DATE: 10/16/2024
TO: Honorable Mayor and City Council Members
FROM: Community Services Department
2024-80
REQUEST FOR CITY COUNCIL ACTION
SUBJECT:
GRANT FUNDING FROM THE CALIFORNIA STATE LIBRARY IN THE AMOUNT OF $25,799 FOR THE ZIP BOOKS PROJECT
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY:
This staff report asks the City Council to accept and appropriate the California State Library Zip Books grant to purchase books and an Amazon Prime membership. The total award for the Fiscal Year 2025, beginning July 1, 2024, is $25,799.
RECOMMENDED ACTION:
That the City Council:
a. Accept grant funding from the California State Library for the Corona Public Library’s Zip Books grant project through the California Library Services Act (LSTA) funds.
b. Authorize an appropriation and estimated revenue increase in the amount of $25,799 to the Community Services Department’s operating budget in the Library – Other Grants Fund 415.
c. Authorize the City Manager, or his designee, to adjust the budget accordingly if the grantor distributes additional funds to grant participants.
BACKGROUND & HISTORY:
The Zip Books project began as a pilot project in 2011, funded by the LSTA grant from the California State Library. Zip Books is an additional purchasing option that is meant to provide patrons with access to materials not owned by the library. A patron requests an item that is not currently in the collection, the library purchases it from Amazon, and the book is shipped directly to the patron’s home. When finished, the patron returns the book to the library, and the library adds it to the collection. The program allows patrons to participate in the development of our collection. It has proven to be extremely popular with libraries and library users throughout the state over the past decade. In early 2022, the number of participating libraries expanded further to include 96 jurisdictions. In a recent two-year survey, over 95 percent of respondents gave the Zip Books project an overall “excellent” rating.
ANALYSIS:
The Zip Books grant project provides library users with speedy access to books unavailable at their local libraries. Because Zip Books is a user-driven program, the library collection becomes more closely matched to the needs of the local community.
Given the dispersed media landscape and the nature of our community, it is difficult for the library to purchase all the materials to meet the diverse needs of our community. The Zip Books project allows the library to create a patron-curated collection to quickly meet those changing needs. For example, in 2021 the library experienced strong demand for the Arabic speaking community to have book titles available in Arabic. Zip Books allowed patrons access to books in Arabic and garnered support for donations so the library could start an Arabic foreign language collection. Zip Books helped highlight an unknown need among the community and direct the development of a better curated non-English language material collection.
The project funding is provided by the State of California, and is administered by the California State Library. The grant period is July 1, 2024, through June 30, 2025.
FINANCIAL IMPACT:
Approval of the recommended actions will result in an appropriation and estimated revenue increase in the amount $25,799 to the Library Services operating budget within the Library– Other Grants Fund 415 for the Library Services and Technology Grant.
These grant funds do not have a matching requirement. Grant funds must be fully expended in accordance with the City’s approved budget by June 30, 2025.
ENVIRONMENTAL ANALYSIS:
This action is exempt pursuant to Section 15061(b)(3) of the Guidelines for the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA), which states that a project is exempt from CEQA if the activity is covered by the commonsense exemption that CEQA applies only to projects that have the potential for causing a significant effect on the environment. Where it can be seen with certainty that there is no possibility that the activity in question may have a significant effect on the environment, the activity is not subject to CEQA. This action is a financial transaction between the California State Library and the City of Corona, and there is not a possibility that adopting this resolution will have a significant effect on the environment. Therefore, no environmental analysis is required.
PREPARED BY: KATHERINE BACKUS, MANAGEMENT ANALYST I
REVIEWED BY: DONNA FINCH, COMMUNITY SERVICES DIRECTOR
ATTACHMENT:
1. Exhibit 1 – Zip Books Grant Award Letter