HomeMy WebLinkAbout02-16-2021-BLT-PUBLIC COMMENTSFebruary 16, 2021, BLT Agenda Comments
These comments on Newport Beach Board of Library Trustees (BLT) agenda items are submitted by:
Jim Mosher (jimmosher@yahoo.com ), 2210 Private Road, Newport Beach 92660 (949-548-6229)
Item 1. Minutes of the January 19, 2021 Board of Library Trustees
Meeting
Suggested corrections: The passages shown in italics below are from the draft minutes with a
suggested correction indicated in strikeout underline format.
Page 3 (page 7 of agenda packet), Item 9, end of paragraph 1: “Fourth is streaming video, which is
done predominately through Canopy Kanopy with a small selection of content on Overdrive.”
Page 6 (page 10 of agenda packet), Item VIII, sentence 2: “The Planning Session for City Council
will be held virtually on Saturday, January 3 30, 2021 from 9:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m.”
Page 6 (page 10 of agenda packet), Item VIII, sentence 3: “Chair Watkins hopes to speak to the
Council regarding the Library Lecture Hall and the Balboa Branch Empire Station replacement.” [I
don’t recall what was said, but could “Empire Station” be a mistranscription?]
Item 2. Patron Comments
Regarding Comment 5 (agenda packet page 11), responding to a patron seeking assistance
obtaining a circulating book owned by the Los Angeles “County” Public Library,1 the reference to
NBPL’s Interlibrary Loan Service is helpful.
It might also have been helpful to inform the patron that, until recently, if they were willing to pick
up the volume at a branch of the Orange County Public Library (the closest being in Costa Mesa
and Irvine), they could avoid the non-refundable $5 service fee, since OCPL did not charge for ILL.
Unfortunately, the service is currently unavailable through them.
Item 6. Display and Distribution of Materials Policy (NBPL 8)
In Attachment B, in Guideline B, how does substituting “City-designated Library support groups” for
“Friends of the Library and Newport Beach Public Library Foundation” improve the policy?
What support groups, other than those two, does the drafter have in mind? Newport/Mesa
ProLiteracy?
And how does the City designate eligible support groups other than through this policy?
It might also be noted that many other public libraries provide space for display and distribution of a
much wider range of community-interest materials and announcements, as once did NBPL. The
current policy seems unusually restrictive.
1 The patron seems to mean the Los Angeles (City) Library. The LA County Library catalog does not show
any copies. Based on WorldCat, the next closest copies of the English translation are (apparently) in
Northern California. As the patron may already be aware, the French original is more widely available,
including at UC Irvine, and can be borrowed online from the Internet Archive’s Open Library.
February 16, 2021, Library Trustees agenda comments from Jim Mosher Page 2 of 2
Item 7. Annual Budget - Preliminary Review
In Attachment B (Revenue Projections):
1. What does “map” sales refer to? I thought most City generated maps were produced by its
GIS unit, which is not part of the Library Department.
2. Does “VIDEOPLAN RENTAL” refer to one-day video rentals? If so, why is no revenue
expected for the current year? Aren’t video rentals currently being allowed?
3. Under “LIBRARY FINES,” I assume the new automatic renewal system is, in part,
responsible for the precipitous drop in expected FY20-21 revenues. I, for one, greatly
appreciate this new system with its message on the due date confirming the success or
failure of the renewal before any fines have accrued. I find this vastly superior to the old
one in which one heard nothing until several days after the due date, when one received a
message announcing fines had accrued to your account.
One possible improvement to consider would be adding something to the message sent in
advance of the due date to indicate how many future automatic renewals, if any, an item is
eligible for. This is for two reasons:
a. There seems to be some confusion about what the current renewal policy is.
NBPL’s “Using the Library” page says (under “How do I renew a book or other
item?”) “Two renewals (equal to the initial checkout period) are allowed on all
materials, with the following exceptions.” But the Trustee’s Circulation Policy (NBPL
12, which I would think should be controlling, but with few patrons likely aware of the
recent change) says “Eligible items will automatically renew for four additional loan
periods if the item has not been reserved.”
b. If the system knows an item has no renewals left, it is misleading to encourage
patrons to wait till the due date with the current generic message that “For your
convenience, eligible items will automatically renew on their due date if they qualify
for a renewal.”
Item 10. COVID-19 Update
If staff has discovered that with the reopening of Central, “The public’s use of the Library remains
subdued, although the public computer workstations are well-used,” then what is the rationale for
keeping the branches closed?
Wouldn’t a similar experience be expected there? And wouldn’t that be both more patron-friendly
and more efficient than curbside service?