1 CITY OF MANHATTAN BEACH
MINUTES OF THE LIBRARY COMMISSION MEETING
Monday, Feb 13, 2023
4:00 PM
Location: MB City Hall/remote (hybrid)
A. CALL TO ORDER
The meeting of the Library Commission was called to order by Chairperson Bond at 4:00 pm at City Hall in person and remotely via Zoom (hybrid).
B. ROLL CALL
Present: Commissioners, Levitt, Newell, Vice Chairperson Schreiner, Chairperson Bond Absent: Darrow, Jones
Others Present: Sr. Recreation Supervisor (SRS) Jan Buike, Sr. Management Analyst (SMA) Linda Robb, Recording Secretary Rosemary Lackow
C. APPROVAL OF MINUTES – December 12, 2022
A motion was made and seconded (Schreiner/Newell) to approve as submitted.
Ayes: Levitt, Newell, Vice Chair Schreiner, Chair Bond Nayes: None
Abstain: None
Absent: Jones, Darrow
The motion passed 4-0-0-2
D. CEREMONIAL – None
E. AUDIENCE PARTICIPATION (3-Minute Limit)
Librarian’s Report – Library Manager, Josh Murray
Manager Murray commented that February is “Library Lovers Month” and announced the following events:
In-library events: 1) 2/25/23, 12-1pm: Author Talk: Middle grade author Stuart Gibbs; book is “Whale Done: for ages 8 and up; 2) 3/6/23, 6:30 – 7:30: Evening Book Club to discuss The Night Ship by Jess Kidd.
Farmers Market: 2/14/23, 1 pm: Story time
F. GENERAL BUSINESS
1. Work plan discussion:
a. Learning at the Library
Chair Bond commented on the Belinda Tang event which went very well and was very well attended.
2 Commissioner Levitt noted the goal is to alternate between fiction and non -fiction for these events, to promote variety. She has connected with cook book author Peggy Currey (“Damn Good Gluten Free”) and it is looking positive that Peggy can come to Manhattan Beach in March/April. She will confirm dates with the author and check availability of the library with Josh Murray and work with Jan Buike and the Graphic Artist regarding publicity materials. Commissioner Levitt also reported that she has another possible lead on a fiction author and will check whether this might be able to be scheduled for summer.
Commissioner Levitt also will work on the “How To” doc ument and make it into a turnkey spreadsheet to help track events along a timeline.
The Commission brainstormed on ways to locate good speakers. Chair Bond summed up action items going forward: 1) firm up a date with Peggy Curr y; 2) Contact the Literary Women group in Long Beach for possible authors; 3) contact a pu blicist “Hashette” regarding availability of authors of the Art Forger, and the author of “The Light Pirate, and 4) Commissioner Levitt will speak to someone further regarding another fiction author.
b. MB Poetry Event Commissioner Schreiner reported on the recent poetry event at Mira Costa High . Although there were many in the older adult poetry group who were “no shows” (leaving a lot of space in the dial -a-ride van) , overall, it was a wonderful event with much supp ort and well attended by the school, including the principal and the school c ommunications manager who publicizes school event s.
Commissioner Schreiner believes it is very worthwhile but for now, recommends only doing one time per year.
c. Library Appreciation Party. There was brief discussion regarding the May date (the 9th or 16th ); the date and room reservation and restaurant venue – these details will be checked with Library Manager Murray and Commissioner Jones. At the March meeting, the topic of how to best recognize school librarians will be discussed.
d. Library Commission Book Giveaway . In December there was discussion about expanding the giveaway to underserved schools and non-profits. It was suggested that in doing so, they need to be very careful and keep to a focus on children’s books and elementary schools. Commissioners Schreiner and Levitt will follow up in looking into various programs where they can donate books, such as Headstart, Richstone Family Center, the ‘Second Nurture” program, and, as suggested by SRS Buike, the 1736 domestic violence shelter in Hermosa Beach . Commissioner Newell also suggested Harvest Home in Venice if needed.
e. Story Adventure – Ready to go and now working on where the structures will be located. Next steps: a map is being drawn and a sign planned to direct users back into the park and botanical garden. Staff will be going back to City Council for approval of the location and once approved, the installation will be scheduled by Public Works.
3 f. Library Photo Op Day –Status report: the date is set for June 3 rd but the time frame needs to be set (11 am to 1:00 pm). A photographer and entertainer are set and will perform outside. Regarding possibly using the library for a running story time for two hours, Library Manager Murray will check on room availability. Advance publicity was discussed.
g. Entertainment Series – Status report on April and Fall events: The band “Identity Theft” is confirmed for April 29th and in the Fall, the committee is targeting a children’s band “Jelly of the Month Club”. The Zislis group has stated while willing to fund both events , it has a donation cap of $3,000 maximum for both . The Zislis Group can not this time comp a hotel stay for Identity Theft as the rooms are all booked as the Shade Hotel is undergoing construction. It is questionable that Jelly of the Month band will do the Fall gig for an amount to stay within the budget. Commissioner Levitt suggested to keep working with Jelly of the Month but request the City Council to allocate additional money to cover the budget shortfall. Publicity will follow the same format as the Learning at the Library event and will target a local audience. CMA Buike suggested, and it was agreed , that the Commission will talk to community groups before going to council, starting with the Friends of the Library and also perhaps Soroptimist group or Rotary. SMA Robb also pointed out that all monies allocated for programs at the January meeting apply to the next fiscal year, starting July 1 st. Going forward, it was pointed out that alternative sources of funding should be explored.
Discussion turned to event signage. It was determined that the Commission can do “feather flag signs” but not until after July 1st. These would be used for multiple events.
It was determined that such signs have vendors and the signs do not appear to be expensive, but the wording would have to be worked out. CMA Buike pointed out that the signs cannot show the Library Commission as the host, instead it must be clearly a city sponsored event. Next steps: The Committee will talk to Jan Buike as how to proceed.
i. Library Awareness Campaign – Status report: The Committee has itself met to do planning and then another meeting was held with the County Library Children’s Librarian. The program concept is to have five “School Days at the Library” one for each of the elementary schools. Held on a Saturday, the idea is to have a scavenger hunt within a children’s section at the library. A different concept will be developed for the older grades.
Within the committee the plan is to: 1) write letters to all school librarians; 2) work with Josh to craft a turnkey plan that can be applicable to all of the events; 3) Discuss with the current or future student commissioner. The County children’s librarian emphasized that the County cannot staff these events – they do not have resources.
Lastly the committee has a contact at the DAC or coordina ting council and that group will be inviting the committee to attend one of their meetings.
Commissioner Levitt pointed out that this year’s events will be swag-less as there is no budget for such. Manager Murray confirmed that the library has no source such as an
4 online library store that could be tapped.
Manager Murray encouraged the committee to work with him, however regarding having something.
The second part is to publicize the library to community organizations (Soroptimists, Rotary, Neptunian Club, Chamber of Commerce etc. Can remind the older citizens group and CMA Buike mentioned some events scheduled with Oleg for teens. Mr.
Murray cautioned the committee that it should be careful to not label anything as “Manhattan Beach Library” – needs to be kept generic to the library.
The Committee could create a QR code to be used to publicize library events – the code will take people to the Manhattan Beach page on the library website.
G. STAFF ITEMS – None reported.
H. COMMISSION ITEMS – Chair Bond asked for clarification as to whether she can remotely chair the March meeting and who would be the next chair? SMA Robb will check on the remote chair issue but checked and found that Commissioner Levitt (seat 2) would be the next chair, followed by Commissioner Newell (seat 3).
I. ADJOURNMENT
It was moved and seconded (Bond/Newell) to adjourn the meeting at 5:20 pm to Monday March 13th. The motion passed by voice vote, 4-0-0-2.