HomeMy WebLinkAbout09-25-1996 Library Commission agendaSARATOGA LIBRARY COMMISSION MEETING
SARATOGA COMMUNITY LIBRARY
September 25,1996
7:30 pm
AGENDA
I. Call to Order
II. Roll Call
III. Report of Posting of the Minutes
IV. Approval of Minutes of August 28,1996 Meeting
V. Oral and Written Communications
a. Ann Marie Burger (IPA Council Representative) - Update
VI. Old Business
a. Revised Needs Assessment- Final Draft
VII. New Business
a Library Expansion
1. Educating the public
2. Commission- first steps
VIII. Reports
a. Susan Fuller, County Librarian
b. Dolly Barnes, Community Librarian
c. Irene Jacobs, City Staff Representative
d. Marcia Manzo, Chair
e. Cathy Foscato, Friends of the Library
f. Sally Towse, Library Foundation
IX Adjournment
SARATOGA LIBRARY COMMISSION MEETING
Saratoga Community Library
August 28,1996
7:30 pm
Adia idinutes
I. Call to Order. •
The meeting was called to order by Marcia Manzo, Library. Commission Chair, at 7:30
pm.
II. Roll Call:
Commissianeritesent : Ceppos, Foscato, Grantham, Manzo, McLaughlin, Towse
Conimissioneatbsent Sessler
Otheresent Dolly Barnes, Irene M. Jacobs, Sarah Lombardo
III. Report on Posting of the Commission Agenda:
Persuant to Government Code 549542, the agenda was properly posted on August 23,
1996.
IV. Minutes of July 24.1996:
Commissioner Manzo pointed out that in Section V, Old Business it states that the
chair "had notes of the detailed changes and edits to this document." The Chair
wanted to clarify, for the record, that the recommended changes she had were general
and not specific.
Commissioner Towse made a motion to approve the minutes with the listed
correction Commissioner Ceppos seconded the motion and the motion was passed
with a unanimous vote.
V. Old Business: •
NeedAssessment: Dolly Bames provided the Commissiory(+vith the third draft of the
Saratoga Community library Building Plan 1996 Update (aka. "County Report")
There was discussion among Commissioners regarding how much of the Needs
Assessment would be provided to the public since the document is lengthly and
would most likely not be read in its entirety. The general understanding of the group
is that the preamble would be used for general information regarding the Needs
Assessment. Individuals who requested more information would be provided with
the "County Report" in addition to the preamble. If members of the public still
requested further details, the entire assessment package, including the original needs
assessment, would be on file at the library for all to access.
Commissioners Towse and Manzo volunteered to review the third edition of the
document and and make any necessary editing changes. The edited copy of the Plan
Update would be provided to the entire Commission at the regular September
meeting for final approvaL
The discussion turned to the subject of the title for the preamble that will be part of the
the needs assessment package. Commissioner Sessler had, at an earlier meeting,
proposed, The Year 2010- Where Are We Going and Where Will We Sit When We -
Get There?". At the July meeting Commissioner Sessler suggested that perhaps the
title be changed to reflect a more se ious tone. Commissioners were instructed to .
consider another name for the °G�" and to share their ideas at the next meeting.
Commissioners present at the August meeting disagreed with Commissioner Sessler
and felt that the title he had originally proposed would catch people's attention and
therefore simply shortened the proposed title so that it will now read as,"Saratoga
Library in the Year 201a Where Wfli We Sit When We Get There?"
VL New Business: Since the June regular meeting copies of the architectural plans
that had been proposed for the library expansion by several different architectural
firms in 1992, were circulated among the Commissioners. Copies of the designs that
had been submitted by the three firms Weske, Spencer and Ripley were distributed to
the Commission and the specific improvements recommended by each architect were
reviewed and discussed.
The group was reminded by the Library Chair, Commissioner Manzo, that during the
lunch meeting held in June between the Commission and the Mayor, Harry Peacock,
who was also present, had told the Commission that there was really no need to form
another expansion committee. The Library Commission could simply choose to adopt
the recommendations of the expansion committee that had been formed in 1991
After reviewing the architectural plans, Commissioner Ceppos made a motion to
request that further architectural designs for the library expansion be reviewed since
much time had elapsed since the designs had been submitted and that the
Commission is not prepared to endorse the recommendations of the expansion
committee formed in 1992_ Commissioner Foscato seconded the motion and the
motion carried.
The chair suggested that perhaps Council Member Burger, who is the JPA Council
representative for the Library be invited to attend the September regular meeting, The
Commission would take this time to share with Council Member Burger what the
Commission is currently doing and planning in addition to requesting Ms. Burger's
opinion regarding the library expansion in light of recent JPA developments and from
her perspective as a Council Member.
•
Commissioner Towse made a motion to invite Council Member Burger and to table
item # 133 Educating the Public and item #B. 5 Formation of an Expansion Committee
since these issues would be better discussed once the Commission had more
information as a result of the meeting with Ann Marie Burger. Commmissioner
Foscato seconded the motion and the motion carried with a unanimous vote.
VII. Reports:
a. Susan Fuller, County Librarian- Ms. Fuller was unable to attended the meeting but,.
she provided the Commission with some materials. regarding Proposition 218 via ; .
Dolly Barnes.
b.DonyBarnes, Librarian- Ms. Games reported that the new computer
terminals had arrived at the Library.
c. IreneJacobs;CityStaffRepresentative-Ms. Jacobs revisited an issues that had
previously been discussed in order to clarify some questions that had arisen during
the July meeting Ms. Jacobs reported that she had spoken with a representative of the
city s Planning Department staff in order to verify that the future proposed plans for
the Library expansion would not be subject to Measure G. City planning staff had
clarified that under the current conditions, the Library Expansion would not be subject
to Measure G requirements.
Ms. Jacobs also requested some clarification regarding a meeting that had been
scheduled with the City Manager and County Library staff members regarding library
expansion issues and questioned why there had not been any notification to the
Library Commission prior to the meetings. Since Susan Fuller was not able to attend,
Dolly Barnes addressed the issue and explained that meetings had been scheduled
with City Manager's throughout the County to discuss library expansion issues and
that the meeting with Saratoga staff was simply one of those scheduled meetings.
d. Marcia Manzo,C hair -Commissioner Manzo shared with her fellow
commissioners that she had been asked to represent the Library Commission and
present certificates to school children who had participated in a reading program
through the libray.
e. CathyFoscato,1riendsottheIibrary-Commissioner Foscato reported that the
Friends of the Library had given the library $48,800 for Sunday hours (2 year period),
$1,000 for the Chidren's Department and 511,E for periodicals, books and CD ROms
among other things.
f. SanyTowse,Ii'braiyFormdat on -Commissioner Towse reported that on the first
Friday in October (4th), the Foundation would be hosting an educational event in
order to inform invited parties of the Library Foundation and how the Foundation
planned to assist with the Library Expansion once the idea had been approved by the
city
VIIL Oral and Written Communications:
None
IX Adjournment
There was a motion made by Commissioner Ceppos to adjourn the meeting.
Commissioner Foscato seconded the motion and the motion was passed
unanimously. The meeting was adjourned at 9.30 pm.
Respectfully Submitted By.
Irene M. Jacobs
Administrative Analyst
S BRIEFS
lagers will be able
Drk at the polls
ie first time
Pete Wilson has signed a bill
gcounties to hire 16- and 17-
Id students to work at the
t Election Day.
till accomplishes two goals:
:s students a chance be
:d in the democratic process
.ovides counties with an
final pool of Election Day
rkers.
sties throughout the state
ore then 100,000 poll work-
:ach statewide election.
ork at the polls. students
,e citizens of the United
find seniors with a minimum
le -point average.
son trial lawyer
Lak in Saratoga
Clara University law pro-
iierald Uelmen. one of the
mpson trial lawyers and
lithe hook Lessons from the
he People vs. O.J. Simpson.
' e hook and a play he
?n the life of William
is before Friends of
ltoga Library.
neeting. open to the public.
7 at 7 p.m. in the communi-
1 of the Saratoga Library,
aratoga Ave.
es evacuated after
ers crack gas pipe
Louses were evacuated after
ction workers digging
-ound on Saratoga Road
I open a gas pipeline on
1, spewing out fumes and
an underground gas leak.
on the stretch of road
t Herriman and Highway 9
ed one side of the roadway
ast few weeks. The gas leak,
r, forced the city to close the
npletely for an hour.
ly, the gas leak was rela-
inor, and only the two hous-
tly in front of the gas line
ected, said Sgt. Van Lieden
tratoga Fire Department.
had been a gas main, we
ave responded a lot differ -
aid Van Leiden. "But, luck -
wasn't the case."
re department was notified
:ak by construction work -
smelled a strong odor in
at about 1 p.m. Saratoga
;ineer Tom Alley said that
ine companies secured the
r -If a fire, while PG&E
ily repaired the one -
an hour of repair, PG&E
secured the gas leak, and
ors returned to their station
eriff's deputies reopened
ter -mile stretch of road.
&rat.° (1) a News
Plans to expand the library
hit stalemate over tax issue
City's book keepers
need more room
By SARAH LOMBARDO
As if the bookmark had fallen
from their book, members of
the citv's Library Commission
are finding difficultly in picking up
plans to expand the Saratoga Com-
munity Library where they left off.
Before they can proceed. com-
missioners must update their reports
to reflect an even more crowded and
busier library; they must stress to the
City Council and the public the
urgency of the library's need for
more room: and they must do it all
with the utility -users tax looming on
the November ballot.
Irene Jacobs. city staff member
for the Library Commission. said
the commission can do little until
after the election.
"They are not going to do any-
thing until the utility -users taxpass-
es," Jacobs said. "Because if it
doesn't pass, there's not going to be
a lot to work with, and the public's
concern will be on other issues."
The idea for an expanded library
is not a new one. In 1991, the com-
mission set the ball rolling for
expansion and the plans got far
enough that the City Council chose
an architect for the project. But,
abruptly, the expansion and the
bond measure proposed to fund it
were abandoned in 1993 after coun-
ty budget cuts left the libraryscram-
bling to maintain its services.
"The funding from the state went
bye-bye all of a sudden, and [the
Library Commission's] main focus
had to be on keeping the library open,
let alone expanding it,"Jacobs said.
Now, the commission is ready to
try again. With the 1994 passage of
Measure A, the initiative that
added a parcel tax of $33 a year per
household to communities being
served by Santa Clara County
libraries, the library was able to
return to normal operation.
"We were able to open more and
buy more books and materials,"
said Dolly Barnes, community
librarian supervisor. "With the
return of library services, the com-
mission could say, 'OK, the prob-
lem hasn't gotten any better, it's
gotten worse, so we need to do
something about it."
For the past few months, the
commission has been holding infor-
mational meetings with city offi-
cials, according to Jacobs.
Phologruph nv Rohm Scheer
Community Librarian Dolly Barnes stands watch over her domain a/ the Saratoga Library.
"They've brought in officials and
kind of thrown out ideas," she said.
"Nothing is concrete; they've just
put feelers out."
Some of those feelers include
where the money will come from to
pay for library expansion. Accord-
ing to Jacobs, one of the first ques-
tions the commission asked was if
they could rely on any city funds.
The answer was negative.
"There aren't any city funds to be
had," she said.
Jacobs said that left the commis-
sionconsidering abond measure and
garnering enough public support to
pass it. And that, Jacobs said, is why
the commission is treadingsosoftly.
"The last commission put a lot of
work into the expansion project,"
Jacobs said, "and [the current com-
mission] doesn't want it to fail
because should it fail, they know
it'll be a while before they can pre-
sent it again."
The commission has jumped otie
major hurdle toward recommending
an expansion plan to the city: Com-
missioners recently completed work
on updating their needs assessment
report from October 1991.
The report contains some star-
tling statistics.
"Seating in the library is in very
short supply," the report states.
"While more than 1,000 people
visit the library each day, there are
only 61 adult seats, 31 elementary
and 14 preschool seats."
According to the report, foot traf-
fic in the 18,000-square-foot library
has increased from 277,660 people
between 1990 and 1991 to 350,338
people between 1995 and 1996.
Barnes said she has no room for
more hooks, and the bookshelves
are too high as it is now.
Commissioner David McLaugh-
lin said the needs assessment
report shows that the library situa-
tion has gone from had to worse.
"We grossly underestimated
how desperately we need a new
library now, let alone five years
ago," he said. "Are we willing to
throw away a hook each time we
get a new one?"
In addition to space for books, the
report calls for technological
advances in the library to keep the
publicuptodate,room forquietstudy
areas and group study areas, better
lighting and a drive -up book drop.
With the needs assessment
report completed, the commission
now has to decide if it wants to go
hack to the old plans, architectural
drawings and architect from 1992,
or begin all over again with new
committees and another architect
interview process.
"I don't want to close off any
options," Commissioner Karen
Ceppos said. Ceppos, who was a
member of the expansion commit-
tee in 1992, said the commission
should explore as many options as
it can right now instead of going
hack to plans and decisions made
years ago.
Jacobs said the commission
needs to find out if members will he
allowed by the City Council to he
involved in choosing an architect,
or in deciding whether an expan-
sion committee will need to he
formed, and what kind of support
the city will offer.
At Wednesday's meeting, the
commission decided to table any
discussions of further action until
they got more information.
Jacobs predicted the commission
would probably make a recom-
mendation for expansion to the
City Council before November.
Should all go as planned, a bond
measure could go before the public
as early as November 1998.
SEPTEMBER 4, 1996 SARATOGA NEWS 7