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Library Report 2024/10/14City of Anaheim Anaheim Public Library October 14, 2024 Honorable Mayor and City Council: Per ARTICLE IX. APPOINTIVE BOARDS AND COMMISSIONS, Section 908, of the Anaheim City Charter - The Anaheim Public Library Board shall have the power and duty to: "Within sixty days after the close of each fiscal year, report to the City Council on the condition of the libraries for the preceding fiscal year and on such other matters deemed expedient by the Library Board." The Anaheim Public Library Board of Trustees is pleased to have the opportunity to present comments regarding the condition of the Anaheim Public Library System for Fiscal Year 2023/24. Anaheim Public Library promotes literacy, lifelong learning, and a love of reading through traditional print materials as well as virtual services. Our mission is to promote information through programming and engage our community while providing a safe space for the diverse members of Anaheim to share, thrive, explore, create, enjoy, honor, celebrate, and engage with one another. The Library Board is very appreciative of the City Council's approval of the Anaheim Public Library's Budget for Fiscal Year 2023/24, that included funding for additional days of service throughout the Anaheim Public Library system. As of July 1, 2023, Sunday hours were added at Central, Haskett Branch, and East Anaheim Branch Libraries and Saturday hours at Sunkist Branch and Canyon Hills Branch Libraries. For FY 2024/25, APL circulated 1,067,329 items, a 5% increase from last fiscal year and the second year in a row that circulation was over 1,000,000 which is higher than before the pandemic temporarily decreased circulation. The Library's physical patron count, which translates to actual patrons through the door, not virtually, was 606,864 which is a 24% increase from last fiscal year. In addition, the Library offered 32% more programs from last fiscal year with an increase in attendance of 31 %. These achievements are a testament to the community's desire to visit the library in person as well as APL staffs dedication and time they spend encouraging literacy, lifelong learning, and a love of reading among the diverse members of the Anaheim community 500 West Broadway Anaheim, California 92805 TEL (714) 765-1880 FAX (714)765-1731 www.anaheim.net Report to the City Council on the Condition of the Libraries October 14, 2024 Page 2 In addition to eBooks, the Library provides other educational online resources, including chat -based tutoring for students, online classes for teens and adults, and high -quality information on many more subjects. The Anaheim Public Library is proud to offer Gale Courses. Gale Courses offers a wide range of highly interactive, instructor -led courses that you can take entirely online. Anaheim Public Library card holders are entitled to these courses at no cost. Courses run for six weeks and new sessions begin every month. From June 2022 through June 2024, over 1,150 people enrolled in courses logging almost 902,000 minutes. The top courses offered ranged from Accounting Fundamentals, Personal Finance, Computer Skills for the Workplace, Speed Spanish, and much more. CURRENT YEAR ACHIEVEMENTS • National Award -Winning Library o Anaheim Public Library was awarded the Orange County Business Council 13`h Annual `Turning Red Tape Into Red Carpet' award on December 6, 2023. This award was received for the Public -Private Partnership Award for the 2022 Foster Youth Initiative. The APL Foster Youth Initiative began in 2020 to directly serve foster youth in Anaheim and surrounding cities in Orange County through community outreach. o The Library was once again awarded a PR Xchange National Award from the American Library Association (ALA). This award recognizes the very best public relations materials produced by libraries in the past year. This award was for the Born Digital Category - External Communication for the Library's monthly e-Newsletter. • APL Accessibility and Communication Initiative o The goal of Anaheim Public Library is to provide all patrons a welcoming experience, a place where they feel valued and have equal access to resources and materials. Because of language differences, anxieties approaching staff, or physical barriers that make communication difficult, some patrons may not feel comfortable entering APL spaces. To address these barriers, APL has created the Accessibility and Communication Initiative. They have established four different communities where they can better assist in serving patrons across the system. They include patrons who are neurodivergent, who experience visual barriers of any degree, the Deaf and Hard -of -Hearing community, and those who face social and cultural barriers. Report to the City Council on the Condition of the Libraries October 14, 2024 Page 3 * Social Media o Anaheim Public Library's social media presence continues to grow. They have reached 10,000 followers on Tnstagram with an average gain of 1,000 followers yearly. o The Library has seen a roughly 300% increase in followers since January 2024. o One Tnstagram video has had over 1.4 million views and reached over 800,000 accounts. • Special Programs/Events for all ages o Native Arts Festival - Anaheim Public Library will host the 2" annual Native Art Festival at Founders' Park on November 4, 2024. The inaugural Festival in November 2023 was a community effort. Local indigenous creators talked to people and sold their creations in booths that stretched from the Moreton Bay Fig tree to the Mother Colony House. Anaheim Public Library hosted a poetry workshop and gave away 300 books written by Native American authors — There, There by Tommy Orange, Waa'aka': The Bird Who Fell in Love with the Sun by Cindi Alvitre, and Fry Bread: A Native American Family Story by Kevin Noble Maillard. Perhaps most poignantly, the Open Mic and Spoken Word hour offered participants a chance to read poetry or perform from their own experience and share with the public. Festival attendees came from as far away as Riverside and Los Angeles, noting that Orange County really does not have any cultural art festivals like this. This year's Festival will feature the best of last year's Festival and will feature the books Earth Keeper by N. Scott Momaday, A Snake Falls to Earth by Darcie Little Badger, and We All Play by Julie Flett. The Open Mic and Spoken Word hour will be back, with more cultural performances and indigenous poetry. Creator Row will be in full swing, with a variety of cultural demonstrations and crafts. Anaheim Public Library will host another poetry workshop. They expect to build upon the momentum from last year with a few community -minded changes.. The Anaheim Historical Society will welcome members of the public into the Carriage House Agricultural Museum for history tours, Anaheim Public Library will host a gardening workshop, featuring the Founders' Park Seed Library, and food and drink will be available onsite. Report to the City Council on the Condition of the Libraries October 14, 2024 Page 4 o Chicano Heritage Month — In honor of Chicano Heritage Month, Anaheim Public Library celebrated the unique culture of Chicanos. The term "Chicano" derives from a 1960's movement that called for the social and political equity of Mexican -Americans. Since the movement's origins, the term "Chicano" has encompassed an identity for many Mexican -Americans. Anaheim Public Library was honored to celebrate Chicano heritage and identity through programs that centered on art, stories, food, and music. Each of Anaheim Public Library's seven branches crafted programs for children, families, teens, and adults. There were many programs throughout the month that brought the community together. For example, some of the food programs included recipe demonstrations on how to make Esquite at Euclid Branch and mini quesadillas at Sunkist Branch. Haskett, Ponderosa, and Sunkist Branches held Chicano Heritage storytimes, with Sunkist bringing in the Kalpulli Tekuanis dance troupe to perform Aztec dances with their storytime. Art programs included Mola Painting, a Community Mural Painting, Mexican Tin Art, and Aztec Sun Clay Modeling in the East Region. Central Library concluded the month -long celebration with a musical performance by a local Southern California artist Sin Color, who states that their music "transforms traditional styles of music into a Pop Electronic Movement without borders, restrictions, or genres." o APL STEAM (Lunch at the Library) LATL Grant - Farm to Summer Field Trip to the Library! - Anaheim Public Mobile Library Branch makes stops in high -density, low-income neighborhoods, schools, and afterschool program sites. Our Library Bookmobile and STEAM Van allow us the ability to provide a full library experience to those without the means or opportunity to visit a Iibrary branch, furthering our effort to build upon an environment of diversity and inclusion. Mobile Library Services is committed to provide meaningful contributions and innovative programs for the Anaheim community. Therefore, with contributions from the Friends of the Anaheim Public Library and California State Library Lunch at the Library Grant, Mobile Library Services conducted two special summer field trips to the Central Library from five Mobile Library Services stop sites. The event included free transportation for patrons and their family members to visit the Central Library for a Farm to Summer program. Farm to Summer programming focuses on micro gardening solutions, food and nutrition, STEAM activities, and sharing food resources such as summer meal at Haskett Branch. Mobile Library Services teamed up with Anaheim Transit Network to provide buses for transportation. Between the two field trips, each participant walked away with a gardening seed kit, a Raising Canes coupon, and of course, books! A total of 460 books were distributed for patrons to enhance their home libraries. Report to the City Council on the Condition of the Libraries October 14, 2024 Page 5 Due to the popularity of Farm to Summer programming and the Library's efforts to connect the community with sustainable food resources and strategies, APL is working with multiple partners to help build a demonstration gardening space located at the Central Library. The demonstration garden space will be a substantial addition to the Library. The space is currently in the works to have raised garden beds, an outdoor garden shed, and other essential gardening supplies. Generous contributions to the demonstration garden space were made by the Friends of the Anaheim Public Library, California State Library Lunch at the Library Grant, Anaheim Community Services Parks Division, Anaheim Public Utilities, Anaheim Public Works, Brightview, T.E. Edwards Inc., and The Home Depot • Facility Improvements o For the first time in California history, the California State Library offered grants for deferred maintenance of public libraries. Through a very highly competitive process, APL was awarded 4 grants for a total amount of $514,000 from the California State Library's Building Forward Grant Program in Fiscal Year 2022/2023. ■ Central Library — Expansion of Fire Alarm Klaxons into the staff and storage areas of the basement $17,000 ■ Euclid Library — HVAC System Replacement $133,000 • Haskett Library — HVAC System Replacement $233,000 ■ Sunkist Library — HVAC System Replacement $133,000 The Public Works Department will match $0.50 for every dollar of the grant to complete the project. ■ Expected completion of all projects is FY 2026/27. ALTERNATE FUNDING The Library received more than $800,000 in alternate funding. This funding includes a variety of grants from various organizations dedicated to enhancing literacy. Grant funding was awarded for a variety of programs, including Lunch at the Library, Haskett Branch Library Makerspace, programming, and more. In addition, APL received generous funding support from the Anaheim Public Library Foundation, Friends of the Anaheim Public Library, Friends of the Canyon Hills Library, Kiwanis Club of Greater Anaheim, and Altrusa International of Anaheim. These organizations supported programming for children and teens, eBooks, Summer Reading Program, STEAM programming and kits, OC Zinc Fest, AnaCon, Hispanic Heritage Month programming, Chicano Heritage programming, marketing, and more. Report to the City Council on the Condition of the Libraries October 14, 2024 Page 6 PLANNED PROJECTS • Haskett Makerspace o The Haskett Branch Library will be adding a Makerspace and Media Lab for the community. A Makerspace is a collaborative workspace inside a school, library, or separate public/private facility for making, learning, exploring, and sharing that uses high tech to no tech tools. o The Makerspace will be a 650 sq. foot room that will house a CNC (woodworking machine), laser cutter, 3D printing machines, print screen, mug press, Cricut machines (electronic cutting machines), and sewing machines. The Media Lab will be a 440 sq. ft. room that will consist of a Green Screen, recording room, Virtual Reality station, and a Memory Lab (patrons will be able to bring their VHS or photographs and digitize them). o The project is to be completed by March 2025. Funding for this project was provided by a California State Library grant, CDBG funding, Anaheim Public Library Foundation, Samueli Foundation, Kiwanis Club of Greater Anaheim, and other private donors. The Library Board is very proud of the many accomplishments of the Anaheim Public Library for Fiscal Year 2023/24, particularly the recognition they are receiving for all of the services they provide. The Library Board is once again thankful to the Anaheim City Council for their support of the Anaheim Public Library and the restoration of hours. We look forward to the exciting projects, programs, and services that are planned in Fiscal Year 2024/25. Respeg,Vully submitted: Aaw Lin a Newby, Chair