2025-03-11 Library Board of Trustees MinutesMINUTES
LIBRARY BOARD OF TRUSTEES
MEETING
TUESDAY, March 11, 2025
A. CALL TO ORDER
President Kristie Sherrill called the meeting to order at 6:04 p.m.
B. ROLL CALL
Board Members Present:
Carol Ericson, Eric Hoffman, Janice Merva, Kristie Sherrill
City Staff:
Mark Herbert, Library Manager
C. PRESENTATIONS
NONE
D. PUBLIC COMMUNICATIONS (Related to City Business only and for which the
Advisory Committee is responsible — 5 minutes per person; 30 minutes total).
NONE
E. APPROVAL OF MINUTES
1. Approval of minutes for January 14, 2025.
MOTIONED by Carol Ericson and SECONDED by Eric Hoffman to approve the minutes.
MOTION CARRIED 4-0.
F. SPECIAL ORDERS OF BUSINESS
NONE
G. NEW BUSINESS
2. Revision of Library Collection Development Policy in Response to California AB 1825.
Recommendation:
a. Review the proposed language being added to the Library Collection Development
Policy in accordance with CA AB 1825.
In order to combat increasing collection challenges in public libraries, the California State Library
is requiring all California public libraries that receive state funding, both currently and in the
future, to include certain verbiage in their collection development policy affirming open and free
use of library materials. A copy of the revised policy is to be sent to the State Library for staff
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evaluation, then is to be approved by the City Attorney and Library Board. Once approved by all
parties, the State Library will retain a copy for its records. Library staff hope to have El Segundo
Public Library's revised Collection Development Policy sent to the State Library soon.
H. UNFINISHED BUSINESS
NONE
I. REPORT — LIBRARY MANAGER (No Board Action Required)
1. Discussion of Programs, Services, Budget, Material Collections, Facility Maintenance,
Personnel Changes, and Other Items Related to the Administration of the El Segundo
Public Library, School Libraries, and Recreation Division.
Library Manager's Report —
a. Support Services is now down two part time staff members: Norma Nicolson and now
Karen Stump, who has left to take a full time position elsewhere. Karen had been with
the library for 18 years. Human Resources is currently unable to assist in recruitment
due to the department's own staff shortages, but has allowed Support Services to hire a
temporary employee until recruitment can start.
b. Julie Todd, Kristina Kora-Beckman, and Mark Herbert met to further develop goals that
were established at the Recreation, Parks and Library Strategic Planning meetings in
early November. The goals are to increase collection use by 10% in the next three
years, modernize aspects of the interior to make the library a more inviting space, and
maximize public use of library programs. The more detailed plans will go back to the
strategic plan facilitator, who will create an overall plan for the department, which in turn
will be reviewed by Aly Mancini and the City Manager.
c. Using funds from the department's Repair and Maintenance account, staff were able to
purchase ten new conference tables, two smaller round tabes,100 new chairs, and 10
chair dollies for use in the Community Room. The older furniture had been in use for at
least 15 years and was showing excessive wear.
d. Mark is set to attend the IUG—Innovative Users Group —conference in Denver on March
13 and will be flying out the day after this Board meeting. IUG is for customers of
Innovative Interfaces and the conference focuses on use of their online systems, in this
case the Polaris library catalog. Attendees learn about upcoming service enhancements,
meet vendors that work with Innovative and have services that interface with the
Innovative products, learn best practices from other customers, and more.
e. National Library Week takes place the week of April 7 and this year's program features
NYT bestselling author J. Ryan Stradal, who will discuss his work and sign books on
Saturday, April 12. A separate discussion of his novel Saturday Night at the Lakeside
Supper Club will be held on April 9.
f. The City's new poet laureate, Kweku Abimbola, will be holding a National Poetry Month
event in April. Details have yet to be formalized.
g. Adult and Teen Services staff are close to completing a large weeding project in adult
fiction. Many of the books removed from the shelves have not circulated in three to five
years. Shelves have been rearranged to make space for face -out displays, with hopes to
entice people to check out titles they might not otherwise consider.
h. Adult and Teen Services staff have been working on moving the music CD's, books -on -
CD, manga, and graphic novels to accommodate the growing Teen Zone collection.
i. Children's storytime sessions are currently on a break and the spring session with start
on April 7.
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j. The Library held a "Tween Switch It Up" program with 18 participants competing against
each other on Nintendo Switches. Several of the kids were new to the library.
k. Staff will be collaborating with Recreation staff again for a Tiny Tot program featuring
Louis Beltran's "Rhythm and Roots."
I. Pre -registration is now required for the Lego Club, and attendance is going well despite
the new requirement. Registration is online. Last month's theme was "volcanoes."
m. The children's library area has been rearranged to optimize traffic flow, helping
customers, and creating spaces for kids of specific ages.
n. Staff are planning for the Summer Reading Program, which starts June 16, and has the
theme of "Level Up at Your Library."
J. REPORT — SCHOOL DISTRICT LIBRARIAN (No Board Action Required)
2. Report on the School Libraries, including those at El Segundo High School, Center
Street School, Richmond Street School, and El Segundo Middle School.
School District Librarian's Report —
a. The final building project is taking place at the district office, with modernization of the
Eagle's Nest, Arena HS, and District Office modernization. These district offices will be
relocated to the schools.
b. The high school library is now closed during lunch except for students who want to study.
The lunch crowd had grown to 200 students and the library was too popular to remain
open at lunch.
c. Events at lunch included a chess tournament, E-games tournament, Student Senate
meetings.
d. The library has been closed for events such as Snacks with the Superintendent, AP
research presentations, Coffee with the Principal, talent show tryouts, and more.
K. REPORTS — FRIENDS OF THE LIBRARY
1. Report on Book Sales, Donations, History Committee Activities, Special
Events and Other Items Related to Friends of the Library Business
a. President's Report
Nothing to report.
b. History Committee Report
NONE
L. BOARD MEMBER COMMENTS —
EH: What happened with approving the food ban, as mentioned at the previous meeting? MH:
the City Manager said that food and eating was no longer allowed in the library.
CE: Where are the events being posted on social? Haven't seen any lately. MH: library staff
continue to post events but they tend to be pushed down as more items are posted. Mark will
check with staff to see that events are reposted closer to the date of the event.
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CE: Spring Break is the same week as National Library Week.
JM: Maybe a program could be planned around the planting of a tree in place of the Library Park
Christmas tree, whenever that may happen.
M. ADJOURNMENT —
The meeting was adjourned at 6:42 PM.
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