hill Access Control – Tentative start date for video and access control set for 9/1/21.

Bethany Access Control – Tentative start date of 8/23/21.

Security Operational Review – All locations have been visited and evaluated by the consulting firm. Draft site evaluations have been provided to Security. Next step for MLS is to coordinate and address issues brought up by the surveys.

PITS Snapshot – The table that follows shows the high level view of incidents and informational categories for MLS to date. Note that counts are compared to last year, last month and also gives the count for month to date.

Public Relations Updates

Earned Media: We had a great press month for July. We had 32 articles or news station spots about the library. This is the same amount as in June which was the most we’d seen all fiscal year. The majority of the news spots and articles were about going Fine Free. That was a big thing. There was one negative opinion article about it in the Journal Record, but other commentors stood up for our action of going Fine Free.

Advertising: For August advertising, we were going to be doing the Homework Help spot since school starts, but since many libraries are still having low circulation and visitor counts, we decided to run the Sit & Stay commercial again. We will also be having about 5 billboards running in August. Here is the simple design for those.

Marketing Updates

Edmond Survey
 

• Working with other departments to deploy a customer survey about services/amenities Edmond residents would like to see in a new library (with no reference to a new library)
  
  • Send survey through email to those who last used Edmond Library
  • Help with Facebook ad targeting Edmond residents
  • Create in-library poster with QR code to survey

Staff Development Day (Oct. 11, 2021)
 

• Marketing and PR have worked together on several SDD ‘21 deliverables: landing pages, staff emails, floor stickers, a new SDD 2021 logo, SDD committee T-shirts, Wufoo registration form, introduction video shot on site at the Embassy Suites, event program, longevity awards video

Reopening Marketing/Communications Plan
 

• Marketing and PR have discussed ways we can celebrate the Library fully reopening and will assemble marketing/communication plans.
  
  • Discussed outdoor banners but unsure of logistics of how each location would display these

Edmond 24-Hour Library
 

• New soft launch date: September
• Marketing/communications plans completed
• Social media needed: video walk-through dependent on kiosk being in operation

Permanent Curbside Signage
 

• Warr Acres is the final site to complete
  
  • Re-ordered new signs with correct phone number
• Had to place second order for four lost poles. Those are now being installed.

Branding project

• Branding package delivered and is currently under review

• Over the next few weeks there will be revisions and a presentation of results to Leadership will be scheduled for a future time.
   

Oklahoma Contemporary Art Reference Library (DN)

• Completed (barring new grand opening date): electronic save-the-dates, print invitations
• In the works: tote bags and pens for grand opening; bookmarks, selfie banner, fishbowl wrap, directional floor stickers, vinyl signage for glass wall near ART Library, first- and second-floor elevator wraps, staircase adhesive signage, end cap marker
• News release to be sent Aug. 20

Next meeting: Tuesday, September 7 at 2:00pm