Yazmin Mehdi: I haven't see. Oh, there it goes. OK.
Yazmin Mehdi: All right everyone, it is now 11:00. We have a quorum and I'd like to call
Yazmin Mehdi: this meeting of the regular meeting of the Seattle Public Library Board of
Yazmin Mehdi: Trustees to order. Our meeting today has a packed agenda,
Yazmin Mehdi: so I will do my best to keep us moving so we can finish within our 90.
Yazmin Mehdi: 90 minutes. This may be the meeting that offsets our
Yazmin Mehdi: very quick first two meetings of the year. So the first thing we have to do is we
Yazmin Mehdi: need to approve our agenda. And I just want to note that we need to
Yazmin Mehdi: correct Rick Sheridan's last name in.
Yazmin Mehdi: Item E2A to include the D, but with that amendment,
Yazmin Mehdi: can I hear a motion to approve the agenda?
Faith Pettis: So moved.
W Tali Hairston: 2nd.
Yazmin Mehdi: All in favor, please say aye or raise your hand.
W Tali Hairston: OK.
Faith Pettis: I.
Yazmin Mehdi: OK, that is unanimous from those of us
Yazmin Mehdi: present. As noted at the top of the agenda,
Yazmin Mehdi: the Library Board's accepting public comment that is directed to matters on
Yazmin Mehdi: the agenda by e-mail in person at the Central Library and in this remote
Yazmin Mehdi: meeting.
Yazmin Mehdi: Amy, is there any public comment today?
Hybrid Meeting Cart 01: There is no one at the Central Library and no one signed up in the Q&A.
Hybrid Meeting Cart 01: However, the Library Board did receive one written
Hybrid Meeting Cart 01: public comment from Hyun Park regarding security services at the library,
Hybrid Meeting Cart 01: and all trustees did receive that e-mail message.
Hybrid Meeting Cart 01: Yeah.
Yazmin Mehdi: Yes, that is correct. I or at least I did receive that message.
Yazmin Mehdi: So that is on the record. OK, we have a consent agenda with agenda with
Yazmin Mehdi: three items including the minutes from our January and February meetings.
Yazmin Mehdi: And the January and February financial reports.
Yazmin Mehdi: A note that the reason we're seeing the January minutes again is that a date had
Yazmin Mehdi: to be corrected in the footnote on each page.
Yazmin Mehdi: If no one has changes other than that to these to these documents,
Yazmin Mehdi: may I hear a motion to approve the consent agenda.
Yazmin Mehdi: As published.
W Tali Hairston: Motion to approve the consent agenda is published.
Tom Fay: 2nd.
Yazmin Mehdi: All in favor, please say aye or raise your hand.
Yazmin Mehdi: That passes unanimously. Amy or Tom, let me know if or oh, I see Ron is here.
Yazmin Mehdi: Actually, Amy, I think he needs to be promoted.
Yazmin Mehdi: And as there he goes, Ron, welcome.
Ron Chew: Thank you. Can you hear me, Yasmine?
Yazmin Mehdi: Yes, we can hear you.
Ron Chew: Great. Thank you.
Yazmin Mehdi: Um, were you here for the vote on the consent
Yazmin Mehdi: agenda?
Ron Chew: I literally just appeared right now, so I didn't vote.
Yazmin Mehdi: OK, well, we voted. We had a majority, so it's.
Ron Chew: OK, you you can add my voice to that if that
Ron Chew: can be done.
Yazmin Mehdi: Great. Let's consider that done and let's move
Yazmin Mehdi: on to the Chief Librarian report. So over to you, Tom.
Tom Fay: Pardon me. Thank you everyone, and it's been a busy month.
Tom Fay: As all of you know, I've been in touch with each and every
Tom Fay: one of you at least once, if not twice over the last 30 days or so.
Tom Fay: It's been mostly focused, as you might imagine,
Tom Fay: on the levy development work. Appreciate the efforts of all of our
Tom Fay: board members, most certainly Yasmin and Tali,
Tom Fay: who've also taken a few more meetings with me over the last 30 days.
Tom Fay: And as you know, we have moved the levy proposal,
Tom Fay: the Mayor's levy proposal to council. Our presentation was yesterday.
Tom Fay: So a thanks to Mayor Wilson, Deputy Mayor Surat.
Tom Fay: And CBO Director Ali Panucci for their work with us in developing it.
Tom Fay: Also thanks to Chair Rivera and Select Committee for getting everything
Tom Fay: organized and calendared to have us present and get through this process.
Tom Fay: To meet the August 4th ballot and thanks to council who all were present mostly
Tom Fay: yesterday to hear the presentation, which we appreciated their questions and
Tom Fay: attention we've got.
Tom Fay: $410 million proposal Currently, this is now the phase in which council
Tom Fay: members can add amendments to this particular proposal.
Tom Fay: We will know more about that by Tuesday of next week.
Tom Fay: That's when council members will be presenting, excuse me,
Tom Fay: central staff will be presenting those amendments to the entire body.
Tom Fay: At that point, they can again vote on those amendments,
Tom Fay: ask it to come back at another time. There's still a few more things along the
Tom Fay: way in this process, but.
Tom Fay: All in all, well received by the council members.
Tom Fay: Some really great questions were asked, so thankful for all the work that's gone
Tom Fay: into this. Our library team has been working for
Tom Fay: months on this. As you might imagine, some of these things have very quick
Tom Fay: turnarounds.
Tom Fay: And it's been a lot of nights and a lot of weekends by the library team getting
Tom Fay: this to the point that it is now. So a big thanks to that team and looking
Tom Fay: forward to moving this out of council and over to the campaign.
Tom Fay: The other item I had to mention is sadly over the last 30 days we have had two
Tom Fay: patron deaths in branches when a patron passed away at the Rainier Beach Live
Tom Fay: branch.
Tom Fay: And another patron passed away at the Capitol Hill Branch.
Tom Fay: I want to acknowledge the life-saving efforts conducted by our teams prior to
Tom Fay: emergency services arriving. I also want to really point out and
Tom Fay: acknowledge the experience.
Tom Fay: That and stress that this puts on our staff when these types of traumas occur,
Tom Fay: these are not short-term effects. Having being someone who's also
Tom Fay: experienced it in library service, it's saying stay with you always.
Tom Fay: And I know our HR team and our supervisors and managers have been
Tom Fay: working with those teams over the last several weeks,
Tom Fay: but it is an unfortunate circumstance when you have one,
Tom Fay: let alone two in 30 days. So I just want the board to know how much
Tom Fay: work our teams have put in to.
Tom Fay: To trying to make the experience for patrons the best they can be and when
Tom Fay: they are needed to step in even to provide those life-saving skills,
Tom Fay: they do so so.
Tom Fay: Deal with.
Tom Fay: A couple of other items that I would like to mention that we're working on our
Tom Fay: management team, senior management team met for a full day
Tom Fay: off-site retreat really to this is the first time we've had.
Tom Fay: Time to breathe as I have, you know, a full team. Now we have some new members.
Tom Fay: It's really nice to be able to have that time together to better understand each
Tom Fay: other, our styles, our skills, and really to look at how we can bring
Tom Fay: all of this together to.
Tom Fay: Improve the communication practices to be more responsive to our patrons and our
Tom Fay: staff and to really work together to build the type of library culture that we
Tom Fay: would all like to see. And so that that was a very productive
Tom Fay: session and we will be holding.
Tom Fay: Some additional mini sessions to go over various elements that we identified and
Tom Fay: highlighted that we could work on more closely together this month.
Tom Fay: I'm also continuing to participate, although it's been challenging with the
Tom Fay: levy work in front of us.
Tom Fay: I've been working on a number of meetings with my colleagues across the nation to
Tom Fay: develop a a new steering committee that will be reimagining the National Platform
Tom Fay: for Digital Collections, formerly part of the DPLA Digital Public
Tom Fay: Library of America.
Tom Fay: I discussed it last month a bit, but the goal is to design A collaborative
Tom Fay: model for collecting, preserving and expanding access to our
Tom Fay: digital, cultural and historical collections.
Tom Fay: Much work to be done there.
Tom Fay: I have some great colleagues who have been picking up my slack as we as I've
Tom Fay: been a little derailed here with a very big focus on the levy,
Tom Fay: which is the most important. So I appreciate the Ohio State Librarian,
Tom Fay: Mandy Knapp, who has helped step in and lead while
Tom Fay: I've been away, so.
Tom Fay: Much appreciation for her work. Hope to be able to return to that as I
Tom Fay: get into April and continue that focus on some very important work. And with that,
Tom Fay: Yasmine, I'll turn it over to questions or I'll
Tom Fay: have us move on so we can keep on time.
Yazmin Mehdi: I would like to pause and see if my colleagues have any questions or comments.
Tom Fay: OK.
Yazmin Mehdi: And seeing none, I oh, Faith, go ahead.
Faith Pettis: I was just going to say thank you. A quick thank you to Tom for all that
Faith Pettis: you're doing. It's a lot.
Yazmin Mehdi: Yes, absolutely agreed. And I would second that and thank the
Yazmin Mehdi: whole team that's been working on all the PowerPoint presentations presenting to
Yazmin Mehdi: City Council.
Yazmin Mehdi: It's been an incredible amount of work and there's still more to come,
Yazmin Mehdi: so I hope all of you can kind of find some time to catch your breath between
Yazmin Mehdi: the City Council sessions. I also wanted to under score that.
Yazmin Mehdi: It is, in fact, the role of the City Council to go
Yazmin Mehdi: through the mayor's proposal to think about what they feel is correct in terms
Yazmin Mehdi: of funding for the library. And I know there's some desire for
Yazmin Mehdi: everyone to be in lockstep.
Yazmin Mehdi: Step from the get-go and that everything will just proceed smoothly.
Yazmin Mehdi: But we don't do our work if we don't deliberate what ought to be funded and
Yazmin Mehdi: put before the voters. So it's, you know, it's a ton of work obviously,
Yazmin Mehdi: but it's it's worth the effort so that.
Yazmin Mehdi: Every everyone can understand why we're paying for what we're paying for. So, Tom,
Yazmin Mehdi: again, thank you to your team. I also wanted to thank the library staff
Yazmin Mehdi: who unfortunately watched people die in our branches.
Yazmin Mehdi: As you said, the trauma from that continues and I also,
Yazmin Mehdi: I guess, acknowledge that library staff chose to
Yazmin Mehdi: be helpful in these situations.
Yazmin Mehdi: And actually in some cases use Narcan, that's that was not an easy decision by
Yazmin Mehdi: those staff. We we ensured that it's a voluntary
Yazmin Mehdi: decision, but it's still, it's still stressful and hard.
Yazmin Mehdi: And even if you're not doing that and you're just witnessing it, it's very,
Yazmin Mehdi: very hard so.
Yazmin Mehdi: Just wanted to pause and say that as well and thank the staff for for doing that.
Yazmin Mehdi: So anyone else, Ron?
Ron Chew: Yeah, I just wanted to mention I wasn't able to
Ron Chew: attend the Select Committee meeting yesterday,
Ron Chew: but I did watch it on Seattle channel. I watched almost all of it.
Ron Chew: It was actually quite interesting, engaging.
Ron Chew: Just Congrats again to add my voice to Tom and the team. Really thoughtful,
Ron Chew: precise presentation and really thoughtful questions from council members.
Ron Chew: Appreciated the.
Ron Chew: Broad representation of speakers from all districts speaking out and I think you
Ron Chew: could clearly see that you know the case was made for trying to find some budget
Ron Chew: room to enhance.
Ron Chew: The 410 million. So I remain optimistic and just want to
Ron Chew: congratulate everybody on just the the hard work that went into pulling all that
Ron Chew: together.
Yazmin Mehdi: Thank you, Ron. Uh, Tali, did anything from you?
Yazmin Mehdi: OK.
W Tali Hairston: No, I think Ron said it took my word, so I'm gonna gotta repeat him, yeah.
Yazmin Mehdi: OK, Ditto. Um, back to Tom.
Ron Chew: Yeah.
Tom Fay: Yes. And just briefly as well, I hope everyone had a chance to take a
Tom Fay: look at the reports this month. We had a report from the Northeast region.
Tom Fay: I think it gives a lot of great information about what work they're doing
Tom Fay: there.
Tom Fay: Some great reporting from our HR team and of course our pardon me,
Tom Fay: our marketing and online services Q4 report.
Tom Fay: Great work there as well showing all that they do to make sure that the library is
Tom Fay: in the.
Tom Fay: So many different platforms and as many places as we can be. They do amazing work,
Tom Fay: often goes unnoticed in the sense of how good everything looks.
Tom Fay: You just like expected, but it's a massive amount of work that
Tom Fay: this team pulls off every.
Tom Fay: Every quarter and of course every now and then they're surprised about something
Tom Fay: they have to try to get out. I try not to do that too often,
Tom Fay: but they most certainly always adapt and still come through every time.
Tom Fay: So some really good work here by all of these teams, so.
Tom Fay: Please take a look at those reports when you have some time.
Yazmin Mehdi: Actually, Tom, I'm sure that everyone here has read
Yazmin Mehdi: those reports. I wanted to highlight a couple of things.
Yazmin Mehdi: One is I love the teen scavenger hunt at Lake City.
Yazmin Mehdi: That is a program that I think is sort of the epitome of what a library program
Yazmin Mehdi: ought to be, which is you bring in a group of people,
Yazmin Mehdi: in this case teens, and you give them an opportunity to find
Yazmin Mehdi: things in the library that maybe they didn't even.
Yazmin Mehdi: Realize they could find and it helps them to come back and use the library again
Yazmin Mehdi: and again and again. This is, for example, a program that the levy could fund
Yazmin Mehdi: because we need to do more for teens in particular.
Tom Fay: It.
Yazmin Mehdi: Anyway, that was a highlight for me to read about
Yazmin Mehdi: that. I wanted to thank Ron and Faith again for
Yazmin Mehdi: attending the Broadview anniversary. It sounds like the branch staff, like,
Yazmin Mehdi: loved that event for good reason.
Yazmin Mehdi: So it was great that the board was represented by Faith and Ron.
Yazmin Mehdi: I wanted to thank Brian Sharkey for all the work he's been doing around
Yazmin Mehdi: performance reviews and setting some clear standards around that.
Yazmin Mehdi: And obviously Brian also helped the board in trying to structure.
Yazmin Mehdi: After the performance review, we are still underway on for you Tom.
Yazmin Mehdi: So hats off to Brian. The community use agreement training that
Yazmin Mehdi: was highlighted in that report was also really helpful.
Yazmin Mehdi: I wanted to take a moment and let everybody know that it's planned for us
Yazmin Mehdi: to have a briefing on how the community use agreement is being implemented and
Yazmin Mehdi: how well that's going in June. So we will be getting a full report on
Yazmin Mehdi: that.
Yazmin Mehdi: And then the on the marketing report, this idea that the Seattle Public Library
Yazmin Mehdi: newsletter gets a 42% open rate is remarkable. And anyway,
Yazmin Mehdi: it's noted in the report, but I just wanted to under score that
Yazmin Mehdi: that.
Yazmin Mehdi: Is fantastic. And Tom, last thing regarding your senior
Yazmin Mehdi: management team retreat, I love that you all are focusing on how
Yazmin Mehdi: you can work with staff and patrons on communications.
Yazmin Mehdi: To ensure good communication flow because it's a huge organization and you're all
Yazmin Mehdi: scattered across the city. So figuring that out and continuously
Yazmin Mehdi: improving that is a great goal.
Tom Fay: 2.
W Tali Hairston: Can I can I just briefly inquire about if the reports this your system report Tom
Yazmin Mehdi: Yes.
W Tali Hairston: can include the ways that belonging is being connected to some of your
W Tali Hairston: traditional?
W Tali Hairston: For instance, a new hire onboarding is belonging being
W Tali Hairston: isn't isn't included there? Just where is it being included in the
W Tali Hairston: normal work of the library? Not as a separate report or mention,
W Tali Hairston: but where is it being included? I'd love to know that since it wasn't new
W Tali Hairston: hires of last year so.
Tom Fay: Yeah. And I think we'll be able to bring
Tom Fay: Devante forward in the upcoming months as well to talk about his,
W Tali Hairston: This.
Tom Fay: some of his work around that and also how we try to integrate that into.
W Tali Hairston: Yeah.
Tom Fay: Not only what we're looking at for the public facing side,
Tom Fay: but internally as well for that onboarding as folks come into the
W Tali Hairston: But.
Tom Fay: organization, but also as we think about those
Tom Fay: retention issues as well. So yeah, I think we can do that. It might be a.
W Tali Hairston: Yes.
Tom Fay: More of A tag team with Brian and Devonte, but then Devonte can talk about some of
Tom Fay: his other frameworks that he's starting to put together for us.
W Tali Hairston: Thank you.
Yazmin Mehdi: That's a great question, Tally. Um, Tom, I think we now have a system report.
Tom Fay: We do. We're going to have our 2025 Foundation
Tom Fay: Grant spending report. So we'll have Rick Sheridan,
Tom Fay: who's the Director of Institutional and Strategic Advancement, and Kirsten Nelson,
Tom Fay: who's the Community Partnerships and Government Relations Program Manager,
Tom Fay: come forward.
Tom Fay: There they are.
Rick Sheridan: Good morning. Yep. Thank you, Tom. So before I yield the microphone to
Rick Sheridan: Kirsten Nelson, our Community Partnership and Government
Rick Sheridan: Relations Manager, whom the Board I'm sure is well aware of
Rick Sheridan: her work on the recent levy activities.
Rick Sheridan: Just want to take a moment to sort of set the stage for our report on the
Rick Sheridan: Foundation Grant award and how we utilize the resources in 2025.
Rick Sheridan: The 1st is to express our appreciation to the Foundation.
Rick Sheridan: It's through the generosity of their donors that the library system has $6,000,
Rick Sheridan: 000 to use in critical areas.
Rick Sheridan: Around the library system. So whether it be programming like the
Rick Sheridan: Summer of Learning or the Global Reading Challenge, investments in our collection,
Rick Sheridan: whether physical or digital or non-english language materials or direct
Rick Sheridan: investment in the facilities of the library system, furniture, carpeting,
Rick Sheridan: the improvement programs that we have underway.
Rick Sheridan: We as a library system would not be where we are today without the generosity of
Rick Sheridan: the foundation and its donors. So just want to take a moment to express
Rick Sheridan: our appreciation to Brian Lawrence, who's on the call here,
Rick Sheridan: to his team and his executive board in all the work that they do on behalf of
Rick Sheridan: the library system.
Rick Sheridan: The second thing is to also express our appreciation to the library staff that
Rick Sheridan: are instrumental in getting these resources appropriately spent.
Rick Sheridan: And so there are people working throughout the library system across a
Rick Sheridan: variety of different programs, whether it be, again,
Rick Sheridan: services designed for teens, services designed for youth.
Rick Sheridan: Investing in our collection, capital projects like we have people
Rick Sheridan: working throughout the system across the year,
Rick Sheridan: working to appropriately utilize these resources on behalf of our patrons.
Rick Sheridan: And that takes a lot of work. There's a lot of scrutiny because we want
Rick Sheridan: to make sure that we're using these resources appropriately and that we're
Rick Sheridan: achieving an appropriate level of.
Rick Sheridan: Spend such as we're not letting these dollars sit on the sideline,
Rick Sheridan: rather we're putting them to work on behalf of patrons. So with that,
Rick Sheridan: I do want to turn the floor over to Kiersten,
Rick Sheridan: who will now speak to the report itself.
Kiersten Nelson: Hi all. So I'm sure if you haven't seen my face
Kiersten Nelson: enough lately in regards to the levy, I'm still here doing other things too.
Kiersten Nelson: I'm going to attempt to show this presentation in teams.
Kiersten Nelson: We'll see how it goes.
Kiersten Nelson: Alright, let's see.
Kiersten Nelson: It's one of those trying to connect the entire Microsoft world to see if it
Kiersten Nelson: actually works. Lovely when it does, but let's go to well,
Kiersten Nelson: you don't need to see the screen at the bottom.
Kiersten Nelson: I don't know why it's going that way, but of course it is.
Tom Fay: Looks good.
Kiersten Nelson: See you back then.
Rick Sheridan: Yeah, we can see it, Kirsten.
Tom Fay: We can see it just right.
Kiersten Nelson: Yeah, OK.
Kiersten Nelson: Perfect. So anyway, this is our presentation on the I'm
Kiersten Nelson: trying to. You guys don't need to see my notes.
Kiersten Nelson: That's all I'm trying to get rid of. Oh, there aren't even better. I hate.
Tom Fay: There's no notes. We we don't see.
Kiersten Nelson: That's the one thing that drives me nuts because I see everything and I'm like,
Faith Pettis: We don't see them.
Kiersten Nelson: I don't know what you see.
Kiersten Nelson: Anyway, in 2025, the foundation was wonderful and granted
Kiersten Nelson: us over $6 million for a grant award. It was actually increased throughout the
Kiersten Nelson: year, which was a huge, wonderful thing for the foundation to do.
Kiersten Nelson: We spent about 5.8 million, so our total expend rate was 96.
Kiersten Nelson: 6% of the grant, which is continues to be well exceeding
Kiersten Nelson: what we've done in years past. So we are super happy to continue to
Kiersten Nelson: drive this percent towards nearly 100% expended.
Kiersten Nelson: Here was our overall funding based off of each priority level.
Kiersten Nelson: As you can see in the report and up here on the screen,
Kiersten Nelson: you can see where we had a bit of a balance remaining.
Kiersten Nelson: And then here's our spending rate based off of priority.
Kiersten Nelson: So obviously we did nearly 100% in books and materials, 101% in hours and access,
Kiersten Nelson: 88% in literacy and early learning, technology and online services was 82%,
Kiersten Nelson: capital and major maintenance was 96% and administrative support was 106%.
Kiersten Nelson: When we get into some of the highlights, so we'll go over the highlights for each
Kiersten Nelson: of the following buckets and just kind of talk about some of the major wins that we
Kiersten Nelson: had providing books and materials. The foundation's grant supported the
Kiersten Nelson: African American collection, biographies and literary classics,
Kiersten Nelson: children's books, e-books, and the general collection.
Kiersten Nelson: It also funded in non-english collection, read-along books collection and archival
Kiersten Nelson: material for the Seattle collection. It also supported the processing of the
Kiersten Nelson: door pack collection and enabled the SPL SPL to participate in Books on Band.
Kiersten Nelson: It is worth noting that Books on Band is entirely foundation funded.
Kiersten Nelson: So if this is huge for them to continue to support this particular program,
Kiersten Nelson: with those funds that we received for collections, we purchased 88,413 items.
Kiersten Nelson: Of those, 353 books were purchased for children,
Kiersten Nelson: teens and adults in the.
Kiersten Nelson: Portuguese language and that was a new addition to the system last year.
Kiersten Nelson: We also purchased 911 books through a special.
Kiersten Nelson: Funded collection for the Japanese collection grant,
Kiersten Nelson: and we did a fantastic job of hearing what patrons were telling us,
Kiersten Nelson: which included 208 suggested titles for that Japanese collection.
Kiersten Nelson: We also added titles to the low visibility collection.
Kiersten Nelson: We invested in e-materials.
Kiersten Nelson: And SPL once again was a top 10 library globally for digital checkouts via
Kiersten Nelson: OverDrive. We had a dip last year, which I think we all know was related to
Kiersten Nelson: sort of some of our various recovery aspects and.
Kiersten Nelson: We're just really happy to have 2025 have us return to the top 10.
Kiersten Nelson: When we get to hours and access, this is probably the biggest area when it
Kiersten Nelson: comes to the foundation's funding because this really is what supports the vast
Kiersten Nelson: majority of our programming. So some of the things that they funded
Kiersten Nelson: were the enrichment programs such as lectures.
Kiersten Nelson: Author programs, discussion on art, history and social justice.
Kiersten Nelson: It supported art, music and performance programs with an
Kiersten Nelson: emphasis on disadvantaged communities. It enabled career programming such as job
Kiersten Nelson: and life skills, library to business and workforce and
Tom Fay: Yeah.
Kiersten Nelson: career development.
Kiersten Nelson: And then it supported our mobile service operations.
Kiersten Nelson: Going a little more in detail specifically to our mobile services,
Kiersten Nelson: the bookmobile provides monthly visits to over 29 preschools,
Kiersten Nelson: 75 adult facilities and two tiny house villages.
Kiersten Nelson: You can see this lovely map here. I would like to also note thank you to
Kiersten Nelson: Jessica who put this together. Jessica and David did a lot of work
Kiersten Nelson: putting together about 8 million different iterations of maps for
Kiersten Nelson: programming that the foundation has covered for part of our.
Kiersten Nelson: Lobby presentations to the council over the past what feels like years,
Kiersten Nelson: but has only been a few months. We also offered 123 older adult programs
Kiersten Nelson: in 10 different languages across 19 branches or virtually.
Kiersten Nelson: To more than 3000 patrons of the 156 library to business programs that we held
Tom Fay: See.
Kiersten Nelson: in 2025, more than 4100 participants worked
Kiersten Nelson: through that particular program, which is an amazing impact that it has on
Kiersten Nelson: those small businesses and people who are able to.
Kiersten Nelson: To get access to business support that they might not otherwise have and really
Kiersten Nelson: allow them to thrive in their small businesses.
Kiersten Nelson: We also took part in the black-owned Business Excellence Symposium and held
Kiersten Nelson: more than 19 events in Spanish. We also hosted English conversation
Kiersten Nelson: circles.
Kiersten Nelson: For 639 unique participants over 3581 hours.
Kiersten Nelson: It is also worth noting that last year, in the middle of the year,
Kiersten Nelson: we received a Carnegie grant for English for English programming for.
Kiersten Nelson: ESOL programming and that started in earnest in September was about when the
Kiersten Nelson: funding for the grants rolled in. So part of that is highlighted in here.
Kiersten Nelson: Over the next year and a half, we will see much more emphasis on some of
Kiersten Nelson: this English conversation circles and all of those particular programming around
Kiersten Nelson: that.
Kiersten Nelson: It's also worth noting that grant runs through the foundation,
Kiersten Nelson: so in this particular report is where we'll hear a lot about it.
Kiersten Nelson: Literacy and early learning. We've funded the high profile youth
Kiersten Nelson: programs like Global Reading Challenge, which the final is next week.
Kiersten Nelson: I think there's a whole host of kids, 4th and 5th graders who are extremely
Kiersten Nelson: pumped to try and become the next citywide champions.
Kiersten Nelson: They also also funded Summer of Learning. It enabled us to host in branch story
Kiersten Nelson: times in English and other languages.
Kiersten Nelson: It facilitated youth development opportunities such as learning buddies,
Kiersten Nelson: service learners and UW library interns, and we supported long-term planning to
Kiersten Nelson: enhance current teen and youth programming.
Kiersten Nelson: A little bit more into that, we hosted 72 schools in the Global
Kiersten Nelson: Reading Challenge, 528 teams for more than 3200 4th and 5th
Kiersten Nelson: grade students, which is just amazing when you look at
Kiersten Nelson: the amount of students that participate in the program and I cannot say enough to.
Kiersten Nelson: The foundation for supporting this. If you guys were able to read some of the
Kiersten Nelson: quotes in the report, there was an absolutely amazing one about
Kiersten Nelson: a little girl who was so terrified to participate in this and was just nervous.
Kiersten Nelson: And a judge told her no, you can do it, you can do hard things. She went through,
Kiersten Nelson: she did it.
Kiersten Nelson: She was so excited, came back to the judge and was like,
Kiersten Nelson: I did it. I thought I was going to quit. And so it's those kinds of things that
Kiersten Nelson: these programs really enable. And I don't think there's enough stories
Kiersten Nelson: like that that we could tell to highlight how important reading is to our youth.
Kiersten Nelson: The grant funding also allowed us to conduct 320 World Language Storytime
Kiersten Nelson: sessions for more than 6300 patrons, and it included the introduction of
Kiersten Nelson: Mandarin Chinese Storytime at the International District Chinatown Branch
Kiersten Nelson: and Northgate.
Kiersten Nelson: One of the other big programs that the literacy and early learning help support
Kiersten Nelson: is our tutoring sessions. So we had 566 tutoring sessions and we
Kiersten Nelson: reached 6088 students at 9 branches for homework help.
Kiersten Nelson: We supported 75 learning buddies and service learners or UW library.
Kiersten Nelson: Interns at 53 programs and projects across the city.
Kiersten Nelson: For technology and online services, we supported youth and adult learning
Kiersten Nelson: opportunities about technology programs and devices.
Kiersten Nelson: We funded the Nourishing Minds program, which was the last of our I MLS grant
Kiersten Nelson: Arts for Community Voices, the Teen and Mental Health Work,
Kiersten Nelson: which was also part of the I MLS grant.
Kiersten Nelson: And kids team. We supported an innovation fund to
Kiersten Nelson: further incorporate virtual reality and development and programming.
Kiersten Nelson: We supported in branch technology instruction.
Kiersten Nelson: We held 63 events across the E Sports, kids team and virtual mental health
Kiersten Nelson: programs.
Kiersten Nelson: And allowed nearly 100 students to participate across these programs for a
Kiersten Nelson: total attendance of more than 1000 people. We supported Nourishing Minds Virtual
Kiersten Nelson: Virtual Reality Development Internship and we had six available spots in the
Kiersten Nelson: internship program.
Kiersten Nelson: Finally, on to some of our last parts of this.
Kiersten Nelson: This is the the real sexy one. It's the capital and major maintenance.
Kiersten Nelson: The funds here help support changes to our physical spaces to meet the needs of
Kiersten Nelson: our patrons and match how the community uses them.
Kiersten Nelson: Our resources in this category were used for the university branch fixed and
Kiersten Nelson: movable shelving, so obviously that's not in place yet as
Kiersten Nelson: the inside of the building is still not ready for prime time.
Kiersten Nelson: It also helped with Delridge Branch furniture and upgrades,
Kiersten Nelson: including a new desk system, Magnolia Branch furniture repairs,
Kiersten Nelson: Northeast Branch, interactive and exploratory sensory wall.
Kiersten Nelson: And then finally, our last category, because you guys are done hearing me talk,
Kiersten Nelson: it's administrative support. So these funds are critical.
Kiersten Nelson: For library operational needs and these resources were used for the new director
Kiersten Nelson: position of inclusion and belonging to support public and staff needs,
Kiersten Nelson: services and needs assessment for better understanding of patron interest.
Kiersten Nelson: The Foundation related support to activities for the SPL liaison to the
Kiersten Nelson: Foundation administrative services resources to manage the Foundation grant.
Kiersten Nelson: And then finally, I'm going to end with some lovely quotes
Kiersten Nelson: that you guys can read, but I am here to answer any questions you
Kiersten Nelson: may have. Again, this was a very exciting year in which we
Tom Fay: It.
Kiersten Nelson: got to do some amazing programs and the foundation was aware of our ability to
Tom Fay: 2.
Kiersten Nelson: move through these funds in ways that in years past we might not necessarily.
Kiersten Nelson: Have done so. So they were able to add funds to the
Kiersten Nelson: grant throughout the year, which was a huge, a huge benefit to us.
Kiersten Nelson: So we want to thank them very much for that.
Yazmin Mehdi: Thanks, Kiersten. Tom, anything from you before I check in and
Yazmin Mehdi: see if colleagues have questions?
Tom Fay: Again, to reiterate, big thanks to the foundation,
Tom Fay: Brian K who manages all the finances, Nick on our team,
Tom Fay: they really work together very, very closely so that we can maximize the
Tom Fay: spending on this and of course Kiersten.
Tom Fay: And Rick are also tracking that as well to make sure that we have good,
Tom Fay: good stories to tell the narrative of all the work that's being done.
Tom Fay: So I think I said it yesterday at the council meeting,
Tom Fay: it's great to have a fundraising partner like the foundation who.
Tom Fay: Makes us better every single day, and Brian has had the goal of increasing
Tom Fay: the amount of money that is given to the library each year,
Tom Fay: and he has met that in each of his years here.
Tom Fay: So much thanks to his work and his team's work.
Yazmin Mehdi: Thanks, Tom, Kiersten and Rick. Thank you for this terrific and detailed
Yazmin Mehdi: presentation on the foundation funding and how the library's appropriately
Yazmin Mehdi: spending that funding. I know Matt's on the call and Brian's on
Yazmin Mehdi: the call.
Yazmin Mehdi: And as Tom said, the library would not be able to do what
Yazmin Mehdi: it does without this foundation support. The $6,000,
Yazmin Mehdi: 000 may not sound like a lot of money when you look at the whole library budget,
Yazmin Mehdi: but it is astounding what it does, what it accomplishes.
Yazmin Mehdi: And again, I said it earlier, the role of programs in the library is so
Yazmin Mehdi: important, both to bring patrons in, to make them feel welcome,
Yazmin Mehdi: to get them connected to other people, to resources.
Yazmin Mehdi: So that funding is just tremendously important and I also add my thanks to
Yazmin Mehdi: Toms and Staffs for the work that the foundation does to raise money for us.
Yazmin Mehdi: It's huge and it's obviously important for the library not to sit on that money
Yazmin Mehdi: to.
Yazmin Mehdi: But to actually spend it, and I I really appreciate that the
Yazmin Mehdi: library's making a concerted effort to spend that appropriately and then to
Yazmin Mehdi: report publicly about how that is, how that's going every year. It's really,
Yazmin Mehdi: really important. It shows.
Yazmin Mehdi: How much this whole organization takes to heart being transparent with the public
Yazmin Mehdi: about the money that we spend and how we spend it. Faith, Tali, Ron,
Yazmin Mehdi: anything you want to add?
Yazmin Mehdi: Go ahead, Faith.
Faith Pettis: I I would just say what an amazing roll up of projects and really cool things
Faith Pettis: that we get to do all because of the foundation.
Faith Pettis: And I hope the foundation can hear us loud and clear how grateful we are for
Faith Pettis: those funds. It's like the icing on the cake.
Faith Pettis: They have the very best role because they get to fund the very best projects.
Faith Pettis: I know we do a ton of things, but that lineup that you just gave,
Faith Pettis: Kiersten, was just absolutely jaw-dropping. Amazing.
Faith Pettis: So thanks to the foundation.
Yazmin Mehdi: Ron or Tali?
Yazmin Mehdi: OK. Thank you guys. Thanks for the report. I know we'll see you next year about this,
Yazmin Mehdi: but we'll see you in the interim on lots of other things. So thanks for your work.
Faith Pettis: Thank you.
Rick Sheridan: You're welcome.
Yazmin Mehdi: OK, moving on. Old business is library board goals.
Yazmin Mehdi: I want to thank my colleagues for reviewing a draft of the goals that Tom
Yazmin Mehdi: and I put together and making some important additions.
Yazmin Mehdi: Additions and today we basically get to adopt or approve these goals.
Yazmin Mehdi: I'm trying to find the right page for the goals. Sorry.
Faith Pettis: 48 of the board book.
Yazmin Mehdi: Thank you, Faith. Yeah, it was way, way past it.
Yazmin Mehdi: So let me just quickly read the goals again.
Yazmin Mehdi: One to steward the Mayor's proposed levy renewal in partnership with the Friends
Yazmin Mehdi: and Foundation underway.
Yazmin Mehdi: Support the Chief Librarian in developing enhanced staff engagement and retention,
Yazmin Mehdi: inclusion and belonging, communication and Wellness strategies.
Yazmin Mehdi: 3 Support budget and fiscal policy development to address the city's
Yazmin Mehdi: ever-changing revenue landscape and support the continuation and development.
Yazmin Mehdi: Of alternative revenue, complete a 360 performance evaluation for
Yazmin Mehdi: the Executive Director Chief Librarian that covers his tenure to date and
Yazmin Mehdi: determine a regular schedule for conducting future performance reviews
Yazmin Mehdi: also underway.
Yazmin Mehdi: And finally, in development of the annual operations
Yazmin Mehdi: plan, provide guidance on the strategic plan
Yazmin Mehdi: implementation and its progress. So with that,
Yazmin Mehdi: any comments from any of my colleagues?
Yazmin Mehdi: Seeing no comments, I think it would be nice if we voted to
Yazmin Mehdi: approve these board goals. So with that, all in favor,
Yazmin Mehdi: please say aye or raise your hand.
Yazmin Mehdi: And that passes unanimously, and I hope we'll make this a practice
Yazmin Mehdi: every year to set goals for the year. Some of these will be repeated year after
Yazmin Mehdi: year, but at least it shows how the board is
Yazmin Mehdi: conducting itself vis-a-vis the strategic plan, the operations plan.
Yazmin Mehdi: This year, the levy, etcetera. So thanks to my colleagues for that and
Yazmin Mehdi: we can move on to new business. And the first of the new business items
Yazmin Mehdi: is the fourth quarter annual 2025 levy report.
Yazmin Mehdi: Tom, you're there you go.
Tom Fay: Well, yes, we'll a lot. Sorry, we'll ask Elisa to come forward.
Tom Fay: Just a note that most of you are very familiar with Jan Osiewicz being here
Tom Fay: presenting along with Elisa here in the last few months.
Tom Fay: Jan retired last month and we wish her the best in her retirement,
Tom Fay: but Elisa has stepped into the role fully and will be delivering today's report.
Tom Fay: So we will have Jan's or actually the position that Jan held is.
Tom Fay: Posted and we hope to fill that early this summer.
Yazmin Mehdi: Thanks, Tom. Welcome. Yeah. No, I was just saying welcome.
Elisa Murray: Hey, everyone. Apologies. Oh, go ahead.
Tom Fay: Mhm.
Elisa Murray: Thank you. Apologies, I was, I'm in Laura's office and I was having
Elisa Murray: some issues with the camera, but I think I'm good. Yeah,
Elisa Murray: I'll try to keep this fairly brief because I know we have a full agenda,
Elisa Murray: but the I'm very happy to just share a little bit about the Q4 slash annual levy
Elisa Murray: report for 2020.
Elisa Murray: I want to thank the strategy and performance team for helping to create
Elisa Murray: the report, especially helping to collect numbers,
Elisa Murray: analyze them, create illustrations and then to Managers
Elisa Murray: and staff across the system for contributing and and fact checking
Elisa Murray: summaries of their areas and then to library leadership for.
Elisa Murray: Viewing we continue to try to make the report more visually compelling and easy
Elisa Murray: to scan and this time we included an icon that highlighted strategic plan
Elisa Murray: initiatives and then also one of the pull out sections is on the first year of the
Elisa Murray: strategic plan. So always welcome feedback on that.
Elisa Murray: It's not really shorter, but we are trying to make it easier to
Elisa Murray: digest. So just a little background. By April 15th of each year,
Elisa Murray: we're required to submit the annual levy report for the prior year to the mayor
Elisa Murray: and City Council.
Elisa Murray: And then each quarter, of course, the Board of Trustees reviews and
Elisa Murray: approves A quarterly report that documents the implementation of levy
Elisa Murray: priorities and accomplishments. And this annual report covers the whole
Elisa Murray: year with an emphasis on the fourth quarter.
Elisa Murray: So of course this is the 6th year of the seven-year levy.
Elisa Murray: This year it the 2019 levy accounted for about 37.4% of the total revised budget.
Elisa Murray: And we made a progress on plea levy promises, including expanding hours,
Tom Fay: E.
Elisa Murray: improving access across the system, embarking on the university branch,
Elisa Murray: seismic retrofit. And also there's a blog post today that
Elisa Murray: shares an update on that, and I encourage you to check it out.
Elisa Murray: It's by Bennett Barr. Great photos.
Elisa Murray: And also adding to collections and beginning the transition to an integrate
Elisa Murray: new integrated library system. So just a few highlights in each of the
Elisa Murray: categories. So in Hours and Access, our levy promises were around keeping
Tom Fay: Yes.
Elisa Murray: libraries open when patrons need them.
Elisa Murray: So big accomplishment in 2025, in late January we increased hours across
Elisa Murray: the system above 2019 levels, ensured all locations not under
Elisa Murray: construction were open at least six days a week and one weekend day and you can
Elisa Murray: see in our numbers.
Elisa Murray: That this really supported strong library use across the system. We recorded 3.
Elisa Murray: 4 million in person visits, 12. 7 million checkouts,
Elisa Murray: both digital and physical, 16, 000 meeting room uses, and 5800 programs.
Elisa Murray: We also, of course, offer 24/7 access to holds and pickup
Elisa Murray: lockers at 7 locations, and those checkouts have slowly been
Elisa Murray: increasing and doubling since 2024. So that's also good news,
Elisa Murray: our social services team.
Elisa Murray: Of course, includes A levy funded community resource
Elisa Murray: specialist for youth and young adults. It continues to connect patrons to
Elisa Murray: lifeline resources. This year, a highlight for that team was that we
Elisa Murray: began distributing naloxone at all locations and we provided over 4500 boxes
Elisa Murray: of.
Elisa Murray: Of nasal naloxone to the community in 2025.
Elisa Murray: Our levy also funds 9 out of 24 members of the security team,
Elisa Murray: so plays an important role in keeping our spaces safe and welcoming.
Elisa Murray: And a big accomplishment in this year was transitioning to and implementing the
Elisa Murray: Community Use Agreement, which is.
Elisa Murray: Highlighted elsewhere in the board packet in collections.
Elisa Murray: So we continue to make significant investments in both digital and physical
Elisa Murray: materials. In 2025, the 2012 and 2019 levies funded 55% of
Elisa Murray: our collections budget.
Elisa Murray: Patron interest in digital books and materials continues to grow. Of course,
Elisa Murray: checkouts of digital materials increased by 13% from the previous year.
Elisa Murray: Our weekly high demand spending on e-books decreased compared to 2023.
Elisa Murray: So this is also good news that we're able to provide.
Elisa Murray: A really robust collection of digital materials, but also managed spending.
Elisa Murray: And this is likely because of changes to our some of our policies around holds on
Elisa Murray: digital materials that we've made in recent years.
Elisa Murray: Our Peak Picks program is 100% levy funded, continues to be very popular.
Elisa Murray: It accounted for all of our top ten adult titles in non-fiction and fiction in 2025.
Elisa Murray: And we have, I think, had seen 1. 2 million Peak Pix checkouts since the
Elisa Murray: program launched in 2017.
Elisa Murray: We piloted a Story Squad literacy program with Seattle Public Schools,
Elisa Murray: which is a strategic plan initiative, another highlight of collections,
Elisa Murray: and we're offering physical materials in 19 languages and digital materials in 11
Elisa Murray: languages.
Elisa Murray: The levy also funds Seattle Room positions and collections.
Elisa Murray: We added more than 1700 items in 2025, and a highlight for the fall was that the
Elisa Murray: Seattle Room was featured in a special program of Cascade PBS's Mossbacks
Elisa Murray: Northwest.
Elisa Murray: Great episode. Encourage you to check it out if you
Elisa Murray: haven't. You probably remember that the
Elisa Murray: Maintenance and Operations Center and our physical circulation was highlighted in a
Elisa Murray: in-depth article in the Seattle Times in the fall,
Elisa Murray: which was great to get an inside look at those operations.
Elisa Murray: And fun for me, I got to ride in a van at 4:00 in the
Elisa Murray: morning and see what our delivery drivers do and the very hard work that that whole
Elisa Murray: team provides in our system. So we provided a pull out on that in the
Elisa Murray: levy report and in just a couple of kind of interesting facts are that 10,
Elisa Murray: 000 items a day are processed at the.
Elisa Murray: The BOC and after an item is returned, it takes just two to four days for a hold
Elisa Murray: to arrive at its destination in technology and access.
Elisa Murray: So we promised to provide improved computer and online services. Again,
Elisa Murray: we made substantial process on the levy funded replacement.
Elisa Murray: Of the out-of-date ILS, which is our central digital platform for
Elisa Murray: managing our collections, materials, checkouts,
Elisa Murray: patron accounts and other services. And we've selected a new vendor in 2025
Elisa Murray: and contract negotiations began in early this year.
Elisa Murray: Also, our technology had saw really robust use
Elisa Murray: in 2025, 407,000 computer hours, 2. 1 million pages printed.
Elisa Murray: And then also a big kudos to Moss. They launched a mobile app that has seen
Elisa Murray: more than 25, 000 downloads as of the end of 2025.
Elisa Murray: Our Hotspot program, levy funded, continues to provide a really essential
Elisa Murray: Internet access through our general general collection and through targeted
Elisa Murray: outreach with key community organizations. Another levy area helping children.
Elisa Murray: We promise to add more programming for children zero to five.
Elisa Murray: We offered 280 in person weekly play and learn programs at 7 different locations
Elisa Murray: with 7100 attendees and that was in four languages. And then the levy funds,
Elisa Murray: I think it's 25% of our children and teen librarians.
Elisa Murray: And this year we saw, you know, more story times than we have since we've
Elisa Murray: relaunched in the the pandemic, 1300 story times at our locations and in
Elisa Murray: the community in maintenance. So again, university branch,
Elisa Murray: a real progress on that renovation. We have a new update on that blog.
Elisa Murray: More to come on that. And then we completed a long planned roof
Elisa Murray: replacement for the Greenwood branch in the fourth quarter.
Elisa Murray: And then of course the Columbia branch retrofit project has been deferred to
Elisa Murray: address a general fund budget reduction.
Elisa Murray: And our facilities and janitorial custodial teams, just they just do really,
Elisa Murray: really essential work in keeping our spaces safe,
Elisa Murray: clean and welcoming every day. And they completed more than 12,
Elisa Murray: 700 work orders in 2025. And then just in our administration,
Elisa Murray: we promised a plan for the future of the library.
Elisa Murray: So again, first year of our levy funded 10 year
Elisa Murray: strategic plan which seeks to help the library build the community sense of
Elisa Murray: belonging and the organization's resiliency.
Elisa Murray: So we have a one pager on those accomplishments in the report on Page 3.
Elisa Murray: And as part of this we also conducted a community use survey with Olympic
Elisa Murray: Research and.
Elisa Murray: Strategy and we have an update on that as well.
Elisa Murray: And I know we've been sharing these results at our various council
Elisa Murray: presentations, but very positive results. They indicate that public perception of
Elisa Murray: the library has improved since 2018 and that the library is making a positive
Elisa Murray: impact.
Elisa Murray: On community members lives. So that's my update and open to questions
Elisa Murray: and thank you for listening and for everybody who participated.
Yazmin Mehdi: Thank you, Lisa. Any comments or questions from my
Yazmin Mehdi: colleagues?
Faith Pettis: Can I just note that it's really interesting to get these reports at the
Faith Pettis: time that we're talking about a new levy, because I think it just shows how
Faith Pettis: carefully we track our promises and I'm very pleased about that. So I mean,
Faith Pettis: I feel confident that.
Faith Pettis: We follow through, but just hearing this on the tail end,
Faith Pettis: for so many years we've been tracking and have been really careful about the money.
Faith Pettis: So I I hope the public understands that we take this really seriously.
Yazmin Mehdi: Thank you, Faith. Absolutely, Ron.
W Tali Hairston: I want to add just just quickly add to that the effort putting being put in to
W Tali Hairston: measure progress over time is really, really impressive.
Faith Pettis: OK.
W Tali Hairston: And I'm saying that as someone who who does this for living at times where you
Elisa Murray: Mm-hmm.
W Tali Hairston: have to measure and evaluate programs, this is really, really, really good.
Yazmin Mehdi: Thank you, Tali. Ron, anything?
Yazmin Mehdi: OK. Yeah, I think what Faith and Tali said is I
Yazmin Mehdi: just second that. Elisa, thank you for filling Jan's shoes today.
Yazmin Mehdi: We really appreciate you. It was a ton of information to share in a
Yazmin Mehdi: very short time. I only have.
Yazmin Mehdi: One concern, which is the use of a photo that in the
Yazmin Mehdi: levy report that Kiersten also used in hers,
Yazmin Mehdi: which is 3 bookshelves with books sorted by color.
Yazmin Mehdi: Like I don't understand how my librarian colleagues don't think that is.
Yazmin Mehdi: Really stressful because of course we don't sort our books by color,
Yazmin Mehdi: we sort them by Dewey Decimal System. It is a beautiful photo though.
Yazmin Mehdi: Thank you Elisa very much for I that was a joke in case that wasn't clear.
Yazmin Mehdi: I am. I think we can move on, Tom, unless there's anything you want to say
Yazmin Mehdi: in conclusion.
Tom Fay: Nope, that's it. Thank you, Elisa. Great report, as always.
Elisa Murray: Thank you very much. And just also thank you for that comment,
Elisa Murray: Yasmeen. And thanks also to also to the financial
Elisa Murray: office for doing all the work in the numbers amid everything else that they're
Elisa Murray: doing. Thanks everyone.
Yazmin Mehdi: OK, so now our next item of new business is
Yazmin Mehdi: the library levy replacement.
Yazmin Mehdi: Tom, is there anything you want to say or
Yazmin Mehdi: should we just move on to approving the resolution?
Tom Fay: Sorry, all my my computer's acting up here. No,
Tom Fay: before you you have the resolution from the board. Again,
Tom Fay: this is a one of the official components of moving the levy forward.
Tom Fay: Not only council action, but the Board of Trustees who ultimately
Tom Fay: oversee the levy as mentioned today. This is approved.
Tom Fay: All expenditures are approved through our annual operations plan, so once the.
Tom Fay: Vote is taken and the money becomes available in 2027 is under the
Tom Fay: responsibility of this Board of Trustees to manage those funds.
Tom Fay: So this is a very important part of this process.
Tom Fay: And one that will ask the Yasmin to read into the record as you take the vote.
Yazmin Mehdi: OK. So go ahead, Ron, you have a question.
Ron Chew: Yeah, I'm curious. You know, the resolution says no less than 410
Ron Chew: million in the.
Ron Chew: Optimistic scenario in which maybe we get a lot more.
Ron Chew: Do we have to return and do anything or is this kind of cover you know everything
Ron Chew: or if you know if we get?
Ron Chew: Cut back. Do we have to deal with this again?
Tom Fay: So and would we have to deal with again if it was less than the 410?
Ron Chew: Yes.
Tom Fay: U.
Ron Chew: OK.
Tom Fay: Possibly.
Tom Fay: I don't anticipate that, but yes, possibly that would be the case.
Ron Chew: OK. But then if it's more than we're just, we're good to go.
Yazmin Mehdi: 8.
Yazmin Mehdi: Yes. Good question, Ron. Thank you. OK, so I have the honor to read this into the
Tom Fay: Great.
Ron Chew: Right.
Yazmin Mehdi: record. A resolution expressing support by the
Yazmin Mehdi: Seattle Public Library Board of Trustees for a proposed library levy replacement
Yazmin Mehdi: to support.
Yazmin Mehdi: Access hours, collections, services, technology and programs valued by Seattle
Yazmin Mehdi: residents and to preserve the capital investments in library buildings
Yazmin Mehdi: supported by the public. Whereas the Seattle Public Library was
Yazmin Mehdi: established in 1890 and since that time has.
Yazmin Mehdi: Served as a free resource of information and materials and a community gathering
Yazmin Mehdi: place for residents of Seattle and the region,
Yazmin Mehdi: and whereas the library plays an important role in the education of
Yazmin Mehdi: Seattle's youth.
Yazmin Mehdi: Through crucial literacy activities for young children, including storytimes,
Yazmin Mehdi: homework help, programs to retain and encourage learning
Yazmin Mehdi: over the summer, teen activities, partnerships with teachers and schools,
Yazmin Mehdi: and other vital services.
Yazmin Mehdi: And whereas the library's public computers and Wi-Fi provide free computer
Yazmin Mehdi: and Internet access for Seattle residents, and library staff are available to help
Yazmin Mehdi: residents find, evaluate, and use information.
Yazmin Mehdi: And whereas the library's mobile services bring books and other materials to
Yazmin Mehdi: children, seniors and other residents who may lack
Yazmin Mehdi: the mobility to access their neighborhood branch library.
Yazmin Mehdi: And whereas the library helps level the playing field for underserved populations.
Yazmin Mehdi: By connecting patrons to housing, food, healthcare and more,
Yazmin Mehdi: unlocking access to the collection by eliminating patron late fees and
Yazmin Mehdi: providing Internet access in city sanctioned villages and more.
Yazmin Mehdi: And whereas in November 2024, the Board of Trustees adopted a 10 year
Yazmin Mehdi: strategic plan to guide investments in library services over the next decade to
Yazmin Mehdi: bring people, information and ideas together to enrich
Yazmin Mehdi: lives and empower community.
Yazmin Mehdi: And whereas the library has no dedicated funding source to keep operating budgets
Yazmin Mehdi: stable or keep pace with increasing maintenance costs,
Yazmin Mehdi: and whereas the library's reliance on the city's general fund.
Yazmin Mehdi: Places it in competition for funding with other City of Seattle priorities,
Yazmin Mehdi: including public safety and services for the homeless. And whereas in 2019,
Yazmin Mehdi: Seattle voters overwhelmingly passed a library levy.
Yazmin Mehdi: With a 76% approval rate and whereas the 2019 library levy provides approximately
Yazmin Mehdi: 33% of the library's overall 2026 budget and whereas the 2019 library levy expires
Yazmin Mehdi: December 31st.
Yazmin Mehdi: 31st, 2026 and the loss of this funding source
Yazmin Mehdi: would have a major impact on core library services and programs and the library's
Yazmin Mehdi: ability to maintain capital investments and whereas the Revised Code of
Yazmin Mehdi: Washington RCW Chapter 27.12.
Yazmin Mehdi: And the city charter authorizes the Library Board to oversee the library's
Yazmin Mehdi: annual operating and capital budgets.
Yazmin Mehdi: And whereas the Library Board recognizes the need for sustained revenue to support,
Yazmin Mehdi: maintain and improve core library services,
Yazmin Mehdi: understands the current constraints on the city's general fund and therefore
Yazmin Mehdi: supports a proposed property tax levy lid lift.
Yazmin Mehdi: That would continue providing the library with a revenue source that could be used
Yazmin Mehdi: in combination with the general fund and real estate excise taxes or REIT.
Yazmin Mehdi: And whereas in August 2025, the library undertook a community survey.
Yazmin Mehdi: To help understand residents priorities for their library system and whereas the
Yazmin Mehdi: Library Board of Trustees reviewed levy expenditures on a quarterly and annual
Yazmin Mehdi: basis for the past seven years and provided guidance on the library's
Yazmin Mehdi: strategic direction.
Yazmin Mehdi: And whereas on March 10th, 2026, Mayor Katie Wilson transmitted
Yazmin Mehdi: legislation to the Seattle City Council for a $410 million replacement levy from
Yazmin Mehdi: 2027 to 2034 to support the financial needs of the library.
Yazmin Mehdi: Now, therefore, be it resolved that one the Library Board
Yazmin Mehdi: of Trustees, in collaboration with Mayor Katie Wilson,
Yazmin Mehdi: recommends the Seattle City Council approve no less than a $410 million levy
Yazmin Mehdi: replacement for the August.
Yazmin Mehdi: 2026 primary election ballot to the levy proceeds will be used in combination with
Yazmin Mehdi: the annual budget appropriation of the City General Fund and REIT to the library
Yazmin Mehdi: to support core library services.
Yazmin Mehdi: Three, the proposed levy supports continued
Yazmin Mehdi: funding for hours and access, collections, technology and maintenance at 2026
Yazmin Mehdi: services levels, along with levy administration.
Yazmin Mehdi: At a cost of approximately 410 million and it and includes the following added
Yazmin Mehdi: elements A to ensure the library promotes equity and access to opportunity,
Yazmin Mehdi: the levy proposal includes.
Yazmin Mehdi: Increases of 7. 7 million for security and emergency
Yazmin Mehdi: preparedness, 14. 95 million for program staffing and
Yazmin Mehdi: support, and 4.6 million across physical, electronic and PPICS collections.
Yazmin Mehdi: B. To ensure the library is well positioned
Yazmin Mehdi: for the future, the levy proposal includes an increase of
Yazmin Mehdi: $13 million for seismic upgrades to the Columbia branch,
Yazmin Mehdi: $10 million for building life safety.
Yazmin Mehdi: Deferred and scheduled maintenance, 5. 9 million for custodial support,
Yazmin Mehdi: 3 million for cybersecurity enhancements, and 5 million for capital enterprise IT
Yazmin Mehdi: upgrades.
Yazmin Mehdi: 4 If approved by the City Council and voters,
Yazmin Mehdi: the levy replacement would begin in 2027 and continue for seven years until the
Yazmin Mehdi: end of 2034. 5 to provide oversight, the Executive Director and Chief
Yazmin Mehdi: Librarian and the.
Yazmin Mehdi: Library Board will submit to the City Council and residents of Seattle annual
Yazmin Mehdi: progress reports on the implementation of the levy and how levy proceeds were used
Yazmin Mehdi: to maintain and improve core library services.
Yazmin Mehdi: This resolution was is was adopted by the Seattle Public Library Board of Trustees
Yazmin Mehdi: on the 26th day of March 2026.
Yazmin Mehdi: Having read that into the record, I believe we need to take a vote.
Yazmin Mehdi: So all those in favor of adopting this resolution for the 2027 to 2034 levy.
Yazmin Mehdi: Please raise your hand or say aye.
Yazmin Mehdi: And that is unanimously approved. I would like to take a moment to say that
Yazmin Mehdi: by approving this resolution, we're endorsing the Mayor's proposed
Yazmin Mehdi: library levy at 410 million.
Yazmin Mehdi: But we also acknowledge that this amount is deficient for the what is needed to
Yazmin Mehdi: address our aging infrastructure, the reading needs of our constituents and
Yazmin Mehdi: the programming that we believe is required to properly serve everyone.
Yazmin Mehdi: The City Council is now reviewing the Mayor's proposal and may make amendments
Yazmin Mehdi: to supplement what the Mayor has proposed. We would support those efforts.
Yazmin Mehdi: I'd like to take this opportunity to profoundly thank Tom and his team for the
Yazmin Mehdi: hours they have spent briefing the City Council's.
Yazmin Mehdi: Libraries, Education and Neighborhoods Committee and
Yazmin Mehdi: now the City Council Select Committee in support of the Mayor's proposal.
Yazmin Mehdi: They have parsed a significant amount of information in myriad ways at the request
Yazmin Mehdi: of council.
Yazmin Mehdi: And in so doing, I believe they have clearly made the case
Yazmin Mehdi: that more is needed.
Yazmin Mehdi: So we're approved, we've approved the $410 million levy and
Yazmin Mehdi: we look forward to aiding the council as they deliberate over the levy proposal.
Yazmin Mehdi: Anybody have questions or comments?
Yazmin Mehdi: OK. So Tom, unless there's anything you would like to
Yazmin Mehdi: say, we can move on to item number three, the library generated revenue market
Yazmin Mehdi: assessment and planned rate changes and we will need to vote on some of these.
W Tali Hairston: OK.
Correct.
W Tali Hairston: And Yasmin, thank you for your work on this,
Hybrid Meeting Cart 01: I'm sorry, can I have you actually go back to the
W Tali Hairston: working with you.
Hybrid Meeting Cart 01: last item? Because the board does need to formally
Hybrid Meeting Cart 01: approve the fourth quarter and annual levy report that Elisa presented.
Hybrid Meeting Cart 01: You could just take a quick motion to approve that one, please.
Yazmin Mehdi: Oops.
Yazmin Mehdi: May I hear a motion to approve the fourth quarter annual 2025 levy report?
W Tali Hairston: 21.
W Tali Hairston: Motion to 2nd.
Faith Pettis: Make that motion.
Yazmin Mehdi: Thank you. All those in favor, please say aye or raise your hand.
Faith Pettis: I.
Yazmin Mehdi: And that match motion passes unanimously. Tally.
W Tali Hairston: Thank you for your work, Yasmin, on this. We worked together and it was you put in
W Tali Hairston: a lot of effort. I love it. Thank you.
Yazmin Mehdi: That's kind. Thanks, Tali. Couldn't do it with all without all of
Yazmin Mehdi: you. OK, I think we can move on to item number 3.
Tom Fay: Absolutely. And we'll bring forward, I think in this case we're bringing
Tom Fay: forward Rob and he'll introduce this particular item, Rob Gannon.
Rob Gannon: Good afternoon, members of the board. I want to let everyone know that Nick
Rob Gannon: Merkner is also available to answer questions as we move through this item.
Rob Gannon: So, so good afternoon. The purpose of this new business item is
Rob Gannon: to.
Rob Gannon: To provide information to the board about 3 areas where the library generates
Rob Gannon: revenue for certain activities and to seek the board's approval to raise the
Rob Gannon: rates for revenue in one of those categories.
Rob Gannon: So I'm going to briefly summarize the material that's in the board memo that
Rob Gannon: begins on page 81 of your packet. But over the past several months,
Rob Gannon: the library staff have been engaged in evaluating the rates that we charge in
Rob Gannon: three distinct areas.
Rob Gannon: One for electrical vehicle charging, the second for parking rates at our
Rob Gannon: central garage, and 3rd for the room rental rates,
Rob Gannon: the private room rental rates at the Central Library. As a note of background,
Rob Gannon: the board has already authorized the.
Rob Gannon: Chief Librarian to adjust fees so long as any adjustments are within 50% of the
Rob Gannon: current rate structure. So modifications to the electric vehicle
Rob Gannon: charging fee in our proposal will exceed that 50% threshold.
Rob Gannon: So that is the one item that we will be seeking formal board.
Rob Gannon: Approval for the other two, setting the rates for the Central Library
Rob Gannon: garage and also the private room rental rates fall under that threshold.
Rob Gannon: And so we're presenting this information or this memo as information to the board
Rob Gannon: to keep you abreast of the changes that we are making.
Rob Gannon: Even though it's within the Chief Librarian's authority,
Rob Gannon: we wanted you to be fully aware. So I will jump into the electrical
Rob Gannon: vehicle charging fee structure unless there are any questions before we get
Rob Gannon: started.
Rob Gannon: So I will hit the highlights. I think some are are aware that since
Rob Gannon: 2012 the Central Library has had electrical vehicle charging
Rob Gannon: infrastructure in its garage area. It functioned for a period of time and
Rob Gannon: then unfortunately was taken out of service.
Rob Gannon: Service due to service needs and repairs that could not be completed.
Rob Gannon: So for many of the last several years that charging infrastructure has remained
Rob Gannon: dormant and the rates for that charging, those charging stations have also
Rob Gannon: remained unchanged since 2018, the last time we looked at the rate
Rob Gannon: structure.
Rob Gannon: The change in circumstances is that in 2024,
Rob Gannon: the library would receive some grant funding from the Washington State
Rob Gannon: Department of Commerce to install new charging terminals at 5 library locations.
Rob Gannon: The Beacon Hill, Green Lake, Broadview, Rainier Beach and Central Library
Rob Gannon: locations.
Rob Gannon: We are very pleased to report that after much hard work and some very good
Rob Gannon: diligence by our capital improvement project team,
Rob Gannon: they are nearing the point where these chargers can now go into service.
Tom Fay: OK.
Rob Gannon: So that is still a date uncertain.
Rob Gannon: But it is imminent and will likely be in the next one to two months.
Rob Gannon: Most of the construction is complete and we are finalizing all that work.
Rob Gannon: So bringing this rate change and update to your attention and seeking your
Rob Gannon: approval is timely.
Rob Gannon: The staff undertook an evaluation of current electric vehicle charging rates
Rob Gannon: in the surrounding areas, so specific to the neighborhoods of the
Rob Gannon: five or the four branches that are to be impacted and also in the downtown region
Rob Gannon: to see how our rates might be comparable.
Rob Gannon: To other charging infrastructure, we also are aware that Seattle City Light
Rob Gannon: is undertaking a significant effort in partnership with Seattle Department of
Rob Gannon: Transportation to extend battery electric vehicle charging infrastructure.
Rob Gannon: And so we used that also as an important benchmark in understanding what our rates
Rob Gannon: could be or should be. In the end, we opted to propose to you that we
Rob Gannon: benchmark the library's rate at the same as the city rate, city light rate,
Rob Gannon: which is $0.21 per KW.
Rob Gannon: We think this is prudent. We think it is also competitive and we
Rob Gannon: didn't, we didn't want to be in competition with
Rob Gannon: Seattle City Light or have a discrepancy in the rate that one city entity charged
Rob Gannon: to other.
Rob Gannon: To its patrons compared to another city entity. So as you'll see,
Rob Gannon: the table there on page two of the memo or page 82 of your packet provides a
Rob Gannon: comparison. So we're proposing to move to a 21.
Rob Gannon: Cent per kWh charging structure. The table is merely illustrative,
Rob Gannon: so it is comparing the old flat rate fee structure to what a comparable flat rate
Rob Gannon: fee would be at the $0.21 per kWh rate.
Rob Gannon: And that is just to demonstrate that this proposed rate change is in excess of the
Rob Gannon: 50% threshold. But in short, when we operate operationalize these the
Rob Gannon: chargers at all locations, we will be proposing to charge at this
Rob Gannon: rate.
Rob Gannon: And and see how that functions as our patrons or our neighborhood community
Rob Gannon: members begin to make use of the charging infrastructure at library facilities.
Rob Gannon: So I'll pause there and see if there are any questions or concerns about.
Rob Gannon: The rate structure that we have proposed.
Yazmin Mehdi: Does anyone have questions?
Yazmin Mehdi: No, I have one question, Rob, because the infrastructure required to
Yazmin Mehdi: charge electric vehicles has already shown itself to be something that we have
Yazmin Mehdi: to replace periodically.
Yazmin Mehdi: Does this rate change account for some kind of reserve to replace that
Yazmin Mehdi: infrastructure in the future?
Rob Gannon: In short, it it does not. So we are offering this as a service of
Rob Gannon: the library in partnership, in effect in partnership and with other
Rob Gannon: city departments.
Rob Gannon: But this is not going to be a profit making undertaking.
Rob Gannon: So the charging infrastructure and its service and its repair will continue to
Rob Gannon: cost the library ongoing maintenance money.
Rob Gannon: We'll of course devote this revenue as.
Rob Gannon: As we can to the general operation of of the library,
Rob Gannon: but specifically stated there will it will not create a reserve where we could
Rob Gannon: tap that reserve to address ongoing maintenance and repair issues.
Yazmin Mehdi: OK, so we're really just matching our the
Yazmin Mehdi: rate of Seattle City Light, which makes sense to me.
Rob Gannon: That's correct. And I will state carefully that in our
Rob Gannon: work with the Seattle Department of Transportation and in our work with
Rob Gannon: Seattle City Light, we are fully cognizant of the role a
Rob Gannon: library can play and whether the expansion of charging infrastructure is
Rob Gannon: something where we want to be an active part.
Rob Gannon: Participant We are partnering with those departments to see if there are other
Rob Gannon: library locations that could take on charging infrastructure,
Rob Gannon: but it is with a longer term view of seeing about the possibilities of having
Rob Gannon: that charging infrastructure be managed by Seattle City Light, so.
Rob Gannon: The long-term goal would be for the library not to be in this business,
Rob Gannon: but to be in to, but to be a a resource within
Rob Gannon: neighborhood and community where the charging infrastructure was available but
Rob Gannon: by managed by someone else.
Yazmin Mehdi: That makes even more sense to me. OK, that's great. Any anything else, Rob?
Rob Gannon: Yes. So at the bottom of this memo, it requests that the board give its
Rob Gannon: approval to this rate change and also authorize a study of the idling fees.
Rob Gannon: So I would ask that as you prepare your motion that you.
Rob Gannon: Delete the reference to the idling fees. We will take up that study later,
Rob Gannon: but it is not necessary for the the board to vote on that at this time.
Rob Gannon: Idling fees are just by way of information the amount that may be
Rob Gannon: charged to a parking to a customer who has become a Parker because they're
Rob Gannon: charged.
Rob Gannon: Marge has been completed and if they stay in that parking spot depriving others the
Rob Gannon: opportunity to use it, that is what is considered the idling
Rob Gannon: feature. We will study that separately once we've
Rob Gannon: operationalized this and see to what degree that's an impact on our operation.
Rob Gannon: So for purposes of the motion you can.
Rob Gannon: Amend that out and simply take a vote on the the rates that we have proposed
Rob Gannon: before you.
Yazmin Mehdi: Great. Again, any questions from Faith, Tally, Ron. OK. In that case,
Yazmin Mehdi: may I hear a motion to approve the right schedule for electric vehicle charging
Yazmin Mehdi: terminals as published in today's meeting packet?
Faith Pettis: I'll make that lesson.
Ron Chew: 2nd.
Yazmin Mehdi: OK, it's been moved and seconded. All in favor,
Yazmin Mehdi: please say aye or raise your hand.
Yazmin Mehdi: And that passes unanimously, folks. I have whiffed our resolution approval by
Yazmin Mehdi: forgetting to ask for a motion to approve the resolution regarding the library levy.
Yazmin Mehdi: So could I request a motion to approve the resolution?
Faith Pettis: I'll make that motion.
Yazmin Mehdi: Have a second.
Yazmin Mehdi: All right. Can we just vote again just to be make
Ron Chew: Second.
Yazmin Mehdi: sure we've got dotted all the eyes. All of those in favor,
Yazmin Mehdi: please say aye or raise your hand once again, unanimous. Thank you so much.
Yazmin Mehdi: Sorry about that. OK, moving on. OK, Rob, thank you for the report.
Yazmin Mehdi: And we'll look forward to hearing more about the idling fees study at some
Yazmin Mehdi: future time.
Rob Gannon: And then I will just say the the Central Library parking garage rates are covered
Yazmin Mehdi: And we go ahead, Rob.
Rob Gannon: in the memo and this is provided for the board's information.
Rob Gannon: We did undertake a study of downtown rates and tried to remain within a
Rob Gannon: competitive band, but not to overcharge.
Rob Gannon: And some of the interest that we see in resetting these rates are to make sure
Rob Gannon: that the usage of the garage is still available to patrons coming downtown and
Rob Gannon: not oversubscribed by monthly parkers or early bird users.
Rob Gannon: So if there are any questions on that, we're happy to answer them.
Rob Gannon: The room rental rates for private rentals at the Central Library.
Rob Gannon: This represents some very excellent work taken on by our new Event Services
Rob Gannon: manager Camille Parker. But this is a reordering of the rate
Rob Gannon: structure simply to make more sense and make it more streamlined for.
Rob Gannon: Of the customers and the patrons that do avail themselves to these services.
Rob Gannon: So very good work. No, it's a nominal change,
Rob Gannon: but we'll definitely serve the patron and community interests.
Rob Gannon: So that I just wanted to highlight those two things and and give special thanks.
Rob Gannon: To Nick Merkner and Camille Parker, who and Jay Donahue,
Rob Gannon: who contributed mightily across all of these areas to determine the ultimate
Rob Gannon: rate structures in these three specific categories.
Yazmin Mehdi: Go ahead, Ron.
Ron Chew: Yeah, Rob, I'm just curious as far as the parking
Ron Chew: garage, do we have a sense of, I know there are times where it's pretty
Ron Chew: easy to get in and out and obviously my presence there centers around meetings.
Ron Chew: At the library. But so sometimes it's, you know,
Ron Chew: it's pretty not so bad to get parking. Other times seems impossible.
Ron Chew: Do we have a sense of who actually uses the garage in terms of percentage of
Ron Chew: folks are actually going to the library versus?
Ron Chew: Other folks saying, well, hey, I'm gonna go here because it's close by
Ron Chew: some other place I need to go.
Rob Gannon: So Ron, I do not have that information at
Rob Gannon: immediate disposal, but we're happy to bring some analysis
Rob Gannon: back to the board as an information item. We set the rates of course,
Rob Gannon: trying to balance the many different types of users from the monthly parkers
Rob Gannon: to the early bird users to the occasional users to the.
Rob Gannon: People who are dropping in at Central, we see fluctuation across days of week
Rob Gannon: and periods of the year like any parking infrastructure would,
Rob Gannon: but I'd be happy to bring back some information about what alignment between
Rob Gannon: actual library use of the parkers and they're tied to the parking garage.
Rob Gannon: Is.
Ron Chew: Great. I think that would be helpful. Again, I've, you know,
Ron Chew: when I've had meetings at the library, sometimes it's just like, oh,
Ron Chew: there's something going on here. I'm not sure necessarily it's a library
Ron Chew: event. I mean, I'm just going by gut.
Ron Chew: Instinct. So just curious to know a little bit more
Ron Chew: about that.
Rob Gannon: We will bring some information back to the board's attention on that specific
Rob Gannon: question.
Ron Chew: Great, thank you.
Yazmin Mehdi: That's helpful. Thank you, Rob. We'll look forward to hearing more from
Yazmin Mehdi: you about that. Thanks for the great work to you and your
Yazmin Mehdi: team on the room rental rates and the parking garage fees.
Yazmin Mehdi: I guess it's worth noting that these are.
Yazmin Mehdi: Income streams that help support very small percentages of the library's total
Yazmin Mehdi: budget, but yet ought to be managed carefully,
Yazmin Mehdi: and it's clear that your team has taken all that into consideration.
Rob Gannon: Thank you.
Yazmin Mehdi: All right, Tom, let's move on to the union report.
Yazmin Mehdi: And Anne Cisney's back. I don't know why Jesse's not available,
Yazmin Mehdi: but it's nice to get a chance to see Anne again.
Anne Cisney: Hi everyone. It's so good to be here and to see you.
Anne Cisney: My name's Anne Cisney. I am the Vice President of Librarians of
Anne Cisney: the Union at the moment, subbing in for Jesse,
Anne Cisney: who's away from the library this week. I am a Librarian in the Central Library
Anne Cisney: in the Reference Services department.
Anne Cisney: And prior to being the Vice President of Librarians,
Anne Cisney: I was the Union President for quite a long time.
Anne Cisney: So it's wonderful to be back before you and have the opportunity to say hello.
Anne Cisney: I see that the clock is ticking and you already have the Union's report.
Anne Cisney: So rather than going back over that, I just want to briefly say thank you so
Anne Cisney: much to everyone for your kind words in the.
Anne Cisney: This meeting about the work of the library for all of your work in support
Anne Cisney: of the levy, so that the levy can support all of us in
Anne Cisney: carrying out that work with the public. And in particular, I want to take,
Anne Cisney: I want to thank Tom and the leadership team for taking the time to have those
Anne Cisney: conversations about communication internally and externally.
Anne Cisney: And about how we foster belonging and staff support within the library and and
Anne Cisney: externally. Thank you also to Tali and Yasmin in
Anne Cisney: particular for for echoing those sentiments about fostering staff support
Anne Cisney: and belonging and.
Anne Cisney: To everyone for acknowledging the difficulties that our members have gone
Anne Cisney: through recently in branches with patron desks, because as you said,
Anne Cisney: that is very difficult and it's it's something that we sign on to do.
Anne Cisney: It's part of our work, but it's not a core part of our work.
Anne Cisney: And we really appreciate the support of the Library Leadership Team,
Tom Fay: Read.
Anne Cisney: of the Library Board in all of those things,
Anne Cisney: the totality of the work that we are doing as we move forward into this levy
Anne Cisney: that we've had so much exciting discussion about today.
Anne Cisney: I just want to reiterate that I am here on behalf of the.
Anne Cisney: Union and as myself, excited to work in partnership with all
Anne Cisney: of you on all of that. And I look forward to further
Anne Cisney: conversations with Tom and the leadership team about how we can really strengthen
Anne Cisney: those communication processes internally so that we are all really moving forward.
Anne Cisney: In the strongest way we possibly can, so that we show up at our very best for
Anne Cisney: the public when that levy, I will say, is approved and moves forward.
Anne Cisney: And that's that's my report for you today.
Yazmin Mehdi: Anne, thank you so much. What a wonderful, positive report.
Yazmin Mehdi: We really appreciate hearing from you. And absolutely without the union,
Yazmin Mehdi: we can't make sure that this levy gets approved.
Yazmin Mehdi: So we really appreciate you being here and stating your support.
Anne Cisney: Thank you for having me.
Yazmin Mehdi: Thank you.
Yazmin Mehdi: Any anything from Faith, Tali, Ron?
Yazmin Mehdi: OK. Anne, thanks again. Good to see you.
Yazmin Mehdi: OK, item number 5, Library Foundation and Friends of the
Yazmin Mehdi: Library updates. I know that Carmen attended the Friends
Yazmin Mehdi: meeting for Faith this last munch month.
Tom Fay: You.
Yazmin Mehdi: Lunch. Lunch is coming up. That's why I said that. So Tom,
Yazmin Mehdi: I think you're giving us the report on the friends.
Tom Fay: I do. I have that one. I'm happy to to provide that. As always,
Tom Fay: our friends have a a great start to their meeting, going over their mission,
Tom Fay: also going over the reading list. That's usually where I start getting my
Tom Fay: reading lists built up every day.
Tom Fay: When I go to their meetings, they were talking about the library levy
Tom Fay: campaign and how they would be involved in it and being able to make sure their
Tom Fay: members were available to attend council sessions if they needed to,
Tom Fay: or to support the library in any number of ways.
Tom Fay: They had a Friends membership benefits discussion where they further defined on
Tom Fay: the Friends website what those benefits are,
Tom Fay: and they said they want to thank the Friends Board for for the focus group
Tom Fay: that worked on this particular project.
Tom Fay: They will be looking at additional benefits for Friends members next year,
Tom Fay: so more to come on that. The Friends new Georgetown location,
Tom Fay: the workshop is what it's called, is open and has successfully opened.
Tom Fay: Or excuse me, hosted the first Books for Teachers event.
Tom Fay: Furniture is being donated from a local technology company which deliver which
Tom Fay: they delivered on March 24th. The expense of the additional handheld
Tom Fay: terminal or the for this shop.
Tom Fay: Is has been made available through their current budget and they are very excited
Tom Fay: about this space. They actually have a little bit more room
Tom Fay: here and if you been over to the other space in Georgetown,
Tom Fay: they definitely needed it.
Tom Fay: So very exciting and very happy that they've got a new space for the for the
Tom Fay: teacher is primarily for the books for teachers events where they have so many
Tom Fay: folks coming through which is a great program that they and service that they
Tom Fay: offer and that wraps up the Friends report.
Yazmin Mehdi: Thank you, Tom. Ron, I believe you have a report from the
Yazmin Mehdi: Foundation.
Ron Chew: Yeah. So I will be very brief because we're
Ron Chew: coming up on lunch hour for you, Jasmine. And of course,
Ron Chew: I know Tom needs to be released because he's,
Ron Chew: he's everywhere and so give him a few extra minutes.
Ron Chew: As per usual, foundation board meetings are always a
Ron Chew: happy time, particularly when they meet their target
Ron Chew: goals and exceed their goals in terms of fundraising.
Ron Chew: So you know there's a report out on.
Ron Chew: 2025 very strong year of gift giving exceeding the target goals with more
Ron Chew: ambitious goals to come in this this current year.
Ron Chew: A few highlights just to mention Library Giving Day, April the 1st,
Tom Fay: Yeah.
Ron Chew: I think next Wednesday.
Tom Fay: OK.
Ron Chew: So keep that on your radar. The campaign has begun.
Ron Chew: There was a I found particularly interesting presentation on the Carnegie
Ron Chew: Corporation grant, which I know actually came up at the
Ron Chew: library, the Select Committee.
Ron Chew: Because there's great interest and a strong suit of you know what SPL is doing
Ron Chew: and it's so it's a pretty full report out on the expansion of the ESL programming
Ron Chew: under that grant and again it was it was wonderful to hear about that.
Ron Chew: The bulk of the meeting actually was talking about levy strategies because
Ron Chew: we're in that period and this is the whole ball game right here in terms of
Ron Chew: what's immediately for us, so.
Ron Chew: You know, a lot of support, a lot of work happening on that front.
Ron Chew: So it was, it was overall a good meeting and I was
Ron Chew: able to find parking, believe it or not.
Tom Fay: OK.
Yazmin Mehdi: I think Ron has parking on the brain, so we need to be cognizant of that.
Yazmin Mehdi: Any questions or comments or and let's take any updates from library board
Yazmin Mehdi: members at this point.
Yazmin Mehdi: OK, I'm seeing none. I with hopefully not over sharing.
Yazmin Mehdi: I would like to just note that our colleague Carmen is not here today.
Yazmin Mehdi: She sadly lost her mother earlier and.
Yazmin Mehdi: Sadly, another member of our community also lost
Yazmin Mehdi: his mother, Brian Lawrence, and I'd like to just express condolences
Yazmin Mehdi: to both of them. Losing a parent is never easy,
Yazmin Mehdi: irrespective of how old you are.
Yazmin Mehdi: So I'd like to just take a moment and wish them well as they go through that,
Yazmin Mehdi: Ron.
Ron Chew: And can I just add, I know notice that Grace Nordhoff,
Ron Chew: her mother had passed away recently, but she came and was at the Select
Ron Chew: Committee testifying eloquently about the cause and so.
Ron Chew: You know, shout out to her and condolences as well.
Yazmin Mehdi: Thank you, Ron. That's a good addition. Well, that's a sad note,
Yazmin Mehdi: but I'll look forward to some good work coming up on the levy and thank you all
Yazmin Mehdi: in advance for what you do to contribute to that.
Yazmin Mehdi: And we will see you all in April. And with that, we are adjourned.
Tom Fay: Thank you all.
Faith Pettis: Thanks all.
I.
Yazmin Mehdi: Hi.