Loading...
HomeMy WebLinkAboutLibrary Promo Cmte - 09/15/2010 e � �� CITY OF PALM DESERT �1•�� PALM DESERT LIBRARY PROMOTION COMMITTEE � � - APPROVED MINUTES • • Wednesday, September 15, 2010 — 3:00 p.m. Community Services Conference Room I. CALL TO ORDER Chairman Kermode called the meeting to order at 3:00 p.m. II. ROLL CALL Present: Absent: Member Joan Beasley Member Betty Carapellese Member Lois Cardona Member Marilyn Hahn Member Ella Manor Vice Chair Bobbie Rosenberg Chairman Louise Kermode Also Present: Jean M. Benson, Councilmember Barbara Bowie, Desert Zone Manager, Riverside County Libraries Jeannie Kays, City Librarian Tonya Kennon, County Librarian CITY COUNCILACTION Eileen Strain, Volunteer Coordinat��'PRovED� DENtED Rachelle D. Klassen, City Clerk �t�CCIVED OTHER Mary P. LaCross, Recording Secr N1 E�: �.T[NG DATE �� —��-� �� "� III. ORAL COMMUNICATIONS AYrs:�%c-i����� ���;��.��, .�,�5i �1 N��Es: , , None gr��[�.1��'r: _����'c�u��;l„ �ii1�,����� AIi�TAIN: %`"� �' VE�.it�F1�:1) I3Y: �/ ' � �� IV. CONSENT CALENDAR ��•,�in�� �n ���� H,�t�i City Ctirk s O('tice A. MINUTES of the Palm Desert Library Promotion Committee Meeting of July 21, 2010. Upon motion by Member Beasley, second by Member Cardona, the Minutes of the Library Promotion Committee meeting of July 21, 2010, were approved as presented by a 4-0 vote. APPROVED MINUTES PALM DESERT LIBRARY PROMOTION COMMITTEE MEETING SEPTEMBER 15, 2010 V. NEW BUSINESS None VI. CONTINUED BUSINESS None VII. OLD BUSINESS A. PRESENTATION/UPDATE BY HOLT ARCHITECTS/GROUP 4 ON LIBRARY REFRESH PROJECT The following is a verbatim transcript of this portion of the meeting: � SP Sergio Pena, Riverside County Economic Development Agency TH Tim Holt, Holt Architects WG Wayne Gehrke, AIA, ArchitecUPrincipal, Group 4 Architects AW Andrea Will, Group 4 Architects LD Linda Demmers LK Louise Kermode, Library Committee Chair MPL Mary P. LaCross, Library Committee Recording Secretary EM Ella Manor, Library Committee Member BB Barbara Bowie, Desert Zone Manager, Riverside County Libraries JB Joan Beasley, Library Committee Member JK Jeannie Kays, City Librarian, Palm Desert Library ES Eileen Strain, Volunteer Coordinator, Palm Desert Library TK Tonya Kennon, County Librarian AR Andrea Redewill, Holt Architects BH Barbara Howison, Deputy Administrator, County Library System BLH Blake Herzog, The Desert Sun JMB Councilmember Jean M. Benson LC Lois Cardona, Library Committee Member RDK Rachelle D. Klassen, City Clerk SP I just wanted to introduce some of the people that are here. For those that may not remember me, my name is Sergio Pena. I'm with the County of Riverside Economic Development Agency. It's been about a month, a couple of sessions we've had, speaking with various groups that visit the 2 APPROVED MINUTES PALM DESERT LIBRARY PROMOTION COMMITTEE MEETING SEPTEMBER 15, 2010 Library or work at the Library. And we have Tim Holt here with Holt Architects, who will guide us through the presentation of where we're at today. TH Thanks, Sergio. I feel that good progress is being made in the early stages of designing the renovation to the Library structure. We're right on schedule. We're getting excellent cooperation from Library staff, and we have, in addition, I think an extraordinary consulting team that is coming together very nicely to be able to really bring forward not only a cohesive and a well-thought plan but one that is really state-of-the-art. It's going to be looking to put this library right at the very top of current library technology, aesthetics, interior finishes, and all of the things that I think we're all looking for to make our library the best it can be. With me today is, from my...where'd she go? WG She's calling Barbara Howison. TH Oh, okay. Andrea will be back in just a moment. Joining us from Group 4 Architects, our consultant team Wayne Gehrke... WG Hello TH ...and Andrea Will... AW Hello TH ...and very nobly, Linda Demmers, our consultant with regard to programming, space planning this facility. Linda's proving to be everything we had heard about in terms of bringing a very quality analysis to the current operations of the Library and understanding those, as well as being able to project future needs and to carry us into the next couple of decades, I'm sure, with regard to this, so....we have a brief Power Point that we'd like to run through for you this afternoon. It'll show you a number of things that we are considering, as well as trends that are current in library development and design today, and then we'll talk a little bit about just exactly where we are in the process so that you'll know how this is tracking along. Linda.... LD One second before we start the Power Point...just to catch you all up because we've met some of you in various groups, the rest (inaudible) be introduced. 3 APPROVED MINUTES PALM DESERT LIBRARY PROMOTION COMMITTEE MEETING SEPTEMBER 15, 2010 LK Yes, I think that's a great idea. Can we go around the room or something? Why don't you start...Mary is our Secretary. MPL My name is Mary LaCross. I work for the City of Palm Desert, and I'm Secretary for the Library Promotion Committee. LK Ella? EM Oh...Ella Manor, Member. BB Barbara Bowie, Barbara finder. JB Joan Beasley, President of the Friends group, member of the Committee. JK Jeannie Kays, City Librarian. LK Eileen? ES Oh, Eileen Strain, Volunteer Coordinator....l work with Jeannie. TK Tonya Kennon, County Librarian. SP Sergio Pena, EDA. AR Andrea Redewill, Designer with Holt Architects. BH Barbara Howison, Deputy Administrator with the County Library System. BLH Blake Herzog, Desert Sun Newspaper. AW Andrea Will, Group 4 Architecture. TH Tim Holt, Holt Architects. JMB I'm Jean Benson, City Council. LK Louise Kermode, Library Committee. WG Wayne Gehrke, Group 4 Architects. LC Lois Cardona, this Committee. 4 APPROVED MINUTES PALM DESERT LIBRARY PROMOTION COMMITTEE MEETING SEPTEMBER 15, 2010 RDK i'm Rachelle Klassen. I'm the City Clerk and the staff liaison for the Library Committee. LD I wanted to answer Joan's question before we start. We've been at this for about a month, meeting with you all, and we've met with the Friends, with the staff, with the College staff, with the technology department for the County, with the County Administrators, with the Friends of the Library at the last meeting, and this morning we met with 27 terrific volunteers. And I have to say, these meetings have been so productive. Several of you were at the Friends meeting. We got great ideas. All of the things that you suggested we heard from the volunteers as well, and we heard really terrific things about what they love, and we found out about the cooking programs that we didn't know about and the music programs, so actually we're all moving here. It's just really been...it's been charming, charming groups of people that we've met with, and very candid. To quote one of the Friends, you have "icky furniture." And the volunteers, twice, once about the work room and once about the main lobby area, said, "It's a mess." So we have no shortage of opinions. But what Joan asked me when we came in is "How are you doing on the survey?" because that's our other outreach. And my goal is to get into the hundreds. Well, at the end of this week, we have 36 responses, so every volunteer promised to fill it out at least four times. But they do bring perspective as both customers and as people who work in the building. So I'm here to plead with you. If you have an email list or...one of the volunteers had a great idea...she's going to write a letter to the editor of the paper announcing that fhe survey is on and suggesting just the link....just go to the County Library or the City, and there's a little box that says "participate"... JK Take the survey.. LD Take the survey for the Palm Desert remodel, Palm Desert Library remodel. But if you belong to a group, whatever it might be, Soroptimist, Chamber, if you might just mention it to folks. We also were asked to leave the survey open until a little bit further into October when the people who live here that aren't here now come back. So that's sort of the little piece of business. Please, if you could get the word out. Reporting a survey with 36 results, and I know at least three of them are staff members, that wasn't useful. So with that, Andrea is going to start with the show. AW I think this show actually starts, Tim, with a little bit of your background. 5 APPROVED MINUTES PALM DESERT LIBRARY , PROMOTION COMMITTEE MEETING SEPTEMBER 15, 2010 TH Yes, I think most of them are quite familiar with it. We're located in Rancho Mirage, right up the street. Our primary work in the area is public and institutional work for governmental agencies for the most part. We stay very involved in our projects from the very beginning, although we are certainly enjoying the assistance from our consultants that I introduced this morning, or this afternoon...all the way through occupancy. And we're just committed to bringing forward good projects, and we're staying very busy in the midst of this economic cycle, so perhaps that speaks somewhat to some of our past endeavors and so on. This is one of our libraries here locally (inaudible) in Thousand Palms. I think we dedicated that, I think, what, three years ago? ?? Something like that. TH Barbara? BB Maybe four. TH And it's functioned really well for that community. BB It is, it's wonderful. TH Thank you. The Safehouse of the Desert project, a special one that was just completed about a year and a half ago for runaway teenagers here in the Coachella Valley, and that's a busy place out there right now, and it's helping a lot of kids, I think, getting their feet on the ground and having a place to sleep at night when sometimes they're not too sure if they're going to be looking at anything but the stars in the sky. So it's been a much-needed success. A couple of projects for the County, a self- sufficiency center up in Jurupa on the other side of Riverside, and the Boys and Girls Club....l think we're on our fifth project for the Boys and Girls Club of the Coachella Valley right now. This is the first one we did down in Coachella about four or five years ago. Wayne... WG Oh, our firm, Group 4, we're located in the Bay area...that scrolling by is...you can't read that, but that's a list of our library projects. We, like Holt Architects, specialize in community architecture, it's what we do. A major focus of our practice is libraries, and we work in three areas. We do long- range planning for library systems, we do library architecture, and we do interior design for libraries. We work very interactively and have really be enjoying all the interaction we've had, the ideas, and that's where we draw our inspiration for the communities that we work. These are some...Milpitas, San Rafael, San Jose, Palo Alto...we are working 6 APPROVED MINUTES PALM DESERT LIBRARY PROMOTION COMMITTEE MEETING SEPTEMBER 15, 2010 currently in Chula Vista, City of Anaheim, we've worked in the past with Camarillo, the City of Orange, so we have quite a bit of work here as well. LK Are those all libraries? WG Those are all libraries. These are interiors for library projects that we've worked on. So we do library interiors...another important part of our practice, so we do everything from the planning...should we have automated systems...all the way down to the furniture and the signage of the libraries. And libraries are one of our favorite building types because they have such a...as you all know...have a big impact on the community. So...Linda... LD Oh, that's me. WG That's you. LD You expect me to read that from here? Okay, I think I know my career, though. I am a librarian. I was the library director on the east coast for 20 years before I moved to California, so for the last 20 years...don't do too much math, though...l've been a practitioner, a consultant working with cities, counties, universities, community colleges, planning and remodeling libraries. In fact, interesting, I'm working with Tulane University right now. They are just now repairing the library from Katrina. That's how FEMA works. It's in the sixth year, and we've met once, and it was a year ago. So I always tell people when you do a project, you've got to look at the long picture. I had several projects...the Mill Valley Library project took 15 years. Hopefully yours will not take quite that long. But anyway, I am well familiar with Group 4. We have worked on several, I think, really successful projects. If you're in northern California and you can get through Walnut Creek, it's beautiful and completely different. Elk Grove was a vacant commercial building, a two-story, it looked like a bank, that we remodeled into a really great community public library. So...l don't know how many of you visit libraries when you go on vacation, but I have drug my husband around to every library in every place we've gone to. So my pieces of it are anywhere from the very beginning to the needs assessment, where we are now, through the building programming, working on the schematics and...l mean, I've stayed along as far as moving the books back into the shelves, you know, and dusting off for the opening. I mean, we're all very hands-on, and Andrea will tell you the night before the opening that there's plenty to be done. AW I've shelved my share of books. 7 APPROVED MINUTES PALM DESERT LIBRARY PROMOTION COMMITTEE MEETING SEPTEMBER 15, 2010 JK We will be there for you as volunteers, and you will get credit. LD So some of the things that we think about in planning the library are the functionality, specifically the movement of materials. You know, when we talked to the volunteers, and they talked about getting stuff out of the back room and back to the shelves and how wide the aisles are and staff efficiency and why you need so many people at the desk and what the welcomer does...all of that has to be folded into it...it has to work. Libraries are about moving things around, getting things to people, and giving them enough space to do what they want to do. And one good example that we've talked about two weeks ago with the Friends is...it's extremely successful, you make a lot of money and goodwill for the Library, and one of your rooms is windowless and packed to the ceiling, and the other one, even if you could just put those finro spaces together, you'd have a decent sized bookstore with actually a small window to the outside. So those are the kinds of things in the early stages that you have to get it right now because if it's not right at the beginning, it's never going to be right. And then we talk about bringing things up to the current state of the art, and one example of that is RFID, which the County is investing in for all of its branches. Are you familiar with that technology? It's like what they have in the clothing stores and the bookstores...it's just a little bullet tag, and the difference being...now, when you check out a book, you check out one at a time, but with RFID, if Joan comes into the Library with 20 things, she goes like that, and all 20 are checked out at once. That's it, one movement, they're all checked out to her. She can get her receipt and leave in a minute. Not only that, with the RFID, the staff, with a little wand that looks like a flashlight, they go to the shelf like this, and it will tell you what's missing, what's out of order. You can set it to tell you what hasn't circulated in five or ten years so that you can weed those out or move them away. Now, for you the customer, iYs the same when you're checking out or checking in...you just put all your books like that and you're done. And then the gates, you know the security gates that we have, let's just say...l used Carl this morning as my example...l said Carl made a mistake, and he forgot to check out his book, so not only does the � alarm go up as a gentle reminder, but the RFID tag will tell you what the book is that he has, and if he has his library card in his pocket, it'll tell you who he is (inaudible) JMB Will it tell me if I've read the book? LD My guess is you probably have. 8 APPROVED MINUTES PALM DESERT LIBRARY PROMOTION COMMITTEE MEETING SEPTEMBER 15, 2010 JMB That's what I need to know before I carry those 20 home. LD So that's the (inaudible) in the water, that's number one. The second piece of that is, once we have the RFID tags in all the books, the materials handling is a slot in the wall. And you put the book in, or you put in your 20 books, and in real time, the minute it passes through that portal, it's checked back in, your record is cleared, it tells you on the screen if you owed money or if it was overdue or something, and then it moves down this conveyor belt. So if this room was the materials handling, non-fiction, fiction, children's, and it immediately goes off to the side on a trolley that the shelver will just pick up, lift it (inaudible), it's got wheels, and you take it out, and you reshelve it. So things go back to the shelf immediately the minute they're returned. And then there's a dump thing at the end so that if it has a hold on it or it's from a different library or something else, if it's on reserve it goes in there. So that's the state of the art. And I mean the other wonderFul thing is it's fun, you know, they put windows...you did this at Walnut Creek. There's a window in the wall...like Krispy Kreme donuts, where you can actually watch your books go down the conveyor belt and get returned, and there was one library where the (inaudible) went way, way, way up after they installed this, and they found the sixth grade boys who were checking out a pile of books and then feeding them in and then checking them out and feeding them in. So we're going to do that. The other bullet on here, and maybe one of the architects would like to talk about this...is sustainable and green strategies, which will be a very important part of this project. TH The County of Riverside has mandated, and the City of Palm Desert has as well, that not only new buildings but major renovations to other structures in the City be as sustainable and as energy-conserving as possible. And, of course, we've embraced that wholly and are looking to incorporate as many of those features into the library project as we can. You may recall the library was built in 1996, I think occupied maybe in 1997, so it's been about 14 years on it at this point, and it was constructed just before a number of code changes and the Americans with Disabilities Act issues and those types of things became commonplace. So we have a little bit of remedial work to do to go back and take care of some of those things. And Wayne, with all the 280 libraries I think that your firm has been involved with, you've encountered some of these green and sustainable challenges as well. WG Yes, it's something, one, we've heard from the community. I mean, people do want the library to be sustainable, and there are a lot of things that we can do which don't cost a lot. But one of the key things is we look 9 APPROVED MINUTES PALM DESERT LIBRARY PROMOTION COMMITTEE MEETING SEPTEMBER 15, 2010 at sustainability very broadly, which goes back to the first two bullets. We need it to be economically sustainable, so if we do a good job and make it operate much more efficiently, you know, that means more hours that can be opened for the same dollars, more people visit, it's easier to use, less staff injury, happier staff, and so all kinds of things/benefits that come from that. So economic sustainability is part of it, but very much the way we're looking at this is to make it greener so we operate with less utility costs and tread lightly in the environment. LD So we're going to talk just a little about some of the trends in libraries, which we'll fold into our thinking, and then we're going to end with...l know you'd all rather do this yourself, but I'm going to take you on a quick tour of some new libraries. So it'll save you traveling up and down the coast...just to show you some of the kinds of spaces that we've seen opening. And I think we've hit on a lot of this, the self-service, the automation, better signage and way finding, and we sure heard that from the volunteers this morning who are out in the stacks. Somebody said where's the nonfiction, and she said it's the books with the numbers on the spine. What numbers on the spine? And where are the bathrooms? They're kind of tucked away. So that'll be a really important goal to this project. JK Where's the front door? We hear that a lot. In the parking lot, they say where's the front door? LK You know, it's not so clear, actually, when you come up on it. LD So one thing we're seeing more and more is a dedicated teen space. You have a dribbling of one now, and they like it, they love having their collection culled there for them and the cafe tables, the higher seats. Now we're thinking of something maybe off the beaten path a little bit with a little bit more teen flavor. So here's just a couple. Oops, going the wrong way. And this is a really big concept now, the family place, the idea of a place where a parent and child can read together: There can be something for everybody. We know that children learn better, and it's more meaningful, when they share the learning experience with a parent, and you only have to go to a children's museum and see parents and children manipulating plastic pieces of fruit, and what they're really learning about is "eat a rainbow" for healthy nutrition. But when you park a kid somewhere, and then the parent goes off because my collections are in a different part of the library, so my chance to browse is while my child is sitting in here in the children's room, we haven't come together at all in that place. So we look for more opportunities, maybe oversized stations 10 APPROVED MINUTES PALM DESERT LIBRARY PROMOTION COMMITTEE MEETING SEPTEMBER 15, 2010 or this...this beautiful chair and a half...it's kind of like an old-fashioned chaise lounge with a little bump on the side...big enough for me but big enough for another person to sit next to me reading and that opportunity...or cozy little niches. The Third Place, the great places to hang out after school...is there a middle school near your library? Is there a school within walking distance? JK Elementary and middle school within walking distance. LD Yes, there's another project I'm working on...there's a really big middle school next door, and at 3:20 in the afternoon just about everyone else leaves. Those 12-year-olds are particularly gnarly. Here's the automated materials with the window...the handling. BB We have that in Temecula. LD Oh, you do? Oh, I worked on Temecula. I love that project. Lots of opportunities for self-service. Flexible operating modes, and would you like to talk to that? Or Wayne, would you like to talk...l think that's very interesting, this possibility. WG This is the plan the Walnut Creek Library designed, so...only parts of it...for example, in the upper right (inaudible) lower left, sort of the marketplace here where the holds are, where there's cafe tables, there are study tables, where the media is, all the popular things, and thaYs just a fraction of the overall library, but it allows the library to open with very limited staff and a very low operating cost. So it just gives the library options between open and closed. And too many libraries are moving more from the open over to the closed, and this just gives you a way to stretch your dollars out. So even though the full library isn't open, you can reserve something and pick it up, but you can't browse the whole collection. There is limited browsing, there are work tables, and so forth. LD Friends bookstore... WG Friends bookstore is there, access to the meeting rooms and so forth. I won't go through all of this, but there are five different operational ways they can open up. It just gives staff an ability to adjust to the available operating funds which, as we know, change a little bit each year, so... LD It makes really good sense, and when you're starting at this point, you can think that through, particularly with the College already having its own... 11 APPROVED MINUTES PALM DESERT LIBRARY PROMOTION COMMITTEE MEETING SEPTEMBER 15, 2010 WG Right LD ....Maginot line there and over here (inaudible). Good way finding, and we talked about that, and actually the one on the right in Walnut Creek is great. Their donor sign is actually an electronic sign because every time there is a new donor, they don't have to put another plaque up. They just add the name in, and they're very large, so as you're walking through, you can really see the list of contributors. I think they have a really successful...does this have....no, I thought it might have... WG So, everything from, you know, from (inaudible) bike race to new donors to library programs...just about all the major signing is on the LED screens. They will attract a lot of attention. On the left, I'll just point out because we were talking about this earlier for some of the group, that's one of the information service desks that (inaudible), and it raises up and down, so the staff can sit or, if the person is in a wheelchair, they can lower the desk, or it can raise up so that the staff can stand up. Also, it's on wheels, so you can move it to different parts within a certain area, you can move it, and the floor has a variety of access points to plug in the electronics. So it really gives you a lot of flexibility to change throughout the day and also to change over the life of the building without having to do a big remodel. LD These are terrific...for example, maybe you don't have a service desk in the Children's Room permanently, but for the two-week signup period for summer reading program, you wheel it in there and you have it. Or IeYs say you decide to turn a community room into a homework center from three to five the last month of every semester. You roll it in there, and then iYs not not occupied. Or if you have a program, like when you said you have the sign-ins for the classes, you could park a pod at the entrance, you know, and if you're giving out nametags or something like that. It's a good investment in a piece of furniture that's really not casework, it's just a piece of furniture that you can wheel around. It's like folding tables. You can't have too many folding tables ever. JK And it's motorized so that goes up on a motor. WG Yes, simple teeny electronic motor that just lifts it up and lowers it down. It's just a little rocker switch, you know, for up and down. The wheels have a little lock you just release. LD Learning centers....all kinds of learning centers. Now this is the concept from...did you pick this up from England (inaudible) on the trip you took? 12 APPROVED MINUTES PALM DESERT LIBRARY PROMOTION COMMITTEE MEETING SEPTEMBER 15, 2010 WG Yes (inaudibie) but also Apple stores here, the idea, just that one on one. So we're seeing just a lot of one on one advising, everything from technology, how to use email from certain people, from specialized questions about art collections or geology, whatever. It's just a concept we're seeing that's not just the traditional reference desk, but it's just something that sort of you can come with your, you know, book/media question and get some one on one. Not all libraries typically don't have that all day long, but it's a nice feature and a really, really big draw, and iYs...and you reserve it, so that if you need half an hour with a specialist with the library, you can do that. And iYs not just a long queue at the reference desk, but iYs something that can be prearranged, and they'll have the staff there. LD There was one of the volunteers this morning, you'll know her name, who spoke about this concept at length, computer assistance in the library like you could just drop in and have an appointment with her, and she teaches you how to load your email or set up your i-phone or research genealogy or workshops like Adobe Photoshop 101, that kind of thing. What was her name? JK Her name's Diana, she's our volunteer computer teacher. LD Oh, great. She's a volunteer for that? WG You guys have the best volunteers. LD No kidding. WG Truly. So she'll be behind the genius bar in (inaudible) LD I'm going to go through some of these a little quickly. Oh no, that's a really nice photo on the left of the Seattle Public Library. But Wayne, you didn't design the Seattle Public Library... WG No LD ...we have to give Rem Koolhaas credit for that one. WG Isn't that the best name for an architect...Koolhaas? LD So some of the things we think about when we're planning buildings is...and a lot of this we've learned from retail...branding. How do I know what this building is, and it's not so clear from out in front of your building 13 APPROVED MINUTES PALM DESERT LIBRARY PROMOTION COMMITTEE MEETING SEPTEMBER 15, 2010 what it is. Good way finding and signage — don't make me have to ask if I don't want to. Am I paying attention to the comfort of my customers? Merchandising, and we're doing some of that now, but the more you merchandise your collections, you get them out there so people...it's like the Farmer's Market — the more you can see and handle, get things, the more you want to buy and take away. And then some special spaces. Actually, these are some of my favorite images. The one on the left...that's a very busy corner in Hollywood, and there isn't a child in the world that can't spot that McDonald's sign, right in front of the mosque. On the right on the bottom — busy stretch of the Las Vegas Strip, and you know what that, even as tiny as it is, you know what that green circle is? BB Sure, it's Starbuck's. LD It's a cup of coffee. It's really good branding. And the one on the top I'll just throw in for fun because it's a hot dog with onions and mustard on it that says "Thai Food" but it's really an insurance agency. So here's some branding. This one is Rancho Cucamonga with the books, this says "Library". This is Rancho Cucamonga's remodel on the corner. And this is the front of your library. And partly because you cannot see in...you know when you walk by the Gap store, and you look in and you can see the brown sweaters, and when you walk by Apple you can see the Macs, and when you look into a restaurant you kind of get an idea if it's fancy or not? When you look at the front of your building, there's absolutely no sense of anything that's going on in there. Never mind merchandising...it's just a wall with some little tiny windows. Now there's welcoming. And the one on the upper left is a church near where I live, and they have welcome banners at the perimeter of the parking lot in many languages, which I think is a nice touch. There's the library on the right, and then the one on the bottom on the left is actually the Sav-On in my neighborhood, and the banner says, "We're always here for you." Well, they're not. If you need a prescription after five on Saturday, they're not there for you. But it's a nice message. And then you get things like, "Enter, rest, pray," which is lovely, and now I've seen, "Eat, Pray, Love" and "Eat, Play, and Sleep." But "eat" was Italy. I only got through "eat." And then this is, like, the typical outside of a school...17 signs of prohibitive....don't call this, blah...and this is what most libraries look like. They don't tell you what you can do, they tell you what you can't do. No cell phones, no eating, don't talk, leave your pet outside. WG And studies have shown that they're just not seen. They're always placed in (inaudible) where people are trying to move fast and get into the library, and there are all these signs that aren't seen. 14 APPROVED MINUTES PALM DESERT LIBRARY PROMOTION COMMITTEE MEETING SEPTEMBER 15, 2010 LD So what happened to welcoming, you know? IYs a nice idea. Customer service...so this is Nordstrom's. Is there a Nordstrom's in Palm Desert? (several people answered at same time)....No LD Okay, so Nordstrom's every year is rated in the top three retail establishments in the country, along with Delta Airlines, which plummeted off that list a couple of years ago. One of this Nordstrom's does is they have a chair everywhere. There's a chair at the cash wrap and the dressing room, in the middle of the escalators...l interviewed the woman on the left...she was there with her husband, her mother, and her child, and she said, "It's perfect. My husband sits in the chair while I'm in the dressing room. He's bored. My mother needs to rest, and I park my daughter in the chair." So, and I say when you go to a library, how far do you have to walk into the building, and if it's a long walk from the parking lot, how far do you have to get in before you can sit down? So in yours, right past the DVD's, there are two chairs outside the bookstore, actually. The one on the right, there's always somebody asleep in. (inaudible) the air in that spot. But that's close. I think that's a good thing, or like a bench somewhere. JK We have the benches in the lobby, which you probably don't even see as you walk... LD I missed those, but it's hot, it could be a long walk from the parking lot and to your car, and some people just need to sit down. So it's good to have chairs. If you have a lot of new books displayed, it's a good idea to have a little bench, a bean, a bag, a bubble, a stool...something for somebody to sit down on. JMB Speaking of that, and having chairs, the ones at the Library as of now, the ones you mentioned, half the time somebody's moved them to another spot. If you're thinking of taking that chair, as I often do, then the chair's gone. So we need something that is stationary, it stays there. And also in the chair department, probably a good thing to bring up at this point, we only have one bench outside, and I know they don't want, you know, a conglomeration of benches so kids gather, but a couple more benches would be kind of nice outside because coming from the parking lot, a lot of people will stop before they go in because our weather from October to April, they can take their breather there, so we need more outside. LD Outside seating. 15 APPROVED MINUTES PALM DESERT LIBRARY PROMOTION COMMITTEE MEETING SEPTEMBER 15, 2010 JMB Yes. LD I think we could hear that from a number of groups. We talked about way finding, and it's not just signage. There are clues in the building, like the floor treatment, people will follow. Next time you go into a Barnes & Noble or a Borders bookstore, notice what they call the "power aisles." The stores are usually divided into a quarter, and the two main aisles are a hard surface, and what studies show is that people walk faster on a hard surface, and they slow down when they hit a carpet. So the power aisles take you through the neighborhoods. The minute you get into the sections with the stacks, with the merchandise, the floor turns to carpet because you slow down, and that's where they want you to slow down because they want you to look at things and buy them. So that's what we call the "power aisles" so let's say, for example, if we had a teen room at the back and a computer (inaudible) this way and that way, and your building is kind of a long drink of water, so it doesn't turn into quarters, but we could use aisles to just say, you know, straight back on the yellow brick road....follow the yellow brick road. And that's important because people will follow that versus looking up, looking down, where's the sign, where's the bathroom, etc., etc. Lots of inerchandising. This is a book store. This is the Rancho Cucamonga Library. They're starting to look more and more similar. People love to browse. This is some more browsing. The thing that's different about this that you probably can't see is that these displays are on wheels, and it's in different shaped sections, so if the display gets bigger, more pieces get added, and if it gets depleted, the staff just takes one section and wheels it away. So they actually can set the displays up in the back room and then wheel them out. And then this, and I apologize...if this was big, what you could see there are these crisp, green pieces of plastic that slide in between the books, and they make it like a book store. It will say "cooking," "medicine," "animals," "travel South America." Because you know when you go to the book store, and you're looking for cooking, you're not looking for 641.12, which is the way you would organize your book store, by topics. So this is like a little space holder stuck in there for the public, not for the librarians. We need the call numbers so that things can be orderly, right? But somebody at LA County actually created this, and they found a manufacturer to...well, it's not much to manufacture, it's a piece of plastic, but I happens to work very well. The public loves it. And then different ways to display collections. This is actually a new magazines slat wall, and these are paperbacks in spinners, which you already have...for romance and mystery on that wall. Magazines on the wall. This is popular with the little...have you used those things with the (inaudible) yet? 16 APPROVED MINUTES PALM DESERT LIBRARY PROMOTION COMMITTEE MEETING SEPTEMBER 15, 2010 JK No, we haven't. LD Kids love those...they're fun. And then here...we talked about this earlier...again, family destinations, so there are lots of...here's the chair and a half...with the mom and the child...and different sizes of furniture. These are both in San Jose. Here's the family place. This is another branch in Anaheim. This is Haskett, have you seen it? WG Only in pictures. LD When you're there, you should go. The family place is really successful. It has wall puzzles, Lego tables, rugs, lots of little manipulatives. These are the (inaudible) terminals for the non-internet prelearners, the multi- colored keyboards and all that. And then things like these tables, which...these are great. You see them in the airports or at doctors' offices or something, and when your kid has a meltdown, you park them there for ten minutes, and then suddenly they're distracted, and they're working on something. So we're seeing...right, where's Barbara (inaudible)...we're kind of seeing stuff like this in the children's area. And then, you know, story times, different ways to spark the imagination from just one child in the room...there's the planetarium...that was the first one, Mission Viejo, but you have one in Temecula, too, very similar, with the hot air balloon, which I understand the children love. And then the one below that...story time theatre...that's also in Haskett, Anaheim, Wayne...there are little lights behind the grass that twinkle when there's a program coming. So kids come to see the little twinkling. WG I will go see that. LD You'll like it. And actually, there's Temecula, I'm sure you recognize Temecula, and Rancho Cucamonga, so thaYs a theme that's coming along. And then the City of Orange, their theme was orange crates, so the seating in the story time room is actually orange crates, and you crawl inside of an orange. And then do you recognize the one in the upper right hand corner? It's yours. And then the mural that actually relates to the local environment, there was another one in the desert done some time ago, it's the one on the right. I think the art is inferior to yours on the left. I think yours really is beautiful. The one on the right, what they did, though, they put animal paw prints into the carpet, and you identify the animal, and then on the shelf, they have stuffies of desert animals, and in the back seat of the chair, there's a cut-out, a stencil, there's a roadrunner and a bear paw and a couple of other desert things, so that's sort of a little more 17 APPROVED MINUTES PALM DESERT LIBRARY PROMOTION COMMITTEE MEETING SEPTEMBER 15, 2010 on the theming. I think that saving the mural...l don't even know if it needs to be preserved, it looks pristine to me...in your children's library, it's pretty well loved. Teen zone, let's keep getting out of here...wild...that's the one in Phoenix, which really was one of the first ones, we actually let the teens pretty much do the whole thing. Keep going...and then the family living room, the quiet reading, which, you know, it's an old idea that's new. It's come back again, the concept, that maybe we ought to have a quiet space in a library, and when you take a tour of libraries, which you realize is you're taking a tour of fireplace rooms...a couple of chairs around a fireplace. A couple more...and then lots of new technologies...there's the RFID on the upper left, the window to look in below, and then the card catalog on the end panel. I think that was a great invention so I don't have to go all the way back to the computers to look up a call number if I'm in the stacks, and it's very slim profile, very handy. This is (inaudible) remodel, and I use this slide in a class I teach. Basically, that says don't be afraid of color. These are finro exact same spaces, with no new furniture, nothing...except they spent $137 on paint on the weekend, and they painted the soffits in the back wall...look at the difference. EM Big difference. LD It's just color. So sometimes it could be something (inaudible) Sergio, you can keep the budget and we'll just paint the back wall. (turning over tape in recorder) LD This is a children's library before and after, and what you see in the after on the left is she painted in the soffits, and...can you go back one more...go back one more...okay, so you see those cones...go to the next one...we turned all the round columns into Crayola crayons, and those decals, it's a plastic (inaudible) decal that costs about $13. But they also say whaYs in that section, so that one says biography, another one says history, so it's the signage, and it's cool, not expensive. And then the little rug on the bottom is nothing but carpet tile and little rocking ducks. And for about $700, they took this children's room and really just...paint on the weekend. This is Anaheim Central Library, and if you can see in the upper left hand corner, instead of using the floor for way finding, they used the ceiling. And you can see in that picture and in the one below, it's follow the clouds back to the story time room, so rather than follow the power aisle, you follow the ceiling. And then the one on the upper right, we talked about a tween space...this is great for you guys to see...this is called 7-8, it's for seventh and eighth graders who wouldn't be caught 18 APPROVED MINUTES PALM DESERT LIBRARY PROMOTION COMMITTEE MEETING SEPTEMBER 15, 2010 dead in the children's room, but the teen room is a little too slick for them. That seventh and eighth grade transitional middle school time is tough. It's all vinyl furniture, and you can hose it down... and then this is also just a real simple (inaudible)...upper left is the Anaheim Library before. Lower left and lower right is Anaheim after, and they had a colorist come in who painted out so the panels pop, which you really don't even notice in the upper left there...all the rectangles above the breakout panels. They did one major thing, which was they added a window on the corner. There were no windows on the second floor. They added that window, and they painted, and that with the landscaping made it like a new building. And you can see in now. EM And the trash things there. LD That's the back, yeah, that's nasty. And then here's another quick renovation. This is Rancho Cucamonga, which is not so far from here. If you get out the 210...go back one...the before and after of their tech center, and they remodeled their whole...what is it, 21,000 square foot library...for about a million and a half, and they got a lot of bang for their buck. They got recarpet, furniture...you can see in this one they put up one piece of drywall and made an open area into a lab, just one wall. Next one...this is the lobby they changed, they painted the interior wall. There's the decal on the elevator that says read in, you know, 50 languages. Same exact spot. Keep going. Okay, so now...we're a little short on time, but I just want to go through these images, and if you want to see more...this is Cerritos, let's keep going...this is Camarillo, with the Galleon...this is the City of Range where you crawl through that orange if you're a child to get into the story time room. Temecula...you probably have seen Temecula. Vineland, Belmont play area, Haskett...these are all places that you would want to go. Seattle...anyone seen Seattle? JK I have. I took a tour: LD It's not cozy, it's not welcoming, but it sure does take your breath away. Anybody gone to Fontana? It's big. The scale of it is just...what do they have, 800 computers? Carmichael, Sacramento...(inaudible)...more self- checks. Teen booths, very popular, you saw many of those booths in Walnut Creek, and they're all filled. It's like a table and chair, only it's a booth, and it's just the coolest thing now. And here's that little Carmichael reading room, as a reading room for one or with the story time going on. The difference between that and yours is that's a perimeter bench, yours is steps, so the perimeter bench keeps it to one level, and maybe that's where the parents sit. It's also really good for a (inaudible) program. This 19 APPROVED MINUTES PALM DESERT LIBRARY PROMOTION COMMITTEE MEETING SEPTEMBER 15, 2010 is a kids place with huge signage. This is the (inaudible) building, I think, you can see there's a lot of exposed equipment. More of that (inaudible) San Jose. One of my favorite, favorite, favorite branches...this is a Group 4 project, which just gets rave reviews. Heavy community participation in the art program. From the front of the library all the way through, that is the children's story time area at the back, it's just a beacon, and you can see how it's configured. They do have the steps, but they put the kids down on the cubes on the ground. Reading room with fireplace, of course. Internet Cafe, the outdoor returns, (inaudible) lots of graphics, heavy retailing in San Jose. This one, I think, is really interesting, too. Most of the furniture in the teen area and in the (inaudible) is on wheels because, as we have said, they're going to move the chairs around anyway. You might as well let them move it around, and then you can move it back without having to do the heavy lifting. And that turns a reading room into a training room into a program area...you just clear the furniture out. More family place. I think we're getting near the end...we're up to "v". I don't think they're alphabetical, but we're close. Okay, go ahead. Another one...more family place. Beautiful, cozy reading furniture. Well-organized community information area, materials handling. Keep going. Fireplace....see, I told you, fireplaces. This is fun...there's a little keyhole that you can go through to get to the story time room. And then from the outside, there's actually a porthole window for parents to stand outside. I used to take my daughter to swim at the Y, and they had a window where you could not go into the pool, but you could stand there and watch them. Teen center in a glass box. Some people like to close them off. Internet Cafe. Very colorful library, very colorful. Folsom...that's the donor wall on the upper right. It's books with your name in it, something to think about. Story time, outdoor sculptures, books. More welcoming on the inside of the building. Hercules in Contra Costa, pretty famous project by Will Bruder. Millbrae. Tustin, opened a couple of weeks ago, very big project, 32,000 square feet on one floor. And, in fact, Wayne and I were working on a project in northern California, and the librarian insisted to me for a year that he wanted a 32,000 square foot building, so I had him fly down, and we went to Tustin, and we walked in the door, and he went, "Oh, my God, I don't want this. It's huge." It's like a WalMart size, and the staff cannot...when you're in the middle, if the emergency alarm goes off at either end, it's twice your public space. You can't get there. Okay, so we talked about community input already. I'm begging you to do the survey and encourage your friends. We're working through the programming. 20 APPROVED MINUTES PALM DESERT LIBRARY PROMOTION COMMITTEE MEETING SEPTEMBER 15, 2010 WG And I think the Council would reaily appreciate hearing from the community, the City Council here. I know that they really want to know what the community is saying, so if we have big numbers for that, that would be very satisfying for the City Council to know that the community has spoken. It would be very helpful to us, too. LD No surprise that I'm hearing people want a little more quiet, they want a little more comfortable furniture, they want a place to plug in their laptops, you're a little short on power, more computers. TH So in the next couple of months, we will be...our team will be working to continue to collect data, receiving that from the survey, hopefully, and we will begin to explore schematic plans to implement, bring some of these concepts into our library so that we can see how they might fit, how they might relate to one another, and how they might function and so on. And we will be bringing that forward and exploring that with Jeannie and the staff. And, hopefully, the objective will be to try and wrap this phase of our work up by the end of the year and be able to inform the City Council at a point in time there late in the year and the County Board as well if, indeed, they see fit to do that, and to move into the design development phase and construction documents, preparation, right after the first of the year. So we're right on schedule in terms of what has been discussed in the past, and we're also trying to get a grip on the financial aspect of this and just exactly how might it culminate in the cost picture that's acceptable, and our early glimpses of it seem to suggest that we'll be right within the parameters that have been established. That's what we're going to seek to deliver for you, and if all goes well, by this time next year we should be about ready to break ground...break into the slab, whatever we're going to do inside. But we'll be getting rid of some things that are there. We're pleased with the way things are going and look forward to coming back and keeping you up to date as we go down the path. LK I have a question. What about the schedule where it looks like you want to start the actual construction the beginning of October, which is the beginning of our busy season? What's going to happen with that? TH We're going to be working with your staff to talk that over in more detail. That will be the first opportunity as we see the progression of the project, largely due to the fact that we've been instructed by the State office to include a six-month timeframe for their plan check process. That's going to take the middle part of next year, and when you get DSA involved in a project, that kind of just comes with the territory. We're going to do everything we can to expedite it, and yet we have limited control. The 21 APPROVED MINUTES PALM DESERT LIBRARY PROMOTION COMMITTEE MEETING SEPTEMBER 15, 2010 question then wiil be...is September/October the opportune time to commence construction and disrupt the operation? If you see fit to want to push it down the calendar somewhat, that's always a possibility. The objective that we've been aiming toward since our last discussions was to start next fall so that we can conclude construction late the next spring and allow a couple months of orientation within the building of the staff to get real familiar with the new design and so on so that by the time school opens in 2012, Jeannie should have a couple of months of real familiar operation, and everything should be very, very smooth at that point. That's just the first possibility we're looking at and, of course, from our standpoint, we're flexible in terms of how this is approached. We want it to work for you with the least amount of disruption, yet we know the construction process does bring that. We will be continuing to dialog about it and refine that schedule for you. JMB You're not going to be breaking out any walls? This is all within, or are we going to break out walls? TH The perimeter of the building, Jean, will be maintained, the footprint. We're not looking to add square footage to the building. On the interior, however, I'm certain there will be some partitions. JMB I just didn't know if we were going out and... WG And, of course, someday the City will be able to take over the other half of the library, so you have sort of a built-in plan for the future (inaudible) but that is the plan, I think both from the College and the City's standpoint. JMB Well, except the Gollege has now said they want to keep that for indefinite, so...we thought we had that all settled, that we were going to have a children's room and all that until the College said no. WG Well, we'll have a great children's room in the short term as well, if we do our job well, so you'll have an even better one when they give up their half. But you're right, we don't have control over that, and that's why the complexities that Sergio is helping with...l mean, the building is owned by the College, it's not owned by the City. There is an agreement between them. In addition to that, it's just very complicated to run. There are two different systems there, but we're working on all those things. LK Any questions from the Committee....comments, questions? Are we heading in the right direction? Sergio has a comment. 22 APPROVED MINUTES PALM DESERT LIBRARY PROMOTION COMMITTEE MEETING SEPTEMBER 15, 2010 SP i'd just like to say thank you. I'd like to give these guys a hand. You know, they came down from San Francisco, from L.A., four o'clock in the morning. It was a great presentation. (Applause) SP And if you don't have any other comments, we did try to condense...l'm sorry, we did try to condense a lot of the work that has been happening in the last few weeks and the last month and to, you know, as an update to everyone here. Obviously, we can't translate everything, and so we'll work with Rachelle Klassen and Jeannie to make sure you guys get updates along the whole process, but we've gained some traction. I think you're going to see a lot of product and deliverables from the architects in the next few months. So thank you for your patience, and thank you for having us. EM Thanks for coming. WG Our pleasure, and thank you all. LD If you think of anything we should know, just get it to us through Jeannie. EM And get those surveys in. JMB (inaudible) special Council meeting. We'll probably have a pretty good audience (inaudible) next Monday. ?? Is it recorded, too? Is it on cable, the Council meeting? JMB No, it is not, but I will announce it to the audience. RDK And there was an announcement in the paper last week. I saw it in the Briefs section inviting people to participate. JMB Maybe we can get Blake to put it in her article today. LD Thank you for your comments. 23 APPROVED MINUTES PALM DESERT LIBRARY ' PROMOTION COMMITTEE MEETING SEPTEMBER 15, 2010 VIII. REPORTS AND REMARKS A. Council Liaison Councilmember Benson stated that she would provide a report to the City Council regarding this meeting and how well the Library plans are coming along. She said she felt the team was great, and anything that could be done to make the building look more like a library was a plus. Ms. Klassen said she did take a report to the Council on August 26�" as an Informational Item giving statistics and providing copies of the presentation handed out at the last meeting. The report included information about how old the Library was, how long it had been at this location, why it was time to update it technologically and functionally, etc. B. Librarian Ms. Kays provided updates/reports on the following: Summer Readina Proqram — Over 1,000 children and teens signed up for the Summer Reading Program this year. Over 3,000 people attended programs during eight weeks this past summer, a 13% increase in enrollment over last year. The theme was, "Make a Splash at Your Library," and the theme for the teens was, "Make Waves ." Special Events Coordinator — Special Events Coordinator Jodi Elowitz resigned at the beginning of August, and interviews were conducted yesterday for that position. A candidate was selected, and the job offer was supposed to be made today. The interview panel (Jeannie Kays, Barbara Bowie, and the Human Resources Manager) were excited and confident that the Committee would love the candidate selected. Member Manor stated that while she was sure the interview process was wonderful and that the panel had done a good job, she felt because the City pays for that position, someone from the City or this committee should be on the interview panel. Ms. Klassen noted that she was on the last interview panel when Jodi Elowitz was hired; however, it was important this time to find 24 APPROVED MINUTES PALM DESERT LIBRARY PROMOTION COMMITTEE MEETING SEPTEMBER 15, 2010 someone right away to fill that position. She said she had advised Jeannie that the City's wishes would be that the candidate selected be someone who has a community-based interest, has an idea of who he/she is serving, and understands and knows how to do events but understands the people here as well. Member Manor said she understood Ms. Klassen's comments but still felt it was important to have someone from the City or the Library Committee involved in the interview process. Ms. Klassen said Member Manor's comments would be taken into account. Ms. Kays noted that the person hired is always on six months probation. October Calendar/Brochures — The October adult calendar was currently at the printer. The Children's October calendar was already available, as it was combined with September. The October adult brochures were also at the printer. Snapshot Day was scheduled for 4pm on October 4, 2010, and Brian Maurer would be on hand to take a photo of all Library customers gathered in the middle of the Library. The California Library Association was encouraging libraries across the State to take a picture of a day in the life of their library to show how important libraries are to the community. "T is for Tuesdav" — This is a brand new program every Tuesday to try and draw in people in the evenings. The first Tuesday of the month would be the book club, which used to be "Breakfast, Brooks, and Banter," and it would be called, "T is for Titles." Each month would have a different topic, and the one for October was series books. One week per month would be a grownup game night (i.e., WII, board games, Mah Jongg, Bingo, etc.). The last Tuesday of the month would be a technology petting zoo, with the Best Buy Geek Squad bringing in and demonstrating different electronic gadgets, which would also be available for people to try out. Music Series and Chef Series — Both of these series are back this season, and the first scheduled musician was a classical guitarist. The first chef was from Clementine Patisserie, a French bakery next to Trader Joe's. 25 APPROVED MINUTES PALM DESERT LIBRARY PROMOTION COMMITTEE MEETING SEPTEMBER 15, 2010 C. Event Coordinator Discussed under Section B above. D. Volunteer Coordinator Ms. Strain noted that while having breakfast at McDonald's recently, she read the McDonald's newsletter and decided to ask if they would put in an ad for the Library. They agreed to do so, and she passed around a copy for everyone to see. An ad was included in the Chamber of Commerce newsletter as well. She also showed copies of the poster for Library Volunteers and the flier for the Homebound program. She reported the following figures for the Homebound program at the Atria: July— 4 visits, 11 deliveries August— 7 visits, 36 deliveries September— 5 visits, 28 deliveries so far E. Friends of the Palm Desert Library Member Beasley noted that on-line book sales had restarted at the end of August. Just the more valuable books would be available on-line because of the cost for shipping, etc. In addition, some of the nice coffee table books would be on display in the cases at the Library. She added that while the College Library was closed, the Friends put out some big tables and sold a lot of books. F. Committee Chair Chairman Kermode asked for an update on John Marman and the Sister Cities artwork display at the Library. Ms. Klassen noted that Mr. Marman had been busily working on the Mini-Muster, which would be coming up in October, and he will have more time to devote to the Sister Cities project once the Mini- Muster program is completed. She said he would be in touch with Ms. Kays directly. 26 APPROVED MINUTES PALM DESERT LIBRARY PROMOTION COMMITTEE MEETING SEPTEMBER 15, 2010 VIIi. REPORTS AND REMARKS (Continued) G. Committee Members None H. Staff None IX. ADJOURNMENT Member Cardona moved to adjourn the meeting at 4:18 p.m. Motion was seconded by Member Beasley and carried by a 4-0 vote of the Committee. C!� Mary P. a oss, Recording Secretary 27