State Library Board Agenda Packet
June 18, 2021 Online Meeting Table of Contents
Agenda and Meeting Minutes Page 3 Press Release Page 4 Agenda Page 5 2021 Meeting Dates Page 6 April 16, 2021 Meeting Minutes Page 7 Report of the State Librarian Page 18 Quarterly Performance Report Page 25 Budget Report Page 27 Strategic Plan Quarterly Report and Dashboard Page 33 Public Library Minimum Conditions Report Page 43 Proposed temporary rule, OAR Chapter 543 Page 46 American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) Funds Plan Page 49 Recommendations of the Talking Book & Braille Advisory Council Page 55 Miscellaneous Page 60 Agenda and Meeting Minutes
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Nancy Hoover 250 Winter St. NE Acting State Librarian Salem, OR 97301 503-378-4367 503-378-4243 Fax 503-585-8059
www.oregon.gov/library
June 4, 2021
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Salem, Ore – The State Library Board will meet from 9:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. on Friday, June 18, 2021 online. This is a public meeting; those who would like to attend should contact Cory Horton at [email protected]. Ann Malkin of Bend will chair the meeting.
Sign language interpretation will be provided for the public if requested 48 hours before the meeting; notice 72 hours before the meeting is preferred. Handouts of meeting materials may also be requested in alternate formats 72 hours before the meeting. Requests may be made to Cory Horton at [email protected].
The State Library of Oregon cultivates, preserves, and delivers library and information services to foster lifelong learning and community engagement.
4 STATE LIBRARY BOARD MEETING June 18, 2021 Online Ann Malkin, Chair
Agenda
Time Item Desired Outcome Speaker 9:00 a.m. Approval of the Minutes – Approval & Motion Malkin April 2021 Meeting 9:05 Reports of Board Chair & Information & Discussion Malkin Members 9:45 Report of the State Librarian Information & Discussion Hoover 10:00 State Librarian Recruitment Information & Discussion Leslie 10:20 Quarterly Performance Information & Discussion Westin Report 10:25 Budget Report Information & Discussion Westin 10:35 Strategic Plan Quarterly Information & Discussion Westin Report and Dashboard 10:45 Open Forum** 10:50 Break 11:05 Public Library Minimum Information & Discussion Nielsen Conditions Report 11:10 Proposed temporary rule, Approval & Motion Nielsen OAR Chapter 543 11:20 American Rescue Plan Act Approval & Motion Nielsen (ARPA) Funds Plan 11:40 Recommendations of the Approval & Motion Bruton Talking Book & Braille Advisory Council 11:55 Elect Board Chair & Vice Approval & Motion Malkin Chair 12:00 p.m. Adjournment Malkin
** Any person may address the State Library Board at this meeting on any topic.
NOTE: The times of all agenda items are approximate and subject to change.
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2021 State Library Board Meeting Dates
Friday, June 18, 2021 9:00am – 12:00pm Online
Friday, August 20, 2021 9:00am – 12:00pm Online
Friday, October 15, 2021 9:00am – 12:00pm Online
250 Winter St NE Salem, OR 97301 | Phone 503-378-4243 | Fax 503-585-8059 | Web www.oregon.gov/library6 State Library Board Meeting April 16, 2021 Online, Salem, Oregon
Board members present: Chair, Ann Malkin, Lori Wamsley, Greg Williams, Jennie Tucker, Ben Tate, Sean Nickerson, and Tina Roberts
Guests present: Bill Fisher
Staff present: Jennifer Patterson, Susan Westin, Caren Agata, Elke Bruton, Buzzy Nielsen, and Cam Amabile
Recorder: Cory Horton, Operations Support Specialist
Chair Ann Malkin called the meeting to order at 9:03 a.m.
Approval of the January 15, 2021 minutes – Malkin
Tucker made a motion to approve the minutes from the January 15, 2021 board meeting. Nickerson seconded. The motion passed unanimously.
Reports of Board Chair and Members – Malkin
Nickerson: Nickerson stated that he has shifted off the integrated eligibility project and has taken on a new project called Get Vaccinated Oregon. This is an online tool to determine your eligibility for the COVID-19 vaccine and to provide locations where the vaccine is being administered. Close to 900,000 Oregonians have signed up for the tool to determine their eligibility and vaccine locations, which is very exciting.
Tate: Tate stated that he is working on six projects in various stages and is currently in the process of consulting all stakeholder groups before publishing the reports. Tate is also working on a variety of other projects that will likely remain internal in state government, which will provide matched data. While the public may not see the data, it will be available to a broader audience than usual. One item that would be visible is a review of the educator prep programs, including who graduates, where they go, what the retention is, and breaking down the demographics from a geographic standpoint, factoring in race, ethnicity, and gender. The intended result is a two-page white paper. The first report will be numbers with a little analysis, but the white paper will go deeper into the data.
Tucker: Tucker stated that the La Grande Library board met in February and will be meeting again next week. The library director, Kip Roberson, has done great work, including setting up eight outdoor lockers outside the main entrance of the library for patrons to pick up books when the library is closed. They have re-opened with limited capacity and have also set up outdoor
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programs, including events in the park. The library commission presented a fee for those that do not belong to the library district. It is free to check out books, or $50 per year for the additional resources offered such as Kanopy.
Tucker has not recently spoken to the Elgin City Library director but has expressed her ability to help if needed.
Roberts: Roberts indicated that the instructional materials project is still moving through the process. They are currently seeking applicants for the review committee, which involves requesting nominations for applications, in addition to receiving general applications. Nominations are due April 23rd and applications are due May 1st. May 1st is also the publisher withdrawal date. The review will take place in July and the state board will adopt the approved list in October 2021, then districts will be expected to implement their new materials by fall of 2022.
Roberts stated that the updated library guidance in Ready Schools Safe Learners has been completed, however it needs to be updated again based on revised Oregon Health Authority guidance.
Roberts indicated that the literacy framework is still in progress and has evolved into a toolkit for teachers. This is a sideline project for now until the legislative session is over.
Roberts stated that she is tracking House bill 2056, which is a multilingual inclusion bill. If passed, it removes the word English from English language arts. This would allow instruction in languages other than English to meet the diploma requirements for high school language arts and allows production of work in languages other than English. If passed, this would impact the English language arts standards where there are specific references to English.
Roberts is also tracking what was initially Senate bill 552, which was absorbed into Senate bill 225, and has now become Senate bill 226. If passed, it will require Oregon Department of Education (ODE) to conduct a study of library media programs. The first part is Division 22 assurances, which are the standards that school districts must meet to be in compliance with the rules for operating a public school in Oregon. One of those rules is 2340, Media Programs, which requires that schools have a coordinated media program, including a library facility with materials in it, a library media program, and a specialist or classified staff member to run the program. This bill would ask ODE to conduct a study on how media programs for Division 22 are evaluated for districts to mark that they are in compliance. It will also ask that if there are any actions to take, that ODE works in conjunction with the State Library of Oregon. Finally, it would add information literacy to ORS 329.045, which is the list of what public schools need to teach. This would not make it a required class but would add it to the list of offerings for students.
Wamsley: Wamsley indicated that Mt. Hood Community College is still working on re-opening plans. They are still mostly remote and will remain mostly remote through summer. They are beginning the budget process for 2021 – 2022.
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Wamsley stated that in the last board meeting, she shared that Mt. Hood Community College received a grant around childcare and other support services. They have received an additional grant of $5 million from the US Department of Labor, along with eight other community colleges, to help with cyber security and advanced manufacturing workforce training.
Wamsley added that The Foundation auction is taking place on April 24th and the online Mt. Hood Jazz festival is April 30th – May 2nd.
Wamsley stated that library staff are getting excited for the Oregon Library Association (OLA) conference next week. She will be presenting with Liisa Sjoblom on the Critical Art of Feedback, and she will also be presenting in May on transparent design in libraries.
Williams: Williams stated it has been busy at the Oregon City Public Library thinking about re- opening. On Monday they will be opening self-serve pickups after almost a year of offering only appointment-based hold pickups. Public computer usage and additional browsing are on the horizon. They are also taking the opportunity to look at their space layout and make changes where needed.
They have had great programs lately, including one staff member who co-presented at a pre- conference session for OLA on serving the disabled community in Oregon.
Williams indicated that schools can be certified as a No Place for Hate school, and their Youth Services librarian partnered with the school district to help create an off the shelf library based No Place for Hate program, called Read for A Welcoming World. They created a six-minute video that teaches kids about empathy and how reading books from other perspectives can help them understand the world from different perspectives. This video has been paired with a reading list, which they are offering to the school district to help with the certification process for becoming a No Place for Hate school.
Williams indicated that they partnered with the parks department in March to present the rain or shine challenge, which gave folks ten outdoor and ten indoor activities to earn badges and be entered into prize drawings.
Williams stated that he is very proud of how library staff responded to the ice storm in February. They helped with citywide debris dump sites and had to make several changes to no- holds pickups due to downed trees.
Williams shared that they had a citywide team building trivia event, where they invited city teams to form and participate. The library teams came in first and second place overall, and Williams had the top overall score for trivia!
Malkin: Malkin stated that things have been very busy in Deschutes County after the bond election. They sold their bonds Wednesday morning and got a great rating ahead of time. The
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interest rate dipped and they sold all $195 million of bonds in a two-hour period, receiving $29M in premiums which increases the money available for construction projects. They have hired an owner’s representative firm to help with the complex project, building the new central library in a great location, and doubling the size of the Redmond library and renovating all the other branches in the county. Bend has been written up nationally as a zoom community which has accelerated the already increasing population growth.
Malkin stated that they have expanded operating hours at the Deschutes Public Library, in addition to continuing curbside pickup, which will likely continue after restrictions are lifted.
Malkin added that the Novel Idea program is taking place this month. Authors will be presenting May 1st and May 2nd. This year they elected a youth book and an adult book for the program.
Report of the State Librarian – Patterson
Patterson stated that the Oregon Library Association provides awards each year at the OLA Conference, and this year the award committee selected all of the State Library staff as the OLA Librarian of the year. This is usually an individual award, but the award committee discussed and felt that they wanted to broaden that award to recognize the work and support that all of the State Library staff has provided to libraries and communities throughout Oregon. The award ceremony is Friday at the OLA conference, using a pre-recorded award for each recipient.
Patterson stated that Malkin’s term is coming to an end on June 30th. Patterson put out word to the library community for a Public Library Representative from Eastern Oregon. Two applications were received, and the Governor is recommending one to move forward at a senate hearing on May 4th. The individual is Kristin Williams, the Athena Library Director in Eastern Oregon.
State Library Operations Patterson indicated that she has been given a tentative date of re-opening state agencies to the public, which is September 1st. A statewide advisory group led by the Chief Human Resources Officer has been established to discuss topics including hybrid work, office space, and parking.
American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) The American Rescue Plan Act that Congress passed in March includes $200 million in additional funding for IMLS, of which $178 million is allocated for state library administrative agencies through the Grants to States program. Each state library is receiving a minimum of $2 million with the final allocation based on state population. The State Library of Oregon will be receiving $2,924,165 in addition to our regular 2021 Grants to States allotment of $2,438,090.
IMLS has provided the following spending priorities regarding how this funding is to be used, and they must be expended by the end of September 2022:
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a. First, to enable libraries to reach residents with internet hotspots, accessible Wi- Fi, and other digital inclusion efforts, particularly in support of education, health, and workforce development needs. The following types of data, among others, can inform efforts to reach underserved populations: • Poverty/Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) • Unemployment • Broadband availability; b. Second, to provide rapid emergency relief to libraries across the country, allowing them to safely respond to the pandemic and implement public health protocols; c. Third, to support library services that meet the needs of communities throughout the U.S., including costs such as personnel, technology, training, materials, supplies, equipment, and associated indirect costs; and d. With respect to (a), (b), or (c), reach tribal and museum partners best positioned to assist with pandemic response efforts, in addition to traditionally eligible library entities, where appropriate.
Build America’s Libraries Act The Build America’s Libraries Act would fund upgrades to the nation’s library infrastructure to address challenges such as natural disasters, COVID-19, broadband capacity, environmental hazards, and accessibility barriers. Introduced in the Senate (S. 127) and the House (H.R. 158), the bill includes $5 billion that would be distributed to state library agencies through the IMLS, with each state receiving a minimum of $10 million. As a standalone bill, the Build America’s Libraries Act may not move forward, but it has a better chance if it gets included with a larger infrastructure package.
HB 3256 -2: Creates Connecting Oregon Libraries Fund Representative Marsh introduced HB 3256-2 which would create the Connecting Oregon Libraries Fund for the purposes of providing broadband access to eligible library facilities. The State Library would administer the program and develop administrative rules to implement it. This would help the smallest and more remote libraries get more from the federal e-rate program that is operated through the FCC by establishing a state matching fund program. This bill would only establish the fund structure, any money allocated to it would be separate from this bill.
Talking Book and Braille Library Talking Books has begun recording books remotely. Joel Henderson has been working with a wonderful volunteer who already records for Learning Ally in a remote setup so the process should go smoothly.
The 2020 Fall Appeal wrapped up in late January. Talking Books received $25,560 in donations from 368 donors. That figure is about $10,000 lower than the 2019 Fall Appeal, which, considering the circumstances of 2020, is a respectable amount.
Since 1969 the National Library Service (NLS) has made its services available to people with
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reading disabilities. However, a doctor of medicine or osteopathy was required to certify that an applicant’s reading impairment was “the result of organic dysfunction.” A 2016 Government Accountability Office report on NLS noted that it is now widely accepted that a medical diagnosis is not necessary to determine if a person has a reading disability. Thankfully, because of the 2018 Marrakesh Treaty Implementation Act and the 2019 Library of Congress Technical Corrections Act, this restriction has officially been lifted. Effective immediately, anyone who qualifies for the Talking Book and Braille library can gain access via the same set of certifying authorities.
Library Support and Development Services Library Support Staff are busy supporting libraries in a variety of ways.
School Library Consultant Jen Maurer has been working with the Oregon Department of Education to include more library-specific guidance in the Ready Schools, Safe Learners (RSSL) pandemic response document for schools. The new guidance will highlight libraries as unique educational environments for the purposes of determining COVID-19 procedures, much like programs such as PE and music that are called out in RSSL.
Jennifer Cox joined the State Library staff on March 15, 2021, as the new part-time Answerland Coordinator. Jennifer brings a wealth of reference and technology experience from her current role as a reference and instruction librarian at Chemeketa Community College and her previous work as library director at the Art Institute of Portland. She is learning quickly and doing great. Tamara Ottum is now the LSTA coordinator and Ross Fuqua has taken on digital collections in addition to continuing work around public library statistics.
Public Library Consultant and Continuing Education Coordinator Darci Hanning, with assistance from Tamara Ottum, has been working with a contractor to gather information about Oregon libraries’ training and education needs. Feedback was sought from all corners of the library community. The final report includes recommendations on how to focus the monies the division spends on continuing education to the areas of highest need.
Staff are planning several projects related to unallocated 2020 LSTA funds, and the details are included in the board packet.
Government Information and Library Services The strategic plan initiative for the patron database project is moving forward. Staff are working with partners from the State, CCRLS, and vendors from OCLC and SirsiDynix.
Caren Agata, Reference Librarian Natalie Brant and Oregon Document Depository/Acquisitions Coordinator Jey Wann met with staff from Archives on February 26. They shared the reference and acquisitions practices and made plans for continued staff interaction to facilitate accurate referrals, and to increase understanding of the different roles and procedures of the two institutions.
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Jey has been working with the University of Oregon library to participate in the American Prison Newspapers project. The State Library will be contributing two rare titles from the Oregon Women’s Correctional Center and University of Oregon will do the actual digitization. This project increases access to under-represented voices and assists with the goal of digitizing the paper Oregon Documents Collection.
While Natalie Brant is continuing to work with her embedded agencies, she assisted the Oregon Advocacy Commissions, specifically the Commission on Hispanic Affairs, in providing data research, literature reviews, and citation assistance for the report Crisis de Nuestro Bienestar – Latino Mental Health in Oregon over the course of the last year. She is listed as a contributor on page 42.
Outreach Services Librarian Jerry Curry has been working with the legislature to register each of them for state library services and sign them up for eClips.
Operations Division Cam worked with the Volunteer WorkGroup to develop plans for Volunteer Appreciation Month in April. This will include a video created by all staff leads plus the State Librarian, a t- shirt to be mailed to all current and former 2020 volunteers, and a social media campaign.
Quarterly Performance Report – Patterson
Patterson provided an overview of the Quarterly Performance Report for October – December 2020. She shared the following highlights from the report:
• Average daily visits to Answerland, the statewide online reference service available 24 hours a day 7 days a week, remains high and is up 104% in comparison with this point in the previous biennium. • The number of registered Talking Book and Braille Library patrons remained stable this quarter. Talking Books circulation is up 9% in comparison with this point in the previous biennium. • Reference transactions, new registrations, and documents delivered to state employees are all up this quarter. Outreach presentations are up 39% and outreach attendees are up 21% in comparison with this point in the previous biennium. • The number of Oregon documents added to our collection increased again this quarter in comparison with last quarter and is up 9% from this point in the last biennium. • The average daily actions and average daily download statistics for Government Information databases are both lower than last quarter. For downloads, it’s an effect of multiple databases having lower usage, which isn’t unusual at the end of the year. However, the low actions data primarily reflects a change in the way Sanborn Digital Maps is now reporting their data. This is a known issue, and we are waiting for more information from the vendor. • The number of volunteer hours and the total number of volunteers remained relatively stable in comparison with last quarter.
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Questions/Comments: Malkin asked what constitutes an action. Patterson stated that in some databases, it is not a search being performed, but the user is interacting with the site in other ways to access the information, such as with Sanborn Digital Maps. That interaction is what constitutes an action.
Malkin asked if there are good explanations around the drop in database use. Patterson stated this is a trend in general in terms of database use and is monitored closely. She will share the detailed report showing usage and context once available. Nielsen added that a lot of the drop- off was due to the pandemic and lost staff, especially with school and academic libraries.
Budget Report – Patterson
Patterson provided an overview of the Budget Report for July 2019 – January 2021. She shared the following highlights:
• The State Library has spent 72.18% of its overall budget and is under the target percentage of 79.17% nineteen months into this biennium. This is primarily due to vacancies. • Ready to Read grant funds were distributed to the public libraries in December. This has brought the General Fund – Special Payments remaining budget to zero.
Patterson provided an overview of the 2021 – 23 Budget. She shared the following highlights:
• The latest revenue forecast was released March 1st and the outlook is once again more positive than expected. There is one more revenue forecast that will be released before the end of the legislative session that will help legislators in making final budget decisions. • The State Library’s budget hearing (HB5017) was held on February 10, 2021 virtually. The hearing went well, with some good questions from the committee. The State Library Board Chair Ann Malkin and several local library staff submitted written testimony. The next step in the budget process is the work session, which has not been scheduled yet.
LSTA Competitive Grant Recommendations – Nielsen/Fisher
Nielsen provided an overview of the grant recommendations. Nine applications were received this year for a total ask of $527,608. The Library Services and Technology Act (LSTA) Advisory Council recommends funding six of those projects, for a total of $299,922. There were three projects that the Council chose not to recommend. Two of the approved projects fit within what IMLS wants American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA)funds used for, so they will be shifted to ARPA funds due to the nature of what they are. Those two projects are the Hood River County Library Bookmobile Project, and the Lane County Law Library’s project to build a network of information for renters and post pandemic legal needs.
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Nielsen explained why the Libraries of Eastern Oregon project was not recommended. The council really liked the concept of this project. The main reason it was not recommended was related to the lack of local connections in the project. Fisher added that it was not clear if they were involving other local organizations in the project for the community support required, and the facilitator selected for the project is not from Oregon so would not be able to assist with community support efforts. The Council was also unsure if the program would be sustainable after the grant. Nielsen is working with Libraries of Eastern Oregon to find ways to strengthen the project proposal and fund their project. He recommended they work with the Rural Organizing Project to help as a starting point.
Williams made a motion to approve the FY 2021 LSTA Competitive Grant Recommendations. Tucker seconded. The motion passed unanimously.
Open Forum
Malkin began the Open Forum at 10:46 a.m. There were no participants, and the Open Forum was closed at 10:47 a.m.
LSTA Updates: Budget and Advisory Council Appointment – Nielsen
Nielsen provided an overview of the Advisory Council appointment recommendation. He indicated that for the Advisory Council appointment, last time there were no nominations received for the Library Users Representative, so they put out another call and got great responses. The LSTA Advisory Council is recommending Brynn Fullmer as the Library Users Representative.
Tucker made a motion to approve the nominee, Brynn Fullmer, as the Library Users Representative on the Library Services and Technology Act (LSTA) Advisory Council. Williams seconded. The motion passed unanimously.
Nielsen provided an overview of the LSTA FY 2021 budget. He indicated that since we are in the middle of the current five-year LSTA plan, similar spending proportions are anticipated for 2021 as 2020. Nielsen highlighted the following differences between the two years:
• We anticipate spending much less than usual on competitive grants for two reasons: 1) the LSTA Advisory Council is recommending only about $300,000 worth of competitive grants this year. Two of those projects totaling about $100,000 are going to be shifted to another source of funding. • Costs for OSLIS were categorized under “School Library Consulting” and “Statewide Grants” in the 2020 budget. They’re being given their own category, “OSLIS”, for 2021, which reflects how we report use of the funds to IMLS. In addition, OSLIS will be undergoing a significant site upgrade in 2021, so there will be some increased costs over previous years.
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• Since 2021 is the fourth year of our current five-year plan, we’ll begin evaluating the current plan and writing a new plan for 2023-27. Some funds are included in the 2021 budget to hire consultants to assist with those processes.
Questions/Comments: Tucker asked if an evaluator is hired to evaluate the funds. Nielsen indicated that the consultant will be hired through an RFP process. The cost is allowed in the LSTA budget and does not affect the administrative budget.
Williams made a motion to approve the LSTA FY 2021 budget. Tate seconded. The motion passed unanimously.
Strategic Plan Quarterly Report & Dashboard – Patterson
Patterson provided an overview of the Strategic Plan Dashboard and Quarterly Report for October – December 2020. She indicated that the dashboard was created to help provide a summary of the status of initiatives.
Questions/Comments: Wamsley suggested changing the item on the dashboard titled “completed” to “completed or ongoing” since many of the items will remain ongoing.
Tate suggested including a summary narrative with highlights for the board members to focus on in the dashboard, for example indicating why an item is on hold or has not started.
Malkin indicated the importance of continuing to move forward on the communications plan despite the communications position being vacant. Patterson indicated that when it was determined that the position would be held vacant, she had conversations with the communications workgroup and the managers to come up with a plan for reassigning tasks. Many tasks have been reassigned to Cam Amabile, the Volunteer Coordinator, to keep things moving forward as the communications workgroup lead. Cory Horton, the Operations Support Specialist, is also helping move things forward with maintaining the website and distributing press releases. Joel Henderson in Talking Books is also showing great initiative around communications, including helping to facilitate the development of positioning statements with each division. Patterson is hopeful we will be able to fill the communications position when the 2021-23 budget is approved.
Wamsley asked if the dashboard will be posted to the website. Patterson indicated that it can absolutely be posted to the website to share externally and thanked Wamsley for the great suggestion.
Staff presentation: Volunteer program – Westin
16 Westin introduced Cam Amabile, Volunteer Coordinator in the Operations division. Cam presented information on the volunteer program at the State Library.
Questions/Comments: Tucker asked how Cam recruits volunteers. Cam indicated recruitment is currently done online through various websites such as All for Good, which is a sub-site of AARP, and they recruit nationally. Volunteer Match is also a national recruitment website used. When in-person recruitment continues, career fairs and universities are also places Cam would visit.
Select Board Nominations Committee – Malkin
Malkin indicated that a nominating committee is to be formed for the Chair and the Vice Chair of the board which will be voted on at the next scheduled board meeting taking place on June 18, 2021. Tucker, Williams, and Malkin agreed to meet to prepare the slate for review at the next meeting.
The board meeting was adjourned at 11:39 a.m.
Action Items • Board Nominations Committee to meet prior to June 18, 2021 board meeting
17 Reports of the State Librarian and staff
State Library operations The State has established a Reopening State Government Advisory Team headed by the Chief Human Resources Officer. This advisory team is focused on exploring flexible work options including remote, hybrid, and returning to the workplace models, information technology needs, space needs, facility management, fleet and parking, and human resource policies. The work of this team, along with any relevant union contract language, will provide guidance for the State Library in preparing for reopening the State Library building to the public. The state’s target is to open state agency buildings to the public on September 1st.
State Librarian Transition Jennifer Patterson’s last day as State Librarian was May 28th. Patterson had been splitting her time between Salem and her home in Seattle and the pandemic impacted her family’s original plans to move to Oregon. Patterson has rejoined her husband in Seattle and is working for a non-profit that serves youth experiencing homelessness.
Nancy Hoover is serving as the Acting State Librarian while a search is on for a permanent replacement. Hoover was the University Librarian at Marylhurst University from 2003 to 2018 and the Acting Dean of Libraries at Concordia University-Portland from 2019-2020. In addition to academic libraries, Hoover has worked in several law libraries including the US Court of Appeals and Stoel, Rives LLP, both of which are located in Portland.
Hoover has a BA from Antioch College in Yellow Springs, OH and an MLS from the School of Information at Pratt Institute in Brooklyn, NY. Hoover has taught library science courses for Emporia State University cohorts around the west including Portland and for the Portland State University School of Education, Library Media Specialization.
The Governor’s office will be leading a recruitment for a permanent State Librarian. The State Library Board will be a key partner in this recruitment process. Ann Malkin and Lori Wamsley have been in communication with Berri Leslie, who will be coordinating the recruitment from the Governor’s office, and Leslie will share an update at the June 18th State Library Board meeting.
State Library Board Member Transitions Ann Malkin’s board term ends as of June 30th. Malkin began her service on the State Library Board in December, 2014 and she served as Board Chair from October, 2017 through June, 2021. Malkin served a critical role during the State Librarian recruitment in 2018 – 2019, working closely with the Governor’s Office to develop a recruitment plan that engaged State Library staff and stakeholders. Malkin submitted testimony to the legislature in support of the
18 State Library’s budget and has been a strong advocate for the State Library. Malkin’s contributions and leadership have been invaluable to the State Library and we thank her for her service!
Kristin Williams, Athena Public Library Director, has been appointed to the State Library Board as the public library representative from eastern Oregon. In addition to her leadership at Athena Public Library, Williams serves on the Libraries of Eastern Oregon Board, the Athena Weston School Board, and the Umatilla County Cultural Coalition Board. She is active in the Oregon Library Association serving as a member of the Library Development and Legislation Committee and as editor of the Hotline Newsletter. Her term begins July 1st and ends June 30, 2025.
Jonathan Scrimenti is the new State Library Board member representing the Commission for the Blind. Scrimenti started in his role as Director of the Orientation and Career Center for the Blind on May 18th. Scrimenti replaces Jason Clary on the State Library Board.
HB 3256 -2 Status HB 3256-2, introduced by Representative Marsh to create the Connecting Oregon Libraries Fund for the purposes of providing broadband access to eligible library facilities, has been approved by the House Committee on Economic Recovery and Prosperity and referred to the Joint Ways and Means Committee. This would establish a state matching fund program for federal e-rate dollars. This bill would only establish the fund structure, any money allocated to it would be separate from this bill. If passed, the State Library would administer the program and develop administrative rules to implement it.
Oregon Library Association Conference The Oregon Library Association Conference took place April 20th through 23rd. The conference theme was Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion and the State Library registered as an institution so that all staff could attend. Several State Library staff presented at the conference as well and it was wonderful to see State Library staff actively engaged with the larger library community and sharing ideas and resources. State Library Staff participated in the following presentations:
• What's in a name? Quite a bit! Vocabularies matter!: presented by Heather Pitts, Emily O’Neal, and Mariko Kershaw • Supporting Workforce Recovery in Your Community with Learning Express Library and Job & Career Accelerator: presented by Arlene Weible and EBSCO representatives • Using the Census Bureau's Statistics in School Programs to Promote Awareness of Equity, Diversity and Inclusion Among Kids: presented by Arlene Weible and a Census Bureau representative • Youth Ages and Stages: presented by Greta Bergquist and Danielle Jones
19 • Lending the Internet Bridging the Digital Divide with WiFi Hotspots: presented by Robert Kohl, Ellie Avis, Eric Molinsky, and Robert Shonbrun • Listening Session: State Library Equity Framework: presented by Amy Coughenour, Cam Amabile, and Jennifer Patterson.
Broadband hearing As requested by the Governor’s office, Jennifer Patterson provided testimony at a broadband hearing at the Joint Committee on Ways and Means Transportation and Economic Development Subcommittee on April 21st. The hearing included a panel discussing the Governor’s recommended broadband initiative. Patterson’s testimony focused on broadband and libraries and starts at around 52 minutes into the recorded session. Also of interest is the testimony by Daniel Holbrook from the Oregon Broadband Office which starts around 16 minutes into the session. He discusses how the funding that would go through the Broadband Office may be allocated, and notes that 10% of the 100 million could be targeted for libraries.
Talking Book and Braille Library
• Braille e-reader Pilot: The Utah State Library is participating in the NLS Braille e-reader pilot and, because we contract with Utah for our print-Braille, they have extended that pilot to our Braille patrons here in Oregon. Beginning this summer, Oregon patrons who are currently receiving their Braille materials from Utah will be offered a Braille e-reader to begin borrowing and reading Braille electronically; expanding their reading potential to tens of thousands more titles, literally, “at their fingertips.” Because of our partnership with Utah State Library this opportunity is being made available to our readers at least a year ahead of schedule.
• Summer Reading: Summer Reading begins on June 14th and runs through August 20th. We are happy to be able to reach out to our school and ESD partners this year to boost awareness of our yearly program. This year, in addition to a grand prize of an iPad mini, we are excited to offer a second prize of either a pair of Apple Airpods or a Fire HD tablet! Just one more great incentive to keep those kiddos reading this summer and ready for the new school year in September.
• Spring Appeal: The Spring Appeal for donations began in late April and will be wrapping up in the next few weeks. This year, instead of sending letters out to our full list of donors, we decided to try a more targeted appeal approach. Our Fund Development Coordinator, Cam Amabile, created an appeal that linked our average donation amount ($70) and our average number of books read per patron (69 per year) and invited a smaller group of dedicated donors to help us be “better than average!” So far the results and responses are very favorable. Much of the feedback received has centered around how great it was to receive such a personal letter and many donors have accepted the challenge by sending in donations that are above the suggested average.
20 When the appeal is complete, we will have final numbers to report and some great feedback to help us improve our next appeal process.
Library Support and Development Services
• Our newest program in Library Support and Development, Northwest Digital Heritage (NWDH), is a joint effort between the State Library of Oregon, the Oregon Heritage Commission, and the Washington State Library (Office of the Washington Secretary of State). As part of NWDH, we’re pleased to serve a new service hub of the Digital Public Library of America (DPLA), a national discovery platform which aggregates over 40 million historical and cultural items from digital collections throughout the United States. Our hub currently aggregates more than 85,000 digitized items from over 70 contributing institutions across Oregon and Washington, with plans to grow and expand in the coming months and years. Contributing institutions include the Oregon Historical Society, Multnomah County Library, Densho, Seattle Public Library, Spokane Public Library, and the State Library of Oregon as well as many others. Oregon and Washington collections can be viewed together here. We also look forward to working closely with the Oregon Heritage Commission to provide training, tools, guidance, and technology infrastructure to Oregon communities who have cultural heritage collections to share. This partnership is the result of ongoing conversations which began during a 2015 Northwest Digital Collections Summit hosted by the State Library of Oregon and deepened by a 2018 Oregon Digital Collections Survey conducted by the Oregon Heritage Commission. The new program also takes advantage of the Washington Rural Heritage digitization program of the Washington State Library, a highly successful effort that has helped reveal and provide virtual access to a multitude of collections from diverse communities throughout Washington. • Library Support recently conducted two mini-grant programs: o School Library Consultant Jen Maurer and Federal Programs & Grants Consultant Tamara Ottum worked together to award $83,400 in grants, ranging from $500 to $10,000, to school districts to bolster their collections in the area of equity, diversity, and inclusion. Recipients included 26 public, charter, and private schools in a mix of urban and rural communities around the state. o Youth Services Consultant Greta Bergquist, along with Tamara, also gave out $58,650 in grants to public libraries to improve services for teens. The grants, which ranged from $500 to $3,000, will help purchase items such as 3-D printers, board games, and video gaming systems and facilitate programs such as author visits and take-and-make kits. Recipients included libraries large and small from both sides of the mountains.
• Electronic Services Consultant Arlene Weible has been working on two exciting workforce development projects. First, thanks to a partnership with Libraries of Eastern Oregon (LEO), several Eastern Oregon public libraries will be getting a year of access to
21 Brainfuse, a live job and homework help resource. Second, three community colleges and one public library are participating in a pilot project to use Northstar Digital Literacy, an assessment tool to help determine a student or patron’s digital skill needs.
• Continuing Education Coordinator Darci Hanning worked with contractor Infopeople in their work doing a Continuing Needs Assessment of Oregon libraries. The assessment included interviews, focus groups, and over 400 responses to a survey distributed to library staff around the state. The final report included several recommendations that will help Library Support staff determine priorities for the next few years in training Oregon library staff.
• The Spanish language service on Answerland, Oregon’s 24/7 chat reference service, is now a year old. Virtual Reference Coordinator Jennifer Cox is planning a review of the service now that the new service has some time under its belt.
• The May 2021 election was a successful one for Oregon libraries. Thanks to Library Consulting Assistant Ferol Weyand for gathering this information. o Baker County renewed a five-year local option levy that will bring in about $425,000 a year to support the library district. o Multnomah County passed a $0.05 per $1,000 five-year levy that will support the Oregon Historical Society and its research library. o Stayton passed a new five-year levy to support library services that will support the Stayton Public Library with about $270,000 annually.
Government Information and Library Services
• The strategic plan initiative for the patron database project is moving forward. We are working with our partners from the State, CCRLS and vendors from OCLC and Sirsidynix. We have begun planning with OCLC for hosting of EZProxy and Illiad. Delays during the procurement process at Chemeketa College led to a gap in time until Sirsidynix assigned a programmer to complete the registration/activation form. Work commenced in April and we are working through the final details to get the system up and running, so we may complete the transitions to OCLC hosted EZ Proxy and ILLiad.
• A second meeting with Archives staff took place on April 16th. Staff from both agencies agreed that continued meet ups would be beneficial and will continue.
• Jey has been working with the University of Oregon library to participate in the American Prison Newspapers project. The prison newspapers project is going to be delayed for approximately 6 months due to personnel changes.
• The division met with Joel Henderson, Talking Books Volunteer and Recording Studio Coordinator and member of the Communications WorkGroup, to learn about and begin
22 developing a division positioning statement as part of the communications plan strategic initiative.
• Inclusive Recovery: Employment for Youth with Disabilities presentation: The CAPE Youth team presented key considerations for policymakers in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic and key points from their recently published policy brief. The team showcased projects from Texas, Oregon, and Hawaii, offering ideas to policymakers highlighting the great work already being done across the U.S. in response to the pandemic and subsequent economic challenges. Amy Coughenour, Electronic Resources Librarian, presented as part of a team from Oregon about the Vocational Rehabilitation Library Toolkit, along with Jennifer Munson from the Oregon Department of Human Services – Vocational Rehabilitation, to 95 attendees. o Comments from the VR Library Toolkit presentation included: • “What a fantastic collection of resources!” • “This is a broad and relevant resource - great job!!” • “I *heart* libraries - librarians are heroes! What amazing collaboration with OVR and the State Library. Thank you!” • “LOVE THIS!!! Ditto the I "heart" libraries and librarians comment!!!” • “Great idea for collaboration -- state librarians and VRCs!! Please share presentation.” A recording of the presentation will be posted to https://capeyouth.org/ in the coming weeks.
• Amy Coughenour has also been working with Business Oregon to implement a pilot project to support group learning via books. The State Library purchased multiple copies of How to Be an Antiracist by Ibram X. Kendi to support Business Oregon with this endeavor. The books will be available to all state employees. Amy provided O’Reilly training and set up all Business Oregon staff with library accounts and O’Reilly accounts.
Operations Division • Volunteer Appreciation Week was held April 18 -24, 2021. The State Library recognized our outstanding volunteers by providing a specially designed T-shirt, notes of appreciation, thank you videos created by the Volunteer Workgroup plus the State Librarian, and a social media campaign. This first video was placed on social media which is just a quick thank you from Jennifer, State Librarian, and Cam, Volunteer Coordinator. The second video is longer and emailed directly to all the volunteers and includes comments from the staff who work with the volunteers thanking them specifically. • The State Library’s internal website, SharePoint, is currently running a 2010 version, which is no longer being supported. Due to complexity of updating and migrating SharePoint, the State Library has hired a consultant who specializes in SharePoint to
23 update and migrate the service. This will put us in good position when the state moves to M365 SharePoint. • The State Library has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the Department of Forestry to have Cam Amabile work the Food Unit program for fires that happen this summer or fall. Cam has been providing this service for the Forestry Department for a number of years and is one of a handful of people that have the skills and training to do so. • The State Library has earned the Chief Financial Office’s Accounts Receivable (A/R) Honor Roll Certificate for fiscal year 2020 (see certificate in the kudos section). This is awarded to state agencies that submit timely and accurate A/R reports. Achievement of this recognition is due primarily to an agency’s diligent efforts to track and report A/R activities. Susan Westin is responsible for completing and submitting these reports and Cory Horton provides administrative support in this process.
24 Agenda Item - Quarterly Performance Report
Background and Summary The Quarterly Performance Report for the seventh quarter (January 2021 - March 2021) of the 2019-21 biennium is attached. Highlights from the report include:
• Use of OSLIS and LSTA funded databases increased over last quarter, however, usage remains lower than at this point in the previous biennium. • Average daily visits to Answerland remains high and is up 109% in comparison with this point in the previous biennium. • The number of registered Talking Book and Braille Library patrons remained stable this quarter. Talking Books circulation is up 13% in comparison with this point in the previous biennium. • Reference transactions and new registrations are up this quarter. Outreach presentations are up 33% and outreach attendees are up 43% in comparison with this point in the previous biennium. • The number of Oregon documents added to our collection increased again this quarter in comparison with last quarter and is up 20% from this point in the last biennium. • Use of Government Services electronic resources continues to be strong with searches up 2% and daily actions up 46% from the previous biennium. However, the average daily actions data is lower than it should be this quarter primarily because of a recent change in the way Sanborn Digital Maps is now reporting their data. This issue is still unresolved, and we don’t have a timeline for when ProQuest will resolve it. • The number of volunteer hours increased from last quarter.
25 STATE LIBRARY QUARTERLY PERFORMANCE REPORT
Quarter: January - March, 2021
Total This Total Last Variance to Total 19-21 Total 17-19 Variance % Variance Library Support and Development Services Quarter Quarter Last Quarter to Date to Date to Date to Date Average daily visits to OSLIS 1,862 1,568 294 1,566 2,182 -616 -28.3% Total retrievals of LSTA funded databases 535,327 421,422 113,905 2,730,250 3,554,981 -824,731 -23.2% Average daily visits to Answerland 99 122 -23 88 42 46 108.8%
Talking Book and Braille Library Registered individuals* 4,993 4,981 12 4,993 5,170 -177 -3.4% Items circulated 132,144 133,696 -1,552 754,228 665,054 89,174 13.4% Percentage of circulated items that are digital cartridges 78% 76% 2% 78% 75% 3% 4.0% Percentage of circulated items downloaded from BARD 21% 23% -2% 21% 24% -3% -12.5% *Figure represents total on the last day of the quarter.
Government Information and Library Services Reference transactions for state government employees 475 460 15 2,805 4,222 -1,417 -33.6% Document Delivery 1,323 1,718 -395 10,292 11,073 -781 -7.1% New registrations 246 139 107 1,571 1,217 354 29.1% Percentage of state employees registered for Government Information Services* 23.9% 23.4% 0.5% 23.9% 23.6% 0.3% 1.3% Outreach and training presentations 25 14 11 185 139 46 33.1% Outreach and training presentation attendees ** 237 98 139 2,609 1,822 787 43.2% Oregon documents added 5,149 4,509 640 25,492 21,300 4,192 19.7% Average daily searches of electronic resources 491 523 -32 568 557 11 2.0% Average daily actions of electronc resources 141 162 -21 442 302 140 46.4% Average daily downloads of electronic resources 82 96 -14 148 181 -33 -18.2% Eclips (total number of articles viewed) 79,903 109,446 -29,543 796,359 942,557 -146,198 -15.5% *Figure represents total on the last day of the quarter. ** Total 17-19 to Date - includes both direct delivery of documents (from Reference Librarians), as well ILL/ILLIAD documents beginning in January 2018
Operations Number of volunteer hours 509 401 108 2241 4507 -2266 -50.3% Number of volunteers* 28 31 -3 28 49 -21 -42.9% Number of intern hours ** 0 0 0 0 334 -334 -100.0% *Figure represents total on the last day of the quarter.
Bolded items are key performance measures 5/21/2021 26 Agenda Item – Budget Report
Background and Summary Attached is the budget report for July 2019 through March 2021.
2019-21 Budget Report Highlights from the report include:
• The State Library has spent 78.14% of its overall budget and is under the target percentage of 87.50% twenty-one months into this biennium.
• In these final months of the 2019-2021 biennium, the budget is underspent due to numerous vacancies in the agency.
2021-23 Budget Update
May Revenue Forecast
The May revenue forecast was released on May 19th. Good news in this forecast, Oregon is expected to bring in an additional $1.2 billion in tax revenue this biennium, with the next two biennia also looking far stronger than economists predicated at the start of the pandemic. Oregonians are estimated to receive a $1.4 billion personal “kicker” credit on their 2021 taxes. Actual revenues are expected to exceed start-of-biennium forecasts by nearly 10%; the kicker is triggered when the forecast is surpassed by 2%.
Budget Hearing The Ways and Means Subcommittee on General Government held a work session on the State Library Budget bill on May 10th. The Legislative Fiscal Office’s budget and KPM recommendations were passed unanimously. A work session was held at the full Joint Ways and Means Committee on May 14th and the amended bill with the LFO’s recommended budget passed unanimously and without discussion. The overall budget received a 2.6% increase over the 2019-21 legislatively approved budget, which is at the modified current service level. A third reading on the House Floor took place May 24th.
Key Performance Measures The Legislative Fiscal Office’s recommended key performance measures included some changes from what we submitted. A summary of the approved 2021-23 key performance measures is below.
27 Measure 2021-2023 Key Performance Measures Action Number 1 Patron Service Transactions: Number of Replaces: Research Transactions - Number of reference queries, document delivery and research assistance transactions for state interlibrary loan requests, and employees. outreach/instruction sessions to state agency employees. 2 State Agency Employee Use of Electronic Replaces: Use of Government Services Resources: Total yearly use of Government Electronic Resources - Average [daily] use of Information and Library Services electronic Government Information and Library Services resources: Total yearly searches, Total yearly electronic resources. actions, and Total yearly downloads. 3 Talking Book and Braille Library Average Use by Replaces: Talking Book and Braille Services User: Total number of circulations per year Users - Number of individuals registered to divided by the number of registered users at the receive Talking Book and Braille Services. end of the fiscal year. 4 Cost per circulation – Cost per circulation of Keep: We had requested that this be deleted, Talking Books and Braille books. but the legislature indicated an interest in keeping this KPM. 5 Use of the Oregon School Library Information Keep: We had requested that this be deleted, System – Average daily visits to the Library- but the legislature indicated an interest in funded Oregon School Library Information keeping this KPM. System. 6 Public Libraries meeting applicable OLA Delete standards – Percentage of Oregon public libraries meeting essential and enhanced level of applicate Oregon Library Association Standards for a Public Library. 7 Customer Satisfaction – Percent of customers Keep: The target has been revised from 98% rating their satisfaction with the agency’s to 90% as requested. customer service as “good” or “excellent”. 8 Value of Talking Book and Braille Library – New – Approved: The requested target of 80% Percent of Talking Book Users that strongly agree was changed to 90%. or agree that the Talking Book and Braille Library has added value to their life. 9 Ready to Read Participation - Total number of New – Approved: This was revised from total youth 0 – 14 years of age participating in a Ready participation to participation divided by grant to Read grant funded activity per year divided by funding. Ready to Read grant funding per year. 10 Value of Library Support Programs and Services New – Approved: The requested target of 70% - Percent of Oregon library staff that strongly was changed to 90%. agree or agree that the services and programs of- fered by Library Support help them provide bet- ter library service to their community.
28 STATE LIBRARY 2019-21 BIENNIUM BUDGET REPORT Report Period Month End March 2021 Target Percentage 87.50% Budget - Expenditures Average Spend Average includes Sal Biennium to per month to Remaining to Fund Type Budget Object Title Pot Date Remaining Budget %Spent BTD Date Spend PERSONAL SERVICES$ 1,982,410 $ 1,573,606 $ 408,804 79.38%$ 74,934 $ 136,268 General SERVICES & SUPPIES$ 577,401 $ 485,231 $ 92,170 84.04%$ 23,106 $ 30,723 Fund SPECIAL PAYMENTS$ 1,521,392 $ 1,521,392 $ - 100.00%$ 72,447 $ - (80000) TOTAL$ 4,081,203 $ 3,580,229 $ 500,974 87.72%$ 170,487 $ 166,991
PERSONAL SERVICES$ 126,569 $ 105,161 $ 21,408 83.09%$ 5,008 $ 7,136 Other Funds SERVICES & SUPPIES$ 356,456 $ 84,628 $ 271,828 23.74%$ 4,030 $ 90,609 (30000) TOTAL$ 483,025 $ 189,789 $ 293,236 39.29%$ 9,038 $ 97,745
Assessment PERSONAL SERVICES$ 4,506,553 $ 3,330,597 $ 1,175,956 73.91%$ 158,600 $ 391,985 Funds SERVICES & SUPPIES$ 2,215,936 $ 1,614,644 $ 601,292 72.87%$ 76,888 $ 200,431 (31000) TOTAL$ 6,722,489 $ 4,945,241 $ 1,777,248 73.56%$ 235,488 $ 592,416
PERSONAL SERVICES$ 1,235,711 $ 1,138,282 $ 97,429 92.12%$ 54,204 $ 32,476 Federal SERVICES & SUPPIES$ 1,640,653 $ 1,543,165 $ 97,488 94.06%$ 73,484 $ 32,496 Funds SPECIAL PAYMENTS$ 2,409,495 $ 1,552,432 $ 857,063 64.43%$ 73,925 $ 285,688 (60000) TOTAL$ 5,285,859 $ 4,233,879 $ 1,051,980 80.10%$ 201,613 $ 350,660
PERSONAL SERVICES$ 7,851,243 $ 6,147,646 $ 1,703,597 78.30%$ 292,745 $ 567,866 SERVICES & SUPPIES$ 4,790,446 $ 3,727,667 $ 1,062,778 77.81%$ 177,508 $ 354,259 All Funds SPECIAL PAYMENTS$ 3,930,887 $ 3,073,824 $ 857,063 78.20% $ 146,373 $ 285,688 TOTAL $ 16,572,576 $ 12,949,137 $ 3,623,438 78.14% $ 616,626 $ 1,207,813
29 STATE LIBRARY 2019-21 BIENNIUM BUDGET REPORT Report Period Month End March 2021 Target Percentage 87.50%
Budget - Expenditures Average Average includes Sal Biennium to Remaining Spent per Remaining to Division Name Budget Object Title Pot Date Budget % Spent BTD Month to Date Spend Operations (PRG PERSONAL SERVICES$ 1,619,186 $ 1,062,269 $ 556,917 65.61%$ 50,584 $ 185,639 1 excluding 1200) SERVICES AND SUPPLIES$ 572,240 $ 310,199 $ 262,041 54.21%$ 14,771 $ 87,347 CAPITAL OUTLAY$ 2,674 $ - $ 2,674 0.00%$ - $ 134 Total$ 2,194,100 $ 1,372,468 $ 821,632 62.55%$ 65,356 $ 273,120
Library PERSONAL SERVICES$ 1,763,698 $ 1,587,918 $ 175,780 90.03%$ 75,615 $ 58,593 Development SERVICES AND SUPPLIES$ 1,960,832 $ 1,704,589 $ 256,243 86.93%$ 81,171 $ 85,414 (PRG 2) SPECIAL PAYMENTS$ 3,930,887 $ 3,073,824 $ 857,063 78.20%$ 146,373 $ 285,688 Total$ 7,655,417 $ 6,366,331 $ 1,289,086 83.16%$ 303,159 $ 429,695
Talking Book and PERSONAL SERVICES$ 1,324,357 $ 1,053,803 $ 270,554 79.57%$ 50,181 $ 90,185 Braille Services SERVICES AND SUPPLIES$ 598,634 $ 398,124 $ 200,510 66.51%$ 18,958 $ 66,837 (PRG 3) CAPITAL OUTLAY$ 9,737 $ - $ 9,737 0.00%$ - $ 3,246 Total$ 1,932,728 $ 1,451,927 $ 480,801 75.12%$ 69,139 $ 160,267
Government PERSONAL SERVICES$ 3,144,002 $ 2,443,559 $ 700,443 77.72%$ 116,360 $ 233,481 Research SERVICES AND SUPPLIES$ 1,634,553 $ 1,306,455 $ 328,098 79.93%$ 62,212 $ 109,366 Services (PRG 4) CAPITAL OUTLAY $ 11,776 $ - $ 11,776 0.00% $ - $ 3,925 Total $ 4,790,331 $ 3,750,014 $ 1,040,317 78.28%$ 178,572 $ 346,772
Total $ 16,572,576 $ 12,940,740 $ 3,631,836 78.09%$ 616,226 $ 1,209,854
30 STATE LIBRARY 2019-21 BIENNIUM BUDGET REPORT Report Period Month End March 2021 Target Percentage 87.50%
Expenditures Average Average Program Biennium to Remaining Spent per Remaining to Code Program Code Title Budget Object Title Budget Date Budget % Spent BTD Month to Date spend 1200 OSL BOARD PERSONAL SERVICES 1,900$ $ 97 $ 1,803 5.11% $ 5 $ 601 SERVICES AND SUPPLIES 23,210$ $ 8,301 $ 14,908 35.77%$ 395 $ 4,969 Total 25,110$ $ 8,399 $ 16,711 33.45%$ 400 $ 5,570
31 STATE LIBRARY 2019-21 BIENNIUM BUDGET REPORT
Report Date 3/31/2020 3/31/2021
Accounts Account Title Cash Balance Cash Balance 12 Month Change TALKING BOOKS ENDOWMENT FUND CASH ON DEPOSIT WITH INTEREST TREASURER 0300 $ 48,963.77 $ 47,496.81 $ (1,466.96) CASH ON DEPOSIT WITH TALKING BOOKS ENDOWMENT FUND TREASURER 0301 $ 1,298,784.14 $ 1,324,457.14 $ 25,673.00 OREGON INTERMEDIATE TERM POOL TREASURY INVESTMENT (OITP) FUND $ 1,554,999.15 $ 1,617,032.01 $ 62,032.86 CASH ON DEPOSIT WITH LONG FUND - NON EXPENDABLE TREASURER 0302 $ 1,000.00 $ 1,000.00 $ - CASH ON DEPOSIT WITH MOSES FUND - NON EXPENDABLE TREASURER 0303 $ 6,000.00 $ 6,000.00 $ - CASH ON DEPOSIT WITH LONG FUND - EXPENDABLE TREASURER 0306 $ 78.68 $ 91.07 $ 12.39 CASH ON DEPOSIT WITH MOSES FUND - EXPENDABLE TREASURER 0307 $ 8,204.45 $ 8,354.84 $ 150.39 CASH ON DEPOSIT WITH TALKING BOOKS DONATION FUND TREASURER 0308 $ 382,240.74 $ 417,549.19 $ 35,308.45 CASH ON DEPOSIT WITH DATABASE LICENSING RESERVE TREASURER 0321 $ 43,720.90 $ 44,226.39 $ 505.49 TOTAL $ 3,343,991.83 $ 3,466,207.45 $ 122,215.62
32 Agenda Item - Strategic Plan Quarterly Report and Dashboard
Background and Summary The strategic plan quarterly report and dashboard for the January through March 2021 quarter are attached. Things of note from the dashboard include:
• The majority of initiatives are underway with 66% in planning, data gathering, or implementation stages. • Three of the initiatives are on hold:
o Initiative 9A: Better understand and meet the needs of registered Braille readers by determining what factors affect their reading habits. This initiative is on hold until Braille e-readers are available to our patrons. This will be taking place sooner than expected. The Utah State Library is participating in the NLS Braille e-reader pilot and, because we contract with Utah for our print-Braille, they have extended that pilot to our Braille patrons here in Oregon beginning this summer. Work on this initiative will begin once the pilot is fully implemented.
o Initiative 9C: Broaden outreach efforts and engagement strategies for school-aged users (youth 0-21 years old) to increase readership and circulation. This initiative is on hold due to the pandemic impacts on school operations and the lack of opportunities to conduct outreach at this time. This initiative will become active during the next school year.
o Initiative 16: Promote State Library services among all user groups through the delivery of outreach programs and events. This initiative is focused on offering events at the State Library building and participating in targeted outreach efforts. This is on hold due to the State Library building closure and pandemic impacts on outreach efforts. This initiative will be revisited once COVID-19 restrictions allow, and the agency determines whether this initiative continues to be a priority.
• Two of the initiatives are completed or ongoing:
o Initiative 8: Expand title selection and reduce wait times for Talking Book & Braille Library users by implementing the Duplication On-Demand service model. Duplication on demand is fully implemented and has been part of daily Talking Book and Braille Library operations for several months.
33 o Initiative 24: Align individual staff development plans with the State Library’s strategic priorities. Managers work with staff on an ongoing basis and during the yearly performance review process to determine staff development goals and ensure that these goals align with strategic priorities.
34 Strategic Plan Dashboard: Initiative Status Summary Quarter Ending March 31, 2021 Category Not yet started 18.8% 6 Planning 12.5% 4 Data Gathering 28.1% 9 Implementation 25.0% 8 On hold 9.4% 3 Ongoing/ Completed 6.3% 2 100% 32
Strategic Planning Snapshot
6% 9% 19%
Not yet started Planning Data Gathering 13% Implementation 25% On hold Ongoing/ Completed
28%
35 Strategic Plan Dashboard: Initiative Status Detail
Not Planning Data Implementation On hold Ongoing/ Goals Initiatives Started Gathering Completed I. Oregonians pursue learning 1. Align Ready to Read Program goals to other state early literacy initiatives, such as Raise Up that contributes to their Oregon and Early Learning System. x personal well-being and the 2. Develop strategies and initiatives to assist libraries as they enhance and grow workforce well-being of their community. development programming and activities. x 3. Contribute to the collection of audio books available to Talking Book and Braille Library users throughout Oregon and across the country by recording Oregon-interest books and uploading them to BARD (Braille and Audio Reading Download). x II. Oregonians are connected 4. Improve the environment and security of State Library permanent collections by evaluating to state government and current use of space and creating a plan for changes. x Oregon’s heritage through 5. Provide tools and support to libraries and heritage organizations to ensure long-term digital initiatives and access and preservation of local digital collections throughout Oregon. x III. Stakeholders’ interests and 6. Enhance the user experience for state employees and the Legislature by upgrading the needs are reflected in relevant State Library’s account management and related systems. x and effective programs and 7. Improve the State Library’s continuing education program for library staff across Oregon services. through programming that is relevant and responsive to user needs. x 8. Expand title selection and reduce wait times for Talking Book & Braille Library users by implementing the Duplication On-Demand service model. x 9. Implement Talking Book & Braille Library user engagement strategies: 9A Better understand and meet the needs of registered Braille readers by determining what factors affect their reading habits. x 9B Proactively contact and support Talking Book & Braille Library users to increase retention. x 9C Broaden outreach efforts and engagement strategies for school-aged users (youth 0-21 years old) to increase readership and circulation. x 9D Implement an expansion of service to organization accounts by allowing them to receive custom cartridges. x 9E Identify inactive download-only users who may be better served by books through the mail and transition them to customized cartridges. x IV. State employees and the 10. Expand opportunities for state employees’ professional development by partnering with public receive seamless state agencies to provide interagency training and awareness activities. information and research x services through partnerships 11. Provide seamless service and referrals to users by developing strategies within the State and collaborations with state Library and with partner organizations. x V. Oregon communities 12. Strengthen the state’s early learning infrastructure by building connections among receive more robust services Oregon libraries, early learning hubs, and other local organizations. x when libraries collaborate 13. Develop and grow a Northwest heritage network that provides a robust system for access with agencies and and long-term management of local digital collections in partnership with the Washington organizations around mutual State Library and Oregon Heritage Commission. x interests. 14. Work with state and regional workforce development agencies and organizations to identify collaborative opportunities with local libraries. x VI. Stakeholders understand 15. Demonstrate the value of the State Library through the development and implementation and appreciate the impact of of a communications plan that includes outreach, awareness campaigns, and consistent State Library programs and messaging. x
36 Not Planning Data Implementation On hold Ongoing/ Goals Initiatives Started Gathering Completed services on individuals and 16. Promote State Library services among all user groups through the delivery of outreach communities. programs and events. x VII. Oregonians understand 17. Create tools that assist Oregon library staff in making data-driven decisions by collecting, and appreciate the value and synthesizing, and analyzing relevant data sets. x impact libraries throughout 18. Empower libraries across Oregon to demonstrate their current and future value through Oregon have on individuals the use of data and stories. x and communities. 19. Align data dissemination and access efforts with state open data initiatives x VIII. Staff are empowered to 20. Migrate the Government Services patron database from its legacy platform to a deliver quality services and sustainable integrated system. x programs through updated 21. Implement new technology to monitor state agency web publishing and collect digital technology tools and Oregon state government publications. x professional development 22A. Migrate the Oregon Library Directory from legacy platform to stable environment that opportunities. reflects current web standards x 22B. Migrate Libraries of Oregon from legacy platform to stable environment that reflects current web standards. x 23. Build staff skills and implement consistent agency practices in needs assessment, project management, and outcome-based evaluation. x 24. Align individual staff development plans with the State Library’s strategic priorities. x IX. Staff integrate anti-racism, 25. Provide ongoing learning opportunities for State Library staff to deepen understanding equity, diversity, and inclusion and practice of anti-racism, equity, diversity, and inclusion principles and strategies. principles into daily work, x decision-making, and 26. Develop and implement an equity framework to assess and improve our policies, programs and services. programs, and services, remove barriers, and address potential bias. x 27. Assess needs and plan for increased State Library engagement with Oregon’s federally recognized tribes. x
37 Strategic Plan Quarterly Report April 2021
Initiative Updates
Assist libraries to grow and enhance workforce development programming and activities . Conducted three training sessions for library staff on LearningExpress Library and Job & Career Accelerator. . CARES Act grants to libraries related to workforce development identified and contacts made with libraries about computer equipment purchases. . Initiating pilot project for Brainfuse, online tutoring, products for Libraries of Eastern Oregon. . Initiating pilot project for Northstar Digital Literacy for community college and public libraries with digital literacy programs.
Improve the State Library’s continuing education program . InfoPeople completed the continuing education (CE) needs assessment and the final report was submitted to the State Library. . The CE Coordinator is in the process of completing a gap analysis from the needs assessment. A training and development plan will be completed from the gap analysis by June 30, 2021.
Implement Talking Book and Braille Library user engagement strategies Contact and support Talking Book Users . Restructured the approach to contacting and supporting Talking Book users who haven’t had activity on their account in a year. . The staff are focusing on patrons who have not returned materials since mid-2020 and developing a monthly process to continue contacting patrons. Identify inactive download only users and work to reactivate . In reviewing the BARD only users data, approximately 27% of the BARD only users have either never created an account or have not downloaded a book in over 12 months. . During the next quarter, staff will be contacting BARD only users who indicated an interest in BARD but haven’t set up an account and those who have an account, but haven’t downloaded a book. Expansion of service to organization accounts . Reviewed all the current organizational accounts in the KLAS integrated library system. . Started contacting activity directors within nursing homes, rehabilitation facilities, and assisted living centers to offer the digital on demand services.
38 Strategic Plan Quarterly Report April 2021
Record Oregon-interest books for Talking Book and Braille Library collection . New hardware and software were purchased, and the studio manager has taken online training classes to improve the quality of the recordings. . Volunteers are still not allowed in the building; however, management has approved the remote recording of books by volunteers. . The recording volunteer, Jennifer Imai, has professional recording equipment at home and is recording Peace at Heart: an Oregon County Life by Barbara Drake.
Initiative Updates
Collaborate with workforce development agencies and organizations . Contacted staff at Eastern Oregon Workforce Board to set up WorkSource workstations in libraries in Ontario, Nyssa, Vale, and Harney County. The State Library will be providing funding for equipment purchases. . Responded to a request from the Center for Advancing Policy on Employment for Youth (CAPE-Youth) to join panel discussing employment of youth and young adults with disabilities in a recovering economy which will be held in mid-May. CAPE-Youth discovered the State Library’s Vocational Rehabilitation Library Toolkit created by Amy Coughenour and requested Arlene Weible, Amy, and a vocational rehabilitation counselor to discuss its background, successes/challenges, and future path along with a demo.
Develop a northwest heritage network . Over 60,000 records from participating institutions in Washington and Oregon have been successfully harvested and checked by Digital Public Library of America (DPLA) staff for completeness. . Content policy and participation agreements have been solidified with the participating institutions, which will be used going forward with new participating organizations. . Planning to publicly launch the Northwest Digital Heritage hub in late May.
39 Strategic Plan Quarterly Report April 2021
Initiative Updates
Align data efforts with state open data initiatives . Ross Fuqua has been chosen to be the State Library’s point person for state open data efforts and his position description has been updated to reflect this new role. . Began reviewing training documentation and attending informational sessions to ensure that data is properly loaded into the state system.
Demonstrate the value of the State Library through the development and implementation of a communication plan. . The Communication Workgroup reviewed the previous communications plan and determined what elements will be included in the new plan. . The WorkGroup developed an exercise to lead division staff in creating positioning statements and presented information about positioning statements at an all-staff meeting. Meetings with each division are being scheduled for April and May to facilitate the development of division positioning statements. . The Communication WorkGroup has also been working on rebranding the Letters to Libraries Online (LTLO) newsletter, and surveyed staff regarding a new name for the newsletter. The name selected by staff is Connections: Your Link to the State Library of Oregon. The name change will go into effect with the June newsletter.
Create tools that assist Oregon library staff in making data-driven decisions. . Recruiting a small group of public library directors to participate in a pilot project “user group.” This group will use data analysis tools subsidized by LSTA funding to help make data-driven decisions locally about library services. . Early next fiscal year, Library Support staff will start coordinating user group meetings to share questions, issues, tips, and other insights. . Developing a series of data dashboards for the State Library’s website and preparing 2020 Oregon Public Library Statistical data for use with Tableau.
40 Strategic Plan Quarterly Report April 2021
Initiative Updates
Build staff anti-racism, equity, diversity, and inclusion competencies . The State Library registered as an institution for the Oregon Library Association Conference, which has a theme of equity, diversity, and inclusion this year, and all staff are expected to attend at least one session. . During this quarter, the chairs of the EDI WorkGroup and the Professional Development WorkGroup have met to discuss how each of these Workgroups will be involved in this EDI staff training initiative. A joint meeting of the two WorkGroups is scheduled for May to determine next steps and roles and responsibilities. . Jennifer Patterson and Caren Agata attended the Oregon Women Transforming Government event and shared information from an inclusive leadership training session from the event with managers and all staff.
Develop an equity framework . The EDI WorkGroup reviewed equity framework examples from many organizations. The WorkGroup developed a draft equity framework and presented it at an all staff meeting to gather staff feedback. The WorkGroup will be presenting the draft equity framework at the OLA Conference on April 20th to gather feedback from the library community. . Jennifer Patterson, Cam Amabile, and Caren Agata met with OLA's EDI and Anti-racism Committee to discuss the Cornelia Marvin Pierce plaque on display at the State Library. After considering the feedback from the committee and having additional internal conversations, we decided to remove the plaque and add it to our special collections.
Migrate the Government Services patron database . The interface from WorkDay human resources system to SirsiDynix integrated library system (ILS) and the custom user load has been completed by SirsiDynix and tested and approved by the Government Services staff. This will transfer new state employee data into the SirsiDynix ILS. . The next step will be for SirsiDynix to complete the work on the custom form, which will allow state employees to activate their account. . Government Services staff are in the process of testing EZ-Proxy, which authorizes active state employees to access the Government Services databases. . Government Services staff are engaging with OCLC regarding plans for hosting of EZproxy and ILLiad.
41 Strategic Plan Quarterly Report April 2021
Engagement with Oregon’s federally recognized tribes . Reached out to tribal libraries as part of the Continuing Education needs assessment (Initiative #7). . As part of the assessment, the State Library has had conversations with other state agencies that have indicated that in-person visits are a more effective manner of reaching out to the tribes. In-person visits are on hold at this time.
Migrate Oregon Library Directory and Libraries of Oregon to new environment . The new platform for the Oregon Library Directory will be data.oregon.gov. . Plans will be developed this summer to migrate to the new platform.
42 Agenda Item - Public Library Minimum Conditions Report
Background and Summary In 2019, the Oregon legislature passed HB 2243 which:
• Updated the legal definition of "public library" to mean “a public agency that provides to all residents of a local government unit free and equal access to library and information services that are suitable for persons of all ages.” • Required the State Library Board to establish minimum conditions that a public library must meet; these conditions must, at least: 1. Include financial support from public funds and regularly scheduled open hours; and 2. Provide reasonable exemptions to libraries with service populations of 2,000 or fewer residents of the local government unit. From July through August 2019, the State Librarian convened a Rulemaking Advisory Committee who guided the creation of additional minimum conditions. The creation of the minimum conditions was broadly based on the "minimum requirements" listed in the Public Library Standards (September 2018) developed by the Public Library Division of Oregon Library Association. The final minimum conditions were approved by the State Library Board on October 18, 2019 and filed the following week. The minimum conditions became effective on January 1, 2020 as OAR 543-010-0036 and are described in an online guide. OAR 543-010-0036 calls for an annual report on the compliance of public libraries with the minimum conditions. This year, which covers the July 2019 - June 2020 statistical reporting period, is the first year libraries were assessed for meeting the conditions. For several reasons explained in the following agenda item, staff recommend that implementation of the minimum conditions be delayed a year. However, a summary report of library compliance in 2019-20 is included with this meting packet. The report and background information were prepared by Public Library Consultant Darci Hanning. We welcome any suggestions for what you’d like to see in future reports.
43 Public Library Minimum Conditions Report 2021
Review Process
In the fall of 2020, public libraries filed their annual statistical report which covered four months of a global pandemic. In January 2021, State Library staff began reviewing the data collected through the annual statistical report as it related to minimum conditions. This process revealed some troubling concerns for two of the conditions (bolded below): links to the databases provided by the State Library and links to three key library policies.
Provide a website that enables local library users to access State Library of Oregon resources and services available to all Oregon residents:
• Please include the URL to your library's website or page.
• Please include the URL from the library's website that links to the statewide databases provided by the State Library (Gale/Cengage).
• Please include the URL from the library's website that links to the statewide online career skills and testing resources provided by the State Library (EBSCO LearningExpress Library).
Results
Total Libraries: 138 Number of libraries that didn't list a URL to the library website: 10 7% Number of libraries that didn't list one or both database URLS: 33 24%
Have basic policies in place and accessible online for collection management, circulation and patron confidentiality that incorporates relevant American Library Association (ALA) professional ethical codes, rules, and guidelines.
• Please include a URL to the webpage or to a publicly accessible online document with your library's collection management policy.
• Please include a URL to the webpage or to a publicly accessible online document with your library's circulation policy.
• Please include a URL to the webpage or to a publicly accessible online document with your library's patron confidentiality policy.
44 Results
Total Libraries: 138 Number of libraries that didn't list one or more policy URLS: 75 54%
In addition to the conditions above, the following are also reviewed as part of the minimum conditions:
• Have at least one-fourth (25%) of its operational support from public funds if serving a population of 2,000 or less or at least one-half of its operational support from public funds if serving a population more than 2,000.
• Be open a minimum of 10 hours per week if serving a population of 2,000 or less or a minimum of 20 hours per week if serving a population more than 2,000.
• Dedicate at least 0.25 full-time equivalent (FTE) paid staff time exclusively to library functions if serving a population 2,000 or less or dedicate a .50 full-time equivalent (FTE) paid staff time exclusively to library functions if serving a population more than 2,000.
• Provide a collection comprising of books, media, or electronic resources.
• Offer at least one free public access computer with internet access.
• Offer free public wireless internet access (wi-fi).
• Provide basic services for reference and youth services.
Moving forward, State Library staff will work with individual libraries to inform them which minimum conditions they are not meeting based on their reported statistics and how they can address those conditions.
45 Agenda Item - Proposed Temporary Rule, OAR Chapter 543
Background and Summary As noted in the previous agenda item, State Library staff, are requested that the board adopt a temporary rule delaying implementation of the minimum conditions for public libraries. This strategy was suggested by the Oregon Department of Justice, which noted that the State Library Board has authority to adopt a temporary rule under ORS 183.335(5). A temporary rule would be effective for 180 days. Adopting a temporary rule delaying the minimum conditions would mean that libraries have until Jun 30, 2021, (and completion of their 2020-21 statistical report) to meet the minimum conditions. Without this rule, as evidenced by the Public Library Minimum Conditions Report 2021, over half of Oregon public libraries would be considered out of compliance with at least one of the minimum standards. Non-compliant libraries are of all sizes from around the state, running the gamut from Multnomah County Library to Pilot Rock Public Library in Umatilla County. Over 75 libraries failed to meet at least one of the conditions during the 2019-20 statistical reporting period. OAR 543-010-0036(5)(b) states that libraries move into a two-year review period when they fail to meet the minimum conditions. Unless action is taken immediately, the State Library of Oregon would have to move over half of the public libraries in the state into this review period. Most of these libraries are out of compliance for minor reasons that are easily fixed, such as adding a link to their website or uploading a policy. Others failed to meet minimum conditions due to the pandemic, with staff and/or budgets having been cut. About a third of the 2019-20 reporting period happened in the early stages of the pandemic before libraries had time to properly react and plan services. Marking libraries as non-compliant right now would add stress onto an already challenging period. Adopting this temporary rule would allow SLO to delay implementation of the minimum conditions for a year. That delay would allow us to work with libraries to get into compliance on some of the more minor issues, such as lacking links or policies. For those libraries that are out of compliance with more serious conditions, such as funding levels, the libraries will have more time to separate which of these issues arose due to the pandemic versus other underlying reasons. If the temporary rule is adopted, Library Support & Development Services staff will still work with libraries that did not meet all of the conditions. Libraries have spent the last year getting their feet back under them due to the pandemic. However, those libraries will no longer be working under the shadow of the pandemic and hopefully have more time to address the issues.
46 Proposed Temporary Rule
Oregon State Library Chapter 543 Division 10 ADMINISTRATION
543-010-0036 Official Recognition of Public Libraries
(1) The State Library Board will officially recognize those public libraries that become legally established under one of the methods described in ORS 357.216-286 or 357.400-621 and have met all minimum conditions.
(2) Libraries, that have a service population of over 2000, shall meet the following minimum conditions:
…
(3) Libraries, that have a service population of 2000 or less, shall meet the following minimum conditions:
…
(4) Official recognition as a public library will qualify the library to be eligible for state aid and grants from the State Library as authorized in statutes. A library must receive official recognition by June 30 to be eligible for grant funding in the next state fiscal year beginning July 1.
(5) Official recognition will continue unless the library no longer meets the statutory requirements of a public library.
(a) Library responses to the Public Library Annual Statistical Survey will be used to determine compliance with minimum conditions outlined in sections (2) and (3).
(b) An officially recognized public library that fails to meet the minimum conditions as outlined in section (2) or (3) will have two (2) years to achieve compliance, during which time the library maintains eligibility for state aid and grants.
(c) Proceedings for termination of official recognition for a library that fails to meet minimum conditions after two (2) years will be scheduled for consideration by the Board, which will then make a determination.
(d) The State Library will provide an annual report to the Board on the status of public library compliance with minimum conditions.
47 (6) Notwithstanding section (5), if an officially recognized public library fails to meet the minimum conditions outlined in section (2) or (3) by June 30, 2021, the public library will have one year to meet the minimum conditions before section (5)(b) shall apply to the public library.
(7) The Board will terminate a public library’s official recognition immediately after a local government withdraws support following the requirements of ORS 357.621. The State Library will notify the local government that official recognition is being terminated.
(8) Any affected agency may appeal the termination of official recognition to the Board. The appeal must be in writing and must contain a detailed statement specifying the reason the appellant agency believes the action was improper.
(9) The written appeal must be filed no later than 15 business days after the notice of termination of official recognition is received. Once an appeal is received, it will be scheduled for consideration by the Board, which will then make a determination.
(10) To be reinstated, a library must request reinstatement of official recognition from the Board. The request must include signed documentation attesting that the library has met all minimum conditions. The request will then be scheduled for consideration by the Board, which will make a determination. The State Library will notify the local government if official recognition is being reinstated. A library may appeal a denial of reinstatement as described in this rule.
48 American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) Funds Plan, June 2021
Background Congress approved the $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 (ARPA) in March 2021 in order to help communities respond to the COVID-19 pandemic. ARPA included $200 million for the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS), which administers the Library Services and Technology Act (LSTA) program that funds much of the work of the Library Support & Development Services division of the State Library of Oregon (SLO).
Most of the IMLS’s allocation was distributed to state libraries using a similar formula to how annual LSTA funding is allocated. Of that, SLO received $2,924,165, which needs to be spent by September 30, 2022. For context, the federal fiscal year 2021 LSTA allocation is $2,438,090, which also must be spent within the same timeframe.
IMLS Spending Priorities IMLS set forth the following priorities for how state libraries are to spend ARPA funds:
A. First, to enable libraries to reach residents with internet hotspots, accessible Wi- Fi, and other digital inclusion efforts, particularly in support of education, health, and workforce development needs. The following types of data, among others, can inform efforts to reach underserved populations: • Poverty/Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) • Unemployment • Broadband availability; B. Second, to provide rapid emergency relief to libraries across the country, allowing them to safely respond to the pandemic and implement public health protocols; C. Third, to support library services that meet the needs of communities throughout the U.S., including costs such as personnel, technology, training, materials, supplies, equipment, and associated indirect costs; and
250 Winter St NE Salem, OR 97301 | Phone 503-378-4243 | Fax 503-378-6439 | Web www.oregon.gov/library 49 D. With respect to A, B, or C, reach tribal and museum partners best positioned to assist with pandemic response efforts, in addition to traditionally eligible library entities, where appropriate.
Further communications with IMLS strongly indicate that section A is IMLS’s top priority, with B as a secondary priority. Tribal and museum projects should be considered within these priorities. IMLS de-emphasized section C as an area to spend significant funds. They also discouraged projects with the main purpose of training staff that lack an element of direct public service.
ARPA funds share the same restrictions as annual LSTA funds: they cannot be used for operational costs, replacement of lost revenue, prizes or incentives, lobbying or political advocacy, fundraising, or construction.
While the timeframe precluded in-depth gathering of feedback from the library and other communities, Library Support staff met with several groups to assess priorities. These groups included the LSTA Advisory Council, Orbis Cascade Alliance, Oregon Library Association, and Oregon Heritage, representing individuals from all types of libraries as well as museums.
Focal Areas With this guidance, SLO Library Support staff developed five focal project areas for ARPA funding, which will apply both to SLO’s direct spending as well as subgrants provided to libraries, museums, tribes, and other entities.
• Connectivity Projects focused on improving communities’ access to the Internet. Examples include improving broadband speed or coverage, providing mobile hotspots and devices, and establishing opportunities for telehealth, remote legal assistance, or online education. • Digital Equity and Inclusion Programs aimed at increasing digital literacy and access to resources. Examples include providing outreach services through mobile libraries/exhibits; training patrons in digital skills; and enhancing access to print and online collections. • Equity, Diversity, Inclusion (EDI), and Antiracism Targeted outreach to communities that are or have been underserved or marginalized.
250 Winter St NE Salem, OR 97301 | Phone 503-378-4243 | Fax 503-585-8059 | Web www.oregon.gov/osl50 Examples include providing direct outreach staff or communications; embedding social workers and community health workers; translating key materials into non-English languages; and improving access for persons with disabilities. • Needs Arising from the Pandemic Ideas that address people’s changing needs and expectations resulting from the pandemic. Examples include public programming addressing pandemic needs such as legal information and benefits; equipment such as lockers and kiosks that facilitate low- interaction service; and outfitting public meeting spaces to conduct hybrid meetings. • Workforce Development Partnerships and resources that improve people’s job skills or access to employment. Examples include targeted internship programs; online access to resources providing employment training and assistance; providing training and equipment for jobseekers; and partnering with local workforce entities to improve access and awareness.
Spending Plan SLO’s spending plan for the ARPA funds is roughly divided into two broad categories: subgrants, which will be distributed to third parties such as libraries, museums, tribes, and organizations serving or partnering with those entities; and direct or targeted spending, which will be managed by SLO staff.
Spending is included below and divided by focal area. The dollar amounts are general and subject to change, as projects often cost more or less than expected. However, these categories and descriptions give a broad sense of how SLO plans to spend the funds.
Administration - $110,000 Administration includes general costs required to spend the ARPA funds, which can equal up to 4% of the total grant. SLO plans to hire an additional administrative staff member to help with extra tasks arising out of the additional spending. Software, consulting fees (with other state agencies), and equipment also will be necessary.
Connectivity - $110,000 In addition to the money from IMLS, ARPA includes $7.1 billion to improve broadband access in communities. Those funds may be used for purposes that SLO’s ARPA funds may not, such as installing fiber optic cable and doing “last mile” connections. SLO would like to leverage some
250 Winter St NE Salem, OR 97301 | Phone 503-378-4243 | Fax 503-585-8059 | Web www.oregon.gov/osl 51 ARPA funds to help improve broadband in other ways, such as hiring an outside consultant to work with libraries on getting the more substantial broadband funds as well as mini-grants to improve access around their facilities by replacing hardware and extending signal.
Digital Equity & Inclusion - $405,000 These funds will be used to help close the gaps in access to information, especially in communities that are or have been underserved or marginalized. Spending possibilities in this area include perpetual access e-content (e.g. e-books, journals, reference materials), digital equity training for libraries paired with project grants, helping school libraries stay open during the summer, improving community colleges’ ability to serve students lacking digital skills, and holding a Digital Equity Summit for libraries of all types to exchange ideas.
Equity, Diversity, Inclusion, & Antiracism - $220,000 While SLO staff will give strong preference to competitive grants serving communities that are/have been underserved, there are also funds set aside for projects that SLO will lead. Ideas here include improving collections and access in the state’s correctional libraries, helping translate core Open Educational Resources (OER) into non-English languages, and helping libraries and museums market to underserved populations.
Needs Arising from the Pandemic - $170,000 Many of the needs arising from the pandemic are common across libraries, museums, tribes, and their partners. SLO staff hope to coordinate training in these areas, paired with small grants for equipment and supplies. Areas of highest interest are conducting virtual programming, recording and editing videos, preparing for disasters, and holding programming outdoors or in other non-traditional areas.
Workforce Development - $150,000 Library Support staff already are using Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act (CARES) funds to pay for workforce development projects and hope to continue some of the good work started there. Such projects include forming partnerships between libraries and local workforce entities, giving trial access to online job training and seeking tools, and purchasing equipment dedicated to job seeking. Staff also are investigating funding internships for teens in summer of 2022.
250 Winter St NE Salem, OR 97301 | Phone 503-378-4243 | Fax 503-585-8059 | Web www.oregon.gov/osl 52 Subgrants - $1,556,284 Subgrants will be divided into three main categories:
• About $106,000 is being redirected from the regular LSTA competitive grant program to ARPA. Two projects that applied through that process squarely fit the ARPA goals – one to give legal support to renters in Lane County and another to purchase a bookmobile in Hood River County to do outreach with the Latinx community and help teach digital skills to older adults. • Another $200,000 is being set aside for tribes for any projects that fit within the broader goals of ARPA funds. • The final $1.25 million is dedicated to competitive grants for projects that fit into one of the five focal areas. Libraries, museums, and other entities are eligible to apply for these grants, which will be reviewed by SLO staff. Interest in these grants is uncertain, so the final amount spent likely will vary from this estimate.
Unallocated Funds - $202,881 Some funds are being left unallocated so that SLO can jump on opportunities that will likely arise between now and September 2022, when funds must be spent.
Summary of ARPA Spending Plan
PROJECT Budget % of budget Administration $110,000 4% Connectivity $110,000 4% Digital Equity & Inclusion $405,000 14% Equity, Diversity, Inclusion, & Antiracism $220,000 8% Needs Arising from the Pandemic $170,000 6% Workforce Development $150,000 5% Subgrants $1,556,284 53% Unallocated Funds $202,881 7% $2,924,165 100%
250 Winter St NE Salem, OR 97301 | Phone 503-378-4243 | Fax 503-585-8059 | Web www.oregon.gov/osl 53 Conclusion The additional funds SLO is receiving from ARPA provide an excellent opportunity to build capacity for Oregon libraries, museums, and tribes to improve connectivity, help address digital inequity, advance EDI and Antiracism goals, respond to the pandemic, and help get Oregonians back on their feet. While changes likely will occur, this spending plan provides a framework to ensure that SLO spends ARPA funds responsibly to benefit people statewide.
Thank you to Federal Programs & Grants Consultant Tamara Ottum for her tireless work researching how best to spend and distribute ARPA funds.
250 Winter St NE Salem, OR 97301 | Phone 503-378-4243 | Fax 503-585-8059 | Web www.oregon.gov/osl 54 Agenda Item - Recommendation of the Talking Book and Braille Library Advisory Council
Background and Summary The Talking Book and Braille Library Advisory Council met at the State Library on June 3, 2021 and adopted the following recommendation to the State Library Board.
The Talking Book Advisory Council considered and endorsed an Annual Donation Expenditure Plan for 2021-22.
Attached is the 2021-22 Donation Expenditure Plan (Attachment A) and Expenditure Fund Cash Flow Analysis for 2018-23 (Attachment B) that the staff has proposed and the Advisory Council endorsed.
In addition to covering salary costs of the Fund Development Coordinator and the Office Assistant, the Plan includes funding for the League of Women Voters’ Guide, the large print calendar, summer reading program, descriptive videos, and outreach.
Recommendations of the acting State Librarian The acting State Librarian supports the recommendations of the Talking Book and Braille Library Advisory Council.
55 Talking Book & Braille Library Annual Donation Expenditure Plan for Program Enhancements and Solicitation July 1, 2021 to June 30, 2022
This plan proposes expenditures from the Talking Book & Braille Library expendable donation funds accumulated from solicitations, that is, donations Talking Books requested, and designated as available for spending on enhancement projects, solicitation costs, outreach and volunteer expenses. The Talking Book and Braille Library Endowment Fund policy requires that other donations such as undesignated bequests, trusts, and annuities received that are not requested or designated are credited to the Talking Books Library Endowment Fund. The grand total of requests is listed first followed by numbered categories that are subtotaled. Individual expenditure amounts follow in each subtotal category. The first dollar amount for each item is the previous 2020-21 budgeted expenditures, and the second dollar amount is the upcoming 2021-22 budgeted expenditures.
Grand total $100,200 2020-21 total $85,200
1. Customer Service Enhancements $37,500 $39,500 a. Large print calendar $14,500 $14,500 Continue the printing and distribution of the large print 12 month calendars for the program’s customers. b. Oregon Talking Book Project $1,000 $1,000 Purchase of a materials to record Oregon books. c. NFB-NEWSLINE $14,000 $14,000 NFB-NEWSLINE is a service offered by the National Federation for the Blind that allows blind and low vision people to call on the telephone and access over 200 newspapers across America. The Oregonian, Eugene Register Guard, Statesman Journal and AP of Oregon are part of the service.
May 2021
56
d. League of Women Voter’s Guide $4,500 $4,500 In partnership with the League of Women Voters of Oregon, provide the Non- partisan League of Women Voter’s Guide in cartridge, CD, large print and Braille to the Talking Book & Braille Library patrons. e. Descriptive Videos $2,000 $2,000 To purchase newly released descriptive videos. Descriptive videos describe key visual elements such as settings, characters or action of the movie. f. Summer Reading Program $1,500 $1,500 Support the summer reading program with purchasing prizes and giveaways and printing costs. g. Translation Services $0 $2,000 To engage professional translation services for documents and materials for patrons.
2. Solicitation Costs $39,700 $52,700 a. Printed Materials for direct mail $8,000 $8,000 We send two direct mail solicitations out every year. This budget item covers letterhead, envelopes, postage and mailing services for these.
b. Fund Development Database $1,500 $1,500 Continue the annual maintenance agreement to assure that we have the technical support and regular updates for the software.
c. Office Assistant $13,000 $14,000 Continuation of the part-time office assistant to handle data and gift entry and other administrative tasks.
d. Fund Development Coordinator $17,000 $29,000 Support for the Volunteer/Fund Development Coordinator. This position is responsible for coordinating the appeals, processing donations and bequests,
May 2021
57 and overseeing planned giving. This also covers the administration costs of the donation program.
e. Service fees $200 $200 Service fees paid to NIC-USA, online donation vendor, to cover the costs of upgrading our donation website.
3. Outreach to new patrons $6,000 $6,000
Outreach $6,000 $6,000 This pays for costs associated with participation in public outreach events such as conferences and supporting materials.
4. Volunteer Expenses $2,000 $2,000
Talking Books is highly dependent on volunteer assistance. The fees in this category pay for direct expenses related to the volunteer program as well as events to recognize and motivate volunteers. a. Parking $1,500 $1,500 Parking space rental and bus passes for Talking Books volunteers b. Recognition events $500 $500 The Talking Book & Braille Library share of overall volunteer recognition costs and activities in the Talking Book & Braille Library to recognize volunteers.
May 2021
58 Talking Books’ Expenditure Fund Cash Flow Analysis (Note: The analysis does not include the Talking Books’ Endowment Fund)
FY 18/19 Beginning balance July 1, 2018 $287,221 Donation revenue plus interest to Expenditure Fund 128,899 Transfer of endowment interest 15,333 Expense for enhancements/solicitation costs (102,559) Ending balance June 30, 2019 $328,899
FY 19/20 Beginning balance July 1, 2019 $328,899 Donation revenue plus interest to Expenditure Fund 121,301 Transfer of endowment interest 16,227 Expense for enhancements/solicitation costs (84,130) Ending balance June 30, 2020 $382,297
FY 20/21 Estimated beginning balance July 1, 2020 $382,297 Estimated donation revenue plus interest to Expenditure Fund 115,000 Estimated transfer of endowment interest 18,000 Estimated expense for enhancements/solicitation costs (101,963) Estimated ending balance June 30, 2021 $414,170
FY 21/22 Estimated beginning balance July 1, 2021 $414,170 Estimated donation revenue plus interest to Expenditure Fund 130,000 Estimated transfer of endowment interest 20,000 Estimated expense for enhancements/solicitation costs (100,200) Estimated ending balance June 30, 2022 $463,970
FY 22/23 Estimated beginning balance July 1, 2021 $463,970 Estimated donation revenue plus interest to Expenditure Fund 130,000 Estimated transfer of endowment interest 20,000 Estimated expense for enhancements/solicitation costs (102,200) Estimated ending balance June 30, 2022 $511,770
Updated 4/30/21 59
Miscellaneous Kudos
From: Janet Sent: Friday, May 21, 2021 3:20 PM To: [email protected] Subject: Dolores Epley
Hi to your all,
I'm sad to share that my mom, Dolores Epley, passed away in early April.
As I pack up her Talking Book equipment and send off the latest book cartridge, I just want you to know how much Mom enjoyed the books you all work so hard to provide. The past year was a tough one for all of us, and you guys worked hard to make it easy for the recipients of the Talking Books to be able to use and enjoy them.
I want to thank you for your patience with our tardiness at returning the books when Mom was finished with them. In addition to all the pandemic speed-bumps and roadblocks all of us experienced, the year brought some new physical challenges for Mom and she became slower at doing things. Your kind patience was deeply appreciated.
I will stick our lone cassette into the mail to you, and will follow by sending off the audio book player.
Again, many, many thanks for this wonderful service you provide and the efficient, friendly way you do it. You guys are the best!
Take care,
Janet
(For Dolores Epley)
60 Chief Financial Office’s Accounts Receivable Honor Roll Certificate Awarded to State Library of Oregon
For Commitment to Excellence in the Management and Reporting of Accounts Receivable Fiscal Year Ended June 30, 2020
______George Naughton, Chief Financial Officer
State of Oregon March 8, 2021 Department of Administrative Services ______Date Chief Financial Office Robert W. Hamilton, SARS Manager
61 62