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HomeMy WebLinkAbout10/08/2025 Minutes e Ti and Public Librar Member of g y Washington County Serving the public since 1963 Cooperative Library Services Tigard Public Library Board Minutes—October 08, 2025 1. BOARD MEETING A. At 6:30 p.m. Board Chair Ristau called the Tigard Public Library Board Meeting to order. B. Chair Ristau called the roll. Present Absent Mary Bogert Candice Coleman ✓(left at 7:15pm) Lili Diaz ✓(virtual) Pam Michael ✓ Kate Ristau (Chair) ✓ Jenny Stoffel (Vice-Chair) ✓ Jessica Lin (Alternate) V(virtual) Abe Manion (Alternate) ✓ C. Call to Board and Staff for Non-Agenda Items. i. Board Chair Ristau called to discuss Banned Books Week. ii. Council Liaison Shaw called to notify the board about the McDonald Street Improvements Community Open House 10/15/25 between 5-7pm at the library. This is an opportunity to share ideas and provide comment to the project team on improvements you would like to see on McDonald Street. 2. PUBLIC COMMENT A. Follow-up to Previous Public Comment: None B. Public Comment—Written: None C. Public Comment— In Person: None D. Public Comment— Phone-in or Video: None 3. APPROVE MINUTES A. Board Member Coleman moved to approve the Library Board minutes for the September 10, 2025 meeting. The motion was seconded by Board Member Bogert, and the motion passed unanimously. TIGARD PUBLIC LIBRARY BOARD MINUTES —Wednesday, October 08, 2025 — Page 1 of 7 13500 SW Hall Boulevard, Tigard, Oregon 97223 • 503.684.6537•TPLcommentsntigard-or.gov•www.tigard-or.gov/Ilbrary 4. ICEBREAKER Library Director Bernard asked everyone in attendance the icebreaker question: What's a new routine or habit you'd like to start this month to feel more connected to the season? 5. MEET THE TEAM Our "Meet the Team" guest was Hilary Robbeloth, Acquisitions Supervisor in Technical Services. Robbeloth described acquisitions as the process of where a library item starts. She said that acquisitions includes purchasing library materials and making a bibliographic record in our library system at the point of purchase. These steps work to reflect the purchase in the budget and in the catalog system for patrons so they can place a hold prior to the item entering the collection physically and being ready for checkout. From this process, information can be gathered to make purchase decisions. For example, if a lot of patrons are placing holds on a particular book, the library can purchase additional copies for the collection. Robbeloth added that a big component of acquisitions is building relationships with vendors. She also works a lot with cataloging librarians and selection librarians who are part of acquisitions processes. "Buying books and describing books" is how Robbeloth succinctly describes acquisitions and cataloging. Library Director Bernard asked Robbeloth if there is anything that is not obvious about the acquisitions process that she enjoys. Robbeloth answered that she enjoys being able to gain a broad overview of what the community is interested in and has a view of the pathways that people are using to learn. She said there is a large and diverse set of interests in the community, and she can also see how these interests change over the course of a year. Vice-Chair Stoffel asked Robbeloth how she decides which formats to purchase. Robbeloth replied that there is a large team of selection librarians who are looking at what patrons want to use, that she pays attention to available technology, and analyzes what is popular with Tigard patrons. She added that not every publisher or production company will sell to a library, so we aren't always able to purchase everything we would like to. Board Chair Ristau asked how the systems Tigard Public Library/WCCLS have in place are working for cataloging and acquisitions. Robbeloth said that Ingram is our main vendor and that they use EDI. She would like Ingram to institute API as it's a more streamlined purchasing process. She added that API is more complicated IT wise to set up, but that it is very nice once it's set up. Board Member Manion asked if Ingram has a roadmap in place for API. Robbeloth said no. Board Member Coleman asked Robbeloth where books are purchased from and how many places there are that libraries can buy books from. Robbeloth said that Ingram is our primary vendor and a major distributor for public libraries. With the closure of Baker &Taylor (another library vendor) Ingram basically has a monopoly. Robbeloth went on to list other vendors that the Tigard Public Library uses including Blackstone Publishing for books on CD and large print TIGARD PUBLIC LIBRARY BOARD MINUTES —Wednesday, October 08, 2025 — Page 2 of 7 13500 SW Hall Boulevard, Tigard, Oregon 97223 • 503.684.6537•TPLcommentsCtigard-or.gov•www.tigard-or.gov/library format books. Additionally, Thorndike & CenterPoint Publishing, Amazon, and EBSCO are also used. Robbeloth said that the benefit of using multiple vendors is to increase what we can get, including more diverse voices. Board Member Manion asked Robbeloth if there are any content deserts in the collection she wants to fill since she has a broad overview of what the community wants. Robbeloth answered that she doesn't have a good idea of the languages being purchased, what's needed, and how to advertise it. She said there are a lot of different languages in the community but that it can be hard to find publishers that are publishing materials in these languages. She would like to find solutions to this. POLICY REVIEW A. LIBRARY POLICY: Interlibrary Loan Policy (Last Approved: May 08, 2024) I. Director Bernard shared an overview of updates made to the policy. She also told the board to expect more changes with the ILL policy as centralization of this service to WCCLS moves along. 1. The one significant change is that the limit of five ILL requests and checkouts has been reduced. In order to better manage resources, WCCLS is limiting interlibrary loan (ILL) requests to 5 at a time. The limit will apply from the time a request is made until the item is returned to a WCCLS library. 2. Other updates include a fixed link, an update to patron library account status stipulations, and formats of materials not available through ILL. II. Board Member Michael asked what kind of effect, if any, the cessation of overdue fines has had on books being returned. Director Bernard said that the data shows no appreciable difference. Director Bernard added that ILL is different because we are borrowing materials from libraries outside of WCCLS through this service. III. Councilor Shaw asked what types of materials are requested. Confidential Executive Assistant, Ledja Johansson who was formerly the Senior Library Assistant managing ILL, said that a very diverse mix of content is requested. Readers Services Manager, Amber Bell added that research items outside of the collection scope of a public library (e.g., research materials) and formats not owned by WCCLS are common requests. IV. Board Member Bogert asked how much the service is used. Johansson said that it's a well-used service with thousands of requests coming in requiring a dedicated staff person to manage the number of requests. For fiscal year 24/25, 1498 ILLs were requested and 1398 were received at Tigard Public Library. TIGARD PUBLIC LIBRARY BOARD MINUTES —Wednesday, October 08, 2025 — Page 3 of 7 13500 SW Hall Boulevard, Tigard, Oregon 97223 • 503.684.6537•TPLcommentsCtigard-or.gov•www.tigard-or.gov/library V. Board Member Coleman asked when the new WCCLS ILL policy went into effect. Johansson said it went into effect July 31, 2025. Director Bernard said that we are updating the Tigard Public Library ILL policy at this time to align with the new WCCLS ILL policy. VI. Board Member Coleman asked if ILLs are different than holds placed on WCCLS items. Director Bernard explained that they are different and that ILL items come from libraries outside of WCCLS. vii. Board Member Lin brought a correction to the attention of the board. This sentence in paragraph two of the policy is redundant and should be removed: "Members of the Passport program and those with Limited Borrowing privileges are not eligible for ILLs." VIII. Board Chair Ristau opened the floor to discuss approving the policy with corrections. Board Member Bogert moved to readopt the policy with the noted corrections that will be brought back to the board at the next meeting for approval. Vice-Chair Stoffel seconded the motion. The motion was approved unanimously. B. ALA POLICY: The Freedom to Read Statement (Last Reviewed: September 14, 2022) I. Director Bernard discussed how the freedom to read is an underpinning of what we do in libraries. In libraries, there is something for everyone and patrons have the freedom to choose what is not for them. Director Bernard commented that the free exchange of ideas is central to our democracy and essential to our society. She said we are bringing this policy to the board for review to give them the opportunity to reflect on how to interact with the statement and communicate this with the community. II. Vice-Chair Stoffel moved to endorse and reaffirm the policy. Board Member Michael seconded the motion. The motion passed unanimously. 6. DIRECTOR'S REPORT SPECIAL DIRECTOR'S REPORT: 2026-2031 LIBRARY STRATEGIC PLAN (Amber Bell, Readers Services Manager) Bell gave an historical overview of the current 2021 strategic plan, said it's been an active document that is well-used by the library, and shared several key accomplishments the Tigard Public Library has made using the plan. Board Chair Ristau and Councilor Shaw complimented the library on how much the library has been able to achieve. Bell said that we have an amazing library team and a supportive community. Bell outlined the process for the new 2026-2031 Library Strategic Plan as revising the mission statement to be succinct and describe who we are and what we do based on our values and TIGARD PUBLIC LIBRARY BOARD MINUTES —Wednesday, October 08, 2025 — Page 4 of 7 13500 SW Hall Boulevard, Tigard, Oregon 97223 • 503.684.6537•TPLcommentsCtigard-or.gov•www.tigard-or.gov/library how we approach our work and to update the objectives and actions to the work we see needed going forward. The plan to execute the drafting of the next library strategic plan is to create a steering committee, decide on engagement activities, gather input (e.g., intercept surveys and focus groups), and use the input to create the new strategic plan. Once drafting begins, it will be brought back to the board and there will be opportunities to review and ask questions. The goal for the timeline is to conduct engagement activities and draft the mission and values in the fall, develop draft documents in the winter, and by May 2026 have some final drafts for the board to review and approve. July 2026 will be when the 2026-2031 Library Strategic Plan goes into effect. Bell said that it would be ideal to have a member of the board on the steering committee. The committee will meet regularly every other week during a weekday. Aside from the committee, there will be a lot of other opportunities to participate in the process by helping with engagement activities and reviewing draft documents. Board Chair Ristau asked Bell what she thought we learned from the previous strategic plan process that will help us with the approach for this one. Bell said that common feedback she receives is that the current plan is alive and connected to the work we do and that this makes the actions achievable. For the current plan, we directly used the input we received without altering it too much so we should continue with what was successful last time. This time around there will be broader input because the library will not be closed due to the pandemic like it was during the previous process. Board Member Michael asked if the current strategic plan was the first. Bell said no and that they are always 5-year plans. Vice-Chair Stoffel asked what the biggest challenge of creating the strategic plan is. Bell responded that serving the whole community is the biggest challenge. Councilor Shaw asked if all the strategic plans are on the City of Tigard website. Bell said she thinks only the current one. Vice-Chair Stoffel asked what the time commitment is for participating in the process. Bell described the time commitment and instructed the board to let Johansson know if they are interested in participating and what level of involvement they can contribute. The board was impressed with the library's achievements of the current strategic plan and hopes the library celebrates these wins. Director Bernard said that we will possibly have a celebration to say goodbye to the current strategic plan and welcome in the new. She added that the current plan was a labor of love and that in times of uncertainty it is a document we can look to as a north star to stay grounded in the library's purpose. She said she is excited for the board to participate in creating the next plan. TIGARD PUBLIC LIBRARY BOARD MINUTES —Wednesday, October 08, 2025 — Page 5 of 7 13500 SW Hall Boulevard, Tigard, Oregon 97223 • 503.684.6537•TPLcommentsCtigard-or.gov•www.tigard-or.gov/library Director Bernard shared a few notes on city business for the Board: • Last Wednesday, Deputy City Manager Emily Tritsch notified all employees that City Manager Brent Stockwell will be unexpectedly out for some time. DCM Tritsch will serve as Acting City Manager during Brent's absence. Chief McDonald will serve as Acting Assistant City Manager. • Last night there was an eventful City Council meeting, with the following updates: o City Council proclaimed this week Banned Books Week in Tigard. Members of our Library Board and our Friends of the Library board were in attendance. o Council also passed a resolution in support of the county's library levy, which will be on the November 4th ballot. o Council also approved the SEIU collective bargaining agreement for 2025-2028. 36 of our 48 employees are represented by the union. o And last but not least, Council appointed Tigard's next Mayor. Mayor-Select Hu will serve the rest of Former Mayor Lueb's term, ending in December 2026. • Our Council will move forward with board and committee interviews this weekend. As a result of these interviews, new Library Board members will join us in January. Director Bernard also shared some updates on our building and grounds: • The roofing replacement project should wrap up later this month. • HVAC upgrade: o The trees have been removed to make space for the larger area needed for the enclosure for HVAC equipment. o We still do not have exact dates or length of time for the closure of the Library, which we are now expecting in early 2026. Our focus will be to provide some library services in other city spaces, which will not support 64 hours/week. • And a happy construction update: Our little blue playhouse has been constructed in the library courtyard, as a memorial for Kari Kunst. Woodchips have been put down, and the house is open for play. Next, we will work with Aaron to create some memorial signage that will be posted on the playhouse. Director Bernard shared the following staffing updates: • Teresa Ferguson's last day is October 17. After nearly 18 years at Tigard, she is retiring and moving to Portugal. • Sophia Duberg resigned. On-call librarians will be filling in while we recruit for a YS Bilingual Librarian. TIGARD PUBLIC LIBRARY BOARD MINUTES —Wednesday, October 08, 2025 — Page 6 of 7 13500 SW Hall Boulevard, Tigard, Oregon 97223 • 503.684.6537•TPLcommentsCtigard-or.gov•www.tigard-or.gov/library • Second round interviews were held for the 20-hour Circulation Library Assistant position on 9/30. And finally, Director Bernard shared the following outreach and WCCLS updates: • Our busy, busy team (with Jeanne at the helm) has been to the Lions Club, the Street Fair, the Farmers Market, the Committee for Community Engagement, CFT Elementary, and Twality Middle School. We engaged with 1,414 people at outreach visits in September. • Ever-growing social services support and referral interactions reached 127 interactions in September. • Tigard utility bills sent between mid-September and mid-October will contain inserts with information on the local option levy. 7. NON-AGENDA ITEMS Chair Ristau thanked City Council for supporting the Banned Books Proclamation. 8. ADJOURNMENT At 7:44 p.m. Chair Ristau adjourned the meeting. Prepared by: Ledja Johansson Approved as edited on: December 10, 2025 TIGARD PUBLIC LIBRARY BOARD MINUTES —Wednesday, October 08, 2025 — Page 7 of 7 13500 SW Hall Boulevard, Tigard, Oregon 97223 • 503.684.6537•TPLcommentsCtigard-or.gov•www.tigard-or.gov/library