Aug. 29 ASCPL Board of Trustees meeting
Covered by Documenter Britt Oliver (see her notes here)
In order to better adapt to public needs, Pam Hickson-Stevenson, executive director of the Akron-Summit County Public Library, announced the district will work with Bostwick Design Partnership to increase space utilization in several of its branches.
ASCPL board members heard more about this project at their Aug. 29 meeting.
Hickson-Stevenson said the contract with the design firm will cost around $217,000 and will cover minor adaptations that will allow each branch to increase space utilization. There are no major renovations planned at this time.
Bostwick Design has more than 60 years of experience with offices in Cleveland, Miami, Pittsburgh and Erie, Pa. The architecture firm has worked with the Cleveland Clinic, Cuyahoga Community College (Tri-C), and the Public Library of Youngstown and Mahoning County.
For the library in Youngstown, the project’s mission was “to connect people and communities, inspire learning, and foster enrichment by reinvigorating community services and reimagining the library to support those services,” according to Bostwick Design’s website.
It also said that it maximized space for “public collaboration and technology integration” to achieve the project goals.
Trustees receive financial update
Michelle Scarpitti, library district fiscal officer, told trustees that estimated resources are $200,000 less than the previous summary.
She said that other revenue will offset that amount to prevent budget adjustments. More budget information will be available at the end of this month or in October when the final tax settlement comes in.
Other revenue includes income from taxes — Scarpitti said she expects to receive at least $160,000 more than the budgeted amount.
Other financial updates include:
- $12,153 in monetary donations since July 25.
- $79,385 in interest earnings.
Summer reading program sets record
Also at the meeting, Hickson-Stevenson shared a report on the district’s Summer Reading program, which took place June 3 through July 27. Readers of all ages are encouraged to log reading and reading-related activities in an app to earn prizes.
Here are some quick statistics:
- There were 11,927 participants
- 6,786 registrants were under age 18
- It’s the highest participation on record
- A participant survey reflected mostly positive comments
Hickson-Stevenson congratulated everyone involved in bringing the program together, saying, “Kudos to all of the staff involved in summer reading. It touches just about everybody in the organization.”
Bed bugs found at Barberton library
Trustees discussed the need to develop a customer behavior policy regarding bed bugs found in library materials.
While no bed bugs have been found in the district, trustees talked about a policy that the independent Barberton Public Library instituted after finding bed bugs in some of their returned borrowed materials.
The Barberton library uses a high-heat process, staff said, to remove bed bugs from borrowed materials.
Trustee William Rich recommended creating a customer behavior policy to prevent certain items from coming into the library that could bring in bed bugs.
The next board of trustees meeting will be on Sept. 26 at 4:30 p.m. at the Maple Valley Branch Library. The meeting is open to the public.
Find more upcoming public meetings here.
