I am going to go ahead and get
our recordings started here.
Before I welcome our presenters
for today, we are so excited to
have with us from the
Massachusetts Library Board of
Library commissioners, Lauren
Stara, who is the library
building specialist and Andrea
Bunker as well.
We are so excited to have you
here today sharing your
expertise on this very important
topic.
Thank you so much for being here.
>> Hello, everyone.
Welcome.
Thank you so much for being here.
I was in the attendee list, and
I saw a number of our
Massachusetts colleagues here.
Welcome to all of you, but
welcome to everyone.
This is really a universal topic
I think.
My name is Lauren Stara, and I
am a library building specialist
at the Massachusetts Board of
Library commissioners.
My background is that I was an
architect first and I am still a
registered architect, but I am
also a professional librarian.
I have been a library director
into small libraries for a one
in a library district in
Washington state and one a
municipal library in British
Columbia.
Michael presenter is Andrea
Bunker come and I will let her
introduce herself.
>> Thank you, Lauren.
Thank you for being here.
My name is Andrea Bunker and I'm
also library building specialist.
I am a librarian who has worked
in Rhode Island, North Carolina,
and Massachusetts and on most
every department of a public
library.
Before joining in December of
2018, I was the director of the
historic library where I worked
on a 50000 square-foot
renovation and expansion project.
>> Andrea and I assume that if
you are here you are in
accidental facilities manager.
I know that when I got my first
library director job, it was a
little bit of a shock to find
out that I was responsible for
the building in addition to
library services.
In library school, they did not
mention that a library director
basically does everything that
nobody else wants to do.
Every building is different.
We are pretty different today.
Feel free to send questions in
the chat and we will do our best
to answer them.
Our hope today is that all of
you walk away with something
practical and useful to apply
when wearing your facility
manager hat.
>> First, we are going to start
with facilities and focus.
>> Sorry.
I'm supposed to be advancing the
slides, are I?
>> I'm so sorry.
How do I do this?
>> If you hover over the slide,
that little white on the far
left has the number of the slide.
>> There it is.
Thank you.
>> Thank you.
So being a library director or a
trustee in charge of a building
can be daunting as you balance
operations and facilities.
We encourage you to look at your
building as a living thing.
So there are the everyday needs
such as cleaning, lights, et
cetera.
Then you have preventative
maintenance such as HVAC tuneups
, inspections of your systems
and alike.
In the case of an emergency, you
want to know basic first aid and
who to call for help.
While planning plays a role in
keeping the building coming
along at the present moment, it
is important to plan for the
 building's future needs.
You must ensure there is enough
money to fund the upgrades and
improvements that keep the
objects and occupants inside of
your building healthy and safe.
So all of this has to deal with
responsibility.
If you are here, you are
probably one of the most
responsible parties for your
building.
At any rate, you probably fit
somewhere into the hierarchy.
Every municipality, county, or
library district is different in
regard to who is responsible for
what, when they are responsible,
and why they are responsible.
So if you think of this kind of
like a chore chart at home, it
could be helpful.
So the who, what, and when can
make an excellent document for
you and for anyone who finds
themselves in charge, because we
know that even the simplest
issue like cleaning can be
different depending on the
daytime and location.
So actually we wanted to do a
little bit of a poll here to
show the breath of understanding
here.
We will do it with the basic
cleaning and how it is handled
in your library.
I think Jennifer is going to do
a little bit of an overview on
how to actually participate.
>> Great.
If we could just go to the slide
here, I will orient you all to
your annotation tools.
So if you hover all of the
attendees over your slide and
look to the far left, you should
see a long white menu that looks
much like this.
If you first click on that
little squiggly line, that will
open the annotation menu.
Then I want you to go halfway
down on the menu to the square.
Within that there is a small
arrow that opens a submenu, and
we want you to get to that
checkmark.
Excellent.
I see people getting to that.
Once you have that, feel free to
practice on the slide so we know
that you've got it ready.
And if you do not see this
option, I know there are
sometimes folks  on iPads,
for instance, it may not be
available.
Know that you can also respond
in the chat.
Excellent.
Lots of practice and going on I
want everyone to hold their
checkmarks, and we will move to
the quick poll, and you can
respond to your library set up
with who cleans and how your
library gets cleaned.
>> As you can see, we are asking
you how many of you have a
facilities manager, a custodian
on the library staff, a
custodian on the staff of a
municipality, county, or library
district, Department of Public
Works staff member, independent
cleaners through a minister poll
or other entities contract,
independent cleaners through a
library contract, or none of the
above.
Look at how everybody is
checking a different box.
That's amazing.
>> It looks like may be a few
less of folks with Department of
Public Works staff members, but
otherwise lots of distribution.
Few are none of the above.
>> Those of you with none of the
above, I'm so sorry.
>> Okay.
Is everybody done?
I can move on.
All right.
Thanks, everybody.
This is really -- and a little
surprised the distribution is so
even across all of these options.
>> And that's just one piece of
the topic of cleaning.
If you are thinking about who is
responsible and that varying so
much, then you have the
difference is in the breath of
cleaning, the responsible party.
Do they do full-scale cleaning?
Are they doing mopping, dusting,
vacuuming some bathrooms, and
emptying of trash?
Or are they doing bathrooms and
emptying of trash?
Are you doing the bathrooms and
emptying of trash?
When does the responsible party
do the cleaning?
Is it daily?
Is it multiple times per week?
Is it biweekly or weekly?
I am hoping the latter range of
the frequency scale is
pre-pandemic only and that you
have different circumstances now
that we realize that libraries
are in a tough spot right now.
Is this how all of the public
buildings are cleaned in your
city, town, county, or library
district?
Is it because of the
organizational structure of your
library?
Is it because of designations?
Is it because of funding?
I probably should have started
with the last question first.
The most important question to
ask, is this arrangement
effective, efficient, and
working for your building?
If not, how do you move toward
something that does work?
This is where a documentation
comes into play.
As librarians, we know
information is power,
substantiating our capital and
operational requests is
imperative in ensuring that the
building can be taken care of in
our absence is critical.
Beyond cleaning, what are the
other systems that make up the
core elements of our buildings?
What are some of the issues that
can arise through aging and
through lack of maintenance?
>> So as I think everybody on
this probably knows, hygiene and
air quality have become a really
hot issue as a result of the
COVID-19 pandemic.
As of November 2020, there is
still a lot of confusion and
conflicting information about
the need for modifications to
cleaning protocols and HVAC
systems.
We recommend that you contact
your local Board of Health, the
CDC, and the American Society of
heating, refrigeration, and
air-conditioning engineers for
the most current guidelines.
There are links to those last
two organizations on the guide
that is compiled on HVAC for
COVID and libraries.
Along to that is on our
resources page.
I think Jennifer also put on the
webinar page.
So as Andrea spoke about
cleaning of spaces and services
as familiar to all of us, but
the facilities managers have to
deal with much more than that.
Occasional and sometimes chronic
problems with HVAC, lighting,
plumbing, and water infiltration
are very common.
And if there is an urgent
 situation, you need to
know how to identify the issue,
and if possible what caused it,
you need to know who to call,
and you need to know how you are
going to pay for  repair.
It's best to have all of this
information organized before you
are standing ankle deep in water
from a burst boiler.
To be prepared, you need to do
some fact-finding.
So there are two parts to this
fact-finding mission that can be
done in either order.
One is a condition walk-through,
and the other is a deep dive
into your files and records.
It condition walk-through may be
the less daunting place to begin
because, as you do that, you
will get a sense of what kinds
of records and files you are
going to be looking for.
Before we get started on that, I
want to do a little bit of a
primer on these various elements.
So HVAC stands for heating,
ventilation, and air
conditioning.
If you are building a small,
your system is probably very
simple.
You may not have any ventilation
or air conditioning at all.
And if you are in a warm climate,
 you may not have any heating.
Most larger buildings have
multiple zones controlled by
local or central thermostats.
Older buildings may have just to
those old-fashioned thermostats
on the wall in each room where
as newer buildings or newly
renovated buildings usually have
a complex building management
system also known as BLM,
accessed through an online
portal.
There are so many parts to HVAC
systems.
They have motors and fans and
blowers and coils and ductwork
and filters.
So many filters.
Even in normal times you have to
set the controls for the various
seasons.
You have to change out and/or
clean the filters at least twice
a year, and you need to make
sure that any ceiling fans and
windows are working with and not
against your HVAC system.
Onto lighting.
This, generally, varies based on
when it was installed.
You may have incandescent,
halogen, fluorescent, compact
fluorescent, LED, or a
combination of all of the above
kinds of lighting.
Some buildings have simple
switches on the walls and others
have, again, complex
computer-controlled lighting
systems.
Some whites are motion sensor
activated and others are
programmed for the time of day.
Lighting ballast, specialized
fixtures and bulbs, all of these
can create headaches.
Code and efficiency drive a lot
of the decision-making about
lighting.
Plumbing.
Unless you have no running water
in your building, which we know
is the case in at least three
libraries in our state, you have
plumbing.
There are old-school fixtures,
motion sensor activated
fixtures, sprinklers, hot water
heaters, et cetera.
There can be problems with all
of these.
One of my favorite stories is
there is a library that was
built only a few years ago in
Massachusetts, and in their zeal
for energy 
efficiency, they installed auto
flush toilets powered by little
solar cells on top of each
toilet.
That's great.
That's fine, but they also put
in not motion sensor lighting
but -- yes.
Sorry.
They put in motion sensor
control lighting in the
bathrooms, so they have toilets
powered by light and lights
powered by motion.
This means that the lights were
never on long enough to charge
the solar cells and the toilets
would never flush.
After a couple years of trying
various solutions, they just
took all of the solar powered
toilets out and put in regular
old-fashioned flush toilets.
Water infiltration.
That's a fancy word for leakage.
If you have ever had the joy of
a public bathroom sink clogged
with paper towels, water seeping
everywhere, you are not alone.
Water from burst pipes,
sprinklers, or hilarious pranks
are a few common sources of
infiltration.
Compromise roof membranes,
porous stone foundations,
elevated groundwater levels, et
cetera.
All of these create the risk for
leakage of water into your
 building.
So before we jump into the
condition walk-through and the
documentation, I wanted to pause
for a moment to see if we have
any questions of our.
>> Thanks, Lauren.
There are not too many questions.
It's more people confirming that
it sounds like COVID has changed
both how libraries are getting
cleaned, we know, but in terms
of the staff maybe that are
claiming it, one person
mentioned their cleaning company
chose not to come back, so they
and their volunteers are doing
lots of cleaning work.
Someone also mentioned that
there is board pressure to cut
back on outboard cleaning
services.
I know you talk a little about
that and how to make the case
for needing that.
We will hear a little bit more
about that.
Someone did a great little
preview of your walk-through
mentioning to take pictures.
I know you are going to talk a
lot about that as well.
Let me see here if there are any
others.
Someone said, are there really
buildings with no plumbing?
>> Yes.
>> Unfortunately, yes.
>> Yet.
So I will keep my eye out for
questions, but it is great to
see people chiming in and
sharing but there set up is, and
we encourage you to keep posting
questions as we move through.
Just be sure to post to everyone.
>> How do you know when one or
more of these common issues is
an issue for you.
In the absence of or even in
spite of a high-tech building
management system, your senses
are your best tool.
>> So this brings us to the
condition walk-through.
As someone mentioned, it is a
very good idea to take pictures.
These are all pictures from my
library before we get our
renovation and expansion project.
As Lauren mentioned, sometimes
our senses are the best way to
uncover a surface or deep issue
in our buildings.
I'm sure we have all discovered
an issue while passing by or
walking through an area and were
later thankful we passed that
piece of equipment, stepped on
the corner of the rug, looked up
at the ceiling at that exact
moment, for if we hadn't, the
issue could have been more
costly for us to repair.
What if you made it a habit to
visit and assess all of the
spaces in your library?
This is, essentially, what we
mean by a condition walk-through.
It's not a once and done type
thing but it should be done at
regular intervals such as the
time of completing tasks on a
maintenance checklist, which you
will see a little bit later.
If you do not possess an
inventory of equipment in your
facility, a condition
walk-through is the perfect
opportunity to convince -- to
begin to compile that.
Bring another person to take
notes and pictures.
If you have access to an
individual with facilities
experience for your initial
walk-through, we highly suggest
that because then they can help
you understand the equipment
that you have.
So the first thing you want to
do is look at your spaces as you
are walking through.
Use your vision to spot
potential hazards or the vision
of the person that is with you
such as this furniture that is
blocking not only the electrical
box and fire panel but also the
inverter, so perfect placement.
Not really.
That's totally illegal and
against code.
Do you see any discoloration on
the walls, the ceilings, the
floors?
Do you see any creatures or
evidence of creatures taken up
residence in your building?
Any leaks coming from equipment?
Any warning lights on equipment,
any lights that are out?
Any furniture in need of repair
or replacement?
Then you want to bring in your
 ears.
Use your ears to notice or root
out unusual or weird noises.
This particular picture is
leading to our compressor.
It was making a very weird sort
of mechanically -- like it was
in overuse, this noise.
Listen to your compressors.
Listen to the belts, listen for
alarm alerts on equipment
because he might have some
equipment that will give you an
alarm.
Listen for running toilets,
because that could potentially
become a bigger issue.
Smells.
So use your nose to root out
chemical smells or oil smells
from spills, leaks, or
malfunctioning equipment,
burning smells from equipment or
accidental or intentional fires,
and mold and/or mildew in attics
based on this or in between.
This
particular picture, it deftly
had a strong mildew smell to it.
This is not a complete list for
what you are looking for but
rather some of the issues that I
discovered through my or the
library custodian walk-through
of our building.
While we may not like to seek
out problems and issues, doing
this habitually will make those
potential mountains the
molehills that we hope for.
>> Collecting documentation.
As much documentation as you can
find is well worth your time to
find.
As Andrea said earlier,
knowledge is power, and a few
hours you spend understanding
the various systems in your
building will result in a lot
less panic when something goes
wrong.
It will also make it possible
for you to develop capital
improvement plan.
The people who fund you will
appreciate that you know what is
coming down the road and the
bill can be factored into
long-term financial plans
instead of coming as a very
unwelcome surprise.
If your building is relatively
new, you should have copies of
the architectural drawings in
either print format or digital
file.
You should also have or get
copies of what are called the as
built drawings.
These drawings are, basically,
the original architectural
drawings but they have notations
with any changes that were made
during construction marked up on
them.
They always have field changes
made during construction and
it's important to have a record
of them.
If your building is older or if
you don't know where the
drawings are, look around.
Very often you will find a big
ball of blueprints in a basement
, closet, or an office.
If not, you can check with your
local building department or
other governing office.
Another potential source is the
architect.
If you know who the architect
was, if they are still in
business, and if they are still
alive, that might be another
source for drawings.
Any manuals, warranties, and
maintenance and repair records
should be kept for every piece
of furniture, every fixture, and
every piece of equipment.
Those categories are also known
collectively.
Trying to gather data on a
50-year-old piece of equipment
can be difficult and sometimes
impossible.
Organizing the manuals, dates of
installation, warranty periods,
expected end-of-life dates.
If you collect this information
when the piece of equipment is
installed, it can be a real
timesaver.
You should also have a written
emergency or disaster plan,
which we will talk about a
little later.
>> So if facility system
inventory.
Creating an inventory of all
your major systems is a critical
component of your successful
facility management.
A spreadsheet that details the
major who, what, when, where,
and why of your facility
mechanicals and other systems
provides basic and easy to
access information.
Create a just in case I get hit
by the proverbial bus or
unexpected pandemic binder.
This is one of the spreadsheets
that can go into that.
Of all of this information is at
the fingertips of whomever made
followed in your footsteps makes
this much easier.
Include information such as when
the system was installed,
anticipated replacement dates
based on warranty or vendor
estimates, the model number.
They will ask you for that if
you call.
Sometimes a serial number as
well.
The annual repair requirements
or inspections and both
emergency and nonemergency
contact information of the
company who maintains that
equipment.
Before we talk about the routine
maintenance checklist and doing
your condition walk-through.
This can be a great opportunity
to start this.
The annual maintenance component
of this spreadsheet is critical
and will serve you well
especially if you find yourself
needing to justify an emergency
replacement of whatever it might
be.
Lights or heating system.
If you can show that you have
maintained your systems then
showed an emergency occur, you
can refer to those documents to
show that the emergency is not
from neglect.
So you are actually taking care
of your building.
Additionally, locate each piece
of equipment on your facility
math along with the key utility
shut  off.
I did see that someone in the
chat said that their
municipality has been looking
for three years for their water
shut off.
A multiple copies of this map
should be located in your
disaster plan, provided to your
eve local emergency services and
kept off-site.
For instance, we just had a
small earthquake on Sunday in
Massachusetts.
On Sundays not many of our
libraries are open, so you would
be at home.
You want to make sure that you
have all of these materials
somewhere where they can be
accessed  off-site.
If in case of an emergency,
having all of this information
readily available will save time
and perhaps further catastrophe.
If there is a water leak on the
third floor and quickly
discovering it, quickly turning
this off may mean a minor issue
versus a catastrophic disaster.
The one final piece of
information you should
eventually collect is your
monthly utility usage.
Whether it's electric, fossil
feels, or water, monitoring the
seasonal fluctuations will allow
you to better predict future
budgetary obligations and this
information could point out
there is an unknown issue
occurring somewhere within your
system.
When recording this information,
including the temperature data
as well.
This will allow you to
distinguish between high bills
due to malfunctioning equipment
as opposed to high bills due to
extreme weather.
>> So it may sound obvious, but
it isn't always.
The worst time to create an
emergency or disaster plan from
scratch is in the middle of an
emergency or disaster.
This document, while you may not
follow exactly, gives everyone
on your staff in every municipal
official a roadmap for what to
do in one of those situations
you hope to never encounter.
The documents should be easy to
access by anyone who might need
it if its contents need to be
 reviewed, discussed,
updated, and practiced on a
regular basis for it to be a
useful tool.
Don't forget that while an
online version of this is great
to have, it is essential to
print copies and keep it in
multiple locations in the
library, at your home, at town
hall or the county office or
elsewhere.
So many emergencies have power
outages associated with them, so
you can't just rely on a digital
copy.
There are lots of sample simple
emergency and disaster plans out
there and templates.
There is a live guide with
resources on this topic, and we
have put that link on our
resources page.
And I know Jennifer has a couple
additional links in the learner
guide with resources about that.
So this is where we have said
that we would pause again for
questions.
Anything come through, Jennifer?
>> I haven't seen anything else
come through.
I know you guys are covering a
lot.
Feel free to chime in with
bigger questions or smaller
questions.
There was one question actually
here.
The library they work and is in
and federal building and they
have a facilities manager for
the entire building.
Almost everything like lights
and HVAC is controlled by the
TSA.
It often seems like we have no
power if we want to make changes.
Do you have for suggest -- do
you have suggestions for how to
deal with that?
>> Well, whoever asked that
question, unfortunately, you are
not alone.
We are finding with especially
with newer buildings that have
very complex building management
 systems, very often the
control of those systems are not
within the hands of the people
who are actually in the
building.
It's very frustrating.
What I recommend when you are
planning a building is that you
make sure that you have the
ability to control that.
The temperature, the light
levels, or if not at least have
access to the people who do.
I don't know.
Maybe Andrea has other ideas,
but my biggest suggestion is to
start building a relationship
with that facilities manager.
You know, bring her or him
cookies at Christmas or, you
know, find a way to engage them
in conversation and get to know
them a little bit so that you
are not seen as the person who
is always complaining.
You want to be able to have
their ear and have a collegial
relationship with them.
>> And I would add to that that
you should ask them to join you
on a facilities condition
walk-through so that you can
look at everything together and
say that they are looking for --
say that you are looking for
their expertise in terms of your
particular space.
>> You know, it's interesting.
I don't know this person and I
don't know you.
I don't know what kind of
relationship you have, but I do
know my father worked for the
federal government his entire
career.
The federal government can seem
very bureaucratic, even more so
than state government.
I encourage you to remember that
these are just people and try to
see them that way as well.
If whoever asked that question
wanted to talk more specifically
later on, our e-mails are at the
end of the presentation, and we
would be glad to get in touch
with you about that.
>> There are a few more
questions.
>> Okay.
>> Do you have suggestions if
you are not able to find older
documents, ways to understand,
whether it's the manuals or
resources?
>> Sometimes you can find a lot
of the manuals online.
So if you do a Google search,
you might be able to find them
there.
The other thing I would say, you
know, I had to look up
information for my building, and
the city engineer's office
actually had copies.
So if you build strong
relationships with your
municipal departments or county
departments, they might have
materials that relate to your
building that you did not even
know they had.
You know, when I moved our
library, it had not been touched
in 140 years.
We had monitor 40 years worth of
files in there, which was a lot.
But I found things in such
unexpected places.
Really doing an inventory, going
through all of those little
nooks and crannies where you
would least expect things to be,
sometimes they turn up.
You would be surprised how many
other departments may hold some
of those materials for you.
>> Great.
That's really helpful.
>> And I would also add that you
may have to put away your
squeamishness, put on your
oldest clothes, and crawl around
in those nasty corners.
If you don't want to do it, find
somebody else to do it for you,
because every piece of equipment
has a little plate or a little
engraving somewhere on it that
has things like the model number
and the serial number and
sometimes they have little logs
with maintenance dates and
things like that on them.
You have to be brave and venture
into, as Andrea said, Thousand
Oaks and crannies.
>> Excellent.
Another question.
Do you recommend an engineer or
architect assessment?
>> Well, that depends on what
you are looking for.
If you want to do a professional
condition assessment of your
building, there are often
construction management or
engineering firms who will do
that for you.
I know of a couple companies
that do that in Massachusetts,
and I know there are many, many
more.
It depends on what you are
looking for.
If you are looking to justify a
new building or substantial
renovation or restoration of a
building that starting to
crumble, then it might be money
well spent.
Andrea?
>> I think you hit it right on
the nose.
It really does depend on what
you are looking to do.
>> Okay.
There was a question about
templates.
Yes, there are templates on the
event page for those three
spreadsheets and then some
resources to explore templates
for emergency plans.
There was also another question
-- let's see.
How often do you recommend folks
do that condition walk-through?
>> I would say monthly if you
can spare the time, just because
-- obviously, when you're
walking through your building,
just be cognizant of those
sights, sounds, and smells all
the time.
It doesn't even have to be a
formal walk-through all the time
, but you just want to be
looking.
I think sometimes we don't see
what is in front of us.
Think about how many libraries
you have worked in where there
are posters and flyers
everywhere and you to stop
seeing them.
It is the same with your
facility and the bones of that
facility.
I would say monthly for a little
bit, but anytime you are going
through your building, use that
as an opportunity.
>> Excellent.
There was a question if you
could explain the difference an
evaluation done by an architect
versus an engineer.
I don't know if that's something
that you would rather respond to
in an e-mail.
If you want to touch on that.
>> I can talk about it in
general.
Architects can do a lot of
different kinds of evaluations.
Do you want a functionality
evaluation?
Do you want a facility condition
evaluation?
What are you looking for?
An engineer is going to do
something very specific, whether
it is structural or mechanical
or any of those systems they are
specialists in.
An engineer tends to do a more
technical report where as an
architect can talk more about
spaces and how they relate and
how -- you know, one of the
things I talked about a lot is
how traditional libraries are
having trouble accommodating
newer services.
Architect can help you with that
kind of evaluation as well.
>> Great.
That's helpful.
And one more question before we
continue.
This I know is a huge one, but
how do you get municipal support
for a new building or remodel
when you are in the middle of a
pandemic, economic crisis, and
the community just came through
a historic flooding last year.
Do you have recommendations on
how to get that support?
>> I think if you start the
conversation that is the
beginning point.
It depends on what the economic
health of your particular
municipality or county is if you
can take on debt service for a
building project.
There might be creative ways if
you have a foundation that has
already raised so many millions
of dollars toward a new library.
All of it comes down to taxes
and the public whether or not
they are willing to support a
tax increase.
We have some libraries that have
done it without having to raise
taxes at all, but most of our
libraries do have to take on
some of that debt service at the
municipal level.
So it is having those
 conversations,
finding supporters that have
influence so that they are able
to help you advocate on your
behalf, but also I would say to
keep your officials and those
who hold the purse strings aware
of what you are doing during
this  time.
Those services that you are
providing are essential to your
community.
You are the heart of your
community in many ways, so if
you continue to make them aware
of the work you do now and then
for them to only know that that
work grows exponentially when
you are fully operating outside
of the pandemic but forming
those relationships, keeping
those lines of communication
open, I believe that is key.
Whether or not you are able to
move forward right now, I think
a lot of places, a lot of cities
and municipalities, counties,
are unsure of what they are in
the financial outlook.
As this continues, how are taxes
hit?
How will they be able to fund
their essential services?
How are they going to be able to
keep these buildings going?
We have experienced that here in
Massachusetts where we have
heard from a lot of our
librarians saying now would be
very difficult to get a library
building project past because we
do not have that crystal ball
that tells us what our financial
picture will be in 1 year, five
years, 10 years.
When you think about debt
service, it is a long haul.
So what you borrow now in this
financial landscape and
fiscal landscape is going to be
much different 20 to 25 years
down the road.
>> I am just going to put in a
plug for our podcast.
It's called building literacy.
We will get Jennifer to put a
link to the podcast on the
webinar page for you.
There's all kind of topics.
We have a roundtable of
architects talking about library
design post pandemic.
We are just about to drop one on
HVAC issues with two really
great engineers.
There's a lot of great
information there that may be
able to help you.
We are getting a little tight on
time, so I think we need to move
on now if that's all right.
These are two topics that are
very close to my heart.
Accessibility and energy.
If you are not sure about your
accessibility status or your
energy efficiency, you may want
to get an outside consultant in
to assist you in reviewing these
things.
Many times municipalities or
other government bodies look at
all of their public buildings at
once as part of an assessment
and planning initiative.
Speak to your local officials
about where the library falls as
far as their long-term planning
goes.
If you do not have any kind of
municipal initiative on the
horizon and there is a need for
your library, there are other
organizations and agencies that
can help you.
So the Americans with
disabilities act or ADA is over
30 years old, and all public
buildings should be fully
accessible by now.
Unfortunately, we still see a
lot of libraries that do not
meet the requirements of the
law, especially in historic
buildings.
One thing you should be aware of
is if you undertake any kind of
renovation, it is over a certain
financial threshold.
I do not have that number at the
top of my brain, but there is a
financial threshold that
triggers a requirement to
upgrade the entire building for
full ADA compliance.
Make sure that you are aware of
any implications of capital
projects you may undertake.
In addition, your state may have
more stringent requirements than
the federal act.
In Massachusetts, the
architectural asset board has
more stringent requirements than
the ADA does.
You need to make sure that you
are familiar with that as well.
The ADA National network and
your regional ADA Center are
really good places to start in
gathering information about this.
We have the website of the
national network on our
resources slide.
So energy.
The first step in improving your
buildings energy efficiency is
to understand your current
energy use.
That is one of the things that
that utility tracker is good for.
Many of you already know that a
lot of electric utility
companies will do energy
assessments or audits, and those
are usually free.
But there are also private
consultants that can advise on
ways to improve your buildings
performance.
Something as simple as
converting your lighting to LED
or adding more insulation to
your building can dramatically
reduce your energy consumption.
A lot of utility companies have
LED lighting conversion grants
and other incentives.
If your city or town is
committed to municipal energy
goal or a action plan, they will
have a coordinated strategy and
a library should be part of that.
Your state or region may also
have an energy Department or
agency that can either provide
grants or point you to other
resources in the area.
>> So here is our favorite topic
pay what we just touched upon a
little bit earlier in terms of
those capital money.
It is not normal times.
We don't know what this is going
to look like, but if we all had
funding, everyone would have
checked that box for having a
facilities manager or full-time
custodian or a combination of
the two.
We know that is not the case.
If you did have those positions,
you might be able to focus a bit
more on your operations and your
facility.
The documentation, resources,
and assessments that we have
covered in today's webinar are
the Eldon blocks on which our
capital and operational requests
stand.
However, just like we saw
through the example of the who,
what, when, and why of the
cleaning of your building,
funding sources vary from
library to library, county to
county, Library District two
Library District.
If you are building is owned by
the town, city, or county,
and/or if operations are funded
through the municipal county
budget, it's important that they
understand that they are
responsible for library
maintenance and upkeep.
This means a lot in for routine
and emergency maintenance
contracts, annual inspections,
cleaning, et cetera.
So if you can track that,
document it, and budget for it,
that helps tremendously.
We have a lot of libraries in
our area of the country where
they were gifted in the late 18
hundreds, early 19 hundreds.
The municipalities never had to
pay for erecting a building, but
they are in charge of the
operational components of the
building through the budget.
It is important that they know
that this is part of that.
An extension of the local budget
is a capital claim.
Usually, these plans are for
five years, and they are
updating annually, so if you
need to make changes, you can.
But it helps the local officials
know what is coming down the
pipeline.
It's an opportunity to give them
an indication of one major and
minor upgrades, maintenance, and
repair may need to occur.
If they can anticipate the need,
they can better allocate the
funding and make sure you check
your local and state procurement
laws.
Whether or not you have to go
out to bid or if you can take it
off in the state contract list.
However -- however, your
particular procurement works.
There is a common type of
funding in the Northeast.
It is important to understand
the parameters of how the
interest from these funds can be
used.
It is often that you can't use
the actual endowment, but you
can use the interest generated
from that.
So if this monies expended on a
public building or for public
operations, your state or local
procurement laws may apply as
well.
Likewise, some may have
foundations or friends groups
who raise money for capital
needs.
Documentation will needs is
often important for this request.
They also have fiduciary
responsibility.
Expenditures may bring those
state or local procurement laws
into play for this type of
funding.
Lastly, we will talk a little
bit about grants.
There may be grants available to
your library or municipality or
county for upgrades to lighting
and mechanical systems through
green initiatives.
For instance, if you run the
Massachusetts public library
construction program, that funds
through the application process.
We cover about 40% 250% of
eligible costs, which are
usually construction costs.
It is important to know the
parameters of these grants, the
process for applying for,
 receiving, and
extending the funds, and any
reporting that must be 
done.
If you have for instance grants
through the historic commission,
if you have community
preservation act funding, that
could be something that might
work in your favor.
Really look around to see what
you have locally available to
you, and you can talk with your
trustees about applying for
those.
>> So we have compiled just a
short list of resources.
We have three books here.
All of them are from ALA
additions.
We have a web junction document
called beyond access.
We have a customer service
walkabout checklist and then the
two links, one for the ADA
National network and one for our
guide during COVID-19.
Spain back excellent.
I will definitely encourage
folks to post any outstanding
questions.
One comment that went to
attendees.
Somebody said, please remember
the ADA is a starting point and
a lot of disabilities and needs
are not included.
Please use the ADA as a place to
start, not to think it is
all-inclusive and suddenly makes
your facility as accessible to
all.
>> Absolutely.
That is so, true.
I started talking to library
planners about different kinds
of accessibility or different
kinds -- one of my trying to
say?
Gender accessibility and --
what's the word for people on
the  spectrum?
>> Neuro- divergent.
>> Neuro- divergent
accessibility.
A lot of libraries are starting
to put in a small room that is
kind of a multipurpose room.
It can be used as a mother's
room or it can be used as, you
know -- not a time out room,
but a place for somebody who is
overstimulated to relax a little
bit and not be quite as
stimulated.
So there's all kinds of
accessibility.
>> And I think it is important
as you plan for projects like
that to be very inclusive in the
planning process with your
committee and make sure that you
are involving, whether it be
local groups or commissions in
terms of that planning process,
because they can give a
different perspective that will
help you shape what your
building looks like.
>> Fantastic.
That sounds like another webinar,
 right?
No kidding.
>> Just before we close out, we
want to thank Lynn who helped us
plan this webinar but was unable
to join us today.
Her book is the first one listed
on the resources slide.
It was the original inspiration
for this webinar.
And then we have a little humor
to close us out.
>> I just think it is funny
 because, you know.
>> That's fantastic.
Excellent.
People are already eager to
customize your templates, so
thank you so much for those
excellent resources so that
people can begin to track and
bring others into the
conversation.
A reminder that the learner
guide is a great resource as
well to customize if you want to
make those questions more
specific to your scenario or
action items specific to your
scenario.
Please do so.
I know it is often helpful to
have somebody else's tool to
bring to those conversations.
Thank you so much for this.
This is excellent.
Definitely a great time to be
thinking about facilities,
especially as we are in this
limbo.
I know people are anxious to get
back to their spaces and bring
communities in, so these are
great place to be ready and make
sure that your facilities are
up-to-date and safe and that you
are able to track moving
forward.
A couple other reminders.
I will send you all an e-mail
later today once the recording
is posted.
I will also automatically send
you all a certificate later next
week for attending today.
There is a short survey I will
send you as you leave today's
session.
We really appreciate you taking
the time now or you can do so
later to provide your feedback
to the presenters and it helps
us guide our ongoing programming.
Thank you so much, again, Andrea
and Lauren.
Everyone stay safe and take care
and we will see you on the next
session.
>> Thank you so much for having
us.
>> Thank you.