05/11/2022 - Minutes Member of
Tigard Public Library Washington County�
Serving the public since 1963 cooperative Library Services
www.wccls.org
Library Board Minutes
MEETING DATE/TIME: Wednesday, May 11, 2022 6:30 p.m.
MEETING LOCATION: Virtual Teams Meeting with phone bridge for public listening.
1. CALL TO ORDER:
Chair Mary Bogert called the meeting to order at 6:32 p.m.
2. ROLL CALL
Members Present: Christopher Allen, Mary Bogert, Candice Coleman, Shirley
Edwards, Jim Mer, Elena Knepprath (arrived at 6:34)
Member Excused: Kate Ristau
Alternate Present: Alan Smith
Alternate Excused: Helen Allen
Council Liaison Excused: City Council President Heidi Lueb
Teammates Present: Halsted Bernard, Director of Library Services
Diana Sperstad, Library Assistant—Tech Services
Margaret L. Reh, Confidential Executive Assistant
3. APPROVE LIBRARY BOARD MINUTES
The minutes from the April 13, 2022 Tigard Public Library Board meeting were reviewed.
No changes were suggested. Motion by Shirley Edwards. Second by Chris Allen to approve
the April 13, 2022 minutes as written. Motion was approved unanimously. The minutes
will be posted on the City website.
Allen — Aye Bogert —Aye Coleman — Aye
Edwards — Aye Mer—Aye Knepprath —Absent for vote
Ristau — Absent
4. AGENDA ADDITIONS, DELETIONS,AND FOLLOW-UP ITEMS
There were none.
S. ICE BREAKER
The question put to the Board this month was "Do you have a favorite restaurant? What
makes it your favorite?" We learned that we enjoy a wide variety of dietary preferences.
Tigard Public Library Board MINUTES — Wednesday, May 11, 2022
Tigard Public Library 1 13500 SW Hall Blvd.,Tigard,OR 97223 1 503.684.6537 1 www.tigard-or.gov I Page 1 of3
6. MEET THE TEAM: DIANA SPERSTAD, LIBRARY ASSISTANT-TECHNICAL SERVICES
Diana Sperstad has been with the Tigard Public Library forjust over a year, but she is no
stranger to libraries. Diana has over 22 years of experience working in libraries, and her
love for libraries is contagious. She especially loves working with our Library of Things
(LOT) collections. Library Board Member Elena Knepprath asked if we could have a sneak
peek at the LOT items that Diana is working on that haven't quite made it out to the
public, and Diana was happy to give the Board a behind the scenes tour.
7. LIBRARY PUBLIC POLICY DECOMMISSION DISCUSSION
Decommission the Reference Services Policy
Over the course of reviewing our policies, we discovered that we have not been using our
Reference Services policy as a training tool or as a document to support our interactions
with patrons. There is no comparable policy at other libraries such as Seattle Public Library
and Multnomah County Library. Also, the approaches to reference technologies (such as
fax, chat reference, etc.) change over time, and it seems unnecessary to continually update
them in this document. The necessary items within this policy are covered elsewhere in
other policies or other internal procedure documents.
The Library Board discussed this background and the choice to decommission the
Reference Services policy. A motion was made by Jim Ivler and seconded by Shirley
Edwards to approve the decommissioning of the Reference Services policy. Motion was
approved unanimously. This policy has been decommissioned.
S. RECAP OF JOINT CITY COUNCIL/LIBRARY BOARD MEETING
Library Board Chairperson Mary Bogert thanked Library Board Member Candice Coleman
for the great job she did in preparing the PowerPoint presentation. Bogert also thanked
Library Board Members Elena Knepprath, Kate Ristau, and Library Board Alternate Helen
Allen for their delivery of information to the Council. Director Bernard stated that she is
always impressed with the quality of the Library Board's presentations to Council.
9. DIRECTORS REPORT
Director Bernard presented the Director's Report, which contained updates on library
services and programs. Director Bernard also mentioned the numerous intellectual
freedom stories that have been in the news lately, and she stated that the Board will be
reviewing some new and updated policies this year that intersect with this topic. Director
Bernard offered to send the Board some resources they can use to prepare for upcoming
conversations.
Tigard Public Library Board MINUTES —Wednesday, May 11, 2022
Tigard Public Library 1 13500 SW Hall Blvd.,Tigard,OR 97223 1 503.684.6537 1 www.tigard-or.gov I Page 2 of3
Of note this past month:
The Tigard Public Library team answered at least 3,102 questions at the reference desks
in April, which is 70% of our interactions compared to April of 2019. The Library continues
to make progress towards pre-pandemic levels of service.
Due to the significant increase in COVID exposures and positive cases in our Library team,
we instituted a mask requirement for all City employees and volunteers in the Library
building beginning Tuesday, May 10th through the end of the day on Monday, May 23rd.
Young Adult Librarian Lisa Elliott, Youth Services Supervisor Kari Kunst, and Readers
Services Manager Amber Bell created a job posting for a summer teen intern position
funded by a grant received from the State Library of Oregon. Recruitment for our first-
ever summer teen intern has begun.
The ID Workshop on Wednesday, April 20 hosted by Tigard Public Library in partnership
with the Tigard Chamber of Commerce's Leadership Tigard Cohort, Tigard Police
Department, and Just Compassion of East Washington County helped 19 community
members get tools they need to obtain a state-issued identification card.
10. OTHER BUSINESS
Pre-COVID the Board would typically take a month off during the summer. The question
was proposed to the group if they wanted to meet or take a month off, as was the previous
practice. Since there will be a few members who already know they will be absent, the
consensus of the group was to take the month of July off. The Board will not meet on July
13, 2022.
11. ADJOURNMENT
Chair Mary Bogert adjourned the meeting of the Tigard Library Board at 7:28 p.m.The next
meeting is scheduled for Wednesday, June 8, 2022 at 6:30 p.m. Our meetings will continue
to be virtual until city management transitions our boards and committees to hybrid
meetings.
Minutes submitted by:
Date approved: Wednday, July 13, 2022
Tigard Public Library Board MINUTES —Wednesday, May 11, 2022
Tigard Public Library 1 13500 SW Hall Blvd.,Tigard,OR 97223 1 503.684.6537 1 www.tigard-or.gov I Page 3 of3