Thread by @adamadonaldson

Here we go again! Get ready for this month's Guelph Public Library Board meeting. guelphpolitico.ca/2023/02/21/mee…

Chair Ellery calls the meeting to order.

Approval of Agenda passes unanimously.

Consent agenda? Cllr Goller asks to pull the Service Capacity Scorecard Report.

I apologize, but I'm following the meeting online and it's incredibly hard to hear what's going on. Might have to reboot, but in case it's not me, there will be some disjointed coverage of this one.

The consent agenda is passed, so we're moving on to the election of 2023 board exec: President, 2 vices, and secretary-treasurer.

Ellery, Williamson, and Webb will remain as president and the 2 vices respectively.

Webb also volunteers to chair the governance committee, which will look at governance concerns for the library and the board. Bang Ly will be the rep to the Friends of the Library group.

Member Renganathan Sadagoban has also volunteered to be the GPL board representative to the Ontario Library Association.

Next, Rupinder Chatha, Project Manager, has an update about the main library project. Breaking news: groundbreaking is planned for sometime in early April.

Question: What will city council be "weighing in" on if the tender come in over budget. This is reference to a Guelph Today article about the situation. Chatha says they will probably go back to concept and staff will review it item by item.

Will they have to scale back? CEO Kraft adds that's questions will be asked about next steps and that will involved discussions with the construction manager to try and keep it in the approved budget

Kraft notes that there is a fundraising plan, so they will also be looking to finance in terms of those options too if the project comes back over-budget. He also hasn't ruled out the possibility of grant money becoming available.

Motion to receive the report passes unanimously.

Next: 2022 Annual Review by deputy CEO Dan Evans.

Eliminating fines re-opened the doors to 7,000 new patrons, Atkins says. 1.8 m visits in-person and online in 2022, 61% of cardholders borrowed one of the 2.1 million items borrowed.

Atkins says that the hope is that March Break will see a return to pre-pandemic use patterns (they've been seeing a near universal return to pre-pandemic foot traffic).

Fun fact: the largest number of library card holders, per ward, is in Ward 6.

Someone asks if they should start looking at a bigger Ward 6 branch, and Atkins says that there's definitely growth in the area, and that will be a topic on conversation when the library starts reviewing strategic objects. Make a note for 2024.

Physical borrowing went up last year, and Atkins credits that to the elimination of fines. Also, many popular authors waited to release new material until the pandemic was under control, so a lot of big titles in 2022.

About half of all borrowing takes place at the main library with the other half going to the five other branches. Guelph has one of the highest active borrowers per capita in Ontario.

Vice-chair Williamson asks if Atkins knows off hand how much Guelph grew in last last year, wants the context for the 10% year-over-year growth at GPL. (According to this source, #Guelph grows 2% annually.) worldpopulationreview.com/world-cities/g…

Economic impact? The value of all (physical) borrowed items in 2022 was nearly $61 million, the value of online tools is $7.2 million and $361k for community activities. That's a saving of $790+ for every resident or $11 for every municipal dollar spent.

Can this information be shared with the public in an interesting way? Kraft says they're working on a comms plan now.

Next, 2022 Year In Review, which is different from the last report because it's for the public. Look for the library to release it sometime this week.

Kraft says that he sees more families coming back to the library, and that they're staying longer and playing games.

Last item, CEO’s 2023 Work Plan. Kraft says this goes along with the refreshed 2023-2024- Strategic Directions for Guelph Public Library. There are now four goals, which Kraft says is much more manageable.

Equitable access to digital services is one of the goals, and they're check with various services in the community on that. They will also be making efforts to meet the expectations of library users and getting feedback. (Want to make sure they're getting stuff wants to borrow.)

They're also looking at how to best make a more diverse and inclusive both in the building and in the collection, and Kraft says that they will be looking at strengthening community partnerships.

Marking archives a central part of the new main library, Kraft will be talking to the clerks office about setting that up. The facilities master plan is also part of the work plan.

Goller asks if that would include acquiring new space for branches. Kraft says no, the facilities plan is more granular than that - does a branch need a new coat of paint or something. The library master plan will look at real estate.

Fundraising? They're having monthly meetings about that, and there will be some information about the plan coming to the board soon.

The full 2023-2024- Strategic Directions for Guelph Public Library can be found here:
guelphpl.ca/en/about-us/re…

Kraft is asked of there were any plans to mark GPL's 140th this year. He says there will be some flags outside, and there will be other opportunities. It's important to mark the birthday as one of the first, if not the first, public library in Ontario.

Under new business, Ellery notes that the exec discussed how to incorporate the pre-contact First Nations story into the new library, which is tough because there was not one Nation that lived in the Guelph area. Ellery says it's still important to have those deets.

Ellery adds that Kraft has had some good conversations with Windmill, the developer of the Baker Street project, will honour Indigenous heritage.

Ellery also says that they need to look at how to handle the transition for users from marginalized communities who might feel uncomfortable when the library moves into its new space in the next couple of years.

On future meeting times, there seems to be some confusion about who got the Doodle Poll and what it was in aid of. Those who responded to the poll said the Monday and Thursday of the third week of the month were the best options.

After a lot of back and forth, it seems like we agree that the last Monday of the month is going to be the new home for the monthly meeting starting March!

So the next meeting is March 27. For now, that's the end of this Library Board meeting!

@threadreaderapp, unroll please!