October 15, 2009
Teton County Library Board Meeting
Facilities Planning: Main Library Addition/Reconfiguration
Review Staff Facilities Input
Oct. 15, 2009
President Lisa Delaney called the meeting to order. Attending were board members Bill Wotkyns, Anne Ladd, Clark Heindl, and Patricia Mueller. Also attending was County Commissioner Andy Schwartz, Director Deb Adams, staff Dail Barbour and John Stennis, representative from Peggy Gilday’s office.
Deb gave a short rundown on staff efforts which started with a general brainstorming meeting with all staff. The next step involved generating ideas in each library department with emphasis on service delivery. Deb and Dail then compiled the suggestions by reducing duplications, grouping similar ideas, etc. At that point, the management team reviewed the staff suggestions. As a part of the process, each team had access to all categories listed and provided input wherever they felt it was appropriate. The process includes going back to staff and the management group and working on priorities. Deb indicated that some trends emerged especially an emphasis on welcoming space. The management team found the following themes to be important: the library as community center, welcoming all; the library facility creates a sense of inspiration and exploration for patrons; the library is relevant to everyone in the community; flexibility of spaces is important; attention is given to comfort of patrons’ experience in the library; zones of use need to be considered, such as social/collaborative spaces, individual/small group spaces, quiet/study spaces, and interactive spaces; safety and security for patrons, staff, equipment and collections; and the building design should inform patrons of the functions.
Lisa asked if there were firm trends at this point and Deb explained that we needed to hear from the public and stay open at this point. There are a number of issues where patron input will be very valuable including study spaces, dedicated quiet space, technology in general, and teen space.
Bill voiced a concern that staff workspace was not included in the report. Deb said that the emphasis for the board meeting was on those issues that would resonate with the public and staff space does not tend to be a concern for the public generally. She pointed out that a lot of information about staff workspace was received. Bill said he thinks it should be part of the discussion with the public and is a very large priority-as important as other issues.
The first public forum will take place on Monday, October 19 at 5:30PM in the library auditorium. The meeting agenda will be the same process used in Alta. The architects will begin with photos and details about other libraries as well as information about general trends in library construction. The board asked Deb to be sure to encourage library staff to attend. There were some questions about advertising for the public forum and Deb assured the board that we had it covered in the media as well as electronically.
Clark moved to continue the library board meeting to October 22, 2009 at 3:00 PM in the conference room at the library, Patricia seconded, all voted in favor.
