MINUTES
Regents Commission on Library Services
Queens Borough Public Library
March 18, 1999

Attendance

Co-chairs: Abby S. Milstein, Frank J. Macchiarola

Co-vice chairs: Martín Gómez, Paul W. Crumlish

Members: Sarah E. Thomas, Gail Johnstone, John O'Rourke, Betty J. Turock, Sandra Kennedy Bright, Sara Kelly Johns, John Hammond, Monroe Fordham, Janet Steiner, Gerald Nichols, Harry M. Rosenfeld, William L. Jefferson

Absent: Edward Mc Cormick

Ex officio members: James C. Dawson, Carole F. Huxley, Janet M. Welch,

Staff: Jean Hargrave, Carol Linn

Observers: Carol Desch, Fred Smith, Anne Hofmann, Dottie Hiebing, Liz Lane, Fran Roscello, Nancy Zimmerman, Herb Biblo, Janet Goltz, Peter Iannone

Recorder: Patti Chandler

Speakers: George D’Elia, Gary Strong

Greetings

Standing in for Abby Milstein, Janet Welch opened the meeting at 9:35 am. She announced that Ms. Milstein and Mr. Macchiarola would be joining the group momentarily. Ms. Welch expressed thanks on behalf of the Commission to Gary Strong and his staff at the Queens Borough Public Library for hosting the meeting and the reception the previous evening.

Regents Priority Legislation

Mrs. Welch called attention to the fact sheets which describe Libraries 2000, the Regents/New York State Library legislative and budget initiative (A6048/S3166) and provide a comparison of Libraries 2000 and the New York Library (NYLA) proposal Books Bricks and Bytes for the 21^st Century. (The bill language and the fact sheets are posted on the State Library's web site.

Libraries 2000

Libraries 2000 would provide $22.6 million to fund electronic library services ($11.4 million), statewide access to commercial databases ($600,000), public library construction ($10 million), library services for individuals with disabilities ($350,000) and New York State Library acquisitions ($250,000). Mrs. Welch explained that this bill represents only a small portion of the funding needed by libraries in New York State. Regent Dawson pointed out that last year's Electronic Doorway Library initiative (which was vetoed by Governor Pataki) is included in the Libraries 2000 initiative.

Books, Bricks and Bytes

Bill Crumlish and John Hammond spoke about Books, Bricks and Bytes, the NYLA legislative proposal, which parallels the Regents/New York State Library Legislative and Budget Initiative. The NYLA initiative proposes a $60.6 million increase in state aid. It is a comprehensive long-term assessment of New York State's needs for investment in library services for the State's citizens. It addresses a broad range of important initiatives that merit state funding and includes the major components of Libraries 2000. The lower dollar amount requested for Libraries 2000 reflects the State Education Department's appraisal of funding that is currently attainable.

Marketing Survey

Mrs. Welch introduced George D'Elia, Professor and Director of the Center for Applied Research in Library and Information Science at the State University of New York at Buffalo. Dr. D'Elia has contracted to conduct a statewide telephone survey about libraries and library issues to inform the Commission. The survey will begin April 5 and data collection will be completed the third week in April, with initial results available by early May. The final analysis and report of data will be available in June.

Dr. D’Elia explained that the survey, as proposed, would be limited to persons 18 and older since parental permission is needed to interview minors and a different survey instrument would be needed as well. This survey will focus on public libraries. The survey instrument branches into separate scripts depending on whether the respondent is a library user. There will be 1,000 completed phone calls with a proportionate representation of every county in the state. The survey will seek to identify why non-users don't use libraries. Both users and non-users will be asked about interest in new library services; need for new information and opinion on value of public library services. It will ask about level of funding for libraries and whether respondents have access to the Internet. The survey will identify demographic characteristics of each respondent. Interviews can be conducted in Spanish or English; other languages are not available.

Survey Suggestions

Dr. D'Elia agreed to include a question to determine if the respondent used other types of libraries.

The group discussed the effect of increasing the number of people surveyed on the usefulness of the survey. Dr. D'Elia stated that the proposed sample size of 1,000 would have a margin of error of 3%. The sample size would have to be doubled to improve the margin of error significantly. Costs, beyond the basic charges, are $18 for every completed survey. Dr. D'Elia recommended that we wait to see what the survey results reveal before committing additional resources. He recommended different techniques, such as a focus group, if clarification is needed. Ms. Turock agreed that focus groups would be effective in determining the needs of various constituencies. Mr. Crumlish explained that the group advising Dr. D'Elia chose to limit the number of surveys to 1,000 because of time and cost constraints.

Dr. D'Elia will eliminate questions about fee-based services, as suggested by Mr. Nichols and Ms. Steiner. Mr. Nichols also suggested that some of the services asked about within the context of new services are already being provided in many libraries. Misconceptions about what services are currently available will show up in the survey results.

There is a limited period of time to provide comments and suggestions. Comments should be mailed or phoned to Ms. Hargrave by March 26.

Additional Surveys

A survey for school-age library users will be conducted through the schools. Ms. Johns will chair a group that will design the school survey. Mr. Hammond will chair a group that will investigate a survey for users of college and university libraries.

Queens Borough Public Library

Know your customer.

Gary L. Strong, Director of the Queens Borough Public Library, provided information on how the Queens Borough Public Library learns about the composition and ethnic background of the population served. Knowledge of community is a basis for decision-making, planning programs and services and developing collections. Foreign language collections represent a significant portion of the collections at QBPL, reflecting the profile of the community. Programs are offered on a regular basis to help recent immigrants learn the English language, adapt to a new culture and obtain work. Research is done completely out of the normal operating budget using existing sources like: 1990 Census Summary Tape Files, New York City Board of Education Statistics, New York City Department of City Planning Reports, articles, books and studies. In addition to the data analysis, Mr. Strong finds first hand observation of the community useful. Knowledge of community as a basis for planning and the importance of constant, on-the-job staff training were themes throughout the presentation. Mr. Jefferson, who serves as a trustee of the Queens Borough Public Library, commented that it all boils down to knowing your customer.

Mr. Strong offered the following advice and direction to the Commission:

Deal at the community level.

All services and programs should reflect knowledge of the community that will be served. Libraries should be considered portals of service for people who live in the communities of New York State.

Create new types of librarians.

Change what is taught in library schools. There is a need to create new types of librarians who understand how to work with persons of all ages and with immigrants. There is a need for librarians who understand the role of the library in the context of community life and who understand how the role of government and community intermesh. The challenge is to teach, recruit and retain people who will bring this kind of thinking to libraries and also to add diversity to the profession. (Ms. Turock observed that recruitment and retention is a statewide issue that demands connectivity among libraries, library schools and library associations.)

Change is constant.

There are lessons learned from the implementation of Proposition 13 in California: things will never be "like they used to be" and there is a constant need to restructure and prioritize.

Public Hearings

Mr. Macchiarola asked Commission members for advice regarding the public hearings that will be held around the state. The hearings are intended to bring forth comments and proposals from a broad audience, including community groups, people of all ages and those who do not use the library on a regular basis. Mr. Gómez suggested we should try to include representatives of child advocacy groups, senior citizen groups and new citizen groups to inform the Commission about the needs of these constituencies.

There was a discussion about how to attract a broad audience, including those who don't ordinarily use libraries. Brochures to publicize the hearings will be distributed to stakeholders and numerous mailing lists. Press releases will be sent to community newspapers, school and library-related publications and other sources. Libraries serving as hearing sites will be asked to distribute information about the hearings to their community and local public officials. Mr. Gómez plans to have brochures about the hearings translated into other languages, reflecting the diverse population of the New York City area.

Mr. Macchiarola suggested that each Commission member take a turn at presiding over a hearing. Hearings will be recorded on videotape. Signers for the hearing impaired and language translators will be provided. Commission members discussed alternative methods for approaching the hearings, such as Internet-based discussions, town meetings, chat rooms, web sites in public libraries and posting testimony to the Commission web site

Meeting Schedule

The next meeting of the full Commission will take place on July 13 and 14. July 13 will be devoted to separate and joint meetings of the task forces. Ms. Milstein suggested that the July 14 meeting should focus on identifying recommendations for the report. Commission leadership will attend the July 15 meeting of the Regents Cultural Education Committee to provide a preliminary report on the progress of the Commission. Meetings are also scheduled for September 29, 1999 and January 12, 2000.

Task Force Reports

After separate meetings of both task forces, the task force leaders reported on their progress.

Vision

Mr. Gómez reported that the Vision Task Force discussed technology in libraries to identify key areas: collections, programs and services, human resources and facilities. The task force will take an in-depth look at each area to bring forward a list of policy issues for discussion at the July meeting. A workshop session planned between now and July will be used to look at each of these issues. In response to a question from Ms. Milstein, Mr. Gómez said that he saw the New York State Library as an organization that could promote new technologies and successful models for service and provide a forum for librarians to share their expertise.

Access

Mr. Crumlish reported that the Access Task Force had identified issues and areas for additional study. They will identify what models for library access exist in other states. A consultant has provided a preliminary outline of successful models. Task force members will also, within the next two weeks, identify barriers to access and what is needed to overcome these barriers. They will also develop a common understanding of what library services every New Yorker has a right to expect.

It was suggested that the Access Task Force look at access to collections held by private institutions. This would include issues of interlibrary loan and also services and expertise. Mr. Gómez suggested that staff who wanted to gain expertise in a particular area (like library preservation techniques) would benefit from internships and other cooperative programs at private institutions where this expertise resided.

The meeting was adjourned at 2:45.

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