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2025-08-27 LB MeetingSOUTHLAKE LIBRARY BOARD REGULAR MEETING Wednesday, August 27, 2025 Location: Southlake Training Center 307 Parkwood Dr. Southlake, Texas Time: 6:30 p.m. Agenda: 1. Call to Order 2. Consent A. Approval of the Library Board minutes from the June 4, 2025, meeting. 3. Discussion A. Summer Reading Review B. Proposed Library Budget for Fiscal Year 2026 4. /LEUDULDQ¶V5HSRUW 5. Library Foundation of Southlake Update 6. New Business 7. Public Forum 7KLV LV WKH SXEOLF¶V RSSRUWXQLW\ WR DGGUHVV WKH Board about non-agenda items. During this proceeding, the Board will not discuss, consider or take action on any item presented. We respectfully ask that anyone stepping forward to speak during Public Forum to please limit remarks to three minutes or less.) 8. Adjournment A quorum of the City Council or any board, commission, or commitee may be present at this meeting. CERTIFICATE I hereby certify that the above agenda was posted on the official bulletin boards at Town Hall, 1400 Main Street, Southlake, Texas, on Tuesday, August 19, 2025, by 6:00 p.m. pursuant to Chapter 51 of the Texas Government Code. Amy Shelley, TRMC City Secretary If you plan to attend this public meeting and have a disability that requires special needs, please advise the City Secretary 48 hours in advance at 817.748.8016. Reasonable accommodations will be made to assist you. CITY OF © SOUTHLAKE SOUTHLAKE LIBRARY BOARD MEETING: August 27, 2025 LOCATION: 307 Parkwood, Southlake, Texas Southlake Training Center TIME: 6:30 p.m. SOUTHLAKE LIBRARY BOARD PRESENT: Will Doby, Cicely Nelson, Lauren Green, Janet Theaker, and David Treichler. SOUTHLAKE LIBRARY BOARD ABSENT: Lori Burr. STAFF PRESENT: Cynthia Pfledderer, Deputy Director of Library Services. OTHERS PRESENT: None. 1. CALL TO ORDER Will Doby called the meeting to order at 6:32 p.m. 2. CONSENT A. APPROVE MINUTES FROM THE REGULAR SOUTHLAKE LIBRARY BOARD MEETING HELD June 04, 2025 APPROVED* *During the meeting, Will Doby asked that the minutes be amended to show that he did not attend the June 4 meeting. The Board agreed to this amendment and suggested that `Call to Order' and `Consent' motion to be amended as well. After the meeting and upon referring to the notes and recordings from the June 41, meeting, it was determined that Will Doby did attend that meeting but had missed the previous meeting in April. With this confirmation, the minutes were left as is. Motion: Theaker Second: Nelson Ayes: Doby, Treichler, and Green Nays: None Abstain: None Vote: 5-0 Motion Carried. City of Southlake Values: Integrity ♦ Innovation ♦ Accountability ♦ Commitment to Excellence ♦ Teamwork Minutes of the August 27, 2025, Southlake Library Board Meeting Page 2 of 5 3. DISCUSSION A. Summer Reading Review City Librarian Pfledderer shared an overview of this year's Summer Reading program. The library noticed definite changes in how it was utilized this year in comparison to other years. There was more adult and teen participation, and fewer from the preschooler age group. The Summer Reading program had 2,100 kids register and participate, which is on par with last year at 2,132. Preschooler numbers were down 2% in participation, middle grade was down 4%, and teens were up 12%. Visits for the eight weeks of summer reading totaled 26,305 visitors over that time. Overall, visits are up 1 % for the year. There were 31,210 reading hours logged, which is down 4% from last year. There were 6,429 prizes earned over the program, which is down 7% for the year. A total of 51 grand prizes were awarded, which is 4 fewer than last year, and is attributed to funding available to purchase prizes. There were 38 unique programs this year, and 3,329 attendees, which is 10% down from last year. There were 16 weekly challenges and scavenger hunts this year, which is the same amount as last year's program. These had 36,068 participants, down 6% from last year. Elmer the Patchwork Elephant was the mascot for this year's reading challenge and was used as a way to help kids gain familiarity with the library and its collections. A total of 2,750 kids participated in this activity. This is up 111 % over last year. Family programs were offered throughout, with 321 individuals participating in these, down 19% from last year. Total checkouts were 71,309, which is down 7% from last year. This is an unprecedented amount since Covid. The changing demographics of the community is possible factor, as is the increase in the non- resident fee to $40 per year. Revenue generation is down 60% since that rate increase. There were 131 volunteers that worked during the summer. The number of hours served were down 11 %, but there was a dramatic drop-off in volunteer sign-ups at the last few weeks as the core group of volunteers went on vacation or wanted a break from volunteering. The library offered 16 weekly challenges for families and had 793 participants. This is an increase of 180%. Book Bingo had 175 participants, which is an increase of 20%, and 350 books were submitted in that program. This was a successful summer, and this includes just overall use of the library space. The City is transitioning away from growth, and moving towards maintenance and operations, and the library is a part of this shift. The Board noted recent articles discussing the dramatic decrease in population size for Carroll ISD kindergarten classes to highlight the changing City of Southlake Values: Integrity ♦ Innovation ♦ Accountability ♦ Commitment to Excellence ♦ Teamwork Minutes of the August 27, 2025, Southlake Library Board Meeting Page 3 of 5 demographic for the community. Pfledderer agreed that this shift in community dynamic presents opportunities to appeal to different age groups. Will Doby asked if there was a way to see data from other established libraries that are also experiencing community shifts such as this. Pfledderer let him know that FY25 data from the State would not be available until this time next year. She did say that she's able to get anecdotal data from the library director groups that she is a part of, and that they are also reporting similar trends. B. Proposed Library Budget for Fiscal Year 2026 City Librarian Pfledderer discussed the library budget for Fiscal Year 2026. This year the library received an increase of 4.46% at $1,322,426 for the proposed budget. This increase comes from the rising health care costs and personnel benefits. There were no supplemental funding requests. She looked at how to cut costs. The library brought in over $9,000 in sponsorships and donations, and applied and received a $2,500 grant from the Texas Book Festival and which was used to purchase audiobooks. The library is paying $3000 per year for the Library security gates, so they will be removed as a cost savings, as the library does not have a theft problem. They will be replaced with a people counter at a marginal cost. The library runs on a $255,000 budget each year with $142,000 spent on materials, $25,000 on digital services, $50,000 on programs, and after that is broken down on smaller line items such as postage, printing, training and others. There are no significant areas to cut costs without cutting services. The library has reduced postage costs by emailing out overdue notices instead of mailing. The data driven purchasing is making sure that the library is purchasing those materials that the customers are using. The library will be expanding the collection to a young teen audience. This will culminate in an entirely new collection in the library for young teen readers which will be located between the Juvenile collection and the Teen collections. We'll focus on partnerships this year. We'll also look at a website redesign for this year. 4. LIBRARIAN'S REPORT City Librarian Pfledderer presented to the Board the statistics for the month of July. Print circulation is down 9% for July. Overall, for the year print circulation is down 4%. Picture books are down 5%. Early readers are down 29%, which traditionally are the largest circulating items for this library. Juvenile fiction increased 14.5%. Juvenile nonfiction is down 20% but is due for a redo in FY2026. Teen collections are up 10% for the year. Movies are down 12%. The librarians are interested to see if this changes as the cost of streaming continues City of Southlake Values: Integrity ♦ Innovation ♦ Accountability ♦ Commitment to Excellence ♦ Teamwork Minutes of the August 27, 2025, Southlake Library Board Meeting Page 4 of 5 to skyrocket. Kanopy was discontinued in July of 2025. Fiction is up 5%, nonfiction is up 1 % but is also due for a redo this year. Other adult items are up 3%, and adult program attendance is up as well. Library traffic is up 1 % for the year, but we're not seeing it in our circulation. Digital circulation is up 7% for year and 2% for the month of July. Total circulation numbers are at -2% for year. Other digital usage is down 42%. EBSCO was promoted to the senior high and high school, so we're hoping to see better usage of this service. Library cards are down 5%. A lot of this has to do with non-resident cards. Library traffic is up 1 %, and digital traffic up 22%. Cloudlibrary is up 4% for year, and 3% for the month. Libby is trending flat for the month, but up 41 % for year. NewsStand down 8% for the year. Overall digital services are up 8%. Computer usage is down 1%. More people bring their own laptops and devices. Study room usage continues to expand and is up 4% for July and 7% for year. Adult programs are up 25% for July, and 10% for the year. Youth programs are down 16%, and 14% for the year. Story times are down 36% for month, and 14% for the year. Volunteer trends are just about flat for the year. Interlibrary loans are at 16%. Will Doby asked how often picture books need to be replaced. Pfledderer said that if the library purchases them from library vendors, they hold up fairly well. Early readers fall apart easily though, and graphic novels fall apart all the time. Popular series in the Juvenile collections are also not well made. Picture books have a lifespan of roughly 250 circulations. The Board also asked what the level is after the early readers. Those are the level -ups, which have more text, chapters, but still some illustrations. This is not a standard collection for libraries and is something this library created to bridge between early readers and chapter books. 5. LIBRARY FOUNDATION OF SOUTHLAKE UPDATE Board member Lauren Green shared some updates for the Foundation. They are also looking at updating their website so that they can be ready for new digital traffic to plan for a new library. Pfledderer did say that updating the website will be a great initiative in driving traffic as often community members want to be a part of something growing and exciting and new. Cicely Nelson asked as to the rules for fundraising and raising money as a City department. The library does not do a lot of fundraising but does ask for donations and sponsorships from the Foundation and community businesses, as well as the Friends of the Southlake Library. The library has proposed fundraising initiatives which are under consideration. Board member Nelson also asked if the library could share the email lists or send out on behalf of Foundation. Pfledderer said that would not be possible due to confidentiality rules and the inability to promote a 501 c3 organization. They're working on a sponsorship policy for the City. City of Southlake Values: Integrity ♦ Innovation ♦ Accountability ♦ Commitment to Excellence ♦ Teamwork Minutes of the August 27, 2025, Southlake Library Board Meeting Page 5 of 5 Green asked if they have had a meeting since the article regarding a new library was released. Pfledderer said the City Council met the previous week. There is no direction from the Council on a new library project at this time. They then asked as to how much the City has put aside for the project, which Pfledderer estimates ranges between $15.5 million and $16 million. There is also a portion side aside for the veteran's memorial, and none for the adaptive playground. Green asked if it is appropriate for them to ask questions of the Council. Pfledderer let them know that as citizens of Southlake, they are absolutely allowed to go to the City Council to voice their opinions on the project. 6. NEW BUSINESS Pfledderer asked if they had any new business that they wished to discuss. Green asked if she had heard of Story Corps, and if the library could become a mobile location for that organization. The interviews recorded there are given over the Library of Congress. The library has done this in conjunction with the Southlake Historical Society to record original Southlake residents as a living history. PUBLIC FORUM The public forum was opened at 7:24 p.m., and being no public present, it was closed at 7:25 p.m. 8. ADJOURNMENT The next meeting is scheduled for September 24th, 2025, at 6:30 p.m. at the Parkwood Training Center. The meeting was adjourned at 7:25 p.m. Will Doby, Chair Cy thia Pfledderer, City Librarian City of Southlake Values: Integrity ♦ Innovation ♦ Accountability ♦ Commitment to Excellence ♦ Teamwork