Recommendation to authorize City Manager, or designee, to accept $5,000 in award funds from the Institute of Museum and Library Services, for being the recipient of the 2017 National Medal for Museum and Library Service; execute any documents necessary for the administration of this award; and Increase appropriations in the General Grants Fund (SR 120) in the Library Services Department (LS) by $5,000, offset by award revenue. (Citywide)
Motion carries. Thank you, Madam Clerk, please read item 13. Please report from Library Services Recommendation to accept 5000 in award funds from the Institute of Museum and Library Services for being the recipient of the 2017 National Medal for Museum and Library Services Citywide. Thank you. And we'll we'll have a staff report and so Glinda so Mr. city manager the floor. So mayor vice mayor council members thank you very much for this opportunity. We just want to highlight that our city library system has participated in the 2017 National Medal System for museums and Library Services across America. We're just notified that we were one of the top five library systems in the entire United States, so that I'm going to turn it over to our excellent library director to tell us what that means. Glenda, where to go? Thank you, Vice Mayor Richardson, City Council, and thank you both for those kind words. Good evening, everyone. The 2017 National Media Medal sorry for museum and library service is the nation's highest honor given by the federal government and recognizes the extraordinary civic, educational and economic contributions of your Long Beach Public Library to our community. This award also celebrates our significant community partnerships with Long Beach Unified School District, the YMCA, Early Childhood Education and Safe Long Beach, just to name a few. I also thank the Long Beach Public Library Foundation for funding our Family Learning Centers, studios and other initiatives. I was able to attend the award ceremony last month at the National Archives Museum in Washington, D.C., with community member Bryant Beane, who volunteers his time to teach camera classes on Saturdays at the Mark Twain Library. Please see your program booklet for more information. In addition to the National Medal, we can receive a $5,000 award, which is on tonight's Agenda for Your Consideration. I was deeply honored to accept this medal on behalf of the women and men of the Long Beach Public Library. It is a testament to the services and resources that they provide to our residents every day. I also greatly appreciate your support of our department that drives our commitment to help our residents reach their personal and educational goals. Thank you. Thank you. And before we go to city council, I'll just so I see that there was a request for the Library Foundation to speak. I think we can take that now before we open up city council comment. Good evening. Thank you for the opportunity to speak. My name is Kate Islam, the executive director of the Library Foundation. For 20 years, our sole mission has been to advocate for and raise funds. For. The Long Beach Public Library. Over those two decades, we've had the pleasure of working side by side with the talented men and women of our libraries. These library staff members have dedicated their lives to improving literacy. In Long Beach through winning this. Prestigious award, which they very much deserve. They've won this prestigious award because. Of their programs that serve youth families, veterans, seniors, the disabled and everyone. In between. Our library staff are truly. Worthy of this National Medal for Museum and Library Services and this recognition from the city council. I appreciate it. Thank you to all the staff of the Long Beach Public Library for all your hard work every day serving our community and to the board and staff of the Long Beach Public Library Foundation, as well as our donors and the library patrons. We couldn't be more proud of you all. We should all be very proud of. This recognition, this national. Recognition. And I'll take great pride in what our libraries have turned out to be. Thank you. Thank you. So I'll offer my congratulations. So, you know, since we've had the new Michelle Obama Neighborhood Library, I've experienced firsthand the transformative power the libraries have on a community. So and I can tell that it's really a true partnership. It's not just, you know, just just Glinda alone. This is, you know, her entire staff, the librarians, the foundation, the donors, the friends, all these people work really closely together to make sure that we have a quality, well-funded, well supported library. And so this is congratulations, well-deserved. There's a whole list of of council members who like to speak on this. We'll start with the maker of the motion, Councilwoman Price. Thank you, Mr. Vice Mayor. I completely agree with those comments. Congratulations to you, Glenda, and your entire team. I think that we are very fortunate because we have the foundation who's so actively involved. And but for the foundation, the our ability to be able to progress with our library services would would be significantly hindered because they are a really a great ally and partner and really part and parcel of the success of the of the program that we have here. I'm you know, everybody knows I'm a huge supporter of of the libraries, my my kids and I often go to the Sunday library hours. And today my son was at the Michelle Obama library actually, because three books that I reserved online were not available at my local library. So he went there and sent me pictures and was loving it. So I think I think it's fantastic that we can use the technology to find out what our library has and be able to expose our kids and people of all ages in the city to the great services. I will say I'm not sure where that $5,000 is going, but I having spent a lot of time on our website, I think there's some opportunities there to make it more user friendly in terms of where what book you're requesting and where you want it sent and when to go and pick it up. It's not it's not as easy to figure out as one would predict. And I say that from my own personal experience, trying to figure out the site. So maybe doing some application based upgrades might be good because I think that'll make us even even better and more prepared for the trends in library services. And it'll get us really ready for main library when it opens so that we can really showcase our offering. So congratulations to in your team. This is amazing. It gives me a great pride to have a library that's a national awardee in our city. So thank you very much. Thank you, Councilman Austin. Thank you. And I'll be short as usual. But I do wanted to offer my congratulations to Glenda and the Library Services Department and are your supporting cast of The Friends, the Foundation. Library Foundation and the patrons who throughout the city who patronize the library. Obviously, our library services are doing great work and they're getting a recognition that this council already knew that you were already one of the best. And this is why we continue to to support our libraries with the budget, and we will continue to do that. I again wanted to just offer my congratulations and keep up the great work. Thank you, Councilman Mongo. What a great honor it is when you read through this. Picture of you in the in the handout. It really talks about the amazing things that your team are doing, and we really appreciate that. I, too, have checked in and out some books lately. I use the online digital library as well, but I use it for audiobooks. And so it is always just so easy and convenient to download them right there. And I never have to. Even go to a library to pick. Them up though. I have picked up a few that you did not have an audiobook version. I'm just. So proud of you and all the things you're doing and to see the collaboration across with. Nonprofit partners in a meaningful way. We as a council didn't have to ask you to do that. We didn't have to come up with a process for you. You guys just went out there, and the good work of the librarians and their relationships have been so strong. So congratulations to you and all of them. Thank you. Councilmember Pearce. Yes. I also wanted to. Echo the same and just say that it even highlights more the fact that libraries are the core of our communities. I drove by Alameda Library the other day before it opened and there was a line outside of a library in the middle of the day. I loved. It. I might have known half the people in that line. But it's great to see the partnership. It's great to be able to see so many advocates on council for more library access. I know I grew up going to a library and never having books that we owned in the house, but only library books. And I look forward to hopefully getting to a place where we can have more access to libraries for all of our youth. So thank you guys very much. And congratulations, everyone. Thank you, Councilmember Sabrina. Thank you. And congratulations. I did want to give a shout out to fourth district resident Bryant Ben, who went back to Washington to receive the award with Glenda Williams. And we actually featured you two in our July 28th newsletter, complete with a link to the video where you get the award from Cokie Roberts . So if you'd like that link, just contact our office. And Bryant is a fourth District resident, but he conducts his program in the sixth District. So I have to talk to Mr. Andrews about that. Thank you. Thank you. Councilmember Urunga. Thank you, Vice Mayor. I had the honor of attending a foundation event that earlier this summer, and I was when I was told that the library had won its war. And being there, I saw so many librarians attending that event. And that is where the rubber meets the road. It's with our librarians and the great work that they do, working with our kids, working with our adults, making sure that the programs are in place, and making sure that all the materials are readily available and can be found. So I want to congratulate not only Library services England Garland, of course, as their leader, but all the librarians who work in our system. Congratulations to all. You earned it. Thank you. Councilman Gonzalez. Congratulations as well. I think this is an. Amazing success with. Both in partnership with. The foundation. And our library. And just reading, Glenda, your. Quote that we also. Want to go beyond our walls to meet them in the community, I think is is definitely what the Long Beach libraries do, is going out in the community to ensure that. Kids everywhere around the city are able to check out books, but also have that whole. Experience. And your Instagram is the best. Because I love the book Face Thursdays or whatever you do. It's another way of engaging our residents. So thank you all. Thank you. Councilmember Angel. Yes. And again, I want to just give our kudos to you, the fine work that you're doing, because you find out in certain areas where kids will never get a chance to fly, go anywhere with a book, will take you all over the world. And I want to thank you again for giving us that opportunity, you and your staff. Congratulations again. Thank you. And once again, congratulations to everyone on this well-deserved award. Is there any public comment on item number 13? Seeing nonmembers, please cast your vote. Motion carries. Thank you. At this time, we'll we'll go ahead and take up our budget hearing. Madam Clerk, you want to read that?