A skeleton – wearing an Ann Arbor District Library T-shirt – was part of the non-traditional collections on display at the Feb. 3, 2014 AADL board retreat. (Photos by the writer.)

Discussion during the retreat, held at AADL’s downtown location on South Fifth Avenue, often touched on issues specific to that area. Dealing with the chronically homeless is one of the biggest challenges there, AADL director Josie Parker told the board, because during the hours that it’s open, the library is the shelter of last resort for many people.

“We are not a social service agency, yet we act as a de facto one,” Parker said. “We have a lot to contribute to this conversation because of our experience over the last 15 years.” The board discussed the need to define the library’s advocacy role in general for issues that trustees think are important, though Parker noted that the first responsibility for both the AADL administration and the board is to advocate for the library.

Other challenges faced by AADL include urban development, changes in the education system, issues related to providing Internet access, and “blurred lines” – instances where AADL is providing services to people who don’t live within the district’s boundaries. Also related to work outside the library’s boundaries, Parker reported that she’s talking with other directors of district libraries in Washtenaw County about the possibility of doing a study on the economic development impact of libraries.

The retreat began with a review of AADL’s non-traditional collections, and items from those collections were on display in the meeting room. The library has circulated art prints for more than 30 years, but has been expanding into other areas more recently, including science kits, musical instruments, home tools and craft equipment.

Parker told the board that the public library’s mission – to distribute materials that support the reading, education and even entertainment of the public – isn’t limited to bound volumes. The items for AADL’s non-traditional collections aren’t generally available to rent elsewhere, and are usually expensive to buy, she noted. “What are the limits of sharing? That’s what we’re pushing on.”

The final portion of the retreat was facilitated by local consultant Sandra Greenstone, who has played a similar role at previous retreats. Trustees generated a list of questions that they’d like to answer to help inform their work on the next strategic plan. Many of the issues related to the downtown library, but there was no discussion about putting another ballot proposal before voters. In November 2012, voters defeated a bond proposal that would have funded a new downtown library.

How all of this fits into the next strategic plan is a work in progress. The board will be handling the next steps at the committee level, with an update expected at the board’s Feb. 17 meeting.

Setting the Stage

Prue Rosenthal, the board’s president, began the retreat by saying that oftentimes people are asked for feedback at retreats like this. Although the board was going to get information from staff about what the library is doing and plans to do, Rosenthal hoped that the board would also focus “on what might be.” As an example, she cited the possibility of having games that the adult community could be invited to play – she mentioned Luminosity as the kind of game she had in mind. “What I’m hoping we’ll do is think forward,” she said.

Librarian Mariah Cherem, far left, with AADL trustees Jan Barney Newman, Rebecca Head and Margaret Leary.

AADL director Josie Parker told the board that the staff had set up items around the room that are currently in circulation, as well as things that the library plans to circulate soon. Staff were on hand to talk with board members about these items.

Eli Neiburger, AADL’s associate director of IT and production, gave an overview of the different collections on display, including “Book Clubs To Go” for adults, thematically-related kids books in “Stories To Go” kits, and “Science Tools” that range from dinosaur kits to telescopes and light meters. About three years ago, the AADL added a “Music Tools” collection, which has proven popular, he said. “Science To Go” kits were created with science tools, and “Home Tools” is a collection that started with energy meters, as part of a program in partnership with the city of Ann Arbor. Other items are now being added.

“Art Tools” is another collection that’s relatively new, and includes items like a drum card – a device used to take fleece off a sheep and start turning it into yarn. “We now have pretty close to the full set of tools you’d need to go straight from sheep to sweater,” Neiburger said.

These non-traditional collections have grown over the years. In 2011, excluding art prints, there were 18 non-traditional items in circulation, mostly energy meters. Those items were checked out 149 times. In 2012-2013, AADL made a major investment in these collections, increasing the number of items to 236 by the end of fiscal 2013. AADL projects there will be about 300 items and about 3,800 checkouts by the end of this fiscal year – on June 30, 2014. That’s over 10 checkouts per item over the year, Neiburger noted, calling it a very high number for any kind of collection. “Clearly we’ve found something that really is connecting with an audience.”

The library has about 600,000 items all of its collections, including books. So the non-traditional collections are relatively small by comparison, Neiburger said. But they are high-value, active use collections.

Not all of the items in the boardroom that night are in active circulation yet, Neiburger noted, and some are just in beta circulation to get input from a small number of users. One such device reads the codes off of cars – for example, when your “check engine” light comes on, you can hook the tool to your car, find out the diagnostic code, and look up what you need online to fix the problem.

In addition to items that can be reserved, AADL also has a category called “Up For Grabs” – items that can’t be put on hold, and are available on the shelf for walk-ins.

Parker told the board that the public library’s mission – to distribute materials that support the reading, education and entertainment of the public – isn’t limited to bound volumes. The items for AADL’s non-traditional collections are chosen carefully so that they don’t compete with local businesses. The items aren’t generally available to rent, and are usually expensive to buy, she noted. “What are the limits of sharing? That’s what we’re pushing on.”

Margaret Leary wondered whether there’s any evidence that expanding what the library lends attracts different people to the library. The telescopes have brought in a new audience, Parker said, including young males – a group that typically loses interest in the library. But Parker also noted that this kind of lending isn’t new: AADL has been lending framed artwork for over 30 years.

Board members spent about 30 minutes talking with staff about these collections.

Public Library Trends

When the group reconvened, Josie Parker told the board the she and Eli Neiburger would be following up on information they’d presented at a Sept. 30, 2009 board retreat held at the law firm Dykema. Discussions at that retreat were used to help develop the 2010-2015 strategic plan. [All but one of the current board members – Nancy Kaplan – also served on the board at that time.]

To put things in perspective, Neiburger noted that when he gave his presentation in 2009, “I speculated that Apple would be releasing a tablet called the iPad in the next year.”

AADL staff and trustees at the Feb. 3 board retreat.

It’s a very challenging time for the “content industry,” Neiburger said. From the first quarter of 2012 through the first quarter of 2013, sales of eBooks declined by 5%. Although adult eBook sales actually grew during that period, it was offset by a sharp decline in eBook sales for kids and teens. He noted that “Hunger Games” was released in 2012, adding that when the financial health of an entire format is influenced by the release of a single title or series, that doesn’t bode well for the long-term survivability of that format.

On the print side, all book sales were also down about 5%, and paperback books sales were down about 11%. Hardcover sales, however, were up 12%. That trend counters the notion that everything is moving to digital, Neiburger said. “So the story’s not quite what it sometimes seems to be, especially for people who are avid book readers.”

In terms of a long-term trend, Neiburger said the sales trend for eBooks don’t look like an adoption curve. That is, the trend doesn’t indicate that everyone is switching to the eBook format. Sales of tablets like the iPad are growing, he noted, but those devices are being used more for streaming services – like movies – than for eBooks. He pointed out that Netflix “is off like a shot,” with a business model that charges a fixed monthly price for unlimited usage. Cable TV is still popular, but there’s a “big bomb” awaiting that service, Neiburger said: unbundling. “If people are ever able to actually choose what channels they want to subscribe to, the cable industry is going to be in a lot of trouble very quickly,” he said.

The most telling things about these trends are the popularity of the fixed price/unlimited usage model, he said, and how cable TV does extremely poorly with younger consumers.

Neiburger described another streaming service – Spotify, which provides online music – and noted that paid subscribers hear music without ads. But Spotify has more unpaid subscribers than paid ones, and those unpaid subscribers have to listen to ads. “What this shows is how much more willing people are to consume a free service, even if it’s got ads on it,” he said. The thought of reading an ad-sponsored book “is kind of a horrifying idea,” he added. But that’s the dominant method by which most content is monetized, including radio, newspapers/magazines, and cable TV.

Neiburger noted that the birth of impartiality for newspapers occurred when newspaper owners decided to drop the price to a penny and started selling their readership to advertisers. At that point, there couldn’t be one newspaper for each point of view, he said. It resulted in newspapers trying to encompass a range of views, and reach a larger market.

The fixed price/unlimited usage model is now coming to eBooks in the form of a new service called Oyster, which launched in the fall of 2013. For $9.95 a month, people can read an unlimited amount of books. It doesn’t include all books, Neiburger said, but several major publishers are participating.

Neiburger said AADL is seeing an impact from this kind of model, specifically from services like Netflix and Spotify. An opportunity for the library is to have items that are harder to find, and that won’t be part of the services offered by these larger companies, he said.

Neiburger also reported results from a survey recently released by the Pew Research Center, which showed that a growing number of Americans are reading eBooks. But only 4% said that they only read eBooks – it’s a niche, not a transition, he said.

Regarding data about AADL usage, Neiburger showed that the library system’s door counts have grown from about 1.2 million in 2004, compared to the current door count of between 1.6 million to 1.7 million annually. During that period, the library opened three new branches – Malletts Creek in 2004, Pittsfield in 2006, and Traverwood in 2008. Each of those openings lifted the door count for the entire system, Neiburger noted. Another lifting force was the “recession bump” between 2008-2010, he said. That’s now beginning to flatten, but the door count is still higher now than it was in 2008.

For checkouts and renewals, there were 2.5 million in 2004 compared to about 9 million in 2013 – although it’s been basically flat since 2011. The library received more than 112,000 reference questions in 2004, which dropped to about 62,000 questions in 2013. There’s been a slight uptick recently driven by Old News requests – primarily for obituaries. Event attendance has almost doubled over the past 10 years, from about 45,000 in 2004 to 86,000 in 2013.

The library launched its current website in 2005, starting at about 5 million page views per year and growing to about 85 million page views in 2013.

External Pressures/Opportunities

Josie Parker then presented an overview of some of the outside pressures and challenges that the AADL faces, and Eli Neiburger outlined how those challenges might provide opportunities for AADL.

External Pressures/Opportunities: Education

Parker noted that school libraries haven’t been funded well or consistently for many years. As a public library, “we are now filling gaps in ways that we might not have expected to,” she said. If there isn’t a media center at their school, children will go elsewhere – like the public library. But while the public library is providing uses that it didn’t before, that’s not being followed by additional funding, she noted.

Trustee Ed Surovell talks with AADL director Josie Parker.

There are many opportunities to continue developing programs and services for schools, Neiburger said. For example, AADL has a new kids page – called Jump! – that links to homework help, event listings, and other resources.

Non-traditional collections are another example. A music teacher had checked out two musical tools for her class, which meant that her students had to share. So AADL created a kit with 30 of the devices, Neiburger said, so that each student in a classroom would have one to use. The kits can also be used by a Boy Scout or Girl Scout troop, or any other group.

Another example is the model that AADL uses for digital downloads, which allows users – including teachers – to keep the item after it’s downloaded. For now, this mostly applies to the music collection, but AADL is in the middle of major negotiations for other collections, he said.

The AADL has put infrastructure in place to deliver a variety of content, Neiburger noted, and the library is establishing licensing agreements directly with the rightsholders – not with vendors and publishers.

The AADL will continue to reach out in developing new services, Neiburger said. One challenge related to K-12 efforts, he added, is that it’s hard for teachers to find time to partner with the library, “because it’s hard to show how it connects to test scores.”

Parker noted that it’s not clear to AADL how any of this will evolve. However, she’s sure that AADL wants no part of some of the services that are being sold to libraries now, like Freegal. Such services charge tens of thousands of dollars in set-up costs, as well as a click-per-use fee. Those services also put a limit on what users can access, Parker noted. AADL is taking a different approach, she said, even though the outcome is uncertain. [Some of these issues were covered in more detail at previous board meetings. For example, see Chronicle coverage: "Ann Arbor Library Signs Digital Music Deal" and "AADL Board Briefed on Public Library Trends."]

Regarding classes offered by AADL for adults, Neiburger reported that demand is way down, and in many cases, the same people were taking classes over and over. People don’t necessarily want to be trained to use new software or learn how to apply for a job, he noted – they’re just trying to complete a task. So there’s an opportunity for AADL staff to offer one-on-one help, he said, and to develop a service around that approach.

AADL also is looking for opportunities for classes that have a unique topic. As an example, All Hands Active held a 3-D printing workshop at AADL. They were teaching something that required you to be in the presence of the device that you were learning about, Neiburger said, and “that’s a big opportunity.” There’s also a need for places to do “noisy group work,” he said, and there aren’t many spots in the community that provide that kind of space. AADL needs to think about reconfiguring its space to accommodate these kinds of things, he said, without disturbing other patrons. “A 3-D printer has a distinct odor to it. 3-D printing geeks also have a distinct odor to them,” he joked.

Neiburger also noted that the library is taking its collections outside of its own facilities. AADL held a stargazing party at Leslie Science & Nature Center to launch its telescope collection, for example. AADL also participates in the Neutral Zone’s Washington Street Fair, the Mini Maker Faire, FoolMoon, Top of the Park and other events. It’s an opportunity to reach new audiences who don’t necessarily know what the library offers, he said.

External Pressures: Internet Access

Parker reported that increasingly, other public institutions are moving services online, then telling citizens to access that service or information by using computers at the public library. That includes information about taxes, health care, Secretary of State services, and unemployment services. “In many cases in this country, the public library is the last access point for most folks,” she said.

AADL trustee Rebecca Head.

The Ann Arbor community is a bit different, she noted, but it’s still happening. Parker also pointed out that when these other institutions direct citizens to the public library, “please don’t think that they talked to us about that first. Most of the time, they did not.” She noted that some of these public institutions have shifted services online because they don’t have the staff to support public access, so “they’re taking the path of least resistance.”

Rebecca Head noted that it’s difficult for the downtown library to install more computers, given the building’s infrastructure. Parker clarified that it’s possible to put in more computers at the downtown library. “It’s just a very high cost to do that,” she said.

Parker noted that computing is a common need that runs through all types of services that the library provides, from K-12 education to job searching to tax preparation.

There’s an equity issue here, Head observed. “Libraries have always stood for providing access to people who might not otherwise have access.” It puts an extra burden on the library, she added.

Prue Rosenthal wondered what percentage of people in AADL’s district don’t have access to computers and the Internet. Parker didn’t have that information at hand, but noted that the percentage went up during the recession. That’s why the library’s “recession bump” occurred, as people turned to AADL for that service.

Neiburger noted that even if someone does have a computer and Internet access at home, they can’t always use it for everything if the equipment and software aren’t up to date.

As another example, Parker reported that the library has held classes on PowerSchool, the homework-tracking software used by Ann Arbor Public Schools, because some parents need help in using it.

Parker also raised another issue associated with ubiquitous public access to computers. Sometimes, people will use the computer for purposes that aren’t allowed, she said. Although the library has rules of behavior and monitors computer usage, she said, the staff can’t completely guarantee that a patron won’t look at something online that offends someone else. She cited precautions that are in place. Computers designated for adults have a filter option, she noted, and in the youth department, no one over the age of 14 can be online unless they’re with a child. There is no Internet access in children’s areas at the branches. So the library has done many things to mitigate risk, she said, but “it’s impossible to totally eliminate the possibility.”

The fear that someone will inappropriately use a public library computer for pornography is not enough to offset the positive benefits of providing Internet access for job searches, research and other purposes, Parker told the board.

External Pressures: Urban Development

Parker showed the board an aerial view of the downtown library at the northeast corner of Fifth and William. She pointed out the surrounding properties – including the adjacent city-owned underground parking structure known as Library Lane, the Ann Arbor Area Transportation Authority’s Blake Transit Center across the street, and the surface lot at the opposite corner of Fifth and William that’s being bought from the city by hotelier Dennis Dahlmann.

Parker cited several questions that relate to AADL’s downtown building: What will surround the downtown library and who supports it? What’s happening that the library can’t control? Where does AADL have a voice? These are questions that she doesn’t have answers to, Parker said, noting that urban development is a big pressure.

External Pressures: Chronically Homeless

This community has seen a change since Parker started working at AADL, she said. A decade or more ago, the staff could identify about 20 homeless people who regularly came to the library, compared to hundreds of homeless today. For the chronically homeless, the library is their last resort, Parker said. “People who have other options, take them. The ones who don’t, come here.”

Screenshot from a Jan. 24, 2014 Channel 7 news report, interviewing a homeless man in front of the downtown Ann Arbor library.

She pointed to a Jan. 24 Channel 7 News report, which included an interview with a homeless man standing in front of the downtown library. The library was a backdrop for the report, she noted, and the homeless man discussed the library as a place where he could be warm.

“We are not part of the community conversation about the solution [to homelessness],” Parker told the board. “We are not a social service agency, yet we act as a de facto one. My point here is that while we aren’t a social service agency, we have a lot to contribute to this conversation because of our experience over the last 15 years. Yet we’re not in that conversation.”

Prue Rosenthal asked how Parker would ideally want to participate in that community conversation. Parker replied that the library staff has tried to insert themselves where they thought it was appropriate. She said she admired all the people who work with the homeless, because the chronically homeless are dealing with a range of other issues too.

But because the library isn’t a social service agency, she added, “we are not seen as equals in this conversation. So we’re a backdrop.” If the library is the last resort for shelter, then the community needs to consider what that means to ask its public library to provide that shelter. “This isn’t a hit on anyone,” Parker added. “But this is real. It costs a lot of money in security and safety and training.”

“It’s something that we just have to start being more vocal about,” she said.

Parker noted that it’s not about the fact that a person is homeless. The library will always be a refuge, Parker said. It’s about people who can’t behave, and who have needs that the library can’t meet.

“This one is our biggest challenge,” she concluded.

External Pressures: Blurred Lines/Clarity of Mission

Parker pointed out that the library provides support for other community organizations by providing a computer server that’s outside of AADL’s firewall. Examples include ArborWiki, Huron Valley Community Network, Washtenaw Literacy and the Ann Arbor Book Festival. That’s a form of blurring lines, she said, because many people involved in these groups or who use the services and programs of these groups don’t live in the AADL district.

From left: Trustees Prue Rosenthal and Rebecca Head look at some of the non-traditional items in the AADL’s collections.

Another example is the Washtenaw Library for the Blind and Physically Disabled, which the AADL manages. Anyone who lives in Washtenaw County and who is eligible for the National Library Service can receive an AADL card, even if they live outside of AADL’s district.

Barbara Murphy noted that anybody anywhere can use the AADL website too – they don’t have to live within the AADL district to gain access to it.

For K-12 education, school librarians can place a link on the school’s media center computers to access AADL databases. That service is provided because schools generally can’t afford those databases, Parker said. A couple of companies have objected to expanding the use of their databases in that way, she noted. When that happens, AADL removes those databases from being accessed via the school computers.

Based on her conversations over the past few months with the new dean of libraries at the University of Michigan, James Hilton, and the new Ann Arbor Public Schools superintendent, Jeanice Kerr Swift, Parker said she expects AADL will be looking at more instances of blurring lines in the future.

Responding to a query from Nancy Kaplan, Parker said that talking with Swift had been a big uplift as a library director, because Swift understands the value of having a media center at a school.

Parker also noted that the board is being asked to vote on a policy change – likely at its Feb. 17 meeting – to allow the library to issue cards to students who go to school within the AADL district, but who don’t live here. “That’s the next step for us in blurring those lines – carefully but deliberately,” Parker said.

Margaret Leary wondered if Parker saw any future collaboration happening with the UM library. “I do,” Parker replied. “But I don’t know exactly what it will look like.”

Historically, libraries have resisted these types of ventures for fear of being overwhelmed, Parker said, “and it rarely happens.” For example, when Parker became AADL director, she wanted to eliminate the limits on renewals and holds. There was a lot of fear among staff that this would cause the shelves to be emptied, she said. The limits were lifted and although some adjustments had to be made, it wasn’t a big deal.

Parker noted that unlike many larger cities, AADL isn’t a city library – it’s not part of the city government. So the tax revenues are tied directly to what the library collects from district property owners. That makes it more difficult in some ways, Parker said. She gave the example of Nashville, which has a major problem with illiteracy and high school graduation rates. The school system and library system are departments of the city government, so the city manager can direct those departments to work together, and can provide more funding “because the money is all in the same pot,” Parker explained.

She wasn’t advocating not to be a district library, noting that if AADL hadn’t been independent, it would be a shadow of its current operation. AADL is strong and recognizable in the community, Parker said, and other institutions are looking at how the library can step in to help. That’s a good thing, she added, but “it’s not an automatic easy step to take.”

Murphy suggested that as AADL increases its communications with residents, they should make it clear that the library is separate from city government and other organizations, and doesn’t receive funding from the city government. Parker agreed, noting that it’s a message that has to be made repeatedly.

Parker also reported that she’s talking with other directors of district libraries in Washtenaw County about how to start a process to do an economic development impact study of libraries. It will take collaboration and a pooling of resources to do, she said.

Strategic Plan

Josie Parker reminded trustees that at their Aug. 19, 2013 meeting, they had received an update on activities related to goals in the five-year strategic plan, from 2010-2015. [.pdf of strategic plan, with updates highlighted in yellow] The five-year plan was initially adopted at the board’s March 15, 2010 meeting. It includes goals and objectives for the library in the categories of services, products, finances, communications, organizational development and facilities.

Parker asked if the board had any questions about the current strategic plan.

Responding to a query from Nancy Kaplan, Parker noted that the AADL doesn’t do traditional donor development, nor does it have a foundation. Donor development hasn’t been a priority, but it’s something that the board could discuss if they choose to, she said. One issue is that AADL has a stable source of revenue from the millage it levies, while “many of our nonprofit colleagues in town do not,” Parker noted. So the library is sensitive to that.

However, when someone approaches the library and wants to donate, Parker added, of course she meets with them. For example, a family is donating about $18,000 to the library for an endowment fund in honor of a family member who recently died, and the library staff is working with the family to make that happen.

The library’s legal and financial advisors have indicated that $15,000 is the minimum amount that AADL should accept for an endowment, Parker said.

Kaplan posed the hypothetical scenario of someone donating a half-million dollars in exchange for AADL naming a room after that person. Would that be possible? That would be a board decision, Parker replied. She noted that the fireplace area at the Malletts Creek branch is named after a donor. The tree bases inside the Traverwood branch also are named in honor of people whose families donated money.

Ed Surovell reported that when one of the branches was being designed, a potential donor had indicated interest in contributing about $1 million in order to have naming rights to the building. There was disagreement on the board’s part as to whether that was enough money to name a building, he said. It became a moot point because the donation didn’t materialize, Surovell noted, but it’s a legitimate question.

Next Steps: Information Gathering

The final portion of the retreat was facilitated by local consultant Sandra Greenstone, who has played a similar role at previous retreats. She reminded the board that a decade ago, the discussion had centered on a lack of community space in Ann Arbor. Staff concerns had included the fear of losing print books completely, and questions about why the library had added videos to its collection.

Sandra Greenstone, a local consultant who acted as facilitator at the AADL’s Feb. 3, 2014 retreat.

She reviewed information that had been gathered to support decision-making of the strategic plan 10 years ago, including demographics, technology trends, and what was happening in the political and financial spheres. Staff teams had worked to develop reports in each area, which were presented to the board. The library administration also talked with community stakeholders, surveyed patrons, and held large meetings with staff to evaluate strengths and weaknesses of the AADL. There was also a large community-wide meeting to help the board move forward with the strategic plan.

Five years ago, the focus in strategic planning had included technology trends as well as what might happen to the downtown library. [The board ultimately put a bond proposal on the November 2012 ballot to pay for a new downtown library, but that effort was defeated at the polls.]

Now, Greenstone asked how the board wanted to structure its discussion about the future of AADL. She recommended starting with trustees identifying the questions that they had, and the information they needed to gather in order to shape their next strategic plan. What process did they want to use to move forward?

She reviewed AADL’s mission statement, and asked whether it still applied:

The existence of the Ann Arbor District Library assures public ownership of print collections, digital resources, and gathering spaces for the citizens of the library district. We are committed to sustaining the value of public library services for the greater Ann Arbor community through the use of traditional and innovative technologies.

Some new information is already being collected. At its Jan. 20, 2014 meeting, the library board authorized adjusting its budget to include $25,000 for a satisfaction survey of 500-600 library district residents, to be conducted by Lansing-based EPIC-MRA. Last year, the library also commissioned a communications audit by Allerton-Hill Consulting. [.pdf of Allerton-Hill report]  The board has also been receiving statistical information at board meetings over the past few months about library operations, and library managers have been making presentations to the board about various strategic initiatives. Parker said these efforts will help inform development of the next strategic plan, which will begin on July 1, 2015.

Greenstone asked trustees to generate questions regarding what they need to know in order to develop the next strategic plan. Here’s a summary of their responses:

• Who is the library not serving or able to serve – in terms of demographics, or of materials that aren’t available now at the library?
• What kind of context will the library be operating in within the next five years – regarding the broader context of Washtenaw County and southeast Michigan?
• Demographics, including a breakdown of age, education levels, economics, family size, housing. What’s the profile of the library’s users?
• How are the schools changing – in terms of demographics and funding – and how does that impact AADL?
• Does AADL need to do some kind of strategic planning focused on its resources – not collections, but finances, staff and facilities?
• What kind of continuing education does the board need to help inform its decisions? Are there different, better ways that the staff can use the board as a resource?
• Does AADL need more branches, in the context of the overall system and the growing population in townships served by AADL? What’s the role and location of branches? Specifically, Nancy Kaplan noted that the branch in Westgate Plaza doesn’t offer programs, because it’s so small. What kinds of programs and services do people want at the branches, as opposed to downtown?
• How will AADL help address the homeless problem in Ann Arbor, and how it impacts the library?
• What’s the role of the library within the community? How does the library board and administration advocate for what it wants in the community? “We still want to be that ‘third place’ – we still want to be that community center,” Prue Rosenthal said. “We didn’t get the new building to do that, but we still want to be that.” There seemed to be consensus among trustees that the downtown library should be some sort of community “commons.”
• What do the downtown businesses, residents and others who use downtown want from the library? Margaret Leary noted that the type of library building might matter to these groups, for example. “It’s part of the fabric of the downtown,” she said. “An entity that brings 600,000 or 700,000 people downtown matters to people who have businesses downtown. If that entity brought 1.2 million people instead of 600,000, that would matter too.”
• Who uses the downtown library, and how do they use it differently than the branches are used?
• How will the downtown library be affected by dramatic changes around it? The former Y lot across from the library is being purchased from the city by Dennis Dahlmann, though it’s not clear what his plans are for that site. A new Blake Transit Center is being built nearby, and in the future there might be something built on top of the city-owned underground parking structure that’s adjacent to the library. Does the library board and administration have a role in giving input for those sites?

Regarding changes around the downtown library and whether AADL has a role in influencing what happens, Greenstone recalled a previous discussion she had with some of the board members, during which Ed Surovell had said, “We should lead the way.”

At the retreat, Surovell noted that there’s a “very fluid set of players” who are making decisions that impact the downtown, including the city council, DDA board, AAATA, Dahlmann and others. Regarding the sale of the former Y site, Surovell said, “I would have hoped that council would have been more proscriptive” about how that site should be developed.

In general, the city can do whatever it wants, Surovell said. “It may be extremely important for the library to voice its opinions, but we have virtually no muscle. We are not an arm of the city. And we have at times been in conflict with the city – not because we don’t like them, but because our goals are different.” There are people who hope the library would go in a different direction, he added, which “is not surprising – it’s a democracy.”

But as a bottom line, “I think the truth is you don’t know anything right now,” Surovell said, “and whatever might be known to others is not known to you. … Should we speak up? I’d be delighted to say yes. But how?”

Rosenthal said she didn’t think this was something they needed to discuss that night, but it’s something the board needs to explore.

Parker told the board that she felt her responsibility and the board’s responsibility is to advocate for the public library first. “Whatever falls out after that, fine. But that’s the first thing.”

Next Steps: Committee Work

Board members indicated they’d be interested in having more discussions like this, as preparation for developing the strategic plan. Parker noted that as board president, it’s up to Rosenthal to set the agenda for regular meetings or working sessions.

When Greenstone asked about whether there might be a public working session, Parker replied that all board meetings or working sessions are public. Greenstone expressed some confusion about an earlier meeting, and Parker clarified that the meeting Greenstone was referring to had been a committee meeting, and therefore wasn’t open to the public. [AADL board committees consist of no more than three trustees. Because that does not constitute a quorum of the seven-member board, the committee meetings are not subject to the state's Open Meetings Act.]

Greenstone then stated that perhaps at some point the board could consider forming a new committee that would work on developing some of these ideas.

Margaret Leary noted that the information gathering they’d identified falls into two categories. Some of it is simply data that can be researched, like demographic information. Some of it involves asking other people for input and opinions.

Trustees reached consensus that a subset of the board – possibly the existing executive committee or communications committee – should meet to figure out what the process should be, and propose recommendations to the board.

Rosenthal said she’d talk with Parker and the board’s vice president, Barbara Murphy, to figure out what the next steps should be. The board is expected to get an update at its next meeting on Feb. 17.

Present: Rebecca Head, Nancy Kaplan, Margaret Leary, Barbara Murphy, Jan Barney Newman, Prue Rosenthal, Ed Surovell. Also AADL director Josie Parker.

Next regular meeting: Monday, Feb. 17, 2014 at 7 p.m. in the fourth-floor conference room of the downtown library, 343 S. Fifth Ave., Ann Arbor. [Check Chronicle event listing to confirm date]

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One of the “yarn bombed” trees in front of the Pittsfield branch of the Ann Arbor District Library, where the board held its July 15, 2013 meeting. (Photos by the writer.)

Fifteen people spoke during public commentary, a much higher than usual number. About half of the speakers, including several children, were there to earn points in AADL’s summer game, and spoke about their appreciation for the library and for the game in particular. Codes, which can be used to collect points in the game, were given to anyone who showed up to the meeting or spoke at public commentary. Later in the meeting board members received a briefing on the game from Eli Neiburger, AADL’s associate director of IT and product development, who talked about its role in encouraging kids to read and write during the summer months.

The board also was briefed on the recent Kids Read Comics convention, as well as new collections of non-traditional items – like home tools and microscopes.

In his financial report to the board, Ken Nieman, AADL’s associate director of finance, noted that library ended the year about $43,000 under budget for tax revenue. That amount includes $37,000 from tax refunds that AADL had to make to the county and various municipalities throughout the year, following decisions made by local tax tribunals. AADL had expected to make $75,000 of such refunds, but refunds totaled about $112,000 for the fiscal year, which ended June 30.

AADL director Josie Parker highlighted several staff accomplishments during her report to trustees, including news that an anonymous donor has given his classic video game collection to the library. The collection – which will be used for AADL events, but won’t be in circulation – includes cartridges and discs from the 1980s and ’90s, and a few game consoles.

Parker’s own achievement was highlighted by trustee Margaret Leary during the meeting: inclusion in a new collection of essays titled “Library 2020: Today’s Leading Visionaries Describe Tomorrow’s Library.”

During public commentary, Bob Rorke – a consultant working for the Protect Our Libraries political action committee – raised questions about AADL’s decision earlier this year to hire Allerton-Hill Consulting. Referencing excerpts from emails that Protect Our Libraries obtained through a Freedom of Information Act request, Rorke argued that the consulting contract is not a generic communications audit or project – but rather it’s political. He indicated that Allerton-Hill provides political advocacy for the passing of public financing issues, and asked the board to review this contract and determine whether it’s legal under Michigan law.

Public commentary also included thanks from Robb Wolfe, executive director of the Ann Arbor Summer Festival, for AADL’s ongoing support. Other topics raised by speakers touched on the condition of the downtown library, appreciation for events hosted by the library, and a report from the recent American Library Association conference.

The meeting also included a tribute to Karl Pohrt, who died earlier this month. Trustee Ed Surovell, an avid book collector, noted that many people knew Pohrt as the founder and owner of Shaman Drum Bookshop in downtown Ann Arbor. “But he was so much more than that,” Surovell said.

Tribute to Karl Pohrt

At the beginning of the meeting, board members amended their agenda to include an item paying tribute to Karl Pohrt, owner of the former Shaman Drum Bookshop who died on July 10, 2013 after being diagnosed with anaplastic thyroid cancer in October 2012.

With his recent death, Ann Arbor lost a very valuable and valued member of the community, trustee Ed Surovell said. Many people know him as the founder and owner of Shaman Drum, he noted. “But he was so much more than that.”

A plaque on South University honoring Karl Pohrt, whose business – Shaman Drum Bookshop – was located around the corner on South State.

Pohrt was an enormous supporter of childhood literacy and community activities, hosting authors to speak at his bookstore, Surovell said. He was also a major supporter of downtown Ann Arbor, especially the State Street area where his shop was located. There was an enormous outpouring at a July 14 memorial service, Surovell reported, with people representing many generations and aspects of the community.

Margaret Leary, visibly emotional, said that she, Prue Rosenthal and Josie Parker had encountered Pohrt at AADL’s Traverwood branch following last month’s board meeting there. It was likely one of his last outings, she said, and although he was clearly ill, “he was very happy to be in the library, and we were very happy to see him.”

Rosenthal recalled working with Pohrt on the Ann Arbor Book Festival, saying he had been a huge proponent of that. She thanked Surovell for suggesting that the board honor Pohrt through a resolution.

Parker described Pohrt’s work on different projects with parallel missions, like the book festival and the Ann Arbor/Ypsilanti Reads program. He had a gift for working with people, providing the “air” between these projects to prevent them from colliding. He was very quiet and self-effacing, she said, but at the same time “if he needed to, he pushed it – he wasn’t shy about that.”

Surovell noted that this is the only time in the board’s history that they have passed a resolution honoring an individual. The resolution, which Surovell composed extemporaneously at the board table, stated that the board “acknowledged the passing of one of the community’s great citizens. He was such an enormous part of what we, as a library, put forward and of what we all aspire to. We regret deeply his passing. We wish his family well, and hope that his work continues far into the future, and we celebrate all that he added to the community.”

Outcome: The board unanimously passed a resolution honoring Karl Pohrt.

Summer Game

AADL’s summer reading program, which is cast in the form of a game, was the focus of much public commentary, as well as a briefing by Eli Neiburger, AADL’s associate director of IT and product development. The game can be played in print or online, with points awarded for completing certain tasks, like reading a book, writing a review, or attending AADL events. Those points can be redeemed for prizes at the AADL “game shop.”

Summer Game: Public Commentary

Cheryl Orosz introduced herself and her daughter Samantha, describing the two of them as “avid summer game players.” They were attending to get the game points, she said, and to tell the board that they appreciate the opportunity it affords for community building and learning. Everyone in her family plays, she noted. Her husband attended the Townie Street Party that night to collect points, and her other daughter is at another program at AADL’s Malletts Creek branch. Her family has also created badges for other players to earn. It’s a great way to enhance search skills, she noted. “There are real life skills being developed,” Orosz concluded.

A sign with the code for collecting AADL summer game points for anyone who attended the July 15 board meeting at the Pittsfield branch. People who spoke during public commentary could get additional points.

Yingchen Jin said she likes the library a lot “since I don’t have many chapter books of my own, and I love reading.” She likes going to libraries close to her home, and participating in the summer game. She is trying her best to get as many points as she can.

Lydia Valtadoros told the board that she’s 11 years old and attends Slauson Middle School. She liked searching through the library’s catalog to find the codes so that she can earn points. Her 13-year-old brother, Philip Valtadoros, also goes to Slauson. He told the board that he loves the library and the summer game is his favorite program. “It’s like a big incentive for me to read over the summer.” He also likes the online game. He thanked the library for everything it offers.

Manish Venumuddula also liked the online summer game, saying “it’s fun to play the badges.” But it’s weird that some people have already gotten 100,000-point prizes, he said, and he didn’t think that was really possible. “I don’t know how people do it – it’s really hard to get points.”

His brother, Ashish Venumuddula, loved the Pittsfield library because it’s convenient for people who live nearby. He can walk or bike, and it’s very pleasant. He said he didn’t have a complaint about the Pittsfield branch, but he did have a complaint about the downtown library. The kids section there needs more non-fiction books, he said. “Other than that, I love the libraries.”

Elaine Cash expressed her thanks to the staff and board, saying that she and her children enjoy playing the summer games. As the mother of two kids, she’s always looking for activities in a kid-friendly environment, and there are always events going on at the library. “They’re free and always interesting,” she said, and she wanted to thank the board for that.

Summer Reading Game: Update

Eli Neiburger, AADL’s associate director of IT and product development, gave an update on the summer reading game – called Play@AADL – as well as on the Kids Reads Comics convention hosted at AADL in June.

The summer game still includes the classic paper game for elementary and middle school kids, he said. Kids read 10 books, getting stickers after finishing the third book and the eighth book. After they finish all 10 books, they get a real book to keep – courtesy of the Friends of the AADL, and the Scott & Marcy Westerman Fund. They also then get a “badge” and 1,000 points for the online game. The library has teen and adult paper games, too. As of that afternoon, 2,490 people had printed the teen game, and 3,684 had printed the adult game, Neiburger reported.

AADL director Josie Parker’s catfish. Players of the summer game can get points by going to her office and finding the code in the catfish’s mouth. Parker brought the catfish to the July 15 board meeting.

For the online version, players are four weeks into the 11-week game. About 2,800 online players have scored a total of over 20 million points so far. Out of that 20 million, 7 million points have been spent, he said. Points can then be redeemed at the “game shop” for T-shirts, caps, messenger bags and other items.

Points are earned in many ways, including reading, watching media, attending AADL events, volunteering at the library, commenting on an AADL blog post, and more. One way to earn points is by writing reviews, Neiburger said. So it’s not just a summer reading game, it’s a summer writing game too – and none of it is assigned. Kids are choosing to do these things, which is much more powerful, he said. “They’re seeing that writing is a way that you can see value on the Internet – that’s one of the primary things we wanted to help people learn as they play the game.”

There are over 450 game codes available, like those posted on the door to the room for the board meeting that night and at the public speaker’s podium. You can earn 76 different badges, each requiring different actions to complete. As an example, one series of badges is called “Airlines of Inquiry,” featuring now defunct airlines. One badge in the series is called The Line – named after the French airline “la Ligne.” That airline eventually became Aéropostale, “which teenagers are familiar with for a very different reason,” Neiburger joked. [It's the name of a popular clothing store.] It was also the airline that Antoine de Saint-Exupéry worked for as a pilot before he wrote “The Little Prince.” He was inspired to write the book during one of his flights for this airline. There are these kinds of tie-ins to children’s literature all across the game, Neiburger said.

There’s also the “Josie’s Catfish” badge that you get by going to the office of AADL director Josie Parker and finding the code in a stuffed catfish toy that she keeps there. She brought the catfish to the board’s July 15 meeting.

Neiburger also described the Kids Read Comics convention, which AADL hosted for the second year in June. As an all-ages comics convention, it’s unique because most comics conventions are expressly not for kids, he said. In contrast, Kids Reads Comics “is not just for kids, but there’s nothing that isn’t appropriate for kids, and that’s a very, very powerful opportunity.” It was produced by local cartoonist and teaching artist Jerzy Drozd; Dan Merritt, owner of Green Brain Comics in Dearborn; and comic book writer Dan Mishkin, whose work includes the DC Comics characters Amethyst and Princess of Gemworld.

This was the convention’s fifth year, and second year hosted by AADL. Over 900 people attended in the course of the two-day event, with 50 artists set up at tables. Typically artists must pay for their exhibit tables, but AADL doesn’t charge artists or attendees. Because there was no charge, Neiburger said, the event included artists at different points in their careers – including new artists, as well as New York Times bestselling comics authors like Raina Telgemeier and Dave Roman. Ben Hatke, creator of Zita the Spacegirl, came with his 11-year-old daughter Angelica Hatke, who gave a talk together. Events included sessions on how to make comics, how comics are valuable for literacy, and “quick draws,” which Neiburger described as “improv for cartoonists.”

There was also an awards show, with awards like “Best Hair in Comics” and “Special Awards in Featuring Delicious-Looking Food.” Over 540 people cast ballots, with a ceremony in the fourth-floor boardroom of the downtown library. “I hope you won’t take this the wrong way,” he said, “but it was probably the coolest thing that’s every happened in the boardroom.” [The room is where AADL's monthly board meetings are typically held.]

AADL will host the conference again next year, Neiburger reported, although a date hasn’t yet been set. It’s wonderful to see kids reading comics that really push them beyond their literacy levels, he said, because it gives them context they can use to understand the words that might be beyond their reading level.

Josie Parker noted that the Kids Read Comics convention was the AADL’s contribution to the Ann Arbor Book Festival, which didn’t have a separate children’s program this year.

New Collections

Celeste Choate – AADL associate director of services, collections and access – gave an update on the library’s collections of unusual, non-print items. She had given a similar briefing at the board’s Jan. 16, 2012 meeting.

Celeste Choate, standing, talks with Sheila Rice (left) and Lyn Davidge (right) before the start of the July 15, 2013 meeting of the Ann Arbor District Library board at the Pittsfield branch. Choate is AADL’s associate director of services, collections and access.

Choate began by reviewing some of the history of this type of collection, noting that the Ladies Library Association has for many years donated funds to the AADL to buy art books. Currently, there are about 1,500 such books in the collection. The books were so popular that AADL was inspired to start an art print collection, which includes work by local artists. It’s on the third floor of the downtown library, as well as displayed on the library walls. The catalog of prints is online, so that it’s easily searchable.

Given the popularity of the art print collection, over the years the library staff has looked for other non-traditional items to circulate. The collections are listed in “Unusual Stuff to Borrow” on AADL’s website. Choate’s presentation highlighted the newest categories: kids “book clubs to go,” home tools, science tools, and Up for Grabs.

The library has offered adult “book clubs to go” for several years, Choate said, and they’ve now done it for kids too. Each “to go” bag includes 10-12 books, a DVD if the book has been made into a movie, as well as possible discussion questions. It allows parents, teachers and kids to create a book club easily, she said, and enjoy the community experience of talking about books.

The collection of home tools launched in June, Choate reported, and includes a thermal leak detector, an 8-outlet wireless energy meter, and indoor air quality meter. These are items that might be too expensive for most people to buy for a one-time use.

In the science tools collection, the library has added microscopes to its collection of telescopes. The items have been selected for their ease of use, Choate said, and include a stereo microscope and portable digital microscope.

The Up for Grabs category is an attempt to make AADL’s collections more accessible, Choate told the board. A few of the more popular items can be set aside to be available for walk-in patrons only, to give them immediate access. Items in the Up for Grabs category can only be checked out for a week, however. The same items that are in the regular collection and that can be reserved are available for a two-week checkout period. The Up for Grabs items that are offered can vary, giving the staff flexibility in this category. “We’re trying this out to see how this model works,” she said.

Different libraries across the county offer different collections, Choate said, based on their communities. Some libraries have Halloween costumes that can be checked out, for example, or puppets or specialized baking pans. In response to a query from Barbara Murphy, Choate said AADL staff don’t think baking pans would circulate well in this community. AADL director Josie Parker added that there’s another issue – public health standards.

Before adding a collection, the AADL staff thinks about how it would fit within this community, Choate explained, and whether the collection can be sustained.

Choate said the next non-print collection, launching soon, will relate to dinosaurs.

Financial Report

Ken Nieman, AADL’s associate director of finance, HR and operations, gave the monthly financial report. Because the library’s fiscal year ends on June 30, he noted that invoices for the year are still trickling in and the numbers might change slightly from the information in the current report. He told the board that auditors will be doing the audit in September. [.pdf of financial report]

The library has an unrestricted cash balance of $8.019 million, and has received almost 100% of its tax revenue, totaling $11.2 million. The AADL fund balance is $8.2 million.

Three items are over budget for the year ending June 30, he noted: utilities, communications and software. The board made some budget adjustments at its June 17, 2013 meeting based on estimates that turned out to be too low. Nieman said the board will be asked to make additional adjustments to the previous year’s budget at its August meeting for these three line items.

The library ended the year about $43,000 under budget for tax revenue, Nieman reported. About $6,000 of that is from tax revenue that the library hasn’t yet received. The remaining $37,000 is from tax refunds that AADL has made to the county and various municipalities throughout the year, following decisions made by local tax tribunals. AADL had budgeted for $75,000 for those refunds, but that line item is coming in at $112,000 for the year.

There was no discussion among board members about this financial report.

Director’s Report

Josie Parker began her report by noting that the Tribeca Film Institute director has again asked AADL to partner on a project, this time focusing on immigration. The library had previously worked with Tribeca on the national “America’s Music” project. Tim Grimes, AADL’s community relations and marketing manager, and Eli Neiburger, AADL’s associate director of IT and product development, will serve on an advisory group representing public libraries. Parker said she was proud that they had been asked to participate a second time.

From left: AADL trustee Barbara Murphy and library director Josie Parker.

Parker also reported that for years during the week of art fairs, the library has set things up so that no checked-out items are due during that time period – so if you can’t make it to the downtown library because of traffic or a lack of parking, you don’t have to worry about whether the items you checked out are overdue. In addition, any requested item can be picked up at any of the branches, so it’s not necessary to come to the downtown library on South Fifth Avenue, in the heart of the art fairs. The hold period is extended so that items will stay on reserve until after the art fairs are over.

In other news, the library has received two “family favorite” awards from the Ann Arbor Family magazine, Parker reported. The library was voted as having the best “free” activities and the best story hour.

The library also received a certificate of appreciation from the Michigan Prisoner Re-Entry Initiative (MPRI), for AADL workshops given to people re-entering the workforce after prison. Parker cited Ira Lax and Beth Manuel of the AADL staff as being instrumental in that partnership.

Parker told the board about a couple of gifts the library recently received. Elaine Wilson donated a painting she’d made of construction at West Delhi bridge over the Huron River near her home in Dexter. Wilson thought kids would like it, Parker reported, so the painting will eventually be displayed at the Pittsfield branch.

Another gift was made by a donor who wants to remain anonymous. He donated his “classic” video game collection, with the understanding that it won’t be available for library check-out. Parker called it a significant collection.

Responding to a follow-up query from The Chronicle, Eli Neiburger, AADL’s associate director of IT and product development, wrote:

These are mostly cartridges and discs from the ’80s and ’90s, and a few game consoles. They will not be available for checkout. We’ve added this collection to our kit of event equipment and it will be used for our ongoing retro gaming events, open play, and classic game tournaments. Some examples include an extensive collection of Atari VCS (2600) cartridges and controllers, Nintendo and Super Nintendo cartridges, near-complete runs of the Sega Dreamcast and Panasonic / Matsushita 3DO game libraries, and a Nintendo Virtual Boy with all 14 known Virtual Boy games.

This stuff is fun to try and will make for many fun library events yet to come; young gamers get a kick out of our old school ways and it’s also a powerful dose of nostalgia for older players. If it turns out that there’s anything rare in the collection (we’re still going through it), we have the ability to transfer items to the University of Michigan Computer and Video Game Archive or other similar archival/museum collections if those would be better homes for some of the items.

Finally, some work has been done at the downtown library over the past couple of months, Parker said. On the second floor on the former reference side, a few years ago the library installed a “laptop bar” where computer users can plug directly into the library’s Ethernet connection. It’s been very well used, Parker said, so some empty vertical file cabinets were removed and that laptop bar has been expanded with eight new seats. About 10-12 people can now be accommodated there, she said, depending on how close people want to sit next to each other.

After Parker’s report, trustee Margaret Leary highlighted one of Parker’s own recent accomplishments. Joe Janes, a leading educator who formerly taught at the University of Michigan, recently edited a book titled “Library 2020: Today’s Leading Visionaries Describe Tomorrow’s Library.” It’s a collection of 24 commentaries on different subjects about the future of libraries. Parker wrote an essay that’s included in the section on leadership and vision. Leary recommended the book to anyone who’s interested in the future of libraries, and read aloud the first sentence from Parker’s essay: “The library in 2020 will offer a culture of generosity supported by fiscal oversight that reflects rigorous controls and realistic projections.” Leary indicated that this is a philosophy that Parker uses to guide the library now as well.

In response to a query from Barbara Murphy, Parker said the book will be available at AADL but it hasn’t arrived yet. It’s published in print and as an e-book. Parker also noted that the book includes an essay by Peter Morville, who lives in Ann Arbor. His essay is about inspirational architecture, which references public libraries. She noted that in talks he gives on this same subject, his slides include images of AADL’s Traverwood branch.

Committee Reports

The board has six committees: communications, budget and finance, facilities, policy, director’s evaluation and executive. Two of those – communications and facilities – were created as special committees at the board’s Jan. 21, 2013 meeting. On July 15, board members reported that none of the committees had met since the last board meeting, and there were no updates.

Communications & Commentary

The board meetings have two opportunities for public commentary – at the beginning and end of each meeting – as well as time for various communications from the board. In addition to commentary reported above, here are some highlights.

Communications & Commentary: Allerton-Hill Consulting

Bob Rorke continued a topic that he’s spoken about at previous meetings: AADL’s $28,000 contract with Allerton-Hill Consulting.

By way of background, the contract had been announced by Nancy Kaplan, chair of the board’s communications committee, at the board’s March 18, 2013 meeting. It fell under the threshold amount for contracts requiring board approval. The Protect Our Libraries political action committee subsequently filed a Freedom of Information Act request for documents related to the contract, and posted those documents online at the Ann Arbor Area Government Document Repository. Rorke is working as a consultant for Protect Our Libraries. [.pdf of Rorke's written statement, which was read at the AADL board's July 15, 2013 meeting]

From left: Bob Rorke, Doug Jewett and Kathy Griswold, who videotaped the July 15 meeting.

From emails sent and received by board members and AADL director Josie Parker, Rorke traced the origins of the contract to a suggestion from University of Michigan assistant professor Luke Shaefer, who emailed Parker in mid-December of 2012 about Joel Gagne, owner of Allerton-Hill. Shaefer wrote: “My colleague and friend, Joel Gagne, runs a consulting firm that helps public entities communicate more effectively with the public, particularly around tax levies. His firm has a track record of working on campaigns that have resulted in hundreds of millions of additional dollars in public investments.”

Rorke read aloud excerpts from additional email exchanges between Parker and trustee Margaret Leary, who was board president at the time, which indicated that at least some of the conversations with Allerton-Hill were linked to the failed bond proposal. From an email sent to Leary by Parker: “The consultant from Allerton Hill was very blunt about our chances of success anytime in the next couple of years: not possible. I’m hearing that from everyone who wants to talk to me, and I’m listening. It is humbling, but not hopeless.” [Leary also serves on the board's communications committee, along with Kaplan and Ed Surovell. It had been created as a special committee at the board’s Jan. 21, 2013 meeting.]

During the July 15 public commentary, Lou Glorie followed Rorke and read a portion of his written statement, describing references provided by Allerton-Hill to the AADL, which had been included in a January 2013 email. The four references provided by Allerton-Hill were previous clients – including three school systems – that had used the consulting firm on bonding or other voter-related campaigns.

During public commentary time at the end of the meeting, Rorke continued his remarks. He said the hiring of Allerton-Hill was born out of the November 2012 defeat of AADL’s bond proposal to fund a new downtown library, and the initial interest in the consulting firm was for political purposes. The references from clients are all political, he noted.

Rorke argued that the Allerton-Hill consulting contract is not a generic communications audit or project – but is instead a political project. Allerton-Hill provides political advocacy for the passing of public financing issues. He asked the board to review this contract and determine whether it is legal under Michigan law.

In response to Rorke’s final public commentary, Barbara Murphy noted that the guidelines for public commentary indicate that no speaker can address the board more than once on the same topic during the same meeting. She felt that this rule should be followed in the future.

The board’s guidelines for public commentary are:

1. Persons who wish to address the Library Board may reserve time on any regular or special meeting agenda by calling 327-8311 by 5:00 p.m. of the weekday preceding the meeting. Persons who have not reserved time in advance may speak after those who have reserved time.

2. Maximum time for individual speakers will not exceed three minutes.

3. One speaker may yield his/her time to another if both have signed up and both are in attendance at the meeting.

4. No person may speak more than once on the same subject during a single meeting.

5. Citizens’ Comments at special meetings or study sessions will occur at the end of the meeting. Maximum time for individual speakers will not exceed three minutes.

6. Trustees, Director, and Administrators will not answer questions during Citizens’ Comments. The speaker may request a response in writing. Trustees may, with the permission of the Board President, ask a question of a speaker. No dialog will occur.

7. Individuals addressing the Board should take into consideration rules of common courtesy.

Communications & Commentary: Downtown Library

Don Salberg said he was a long-time resident of northeast Ann Arbor. In November 2012, when the library’s bond referendum was put before voters, he noted, one of the issues that the library board raised was the need to do maintenance and upgrades to the downtown building, particularly to the electrical system so that there would be adequate power outlets for people to power their devices. The board had also indicated that there may be some ADA [Americans with Disabilities Act] compliance problems with the elevators, and that the boiler and cooling units might need to be replaced, he said.

It was understood that these issues would be deferred, if there was a possibility that a new library might be built. However, the bond proposal was defeated. So eight months later, he said, he was urging the library to do the necessary maintenance and upgrades to meet the building’s needs that were identified before the vote. He said he is unaware whether any of these projects have been started. He hoped that requests for proposals (RFPs) had been put out to electricians. His understanding now is that the ADA issue might not be a serious problem, and that perhaps the HVAC system doesn’t need to be replaced. If money isn’t available through the operating funds, Salberg suggested using the library’s reserves.

Communications & Commentary: Ann Arbor Summer Festival

Robb Wolfe, executive director of the Ann Arbor Summer Festival, reported that the previous week concluded the festival’s 30th season – a comment that drew applause from the board and others attending the meeting. He thanked the library for its support of the 2013 season, and for the library’s participation. Hundreds of families enjoyed AADL’s Kids Rock concert series at Top of the Park, he said. Hundreds more visited the Kids Zone tent, where library staff and volunteers hosted interactive, hands-on activities with children and their parents. And the Superhero digital art exhibition involved hundreds of kids, projecting images onto Burton Tower.

These projects, along with other workshops held at the downtown library, were admission-free, he noted. “They would not be possible without the library’s generous support.” Wolfe said he thinks of the Summer Festival as a big adventure that allows this community to come together and experience the arts and the world around them. “In many ways, I see that same sense of adventure in the work that the library does,” he said.

Communications & Commentary: Library Events

Anna Onna Solomon, who lives in the Eberwhite neighborhood, recalled that she’d spoken to the board in the past as a new mom, thanking them for all that the library does for new families. She’s the program director for a local autism services agency, and part of its mission is to educate communities throughout Michigan. She and others often give free talks at the library, and one of their goals is to give similar free talks around the state at public libraries in other communities. However, she said, to their shock and surprise they learned that not a lot of communities offer the kind of talks that AADL offers. “I just took it for granted, until I started looking around the state.” She thanked the library for offering that unique service. Solomon also noted that she started playing the summer game, and has enrolled her son as well.

AADL trustees Ed Surovell and Prue Rosenthal.

Donald Harrison commented on a recent event at the library – a screening of the film “Room 237″ about Stanley Kubrick’s “The Shining.” It was a fascinating, fantastic movie, he said. The event, which also featured one of the people interviewed in the film, had a great turnout, he noted. The room filled to capacity, so some people might say that the space was adequate. “But it was one of the most uncomfortable screenings I’ve been to in recent memory.” Harrison said he had to sit sideways, with his neck turned at an angle.

So when talking about capacity, the discussion should include not just the number of seats, Harrison said, but also the quality of the venue. He said he’d think twice about going to a film if there were more than 30-40 people there, because the sight-lines are terrible. The AADL programming is great, but the focus also needs to be on the quality of the experience, he said. “And the summer game is awesome,” Harrison concluded.

Communications & Commentary: American Library Association

Lyn Davidge began by showing the board her badge from the recent annual conference of the American Library Association, held in Chicago. When she worked as a librarian at the University of Michigan, it was a fun custom in her department for people who went to conferences or on vacation to bring back trinkets for other staff members. Since she retired, she’s a very frequent user of AADL, “so you have become, more than ever, my staff here,” she said. Davidge described herself as an AADL board constituent, a taxpayer, and a member of the electorate that put the board in office. So it seemed appropriate to bring back some “goodies” from ALA, she said.

Davidge encouraged board members to attend an ALA conference, if they haven’t done so recently. It’s a great way to experience the big picture and learn about the complex issues facing libraries, she said, and gain insights for possible collaborations among different types of libraries. She stressed that she’s not advocating for an expensive junket for all the board at taxpayer expense. But she hoped that her “goodie packet” would get them thinking about going independently. The packet included a red tag that said “Trustee,” which was distributed at the conference. She also provided information about two ALA divisions: (1) the Public Library Association, and (2) United for Libraries, the division for trustees.

Code Coda

AADL summer game players can earn 500 points for reading this report. The code is the last word in the “New Collections” section of this article.

Present: Rebecca Head, Nancy Kaplan, Margaret Leary, Barbara Murphy, Jan Barney Newman, Prue Rosenthal, Ed Surovell. Also AADL director Josie Parker.

Next meeting: Monday, Aug. 19, 2013 at 7 p.m. at the fourth-floor boardroom of the downtown library, 343 S. Fifth Ave. [Check Chronicle event listing to confirm date]

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Celeste Choate, AADL associate director of services, collections and access, holds up a replica of a fossilized wooly mammoth tooth and a wooly mammoth model – items that are included in Science to Go kits available from the AADL. Choate was giving a presentation on the library's realia collections. (Photos by the writer.)

Among the most popular is AADL’s art print collection, which includes work by local artists, according to Celeste Choate, AADL associate director of services, collections and access. Meter readers to gauge the energy efficiency of home appliances and electronics are also popular.

Science to Go kits are the newest addition to AADL’s realia collection. Each kit focuses on a theme – prehistoric mammals, for example – and contains materials that include books, DVDs, Fandex educational cards, and objects like a replica of a fossilized wooly mammoth molar. The kits have only been available for about a month, but are all checked out, each with a long wait list. The realia collections are listed in “Unusual Stuff to Borrow” on AADL’s website.

Other agenda items for Monday’s meeting were less show and more tell. The board re-elected its current slate of officers for another year, with president Margaret Leary noting that the board faces several important decisions in the coming year – she indicated that continuity of leadership would help the board in that context. Though she did not mention it explicitly, Leary likely was alluding to plans discussed by the board in November to restart the process for determining the future of the AADL’s downtown location.

In a formal address at the start of Monday’s meeting, Leary reviewed the library’s accomplishments for 2011. Among other things, she mentioned the board’s decision to keep its millage rate down, while still balancing its budget. AADL’s millage rate for the current fiscal year is 1.55 mills – below the 1.92 mills that the district is authorized to levy. However, she cautioned that if the state eliminates the personal property tax and no replacement funding is found, the library would lose about $600,000 annually in revenues out of a $12 million budget.

Later in the meeting, the board was briefed by Eli Neiburger, AADL’s associate director of IT and product development, on a draft terms-of-use policy for the library’s website. The decision to develop the policy was driven in large part because of issues related to the library’s digitization of the former Ann Arbor News archives – AADL will be putting a lot of material online for which it doesn’t hold the copyright. The board is expected to vote on the policy at its Feb. 20 meeting.

Also at Monday’s meeting, the board voted to approve a two-year lease renewal with Westgate Enterprises LLC for the location of AADL’s branch at the Westgate Shopping Center, at Jackson and South Maple roads. The annual lease rate is $82,260, beginning Feb. 1.

Election of Officers & President’s Remarks

In the meeting’s first action item, the board re-elected its slate of officers for 2012. The board’s president for a second one-year term is Margaret Leary. Other officers re-elected were Prue Rosenthal (vice president), Barbara Murphy (treasurer) and Jan Barney Newman (secretary). There were no competing nominations, and all the votes were unanimous. Board member Rebecca Head was absent.

Following the election, Leary commented that it’s a good thing to have the same officers in place because the board faces important decisions in the coming year, and it’s nice to have a smooth transition. She indicated her preference to keep the committee membership unchanged as well, but asked board members to contact her if they’re interested in changing committee assignments.

Outcome: The board unanimously re-elected its previous slate of officers. Later, in a separate vote, the board also unanimously approved its 2012 schedule of meeting dates, and will continue to meet on the third Monday of each month.

Before the election, Leary addressed the board, saying it was important to pay attention to what the board and the library accomplished in 2011. She noted that in November, AADL received the Library Journal’s five-star rating for the fourth year, and was the only Michigan library to achieve five stars – the highest possible rating.

In October, board member Ed Surovell had received the Michigan Library Association’s Trustee Citation of Merit, Leary continued. It was awarded for his contributions in promoting library cooperation, working toward state legislation and funding that benefits libraries, and for outstanding work in developing local library services. She read from a statement issued by the MLA: ”One of his contributions has been to push his fellow trustees to break new ground architecturally and programmatically, and to understand the political, financial, historical, and strategic factors when considering a decision, whether the decision is large or small.”

Directing her comment to Surovell, Leary said: “Ed, I hope you’ll continue to push us in that direction.”

AADL board president Margaret Leary was re-elected to another term in that board office at the Jan. 16 meeting. In this photo, she's signing attendance sheets for local high school students who attended Monday's meeting.

Among other awards, Leary cited the four ADDYs for marketing and promotional materials that AADL received in 2011, including a gold award for materials related to AADL’s summer reading program. The awards are given by the Ann Arbor Ad Club.

Leary also highlighted the recognition of associate director Eli Neiburger, named by Library Journal as one of its 2011 Movers & Shakers, in the category of tech leaders.

The Friends of the Ann Arbor District Library have continued their generous support of AADL, Leary said, especially for the summer reading program. In May, the library and FAADL renewed the space use agreement that allows FAADL to operate a bookstore in the lower level of the downtown library building. In June, FAADL’s annual meeting was hosted at the site that the library leases for its digitization project of the former Ann Arbor News archives, she noted. And while the AADL and FAADL are separate organizations, they are building increasingly tight symbiotic relationships that benefit both groups, she said.

In July, Leary noted, AADL director Josie Parker addressed the Ann Arbor city council, a report that included data on the impact of the library’s Fifth Avenue location on the downtown. Parker will continue to participate in discussions at the Ann Arbor Downtown Development Authority regarding downtown development, Leary said. Parker’s involvement helps the AADL board understand those issues, she said, and Parker has a lot to contribute to the DDA discussions.

Leary listed several examples of AADL involvement in national and international projects during the year. Tim Grimes, AADL’s community relations and marketing manager, helped develop a National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH)-funded project titled “Bridging Cultures Bookshelf: Muslim Worlds.” That effort resulted in AADL being selected as one of six libraries chosen to serve as focus groups for the project. Also, Grimes and Neiburger are advisors on another NEH-funded project: “From Bluegrass to Broadway: A Film History of America’s Popular Music.”

Parker was also involved in national and international projects. Leary cited Parker’s participation, by invitation, in a small working group that helped launch the Digital Public Library of America project. Parker was also invited to serve on the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation‘s public access technology benchmarks program, and was asked to speak at the second UNESCO Forum on Culture and Cultural Industries, held in June 2011 in Milan, Italy with the theme “The Book Tomorrow: The Future of the Written Word.”

The board’s own education about library services continued during 2011, Leary said, with presentations from staff on eBooks in April, the Old News project in October, and the Play@AADL game in November.

Regarding the library’s finances, Leary said AADL continues to be a fiscal success – levying less of the millage than it’s authorized to use, running a balanced budget, and getting a clean audit. In May, the board adopted its $12 million budget for fiscal 2011-2012, which kept AADL’s millage rate unchanged at 1.55 mills – below the 1.92 mills that the district is authorized to levy.

Leary gave an example that she said showed how the library is remaining fiscally responsible and alert. In 2004, the library changed the vendor it uses to collect overdue fines. The library’s return on investment for that service is over $7 for every dollar it pays the collection company, she noted. Since 2004, about $600,000 in cash has been recovered, plus more than $100,000 in materials.

The year ended with the board approving labor agreements with two unions representing library staff, Leary reported.

Looking ahead, Leary pointed to the possibility that the state would eliminate the personal property tax, which she said would have a very negative effect on the library. If no replacement funding were found, eliminating the PPT would result in a loss of about $600,000 annually to AADL, she said – or about 5% of its budget.

Leary concluded her remarks by thanking Parker and her husband Robert Parker for their generous financial contribution to the library.[Responding to a follow-up query from The Chronicle, Parker indicated that the contribution – an undisclosed amount – was made in honor of the board and is designated for the Marcy Westerman Fund, which supports youth programs.]

Parker responded briefly, thanking the board on behalf of the administration and staff.

Westgate Lease Renewal

The board approved a two-year lease renewal with Westgate Enterprises LLC for the location of AADL’s branch at the Westgate Shopping Center, at Jackson and South Maple roads. The annual lease rate is $82,260, beginning Feb. 1. That’s unchanged from the current rate, according to AADL director Josie Parker. The new agreement also includes two one-year renewal options.

Known as the West Branch, the 5,900-square-foot library branch has been open there since 1977. It’s the only branch of AADL that operates in leased space.

Margaret Leary clarified with library staff that the lease renewal options mean that if both the owner and the library agree, the lease could remain in place at this rate for a total of four years. AADL director Josie Parker said this is the same agreement the library has had with Westgate for the previous two leasing periods.

Outcome: The board unanimously approved the lease renewal at for the branch at Westgate.

Director’s Report

AADL director Josie Parker’s report focused on upcoming participation by library staff at professional events.

AADL director Josie Parker.

Erin Helmrich, a teen services librarian at AADL, is chair of the American Library Association committee that selects the Michael L. Printz award, given for excellence in young adult literature. It’s an award on par with the ALA’s Newbery Medal and Caldecott Medal awards, Parker said, and the selection committee is a prestigious group. Helmrich is traveling to Dallas this week for the award’s final selection process.

In February, Eli Neiburger – AADL’s associate director of IT and product development – will represent AADL and the U.S. at an upcoming conference in Australia, Parker said. He’ll be giving a presentation on information technology and digital access in public libraries. [Neiburger later clarified for The Chronicle that he'll be giving the talk at VALA, a group originally known as the Victorian Association for Library Automation, which is now an independent nonprofit that conducts tech education and support conferences. He'll also be speaking at the State Library of New South Wales in Sydney. Neiburger noted that expenses for these professional trips are paid for by the conference organizers, not AADL.]

In March, Celeste Choate  – associate director of services, collections and access – and DeAnn Doll, manager of human resources, will be speaking at the Public Library Association conference in Philadelphia. They’ll be on a panel about the development of the next generation of librarians, and talking about a partnership between AADL and the University of Michigan’s School of Information. The library recruits UM students twice a year to fill public library associate (PLA) positions.

Parker said she wanted the board to know that library staff are out there in many ways and many places.

Financial Report

Ken Nieman – AADL associate director of finance, HR and operations – noted that because the board didn’t meet in December, the Jan. 16 meeting packet included financial reports from both November and December. [The board held a special meeting on Dec. 8 to approve labor agreements, but canceled its regular Dec. 15 meeting.]

Nieman focused his brief report on the December financial statement. [.pdf of December 2011 financials] The library’s unrestricted cash balance was about $13 million, and AADL has received about 96% of its budgeted tax receipts. Three items that are over budget are expected to come back in line with the budget by the end of the fiscal year, he said. [AADL's fiscal year runs from July 1 through June 30. The over-budget items are in communications, software licenses and postage.]

Nieman noted that $44,168 in the line item for grants/memorials reflects a donation from the Friends of the Ann Arbor District Library.

Board members had no questions regarding the financial report.

Website Terms-of-Use Policy

Eli Neiburger, AADL’s associate director of IT and product development, briefed board members about a proposed website terms-of-use policy that the board is expected to vote on at its Feb. 20 meeting. [.pdf of draft terms-of-use policy]

AADL director Josie Parker introduced the topic by saying that the need for such a policy reflects the success of the library’s online services. She noted that the policy has been reviewed by the board’s policy committee and the library’s legal counsel.

Eli Neiburger, AADL associate director of IT and product development.

Neiburger described the policy as a fairly standard attribute of corporate websites. It defines the legal relationship between the website’s users and its owner, and is put in place in case there is any problem regarding the website’s use or content.

Users won’t need to click on an “Accept” button to agree to the terms. Recent case law has indicated that if a link to the terms-of-use policy is included in a website’s footer, by simply using the site you are agreeing to be bound by those terms, Neiburger said. The library retains the right to revise the terms, he noted – the document is not set in stone.

Neiburger briefly described the different sections included in the five-page document. The website privacy policy defers to the library’s existing general privacy policy. The content on the site is licensed under the Creative Commons license for non-commercial use. This means that most content is available to use for free for non-commercial purposes – such as educational, personal or research uses. Credit must be given to the library if content is used.

However, the site does include material that is protected by copyright – such as digitized content from the former Ann Arbor News archives. The AADL policy states that the onus is on the user to obtain permission from the copyright holder to use this kind of material.

Other sections of the policy cover guidelines for user-generated content; how copyright complaints will be handled; the policy for website registration, accounts and passwords; issues related to points awarded by the library for its summer reading game and other activities; spamming; external site links; termination of use; disclaimers; and indemnity.

Website Terms-of-Use Policy: Board Questions

Margaret Leary asked whether any aspects of the policy might be considered controversial or unique. Neiburger replied that it’s fairly unique for a library to put its website content into the Creative Commons, and that the item related to library points was also unique because the point-system approach is relatively unique. Also the fact that the policy is brief and clear is somewhat unusual, he said.

Leary asked whether it’s typical for a library to have this kind of policy. It’s typical for corporate sites and large libraries to have a terms-of-use policy, Neiburger said. The decision to develop one for AADL was driven in large part because of issues related to the library’s digitization of the former Ann Arbor News archives, he said, since AADL will be putting a lot of material online for which it doesn’t hold the copyright. Neiburger said that the policy being reviewed by the board differed only slightly from the draft that was prepared by the library’s legal counsel.

Jan Barney Newman, who chairs the board’s policy committee, said the committee was fascinated by the policy’s scope and felt it was important to “get ahead of the game” in implementing this kind of policy. The board anticipates voting on the policy at its Feb. 20 meeting.

AADL Realia Collections

AADL director Josie Parker introduced this agenda item by saying it was prompted by conversations regarding a recent Michigan Radio report on bicycle rentals, which indicated that AADL might start a bike-sharing program. In that context, she felt that the staff should share with the board the types of realia items that the library does circulate, adding “and we don’t circulate bicycles!”

The presentation was given by Celeste Choate, AADL associate director of services, collections and access. Choate noted that the most popular realia collection is the art print collection, which the library has been circulating for over 20 years. Over 500 prints are circulating, and new prints are added every year. Typically 80-90% of that collection is checked out, she said. Each item can be checked out for an eight-week period.

In the past couple of years, the focus has been on acquiring work by local artists, Choate said. It’s possible to search the collection by artist name or the name of the print, or patrons can browse thumbnail images of the prints online.

Another realia collection – of energy meter readers – began with a partnership with the city of Ann Arbor. The city originally gave the library 10 meter readers to distribute, enabling residents to check the amount of energy used by different home appliances. The city later added to the collection to bring the total to 19 meter readers. Most recently, 10 outlet energy meter readers – which resemble a power strip – were added to the collection. [As of Jan. 17, all of the new outlet meter readers were checked out, with 56 holds placed on the items.]

Celeste Choate holds up a set of Fandex cards with information about famous painters.

Choate said that in the context of the library’s strategic plan, staff began thinking about how they could increase current realia collections – the art prints and energy meter readers – as well as adding different items that would address the library’s strategic goals of serving the needs of educators and students.

She highlighted some of the newest additions to the collection, including Brain Quest and Fandex educational cards. The 22 Fandex sets include information on dinosaurs, painters, birds, Washington D.C., Africa, the Civil War and a range of other topics. There are 20 Brain Quest sets available, on topics ranging from math and reading basics to general quizzes that “challenge the mind.”

The library also recently added new Science To Go kits to its realia collection. The kits are an outgrowth of Stories to Go kits that were started several years ago with funding from Pfizer, Choate said.

Each Science to Go kit has a theme – prehistoric mammals, for example – with supporting materials that include books, DVDs, Fandex cards, and objects like a replica of a fossilized wooly mammoth tooth and a small-scale model of a wooly mammoth.

Seven topics are available, with two identical kits per topic. They’ve proven to be popular – all kits are checked out, with multiple holds on each, Choate said.

AADL Realia Collections: Board Questions

Jan Barney Newman asked if the AADL staff puts together the science kits. Yes, Choate said. For example, AADL librarian Jody Harnish compiled the materials used in the life cycles kit, which includes examples – preserved in lucite blocks – of bean germination, dragonfly development and other life cycles. Those materials were purchased separately, but Harnish decided what should be included in the kit. AADL director Josie Parker noted that Harnish was also the librarian who designed the popular exhibit of Cecropia moth caterpillars this summer. Kids and families would return to the Traverwood branch multiple times to watch the caterpillars grow through their life cycle, she said.

In response to a question about how the items in the kits are tracked, Choate said that each kit contains a tag that lists all of the items in the kit.

Prue Rosenthal said she was curious about the art prints. What kind of people check out the prints – are they primarily students? Choate replied that a range of people are interested in the prints, including students but also families and businesses. Newman noted that the art print collection was started by the Ladies Library Association.

Barbara Murphy asked about the renewal policy. Choate explained that art prints can’t be renewed, but they circulate for a longer period – eight weeks. Generally, though, there’s no limit to renewals unless other patrons have reserved the item.

Margaret Leary asked Choate to comment on what kinds of realia collections work well for the library, and what might not work. One criteria would be what users want to borrow, for example. Leary ventured that another criteria might be whether the library’s existing infrastructure would support circulation of the collection. However, Leary speculated that some items – like lawnmowers, for instance – wouldn’t be something the library would want to circulate.

Cost is one factor, Choate replied, including how often someone might purchase the item themselves, or how often they might use it. Is it a high-cost item that someone might want to try first, before they buy it – or need to use only one time?

Another factor is how easily the library can move the item through its existing circulation system, including how many copies the library would need and how much space would be required for storage. It sounds mundane, Choate said, but the library isn’t equipped, for example, to provide lawnmower storage. Parker added other factors, including maintenance, parts replacement and how often items are broken.

As for circulation infrastructure, Choate said the goal is that it won’t take longer to check out realia than it does to check out a book or DVD. That’s why the library isn’t circulating chemistry sets, she joked.

Leary said that an item’s potential to do harm might be another consideration, in the context of liability to the library.

Nancy Kaplan asked whether the Science to Go kits are being requested by educators. Choate said the kits have been available starting only about a month ago, so she’s not sure that many teachers know about them yet. One kit per topic is located at the downtown branch, and the second copies of the kits are distributed throughout the branches. For the Brain Quest and Fandex cards, one set of each is available at each branch.

Several board members praised the staff’s efforts, and the board gave Choate a round of applause.

Closed Session Set

At the end of each monthly meeting, the AADL board typically votes to schedule a closed session at its next month’s meeting. On Monday, board members voted to hold a closed session at its Feb. 20 meeting for the purpose of getting the opinion of legal counsel.

Present: Nancy Kaplan, Margaret Leary, Barbara Murphy, Jan Barney Newman, Prue Rosenthal, Ed Surovell. Also AADL director Josie Parker.

Absent: Rebecca Head

Next meeting: Monday, Feb. 20, 2012 at 7 p.m. in the library’s fourth floor meeting room, 343 S. Fifth Ave. [confirm date]

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