Zoom Meetup Recording & Notes
October 12, 2022
(0:05) Welcome and Introduction
Leigh Anne Palmer welcomed everyone to today’s special meeting with the Public Libraries Branch
(1:00) Public Libraries Branch Fall 2022 Presentation, Mari Martin
Mari provided an update of PLB activities and the plan for the year ahead:
BCLA has provided data on the Summer Reading Club program to be shared with the Minister; a promotion of the program was undertaken for Ministry staff over the summer to help spread the word on the value of reading and the role libraries play in supporting children and families.
Mari attended the UBCM Conference in Whistler and was able to participate in discussions that local governments had with the Minister to share what’s most important to them such as provincial funding for libraries; the Minister is requesting input from local governments about illustrating the value of libraries, about what impact they have on communities.Ministry will be working on conducting some research on emergency preparedness over the next several weeks.
The Ministry will be doing some work to promote Library Month
Reporting deadlines will be the same as previous years.
(11:25) Data and Statistics, Aidan Fortier
Annual Survey – This year libraries were asked to provide electronic resources data that they had access to and there were some discrepancies between data collected from libraries and data from the BC Libraries Coop. Aidan shared information about some of the sources of the discrepancy between the Coop data and direct library input data. There was a discussion about whether members prefer PLB use library data or Coop data. A quick poll was conducted amongst members on the call today with most members leaning towards using the Coop’s data, therefore, Aidan will overwrite the library data with the Coop data and will have the finalized data set published shortly.
Emergency Preparedness - A one-time voluntary survey on emergency preparedness will be undertaken by the Ministry to assess how well libraries are equipped for various different types of emergencies such as natural disasters, extreme weather events, pandemics, fires, floods, earthquakes. To help design the survey Aidan requested feedback from members regarding what data would be useful for libraries to have in terms of looking at individual library emergency preparedness plans and what information would be useful to know about other libraries. Mari shared that the information will be shared with the Federations because Federations have received funding to support members in emergency planning and preparedness; the data gathered will enable the Ministry to have conversations with Emergency Management BC and connect to other funding sources that libraries may be eligible for.
Typical Week - Typical week voluntary survey is now open in Counting Opinions and an updated instruction sheet is available on the reporting and accountability page on the PLB website.
(42:00) Local Elections Impact on Library Boards, Adrienne Wass
After an election there tends to be a lot of turnovers with Library Boards. Adrienne requested feedback regarding what members feel their library trustees, particularly new trustees, might need. Adrienne is responsible for professional development and will be working with BCLTA and would like feedback regarding what types of tools and guides might be missing and what types are the most important to ensure continued development of these tool. Members are encouraged to reach out to the Public Libraries Branch to share suggestions on how the PLB can better support library trustees especially in helping them understand their role. BCLTA has many resources for trustees and has developed a guide; Learning and Development Director, Babs Kelly, also offers orientations for new trustees and customized orientations can also be developed for library boards.
(52:30) Questions
Mari shared that they will return in the winter for another session; members are encouraged to reach out to Mari with any potential topics of interest.