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HomeMy WebLinkAboutAgenda Packet - LB - 2008.01.15 BURUNOME Board of Trustees Minutes November 13, 2007 I. Call to Order President Griffith called the meeting to order at 5:30pm. Il. Roll Call Trustees Present: Nancy Brock, Bruce Carlton, Deborah Griffith, Katie McCormack, Pat Toft Staff Present: Al Escoffier, City Librarian Sidney Poland, Recorder III. Warrants and Special Funds The Trustees unanimously approved the Warrants. M/S/C (Brock/Toft) IV. Minutes The Trustees unanimously approved the minutes for the October 16, 2007 meeting. M/S/C (Carlton/McCormack) V. Correspondence and Attachments The City Librarian provided the Trustees with a list of ways in which donors receive recognition for their individual donations. VI. From the Floor - No one from the public attended. VII. City Librarian's Report A. Easton Tree Replaced - On October 16th, a City ceremony was held to plant a Eucalyptus Citriodora tree in front of the Easton Library in the spot where the large eucalyptus tree formerly resided. Pat Harding and Sue Reiterman represented the library. B. Bronze Lion Sculptures - The bronze lions which are a Centennial gift from the Library Board of Trustees have arrived and will be installed by a contractor who specializes in sculpture installation. C. Carpet Replacement Main Library - The City Librarian has engaged Jaimi Baer, who was the interior designer for the newly remodeled library in 1997, to assist in recreating a similar style of the original carpet for the replacement project. 48o Primrose Road•Burlingame•California 94010-4083 Phone(650),558-7474-Fax(650)342-6295•www.burlingame.org/library D. Seating Area in the Children's Department - A 4-seat seating _ area is being designed by Michelle Nelson of Craftsman Home. The chairs will most likely be a smaller version of Craftsman chairs. This project will be funded by the Library Foundation. VIII. Unfinished Business A. Employee Awards Dinner - All arrangements have been made with the hotel for the dinner. Final reservation count has to be given to the catering department by November 27th. Trustees Carlton and Toft have had a strong response from staff members regarding nominations for the Employee Achievement Awards. Trustee Toft noted that as of this date nominations are closed. B. Hillsborough Usage - The City Librarian gave the Trustees information showing in actual numbers Hillsborough usage of our Library. He also provided a comparison of Hillsborough usage in both Burlingame and San Mateo Libraries. As of May 2007, the number of Hillsborough registered borrowers at Burlingame Library is 4,458 or 74% compared to Hillsborough registered borrowers at San Mateo which is 1,546 or 25%. The current formula is 2/3 Burlingame Public Library and 1/3 San Mateo Public Library. In the current contract fees for the year 2007-2008, Hillsborough pays $ 470,772 to the Burlingame Library and $ 213, 254 to San Mateo Library. (Figures for population served is from the "Persons Served by California Public Libraries, 2007" California State Department of Finance.) C. Burlingame Mural - The Trustees have an interest in displaying the Burlingame Historical Society mural if certain criteria can be agreed upon by both parties. The Trustees would like to meet with members of the Historical Society and discuss the following issues: 1) placement of mural on the east wall of the Lane Room; 2) opportunity to view the mural; 3) engagement of a contractor to determine if the mural can be safely hung due to its size; 4) payment of installation and moving costs and 5) time period of one year. The City Librarian will relate the Trustees' requests to Russ Cohen, President of the Burlingame Historical Society. D. Lane Honor Possibilities - The Trustees felt that the City Librarian should write to Mrs. Lane apprising her of the suggestions made for the Library to honor Mr. Lane and let her decide how she wishes her husband to be honored and remembered. IX. New Business A. Accomplishments 2006-2007 - The Trustees were provided an overview of the Library's accomplishments during 2006-2007. Library Board of Trustee Minutes 2 November 13,2007 B. Funds Review (Revolving, Trustee, Duncan) The Trustees reviewed the quarterly reports from the Trustees Special Fund, the Revolving Account and the Duncan Trust. X. Announcements - Trustee Brock inquired as to why the monthly meetings with school librarians had been discontinued. The City Librarian responded that the interest in this meeting had waned in recent years. Therefore, the Children's Manager dropped this program in favor of more one-to-one contact with the school librarians. XI. Adjournment The meeting was adjourned at 6:40pm. M/S/C (McCormack/Toft) The next meeting of the Library Trustees will be held January 15, 2008 at 5:30pm in the Library Conference Room. The Trustees will not meet in December due to lack of official business. Respectfully Submitted, Alfred H. Escoffier City Librarian Library Board of Trustee Minutes 3 November 13,2007 BURLINGAME PUBLIC LIBRARY STATISTICS FOR THE MONTH OF NOVEMBER 2007 (Purge 11/30/07) Patron Statistical Classes - New Adds :gistered Borrowers Previous month's total #Added Total Registered Burlingame Adults 22,781 102 22,883 Burlingame Children 6,725 27 6,752 Hillsborough Adults 3,295 6 3,301 Hillsborough Children 1,862 8 1,870 Non-San Mateo Co. Borrowers 2,460 18 2,478 Totals 37,123 161 37,284 Circulation Totals This month total Main 42,773 This month previous year 40,649 5.23%Increase This month total Branch 6,244 This month previous year 5,170 20.77% Increase This month Grand Total 49,017 This month previous year 45,819 6.98% increase Circulation Activit All Children's All A/V All Non-English Main 15,918 13,384 446 Easton 3,287 2,088 0 Total 19,205 15,472 446 Self Check Usage Total Items %of 1 st Time Check Outs Main 18,462 59% ^ranch 2,995 63% Reference Activity Inter Library Loans Questions Lent 3,386 Reference 2,545 Borrowed 2,172 Children's 1,329 TOTAL 5,558 Lower Level 1,868 Branch 570 TOTAL 6,312 Collections Main Titles Volumes Main Titles Added Branch Volumes Added Adult Non-Fiction 539 350 13 Children's Non-Fiction 85 57 16 YA Non-Fiction 0 0 0 Adult Fiction 426 305 39 Children's Fiction 274 75 63 YA Fiction 63 43 5 DVD Fiction Adult 79 45 13 DVD Fiction JUV 6 1 2 DVD Fiction YA 0 0 0 DVD Non-Fiction Adult 50 50 0 DVD Non-Fiction JUV 0 0 0 DVD Non-Fiction YA 0 0 0 BCKD Adult 35 25 9 Children's BKCD 27 26 0 "4 BKCD 0 0 0 J Music Adult 0 0 0 CD Music JUV 0 0 0 CD Music YA 0 0 0 Totals 1,584 977 160 BURLINGAME PUBLIC LIBRARY STATISTICS FOR THE MONTH OF NOVEMBER 2007 PAGE 2 Fines and Fees Main 6496.61— Branch* 674. Total $7,170.71 Main and Easton Deposits Trustee Special Fund Photocopies/SAM (Main) 1,206.85 Photocopies/SAM (Branch) 30.90 Total Branch and Main $1,237.75 Estimated User Traffic Main 29,278 Daily Average Main 1,084 Estimated User Traffic Branch 3,763 Daily Average Easton 142 Total User Traffic 33,041 Total Daily Average 1,226 Community Room Adult* General MeetingslCity 10 307 Lectures, Author events, etc. 2 90 Total Events in Community Room 12 397 Book Group 1 15 Children's and Young Adult Programs Attendance Main Pre-school Story Time 11 442 Toddler Story Time 8 484 Total Story Time 19 Total Story Time Attendance 926 Special Program Dan Stone Author Event 115 Nintendo Wii Program 12 Class Visits (Elementary) 0 Preschool Outreach Visits 0 Total Class Visits 0 Total Class Visits Attendance Easton Story Times &Special Programs Attendance Questions Easton Preschool 3 90 Reference 570 Toddler 4 160 Total Programs 7 Total 250 Class Visits (elementary) 1 Attendance 30 Total Class Visits 1 Total Attendance 30 BURLINGAME PUBLIC LIBRARY STATISTICS FOR THE MONTH OF NOVEMBER 2007 PAGE 3 Easton Internet Usage User Sessions 1 750 Main Internet User Sessions Hour, Half Hour, & Express Childrens Total 8,889 480 9,369 November Outreach Statistics Active 18 Semi Active 5 Total Outreach Patrons 23 Deliveries 27 Pick Ups 4 Books 99 Paperbacks 21 Audio Books 0 Music CD's 0 DVD's 40 Magazines 12 Total Library Materials 172 BURLINGAME PUBLIC LIBRARY STATISTICS FOR THE MONTH OF OCTOBER 2007 Patron Statistical Classes - New Adds ' .gistered Borrowers Previous month's total #Added Total Registered urlingame Adults 22,662 119 22,781 Burlingame Children 6,679 46 6,725 Hillsborough Adults 3,289 6 3,295 Hillsborough Children 1,856 6 1,862 Non-San Mateo Co. Borrowers 2,442 18 2,460 Totals 36,928 195 37,123 Circulation Totals This month total Main 45,083 This month previous year 42,921 5.04% increase This month total Branch 5,881 This month previous year 5,556 5.85% increase This month Grand Total 50,964 This month previous year 48,476 5.13% increase Circulation Activit All Children's All A/V All Non-English Main 16,574 15,552 432 Easton 3,585 1,903 0 Total 20,159 17,455 432 Self Check Usage Total Items % of 1 st Time Check Outs Main 19,534 60% Branch 2,814 61% `- Reference Activity Inter Library Loans Questions Lent 3,617 Reference 2,830 Borrowed 2,269 Children's 1,166 TOTAL 5,886 Lower Level 2,232 Branch 779 TOTAL 7,007 Collections Main Titles Volumes Main Titles Added Branch Volumes Added Adult Non-Fiction 396 217 23 Children's Non-Fiction 144 115 24 YA Non-Fiction 0 0 0 Adult Fiction 335 202 23 Children's Fiction 189 77 56 YA Fiction 72 39 4 DVD Fiction Adult 41 20 2 DVD Fiction JUV 8 1 3 DVD Fiction YA 0 0 0 DVD Non-Fiction Adult 27 22 0 DVD Non-Fiction JUV 0 0 0 DVD Non-Fiction YA 0 0 0 BCKD Adult 36 22 9 Children's BKCD 1 1 0 YA BKCD 0 0 0 D Music Adult 3 2 0 Music JUV 16 11 0 CD Music YA 0 0 0 Totals 1,268 729 144 BUkLINGAME PUBLIC LIBRARY STATISTICS FOR THE MONTH OF OCTOBER 2007 PAGE 2 Fines and Fees Main $7,809.04 Branch* 781.68 Total $8,590.72 Main and Easton Deposits Trustee Special Fund Photocopies/SAM (Main) $1,211.15 Photocopies/SAM (Branch) $ 28.25 Total Branch and Main $1,239.40 Estimated User Traffic Main 36,118 Daily Average Main 1,204 Estimated User Traffic Branch 3,265 Daily Average Easton 126 Total User Traffic 39,383 Total Daily Average 1,330 Community Room Adult* General Meetings/City Meetings/City15 Attendance 207 Lectures, Author events, etc. 6 208 October Book Sale 4(days) 500 Total Events in Community Room 24 915 Book Group 1 1 1 1 Children's and Young Adult Programs Attendance Main Pre-school Story Time 13 403 Toddler Story Time 9 608 -tal Story Time 22 Total Story Time Attendance 1,011 Class Visits (Elementary) 0 Preschool Outreach Visits 0 Total Class Visits 0 Total Class Visits Attendance Special Program Attendance Halloween Story Time 77 Easton Story Times &Special Programs Attendance Questions Easton Preschool 4 131 Reference 779 Toddler 4 158 Total Programs 8 Total 289 Class Visits elements 0 Attendance Total Class Visits 0 Total Attendance BURLINGAME PUBLIC LIBRARY STATISTICS FOR THE MONTH OF OCTOBER 2007 PAGE 3 Easton Internet Usage User Sessions 1 744 Main Internet User Sessions Hour, Half Hour, & Express Childrens Total 10,353 388 10,741 October Outreach Statistics Active 20 Semi Active 9 Total Outreach Patrons 29 Deliveries 44 Pick Ups 3 Books 125 Paperbacks 24 Audio Books 16 Music CD's 0 DVD's 31 Magazines 13 Total Library Materials 209 L Cover Story: Technology The Future of Reading■ Amazon's Jeff Bezos already built a better bookstore. As well placed as Amazon was to jump into this scrum and maybe move things Now he believes he can improve upon one of forward,it was not something the compa- humankind's most divine creations: the book itself. ny took lightly. After all, this is the book we're talking about."If you're going to do something like this,you have to be as good By STEVEN LEVY as the book in a lot of respects,"says Bezos. "But we also have to look for things that ECHNOLOGY," COMPUTER PIONEER ALAN KAY ONCE ordinary books can't do:' Bounding to a whiteboard in the conference room, he said,"is anything that was invented after you were born' So ticks off a number of attributes that a it's not surprising, when making mental lists of the most book-reading device—yet another corn- puter-powered gadget in an ever more whiz-bangy technological creations in our lives„that we may crowded backpack full of them—must overlook an object that is superbly designed,.wickedly func- have.First,it must project an aura of book- tional, infinitely useful and beloved more passionately than ishness;it should be less of a whizzy gizmo any gadget in a Best Buy:the book.It is a more reliable storage device than a than an austere vessel of culture. There- fore the Kindle(named to evoke the crack- hard disk drive, and it sports a killer user interface.(No instruction manual ling ignition ofknowledge)has the limen- or"For Dummies"guide needed.)And,it is instant-on and requires no bat- sions of a paperback,with a tapering of its teries.Many people think it is so perfect an invention that it can't be improved width that emulates the bulge toward a upon, and react with indignation at any implication to the contrary books binding.It weighs but 10.3 ounces,and unlike a laptop computer it does not "The book,"says Jeff Bezos,43,the CEO of Internet commerce giant Amazon.com, run hot or make intrusive beeps.A reading "just turns out to be an incredible device."Then he uncorks one of his trademark laughs. device must be sharp and durable, Bezos Books have been very good to Jeff Bezos.When he sought to make his mark in the says, and with the use of E Ink, a break- nascent days of the Web,he chose to open an online store for books,a decision that led to through technology of several years ago billionaire status for him,dotcom glory for his company and countless hours wasted by that mimes the clarity of a printed book, authors checking their Amazon sales ratings.But as much as Bezos loves books profes- the Kindle's six-inch screen posts readable sionally and personally—he's a big reader,and his wife is a novelist—he also understands pages.The battery has to last for a while, that the surge of technology will engulf all media."Books are the last bastion of analog," he adds,since there's nothing sadder than he says, in a conference room overlooking the Seattle skyline.We're in the former VA a book you can't read because of electile hospital that is the physical headquarters for the world's largest virtual store."Music and dysfunction. (The Kindle gets as many as video have been digital for a long time,and short-form reading has been digitized,begin- 30 hours of reading on a charge, and ning with the early Web.But long-form reading really hasn't."Yet.This week Bezos is re- recharges in two hours.) And, to soothe leasing the Amazon Kindle,an electronic device that he hopes will leapfrog over previous the anxieties of print-culture stalwarts,in attempts at e-readers and become the turning point in a transformation toward Book 2.0. sleep mode the Kindle displays retro im- That's shorthand for a revolution(already in progress)that will change the way readers ages of ancient texts,early printing presses read,writers write and publishers publish.The Kindle represents a milestone in a time of and beloved authors like Emily Dickinson transition,when a challenged publishing industry is competing with television, Guitar and Jane Austen. Hero and time burned on the B1ackBerry;literary critics are bemoaning a possible de- But then comes the features that your mise of print culture,and Norman Mailer's recent death underlined the dearth of novel- mom's copy of "Gone With the Wind" ists who cast giant shadows.On the other hand,there are vibrant pockets of book lovers can't match. E-book devices like the Kin- on the Internet who are waiting for a chance to refurbish the dusty halls of literacy. dle allow you to change the font size:aging baby boomers will appreciate that every book can instantly be a large-type edition. A MAN OF LETTERS:Amazon'Bezos(left)wants to change the way we read The handheld device can also hold several PHOTOGRAPH BY NIGEL PARRY FOR NEWSWEEK NOVEMBER26,2007 I NEWSWEEK 57 TECHNOLOGY shelves'worth of books: 200 of them on- sellers and new releases in hardback at player.No way around it:it's pricey.But if board,hundreds more on a memory card $9.99.The fust chapter of almost any book all goes well for Amazon, several years and a limitless amount in virtual library is available as a free sample. from now we'll see revamped Kindles, stacks maintained by Amazon. Also, the The Kindle is not just for books..Via the equipped with color screens and other fea- Kindle allows you to search within the Amazon store,you can subscribe to news- tures, selling for much less.And physical book for a phrase or name. papers (the Times,The Wall Street Jour- bookstores, like the shuttered Towe. Some of those features have been nal,The Washington Post,Le Monde)and Records of today,will be lonelier places,as available on previous e-book devices, magazines(The Atlantic).When issues go digital reading thrusts us into an excit- notably the Sony Reader. The Kindle's to press,the virtual publications are auto- ing—and jarring—post-Gutenberg era. real breakthrough springs from a feature matically beamed into your Kindle. (It's Will the Kindle and its kin really take on that its predecessors never offered:wire- much closer to a virtual newsboy tossing a technology that's shone for centuries and less connectivity, via a system called the publication on your doorstep than ac- is considered the bedrock of our civihza- Whispernet. (It's based on the EVDO cessing the contents a piece at a time on tion? The death of the book—or, more broadband service offered by cell-phone the Web.)You can also subscribe to select- broadly, the death of print—has been carriers, allowing it to work anywhere, ed blogs, which cost either 99 cents or bandied about for well over a decade now not just Wi-Fi hotspots.)As a result,says $1.99 a month per blog. Sven Birkerts,in"The Gutenberg Elegies" (1994),took a peek at the future and con- he vision is that you should be able to et an rites, "What the writer writes, how he g y writes and gets edited, printed and sold, book—notjust any book In plant, but any book and then read—all the old assumptions are under siege." Such pronouncements were that's ever been in Tint—on the Kindle, in less than invariably answered with protestations from hard-liners who insisted that nothing a minute,' says Amazon's Jeff Bezos. could supplant those seemingly perfect objects that perch on our night tables and furnish our rooms. Computers may have Bezos, "This isn't a device,it's a service." taken over every other stage of the proc- Specifically,its an extension of the fa- ess—the tools of research,composition and ' miliar Amazon store (where, of course, production—but that final mile of the Kindles will be sold). Amazon has de- process,where the reader mind-melds with signed the Kindle to operate totally inde- the author in an exquisite asynchronous pendent of a computer:you can use it to go tango,would always be sacrosanct,said the to the store, browse for books, check out holdouts. In 1994, for instance, fiction your personalized recommendations, and writer Annie Proulx was quoted as saying--., read reader reviews and post new ones, "Nobody is going to sit down and read tapping out the words on a thumb-friendly novel on a twitchy little screen.Ever." keyboard.Buying a book with a Kindle is a Oh,Annie.In 2007,screens are ubiqui- one-touch process.And once you buy,the tous (and less twitchy), and people have Kindle does its neatest trick:it downloads MESOPOTAMIAN TABLET,3000 B.C. been reading everything on them—docu- the book and installs it in your library, Impressions on clay were among man'sfzrst meats, newspaper stories, magazine arti- ready to be devoured. "The vision is that `books.'The symbols on this artifact show a cles,blogs—as well as,yes,novels.Not just you should be able to get any book—not male figure,hunting dogs and boars. on big screens, either. A company called just any book in print,but any book that's DailyLit this year began sending out ever been in print—on this device in less books—new ones licensed from publish- than a minute,"says Bezos. In addition,the Kindle can venture out ers and classics from authors like Jane Amazon has worked hard to get publish- on the Web itself—to look up things in Austen—straight to your e-mail IN box,in ers to step up efforts to release digital ver- Wikipedia, search via Google or follow 1,000-work chunks. (I've been reading sions of new books and backlists,and more links from blogs and other Web pages.You Boswell's"Life of Johnson"on my iPhone, than 88,000 will be on sale at the Kindle canjot down a gloss on the page of the book a device that is expected to be a major out- store on launch. (Though Bezos won't get you're reading,or capture passages with an let for e-books in the coming months.) terribly specific, Amazon itself is also in- electronic version of a highlight pen.And if And recently a columnist for the Chicago volved in scanning books,'many of which it you or a friend sends a word document or Tribune waxed rhapsodically about read- captured as part of its groundbreaking PDF file to your private Kindle e-mail ad- ing Jane Austen on his BlackBerry. Search Inside the Book program.But most dress,it appears in your Kindle library,just But taking on the tome directly is the are done by the publishers themselves,at a as a book does.Though Bezos is reluctant challenge for handheld,dedicated reading cost of about$200 for each book converted to make the comparison,Amazon believes devices, of which the Kindle is only the to digital. New titles routinely go through it has created the iPod of reading. newest and most credible effort.An early the process,but many backlist titles are still The Kindle,shipping as you read this, contender was the 22-ounce Rocket eBook waiting. "It's a real chokepoint,"says Pen- costs $399. When Bezos announces that (its inventors went on to create the electric- guin CEO David Shanks.)Amazon prices price at the launch this week,he will prob- powered Tesla roadster). There were also Kindle editions of New York Times best ably get the same raised-eyebrow reaction efforts to distribute a-books by way of Steve Jobs got in October 2001,when he CD-ROMs.But the big push for e-books in ©Watch Steven Levy's video review of announced that Apple would charge that the early 2000s fizzled."The hardware w---, the Kindle at atira.Newsweek.com same price for its pocket-size digital music not consumer-friendly and it was di$ic 58 NEWSWEEK I NOVEMBER 26,2007 METROPOLITAN MUSEUM OF ART-ART RESOURCE t �yN ,. lilt .. � �.'; '� 4�..,-" C4 7S- � a�" a� ,•- S" '' +.ate., u ,\ ., a Mi Q Sl o 96Oa SA Qj • - off' ca c 5�.. r +' C 'TECHNOLOGY to find,buy and read e-books,"says Carolyn ure in physical books may resist the quest to best emulate the conditions on a Reidy,the president of Simon&Schuster. notion, that vanishing act is what makes computer.He attempted to frame a"Gen- This decade's major breakthrough has electronic reading devices into viable com- eral Theory of Readability,"which would been the introduction of E Ink,whose cre- petitors to the printed page: a subsuming demystify the mysteries of ludic reading ators came out of the MIT Media Lab. connection to the author that is really the and why books could uniquely draw you Working sort of like an Etch A Sketch, it basis of our book passion. "I've actually into a rabbit hole of absorption. forms letters by rearranging chemicals un- asked myself,`Why do I love these physical "There's 550 years of technological de- der the surface ofthe screen,making a page objects?"'says Bezos."'Why do I love the velopment in the book, and it's all de- that looks a lot like a printed one.The first smell of glue and ink?'The answer is that I signed to work with the four to five inches major implementation of E Ink was the associate that smell with all those worlds I from the front of the eye to the part of the $299 Sony Reader, launched in 2006 and have been transported to.What we love is brain that does theprocessing[of the sym- heavily promoted.Sony won't divulge sales the words and ideas." bols on the page],"says Hill, a boisterous figures,but business director Bob Nell says Long before there was cyberspace, man who wears a kilt to a seafood restau- the Reader has exceeded the company's ex- books led us to a magical nether-zone. rant in Seattle where he stages an im- pectations, and earlier this fall Sony intro- "Books are all the dreams we would most promptu lecture on his theory. "This is a duced a sleeker second-generation model, like to have,and like dreams they have the high-resolution scanning machine," he the 505• (The Reader has no wireless—you power to change consciousness," wrote says,pointing to the front of his head."It must download on your computer and then Victor Nell in a 1988 tome called"Lost in a scans five targets a second,and moves be- move it to the device— and doesn't enable Book."Nell:coined a name for that trance- tween targets in only 20 milliseconds.And searching within a book.) like state that heavy readers enter when it does this repeatedly for hours and hours Now comes the Kindle,which Amazon consuming books for pleasure—"ludic and hours."He outlines the centuries-long began building in 2004,and Bezos under- reading"(from the Latin ludo,meaning"I process of optimizing the book to accom- stands that for all of its attributes, if one play"). Annie Proulx's claim was that an modate this physiological marvel: the aspect of the physical book is not ade- electronic device would never create that form factor,leading,fonts,justification... quately duplicated,the entire effort will be hypnotic state. But technologists are dis "We have to take the same care for the for naught. "The key feature of a book is proving that. Bill Hill, Microsoft's point screen as we've taken for print" that it disappears,"he says. person on e-reading,has delved deep into Hill insists—not surprisingly,consider- While those who take fetishlike pleas- the mysteries of this lost zone, in an epic ing his employer—that the ideal reading FROM IMAGES TO MESSAGES Words and Meaning Inferior frontal gyrus Parieto- To comprehend a written _ An understanding f o 8Y o the h siolo readin was crucial to .w temporal word,the brain must p Y f S region translate the word's image the development oftheperfect electronic screen.How weread. into its individual sounds. START AT THE EYES Foveal vision: Written words are essentially To read a word,the eye ; r>r Visual cortex:The entry y must bring it into this point for data sent by the images that have to be decoded Occipital- .Y g range,where the reso- p g retina.It sends visual infor- mation to other parts of the lution is greatest ` eemg:the image of a word. brain to be processed. x x Inferior frontal gyrus:Involved in linking letters to their sounds and analyzing them to identify the word they make up Th Parieto-temporal region:Also helps with word analysis.In less skilled readers,this is a necessary step in determining how to articulate and understand a word. Occipital-temporal region:Used more in experienced readers,it reacts to familiar i words almost as symbols,instantly recall- ing their pronunciations and meanings. -u EYE MOVEMENT STOPS AND STARTS daesWhen a' -Fixa#ions:The w, perst ry reads,the -.°brain processes ;eyes dor rat move � the material Word recall:After Perifoveal vision: i smoothl btt m a tlurur ;pauses a child is familiar Resolution is less enes'�€j ,or s' en saccades, with a word,he clear in this area. Retina:Light passing through the cornea saccades called'fixations forms a neural The eye uses it to and lens creates an image on the retina, " t } model that allows find the next word triggering nerve impulses.These impulses _ instant recognition it must focus on. are assembled and relayed to the brain. SOURCES:"OVERCOMING DYSLEXIA"BY DR.SALLY SHAYWITZ;DR.BENNETT SHAYWITZ;SOUTHWEST EDUCATIONAL DEVELOPMENT LABORATORY,"THE MAGIC OF READING"BY BILL HILL,GRAPHIC BY KEVIN HAND.TE%T ANO RESEARCH BY MARC BAIN FOR NEWSWEEK 60 NEWSWEEK I NOVEMBER 26,2007 � i technology is not necessarily a dedicated House"for$1.99.)Bezos explains that it's look at the Kindle,he said that if the royalty e-reading device, but. the screens we only fair to charge less for a-books because fee were the same, he'd take the readers. currently use,optimized for that function. you can't give them as gifts,and due to re- (He's also a believer that the Kindle will (He's read six volumes of Gibbon's "The strictive antipiracy software,you can't lend succeed:"The baby boomers have a love af- Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire" them out or resellthem. (Libraries, fair with paper,"he says."But the next-gen on a Dell Pocket PC.)"The Internet Ex- though, have developed lending proce- people, in their 20s and below, do every- plorer is not a browser-it's a reader,"he' dures for previous versions of e-books_ thing on a screen.") says. "People spend about 20 percent of like the tape in"Mission:Impossible,"they The model other media use to keep the time browsingfor information and evaporate after the loan period-and Bezos prices down, of course, is advertising. 80 percent reading or consuming it The says that he's open to the idea of eventually Though this doesn't seem to be in Kindle's transition has already happened.And we doing that with the Kindle.) plans, in some dotcom quarters people haven't noticed." Publishers are resisting the idea of are brainstorming advertiser-supported But even Hill acknowledges that read- charging less for e-boobs. "I'm not going books."Today it doesn't make sense to put ing on a televisionlike screen a desktop along with it,"says Penguin's Peter Shanks ads in books,because of the unpredictable away is not the ideal experience.Over the of Amazon's low price for best sellers.(He timing and readership," says Bill McCoy, centuries,the sweet spot has been identi- seemed startled when I told him that the Adobe's general manager of e-publishing. fied: something you hold in your hand, something you can curl Updates, with i bed. eta,can be corrected instantly. VpdateS no Devices like the Kindle; with itss 167 � dot-per-inch E Ink lled- lay, with type setEproblem—in fact, you could subscribe to a book in a serif font called-Caecilia, can sub- ,7 some consciousness in the.same way a with the expectation that an author will continually physical book does.It can take you down the rabbit hole. Though the Kindle is at heart a reading add to it.A novelist might rewrite an ending. machine made by a bookseller—and works - -, most impressively when you are buying a 3 "That changes with digital distribution." book or reading it—it is also something "- Another possible change:with connect- more: aperpetually connected Internet ed books,the tether between the author and device. A few twitches of the fingers and the book is still active after purchase.Errata that zoned-in connection between your can be corrected instantly. Updates, no mind and an author's machinations can beproblem—in fact,instead of buying a book interrupted—or enhanced—by an ava- M ? in one discrete transaction,you could sub- lanche of data.Therein lies the disruptive scribe to a book,with the expectation that an nature of the Amazon Kindle.It's the first author will continually add to it This would "always-on"book be more suitable for nonfiction than novels, What kinds ofthings will happen when THE GUTENBERG BIBLE,CIRCA 1455 but it's also possible that a novelist might books are persistently connected, and Before,7ohann Gutenberg invented movable decide to rewrite an ending, or change more-evolved successors of the Kindle be- type,all books had to be copied by hand.His something in the middle of the story. We come commonplace? First of all, it could Bibles ushered in the age ofprint could return to the era of Dickens-style seri- transform the discovery.process for read- alizations. With an always-on book, it's ers."The problem with books isn't print or conceivable that an author could not only writing," says Chris Anderson, author of Alan Greenspan book he publishes is for rework the narrative for future buyers,but "The Long Tail.""It's that not enough peo- sale at that price,since he offered.no special he or she could reach inside people's li- ple are reading:'(A 2004 National Educa- discount)Amazon is clearly taking a loss braries and make the change. (Let's also tion Association study reported that only on such books.But Bezos says that he can hope Amazon security is strong,so that we 57 percent of adults read a book—any sustain this scheme indefinitely."We have don't find one day that someone has hacked book—in a year. That was down from 61 a lot of experience in low-margin and high- "Harry Potter"or"Madame Bovary.") percent a decade ago.) His hope is that volume sale—you just have ito make sure Those are fairly tame developments, connected books will either link to other the mix [between discounted and higher- though, compared with the more pro- books or allow communities of readers to priced items]works."Nonetheless the ma- found changes that some are anticipating. suggest undiscovered gems. jor publishers(all of whom are on the Kin- In a connected book,the rabbit hole is no The connectivity also affects the pub- dle bandwagon)should loosen up.Ifyou're longer a one-way transmission from au- lishing business model,giving some hope about to get on a plane,you may buy the thor to reader. For better or for worse, to an industry that slogs along with single- new Eric Clapton biography on a whim for there's company coming. digit revenue growth while videogame rev- $10—certainly for$5!—but if it costs more Talk to people who have thought about enues are skyrocketing."Stuff doesn't need than $20,you may wind up scanning the the future of books and there's a phrase to go out of print," says Bezos. "It could magazine racks. For argument's sake,let's you hear again and again.Readers will read shorten publishing cycles:'And it could al- say cutting the price in half will double a in public. Writers will write in public.Read- ter pricing.Readers have long complained book's sales—given that the royalty check ers,of course,are already enjoying a more that new books cost too much;the$9.99 would be the same,wouldn't an author pre- prominent role in the literary community, charge for new releases and best sellers is fer twice the number of readers? When I taking star turns in blogs, online forums Amazon's answer. (You can also get clas- posed the question to best-selling novelist and Amazon reviews. This will only sics for a song: I downloaded "Bleak James Patterson, who was given an early increase in the era of connected reading THE PIEneoWMORGAN LIBRARY—ART RESOURCE NOVEMBER 26,2007 1 NEWSWEEK 61 devices. "Book clubs could meet inside ground by providing the first opportunity article, the goal is to make "the.entire of a book," says Bob Stein, a pioneer of for people to get search results from a cor- works of humankind, from the begin- digital media who now heads the Institute pus of hundreds of thousands of tomes). ning of recorded history,in all languages, for the Future of the Book,a foundation- But as an unabashed bookseller, its goals available to all people,all the time." funded organization based in his Brook- are different from those of other players, Google has already scanned a million lyn,N.Y.,town house.Eventually,the idea such as Google—whose mission is collect- books from its partner libraries like the goes,the community becomes part of the ing and organizing all the world's informa- University of Michigan and the New York process itself. tion—and that of the Open Content Al- Public Library, and they are available in ! Stein sees larger implications for au- fiance,a consortium that wants-the world's its database.(Last week my wife searched thors—some of them sobering for tradi- books digitized in a totally nonproprietary for information about the first English tionalists. "Here's what I don't know,"he manner.(The driving force behind the al- edition of the journals of Pehr Kalm, a says."What happens to the idea of a writer fiance, Brewster Kahle, made his fortune Swedish naturalist traveling in Colonial going off to a quiet place,ingesting infor- by selling his company to Amazon,but is America. In less than two seconds, mation and synthesizing that into 300 unhappy with the digital-rights manage Google delivered the full text of the book, pages of content that's uniquely his?"His ment on the Kindle: his choice of an as published in 1771.) implication is that that intricate process a-book reader would be the dirt-cheap XO Paul LeClerc, CEO of the New York may go the way of the leather bookmark, device designed by the One Laptop Per Public Library, says that he's involved in as the notion of author as authoritarian Child Foundation.) There are tricky, and something called the Electronic Enlight- enment, a scholarly project (born at the evices like the Kindle With its reader-friendl University of Oxford) compile all the � y writings of and information about virtual- ink and typeface can subsume consciousness ly every major figure e the Enlighten- D � ment. It includes all the annotated writ- in the same Way a physical book does. It can take ings, correspondence and commentary about 3,800 18th-century writers like Jef- you down the rabbit hole. ferson,Voltaire and Rousseau,completely cross-linked and searchable—as if a small , room in a library were compressed to a figure gives way to a Web 2.0 wisdom-of- single living document. "How could you the-crowds process. "The idea of author- do that before?"he asks. ship will change and become more of a Now imagine that for all books."Read- process than a product,"says Ben Versh- ing becomes a community activity,"writes bow,associate director of the institute. Kelly."Bookmarks can be shared with fel- This is already happening on the Web. low readers. Marginalia can be broadcast Instead of retreating to a cork-lined room ... In a very curious way,the universal H to do their work,authors like Chris Ander- x brary becomes one very,very,large single son, John Battelle ("The Search") and text:the world's only book." NYU professor Mitchell Stephens(a book Google's people have thought about about religious belief, in progress) have how this connectivity could actually affect written their books with the benefit of how people read.Adam Smith,product di- feedback and contributions from a com- rector for Book Search,says the process is munity centered on their blogs. all about "getting rid of the idea that a "The possibility of interaction will book is a [closed] container." One of his redefine authorship," says Peter Brantley, colleagues,Dan Lansing,describes how it executive director of the Digital Library might work: "Say you are trying to learn Federation, an association of libraries more about the Middle East,and you start and institutions. Unlike some writing-in- `VALLEY OF THE DOLLS,'1966 reading a book,which claims that some- public advocates, he doesn't spare the It sold 30 million copies to become the best- thing happened in a particular event in novelists."Michael Chabon will have tore- selling novel up to that time,topping Peyton Lebanon in'81,where the author was using think how he writes for this medium," his he Place-'Today`The Da Irnci Code'isIVo.1. his view on what happened.But actually says.Brantley envisions wiki-style collabo- view is not what[really]happened.There's rations where the author,instead of being newspaper clippings on the event,there are the sole authority,is a"superuser"the lead potentially showstopping,legal hurdles to other people who have written about it who wolf of a creative pack. (Though its hard all this: notably a major copyright suit disagree with him,there are other perspec- to believe that lone storytellers won't al- filed by a consortium of publishers,along fives. The fact that all of that is at your ways be toiling away in some Starbucks with the Authors Guild, charging that fingertips and you can connect it to- with the Wi-Fi turned off,emerging after- Google is infringing by copying the con- gether completely changes the way you do ward with a narrative masterpiece.) tents of books it scans for its database. scholarship, or deep investigation of a All this becomes even headier when Nonetheless,the trend is definitely to cre- subject.You'll be able to get all the world's you consider that as the e-book reader is ate a back end of a massively connected information, all the books that have been coming of age, there are huge initiatives library to supply future e-book devices published,all the world's libraries." underway to digitize entire libraries.Ama- with more content than a city full of li- Jim Gerber, Google's content-partner- zon, of course, is part of that movement braries.As journalist Kevin Kelly wrote in ships director,suggests that it might be z— (its Search Inside the Book project broke a controversial New York Times Magazine interesting idea,for example,for someon 62 NEWSWEEK I NOVEMBER 26,2007 PHOTOGRAPH BY F.MARTIN B IN FOR NEWSWEEK on the liberal side of the fence to annotate an Ann Coulter book, providing refuting links for every contention that the critic Can It Kindle the Imagination? thought was an inaccurate representation. That commentary,perhaps bolstered and updated by anyone who wants to chime in, could be woven into the book itself,if you We read the fine print on Amazon's new gadget. chose to include it. (This would probably make Ann Coulter very happy, because By STEVEN LEVY `a shaft.It's dead simple to do with a Kindle,hands you'd need to buy her book in order to view master,but a little slow. down,is buying a book— the litany of objections.) mazon CEO Jeff The real acid test was just click Buy and,bang, All these ideas are anathema to tradi- Bezos says that the whether the Kindle was you have the book in less tionalists.In May 2006,novelist John Up- Kindle may be the capable of transporting a than a minute. dike,appalled at reading Kelly's article("a mast important reader into that trancelike Though the copy pro- pretty grisly scenario"), decided to speak thing he's ever done.But zone where the world falls tection doesn't affect for them. Addressing a convention of how well does it work?As away.My suspicion,since book-reading,it is limiting, booksellers, he cited "the printed, bound the first journalist to get I've had a Sony Reader and annoying.You can't and paid-for book"as an ideal, and wor- his hands on the device,I (which uses the identical print out a passage, ried that book readers and writers were found it fit my hands pretty E Ink technology),was that e-mail it to a friend or "approaching the condition of holdouts, well.It's comfortable to it would,and I was right.I copy it into a document. surly hermits who refuse to come out and hold,and the huge NEXT PAGE read a Dan Silva thriller, You can't lend a book to play in the electric sunshine of the post- and PREVIOUS PAGE buttons Richard Russo's new novel someone,or sell it after Gutenberg village."(Actually,studies show on the sides make it easy and Eric Clapton's unsatis- you're finished. that heavy Internet users read many more to keep reading at a steady fying memoir,and didn't Searching—inside books than do those not feel I was missing anything books,inside the device,in on the Net.) He declared that I would have gotten in the store and on the Web— that the "edges" of the - a"real"book. is speedy and easy.You can traditional book should �_ -- *;ice" It's also exciting to get do Web browsing on a Kin- not be breached. In his a daily dose of The New York die,but it doesn't display view,the stiff boards that Times and other papers. pages well.(No YouTube,as bound the pages were not But the interface for news- the device doesn't support just covers but ramparts, paper reading is disap- animation.) and like-minded people pointing—you have to I didn't scientifically should"defend the fort." painstakingly go through test the battery life,but That fort will stand, Zarticle lists,and often the I found that when you're of course, for a very Z stories are insufficiently warned that you only have long time. The awesome described.Still,getting the 20 percent of your power technology of original Times in one burst on a dai- left,you should recharge books—and our love for w ly basis,no matter where immediately,because when them—will keep them vi- """a ` you are,is closer to getting it goes,it goes quickly,and tal for many years to "' a hard-copy delivery than there's nothing more frus- come. But nothing is �,�� +v picking out articles on the trating than a device that forever. Microsoft's Bill r) ✓ ✓ Web,and it costs$13.99 a �,� plays dead.And yes,you Hill has a riff where he ` •' -' "r ._:--, month compared with the can replace a battery,for runs through the energy- " $50-plus I pay for home de- about$20. wasting, resource-drain- livery.Do the math. The Kindle,mainly be- ing process of how we The real innovation of cause it is not just a device make books now. We THE E-READER,2007:Holds the Kindle is connecting by but a well-designed cog chop down trees,transport them to plants, a shelf's ivorth of booksand its wireless Whispernet, in a coherent and useful mash them into pulp,move the pulp to an- connects to the Net which works well from service,is a high point so other factory to press into sheets,ship the pretty much everywhere. far in electronic reading. sheets to a plant to put dirty marks on pace.On the other hand, When you go to the Kindle Deciding whether it's them, then cut the sheets and bind them the prominence of those store,you are greeted like worth the$399 price tag and ship the thing around the world."Do buttons makes it almost an old friend since your is a classic early-adopter you really believe that we'll be doing that in impossible to pick up with- Kindle account is linked to question:if history has 50 years?"he asks. out inadvertently turning your Amazon buying history any validity,you'll even- The answer is probably not,and that's a virtual page. and recommendations.Not tually be able to buy an why the Kindle matters."This is the most Navigation through the every book I wanted was improved version for less. important thing we've ever done,"says Jeff various features is via a there(paging Philip Roth), But I'd say that any volumi- Bezos. "It's so ambitious to take some- novel system centered on but plenty were,and the nous reader,particularly thing as highly evolved as the book and a clickable"select wheel" $9.99 price for best sellers one who travels,would improve on it. And maybe even change that moves a silvery cursor and new books makes pur- be delighted to receive a the way people read."As long as the bat- up or down a slim bar,like chases more attractive. Kindle by the fireplace this teries are charged. ■ an elevator moving through The coolest thing you can holiday season. 64 NEWSWEEK I NOVEMBER 26,2007 PHOTOGR HEYNIGELPA Y-CPI FORNEWSWEEK BURLI" Na Mf December 26, 2007 The Honorable Arnold Schwarzenegger Governor, State of California State Capitol Sacramento, CA 95814 Dear Governor Schwarzenegger: . RE: Reduction in State Funding of Public-Library Programs: Public Library Foundation & Transaction Based Reimbursements _ g On behalf or the-Burlingame Public Library Board of Trustees, I would like to, i respectfully express my disappointment with the recent $ 14 million reduction- ' i you made. to two heavily utilized and necessary library programs. Specifically, 2 I your 007-08 Budget vetoes included a major $ 7 million cut to the Public . . - Library Foundation (PLF) and a $ 7-million cut to the Transaction Based Reimbursement (TBR). I The-Public Library Foundation is a program that has been in existence since 1982, and.established a requirement that the state provide minimal assistance to local libraries on the basis of a 10 percent state/90 percent local match. Full funding of the-PLF, as required by law, would total $ 94 million. Your recent cut to this program, which benefits every public library jurisdiction in California, now brings the-baseline for this program down to $ 14 million. Last year, you increased this funding source by $ 7. million. PLF funding is used to support basic library services such as book and media purchase, open hours and greater access to resources. A second concern is your $7 million.cut tothe Transaction Based Reimbursement program which encourages libraries across the state to share resources. The TBR program allows a patron to check out a book at any California public library without having to pay a fee. In addition, this provides for seamless interlibrary loan service across the state. Governor, you have indicated that 2008 will by the "Year of Education Reform." It is important that public libraries have been and continue to be committed to supplement and partner with K-12 and higher education learning. It is,our hope that as you compile the 2.008-2009 state budget, you will restore the'$ 14 million in combined*reductions to these two valuable programs. Respectfully yours, Alfred H. Escoffier `- City Librarian 48o Primrose Road•Burlingame•California 940io-4083 Phone(650)558-7474•Fax(650)342-6295•www.burlingame.org/library i BURL NOAME December 26, 2007 The Honorable Gene Mullin California State Assembly State Capitol, Room 2163 Sacramento, CA 95814 Dear Assemblyman Mullin: RE: Reduction in State Funding of Public Library-Programs: Public Library Foundation &Transaction Based Reimbursements Thank you for.your past support of California public libraries. You have always been a loyal supporter of public libraries across the state. On behalf or the Burlingame Public Library Board of Trustees, I would like to respectfully express my disappointment with the Governor's recent $ 14 million reduction made to two heavily utilized and necessary library programs. Specifically, the 2007-08 Budget vetoes included a major $ 7 million cut to the Public Library Foundation (PLF) and a $ 7.million cut to the Transaction Based Reimbursement (TBR). The Public Library Foundation is a program that has been in existence since 1982, and established a requirement that the state provide minimal assistance to local libraries on the basis of a 10 percent state/90 percent local match. Full funding of the PLF, as required by law, would total $ 94 million. The Governor's recent cut to this program,' _ which benefits every public library jurisdiction in California, now.brings the baseline for this program down to $ 14 million.'Last year, he increased this funding source by$ 7 million. PLF funding is used to support basic library services such as book and media purchase, open hours and greater access to resources-. A second concern is a reduction of$7 million for the Transaction Based Reimbursement program which encourages libraries across the state to share-resources. The TBR program allows a patron to check out a book at any California public library without . having to pay a fee. In addition, this provides for seamless interlibrary loan service across-the state. Anything you can do to help restore these-important programs to the $ 14 million level would be very much appreciated not only by libraries, but by those who use them. _ Res ctfull�oo;Alfre H. Effier City Librarian 480 Primrose Road•Burlingame-California 940-10-4083 Phone(650)558-7474'Fax(650)342-6295-'www.burlingame.org/library BWUMOAME . December 26, 2007 The Honorable Leland Yee California State Senate State Capitol, Room 4048 Sacramento, CA 95814 - Dear Senator Yee: RE: Reduction in State Funding of Public Library Programs: Public Library Foundation j &Transaction Based Reimbursements _ Thank you for your past support of California public_ libraries. You have always been a loyal supporter of public libraries across the.state. On behalf or the Burlingame Public Library Board of Trustees, I would like to respectfully express my disappointment with the Governor's recent$ 14 million reduction made to two heavily utilized and necessary library programs. Speci cally, the 2007-08 Budget vetoes-included a major$ 7 million cut to the Public Library Foundation (PLF) and a $ 7_million cut to the Transaction Based Reimbursement (TBR). ' The Public Library Foundation is a-program that has been in existence since 1982, and established a requirement that the state provide minimal assistance to local libraries on the basis of a 10 percent state/90 percent local match. Full funding of the PLF, as required by law, would total $ 94 million. The Governor's recent cut to this program, �— which benefits every public library jurisdiction,*in California, now brings the baseline for this program down to $ 14 million. Last year, he increased this funding-source by $ 7_ million. PLF funding is used to support basic library services such as book and media purchase, open hours and greater access to resources. A second concern is a reduction of$7 million for the Transaction Based Reimbursement program which encourages libraries across the state to share resources. The TBR program allows a patron to check out a book at any California public library without having to pay a fee. In addition, this provides for seamless interlibrary loan service across the state. Anything you can do to help restore these important programs to the $ 14 million level would be very much appreciated not only by libraries, but by those who-use them. Restfully yo re H. Escoffie City Librarian 48o Primrose Road•Burlingame•California 94oio-4o83 Phone(650)558-7474'Fax(650)342-6295•www.burlinyame.ory/library City Librarian's Report January 15, 2008 Holiday Programs a Hit! The holiday programs sponsored by the Foundation were a big hit. The programs included: Peninsula Girls Chorus, December 4; Easton Sing-a- long with Jim Stevens, December 19; and two Holiday Puppet shows on December 22nd. Attendance was excellent. It's good to know that these Foundation-sponsored programs were a priority for our community during the busy holiday season. A New Year: Poetry Panda-monium! January ushers in the new program season with our annual Poetry Month for children: "Poetry Panda-monium." Children who write a poem and bring it into the Children's room will receive a paperback poetry book. A special "open mike" poetry reading for children will be held on Sunday, January 27, 2 PM, Lane Community Room. "Just Baby and Me" New Monthly Program This new 30 minute program will be held monthly for infants 0-18 months and their caregiver. Each session includes finger plays, songs, and action rhymes, followed by time for parents to talk with other parents. Babies are born learning, hearing music, looking at images in books, observing, and participating in movement that stimulate growth and development of their brains. Sharing these activities creates a warm bond between infant and caregiver. This program has been requested by young parents in the community. Foundation Budget Requests for 2008 I have prepared a list of Foundation requests for calendar 2008. This will be available to you for review at your January meeting. City/Library Budget Goals Session The annual City Goals session will be held in the Lane Room on Saturday, January 26th, 9 AM. At this meeting the newly configured City Council will discuss their goals for the year and give staff direction on funding priorities. As a part of this process, the library has been asked to review and update the "List of Unfunded Items." This as been updated and submitted to the City Manager. Children's Mural Task Force The Children's Mural Task Force will be meeting on Wednesday, January 16th with Easton Interior Designer, Michelle Nelson and potential muralist, Lynne Rutter. We have asked Jim and Kris Cannon, of the 1 Foundation Board to join the group to review the artist's work. Lynne Rutter creates murals and decorative painting and is proposing a mural -� that will flow throughout the children's room, picking up iconic children's images from the 1920's and 1930's (think Maxfield Parrish), when the original building was built. The task force will bring additional information to the Board at the next meeting. Update of Building Directories To accommodate the many changes of the library's re-organization, we will upgrade our building directories. Our graphic artist is nearly finished with the graphic work and we will have a local signage company update the directories. Funding for this project is from the Duncan Trust. Library Centennial Programs Russ Cohen, of the Burlingame Historical Society, will be giving the second in a series of historical lectures on Burlingame on January 15th, 7 PM: the Burlingame Train Station. All are welcome! Hillsborough Library Services Contract Burlingame City Manager Jim Nantell and San Mateo City Manager Arne Croce have asked the Town of Hillsborough to reopen the library services contract for discussion. Trustees Katie McCormack and Bruce Carlton have agreed to be the Trustee sub-committee to discuss options concerning additional funding for Hillsborough library service. Staff Recognition Dinner The Staff Recognition Dinner on December 2nd was a wonderful warm event. Three staff received Employee Achievement Awards including: Patti Flynn, Jeanine Culligan and Gerrie Pilling. The food and conversation was delightful. Thank you all so much for this wonderful event to honor our great staffl Upcoming Events: • 15 January- Library Board of Trustees, 5:30 PM • 15 January- The Unusual History of the Burlingame Train Station, Russ Cohen, 7 PM • 17 January- Chamber Installation, 11:30 AM, Hyatt Hotel • 21 January- Martin Luther King, Jr., Holiday, Closed • 24 January- Jazz the Library: Tangria, 7 PM • 25 January- Day in the District, meeting with legislators • 26 January- City Council Goals Session, 9 AM-Noon, Lane Room • 5 February- Meditation for Stress Free Living with Dr. Marshall Zaslove, 7 PM • 18 February- President's Day, Holiday, Closed 2 A • 19 February- Library Board of Trustees, 5:30 PM 27 February- City Council Budget Session, 6 PM, Lane Room • 11 March- Burlingame Novelists Program, Darwin Patnode, 7 PM • 12 March- Citizen's Academy: Library, 7 PM, Lane Room • 14 March- Burlingame Commissioner's Dinner, TBA r 3 X . `- Budget Requests for the Burlingame Library Foundation Calendar Year 2008 1) Children's Programs and Collections $ 21,216.50 Background: This request includes our full scope of children's programs, including the 3 summer reading clubs; supplemental funding for a children's graphic novel collection; 5 special programs during the year; funds to support the High School Summer Enrichment book collection; children's non-fiction enhancement for Easton. (See attached for detail) 2) Adult Summer Reading Club $ 3,000.00 Background: 2008 will be the second year of this popular program. We hope to expand this program this year with additional publicity. Funding is for honorarium for a speaker; 6 week movie series; raffle drawing prizes. (See attached for detail) 3) Children's Room Mural $ 20,000.00 Background: Several years ago the Foundation Board requested and received two preliminary drawings for a mural in the children's room, but there were some competing needs. In the meantime, we have met with another muralist recommended by Michelle Nelson of Craftsman Home, who was interior designer on the Easton Branch. A sub-committee has met with the muralist and will have a report for you at your next meeting. The cost is an estimate, but on the relatively high side. 4) Children's Seating $ 10,000.00 Background: This item was approved in principal by the Board during 2007, but the right lounge seating was not found. Through Michelle Nelson, we are looking for smaller scale craftsman style chairs (probably 4) for seating in the main library children's room. 1 L � 5) Current Events Video Monitor $ 2,000.00 Background: In order to better publicize our programs and services we are ramping up our website presence and would like to add a large screen monitor at the Circulation Desk which would have a scrolling list of programs and services available at the.library. The cost for this item would include a PC and large screen (probably 32" monitor, which would be mounted in the bookcase behind the circulation desk. Staff who maintains the website would maintain the current events monitor. 6) Opening Day Collection for Non-Fiction DVD's $ 25,000.00 Background: Most of our videos in the non-fiction area are on video cassette. Since this technology is rapidly moving toward DVD, we would like to make a special effort to purchase non-fiction DVD's. An "Opening Day Collection" means that librarians would select items for the g collection and they would arrive cataloged and processed and ready for the shelf. We would gradually phase out the videocassettes over time. 2 JL Burlingame Public Library Library Goals for Fiscal 2008-2009 Revised January 3, 2008 1) Improve usability of the library network by increasing bandwidth. This project will take at least 9 months to complete and will result in a change in the architecture of the network. 2) Open Source software options, such as that used in King County, Washington and the state of Georgia (Georgia Pines) will continue to be explored as an option. 3) Create a Library Aide position at 18 hours per week to assist in IT g set up for meetings, events, etc. e 4) Participate in a successful "One Book, One Community" program in the fall of 2008. 5) Participate in a new "One Book, One Community" for families, sponsored by the children's librarians in PLS. The feature book will be Francisco Jimenez' The Circuit as a family-read book in the summer. 6) Plan for the Library's 100th Anniversary: October 11, 2009. 7) Continue work for the City's Centennial throughout 2008 with displays, exhibits, and lectures. �estore funds for media and print materials in all areas to come back to at least the level of 2001-2002, which would be 19% or $ 47,000. 9) Create a plan for reclassification of Books on CD to a simpler program. The shift of one librarian 10 hours per week from reference to cataloging should make this possible this year. 10) Expand the continuing education budget to cover more training and conferences for staff. 11) Re-carpet the entire public and office area of the main library. Strike-offs are currently being done by Monterey Carpet to find the right design. The project will go out to bid in early 2008. 1 a 12) Renegotiate the Hillsborough Library Services contract to provide more funding for library services, between the cities of: Burlingame; Hillsborough and San Mateo. 13) Continue to explore the consolidation of the Northern California library systems at the request of State Librarian, Susan Hildreth. Consolidation would be transparent to the library user but would save costs by consolidation of services and administration. PLS Administration currently administers 4 systems and this would increase that equation. 14) Work with the Library Foundation to produce a design and implementation for a children's room mural. 15) Complete the interior signage and directories for way-finding. 4 16) Create and fund an "Opening Day Collection" to replace our large collection of non-fiction "Books on Tape" to the newer format of"Books on CD." This would likely be a collection selected by staff, cataloged by a vendor and paid for from donor funds. 17) Expand our cataloging outsourcing from vendors to include most non-book media materials. -1 2 �-- January 5, 2008 TO: Library Board of Trustees FROM: Al Escoffier, City Libr RE: Library Centennial Prevaations Staff is beginning to pull some ideas together for the Centennial, and I would like to have you review these ideas with the idea of funding them for the Library. 1. Centennial Kick Off. Dedication of the Lions. I would suggest we have a formal dedication of the Lions, perhaps next fall to kick off the Centennial. I'm not sure who you might want to dedicate them to, or if you just see it as a gift of the Trustees to the community. We could do a plaque and perhaps a reception afterward on a weekend. We might want to partner with the Historical Society and see if they might want an historical event on the same day. Perhaps they could do a history of the library. Jane Dunbar wrote a history of the library through the mid-1980's. This could be used as a beginning. I could put something together from my knowledge and the library archives. Perhaps there could be an Nft— event for children. Maybe we could sponsor a drawing contest with the Lions as a theme, or the library as a theme. This was very successful when we did the children's book published by the Foundation in the mid-1990's. 2. Centennial Holiday Celebration. What we have in mind is a l �' Winter Wonderland party (a la Harry Potter) open house for the community, to celebrate the beginning of our next 100 years. We'd like to have a variety of entertainment such as a Family Sing-a- Long ($175); Peninsula Girls Chorus or Ragazzi ($ 350); an elf or the Candy Cane King (cost unknown); and some sort of children's entertainer ( $ 300); and cookies and hot chocolate. Harry Potter was about $ 3,000.00 and included numerous volunteers. The expenses for the holiday event would be similar. The library also needs to replace the holiday tree and update decorations for the holidays ($ 3,000). We would hope this would be a similar event to Harry Potter, as that event was incredibly successful. 1 3. Children's Room Mural. We are just now mobilizing a task force to revive the ideas revolving around the Children's mural. Kris and Jim Cannon, Sue Reiterman, Pat Harding, and myself. We are very excited to see this idea revived and the Foundation is willing to pay for it. The dedication of the mural during the Centennial year would be a wonderful event and bring more and more people into the children's room as a "destination." 4. Centennial Programming. I would like to tie all of the programming during the year to the Centennial. We could focus on history from the local Historical Society, as-well as the San Mateo County Historical Museum at College of San Mateo. 5. Centennial Library Christmas Ornament. Some years ago, the Historical Society and the Burlingame Garden Center created custom holiday Christmas ornaments, first with an image of Y Burlingame High School and then with an image of the Burlingame Train Depot. These are high quality, custom ornaments. I have both in my personal collection and will bring them in for the Board to see. We have talked with the vendor and actually the library was the next city ornament to be done, but the original group is gone. We would like the Trustees and/or the Foundation to pay for perhaps 100 ornaments. They wholesale for $ 50.00. We could sell them for $65.00 or we could give them away for a $ 100.00 donation to the library as a fundraiser! The website for the ornaments is: www.landmark-creations.com. 2