pages: LibraryBoard/2006-03-08.pdf, 4
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LibraryBoard | 2006-03-08 | 4 | Page 4 of 5 Minutes of 03/08/06 Library Board Meeting Jim Fisher and Jane Wellford of Berkeley were present in the audience, and asked if there was interest in hearing about their experiences with RFID. Mr. Fisher said that he had signed a petition against RFID in Berkeley, 99% of his reason being fiscal. He believed that Council spent an inordinate amount of money on this system, during a time there was supposedly a budget crunch. It had been presented as a way to save money, but it wasn't doing the job. A lot of this was based on the self-checkout feature which had encountered several problems. Ms. Wellford indicated that the Library staff was over-worked, and there was not enough money left to hire additional staff to pick- up the increased workload. Director Chisaki related the experience that Alameda had with the self-checkout process, and it had been very good. When the equipment was first installed, there were staff designated to pull people out of the regular lines and show them how to use the self-checkout. The Express Check currently handles about 26% of the circulation at the main library. Director Chisaki also mentioned that she was asking for additional staffing for the new main library during the current budget planning process, since the new Library would be three times the size of the existing Interim Main. Ms. Wellford then reported that the Berkeley RFID vendor, Checkpoint, had promised their system cost at $685,000 installed, yet it has now cost their City over 2 million dollars. Mr. Fisher and Ms. Wellford handed out some information from their Berkeley experiences, and the Board thanked them for their comments. City Manager Debra Kurita was in attendance at the meeting and spoke about her background in public office. She also mentioned that she was a Bay Area native, so taking the Alameda City Manager position was like coming home. Ms. Kurita shared her views and an outline of her schedule of priorities for replacing the vacant Department Head positions: Planning & Building Director (filled); Assistant City Manager (filled); Alameda Point Project Manager (recruitment in progress); Police Chief (recruitment in progress); Library Director; and Recreation & Park Director. Ms. Kurita's commitment and practice on all of these positions is to encourage external and internal candidates to apply, in order to get the very best person for the job. Board Member Butter expressed her concern that the Library Board was not being kept very well informed of changes to the new Library building, specifically the first floor ceiling treatment that Council had voted to add back in to the plans at the previous night's meeting. City Manager Kurita explained that inclusion of this on the agenda was decided on very short notice due to the fact that a quick decision was needed by the Contractor who was at a critical juncture in the schedule. Ms. Kurita apologized for the oversight, and gave her assurances that this was an unusual situation and would not become a regular occurrence. Library Director Chisaki mentioned that the State had been at the site that day, and were absolutely thrilled with the looks of the new building and the progress that had been made. | LibraryBoard/2006-03-08.pdf |