| Library |
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| Mission Statement
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| To assist members of the community in educating themselves and enhancing their personal, business, and social well-being through the use of library resources and services. |
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| Trends, Issues, and Opportunities |
 | Capital Projects and Operating Costs:
In FY 00, the Mayor and City Council directed that the library undertake a planning process to evaluate facilities needs for adequate library service to the residents of Boise. Working with nationally known library building consultants PROVIDENCE Associates, a series of community meetings was held in spring and summer 2000 providing public input to the concept of building branch libraries and a new main library building on the present site in order to address the extreme shortage of library service space to serve a community of Boise's size. The result was the development of the Master Library Facility Plan with a series of options and choices for improved public library service facilities over a twenty year time span.
Based on the recommendation from the Mayor, the City Council acted in November 2000 to approve building four branch libraries (one regional library plus support services, three community libraries) within the present Boise City limits. If additional annexation in the southwest takes place, Council direction at that time was that the Boise Public Library should work with Ada Community Library for one additional branch facility. In approving the Master Library Facility Plan, the Mayor and Council kept the concept plan for a new main library building on the present site alive, though extending the time frame by ten or more years.
In September 2002, the City of Boise failed to obtain judicial confirmation of debt for the proposed Boise Police Department headquarters and building. Vocal opponents of the judicial confirmation process filed suit in opposition to this project. This has called into question the former plan to seek similar judicial confirmation of debt for the first two branch library projects.
Will the City of Boise seek to fund branch libraries through a serial levy, a bond election, or some other method other than judicial confirmation of debt yet to be determined? What should the timeline be?
What, if any, renovations to provide more public service space in the present overcrowded main library building ought to be completed, given the plan to replace the facility within the next ten years?
How will Boise City begin to meet the demands of growth and provide adequate capital improvements and associated operating costs for library services? |
| Reinvest in Neighborhoods:
By the end of the present decade, Boise City has the opportunity and the Master Library Facility Plan to put in place a public library system that provides full access to library services across the community, with a service point in or near each of the six library planning regions. The branch library projects will provide a boost to neighborhoods and will enhance services to youth, young families, and senior citizens. These library facilities will serve as community gathering places and become social centers as well as venues for popular reading, technology access points, and programs.
Will the City of Boise continue the process of library branch site acquisition in three remaining planned library service areas (NE, SW, and far SE)?
How might the library best reorganize existing library services in order to meet the multi-generational needs of neighborhoods? This could include focusing on assets for youth, bridging the digital divide, and involving community residents in planning for their local branch library. |
| Expanding Educational Role of Public Libraries:
The familiar public library catch phrase defining its focus as providing "Information, Education, and Recreation" still has truth today, although technological advances have segmented our customer base in new ways. Libraries have a new role to play in reaching out to the community as educators in information literacy. Librarians are playing a greater role as guides to efficient use of the Internet and other electronic resources to assist our users. Libraries and librarians need to be on the leading edge of electronic information in order to serve both the novice and the more sophisticated computer users well.
As the library's role changes, the organizational structure and technological structure will also change and expand.
How do we re-train existing staff to adapt to this new environment? |
| Technology Integration/The Internet:
Boise citizens are becoming increasingly comfortable with technology. Boise City government as a whole and the Library as a public information provider need to deliver services via the channels that customers expect. For the library this includes e-reference for research, e-mail notification of holds and overdue books, e-transactions for paying fines, etc. Internet access and web access to electronic data bases are now commonly expected services. Consequently, the library needs the infrastructure to support those services, which leads us to fiber optics, increased bandwith, wireless service and possibly a "virtual" branch library on the web. And finally, the library needs to stay on top of emerging technologies, such as MP3, e-books, mini disks, wireless systems and digitization.
How will we integrate and balance these technology changes with the library's core values and with customer expectations for traditional services?
How will the technology needs for public library service mesh with the technology needs of the City of Boise as a whole?
Will the library's preferred approach for requiring parents to take responsibility for selecting the type of Internet access appropriate for their own minor children be an adequate solution to complying with the First Amendment rights of adult library patrons? |
| USA PATRIOT Act/Homeland Security/ Potential Censorship Issues:
Nationally and locally, the challenge of balancing the public's right to information with the restrictions imposed by new laws passed in the aftermath of September 11, 2001 and the war on terrorism is confronting public libraries. Public libraries are revising policies on ephemeral business records, training staff to respond to legal inquiries, and may find themselves working closer with law enforcement officials as the U.S. Congress and Department of Justice revise homeland security regulations and laws that may have an impact on public library operations.
To what extent can Boise Public Library protect library patron privacy while complying with the new laws? |
| Annexation:
The question of timing and scope of future annexations impacts every city department. City of Boise payments to the Ada Community Library to serve Boise residents in the southwest assist that library district to maintain the level of service provided prior to annexation. Will the City of Boise continue and potentially increase this property tax replacement and open access payment to maintain the Ada Community Library until the library district is diminished by future annexations to the point of absorption by the City of Boise? Or, will funding restrictions within the City of Boise budget prevent maintaining the promised support to residents of southwest Boise? Uncertainty about timing of annexations also affects the library's capital development plans.
Will Boise City move forward with additional annexations in the area of impact, and if so, when?
Will payments to the Ada Community Library to serve Boise residents in the southwest continue? |
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| Two-Year Budget Highlights |
| Maintain Open Access Agreement payments to Garden City Public Library. |
| Maintain Property Tax Replacement and Open Access Agreement payments to Ada Community Library. |
| Plan for potential Open Access Agreement payments to Eagle Public Library. |
| Establish a three to four year replacement cycle for computer hardware. |
| Budget options for staff to meet customer demand for Youth Services programming, increased workload for materials shelving and holds retrieval, enhanced community relations and public information functions. |
| Budget option for a Web Librarian position to strengthen content on the library's web site enabling it to serve as an electronic "branch library" service. |
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| Accomplishments |
| The City of Boise purchased three acres at Evergreen Plaza on Cole and Ustick Road in March 2002 for a future West Boise branch library and library support services center. The property currently includes the derelict former Ridley's grocery store building. In July 2002, the Library and Planning and Developmental Services Departments hosted a Cole-Ustick Branch Library/Mixed Use Design Charrette with community participation to discuss potential design concepts for the Evergreen Plaxa shopping center incorporating retail, house, transportaion, and library services to help revitalize the neighborhood. |
| The City of Boise entered into an earnest money agreement with O'Neill Enterprises in October 2002 for property in Southeast Boise, for a future branch library near Riverside elementary school, possibly co-located with a police sub-station. |
| Branch library building program statements were completed in February 2002 by library building consultants PROVIDENCE Associates based on the input from Boise Public Library staff branch library committee, outlining space requirements for library branches in West Boise and Southeast Boise. These building programs will serve as planning "templates" for future community branch libraries (defined as buildings of approximately 18,000 sq. ft.) and future regional branch libraries (defined as buildings of approximately 28,000 sq. ft.) |
| The Library Board approved the Technology Plan for Boise Public Library that was developed by LMA Techwork, a subcontractor for PROVIDENCE Associates, after input to the plan from the Boise Public Library IT and administration staff, from the City of Boise Information Technology group, and from the directors of the LYNX Consortium member public libraries who share the ILS system. |
| The City of Boise purchased the Shaver's, Inc., warehouse and small office building on property located between 8th and 9th streets immediately behind the main library building in October 2002. This purchase not only secures the City's control of property immediately adjacent to the Anne Frank Human Rights Memorial, it secures property that will directly enhance plans for a future new main library building as described in the Master Library Facility Plan. |
| The library's Information Technology Group successfully migrated the Integrated Online Library System (ILS) to a new SUN server in November 2002 and upgraded the ILS software improving the library's ability to expand the online public access catalog while building a foundation for an imporved catalog in the future. |
| The Ada Community Library Board and the Boise Public Library Board created a committee to study alternatives for a future joint-operating agreement for the Ada Community Library. |
| The Library Board of Trustees adopted a new Boise Public Library Strategic Plan 2002-2004 in March 2002. |
| The Library completed its Service Characteristics analysis in January 2003 prioritizing every major service the library provides. Library managers and general staff members provided input to this analysis throughout the process. Managers developed initial action steps addressing some of the identified services. The library administration then brought the entire document back to library staff for additional input in a general staff meeting and in the division meetings for each library division. Related to the City's Strategic initiative #14, Prioritize Services, the project was designed to link library services with both the City and Library strategic plans. |
| The Library's Adult Services Division began an increased focus on programming for adults including Idaho Humanities grants for programs related to the Lewis and Clark Expedition and co-sponsorship of the United Water gardening series in both 2002 and 2003. |
| The Library has entered into collaborative programming efforts with other agencies in the Cultural District. Examples include the Log Cabin Literary Center's fall Bookfest gathering, at which a number of library staff members have provided programs and served on discussion panels; the "What if Everyone Read the Same Book?" citywide efforts in 2001 and 2002; and looking forward to summer 2003, the plans for the "Cultural Triathalon" that will involve the Library with the Parks and Recreation Department, the Idaho Historical Museum, the Boise Art Museum, and other agencies in promoting activities for mind, body, and spirit. |
| During FY02 the library provided 590 youth programs attended by 26,211 children. Three thousand children enrolled in the summer reading program reading over 22,000 hours during June and July of 2002. Patron traffic in library facilities increased approximately 7% or to a total of 954,802 visits in FY02. Circulation in FY02 increased 6.7% as the library checked out 1,431,900 items--on an average, this equals a "turnover" rate equivalent to each item in the
library 's materials collection being checked out 4.09 times. Library patrons asked 189,546 reference questions, or nearly 1 reference question per Boise resident. |
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| Human
Resource Summary |
2002 |
2003 |
2004 |
2005 |
| Actuals |
Revised |
Base |
Base |
| Administrative Support | 39.85 | 40.99 | 40.99 | 40.99 | | Department Heads | 1.00 | 1.00 | 1.00 | 1.00 | | Division Managers | 4.00 | 4.00 | 4.00 | 4.00 | | First Line Supervisor | 0.75 | 0.75 | 0.75 | 0.75 | | Professional | 33.22 | 32.84 | 32.84 | 32.84 | | Public Safety | 1.83 | 1.75 | 1.75 | 1.75 | | Service and Maintenance | 1.96 | 1.96 | 1.96 | 1.96 | | Technical Specialist | 5.00 | 5.00 | 5.00 | 5.00 |
| Total |
87.61 |
88.29 |
88.29 |
88.29 |
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