Meeting Date / Time: Tuesday, April 18, 2023 – 9:00am
Meeting Location: Friends Room (Downtown)
Attendees: Larry White, Nita Normore, Kimberly Boldt, Milissa Copeland, Mira Greene, Risa Jenson-Jones, Dennis Letter, Mark Schuster, Angel Suhrstedt, Heather Zeoli.
2023.0418 Advisory Council Meeting Minutes
Meeting Called to Order at 9:00 A.M.
Present: Larry White, Kimberly Boldt, Milissa Copeland, Mira Greene, Risa Jenson-Jones, Dennis Letter, Mark Schuster, Angel Suhrstedt, Heather Zeoli.
Excused: Erin Bedford, Steve Butts, LaVetta Dent, Chris Kennedy.
Updates
Larry reported presently there are 67 open positions with 41.8% of these positions being library aides and access specialists, and a total of 56 FTE with 1/3 being part-time positions. Yesterday there were seven new staff members in the NEO class.
There have been incidents with people hiding books at our locations, mostly teenage non-fiction, LGBTQ, and racially related; 99% of staff have completed the Situational Awareness Training with one regular course and one makeup course remaining as Larry extended kudos to Dennis for facilitating these courses; according to the February and March Statistics, the system is 15%-16% above where it was last year circulating 12.5 million items compared to a little over 10 million items last year.
Larry reported Administration performed a preliminary estimate to see what the cost would be to implement SB 397 if it were to pass the Committee and the estimated cost would be over $1 billion meaning every book, video, audio, etc., would have to be read to find out if they comply.
According to ODL, guests visited Oklahoma Libraries 7.1 million times with MLS serving 5.4 million of those guests. Larry reported from March 2022 to March 2023, MLS program attendance were up 134%, number of programs up 56%, room reservations up 75%, library visits up 8%, total engagement up 166%, all engagement activities up 144%, and Wi-fi sessions up 433%. Questions and discussion followed.
Adult Changing Stations
Larry reported Downtown Library has a couple of regular guests with needs for an adult changing table and Administration is exploring locations that has water to place a table with the possibility of moving it to the lactation room located in the back area of the 3rd floor lounge and possibly moving lactation to the 3rd floor small conference room to meet ADA requirements. Questions and discussion followed.
ASPEN Software – Mira Greene, Director of Collection Services & Development
Mira referred to the email forwarded to the Advisory Council regarding Aspen Software and reported speaking with other libraries regarding Aspen owned by Bywater who investigates new improvements to see if a new version would go out to everyone. Aspen integrates with LibraryMarket and worked with Carl.X for over 10 years with the specific feature of customers having the ability to update their own contact information. Mira reported Larry’s approval to purchase Aspen Software to be presented for approval at the next Commission meeting and implementation would take about 16 weeks with an anticipated launch date of November 1, 2023. Questions and discussion followed.
CTO – Candidate
Larry reported the CTO candidate interviewed on Friday and has a second interview scheduled on Monday at Downtown Library.
Patron Point
Larry reported the system will begin utilizing Patron Point which integrates with TLC and pulls from the data. This is an alternative to OrangeBoy.
Legislation - Status
Yesterday, Larry forwarded an email received from Tim Miller informing him there is a possibility that language from SB 397 will be added to SB 1036 which is currently active in the Committee. Questions and discussion followed.
AWOL – Absence Without Leave
Larry reported there’s a need to get a better understanding of how to process AWOL which is like any other leave, it must be requested and approved by supervisors. Questions and discussion followed.
Ebsco Discovery
Ebsco Discovery Services has been cancelled due to technical issues.
Capital Projects
Larry reported Almonte Library has two side walls and the roof up, and some interior work is in progress; an ED2 proposed timeline was provided as Larry reported on last Tuesday, former mayoral candidate Brian Shallum filed three referendum petitions against the three bonds that was to be issued by Edmond City Council to cover the cost of the new courthouse, new parking garage, and the library/YMCA projects. The design work and studies will continue as the petitions will slow down construction for possibly up to six months until the issue is resolved. Questions and discussion followed.
Heather reported the Library Endowment Trust is considering doing their fall event as a fundraiser for ED2 and the Friends of the Library would like to purchase some Adult Changing tables as well as, being interested in other ways to assist the library system. Questions and discussion followed.
Internships
Larry reported Administration was contacted by the Oklahoma Library School seeking interest in students obtaining internships with MLS Libraries. Questions and discussion followed.
Milissa Copeland – Learning & Development
Milissa provided MLS Content Provider Information handouts regarding changing the system’s content provider from LinkedIn Learning who offers 22K courses at approximately $32,500 which includes a LMS integration fee of $7,500. MLS utilizes eight compliance courses through McAfee and Taft at a cost of $7,600 with no integration and imports manually done by L & D. The library system also assumes costs for 15 Safety Skills courses in the amount of $12,000 also with no integration and manually imported by L & D for a total cost of $52,100 for these three content providers. Milissa proposes transitioning to Open Sesame, an open-source content provider who partners with hundreds of other content providers, they provide benefits for staff with a diverse range of content, a greater range of courses available in compliance and safety, and staff availability to access it through MetroU with continued access to LinkedIn Learning through the MLS databases, it integrates with SumTotal with no connector fee for a total cost of $35,833.50, a $16,000 difference from the three content providers the system currently utilize.
Milissa reported that if the decision is made to change MLS Content Providers, it will be presented to the Commission for approval and if approved, she anticipates implementation sometime in May. The consensus of the Advisory Council is to present to the Commission for approval, the proposed change of MLS Content Providers from LinkedIn Learning, McAfee and Taft, and Safety Skills to Open Sesame Content Provider in the amount of $35,833.50. Questions and discussion followed.
Organizational Chart
Larry provided the revised proposed option 2 of the MLS VG 200 Organizational Chart to be presented to the Commission for approval at the April 20th meeting to go into effect on July 1, 2023. Questions and discussion followed.
Group Activity
Larry asked the AC to share a story about their guest experiences of how they have felt welcomed and belonged somewhere. He divided them into two teams to write a six-word story about what success looks like to them and a six-word story on what success feels like to them. The teams are divided as follows: Team Alpha: Dennis, Milissa, Angel, and Mira. Team Omega: Risa, Kimberly, Mark, and Heather. Each team shared their stories on what success looks like and feels like to them as a group.
There being no further business or comments, Larry adjourned the meeting at 10:41 A.M.