LEAGUE OF WOMEN VOTERS / Cleveland Heights-University Heights Public Library Board meeting highlights [online 7-18-2016]

JULY 18, 2016

• Public comments
• Larraine Parker retires
• Board accepts design plan for UH library
• CSU Small Business Development Center (SBDC)
• Strategic plan survey available
• Friends report revenue
• U Lead projects open to staff
• June public service report highlights

Board member Susan Beatty was absent.

Public comments

Changing library name: Scott Wachter of Edgerton Road, University Heights, addressed the board about the possibility of changing the name of the University Heights Library to the Cedar Road Branch Library. With the renovation of the UH branch imminent, he suggested this could be a good time to make its name parallel to the other branches, which are identified by their streets: Coventry, Lee and Noble.

Larraine Parker retires

The board passed a resolution honoring Parker’s 26 years of service. She began as a page in December 1989, and her last position has been as a circulation assistant at the Lee Road Library. The library will miss her positive attitude and dependability. Parker thanked the board, and promised to make her witch costume available for the Halloween season.

Board accepts design plan for UH library

Mark Bittinger of CBLH Design presented the design plans for the University Heights Library, which were accepted by the board. CBLH will then produce construction documents for the next phase of the project. John Sanders from Regency Construction will supervise the site work and will be the liaison for the neighborhood. Neighbors received letters about renovation details and the groundbreaking ceremony planned for Aug. 28 at 3 p.m.

CSU Small Business Development Center (SBDC)

Katie Van Dyke presented the work of this center, which is housed in the Heights Knowledge and Innovation Center of the Lee Road Library. It is the first SBDC in the nation to partner with a public library. The center, allied with the Monte Ahuja College of Business at Cleveland State University, provides services at no cost including a data scientist on staff.

Strategic plan survey available

The library’s strategic plan for 2016–17 will include information from the community survey, available on the library’s website and in print at the branches. Director Nancy Levin also mentioned the Cleveland Heights Community Vision Survey available on the city’s website.

Friends report revenue

The June First Friday sale brought $650, and sales on Ebay were more than $1,700. August’s First Friday sale will focus on teachers’ needs, with additional children’s and young adult material. A benefit of Friends membership is free attendance at Dobama Theatre dress rehearsals.

U Lead projects open to staff

These projects seek to identify material for future planning, building cross-department partnerships, and developing leadership. The top five ideas voted on by staff were: Book & Literary Arts Project (L.P. Coladangelo; Early Learning Kits (Mary Looby), English Language Conversation Club for English as a Second Language speakers (John Piche), Girl Engineers (Angelica George), and Young Architects (Angelica George). Full proposals are due Sept. 1.

June public service report highlights:

• Karen Long presented, “The Past and Future of the Anisfield-Wolf Awards,” and featured founder Edith Anisfield-Wolf, poet and philanthropist. The awards are given to books treating diverse themes.
• Coventry Road Library’s Explorastory program featured K-9 Officer Vin and his police handler Sergeant Gideon. Children were able to pet Vin, who loved the attention.
• Oxford Elementary School first and third graders visited the Noble Neighborhood Library, and approximately 50 children signed up for the summer reading program and library cards.
• New library card sign-ups in May totaled 533.
• In cooperation with ASIA, Inc. and Garfield Memorial Church, the library hosted a screening of the film, Refugees of Shangri-La, which chronicles the plight of Nepali/Bhutanese refugees. Members of the refugee community and neighbors attended the movie, which was followed by a discussion. A children’s movie was shown at the same time in another room.
• The training department added a new class, Coding Made Easy, on the basics of coding for websites.  The program was well attended. Another new class featured tech education websites.

LWV Observer: Anne S. McFarland.

These meeting summaries are abstracted from LWV observers’ written reports. The summaries have been edited and prepared by Anne McFarland, Charlene Morse and Maryann Barnes. To receive e-mail postings of full reports, send an e-mail to mbarnes9515@gmail.com or join through Google groups using “lwv-chuh observer reports” as a search phrase.

These reports contain member observation and selected highlights of public meetings and are not official statements of the Heights Chapter of the League of Women Voters of Greater Cleveland. This disclaimer must accompany any redistribution of these reports.