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Home My WebLink AboutMINUTES - 10142003 - C79 THE BOARD OF SUPERVISORS OF CONTRA COSTA COUNTY, CALIFORNIA Adopted this Order on October 14, 2003 by the following vote: AYES: Supervisors MIA, Un1M,%,GRMMMG, MOM AM DeSAl11,NIM NOES: rM ABSENT: Mt4E ABSTAIN: NM SUBJECT: Annual Report of the Board of Law Library Trustees The Board of Supervisors ACKNOWLEDGES receipt of the Annual Report of the Board of Law Library Trustees for the Fiscal Year ending June 30, 2003. 1 hereby certify that this is a true and correct copy of an action taken and entered on the minutes of the Board of Supervisors on the date shown. Attested:October 14,2003 John Sweeten,Clerk of the Board of Super7isors and County Administrator t jj By ¢i f Il � Deputy Clerk SAJune-Share\BoardOrders 2003\lawlibrary 2003 Annual Report of the Board of Law Library Trustees County of Contra Costa, State of California Fiscal Year Ending .dune 30, 2003 h � �f , D F TO THE HONORABLE BOARD OF SUPERVISORS '< COUNTY OF CONTRA COSTA, STATE OF CALIFORNIA v Pursuant to §6349 and §6350 of the California Business and Professional Code,the Board of the Public Law Library Trustees respectfully submits to your Honorable Board its annual report of the condition of its trust for the fiscal year ending June 30, 2003. Board of Trust" The Board of Law Library Trustees was composed of the following members on June 30, 2003: Joyce Crain (President) Judge, Superior Court Steven Austin (Vice President) Judge, Superior Court Harlan Grossman (Secretary) Judge, Superior Court Barry Baskin Judge, Superior Court Bruce Mills Judge, Superior Court David Del Simone Attorney Craig Andersen Attorney The Law Library Director, Alice McKenzie, also served as Recording Secretary of the Board of Public Law Library Trustees. Honorable George Spanos resigned on September 26, 2002 and was replaced by Honorable John Kennedy. On December 31, 2002 Honorable John Kennedy and Honorable Judith Craddick resigned and were replaced by Honorable Barry Baskin and Honorable Steven Austin on January 1, 2003. Staff No staffing changes took place:over the year other than, Alice McKenzie, the Law Library Director's, hours increased from 20 hours per week to 25 hours per week. The Richmond branch library re-opened on March 1, 2003 after having been closed since November 2001. Judy Gooch resumed her position at the Richmond location. _1_ Law Library Staff �---- Ai ...................................: .................................... C�frt,ia�nr##htt�r qii Life tlttr R J ar�f R �1ti tett #d13 l k� 1 . ,t #. ........ ) fft3fT�tCT .mar.) Eicltt+an } { # oo Condition of Trust Can 7/1/02 the law library's beginning fund balance was$373,240. During the 2002/2003 fiscal year, the law library spent$667,037 while receiving $679,177 in total revenue. The law library's expenditures were below the budgeted $670,667. With the slight increase in revenue from filing fees a balanced budget was achieved at year-end. The filing fee revenue was$8,326 above our forecasting and this will be addressed later in the report. Based on the recommendation of our C.P.A., Arlene Mose, the Law Library Board of Trustees passed a resolution this year to maintain a six-month reserve for the law library's operations. This reserve is a non-dedicated, liquid-cash reserve of approximately Eft percent of one year's budget that can not be drawn from without Board approval. All other unbudgeted revenue will be set aside in the capital improvement fund for library improvements, i.e. library management software, refurbishing, etc. The library has utilized a number of belt-tightening measures to maintain its reserve. The first measure has been setting a conservative limit on staff merit, COLA increases, and benefit expenditures over the years. Secondly, no new library staff additions or law library locations have been added. Additional core cost-reduction measures have been implemented such as refraining from any major spending on the law collection, technology, or to refurbish the facilities. These measures have weakened the effectiveness of the Law Library in the County. To continue and expand our role in meeting the needs of the Contra Costa County community the law library will pursue a court-filing fee increase that will be effective Jan. 1, 2004. The last fee increase of$3.00 was approved by the Board of Supervisors five years ago and went into effect on January 1, 1999. In addition to ding fees,the law library trust is augmented with interest earnings and miscellaneous revenue received through our photocopy service,fax receipts/transmissions,document delivery,and selling of used books. There has been a sharp decline in our interest income over the last two years.A graph of these added revenues follows and illustrates the library's dependency on the filing fee revenue. Consistent with other years, the main expenses of the library have been the maintenance of the collection and personnel costs. Most of the operational expenditures have been for the resources used to support the collection, e.g. theft protection, signage, terminals, etc. The upkeep and subscription costs to merely maintain the existing Contra Costa County Public Law Library collection have escalated substantially due to publisher mergers and the specialization of the materials. A chart taken from American Association of Law Libraries (AALL)'s Price Index -2- for Legal Publications 2d i, demonstrates the increase of legal supplementation from 1998— 2001. Serials (excluding periodicals) Court Reporters, Citators, Cafes, Legal Encyclopedias, Newsletters, Loose-leaf Services, and Supplemented Legal Treatises I"i>tlef ; t �axf�33 €g leinghar l rlc*l id 1998 527 .$311,386.40. $591.99 100.00 1999 527 $346,494,32 $657.48 11.27% 111.27 20017 527 $366,932.46 $696.27 5.90% 117.84 2001 527 $422,(362.76 $800.88 15.02% 135.54 The chart does not depict the increases since 2001 which have continued to climb over 10% annually. Legal supplementation, also knew as serials, comprises better than 90% of the law library's expenditures, compared to monographs, which are not supplemented. The library has had to continually cut print materials from the collection due to these increases. Like other entities, the library has also experienced a sharp increase in the worker compensation insurance, health insurance, property insurance and liability insurance areas. There were also new expenses this year with the reopening of the Richmond branch which was not covered by the county, i.e. phone and computer installations, painting, shelving, etc. The breakdown of the Law Library's expenditures is presented below. A copy of Revenue and Expenditure Report.- 711102-6130103 is provided as Appendix A. Public Law library Expenses: 2002-2003 Insurance 0% Equipment Personnel 34% Collection 50% Operations 14% ® Personnel a Operations 0 Collection 0 Equipment ■ Insurance 1. American Association of Law Libraries (2003).. Price Index for Legal Publications, .2d. Retrieved duly 29,2003, from h. _:l-` n,��_.aalct.arfebersjric inrle .a [members-only section]. Propeft Added this Fiscal Year Martinez Quantity Pro e 2 Micron Computers for public access re laced older computers 2 Printers(Tplaced older rimers I Server(replaced older server 3 Monitors(I damaged by water disaster,2 re laced older monitors Richmond Qu ity pro e 2 Dell Computers for staff and public re laced older computers Collection Books (This is an approximate number and includes all reporters as well as treatises) 57,716 volumes in collection 420 volumes withdrawn 914 volumes added New Books (New Titles or Replacement Volumes of Earlier Editions) 208 volumes (part of the 914 volumes shown above) tanline l/nter»et) Services Lexis Shepards Westlaw LegalTrac(Online Index of Substantive Legal Periodicals) Court Forms (used with Adobe Acrobat or Word Processing software) Treatises(some of these titles had formerly been available in CD-ROM format) Online Access Usage: -4- Online Usage-200212003 �o- 40 <� ---- 30 :. .....: >:>:>::; Hours ■vVestlaw hours 20 .:::...:::;:>:>:>::>:::::::: =:: :. 10 :`<> :<; t.Ex15 hours 0 :» Jun- Jul-Aug-Sep-Oct-No*Dec-Jan-Feb-Mar-Apr-May-Jun- 02 02 02 02 02 02 02 03 03 03 03 03 03 J Public Access Terminals flntemef Access) Three (3) terminals available for the public—Martinez One (1)terminal available for the public- Richmond Microfiche (No new fiche has been added the past two years) 125,012 CD-R (most titles were cancelled and moved to an online format) 2 titles The collection has increased slightly and we have been able to keep it current.The library does not circulate the collection so there have only been a few instances of damage or theft of the law books. Over the recent years,the Board of Trustees has carefully examined the collection and a number of esoteric titles have been eliminated. There has been a diligent effort to build up the California law collection and ensure its currency. The primary goal of the law library is to maintain the titles most commonly used by the patrons. When available,Internet sources supplement our in-print resources in the library. This online solution will continue to be an issue with some patrons due to the computer information gap primarily caused by age, income, and educational level. The library staff continually requires training so that they can assist the public with internet sources and other applications. Two years ago the Judicial Council reported in their annual report that 4.3 million litigants in the State of California were pro per(self-represented). The law library has been working with the Contra Costa Courts and the Contra Costa Bar Association to support their efforts in educating and supporting the public who have chosen to represent themselves. Pro per materials have been added to the law library's collection, as well as the addition of informational training sessions on how to use the Internet to locate some of the online sources, e.g. forms, self-help centers, etc. Significant Developments 4. Operations + Strategic Pian -5- The Board of Trustees diligently worked on a 2003—2005 Strategic Plan for the Law Library which was approved by the Board on July 2003. This is a major accomplishment for the Board and provides the library with a vision and strategies for its future. A copy of the Strategic Plan is attached as Appendix B. + Upgraded Technology The library's"pre-Pentium"server was replaced this year to improve reliability and access speed. Also, three of the public access computers in Martinez were replaced to provide Internet access. A public access computer with Internet access is also available to the Richmond patrons. + Online Library Catalog iii New Web Presence After a period of trial and error,the library succeeded in provided a web version of its library catalog online. Patrons can now review the collection online for both locations to determine if the item is available. The online catalog also allows linkage to web sites,table of contents, and e-books. In addition to the library catalog, the library's web page was completely redesigned to enhance the navigation and to include the library's new logo. Water Disaster Damage On Jan. 28, 2003, leakage from the court rooms above the library created a considerable amount of damage to the library. Books were either freeze-dried or replaced. The carpets were thoroughly dried and the high-density shelving units were also dried and had lubricants added. One of the staff's monitors shorted out and had to be replaced. The library was fully operational within a week after the water damage. Our insurance coverage covered a considerable amount of the restoration. -.� Pudic Access • Public Law Library -6- Can May 1, 2003, Han. Joyce Cram dedicated the new Public Law Library sign in front of the A. F. Bray Courthouse. The dedicated was televised {: an CC-TV and followed by an Open House in the library. + Richmond Library Re-opened After being closed for over a year an improved Richmond Law Library has reopened. A Public Access terminal with access to the Internet and legal databases are now available. The number of Richmond library patrons continues to increase and has exceeded expectations. The cart below demonstrates that this library has a large public patronage and averages around 127 users a month. Richmond-Law Library Patron*Statistics .... .: .. ...:.. :. . l �ro3ai Toll ......... >:''` iii #> :...'..» >:<:>::> "" E1t > 1 `» > > »<> _ Jun-03 5 2 30 4 0 3 3 78 124 May-03 2 2 44 5 0 2 6 66 127 Apr-03 5 1 32 0 0 5 9 78 130 Mar-03 1 3 32 2 0 4 1 82 125 Feb-03 2 0 16 23 0 0 0 9 50 Total 15 8 162 35 0 15 19 331 585 • 2417 Online Access 2417 provides online access to a law librarian via the Internet. Our library has volunteered 3 hours a week of our time to this state-wide effort of providing virtual reference. This service has been a major success and is accessible through the State Court's self-help web site, www.courtinfo.ca.gov. + Electronic resource use The demand for desktop delivery of materials is increasing and to meet that need the library had to restrict online access time on the public access terminals to %hour. There is a continual demand in the library for additional terminals and Internet access for notebooks. -7- • Online Training Every month the library provides online training for our LEXIS users. We also train individuals on a regular basis on how to use the legal databases and the court's web sites. Future Pune During the 2003104 fiscal year, the Law Library's Board of Trustees will continue to monitor revenue trends and limit expenditures. The Board has established a Strategic Planning Committee that will continue to conduct needs assessment so that the Law Library can be assuredthat it continues to meet the needs of the community. Strong efforts have already been put into place to increase the library's service level and to market these services. The vision of the law library is to be"a significant county law library that commits itself to excellence in service." In keeping with that vision: The Contra Costa County Public Law Library strives to provide an environment that is conducive to learning and research;provides knowledgeable service to our users;promotes the use of progressive and innovative technologies to provide best access to information and resources;develops steadfastly a committed staff that applies high professional standards in the continuous improvement of service quality. In keeping with the Strategic Plan the Law Library has set forth a number of goals that cover: access to legal information, technology, quality of service to the community, education, and funding. Over the next three years the library will strive to meet these goals. Concerns, Problems As with other California county law libraries,declining revenue is a big concern. During the past few years, the law library has experienced a drop in its filing fee revenues and its interest income. The impact is great as the law library copes with increased costs for publications, cost-of-living increases, insurance rates, and technological maintenance. Over the last four years, the Law Library was unable to provide merit increase adjustments to its employees. The need for retraining or recruiting and retaining staff with the skills required to use and maintain the new technologies found in law libraries needs to be dealt with. Finally, the law library needs to address the issue of how it operates within its constraints and remain relevant to the legal community and the public. -8- Appendix A Contra Costa County Public Law Library REVENUE AND EXPENDITURE REPORT: 711/02-6/30/03 Summery Beginning Fund Balance(7!1!02) $372,286 Revenue $679,177 Expenditures ($667,036) FUNS?BALANCE LA901333�* $388,678 era Revenue Detail Court Filing Fees $644,115 Revenues from fax,copies,bk sates $30,707 Rev.from pooled earnings $4,355 FUND TOTAL tREVENt1E5) 5670,177 Expenditure Detail Personnel Permanent Salaries $185,947 Temporary Salaries $1,360 Permanent Overtime $302 FICA $1,730 Retirement Expense $12,194 Employee Croup insurance $21,363 Unemployment Insurance $687 Workers Comp Insurance $2,787 Subtotal $226370 Operations Office Expense $7,031 Postage $385 Communications $5,007 Telephone $4,325 Computer Equipment $12,389 Food $382 Memberships $1,335 Rents&Leases-Equip $6,964 Computer Software $15,444 Maintenance-Equipment $15,740 Transportation&Travel $800 ProfessionaltSpecIM Svc $16,218 Data Processing Service $1,708 Electronic Database Svcx $10,208 Insurance $2,335 Adult Materials-Library $336,335 Training $2,722 Office Equipment(Capital Exp.) $1,389 Subtotal $40,667 FUND TOTAL(EXPENDITURES) 667,037 "8-month Reserve Fund($355,186)&Capital Improvement Fund($16,100) 912£x12003 Based on 8119103 20 0212 003 Closing Raport Annual Report of the Board of Law Library Trustees County of Contra Costa, Mate of California Fiscal Year Ending dune 30, 2003 TO THE HONORABLE BOARD OF SUPERVISORS COUNTY OF CONTRA COSTA, STATE OF CALIFORNIA The undersigned, Recording Secretary of the Board of Law Library Trustees, County of Contra Costa, State of California, respectfully submits this report of the finances of the said trust and other information as might be of interest,for the fiscal year ending June 30,2003,based upon information provided her by the Auditor-Controller of said County and Arlene K. Mose, GPA hired by the Board of Trustees of the Law Library, all information she believes to be true. r Signed Alice McKenzie Law Library Director/Recording Secretary of the Board of Trustees for the Public Law Library for the County of Contra Costa STATE OF CALIFORNIA COUNTY OF CONTRA COSTA Alice McKenzie, being first duly sworn, deposes and says: That she is Recording Secretary of the Board of the Public Law Library Trustees, County of Contra Costa, State of California, that she has read the attached report and knows the contents thereof, and that she believes it to be true. Signed Subscribed' id sworn to before me this 2l day of , 2003. Signed Title , t -,.- - Annual Report of the Board of Laver Library Trustees County of Contra Costa, State of California Fiscal Year Ending June 30, 2003 TO KENNETH J. CORCORAN, AUDITOR-CONTROLLER COUNTY OF CONTRA COSTA, STATE OF CALIFORNIA Pursuant to§6349 and §6350 of the California Business and Professional Code, the Board of the Public Law Library Trustees respectfully submits to the auditor of the county its annual report of the condition of its trust,with full statements of all property and money received,the number of books, periodicals and other publications on hand, the number added by purchase,gift, or otherwise, and other information as might be of interest for the fiscal year ending June 30, 2003 Respectfully submitted this day of 003. Alice McKenzie Law Library Director/Recording Secretary To the Board of the Public Law Library Trustees County of Contra Costa, State of California Annual Report of the Board of Law Library Trustees County of Contra Costa, State of California Fiscal Year Ending June 30, 2003 TO THE HONORABLE BOARD OF SUPERVISORS COUNTY OF CONTRA COSTA, STATE OF CALIFORNIA Pursuant to§6349 and§5350 of the California Business and Professional Gude,the Board of Law Library Trustees respectfully submits to the Honorable Beard its annual report of the condition of its trust,with full statements of all property and money received,the number of books,periodicals and other publications on hand,the number added by purchase,gift,or otherwise,and other information as might be of interest for the fiscal year ending June 30, 2003. r Respectfully submitted this �� da of ry�'y�*,✓� Y wx a.. 1 !'!5✓ --sE 2003. ��v.1ok ',•fr.I•' F``',�"f# fi,�„r`'� ....f...--w,Y.,....._..J �� ' d Judge Joyce m, President Public;Law Lib:any Beard of Trustees County of Gcalra Costa, State of California _t1�