* This transcript was created by voice-to-text technology. The transcript has not been edited for errors or omissions, it is for reference only and is not the official minutes of the meeting. THE MEETING OF THE LIBRARY [00:00:01] BOARD, OCTOBER 13TH, 2025. WELCOME, EVERYBODY. THE FIRST ITEM ON THE AGENDA IS TO APPROVE MINUTES FROM SEPTEMBER 8TH MEETING, AND THOSE ARE PROVIDED TO YOU BEHIND YOUR AGENDA, WHICH IS BEHIND TAB FIVE. JUST A LITTLE NOTE, SOMEHOW MY LAST NAME BECAME MISSPELLED AFTER NUMEROUS YEARS. . OH, GOODNESS. OKAY. SO THERE'S NO A, IT'S T-E-G-E-N. ALRIGHT. DO WE MOVE TO APPROVE THE MINUTES? YES, PLEASE. WOULD YOU LIKE TO MOVE? I MOVE TO APPROVE THE MINUTES. THANK YOU. AND A SECOND AND A SECOND. THANK YOU. UM, THE MOTION IS TO APPROVE THE MINUTES AS CORRECTED. ALL IN FAVOR, PLEASE SAY AYE. AYE. THE OPPOSED, PLEASE SAY NO. THANK YOU. THE MINUTES ARE APPROVED AS CORRECTED. THE NEXT ITEM IS THE ELECTION OF OFFICERS. SO SOME OF YOU ARE, ARE NEW TO THIS PROCESS, SOME OF YOU ARE NOT. WE ELECT A CHAIR AND A VICE CHAIR, AND AS YOU'RE AWARE, THE CHAIR PRESIDES AT BOARD MEETINGS AND THE VICE CHAIR DOES. SO IF THE CHAIR IS ABSENT, OKAY. ANY BOARD MEMBER MAY MAKE A NOMINATION. YOU MAY NOMINATE YOURSELF. IF YOU WOULD LIKE TO MAKE A NOMINATION, PLEASE STATE YOUR NAME AND THE NAME OF THE PERSON YOU ARE NOMINATING. THE FIRST POSITION IS BOARD CHAIR. ARE THERE ANY NOMINATIONS? COULD YOU FIRST OF ALL IDENTIFY WHO THE, THE, UM, BACKUP CHAIR IS? SO, I'M CHAIR AND KRISTEN IS CURRENTLY THE VICE CHAIR. OKAY. SO, UM, UH, I WOULD LIKE TO NOMINATE IF, IF, UH, TERRY WOULD LIKE TO CONTINUE, I WOULD LIKE TO NOMINATE HER TO CONTINUE AS CHAIR OF THE BOARD. SECOND THAT. WELL, THANK YOU. I ACCEPT I THIRD THAT I'M LIKE . I NOMINATE CHRISTIAN, UM, TO CONTINUE AS VICE CHAIR IF SHE ACCEPTS. WELL, YOU CAN DO THAT PART AFTER WE VOTE ON THE CHAIR. OH, YOU GONNA CARRY IT ONE AT A TIME? YEAH. OKAY. MAYBE IT'S GONNA THAT'S OKAY. A UNANIMOUS CONSENT. SO YEAH, WE'RE GONNA RAISE OUR HANDS AND EVERYTHING. UM, WOULD ANYONE LIKE TO SUBMIT A, WOULD ANYONE ELSE LIKE TO SUBMIT A NOMINATION FOR CHAIR? I'M, WE CLOSE THE NOMINATIONS. OKAY. UM, I'LL SECOND THAT. OKAY. AND WE WILL CONSIDER THE NOMINATIONS CLOSED. ALL IN FAVOR OF TERRY FOR CHAIR, PLEASE SAY YES. YES. ANY OPPOSED? OKAY. AND TERRY HAS BEEN, UM, ELECTED AS CHAIR. THANK YOU VERY MUCH. YOU'RE WELCOME. THE NEXT POSITION IS BOARD VICE CHAIR. ARE THERE ANY NOMINATIONS? I, UM, MOVE TO NOMINATE, UH, KRISTEN TO CONTINUE AS VICE CHAIR. SHE ACCEPTS? I DO. THANK YOU VERY MUCH. OKAY. AND KRISTEN HAS ACCEPTED, ARE THERE ANY OTHER NOMINATIONS? WELL, I KNOW SHE'S NOT HERE THIS EVENING, BUT I KNOW SARAH WAS ALSO VERY INTERESTED IN, IN SERVING. SO I'D LIKE TO NOMINATE SARAH AND I CAN CONFIRM THAT SARAH WOULD ACCEPT A NOMINATION. SO SARAH MONTOYA IS ALSO NOMINATED TO BE VICE CHAIR. ARE THERE ANY OTHER NOMINATIONS? OKAY. NOMINATIONS ARE CLOSED. WE'LL PROCEED TO THE VOTE. WE'VE NEVER DONE THIS WHERE WE'VE HAD TWO NOMINEES. YOU GOTTA COUNT. UM, YES. SO, ALL IN FAVOR OF KRISTEN, PLEASE RAISE YOUR HAND. DO WE HAVE AN ODD NUMBER? 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6. WELL, THAT TAKES CARE OF THAT. AND ALL IN FAVOR OF SARAH, PLEASE RAISE YOUR HAND. OKAY. THANK YOU. KRISTEN HAS BEEN ELECTED AS VICE CHAIR. CONGRATULATIONS. THANK YOU. AND WE ARE GOOD ON THAT FOR ANOTHER YEAR. THIS COMES UP EVERY YEAR IN OCTOBER, WHICH SOMETIMES SEEMS TO HAPPEN MORE THAN ONCE A YEAR. MM-HMM . ALRIGHT, THE NEXT ITEM ON THE AGENDA IS CAPITAL IMPROVEMENT PLAN, BOND CAPITAL IMPROVEMENT PLAN AND BOND PROGRAM UPDATES. ALRIGHT, THAT'S GOING TO BE ME. GOOD EVENING EVERYONE. GOOD EVENING. I WILL. SO START OUT, WHOOPS, WITH SOMETHING VERY EXCITING THAT'S HAPPENED IN LESS THAN TWO WEEKS. WE ARE GONNA HAVE OUR GRAND OPENING FOR THE WEST BRANCH LIBRARY. LONG AWAITED. MM-HMM . UM, IT'S, UH, BEEN A LITTLE BIT OF A TREK, BUT WE ARE GETTING THERE RIGHT NOW. UH, [00:05:01] FOR THE WEST BRANCH. WE'RE WORKING, UH, TOWARDS GETTING OUR CERTIFICATE OF OCCUPANCY TEMPORARY CERTIFICATE. SO WE'RE ABLE TO OUTSIDE THE BUILDING, BUT, UH, WE'RE WORKING OUT THE FINAL FOR GETTING THE FINAL SUPPORT. SHOULD HAVE THAT SOON. AND WE'RE GONNA HAVE OUR GRAND OPENING. WE HAVE A LOT OF GREAT THINGS PLANNED, UH, FOR ADULTS, CHILDREN, UM, SIMILAR TO WHAT WE HAD AT, UH, THE CENTRAL LIBRARY, BUT WITH A DIFFERENT TWIST. SO HOPE YOU ALL WILL ATTEND. RIGHT. SO PUT TOGETHER A LITTLE TIMELINE OF THE WALNUT CREEK TO, UH, WEST TRANSITION THAT WE'VE BEEN DOING. UM, WE, ON AUGUST 4TH, WE RECEIVED 11 PALLETS OF NEW MATERIALS. SO THAT'S THE OPENING DAY COLLECTION FOR, UH, FOR THE WEST LIBRARY. UM, ON AUGUST 5TH, WE DID A PUNCH WALK. WE NEVER BEEN THROUGH A PUNCH WALK. IT'S WHERE ARCHITECTS, UH, BUILDER LIBRARY STAFF, IT STAFF, UH, FACILITY STAFF. WE ALL GOT TOGETHER. WE WENT THROUGH THE BUILDING WITH A FINE TOOTH COMB, IDENTIFIED ALL ISSUES THAT WE, UH, WE COULD FIND SCRATCHES ON THE WALLS, UH, LOOKING AT FLOORING, MAKING SURE THE TOILET'S FLUSH ALL THE THINGS. AND YOU CREATE THIS LONG, LONG LIST OF EVERYTHING. AND THEN THE, THE BUILDER HAS TO GO THROUGH IT AND THEY, YOU CAN SEE THAT THAT CHECK MARK'S A LITTLE YELLOW. SO IT'S NOT QUITE COMPLETED YET. UM, THEY'RE WORKING THROUGH, UH, A FEW ISSUES STILL. UM, ONE OF THE MAIN ISSUES IS SOME OF THE MILL WORK. UH, WE HAVE TO HAVE REDONE, SO THEY'RE WORKING ON SOME OF THAT RIGHT NOW. NOPE. UH, I THINK WE'RE GONNA BE, WE'RE GONNA, WE'RE GONNA MAKE IT. BUT, UH, YOU KNOW, THESE THINGS ALWAYS, UH, KIND OF GO THIS WAY. UH, SEPTEMBER 2ND, UM, WE BEGAN THE PROCESS OF MOVING THE COLLECTION FROM, UH, WALNUT CREEK, THE EXISTING COLLECTION AT WALNUT CREEK OVER, UH, TO, UH, WEST. WE, UH, HAD A, UH, A GROUP TO HELP US, THE LIBRARY INTERIORS OF TEXAS. THEY HELPED US AND THEY'RE PROFESSIONALS. THEY, UH, QUITE QUITE A GREAT GROUP TO WORK WITH. SEPTEMBER 25TH, WE STARTED INSTALLATION OF THE LIBRARY. IT TEAM HAD STARTED OUR INSTALLATION OF COMPUTERS, UH, STAFF COMPUTERS. UH, WE STARTED SHELVING OUR COLLECTION, GETTING OUR COLLECTION. SHE OCTOBER 13TH, WHICH IS TODAY, UH, WAS THE LAST DAY FOR THE WALNUT CREEK, OR IT'S WALNUT CREEK HAS BEEN CLOSED. THE STAFF ALL MOVED TO THE WEST BRANCH TODAY. AND THEN OBVIOUSLY OCTOBER 25TH, THAT'S GONNA BE OUR GRAND OPENING. HOW LARGE IS THE STAFF? UH, WE HAVE A MANAGER, CHILDREN'S LIBRARIAN, UH, LA FULL-TIME. AND, UH, TWO CSRS, TWO CSRS, FULL-TIME AND CUSTOMER SERVICE REPRESENTATIVE. AND THEN TWO LIBRARY SHELTER FIRST. SO A LITTLE KIND OF SOME PICTURES. UM, THIS WAS, UM, BEFORE WE MOVED, UH, WE, WE DID THE COLLECTION. WE REDID THE CHILDREN'S, UH, JUNIOR OTHER COLLECTIONS. SOME OF THE STUFF STAYED, UH, IS GOING OVER TO THE WEST BRANCH. SOME OF THE STUFF WENT TO CONTROL AND, UH, AND THE OTHER LOCATIONS AND SOME OF THE STUFF, UM, HAS BEEN THERE A LONG TIME AND WE'RE READY TO MOVE ON TO, IS THAT A RECYCLE UNIT OR SOMETHING? POSSIBLY, OR THE FRIENDS, AS I MENTIONED, WE WORKED WITH LIBRARY INTERIORS OF TEXAS ON THAT SEPTEMBER 2ND, UH, DATE. UM, THEY, THEY, AS YOU REMEMBER, WE KIND OF HAD FLUID DATES OF MOVE-INS. SO THEY WERE REALLY, REALLY, REALLY GOOD TO US. AND THEY WERE ABLE TO FIT US IN AMONG MANY OF THEIR OTHER PROJECTS THROUGHOUT TEXAS. SO THEY'RE A GREAT GROUP TO WORK WITH. YOU CAN SEE THEY HAVE THEIR OWN LITTLE BOOK TRUCKS AND THEY PACKED EVERYTHING UP AND THEY HAD THEIR TRUCKS AND MOVED IT OVER TO WEST AND STARTED SHELVING AND PUTTING IT ON THE SHELF. I TOOK THESE ON FRIDAY. YOU COULD SEE ON THE VERY LEFT HAND SIDE, TJ, ONE OF OUR SHELF, UH, UH, PAGES IS, UH, STARTING TO SHELF SOME BOOKS. AND THEN IN THE MIDDLE WE'RE STILL TRYING TO KIND OF FIGURE OUT WHERE EVERYTHING'S GONNA GO. SO WE DO A LOT OF LOOKING AT THE SHELF AND GOING, WELL, MAYBE THIS COLLECTION IS GONNA FIT HERE. I MEAN, YOU CAN SEE MILLIE IN THE MIDDLE, UH, THERE, UH, THE MIDDLE [00:10:01] PICTURE, SHE, SHE'S ALREADY STARTING TO SHOW. AND THEN I MENTIONED THE PALLETS OF BOOKS, KIND OF ON THE RIGHT HAND SIDE, YOU CAN SEE WHAT THOSE PALLETS LOOK LIKE. JUST, UH, GIANT PALLETS OF BOOKS WITH, UH, SHRINK WRAPPED AND MOVED IN, UH, TO THE LIBRARY. AND THAT'S WHAT THE STAFF IS WORKING ON RIGHT NOW. THEY'RE TAKING THOSE PALLET, UH, TAKING THOSE BOOKS OUT OF THE BOXES AND WE'RE FINDING WHERE THEY'RE GONNA BE LOCATED ON THE SHELVES. AND, AND, AND THE WINDOW SCREENS HAVE BEEN PULLED DOWN, SO YOU CAN'T TAKE A PEEK AT THE MAGIC WHILE IT'S HAPPENING. THAT IS TRUE. TRUE. IT DID FEEL A LITTLE FISHBOWL THERE FOR A WHILE. SO WE KIND OF, UH, KIND OF PUT THEM DOWN. AND THEN, UH, KAREN WANTS EVERYTHING TO BE A BIG SURPRISE. SO I WOULD LIKE TO SAY THAT I HAVE A LOT OF PHOTOS OF EVERYTHING, BUT I DON'T HAVE THAT BY, AND IT'S A LITTLE BIT BY DESIGN THOUGH. I'M OUT ON OCTOBER 25TH TO SEE IT ALL. AND IT'S IMPORTANT. CAN YOU TELL US A LITTLE BIT MORE ABOUT LIBRARIAN INTERIORS OF TEXAS? IS THAT A NON-PROFIT OR NO, IT'S A FOR-PROFIT, UH, GROUP. IT'S A, IT'S A COMPANY THAT'S BEEN AROUND AS FAR AS I KNOW, AS LONG AS I, YEAH. I'VE BEEN IN THE BUSINESS SINCE, UH, SINCE THE EARLY TWO THOUSANDS, AND I HAD HEARD OF THEM WAY BACK THEN. THEY'RE IN HOUSTON, I BELIEVE MOSTLY. THEY DO A LOT OF WORK WITH LIBRARIES ARE HIGHLY RECOMMENDED THROUGHOUT IN THE LIBRARY CIRCLES. UM, WE MADE A MISTAKE, I WOULD SAY, YEAH, OF DURING ONE OF OUR EARLY RENOVATIONS OF HIRING A DIFFERENT COMPANY TO DO OUR MOVING. AND THEY, I DON'T WANT TO TRASH THE COMPANY OR ANYTHING LIKE THAT. WE'RE NOT, THEY WERE JUST NOT EXPERIENCED WITH MOVING LIBRARY. COLLECTIONS. COLLECTIONS NEED TO BE MOVED IN A VERY ORGANIZED WAY. YOU NEED TO BE PUT BACK IN, IN A ORGANIZED WAY. AND YOU HAVE TO HAVE REALLY STRONG SUPERVISORS. REALLY STRONG, A STRONG STAFF THAT KNOWS WHAT THEY'RE DOING. AND LIBRARY INTERIORS IS, IS THAT COMPANY THAT'S A REALLY GOOD COMPANY. AND PREFERABLY BOOKS REMOVED FROM SHELVING OR HAVING THE APPROPRIATE SHELF LIFTING AND MOVING EQUIPMENT, NOT JUST KIND OF, YEAH, NO, THEY, BESIDES MOVING BOOKS, THEY ALSO MOVE SHELVES AROUND. THEY PLACE THE SHELVES, THEY'RE RELATED. THEY KNOW, I MEAN, THEY KNOW LIBRARIES. SO THAT'S, THAT'S KIND OF WHAT WE'RE LOOKING FOR. GOOD. I, YES, SIR. SO HERE'S A LITTLE BIT OF SOMETHING I CAN SHOW YOU. UH, THE EXTERIOR SPACES. WE HAVE THE ART PLAZA AND THE PORCH AND THE NORTH SIDE OF THE BUILDING. WE HAVE, UH, SOME GIANT BOULDERS THAT WERE PUT IN. THERE ARE DIFFERENT COLORS. UH, THIS IS KIND OF THE EARLY, UM, WHEN THEY JUST PUT THE BOULDERS IN AND THEY'RE DOING GRADING WORK AROUND, UH, THOSE BOULDERS. THEN THIS IS THE AFTER. OH, WOW. SO WE HAVE THE TURF THAT WENT IN AROUND THE BOULDERS. AND I'LL BE HONEST WITH YOU, I WAS A LITTLE SKEPTICAL AT FIRST WITH THE BOULDERS AND THE COLORS AND EVERYTHING, BUT I LOVE IT. IT LOOKS, IT LOOKS REALLY GREAT. I REALLY LIKE THIS, UH, THE NORTH, UH, THE NORTH SIDE OVER HERE. THAT'S THE SIDE FACING THE GYM. UH, THERE'S GONNA BE A REALLY NICE SPACE OUT THERE FOR PEOPLE. WE CAN DO PROGRAMMING THERE. UH, IT COULD ALSO BE FOR PEOPLE TO HANG OUT. IT'S REALLY NICE. SO IS IT NATURAL TURF OR ARTIFICIAL TURF? IT'S ARTIFICIAL TURF. SAME STUFF THAT WE HAVE KIND OF OVER AT SEA HERE AT THE CENTER. WE ALSO HAVE, I DON'T KNOW IF YOU CAN SEE IT, KIND OF THE STANDUP BOLLARD LIGHTING. MM-HMM . THOSE ARE BOLLARDS, BUT AT, AT THE TOP IS A LIGHT, SO YOU CAN CHANGE THE LIGHTS. SO, AND THEY'VE BEEN STRAIGHT. YES, YES. THEY WERE A LITTLE, THEY WERE LISTING A LITTLE BIT HERE. YOU GET A CHANCE. I ENCOURAGE YOU TO DRIVE BY AT NIGHT. IT LOOKS AMAZING WITH ALL THE RED, BLUE SKY IN CLOUDS THOUGH. I KNOW. IT'S ALMOST, IT'S A GREAT PICTURE. SOMEONE DOESN'T, A REAL PICTURE. IT'S LIKE, IS THAT AI? YEAH, IT'S MY PHONE. MY PHONE DID THAT. OH, LOOK AT THAT. RIGHT. SO, BECAUSE WE'RE NOT TIRED OF DOING PROJECTS YET, WE'RE GONNA DO, UH, SOME PROJECTS WITH, UH, NORTH AND SOUTH NOW. YEAH. NOW THOSE NORTH AND SOUTH ARE GOING TO BE, UH, FOCUSED ON INTERIOR IMPROVEMENTS. UM, FUNDING FOR BOTH OF THESE CAME FROM THE 2019 BOND. UH, PROJECTS ARE MANAGED BY PMO. CURRENTLY, WE ARE ONBOARDING ARCHITECTS FOR EACH, UH, NORTH AND SOUTH. THE BOTH OF THOSE PROJECTS. CARIBBEAN SCHEMATIC DESIGN IN THE, THE FOURTH QUARTER. SCHEMATIC DESIGN IS KIND OF WHEN YOU MEET WITH THE ARCHITECT, YOU START KIND OF DECIDING, WELL, THIS IS GONNA GO HERE, THIS IS GONNA GO THERE. UH, TALK ABOUT, UM, A GENERAL VISION AND [00:15:01] A GENERAL DIRECTION THAT YOU'RE, YOU'RE GONNA GO WITH THE PROJECT. AND WE, OF COURSE, HAVE A LOT MORE THAT WE WANT THAN THE FUNDING THAT WE HAVE. SO, WELL, SO WE ARE DEVELOPING A PHASED PLAN. SO WE DO HAVE A LOT OF THINGS THAT WE WANT TO DO, UH, WITH EACH, UH, OF THESE INTERIORS. AND I'LL SHOW YOU KIND OF THAT FOR NORTH. WE HAVE 374,000 LEFT TO DO, UM, THE INTERIOR, UH, AT THIS TIME. SO THAT'S AFTER WE HAD A FACILITIES CONDITION ASSESSMENT DONE. SO, UM, FACILITIES WENT AROUND TO ALL THE FACILITIES IN THAT GARLAND OWNS AND DID AN ASSESSMENT. WHAT ARE THE BASIC, BASIC THAT ARE NEEDED, UH, TO KIND OF GET, GET THIS FACILITY UP TO THE RIGHT LEVEL. SO WE SPENT, UH, A GOOD BIT OF MONEY ON SOME OF THE THINGS THAT THEY NEEDED TO ADDRESS FOR NORTH. THAT WAS WINDOW TENT. IF YOU'VE EVER BEEN TO NORTH GIANT WINDOWS, IT'S HOT. UH, WE HAD TO PUT THE SHADES DOWN, BUT WE'VE, UH, INSTALLED WINDOW TENT AND UV PROTECTION, AND IT'S MADE IT MUCH COOLER. SO THAT WAS KIND OF ONE OF THE THINGS. NORTH DIDN'T HAVE A ROOF LADDER. SO WHEN FACILITIES CAME BY, WE WOULD HAVE TO GET A LADDER, A GIANT LADDER OUT OF THEIR TRUCK AND CLIMB UP ON TOP. SO NOW WE HAVE A DEDICATED ROOF LADDER. UM, THE OTHER THING, UH, WE HAVE TROUBLE WITH FROM TIME TO TIME IS BALANCING OF, UH, AIR CONDITIONING CONTROLS. SO IT MIGHT BE COLD IN ONE PART OF THE BUILDING AND HAVE WARM IN ANOTHER PART OF THE BUILDING. SO BALANCING THAT OUT AND HAVING THAT CONTROL. AND THEN NORTH NEEDED A HOT WATER HEATER, HOT WATER HEATER. SO IN THE FUTURE, YOU, YOU CAN SEE THAT WE HAVE THE CHECK MARK. UH, UH, THE CRITICAL BUILDING ISSUES HAVE BEEN ADDRESSED. UH, THE NEXT THING THAT WE'RE INTERESTED IN DOING IS, UH, SAFETY AND SECURITY. UH, WE HAVE IN, UH, WE HAVE SECURITY CAMERAS ON THE OUTSIDE OF THE BUILDING, BUT WE DON'T HAVE THEM IN THE INSIDE OF THE BUILDING. AND THEN WE WANT TO HAVE ACCESS CONTROL SO STAFF CAN USE THEIR BADGES TO ACCESS, UH, THE BUILDING AND DIFFERENT PARTS OF THE BUILDING AND TRY TO KEEP, THE BUILDING WAS DESIGNED BEFORE FOR THE, THESE DAYS WHERE IT CAN BE DANGEROUS AND STAFF SOMETIMES NEED TO GET AWAY. SO, UH, WE NEED TO KIND OF UPDATE, UH, BOTH SOUTH AND NORTH, UH, TO KIND OF FIT THAT REALITY THAT, UH, FOR FURNITURE. UH, I WAS THE MANAGER AT NORTH IN 2008, AND ALL THE FURNITURE THAT WAS THERE WHEN I BEGAN AS MANAGER, I THINK IS STILL THERE RIGHT NOW. UH, AS KAREN SAYS, THE FURNITURE IS LOVED, LOVED, WELL , UH, IT, WE NEED A LITTLE BIT OF, UH, REPLACEMENT FURNITURE. AND IT'S NOT JUST REPLACEMENT FURNITURE. IF YOU'VE GONE TO CENTRAL AND YOU'LL SEE AT WEST FURNITURE HAS CHANGED, NOW FURNITURE HAS ELECTRIC, UH, ELECTRICAL OUTLETS IN IT, THOSE SORT OF THINGS. SO WE'RE KIND OF LOOKING TO HAVE MODERNIZE SOME OF OUR FURNITURE, MAKE IT COMFORTABLE, UH, MAKE THOSE STUDY SPACES, UH, AND, YOU KNOW, PROVIDE THE ELECTRICITY AND, AND SOME NEED. AND THEN THE LAST THING IS TO, UH, PROVIDE, UH, THE TECHNOLOGY THAT WE ALREADY HAVE AT CENTRAL AND WEST. WE'RE, WELL SOUTH, SOUTH HAS ABOUT $2.3 MILLION FOR ITS INTERIOR IMPROVEMENTS CURRENTLY. UH, AGAIN, SOUTH WENT THROUGH THE CRITICAL UPDATE AREA, UH, OF THINGS THAT WERE NEEDED AT SOUTH THAT WE, WE NEEDED TO SPEND MONEY ON TO KEEP THAT, TO GET THAT FACILITY UP TO SPEED. UH, ONE THING THAT WE DID WAS ROOF COATING. UH, INSTEAD OF INSTALLING A NEW ROOF, WE PUT A NEW COATING OVER THE ROOF. WE HAD SOME LEAKS, UH, WHEN WE HAD SOME STORM ITSELF, WE WOULD HAVE LEAKS. SO, UM, WE HAVE THAT, THAT HAS ALREADY BEEN INSTALLED. UH, THERE'S GONNA BE, UH, WE'RE GONNA BE REPLACING AN HVAC UNIT. THERE'S A GIANT UNIT ON TOP OF, UH, TOP OF SOUTH, AND IT'S VERY CRANKY. IT SOMETIMES WORKS AND SOMETIMES DOESN'T WORK. IT, UH, FACILITIES SPENDS A LOT OF TIME OUT THERE. SO WE'RE REPLACING THAT. UM, IT'S BEING ORDERED, I THINK WE'RE GONNA GET IT IN AT THE END OF NOVEMBER, AND THEN WE'LL HAVE THE BIG CRANE OUT THERE TO PUT THAT, UH, THAT UNIT ON THE ROOF. AND THEN WE'LL BE BALANCING OUT THE CONTROL. UM, THE SAME THING FOR, UH, SOUTH, AS WE TALKED ABOUT WITH NORTH. UH, WE NEED THE SECURITY CAMERAS INSIDE AND THE ACCESS CONTROLS, UPDATING ALL THE AUDIO VISUAL EQUIPMENT AND THE PUBLIC MEETING ROOMS AND SPACES. AND I THINK AT SOUTH, ANOTHER THING THAT, UM, IF YOU'VE EVER BEEN TO SOUTH, UH, WHOEVER [00:20:01] DESIGNED I, I'M SURE THEY WERE REALLY GOOD, BUT WE HAVE A LOT OF TRIANGLES AT SOUTH. UH, SO WE'RE GOING TO WORK ON MAKING THAT, THAT SPACE BE A LITTLE BIT MORE LARGER PROBABLY FOR THE CHILDREN'S AREA, BUT ALSO NOT AS MANY ANGLES, NOT AS MANY WEIRD WALLS, UH, THAT WE HAVE THERE. AND THEN I THINK WHAT WE ALSO ARE CONSIDERING, WE'RE TALKING ABOUT THIS, IS WE WANT TO MOVE THE BIG, UH, A DESK TO A BIG DESK KIND OF IN THE MIDDLE OF THE LIBRARY RIGHT NOW. THERE ARE A LOT OF PLACES WHERE THERE YOU CAN'T SEE THE SIGHT LINES ARE BAD. SO WE REALLY WANT TO KIND OF WORK ON THOSE SIGHT LINES. AND THEN IN NOVEMBER, I THINK KAREN'S GONNA TALK TO YOU ABOUT SOME OF THE THING WE WANT TO DO. DO, UH, WE HAVE A LITTLE BIT THAT WE'RE GONNA, THAT, UM, ONE THING ABOUT SOUTH, IF YOU'RE DRIVING BY, IT WAS AN OLD FOOD LION FLYING SUPERMARKET. IT'S A GIANT, GIANT PARKING LOT IN FRONT OF IT, BUT YOU REALLY CAN'T TELL THAT IT'S A LIBRARY. I MEAN, YOU CAN, IF YOU KNOW IT'S THERE, BUT IT, IF, IF YOU'RE DRIVING BY, YOU WOULD GO, OH, OKAY. THERE'S SOME TREES IN A BIG PARKING LOT. WHAT IS THAT? I'M NOT SURE. SO WE'RE, WE'RE GONNA WANT TO TRY TO KIND OF IMPROVE THE VISIBILITY, UH, SOUTH LOCATION. WE HAVE A LITTLE SPACE OUT FRONT BECAUSE WE HAVE, WITH THAT, TO ANSWER ANY QUESTIONS, WHEN WAS THE LAST TIME WE DID A MAJOR RENOVATION AT SOUTH? I'VE BEEN AROUND A LONG TIME AND IT SEEMS LIKE YESTERDAY TO ME, BUT I AM HORRIBLE AT THE PASSAGE OF TIME. IT WAS BEFORE I GOT HERE. SO WAS IT PART OF THE 2004 BOND? 2004? IF YOU CAN GET THAT IN. I THINK YOU WERE HERE. UM, YEAH, IT WAS, UH, YEAH, YOU WERE HERE. 'CAUSE IT, REMEMBER THE CARPETING AND NO, THAT'S RIGHT. UM, YEAH, IT WAS THE LAST BOND. SO 2004. YEAH. OKAY. I BELIEVE SO. WE HAVE, IT WAS ONE OF THE FEW THINGS THAT ACTUALLY GOT TO BE ABLE TO BE DONE IN THE 2004 BOND. I HAVE A QUESTION. YES, MA'AM. UM, YOU MENTIONED, YOU SAID YOU HAD $400,000 OF EXPENSES LEFT. OH, FOR, UH, SOUTH, IT'S JUST OVER, UH, JUST UNDER 300,000. OKAY. I WAS CURIOUS IF YOU WERE IN THE DEFICIT AT ALL, IF YOU, ALL THE RESOURCES WERE ACCOUNTED FOR TO COMPLETE AS NEEDED. THEY'RE WORKING ON THAT RIGHT NOW. SO THEY'RE GOING TO KIND OF PHASE EACH ONE OF THESE AND GET THE COSTS, UH, FOR THE ONES, YOU KNOW, WHAT THEY'RE GOING TO BE ABLE TO DO. UH, AND THEN, UH, ASK FOR MORE MONEY AS WE GO ALONG. ONE OF THE THINGS WE'RE GONNA TRY TO DO IS WITH EACH PHASE, WE DON'T WANT TO DO SOMETHING AND THEN HAVE TO GO BACK AND REDO IT. SO WE'RE GONNA TRY TO WORK AND STAGE EVERYTHING SO THAT IT FITS TOGETHER ON JUST KIND OF ENDING BATON DOWN, DOWN THE ROAD TO TRY TO GET EVERYTHING THAT, I DON'T KNOW IF I ANSWERED THAT. I THINK SO. I, I THINK I'M JUST TRYING TO MAKE SURE THAT YOU, YOU GOT ALL YOUR MONEY , YOU HAVE, YOU HAVE EVERYTHING. WE HAVE THE MONEY FROM THE BOND ACCORDING TO CO FROM THE 2019 BOND. YES. WE, WE HAVE, WE HAVE ALL OF THAT, BUT IT'S OBVIOUSLY, UH, SOME OF THESE THINGS ARE GONNA BE VERY EXPENSIVE. SURE. SO, UH, IT'LL GET BIT FOR SO DOES THAT MEAN ANOTHER BOND ISSUE OR WHERE YOU'RE GETTING THE MONEY? UH, WE'LL PROBABLY WORK THROUGH THE, AT THIS POINT, THE CIP PROCESS. THE, UH, THE BOND IS NOT COMPLETELY UP TO US. UH, WHAT GETS PUT ON, UH, PUT ON THE BOND AND WHAT IS NOT. I WOULD SAY JUST RIGHT NOW IN THE FORESEEABLE FUTURE, CAPITAL IMPROVEMENT, CAPITAL IMPROVEMENT PROCESS, IT'S STILL DEBT FUNDING. IT'S JUST NOT DONE THROUGH OF AN ELECTION. YEAH. ANY ROUGH TIME PROJECTIONS ON COMPLETING ALL OF THESE PROJECTS AT NORTH AND SOUTH? I KNOW IT'S EARLY, BUT I DON'T HAVE THAT ONE NOW. I THINK WE WILL, UH, AFTER WE DO SCHEMATIC DESIGN, WE GET, UH, GET, WE GET OUR ARCHITECT ON BOARD, WE DO OUR SCHEMATIC DESIGN WITH THE ARCHITECT, AND WE WILL HAVE A CONSTRUCTION COMPANY ON BOARD THAT WILL KIND OF, UH, KIND OF, UH, DICTATE WHERE WE'RE AT. I DO BELIEVE, UH, WE, WE WANT TO LIKE, I THINK ALL DEPARTMENTS AND ALL EVERY, ALL THE 2019 BOND MONEY, WE, WE WANT TO GET, GET THROUGH THAT. SURE. SO THERE IS A PUSH TO GAVE US ANY OTHER QUESTIONS? THANK YOU. THAT WAS, THAT WAS REALLY GOOD. OH, I DO HAVE A QUESTION ABOUT, [00:25:01] UM, WEST. SO YOU SAID THAT WE'RE STILL OPERATING UNDER A TEMPORARY CO BUT WE DON'T ANTICIPATE ANY ISSUES. THEY'RE WORKING ON THAT, AS A MATTER OF FACT, THEY'RE WORKING ON THAT TODAY. SO IT'S A PROCESS THAT YOU HAVE TO GO THROUGH, IT GET INSPECTED AND THOSE SORT OF THINGS. SO, UM, THERE IS A LITTLE PROCESS THAT, AND YOU HAVE TO GET TO A CERTAIN LEVEL, UH, BEFORE YOU CAN PASS, WHICH IS USUALLY, BASICALLY EVERYTHING NEEDS TO LOOK COMPLETED. SO IF THERE'S ANYTHING THAT'S OUT, LIKE I SHOWED YOU THAT EXTERIOR AREA OUT THERE, THEY WOULD NOT BE ABLE TO PASS THAT AS A CERTIFICATE OF OCCUPANCY. 'CAUSE UH, IT WASN'T COMPLETED. BUT THEN THEY HAVE NOW COMPLETED IT. THEY'RE WORKING, THE CITY IS WORKING. WE DON'T ANTICIPATE. I KNOW ONCE UPON A TIME, UM, LET ME BACK UP. SO, UH, WELL, ONCE UPON A TIME, UH, BOARD MEMBERS WERE TREATED TO A HARD HAT TOUR OF CENTRAL AND KAREN COMMENTED MORE RECENTLY THAT WE WILL NOT BE, WE CANNOT BE TREATED TO A TOUR OF WEST UNTIL WE GET A CO. SO THAT'S, THAT'S WHY WE DIDN'T GET A TOUR OF THE, OF WEST. SO, UH, IT'S, THAT'S, THAT'S THE REASON. AND WE HAVE TO, TO FOLLOW WHAT MAKES SENSE FOR SAFETY AND SO ON. SO I HOPE THAT EVERYBODY CAN COME TO THE GRAND OPENING. I KNOW YOU'LL, I'M GONNA TRY, BUT, UM, YOU HAVE A GOOD EXCUSE. YES. IT SHOULD BE VERY EXCITING. BE THERE NIGHT. ALRIGHT, WE'LL LOOK FORWARD TO SEEING YOU ALL THERE. CAN YOU SAY THE TIME AGAIN? 10 O'CLOCK. 10 O'CLOCK. THE 25TH. THE 25TH. THE 25TH, YES. OCTOBER 25TH. FINE. OKAY. AND NOW THE NEXT GOOD NEWS ITEM, UM, CURIOSITY FEST AND ONE BOOK, ONE GARLAND RECAP. OKAY. I HAVE, UM, OUR LIBRARIANS ADULT SERVICES LIBRARIAN, NICOLE BURTON. WE'LL TALK ABOUT, UH, CURIOSITY FEST AND, UH, DAPHNE FERRIS WILL BE TALKING ABOUT ONE BOOK, WOOD GARDEN. YOU CAN COME UP. YES. HERE WE GO. AND THEY, THEY BOTH WORKED TOGETHER AND THERE WERE OTHER PEOPLE ON THE TEAM, BUT THESE WERE, THESE WERE THE LEADERS. UH, IT'S THE INAUGURAL CURIOSITY FEST, WHICH WAS OUR LITERARY FESTIVAL AND THE SECOND ANNUAL ONE BOOK ONE GARLAND. AND BOTH WERE HUGE SUCCESSES. ALRIGHT. OKAY. HELLO. I'M GONNA TALK ABOUT C ABOUT CURIOSITY FEST. UH, THIS IS OUR FIRST TIME EVER DOING AN, UM, WE WANTED TO DO SOME TYPE OF LIKE LITERARY FESTIVAL AND THEN HAVE A ONE BOOK ONE. UM, THIS ISN'T LIKE A NEW CONCEPT. UM, THERE'S BEEN, THERE'S BEEN LIKE LITERARY CONVENTIONS FOR A LONG TIME, BUT IN RECENT YEARS, PUBLIC LIBRARIES HAVE ARY FESTIVALS, UM, AS A WAY TO ENGAGE US WITH POST, LIKE A BIGGER INTERVENTION EVENT. UM, SO FOR OUR PLANNING STAGES, UH, WHAT WE WANTED TO DO IS WE FIRST LOOKED AT WHAT NEW BREWERIES AND WERE DOING DURING THEIR EVENT. SO, SO WE MOSTLY WERE COMPARING, UM, WHAT EVENTS THEY WERE OFFERING AT THEIRS. UH, POPULAR EVENTS INCLUDED AUTHOR MEET, THEY WOULD READ EXCERPTS FROM VENDORS, PANELS, THINGS LIKE THAT. SORT OF SIFTED THROUGH NEARBY EVENTS. UM, AND SINCE IT WAS OUR FIRST EVENT, WE ALSO POSSIBLY BE MORE POPULAR. SO AFTER WE NARROWED DOWN OUR, WE DECIDED ON THESE IS OUR MAIN EVENTS. UM, SO WE DECIDED TO DO A LOCAL AUTHOR SHOWCASE. SHOWCASE WOULD BE, UM, A CHANCE FOR LOCAL AUTHORS, , WHERE THEY COULD BOTH, UH, PROMOTE BUT ALSO SELL THE LIBRARY. WE WANTED TO OFFER A WRITING WORKSHOPS AS WELL. UM, WE KNEW WE WANTED TO DO EVENTS ALL, UM, AGES. WE WANTED TO DO ADULT EVENTS AND ALSO DO CHILDREN'S. WE WANTED TO DO A CHILDREN'S STORY, STORY TIME. AND DURING OUR PLANNING STAGES, WE WERE IN, UH, MUSEUM, WHICH IS DIRECT HOME. UM, AND WE KNEW THAT WE WANTED TO PARTNER FOR EVENTS. SO WE SPOKE TO THEM AND THEY'RE VERY INTERESTED IN THAT WAY. WE COULD SORT OF LIKE MUTUALLY PROMOTE EITHER IN THAT. [00:30:02] AND AT THE END OF THE DAY, OUR PLAN WAS ALWAYS TO HAVE THE ONE BOOK ONE. SO OUR FIRST STEP WAS ONCE WE DECIDED ON THE EVENTS WE WANT TO DO, UM, WE DID SORT OF AN OPEN CALL TO SEE WHAT LOCAL AUTHORS WOULD BE INTERESTED IN PARTICIPATING. UH, WE PROMOTED THIS BOTH ON OUR WEBSITE, BUT YEAH. AND THROUGH, UM, AND WE WERE MOSTLY JUST TRYING TO SEE WHO WAS INTERESTED. UM, ON THE SCREEN YOU'LL SEE A PICTURES. WE HAVE THE INTEREST FORUM UP FOR ABOUT A MONTH. UM, AND OUR PLAN WAS TO SEE WHO WOULD RESPOND TO ADAM. AND THEN AFTER WE HAD ALL OF THE FORMS WHO APPLIED, WE HAD, YOU KNOW, ROOM FOR ALL THE, WHO ATTEND THE, CAN YOU GO OVER WHO WAS ELIGIBLE AND HOW THEY WERE SELECTED? YEAH, SURE. UH, SO FOR OUR ELIGIBILITY PROCESS, UM, OUR, UM, OUR GUIDELINES FOR THAT WAS THEY HAD TO BE SOMEONE THAT LIVES THIS. UM, WE MADE IT MORE BROAD BECAUSE WE WANTED, UM, AND WE ALSO WANTED, UM, THEIR WORKS TO BE EITHER SELF-PUBLISHED, PUBLISHED INDEPENDENT PRESS, OR HAVE WORK. WE WANTED THEM TO SPECIFY WHO WAS APPLYING. AND WE ALSO, UM, ASKED THEM. UM, WE ALSO GAVE THE DATE FOR THE WELL, SO PEOPLE WOULD, UM, FOR THE SELECTION PROCESS. WE, SINCE WE, WE DIDN'T KNOW WHO WAS GOING TO APPLY, WE MADE IT VERY CLEAR THAT NOTHING, UM, FOR THE INTEREST FORM, UH, WE WERE GONNA TAKE A LOOK AT EVERYTHING AFTER BASE WE HAD. UM, WE ALSO WANTED TO SEE WHAT SORT OF LIKE DIFFERENT GENRES AND ALSO AGE, UM, AGE RANGES WOULD BE AS WELL IF IT WAS LIKE ALL, YOU KNOW, JUST LIKE THAT. WE JUST DIDN'T HAVE REALLY ANY IDEA WHO WOULD APPLY. SO WE THOUGHT WE'LL DO THESE GUIDELINES, FIGURE OUT ON THE BACKEND WOULD ALLOW IN AS WELL. UM, SO WE COULD INCLUDE AS MANY DIFFERENT, UM, AS MANY DIFFERENT GENRES AS POSSIBLE. UH, ON THIS NEXT SLIDE, THIS IS WHAT OUR INTEREST WOULD LOOK LIKE. UM, SO WE JUST ASK FOR THE AUTHOR'S CONTACT INFORMATION AND WE ANSWER THE QUESTIONS FROM THE ELIGIBILITY SECTION SECTION. SO ON THE LEFT SIDE, UM, TOWARDS THE BOTTOM, WE ASKED THEM HOW THEY'RE PUBLISHED. WE ASKED THEM WHAT THEIR PRIMARY AUDIENCE, WHAT GENRES THEY ALSO, UM, WE AGAIN INCLUDED THE DATES. PEOPLE WOULD KNOW WHEN THEY WOULD BE, UH, WHEN IT WOULD HAPPEN. UM, UNDER THE INTEREST FORM, WE ALSO INCLUDE OVER A DISAGREEMENT. UM, WE CREATED THIS SO THAT THE AUTHORS WOULD SORT OF KNOW, LIKE, THIS IS THE OFFICIAL, UM, AGREEMENT FOR IF THEY ARE SELECTED. MOST IMPORTANT ONE IS, I DON'T, I HONESTLY DON'T KNOW IF WE'VE EVER HELD AUTHORS TO SELL AT THE LIBRARY BEFORE. UM, BUT WE DECIDED TO DO THAT IF ANYONE SOLD ANY ITEMS TO LIGHT UP THERE. UM, WE SAID THAT THEY WOULD AGREE AS PART OF BOOK SALES AS THE, UM, LIBRARY AS WELL. SO THIS SORT OF LIKE LISTED OUT EVERYTHING SO THE AUTHORS THAT WERE INTERESTED WOULD HAVE THE FULL INFORMATION. UM, AND WE TRIED TO MAKE THIS CLEAR AS POSSIBLE. UM, A LOT OF THESE FROM LIKE IF A DIFFERENT LIBRARY OR IF A DIFFERENT GROUP HAS OWN, WE'RE JUST KIND OF SEEING LIKE WHAT PEOPLE, SO, SO YOU DID NOT HAVE A CENTRAL PLACE WHERE YOU PAID FOR A BOOK. MM-HMM . EACH, EACH AUTHOR WAS RESPONSIBLE WITH THEIR OWN CREDIT CARD MACHINE AND EVERYTHING. YES. YEAH. BUT THAT WAS DIFFICULT TO, UH, UM, IT WASN'T, IT WASN'T TOO BAD. UM, A LOT OF CONVENTIONS NOWADAYS, UM, THEY LEAVE ALL OF THE SELLING OTHER THAN THEMSELVES. MM-HMM . SOME LIKE VENDORS WILL ACCEPT CASH. OTHERS GO THROUGH LIKE THE DIFFERENT CASH, UM, AS WELL. SO WE WANTED TO MAKE IT OPEN AS WELL FOR WHATEVER, LIKE, HOWEVER THEY WANTED TO SELL. UH, THEY BE VERY FLEXIBLE. THEY HELP OUT THEM. THEN I, THEY CAN ALSO, SO BASICALLY AN HONOR SYSTEM FOR 20%. YES. UH, WE ALSO HAVE THEM FILL OUT FORMS AS WELL, SO WE COULD TRACK AT THE END OF THE EVENT WHO, WHO DONATED AS WELL. MM-HMM . SO WE JUST SORT OF DID THAT WITH ALL THE FORMS RIGHT NOW. AND I THINK THAT WENT SUCCESSFUL. I'LL KIND [00:35:01] OF TALK ABOUT THAT MORE WHEN WE DO. BUT YEAH, THIS WAS OUR FIRST TIME DOING THOUGH. I DON'T KNOW IF KNOW YOU, WE WENT OVER LIKE THE FORMS. UM, HAVE YOU EVER DONE, WE'VE DONE, UH, INDIVIDUAL, UH, WHEN WE'VE HAD PERFORMERS OR PEOPLE COME TO, UH, DIFFERENT EVENTS THAT IF THEY SELL THEIR MATERIALS THAT THEY DONATE, UH, AND THE SENIOR SOCIAL HOUR, WE'VE DONE THAT IN THE PAST. WERE YOU EVER A PART OF THAT? WHEN WE WERE DOING THAT? MM-HMM. OKAY. BEFORE YOU BUT, BUT LIKE OUR ONE BOOK WHEN GARLAND, UH, AUTHOR LAST YEAR, PART OF THE DEAL FOR HIM TO GIVE 20% OF SALES FROM HIS NIGHT WAS THERE. I THINK IT'S A GREAT IDEA TO DO THIS, ESPECIALLY FOR THE SELF PUBLISHING AUTHORS. I THINK I'M, I'M STRUGGLING JUST A LITTLE BIT WITH 20% SEEMS A LITTLE STEEP. SO I'M WONDERING, UM, JUST CONSIDERING THAT THE COST TO BE AN INDEPENDENT AUTHOR IS, IS HARD FOR A LOT OF INDEPENDENT AUTHORS AND SMALL BUSINESSES. AND SO JUST WANTED TO OFFER, IF EVER FOR CONSIDERATION, THAT MAY BE A SLIDING SCALE TO GIVE PEOPLE CHOICE. A LITTLE OF MAYBE A MINIMUM OF 10%. MAYBE IT GOES A LITTLE HIGHER, RIGHT? BECAUSE THEY COULD HAVE DONATED MORE. BUT FOR SOME THAT ARE REALLY STRUGGLING TO GET THEIR WORK OUT THERE WHEN YOU CONSIDER TAXES, COST OF TIME, SELF-PUBLISHING, AND THEN ANOTHER 20%, WE WANT PEOPLE TO BE SUSTAINABLE AND TO CONTINUE THEIR WORK. SO JUST WANTED TO OFFER THAT. WELL, WE ALSO DID HEAR THAT. I THINK THAT'S A GOOD SUGGESTION. WE ALSO DID HEAR THOUGH THAT SEVERAL OTHER LIBRARIES WHO DO SIMILAR PROGRAMS, THEY'LL CHARGE AN ENTRANCE FEE. SO NO MATTER WHAT YOU SELL, YOU'RE PAYING A CERTAIN DOLLAR AMOUNT. AND WE'RE JUST SAYING IF YOU SELL SOMETHING, IF YOU COULD GIVE US TWIN OF THAT. HOW DID YOU COME UP WITH THAT NUMBER? THAT WAS SET BEFORE? YEAH. YEAH. THAT HAS BEEN, UM, THAT'S BEFORE I EVEN GOT HERE. THAT WAS SET FOR ANYTIME. UH, WE, SOMEBODY SOLD PRODUCTS. OH. AT ANY OF OUR, ANY OF THE, UH, . SO YOU JUST USED PRECEDENT THEN? SO FROM OUR AUTHOR INTEREST, UH, THIS WAS THE, UM, RESPONSE THAT WE ENDED UP HAVING 51 OPT AND, UH, I'M OUT OF THOSE. IT WAS, IT WAS REALLY NICE. THERE WAS ABOUT AN EVEN SPILLING, UM, YOUNG ADULT AND ALSO ADULT AUTHORS. SO THAT REALLY WAS JUST HELPFUL TO KNOW IS WHO WAS INTERESTED IN OUR VIEW. UM, BECAUSE SOME OF THE PEOPLE APPLIED, WHAT WE DECIDED TO DO IS WE LOOKED AT THE DIFFERENT ROOMS AT BEST, WE DECIDED TO ALLOW EVERYONE WHO, WHO APPLIED AND WHO BUILT IT IN WITH THOSE, YOU, WE ALLOWED EVERYONE TO ATTEND THE EVENT. SO WHAT WE DID IS WE SENT CONFIRMATION EMAIL, EVERYONE. AND THEN 51, THERE IS 43 WHERE, UM, AND WE ALSO WANNA DO THIS AS WELL, UM, BECAUSE WE WANTED TO GIVE AS MANY PEOPLE. UM, SO WHAT WE DID IS OUR ORIGINAL PLAN WAS TO HAVE ONE LAW TO ACCOMMODATE. UM, WELL WE DECIDED TO SPLIT OUR LOCAL AUTHORS, UM, HOURS EACH. UH, SO WE SPLIT UP SINCE WE KNEW WHAT EVERYONE'S DIFFERENT, UM, AGES AND ALSO, UM, AND ALSO GENRES WERE, WE DECIDED TO SPLIT UP OUR SESSIONS SO THAT IN THE MORNING IT WOULD, THERE'S, AND IN THE AFTERNOON IT WOULD BE ADULT AUTHOR. UM, THE REASONING FOR THAT WAS WE WERE HAVING OUR SPACED EVENTS IN, IN OUR ADULT EVENTS AND WE WERE HOPING TO SERVE ALL THE PATRONS THAT WERE THERE. LIKE THOSE, UM, AT THOSE TIMES. SO FOR OUR MARKETING, UM, THIS WAS, WE, WELL BEFORE WE HAD THROUGH ALL OF THE VISUAL DETAILS, UM, WE DEFINITELY WANTED TO BEGIN PROMOTING THE EVENT. WE BEGAN PLANNING THIS, UM, SO AN HOUR OFF THE SHELF THAT CAME OUT AND WE WERE ALREADY ADVERTISING THE, UM, AND WE UPDATED THIS AS WE GOT MORE DETAILS, UM, IN CHECK AS WELL. SO THIS WAS THE INITIAL, UM, ADVERTISEMENT. UM, IT WAS MORE JUST TO GET OUT THE WORD ABOUT THE LIKE DATE AND ALSO EXPLAIN WHAT THE EVENT WAS. UM, WE DECIDED TO CALL IT CURIOSITY FEST. UM, WE WANTED TO DO A, UH, LEAN PLAY WITH OUR, UH, WITH OUR, WELL. UM, AND WE ALSO WANTED SOMETHING THAT WAS MORE BROAD OF LIKE ALSO, UM, [00:40:03] OTHERS WERE ALSO GONNA WRITE, UM, WRITING WORKSHOPS, THINGS LIKE, AND THEN THIS IS OUR UPDATED FLYER. UM, THIS WAS WHEN WE HAD MORE OF THE DETAILS ABOUT FOR SPENCE. AND THEN WE ALSO INCLUDE A QR CODE AS WELL. UM, SO THIS WOULD LINK PATRONS TO, UM, A SPECIFIC WEBPAGE ON OUR WEBSITE THAT WOULD GIVE, GIVE FURTHER DETAILS. AND THIS IS WHAT THE WEBS, UM, SO THIS JUST SORT OF LISTS, UM, ALL THE EVENTS AND ALL THE, THE ITEMS I'LL GO OVER IN A COUPLE OF MINUTES WRITING WORKSHOPS TOO. BUT THIS JUST GIVE A BROAD OVERVIEW OF ALL THE EVENTS HAPPENING ALL DAY AS LIKE A QUICK, UM, QUICK REFERENCE. AND THEN THESE ARE EXAMPLES OF OUR SOCIAL MEDIA POSTS. UM, SO WE PRIMARILY PROMOTE ON, ON INSTAGRAM AND ON FACEBOOK. UM, SO THESE WERE, WE ALWAYS LINKED TO THAT WEBPAGE SLIDE, BUT THESE JUST ALSO LIST OUT THE FULL EVENTS. WELL, AND HE PAGE OVERVIEW WHEN, UM, SO THIS JUST SORT OF SHOWS WHAT THE APP WAS AND THEN ALSO IT SHOWED YOU ALL THAT INFORMATION. THE SAME ON LIKE THE LITTLE MORE CAN. AND WE ALSO ADVERTISE ON BRIGHT, THIS IS WHERE WE HAVE ANY OF OUR PROGRAMS AND REGISTRATIONS. SO WE HAVE THE EVENTS ON HERE FOR LIKE THE GENERAL CURIOSITY EVENTS. AND THEN FOR THE MORE SPECIFIC EVENTS LIKE OPS, WE HAD IT INCLUDED ON THERE AS WELL. AND FOR OUR, UM, WRITING WORKSHOPS WE HAD, UM, SO WE HAD, UM, REGISTRY. SO THEY WERE FREE, BUT WE HAD TO PAY A CERTAIN AMOUNT. HER REGISTRANT, IS THAT WHAT HOW? NO, SO WE DON'T CHARGE FOR ANY KIND. THIS IS JUST SO WE CAN HAVE SIGN OUT. I THINK GONNA BE EVENTBRITE. I'VE WORKED WITH THEM BEFORE AND THEY HAVE FEES THAT WE END UP PAYING. BUT, BUT YOU DON'T PAY ANY FEES? YOU MEAN FOR LIKE THE WEBSITE OR FOR LIKE PEACH? IT'S FREE FOR, FOR US IT'S FREE. IT'S FREE FOR NO CHARGE. IT'S FREE IF YOU, IF EVENT IS FREE FROM LIKE THE PATRONS PERSPECTIVE. YEAH. MM-HMM . NO, I MEAN THE, UM, USE OF EVENT, THE LIBRARY USE OF EVENTBRITE. WE USE EVENTBRITE FOR ALL OF OUR PROGRAMS AND IT'S FREE TO US. WE'RE NOT CHARGED TO USE. THEN WE ALSO HAD, UM, THIS IS AN EXAMPLE OF THE, WELL, THESE ARE DISTRIBUTED TO, UM, TO AMAL. UM, AND THEY ALSO WERE SO ON, UM, OUR FINAL SCHEDULE OF EVENTS HERE. UM, SO THIS WAS THE FINAL SCHEDULE THAT WE, UH, ADVERTISED. ALSO WHAT WE, SO THE PLAN WAS FOR THE DAYS TO BEGIN WITH A AUTHOR SHOWCASE. UM, SO IT HAPPENED RIGHT WHEN WE WOULD FIRST OPEN, THIS IS THAT ONE. AND THEN WE ENDED UP DOING THREE, UM, FREE WRITING WORKSHOPS. THE FIRST ONE WAS FOR ADULTS, THE SECOND ONE WAS A MORE TWEEN BASED ONE. UM, AND THE THIRD ONE WAS WITH GARLAND LANDMARK MUSEUM. UM, LIKE NONFICTION WRITING AS WELL. AND I'LL GO OVER THESE MORE IN DETAIL IN THERE AS WELL. AND THEN THE END OF THE DAY WAS ALWAYS GONNA BE THE ONE. SO FOR OUR LOCAL AUTHOR SHOWCASE, UM, LIKE I MENTIONED, 43 LOCAL AUTHORS PAINTED OF THOSE 43, 15 ARE GARLAND. AND OVER THE FOUR HOURS, SO THE TWO SESSIONS THAT WERE EACH TWO, UM, TWO HOURS LONG, WE HAD AN END. UM, IT WAS ABOUT LIKE AN EVEN MIX FOR WHO SHOWED UP FOR EACH OF THE, THAT WAS REALLY NICE. IT DIDN'T ONCE, UM, THESE ARE JUST PATRONS, UM, THAT ARE, YOU KNOW, ENGAGING WITH THE, UM, LOCAL AUTHORS DURING NO CASE. UM, AND YOU CAN KIND OF SEE HOW WE HAD LIKE THE CAN CAN WE ASK A QUESTION? QUESTION? YEAH. UM, DID THE AUTHORS PROVIDE ANY FORM OF LIKE SURVEY OF FEEDBACK OF JUST EVEN THEIR EXPERIENCE? WE, WE SENT ONE OUT. WE'RE STILL WAITING FOR A COUPLE MORE PEOPLE TO IT. UM, AND WE'RE GOING TO USE THOSE TO SEE ADJUSTMENTS WE COULDN'T DO, BUT WE DID SEND ONE OUT AND ANYTHING. UH, ALSO FOR THE SAME FOR PATRONS THAT ATTENDING CHINESE, WE DIDN'T DO ONE FOR TRENDS, UM, [00:45:04] IN THE PAST. DO YOU KNOW, I MEAN, WE COULD, WE COULD DO THAT. WE COULD ASK, I MEAN THE EVENT, WRITE OFF OF THAT OPTION. PARDON ME. DOES THE EVENT WRITE OFFER OFFER YOU THAT OPTION FOR PEOPLE WHO REGISTERED? I AM NOT SURE, BUT WE CAN LOOK INTO IT. I THINK THE VOICE OF, OF ALL WHAT WOULD BE REALLY INSIGHTFUL. OKAY. AND THEN FOR OUR, UM, WRITING WORKSHOPS, UM, SO LIKE I MENTIONED, WE HAD TWO THAT TOOK PLACE FOR ADULTS BY, UM, UM, . HE WAS REP, THANK YOU . HE WAS ACTUALLY OUR ONE BOOK ONE, UM, LAST YEAR AS WELL. UM, HE WAS VERY INTERESTED IN, HE'S LIKE ALWAYS VERY LIKE WORKING WITH YOU. UM, JUST, HE LOVES TO SUPPORT CENTRAL. WHAT A GUY. THAT'S ALWAYS NICE. UM, SO HIS WORKSHOP FOCUSED ON MORE TISH, UM, HIS ATTENDANCE, UM, AT HIS, AT HIS WORKSHOP WAS, UM, OUR OTHER WORKSHOP AUTHOR AND ILLUSTRATOR SARAH. UM, SHE IS A GRAPHIC NOVEL AND SHE WANTED TO DO ONE FOR MORE. SO WE THOUGHT THAT WAS A VERY EXCITING SORT OF, YOU KNOW, DIFFERENT WELL, AND AT HER WORKSHOP NINE I SAID NINE. NINE? YES. OKAY. MM-HMM . YEAH. AND THIS IS WHAT, THIS IS AN EXAMPLE OF WHAT, LIKE THE ROOM LOOKED UP, UM, WHAT THE ROOM LOOKED LIKE DURING THE EVENTS. MM-HMM . UM, SO DURING, UM, DURING, DURING RE'S WORKSHOP, HE JUST DID ONE. AND THEN DURING SARAH SHE HAD LIKE, SHE COULD SHOW EXAMPLES TOO. YEAH. MM-HMM . AND THEN I MENTIONED OUR PARTNERSHIP WITH GARLAND AT LANDMARK MU MUSEUM. UM, THEY, WHEN WE TALKED TO THEM, THEY REALLY WANTED TO HOST A MUSEUM AS WELL. JUST SORT OF LIKE, WELL, UM, THEIR WORKSHOP FOCUSED MORE, UM, THEIRS WAS GONNA FOCUS ON THE FAMILIES HISTORY. UM, AND LIKE I MENTIONED AS PART OF THE PARTNERSHIP, THEY CURIOSITY. UM, AND THEN WE COULD ALSO SORT LIKE PEOPLE COULD, MAYBE THEY HAD, THEY ENDED UP HAVING FOUR PEOPLE ATTEND. UM, AND WHEN WE SPOKE TO THE DIRECTOR DIRECTLY LANDMARK MUSEUM, SHE SAID THAT THERE, UM, IT WAS MORE PEOPLE THAT WERE INTERESTED IN LIKE, AS OPPOSED TO LIKE THE LIBRARY PATRON TOO. SO I THINK IT JUST DEPENDS ON WHERE IT'S HOSTED SOME. AND THEN I MENTIONED OUR CHILDREN'S STORY TIME. UH, SO WE ENDED UP PLANNING AT STORY TIME. SO WE HAD A DO, UM, FOR P AND THEN THERE WAS A, UM, THERE WAS STORY TIME WITH AS WELL AND LIKE A CRAFT. UM, WE HAD 300 PEOPLE AND 10 STORY TIME. UM, THAT ONE SHOP FROM THE UPPER FLOOR KIND OF SHOWS LIKE TWO. WOW. AND IT WAS VERY BUSY. , THIS IS OUR BUDGET BREAKDOWN EVENTS. SO THE TWO AUTHORS THAT LED THE, UM, WRITING WORKSHOPS AT ALL, IT WAS $200 IN TOTAL. UM, WE BEGAN TO DO THOSE DIFFERENT ONE AND I WANTED TO BREAK DOWN OUR MARKET CAMPAIGN AS WELL. UM, SO ALL THOSE EXAMPLES I SHOVED YOU, WE HAD LIKE THE SOCIAL MEDIA. WE ALSO HAD LIKE THE PHYSICAL POSTERS AND THE PRESENTATION BOARDS THAT WE DO WELL, UM, OUT OF ALL THE MARKETING, IT CAME TO A TOTAL. SO WE PAID AN HONORARIUM OF $100. YOU DON'T HAVE THE SPEAKERS OF THE TWO SEMINARS. IT WAS REALLY CHEAP. YEAH, IT'S A LOT LESS EXPENSIVE. TWO EACH. THAT'S REALLY NICE. THEY WERE 200 EACH. THEY WERE 200 EACH. WELL THAT'S STILL ESPECIALLY ON BUSY VIS IS AND HOW WELL HE GETS BOOKED. SO, SO LOOKING TO DOING THE EVENT THEATERS AS WELL. UH, WE'VE ALREADY DISCUSSED THIS A LITTLE BIT. UH, WE'RE THINKING ABOUT POSSIBLY CHANGING THE NAME. WE KNOW CURIOSITY FEST. WE WANT IT TO BE MORE BROAD. UM, SO LIKE, YOU KNOW, LOCAL AUTHORS THAT, BUT WE THINK MAYBE IT'S TOO BROAD. UM, SO WE'RE LOOKING TO POSSIBLY CHANGE IT SO AS MORE OF A LIKE LITERARY FESTIVAL NAME TO IT. UM, [00:50:01] AND WE'RE JUST HOPING THAT'LL SORT OF LIKE, UM, MAKE THE ADVERTISING A LITTLE WELL IN CASE IF IT'S NOT CLEARED FOR LIKE PATRONS THIS WAY THEY'LL KNOW WHAT IT IS. LIKE. UM, WE HAD IT IN THE ORIGINAL OR LIKE WE HAD IT IN ALL OF OUR MARKETING THAT IS A LITERARY FESTIVAL. IT WASN'T LIKE THE EVENT. UM, CURIOSITY. AND THEN BASED OFF OF WHAT THOSE FROM OUR DENTS, WE DEFINITELY WANTED TO BE, UM, OFF SHOW CAN, UM, AND BECAUSE THE LEG BENDING WENT FAIRLY WELL, IF THERE'S WAY WAY FOR US TO WORK WITH LIKE OTHER AS WELL, WE'RE DEFINITELY, UM, WE DEFINITELY WANT TO CONTINUE ADULTS WITH CHILDREN AND FAMILIES TOO. YEAH. UM, IT WENT VERY WELL WHEN WE JUST OFTEN CHILDREN'S STORY TIME. SO WE LIKE THAT THAT ONE WAS SO POPULAR. AND THEN LIKE THE TEEN ONE ALSO GOT PRETTY GOOD. IT'S REALLY HARD TO GET TEENS TO ATTEND PROGRAM TIMES. MM-HMM . SO NINE'S A LOT ACTUALLY FOR A TEEN PROGRAM. YEAH, IT IS. SO WE DEFINITELY WANNA INCLUDE THINGS FOR LIKE, AND WE ALSO WANT TO, UM, EMPHASIZE ONE BOOK ONE, UM, GARLAND MORE AS WELL. UM, WE DEFINITELY KNOW WHAT WE WANT TO KEEP JUST TO SORT OF LIKE, MAKE IT MORE OF LIKE THE BIG BIGGER EVENT. ONE THOUGHT ON THE TEENS AND TWEENS. UM, DID YOU WORK AT ALL WITH GISD ON TRYING TO GET THE WORD OUT TO ENGLISH TEACHERS AND THAT KIND OF THING? 'CAUSE OKAY. SOME MIGHT MIGHT BE AN OPPORTUNITY JUST BECAUSE IT COULD DOVETAIL WITH OTHER WRITING ASSIGNMENTS AND THINGS THAT THEY'RE DOING WELL. OR BEING AN ENGLISH TEACHER, I WOULD BE LIKE EXTRA CREDIT IF YOU GO EXACTLY. . YEAH, EXACTLY. BUT CONGRATULATIONS SOUNDS LIKE A WONDERFUL EVENT. I WAS OUT OF TOWN AND I REALLY HATED TO MISS IT, BUT NOW I FEEL LIKE A VIRTUE. THANK YOU . AND, AND I WOULD ADD THAT I LIKE THE NAME I DO TOO. THE CURIOSITY. YEAH. BECAUSE IT IS NOT AS TRADITIONAL AS A LITERARY FESTIVAL AND THEN IT KIND OF SOUNDS A LITTLE BORING. NO SHADE TO Y'ALL . UM, BUT IF, IF PEOPLE SEE THAT IT'S HOSTED BY THE LIBRARY, THEN I THINK IT IMP IT MAKES AN IMPLICATION, BUT ALSO LOOK AT THE GREAT SUCCESS THAT YOU HAD. SO OBVIOUSLY IT PULLED ON SOME HEARTS AND MINDS AND, AND GOT THEIR CURIOSITY. RIGHT. RIGHT. , SO WELL DONE TO YOU ALL. AND I HOPE THAT YOU, YOU ALL FEEL THAT LEVEL OF SUCCESS AND IN, UM, FULFILLMENT JUST AS, AS MUCH AS THE COMMUNITY DID. YEAH. ESPECIALLY THAT CURIOSITY BRAND IS SO APPROPRIATE. YEAH. MM-HMM . FOR WHAT OUR LIBRARY SYSTEM OFFERS. WELL, SO I I LIKE KEEPING THOSE WELL CONNECTED AND THERE'S EVENTS THAT YOU COULD DO, LIKE MY MIND'S GOING RIGHT NOW, LIKE THAT YOU CAN KEEP THAT CURIOSITY THEME, BUT KEEP IT LITERARY, YOU KNOW? YEAH. KEEP BUILDING UPON IT. HAVE A SESSION LIKE BUILD YOUR OWN CHARACTER OR MM-HMM . YOU KNOW, HOW TO, HOW TO WRITE. I DON'T KNOW. BUT YEAH, I THINK YOU CAN, LIKE YOU SAID, YOU CAN DO BOTH. LIKE KEEP IT LITERARY, BUT KEEP THE NAME 'CAUSE I AGREE THE NAME IS GOOD. OKAY. AS THE MARKETING PERSON IN THE ROOM. I ALSO THINK BEING CONSISTENT WITH YOUR BRAND AND YOU'RE BUILDING YOUR BRAND, YOU KNOW, AND NOW WE'RE INTO ANOTHER YEAR OF BUILDING THE BRAND AND ALL THE WORK THAT THE AGENCY DID FOR YOU ALL. SO I THINK CONTINUING THE CURIOSITY NAME AND TYING IT TO YOUR MASCOT IS, IS SMART. MM-HMM . OKAY. YEAH. DON'T, DON'T, DON'T, DON'T CREATE THAT WONDERFUL BRAND AND THEN WALK AWAY FROM IT. PLEASE DON'T DO THAT. . OKAY. 51 QUESTIONS AS WELL. I WAS GONNA SAY 51 LOCAL AUTHORS SOUNDS TO ME LIKE A LOT. WERE YOU IMPRESSED? WERE YOU SURPRISED? WHAT WAS THE REACTION TO THAT? UM, OR HONESTLY, WE WEREN'T REALLY SURE WHAT TO, LIKE, WE, WE HAD DEFINITELY THE ORIGINAL SORT OF LIKE, YOU KNOW, THE ORIGINAL OVERVIEW OF HOW MANY TABLES WERE WE WANTED TO LIKE, SO WE KIND OF KNEW LIKE WHAT OUR LIKE CAPACITY MM-HMM . UM, BUT THEN WE SAID TOO, LIKE, IF WE COULD FIT IN, YOU KNOW, I'D BE LIKE, DEFINITELY WE THOUGHT WE WERE TALKING ABOUT MAYBE 20. UM, SO WE WERE VERY SURPRISED WHEN IT WAS . YAY. AWESOME. AND IT WAS REALLY GREAT THAT THERE WERE PRETTY MUCH EQUAL ADULT. MM-HMM. OR PEOPLE WRITING FOR ADULTS VERSUS THE YOUNGER, UH, PATRONS THAT'S REALLY HAPPY ABOUT THAT. DID YOU SAY HOW MUCH REVENUE YOU GOT IN FROM THE AUTHOR SALES? UM, NO, I DON'T HAVE THE FULL, CAN YOU SHARE THAT BACK? I, YEAH, I CAN DEFINITELY SEND IT SO THAT THAT WILL FALL UNDER FUTURE AGENDA ITEMS. AND I AGREE. UM, WE, WE WOULD ALSO BE INTERESTED IN THE AUTHOR FEEDBACK MM-HMM . AND TO WANT TO KNOW, LIKE, I WANNA KNOW, WILL THEY DO IT AGAIN? MM-HMM . YEAH. WITH THE AUTHORS COME BACK. SO [00:55:01] YEAH. AND WE ALSO LET ALL OF THE, ALL THE AUTHORS THAT PARTICIPATED THIS YEAR, WE ALSO LET THEM KNOW WE WOULD KEEP THEIR SO WE CAN LET THEM KNOW ABOUT HOW, HOW WELL AND EVERYONE THAT WE, THAT THEY ALL SEEMED VERY EXCITED THAT WE, THAT THEY WOULDN'T HAVE TO START FROM MM-HMM . MM-HMM . UM, AND OUT OF, LIKE I MENTIONED, WE HAD 43 THAT ATTENDED ON THE ACTUAL OF, UM, BUT THE ONES THAT COULDN'T, UM, THEY, THEY, THEY ALSO ASKED, AND WE'VE BEEN CONTACTED BY OTHER AUTHORS SINCE THIS EVENT TOO. OF COURSE. WHO TRAVELS? . WELL, THIS IS ALL VERY ENCOURAGING, VERY EXCITING. CONGRATULATIONS TO YOU AND YOUR TEAM. AND THAT'S ALL MY PRESENTATION. HERE'S MY CONTACTING ME ON, ON LIKE, PRETTY MUCH ALWAYS AT LIKE CENTRAL UNLESS WE SENT YOU SOMEWHERE. EXACTLY. YEAH. CONGRATULATIONS. YEAH, THAT WAS A GOOD PRESENTATION TOO. YEAH. THANK YOU. OH, THANK YOU COMPUTER AND NOT PERMANENTLY JUST TO SEND YOU SOMEWHERE. OKAY. SO I AM DOING THE, UH, RETROSPECTIVE ON THIS YEAR'S ONE VICTIM GARLAND. THIS IS OUR SECOND YEAR DOING IT. UM, IT WENT QUITE WELL LAST YEAR AND UH, WENT REALLY, UM, SO JUST I'LL REMIND EVERYONE, UH, THE PROGRAM LASTED JUNE. IT STARTED ON JUNE 13TH, AND THEN IT ENDED WITH, UH, THE SAME DAY THAT THAT WAS ON THE 27TH AND THE FINAL EVENT THAT DAY WAS THE, UH, EVENING WITH THE AUTHOR, UH, THE AUTHOR OF OUR BOOK FOR. AND SO I'M JUST GONNA, UH, SINCE THERE'S SOME NEW PEOPLE ON, UH, IN THE GROUP, I'M GONNA JUST RESTATE WHAT OUR GOALS ARE WITH THIS PROGRAM AND TALK WHEN ABOUT PICKING THE BOOK, AND THEN JUST GIVE YOU SOME PICTURES AND SOME DETAILS OF WHAT WE ENDED UP DOING THIS YEAR. SO ONCE AGAIN, OR FOR THE FIRST TIME, ONE BOOK WHEN GARLAND, THIS IS A, THIS IS AN, UH, THIS IS PART OF OUR ATTEMPT TO CONTINUE TO, UM, IMPROVE OUR ADULT PROGRAMMING AND TO MAKE MORE SOPHISTICATED PROGRAMMING. AND, UH, THIS IS A CITYWIDE READING PROGRAM FOR ADULTS AND AIMS TO PROMOTE LITERACY, SPARK MEANINGFUL CONVERSATIONS, AND BUILD COMMUNITY THROUGH A SHARED READING EXPERIENCE. AND THEN BOOK RELATED EVENTS. SO JUST LAST YEAR, THE KICKOFF WAS, UH, AT THE BEGINNING OF THE SUMMER AND THAT'S WHERE WE ANNOUNCED WHAT OUR BOOK WAS. AND WE ASKED, OR WE INVITED ADULTS IN THE COMMUNITY TO READ THE BOOK AND, AND THEY COULD CHECK THE BOOK OUT FROM ANY OF OUR LOCATIONS, INCLUDING OUR BOOK KIOSK. AND THEN, UH, IN SEPTEMBER LAST YEAR, AND THEN AGAIN THIS YEAR, UH, IS WHEN WE HAD IT RELATED TO THE BOOK. WE ALSO HAD, UM, DIGITAL TEXT AND DIGITAL AUDIO FROM, UH, THROUGH LIBBY. YES. SO PRINTED COPIES AND THEN DIGITAL. UM, SO LAST YEAR THE BOOK WAS HARD COUNTRY BY VIS WORTHHAM. THAT WAS, UH, THAT PARTICULAR BOOK WAS ONLY AVAILABLE IN OUR BOOK THIS YEAR WAS ALSO AVAILABLE IN SPANISH. SO WE HAD THAT ADDED THERE AS WELL. UM, LET'S SEE. SO, SO HOW IT WENT FOR THIS YEAR'S V AND HOW WE VIC, UH, WE MET, UH, AUGUST 29TH, WHICH WAS ACTUALLY JUST BEFORE WE HAD OUR EVENTS FOR OUR LAST V AND UM, THIS, WE HAD A COMMITTEE OF, UH, WE INVITED BIC CLUB MEMBERS PARTICIPATE. UH, WE DON'T WANT IT TO BE JUST STAFF PICKING THE BS. AND OUR GOAL IS TO MAKE IT AS, AS MANY PATRONS AS POSSIBLE WITH FEW STAFF. WE WOULD LIKE IT TO BE MORE OF THE COMMUNITY PICKING THE, UM, SO, BUT, UH, THIS TIME AROUND WE HAD, UH, FOUR BOOK CLUB MEMBERS WHO WERE INTERESTED IN PARTICIPATING. THERE WERE FIVE, FIVE STAFF MEMBERS, AND THEN WE HAD A, A LIBRARY BOARD MEMBER. UM, AND SO IN, UH, OCTOBER 3RD, SO WHAT WE DID IS WE HAD OUR INITIAL MEETING TO INTRODUCE THE PROGRAM, AND THEN WE ASKED, UH, EVERYONE TO FIND A BOOK TO RECOMMEND TO THE COMMITTEE. UH, SO THEN IN OUR, AT THE BEGINNING OF OCTOBER, WE MET AS A GROUP AND EVERYONE PITCHED THEIR BOOK [01:00:01] BASICALLY. AND THE GOAL WAS TO, UH, HEAR FROM EVERYBODY AND WHAT THEIR SUGGESTIONS WERE. AND THEN TO, UH, PAIR THAT LIST DOWN TO ABOUT, WE ENDED UP WITH THREE BOOKS THAT WE MADE SURE EVERYBODY READ. AND THEN WE VOTED IN DECEMBER ON OUR FINAL BOOK, WHICH WAS MALICE. UM, OH. AND THEN, UH, ONCE WE, UH, CHOSE OUR BOOK, THEN IN JANUARY WE WERE SIGNING THE CONTRACT WITH, OR I WASN'T, KAREN SIGNED THE CONTRACT WITH, UH, THE AUTHOR'S AGENT, SO WE FORMALIZED IT. OKAY. AND SO THE BOOK WAS, IF YOU HAVEN'T HEARD IT WAS MODUS BY MARCELLA FUENTES. AND THIS WAS, UH, HER DEBUT NOVEL. AND, UH, AS YOU CAN SEE, SHE'S BEEN WINNING ALL KINDS OF AWARDS FOR THIS BOOK. SO WE REALLY FLIPPED OUT WITH, UM, SOMEONE WHO'S REALLY HOT RIGHT NOW. UM, AND, UH, SHE JUST VERY SHORTLY SHE IS, IS FROM TEXAS. SHE WAS BORN AND RAISED IN DEL RIO. AND, UH, SHE NOW LIVES IN FORT WORTH AND SHE'S A PROFESSOR AT TEXAS CHRISTIAN. UM, SHE WAS A DELIGHTFUL BEEPER. IT WAS A REALLY FUN NIGHT. I'LL SHOW SOME PICTURES IN IT, BUT THAT WAS OUR BOOK. AND, UH, SHE'S THE AUTHOR THAT CAME IN THE EON, UH, . AND AS FAR AS BOOK RELATED EVENTS, UH, SO THE FIRST YEAR WE DID ALL OF OUR STUFF AT, UH, SOUTH FARLAND LIBRARY BECAUSE CENTRAL WAS JUST A LITTLE TEMPORARY BUILDING. WE DIDN'T REALLY HAVE A PLACE TO DO THIS. YEAH. UM, IT IS A SYSTEM-WIDE PROGRAM. AND SO THIS TIME AROUND, WE ASKED EACH OF THE LOCATIONS TO COME UP WITH SOME KIND OF PROGRAM IN SUPPORT OF, UH, THE BOOK, SOME BASED ON A THEME OF THE BOOK OR JUST SOMETHING RELATED TO THE BOOK. AND WE HAD SEVERAL CRAFT PROGRAMS. AND ALSO, UM, SO NORTH IRELAND CAME UP WITH THET AND PAINT. UH, THEY WERE, THEY WERE PAINTING LITTLE SUGAR STOOLS AND THEY ALSO, UH, THEY HAVE HAD A SERIES OF, UM, MENTAL HEALTH TALKS. THEY'RE NOT DOING IT. THEY'VE HIRED SOMEONE TO IT. AND THE FIRST, UH, SEPTEMBER'S THEME WAS UNDERSTANDING INTERGENERATIONAL TRAUMA, WHICH IS, UH, SOMETHING THAT COMES UP IN THE BOOK. THAT'S THE CONNECTION THERE. UM, SOUTH GARLAND, THEY MADE FLOWER HEADBANDS. AND THEN AT WALNUT CREEK, UH, THEY, UH, DECORATED CERAMIC COASTERS IN THE VERA STYLE. AND THEN OF COURSE WE HAD THE FINAL EVENT WITH EVENING WITH THE AUTHOR ALSO AT SOUTH GARLAND. THEY HAD, UM, THE GOWNS, UH, QUINCEANERA GOWNS. MM-HMM . UM, YES, I NEGLECTED TO INCLUDE THE DISPLAY PICTURES I SHOWED Y'ALL LAST TIME. THAT'S RIGHT. THEY HAD, UH, YES, A REALLY INTERESTING EXHIBIT ON THE TWO KIN QUINCEANERA ADDRESS, BEAUTIFUL GOWNS. UM, AND THAT WAS, UH, FOR, UH, THE ENTIRETY OF THE PROGRAM. EACH OF THE LOCATIONS HAD SOME KIND OF JUST, UM, OKAY, SO HERE'S SOME PICTURES. THIS WAS THE TM PAINT, CAVERAS THE . AND THEY, SO THEY PAINTED THESE LITTLE SKULLS AND ALL, AND I THINK I ALREADY SAID, BUT ALL OF THIS IS FOR ADULTS ONLY. THIS IS THE, UH, SO THE ORGANIZATION IS CALLED COUNSELING WITHOUT LIMITS. IT IS GARLAND BASED. UM, AND THE, THE LICENSED, UH, PROFESSIONAL COUNSELORS, ESTHER ZA TO TALK THAT EVENING. AND THEN HERE'S SOME PICTURES FROM WALNUT CREEK'S, UH, CRAFT PROGRAM WHERE THEY PAINTED, UM, POSTERS. REALLY BEAUTIFUL JOB. WOW. MM-HMM . VERY COLORFUL. AND, UH, THE MANAGER LED THIS PROGRAM AT MILLIE AT THIS LOCATION, AND SHE DID A LITTLE BACKGROUND ON, UH, THIS STYLE OF DECORATING. DID A LITTLE PRESENTATION FIRST, AND THEN THEY DID THEIR, UM, AMY, WE HAD DIFFERENT AGE GROUPS. WE HAVE MEN AND WOMEN. YES. SO WE'RE ALWAYS HAPPY ABOUT THAT ONE. YES. WE GET LOTS OF MIX OF PEOPLE SHOWING AT A PREFERENCE. OKAY. IN SOUTH. HMM. THESE ARE THE HEADBANDS THAT THEY MADE. THEY'RE QUITE PRETTY. LOTS OF, UH, SOMETHING WE'VE FOUND OVER TIME IS THERE ARE A LOT OF CREATIVE PEOPLE IN GARLAND. MM-HMM . VERY TALENTED PEOPLE. OKAY. AND HERE ARE A FEW SHOTS FROM OUR EVENING WITH THE AUTHOR. UH, THIS IS A PICTURE OF MS. FUENTES SPEAKING. SHE, UH, WAS VERY ENTERTAINING. [01:05:01] UM, SHE, WHAT SHE DID IS SHE READ A PASSAGE FROM HER BOOK, AND SHE DOESN'T JUST DRYLY READ IT. SHE DID IT WITH SOME DRAMA AND IT HAD TO DO WITH, UM, UH, MUSIC PLAYS A PART IN THE BOOK. AND, UH, I DON'T KNOW IF YOU KNOW WHAT ATO IS PROBABLY NOT PRONOUNCING IT VERY WELL, BUT IN, UM, MAX MUSIC, YOU'LL HEAR THAT GO. SOMEONE STARTED. OH YEAH, I'M SORRY FOR WAIT, YOU GOTTA DO THAT AGAIN. YOU GOTTA DO THAT FOR THE RECORD. YOU GOTTA DO THAT AGAIN. . IT'S VERY MEANINGFUL, IT'S VERY PASSIONATE AND YOU LEARN ABOUT IT IN THE BOOK. AND THERE'S A REALLY SWEET SCENE BETWEEN, UH, ONE OF THE CHARACTERS AND HER FATHER WHERE HE'S EXPLAINING HOW IMPORTANT IT IS AND TO THEIR CULTURE. SO SHE DID THE READING AND THEN SHE SAID, LET'S HEAR YOU GUYS DO IT. DO IT WAS BETTER THAN WHAT I JUST DEMONSTRATED . UM, BUT SHE WAS VERY ENTERTAINING. UH, AND IT WAS VERY INTERESTING. AND THEN SHE TOOK QUESTIONS FROM THE AUDIENCE AND THOSE WERE SOME GREAT QUESTIONS. HONESTLY. WE WERE, WE HAD SOME BACKUP QUESTIONS READY JUST IN CASE. AND OUR, OUR QUESTIONS WERE NOT GONNA BE AS GREAT. THAT'S GOOD. AS WHAT WE HEARD. THEY WERE VERY THOUGHTFUL, UM, KIND OF INTELLECTUAL, MANY OF THEM, BUT IT WAS, IT WAS, IT WAS REALLY IMPRESSIVE. UM, AND THEN AFTER THAT, UH, HE, THAT BOTTOM SKINNY PICTURE IS OF PEOPLE LINING UP TO GET HER AUTOGRAPH ON THEIR, UH, BOOKS. AND WE HAD, I DON'T THINK I PUT IT ON HERE, BUT WE HAD 91 PEOPLE, UH, COME TO THAT, WHICH WE WERE REALLY THAT'S GREAT. THRILLED ABOUT. UM, IT WAS A REALLY GOOD, UH, PROGRAM. WE, WE ENJOYED IT. WE WERE THERE AND REALLY ENJOYED IT. I DID HAVE A COUPLE OF QUESTIONS THOUGH. OKAY. UM, THE PERCENTAGE OF HER READING, WERE YOU SURPRISED THAT SHE SPENT SO MUCH TIME READING AND LEFT A SMALLER AMOUNT OF TIME FOR THE QUESTIONS? NO, I, SHE SAID, SHE TOLD ME THAT WE DISCUSSED HER DOING A READING FOR HER PROGRAM. THERE ARE DIFFERENT KINDS OF PROGRAMS YOU CAN DO. YOU CAN DO LIKE AN INTERVIEW, INTERVIEW STYLE, OR YOU CAN DO PANEL DISCUSSIONS. AND IT WAS HER SUGGESTION TO DO A READ A PASSAGE OUT OF THE BOOK AND TO GET A LITTLE BIT OF, UH, AUDIENCE PARTICIPATION WITH THE, YOU KNOW, THE . AND, UM, SO I KNEW THAT SHE WAS GONNA SPEND SOME TIME DOING IT. IT SEEMED LIKE THERE WERE A LOT OF QUESTIONS. I KNOW THAT WE HAD QUESTIONS MM-HMM . THAT WE COULDN'T ASK. OH, I SEE. SO YOU DON'T REALLY KNOW TIME. MM-HMM . AND THAT WE WONDERED, YOU KNOW, THE PERCENTAGE, THE READING WENT ON A A FAIRLY LONG ABOUT IT AND I MEAN, IT WAS GOOD. I'M NOT CRITICIZING IT, BUT, UM, JUST SOMETHING TO THINK ABOUT. OKAY. IN THE FUTURE. ALL RIGHT. DID YOU HAVE A SECOND? I WAS JUST GONNA SAY, I'M REALLY GLAD IT WAS A LATINO BOOK. GARLAND HAS NOT COME TO TERMS YET WITH THE FACT OUR BIGGEST, UM, PEOPLE GROUP HERE ARE LATINOS, 42%. AND I WAS DELIGHTED THIS BOOK WAS CHOSEN. I THOUGHT SHE HAD A GREAT, GREAT AUDIENCE. I ALSO, MY OTHER QUESTION WAS ABOUT THE FEMALE MALE RATIO IN THAT MEETING, IT WAS ABOUT 20 TO ONE. UH, AND I KNOW THAT BOOKS TEND TO BE 60% FEMALE ORIENTED. UM, WERE YOU, WERE YOU SURPRISED AT THE MIX IN THE AUDIENCE? NOT SURPRISED, HONESTLY. A LOT OF OUR PROGRAMS ARE MORE HEAVILY FEMALE ATTENDED. UH, I WILL SAY THAT OUR BOOK LAST YEAR DID DRAW MORE MEN WRITTEN BY A GUY, AND, UH, HAD HAD A, THE MAIN CHARACTER WAS A GUY AND IT WAS A, INVOLVED SOME WESTERN THEMES. SO THAT, I SUPPOSE, DEPENDING ON WHAT THE BOOK IS ABOUT, IT'S GONNA DRAW THAT KIND OF AUDIENCE. IT WAS REALLY GOOD. IT WAS A GREAT BOOK. IT WAS NEEDED TO BE DONE WELL, AND OUR GOAL IS TO YOUR EARLIER POINT, OUR GOAL IS TO TRY TO PAY BOOKS, UH, DI DIVERSE BOOKS, TIME. UH, WE ARE INVOLVING, UH, THESE BOOK CLUB MEMBERS HERE INTERESTED IN PERTAINING AND WE'RE HOPING BY GETTING THEIR POINTS OF VIEW, YOU KNOW, THEY'RE REPRESENTING THEIR CITIZENS OF THE, AND WE DO KNOW WE HAVE A VERY DIVERSE POPULATION AND WE LOVE THAT WE HAVE A DELETION. AND SO WE, HOPEFULLY WE WILL. AND WE'RE DOING OUR BEST TO PICK BOOKS THAT WILL BE INTERESTING TO AS MANY PEOPLE AS POSSIBLE. BUT WE'RE NEVER GONNA PICK SOMETHING THAT EVERYBODY LIKES. BUT HOPEFULLY WE CAN JUST KEEP HAVING DIFFERENT KINDS OF BOOKS AND HOPEFULLY INVOLVE A LOT. [01:10:01] THAT'S OUR GOAL. UH, OKAY. SO, UM, SO WE DO WANT PEOPLE TO READ. AND SO I DO KEEP TRACK OF WHO'S, OR HOW MANY BOOKS ARE BEING CHECKED OUT. AND I PUT LAST YEAR'S NUMBERS AGAINST THIS TIERS NUMBERS, AND YOU SEE AUDIO WENT UP QUITE A BIT. MM-HMM . MM-HMM . DIGITAL BOOKS ARE VERY POPULAR. THAT IS THE THING THESE DAYS. UH, AND THEN, LIKE I SAID EARLIER THIS TIME, WE HAD, UH, BOOKS AVAILABLE IN SPANISH TOO, WHICH WAS REALLY NICE TO SEE THAT PEOPLE WERE CHECKING THOSE OUT. AND IN ADDITION TO THE EVENTS THAT I JUST WENT OVER, ALSO THREE OF OUR BOOK CLUBS READ THE BOOK AND DISCUSSED IT. ALSO, WE HAVE LOTS OF BOOK CLUBS, BUT, UM, THEY, AND WE HAVE A, I DON'T KNOW IF YOU KNOW, WE HAVE A SPANISH LANGUAGE BOOK CLUB AT SOUTH GARLAND, AND THEY READ IT IN SPANISH AND DISCUSSED IT IN SPANISH. SO THAT WAS, UM, AND THEN THE FICTION BOOK CLUB, WE ALSO, I INCLUDED THIS JUST BECAUSE THEY ALSO READ THE BOOK, BUT WE HAVE A, UM, TEAM GARLAND. SO IT'S FOR EMPLOYEES, BOOK CLUB CLUB, AND THEY ALSO, SO, UH, WE ARE, YOU KNOW, WE'RE LEARNING EACH TIME WE DO THIS. AND, UM, WE'RE HOPING NEXT TIME TO HAVE MAYBE FEWER CRAFT PROGRAMS AND MORE OF A DIFFERENT SORT. BUT ALWAYS TYING BACK TO TRYING TO TIE BACK TO THE THEMES OF WHATEVER OUR BOOK IS. ALL RIGHT. SO WE'VE ALREADY STARTED NEXT YEAR'S PROCESS. UM, WE INVITED BOOK CLUB MEMBERS TO PARTICIPATE AGAIN. THIS TIME THERE ARE ONLY THREE STAFF, THE TWO OF US AND OUR MANAGER OR THE STAFF PARTICIPATING. AND, UH, WE HAD FIVE BOOK CLUB MEMBERS SAY THEY WANTED TO, UH, PARTICIPATE. AND, UH, AND IT EVEN INCLUDES A GUY, WHICH IS EXCITING TO US, . UM, SO WE ARE HAVING OUR, UH, MEETING ACTUALLY NEXT WEEK. AND THIS IS GONNA BE THE MEETING WHERE EVERYONE BRINGS AT LEAST ONE BOOK AND PITCHES IT TO THE COMMITTEE, AND THEN WE'LL VOTE ON IT AND WE'LL GO FROM THERE. SO I'M VERY INTERESTED TO SEE WHAT GETS, UH, UH, PRESENTED TO US ALL. AND THEN JUST LIKE WE DID THE LAST COUPLE OF TIMES, WILL, OUR GOAL IS TO PICK OUR BIG BY DECEMBER OR VERY LATEST EARLY JANUARY. AND THEN, UH, THEN WE'LL GO ON WITH, THAT'S WHAT I HAVE ANY QUICK. YES, MA'AM. MA'AM. UM, I HAVE A COUPLE OF QUESTIONS. SO ONE ON, LIKE, ON THE BOOK SELECTION, DO YOU HAVE CRITERIA OR GUIDELINES FOR WHAT KINDS OF BOOKS ARE ELIGIBLE? YEAH, THEY NEED TO BE ADULT BOOKS. MM-HMM . UM, ADULT LEVEL BOOKS. UM, WE, AND ALSO PLEASE KNOW THAT WE'RE KIND OF, UH, LEARNING AS WE GO ALONG. LIKE I SAID, WE FINE TUNING THE PROCESS. UH, WE'VE SAID FROM THE VERY BEGINNING, WE WANT THE, UM, THE PEOPLE WHO DECIDING TO, UH, CONSIDER THE, UH, DIVERSITY OF OUR POPULATION TO THINK ABOUT, ESPECIALLY OUR BIGGER GROUPS IN THE, IN THE POPULATION. UM, IT'S VERY NICE IF THEY PICK A BOOK THAT'S ALSO OFFERED IN, UH, IN TRANSLATION. UH, WHAT ELSE? IS IT DRAWING BLANK RIGHT NOW? WELL, WE ALSO HAVE IT AS WELL, SO THAT, UM, IT'S LIKE, IT'S PREFERABLY TEXAS BASED AS WELL. MM-HMM . UM, A LOT OF LIKE OTHER LIBRARIES THAT HAVE THEIR, YOU KNOW, ONE BOOK PROGRAM. SOME CAN JUST PICK CAN, THEY CAN PICK ANYTHING. WE WANT IT TO FEEL LIKE A MORE UNLOCAL TYPE OF ONE BOOK EXPERIENCE. TRUE. YEAH. SO I WAS CURIOUS, LIKE, DO, DOES IT HAVE TO BE PUBLISHED WITHIN THE LAST FIVE YEARS OR ARE YOU STAYING AWAY FROM SCIENCE FICTION? OR LIKE, YEAH, SO WE DON'T WANT GO TOO NICHE, LIKE SCIENCE FICTION MIGHT YEAH. OR LIKE TOO MUCH FANTASY. MM-HMM . AND SOMETIMES BE NOT AS APPEALING FOR LIKE A BIGGER AUDIENCE. SO SOMETHING THAT'S MORE LIKE, JUST LIKE GENERAL OR LIKE CONTEMPORARY IN SOME WAY. MM-HMM . YES. SO NEWER. YES. UH, KEEPING IN MIND THAT WE'RE TRYING TO APPEAL TO AS MANY POSSIBLES THAT WOULD BE MORE THRILLERS SOMETIMES. MM-HMM . DEPENDING. OKAY. AND THEN, UM, MY SECOND QUESTION WAS ABOUT THE, THE BOOK CLUBS. SO I'M WONDERING, UM, DID YOU THINK ABOUT OR CONSIDER HAVING LIKE, SPECIALIZED TALKS ABOUT THE BOOK? 'CAUSE I KNOW IF I WAS, I MISSED IT THIS YEAR, BUT I WOULD WANT TO, LIKE, EVEN IF I WASN'T PART OF A, LIKE A ESTABLISHED BOOK CLUB, I WOULD PROBABLY WANNA GO AND TALK TO PEOPLE ABOUT IT. SO DID YOU THINK ABOUT HAVING LIKE, THOSE KINDS OF DISCUSSIONS THROUGH IT? WELL, THREE OF OUR BOOK CLUBS DID, BUT LIKE IF FOR PEOPLE LIKE ME WHO AREN'T ON THE BOOK CLUB, BUT I WANTED TO TALK TO SOMEBODY ABOUT IT. [01:15:01] I THINK, I THINK YOU DID THAT LAST YEAR WITH VIS WAS SENT THERE. A WASN'T, WASN'T THERE A CITYWIDE BOOK DISCUSSION? I THINK THAT'S WHAT WE'RE WE'RE SAYING. YOU'RE SAYING BY THE AUTHOR? MM-HMM. NO. NO. OH. JUST WITH OTHER LIKE, HEY, IF YOU WANT, IF YOU'RE READING ONE BOOK ON GARLAND, COME ON THURSDAY AND WE'LL TALK ABOUT IT. BUT THE, THAT'S WHAT THESE ARE MEANT TO DO. YOU'RE INVITED TO COME. OH, I THOUGHT THEY WERE LIKE, THIS ONE'S FOR THE EMPLOYEES AND THIS ONE IS THE REGULAR FICTION CLUB, AND THIS ONE IS THE SOUTH GARLAND BRANCH CLUB, LIKE THE, THE REGULAR FICTION CLUB. SO THE EMPLOYEE ONE THAT IS GEARED MORE TOWARDS EMPLOYEES, BUT THE OTHER TWO THAT I MENTIONED, THE, THE SOUTH GARLAND FICTION CLUB MM-HMM . THAT IT'S ADVERTISED WHAT BOOK THEY'RE GUESSING. OKAY. SO YOU DON'T HAVE TO BE LIKE A REGULAR MEMBER OF THE BOOK CLUB TO GO AND TALK. OKAY. SHOW UP. WE HAVE PEOPLE SOMETIMES JUST SHOW UP FOR A PARTICULAR GROUP. OKAY. THAT'S COOL. AND, AND THEY'RE ALL OPEN TO ADULTS THOUGH. MM-HMM . YEAH. ALL RIGHT. NICE. THANK YOU. OKAY. AND I JUST WANTED TO POINT OUT BOTH OF THESE PROGRAMS THAT NOT ONLY ARE THEY ENTERTAINING AND, BUT THEY SUPPORT BOTH LIBRARY GOALS OF SUPPORTING READING, UH, HAVING A SUPPORTING COMMUNITY, UH, REFLECTING THE COMMUNITY, UH, BUT ALSO, UH, HAVING THAT REINFORCING THAT THIRD PLACE THAT WE'VE TALKED ABOUT, THAT IT'S, UH, OUTSIDE OF, OF WORK AND HOME. THAT IT'S A PLACE WHERE PEOPLE CAN GET TOGETHER, SHARED INTEREST. AND THEN WHEN YOU THINK OF THE PEOPLE THAT, UH, CAME TO THE EVENTS, THAT IT ALSO SUPPORTS THE CITY OF GARLAND, THE ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT, YOU KNOW, THE PEOPLE THAT ARE ATTENDED MORE THAN LIKELY STOPPED SOMEWHERE, HAD, UH, ONE OF OUR RESTAURANTS HAD A MEAL THERE, POSSIBLY SHOPPED AT THE STORES. AND, UM, I'LL ALSO SAY JUST SEEING THE QUALITY OF THE LIBRARY, THE NEW LIBRARY, THE EVENTS THAT ARE THERE, THAT, THAT MAKES THE CITY ATTRACTED, THAT THAT LENDS ITSELF TO, UM, AS A POSITIVE ASPECT OF THE CITY. SO THIS IS SOMETHING WE ARE REALLY FOCUSING ON. UH, WE ALWAYS HAVE, BUT NOW IT'S, IT'S EVEN MORE SO. AND I, I BELIEVE, UM, KAREN WILL BE TALKING ABOUT THAT MORE LATER. AND I THINK IN ONE OF OUR, UH, DISCUSSIONS, WE'LL BE TALKING ABOUT THAT TOO. BUT I WANTED TO POINT THAT OUT FOR THESE TWO MEETING. IT SOUNDS LIKE THE CULTURAL ARTS COMMISSION GRANTS QUESTIONNAIRE, UH, , WHERE THE MONEY COMES FROM THE HOTEL AND MOTEL TAXES, AND THEY'RE VERY SPECIFIC WITH US ABOUT, UH, MAKING SURE THAT IT'S GONNA BRING IN PEOPLE AND YOUR APPLICATIONS, YOU KNOW, TOUTS, WELL, WE GOT PEOPLE FROM ALASKA, OR WE GOT PEOPLE FROM UM, LOS ANGELES OR SOMEWHERE. SO I, I SALUTE THAT. THAT'S CLEARLY WHERE THE CITY IS GOING. YES. WE'VE GOTTA BE DOING, WE ALL WORK TOGETHER, UH, ON THAT SINGULAR GOAL OF, OF BRINGING IN MORE PEOPLE, MAKING THE CITY ATTRACTIVE AND UH, AND SERVING THE CITIZENS TOO. ARE THERE ANY OTHER QUESTIONS? OKAY. I THINK THEY GET A GREAT BIG CONGRATULATIONS. YES. THANK YOU FOR YOUR PRESENTATIONS. I ATTENDED SEVERAL OF THOSE EVENTS AND I THINK I'VE ALREADY BABBLED AT EVERYBODY. HOW WONDERFUL I THOUGHT THEY WERE. AND I APPRECIATE HOW THOUGHTFUL AND CREATIVE YOU ARE IN, YOU KNOW, SOLICITING IDEAS, EXPERIMENTING, YOU KNOW, EVOLVING. I THINK IT'S ALL TERRIFIC. ALRIGHT. ANYTHING ELSE? ALRIGHT, WE ANNOUNCED THAT OUR NEXT MEETING IS NOVEMBER 10TH AND IF THERE BEING NO FURTHER BUSINESS WE ARE ADJOURNED. THANK YOU. GOODNIGHT. THANK YOU. YOU. * This transcript was created by voice-to-text technology. The transcript has not been edited for errors or omissions, it is for reference only and is not the official minutes of the meeting.