Present:

Chair:  Tim Tierney

Vice-Chair: André Bergeron

Trustees:  Steven Begg, Kathy Fisher, Catherine McKenney, Scott Moffatt, Pamela Sweet, Marianne Wilkinson

Regrets:

Trustee Allan Higdon

Trustee McKenney arrived at 17:06.

DECLARATIONS OF CONFLICT OF INTEREST

No Declarations of Interest were filed.

CONFIRMATION OF MINUTES

Minutes 35 - Tuesday, 13 March 2018

CONFIRMED

COMMUNICATIONS

One communication item was received. (Held on file with the Chief Executive Officer.)

Ministry of Tourism, Culture and Sport (Province of Ontario)

·         Letter from Daiene Vernile, Minister – Funding for libraries in 2018 Budget

CHAIR’S VERBAL UPDATE

Provincial Budget 2018

The Ontario Government released its proposed 2018 budget on March 28, which includes additional operating funding commitments for public libraries.  This will see new sustainable investment of $79 million over three years, which marks the end of a two-decade funding freeze. The Chair thanked Trustee Fisher for her work with the Federation of Ontario Public Libraries (FOPL), and for working with him and the Chief Executive Officer to meet with local Members of Provincial Parliament (MPPs) on the matter. The Chair looked forward to official confirmation once the budget is passed.

Awesome Authors Award Ceremony

On March 27, 313 people attended the ceremony sponsored by the Friends of the Ottawa Public Library Association (FOPLA).  An impressive 400 entries were received. The most popular category was the English short story category for ages 9-11.  In total, 60 individuals received awards or honourable mentions in 18 different age and style categories.  A list of winners, organized by writing category, can be found on the OPL website.

Rosemount Branch 100^th Anniversary

The Rosemount branch will be celebrating its 100^th anniversary on April 21. The Chair invited the community to join OPL for a day of activities, refreshments, and much more.

MOTION OPL 20180410/1

That the Ottawa Public Library Board receive the Chair’s verbal update for information.

RECEIVED

CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER'S REPORT

À la carte: Author visit with Jan Wong and Jackie Kai Ellis with Hattie Klotz

On March 29, OPL collaborated with Library and Archives Canada (LAC) and the Ottawa International Writers Festival to host a special author visit.  The sold-out event was part of OPL’s award-winning food literacy initiative project, à la carte.  The CEO thanked Trustee Sweet for attending.  She also thanked the Food Literacy Project team for all their efforts, and LAC and Ottawa International Writers Festival for their partnership.

Volunteer Recognition

Volunteers are a large part of OPL’s success.  From teens who help with community programming, to Conversation Group leaders, Reading Buddies, Teen Advisory Group, and FOPLA, OPL would not be as successful without our volunteers! A total of 958 volunteers have been invited to 35 different events across the city during National Volunteer Week (April 15 to 21).  Volunteer teas are being held for adult and FOPLA volunteers, and pizza parties are being held for teen volunteers.  CEO McDonald thanked Board Trustees for attending events, visiting branches, guiding the direction of the OPL, and for being caring and passionate stewards of the library system.

Manager Retirement

The CEO acknowledged the contributions of an OPL manager who will be retiring in April 2018.

MOTION OPL 20180410/2

That the Ottawa Public Library Board receive the CEO’s report for information.

RECEIVED

POSTPONEMENTS AND DEFERRALS

(Deferred from OPL Board meeting of 13 March 2018)

1.

PRESENTATION - CERTIFICATE OF APPRECIATION - IAN PLANTE-MONCUR

Chair Tierney made introductory remarks and mentioned that Councillor Mathieu Fleury, Ward 12 – Rideau-Vanier brought this young reader to his attention.  He said the recognition is bestowed to Ian Plante-Moncur, a passionate seven year old for visiting all 33 Ottawa public library branches. CEO McDonald detailed Ian’s achievements and presented the certificate.

Ian’s Mother was very grateful to OPL for honouring her son and expressed thanks to the Chair, the ward Councillor, and the Board. She also recognized library staff for being helpful and welcoming during the visits.  Councillor Fleury expressed thanks for all the branches in the city and thanked the Board for celebrating Ian’s accomplishments.

2.

COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT - PRESENTATION

Catherine Seaman, Division Manager, Branch Operations and Jane Venus, Program Manager, Public Services provided a presentation of the community development at the OPL.  (Held on file with the Chief Executive Officer.)  Ms. Seaman explained that the Board included directions in the 2015-2018 Strategic Plan asking staff to engage with the community, which included a community development initiative to better align services to customer needs.  She said the objective was to identify requirements and develop guidelines for community development, including a toolbox to support the guidelines.  Ms. Venus provided a status report on the progress of the community development.  In closing, Ms. Seaman presented a success story: Resumé writing for teens in the Albion-Heatherington area.

With respect to a question by Trustee Sweet regarding working with community partners for cases that are outside of OPL’s scope of work, Ms. Seaman mentioned that OPL works with many service providers to fill needs in the community.

In response to a question from Trustee Fisher regarding evaluating and tracking customer satisfaction, Ms. Seaman said staff will assess the impact made using the guidelines in the Community Development toolk kit, to build the stories, and to break down barriers.

Chair Tierney thanked staff for coordinating the guidelines, saying libraries play an important role in the community.

There being no further questions, the item was RECEIVED as presented.

MOTION OPL 20180410/3

That the Ottawa Public Library Board receive the presentation for information.

RECEIVED

REPORTS

3.

ELECTION-RELATED RESOURCES POLICY

OPLB-2018-0403

MOTION OPL 20180410/4

That the Ottawa Public Library Board adopt the City’s Election-Related Resources Policy as further described in this report.

APPROVED

4.

OTTAWA PUBLIC LIBRARY 2017 ANNUAL REPORT

OPLB-2018-0404

Trustee Fisher asked staff to provide details of the communications strategy to promote the report, which she felt accurately articulated impact and relevance.  Ms. Anna Basile, Division Manager, Governance, Communications, and Strategic Services indicated the report has been available online to the public since the time of the publishing of the agenda and that communications includes a notice to social media promotion, and notification to library counterparts.

There being no further questions, the report was RECEIVED as presented.

MOTION OPL 20180410/5

That the Ottawa Public Library Board receive this report for information.

RECEIVED

5.

SEMI-ANNUAL PERFORMANCE MEASUREMENTS – JULY-DECEMBER 2017

OPLB-2018-0405

Trustee Sweet posed a question regarding the decrease of electronic visits. Monique Brûlé, Division Manager, Programs and Services indicated the decrease is mostly caused by integration improvements, which require significantly fewer actions for the customer to access the items, and improving online customer experience. She cited overdrive as an example.

Trustee Sweet inquired on circulation of ebook downloads, Ms. Brûlé confirmed that ebooks downloads increased as has all other OPL digital content.

Trustee Fisher asked a question regarding the hold time to availability of physical content, specifically of plans to reduce the hold times to seven days as customer satisfaction remains an issue. Monique Désormeaux, Deputy CEO said staff are constantly looking at ways to reach the seven-day median, through improving materials handling processes both at Tallwood, and in the branches.  She advised that there are seven public holidays in period two versus period one, which slowed down the process.  Ms. Désormeaux said the introduction of the Board approved $1 hold restocking fee, and the increase of $500K to the library materials budget, will help better meet the hold ratios. She expects to see improvements in this measure in the next report.

In response to a question from Trustee Wilkinson regarding the cost per use indicator, Ms. Désormeaux replied that during this measurement period overall use was lower while OPL benefitted from additional grants, thereby impacting the measure. Trustee Wilkinson suggested that staff more fully explain the measurement for better understanding.

MOTION OPL 20180410/6

That the Ottawa Public Library Board receive this report for information.

RECEIVED

TRUSTEE REPORT

6.

PUBLIC LIBRARY ASSSOCIATION (PLA) CONFERENCE - TRUSTEE VERBAL REPORT

Trustee Sweet provided a brief summary of her report, which was previously submitted to the Board. (Held on file with the Chief Executive Officer.) She spoke to the preconference session, which presented trends about future library spaces.  She said it was a great conference albeit the winter storm resulted in the closure of many facilities including libraries, city hall, and the local Reading Market. 

MOTION OPL 20180410/7

That the Ottawa Public Library Board receive the verbal presentation for information.

RECEIVED

OTHER BUSINESS

Trustee Wilkinson inquired about the anticipated length of the next two meetings. Chair Tierney indicated that the Board would be advised in due time.

ADJOURNMENT

MOTION OPL 20180410/8

Be It Resolved that the Ottawa Public Library Board meeting be adjourned at 5:48 p.m.