Speaker 2: Thank you. Okay. Just so you know, our next two items are are item 20 and item 19. We've both been requested to get moved up, so I'm going to try to get in there. We have folks here for both. So item 20 and then 19. So if you're here for those, we're going to have both of them here right away.
Speaker 3: Item 20 Communication from Councilmember Your Honor, Councilwoman Price and Councilwoman Mongo. Recommendation to request the City Manager to establish a one month Long Beach Public Library Overdue Fines Amnesty program from April 1st to April 30th.
Speaker 2: Mr. Ringa.
Speaker 4: Thank you, Mayor. First of all, I want to thank my colleagues, Stacey Mungo and Susie Price for signing onto this item with me. I'm glad to be bringing the ceremony, overdue fines and the program again this year. Last year, the responses to the amnesty program resulted in a 4055 patrons, so participating and returning 10,103 items with an estimated value of $181,854. Also, 3220 items previously considered lost were returned with an estimated value of $57,960. Additionally, the library received 2911 new donated books to add to its collection through the program. I would like to also mention to our residents that to make sure that you participate in this year's program, return your overdue books so that you can continue with your library privileges. There is no telling when we will do this program again, so please take the time to look through those books and return them. I also want to ensure that once you participate in this program, your card stays active, it stays open, and the books are made available for others to enjoy as well. One of the major goals of this program, obviously, is to keep people informed about what's taking place in your libraries, to visit our libraries, to use the books, and to take it all advantage of everything that we have available through our libraries. So I request the support of my council colleagues on this item and look forward to continuing this program. And hopefully we can eventually at some point not have to do this in the future.
Speaker 2: Thank you, Councilor Mongo.
Speaker 1: Yes, I approach this with great caution because what I don't want is to start a pattern where we do this every single year so people just keep their books until that time and then obviously have their their fines forgiven. However, the the numbers spoke for themselves in terms of what the the library was able to recover and the number of engagements we were able to reconnect. So with a heat of caution, to those of you who do not take this opportunity, there will unlikely be another opportunity in the future. So what we really need to hear from is the Library Foundation I'm sorry, the library staff in what they will be doing to ensure that every single member of our community who either has an outstanding book or a fine knows about this opportunity.
Speaker 4: Susan Johnson.
Speaker 1: Yeah.
Speaker 8: Good evening.
Speaker 6: Mr. Mayor, and members of City Council. The library has.
Speaker 8: A lot of ways to be able.
Speaker 6: To communicate this out to the public. We have our library website and also the.
Speaker 8: City's website where.
Speaker 6: We can advertise this. We can do an email blast to all of our cardholders. We will since April is National Library Month.
Speaker 1: We will include.
Speaker 6: Information about amnesty in all of our National Library Month promotional materials, which includes a special events calendar and a bookmark. We also will do a press release, advertise it on social media, both our own accounts and then citywide accounts will put signage at all of our libraries, and.
Speaker 8: We will.
Speaker 6: Request assistance from MLB.TV to do an eclipse to promote it. And then certainly if you have any other suggestions, we're happy to take those under consideration and promote this.
Speaker 1: I'm definitely interested in the more active releases than the passive ones. People come to the website when they're an active member of the library, but if they are currently a pass do member of the library, they might not be searching out information from you. I would also state that if you want to do an email to your active members, it should really be focused on those members that actually have outstanding books and fines. And then thirdly, I would say that your press release is an engagement with the media and perhaps an interview with the library director in a local paper, including but not limited to perhaps individuals who were forgiven last year and that they have turned around and checked out many books and the new resources that they have access to, including Overdrive media, downloading those digital books. And perhaps if we could encourage some of them to write letters to the editors because we really need to hit it on all fronts for us to be able to get the most out of this opportunity and to get to a point where everyone becomes a responsible library card holder. Thank you.
Speaker 2: Now reports.
Speaker 6: That's fine. I just wanted to say I think it's a great opportunity. I might have a few books that need to be turned in, and I think that our office is doing a book drive with AOC seven. And so we'll definitely use this as an opportunity to actively engage community members on it. And I think, you know, doing social media invites and events is really helpful as well.
Speaker 2: You know? Thank you, Councilwoman Pryce.
Speaker 8: I think this is a great item. And I want to thank my colleagues, colleague Roberto Aranda, for bringing it. And I hope the public takes advantage of it. Thank you.
Speaker 2: Thank you. Any public comment on this? Please come forward.
Speaker 0: It's obviously a great idea. Let me offer this word of caution. It was based upon what I observed. And when I lived in Chicago, they tried this idea. It was so successful they had to close down the main library for three days. So many people had so many books outstanding. So the careful. Thank you.
Speaker 2: Thank you. Next speaker, please.
Speaker 6: Good evening. My name is Molly Lewis and I'm with the Long Beach Public Library Foundation. First, I would like to thank Mayor Garcia for championing literacy in our community and the City Council as a whole for your tireless efforts on behalf of all 12 of our library branches. In particular, I'd like to thank Councilmember Yanga for introducing Library Amnesty program, which met with resounding.
Speaker 1: Success last April, reengaging.
Speaker 6: Over 4000 library patrons with resources, materials and programs. In the years since, Long Beach has.
Speaker 1: Continued to raise the standard for how we value literacy.
Speaker 6: From opening the brand new library in Uptown Long Beach to Mayor Garcia, your.
Speaker 1: Book club last fall, which was for me a.
Speaker 6: Wonderful part of my experience being a citizen in Long Beach, opening pathways for literacy has become a part of our identity as a city, which doesn't just look good. Libraries are fundamentally.
Speaker 1: Integral to safety high school.
Speaker 6: Matriculation, even.
Speaker 1: Entrepreneurial success. But the impact.
Speaker 6: Of a library is only as effective as its use. Bringing library amnesty.
Speaker 1: Back this April for.
Speaker 6: National Library Month will again.
Speaker 1: Make it possible.
Speaker 6: For people who rely on the library to redeem their privileges, to engage with library programs and resources.
Speaker 1: And to bring the benefits of literacy and education back.
Speaker 6: Into their communities. So it's reasonable to ask whether the library amnesty program would be a responsible move for the city at a time when every dollar counts.
Speaker 1: But on behalf of the Long.
Speaker 6: Beach Public Library Foundation, I would encourage you to consider that it's not only responsible.
Speaker 1: It's vital. Thank you.
Speaker 2: Thank you so much. Next speaker, please.
Speaker 1: Yes. My name is Susan Redfield. I'm a member of the board of the Longridge Public Library Foundation. I am here in support of this outstanding concept. Thank you very much. I, too, want to thank especially my personal councilmember, Roberta Franca. Last year, amnesty program saved the city valuable resources by dramatically reducing material replacement costs. The statistics have been cited and are remarkable. It's important to remember that many of the pending fines would likely never be paid and the books and materials lost to the library. In addition, a minor majority of overdue, overdue items in our library system are teen and juvenile materials. Amnesty aims to reengage the families and students whom libraries, literacy and education programs are developed and to whom they are directed. Lastly, our libraries and their staff are terrific, and all positive programs related thereto should be commended. Thank you again.
Speaker 2: Thank you so much. Next speaker, please.
Speaker 5: Stephen Morrison, Social Democratic Socialists of America. Bloomberg We are coming in support of this who are like I said, I'm here in support of this measure here today, amnesty for libraries as a just cause. But as the previous speaker noted, most of the people who have these overdue books are children. So going after them in a punitive manner would be a waste of time. Additionally, I would really stress that any funds that are recovered or any additional funds that are available for libraries are maximized and provided to them at once. Libraries function more than just a place for education or a place for research. They are fantastic tools for fighting, fighting juvenile crime. They give a place for children to go after school, especially those without parents or without constant supervision of parents. Additionally, these are also function as day shelters for a majority it for a large portion of our homeless residents and providing them any and all academic and educational opportunities is again just a human right. Finally, the if you really want to focus on what would be a really good fiscal operation or source of fiscal savings for libraries , invest in academic collections j store WorldCat any of these any of these these large completely online at this point academic or university library access to university libraries, these sorts of things. They cost very little to public institutions. They usually come at reduced rates. They material cost and the ability to steal them is nonexistent. And it really provides an excellent benefit, especially to people who are attending private institutions where they're put, where their book costs are not sufficient, or anybody else who really would like to come in and have access to the preeminent studies and academic research on any particular subject that they might need they can never get to.
Speaker 2: Thank you. Just real quick to our library. I'm surprised that we don't have JSTOR and those journals. Do we not have those?
Speaker 6: We do subscribe to journal databases. The current one that we have is our Gmail general.
Speaker 8: One file, and so it has.
Speaker 6: Many thousands and thousands of journal articles available.
Speaker 2: Okay, I'd love for you guys to look in to J. J store, which it should be like a standard. So thank you. Let me go back to the public comment. Yes. Yeah.
Speaker 1: Wonderful idea. Libraries are my happiest place on earth. And the loss of finds, though, is a cut in some of the revenue for the libraries. So I personally am going to donate $500 to the library to help offset some of the fines. And I would encourage everybody to make donations to the library because they offer such an amazing service to so many people in our community.
Speaker 2: Thank you so much. I may go back to the council. Before I go back to the couple of members that spoke, I want to just say one thing. I want to thank Councilman Granger for bringing this forward now for a second time. And I think what I want folks to know and what's really amazing kind of having looked at what happened the last time we did this a year ago, is the folks that are have these these these fees and these overdue books, they're not. Most of them are not able to pay or fear being going back to pay. And so they have we have cut off access for a lot of children and young people that need the library the most. And so to be able to provide this service so that the folks that are that need library services, that critically need access to learning and literacy and community centers, and giving them a chance to come in in a safe way, return the books and then regain privileges. Because I think what people don't realize is all of these people that have these overdue fees have lost their library privileges. And for many of them, they need the library to get their lives back on track. And so I'm very grateful to the councilmembers for supporting this. It's a fantastic program and I strongly support it. Councilmember Ringo.
Speaker 4: Well, say it, Mayor, and that's perfect. The perfect segue into what the brief in the program is for and why we support it so much in regards to the outreach. Perhaps we could also include a statement in the water bills that would reach everybody that would indicate that there is another program taking place in April, I think would be would be a helpful suggestion. And the young lady who spoke last. What's your name? I'm sorry, I didn't catch your name.
Speaker 1: Oh, yes.
Speaker 4: Well, I want to thank you for your generous donation. We need more of those. More of those, definitely. And I want to thank you for your generosity and for your helping the library.
Speaker 2: Thank you, Councilman Gonzales.
Speaker 8: I just want to commend you, Councilmember Brown. This is a great program. Heard the statistics. And I'm very proud that we're doing this as a city. And I know assuming that this is all in different languages, we'll be touching many different communities and hoping that they can come back and return their books. Congrats.
Speaker 2: Thank you. We have a motion and a second. Please cast your votes.
Recommendation to request City Manager to establish a one month Long Beach Public Library Overdue Fines Amnesty Program from 
April 1, 2017 to April 30, 2017 that will support the recovery of circulation materials and provide the opportunity for patrons to return overdue books, thus restoring their library borrowing privileges at the twelve branches of the Long Beach Public Library system.