Saturday, June 21, 2014

Please note added comments in the text of the response from our Library Board...

Our Library Board's interest in a Reference Desk Request to read in the Reading Room or by email the most recent notes/draft/Minutes of the most recent Public Meeting of our Library Board now for the Wednesday 18 June 2014 Public Meeting. A Reference Desk Request for our public library archival materials/library public records made available without fee for library users reading in our public library Reading Room.


Cambridge Public Library [Logo]

June 19, 2014

VIA FIRST CLASS MAIL

Amy Nable, Assistant Attorney General
Director, Division of Open Government
Office of the Attorney General
Commonwealth of Massachusetts
1 Ashburton Place
Boston MA 02108

Re: Action taken by the City of Cambridge Public Library Board of Trustees in response to Open Meeting Law Complaint submitted April 24, 2014

Dear Attorney Nable:

On behalf of the City of Cambridge (the "City") Public Library Board of Trustees (the "Library Board"), pursuant to 940 CMR 29.05(5), I write to inform you of the action taken by the Library Board in response to the Open Meeting Law Complaint dated April 24, 2014 (the "Open Meeting Law Complaint"). A copy of the April 24, 2014 Complaint (the "Complaint") is attached hereto as Exhibit A. Please note, that pursuant to 940 CMR 29.05(5)(b), on May 15, 2014, the Library Board was granted an extension to the deadline within which it is required to respond to the Open Meeting Law Complaint; the deadline for the Library Board to respond to the Open Meeting Law Complaint is June 20, 2014

940 CMR 29.05(5)

The Complaint alleges that the minutes of the most recent meeting of the Library Board are not available

promptly. Not available promptly. The most recent Minutes of the most recent Public Meeting aren't available promptly



and references March 13, 2014 and April 9, 2014 as the dates of the alleged violation. As set forth more fully infra, the Library Board refutes and denies the allegations.

A. The City Timely Responded the March 14, 2014 Public Records Request seeking Documents concerning the March 13, 2014 Library Board Meeting.

The allegation of a March 13, 2014 violation of the Open Meeting Law is without merit and the Library Board refutes and denies that such a violation occurred. Submitted was a G. L. c. 66 s 10 public records request on March 14, 2014 at 2:33 a.m. (the "March 14 request") seeking numerous documents concerning the "most recent" Library Board meeting. Although at the time of the March 14 request, the minutes of the March 13, 2014 Library Board meeting were not in existence, handwritten notes concerning that meeting had been taken by an administrative assistant at the March 13, 2014 Library Board meeting and were responsive to the request seeking documents concerning the "most recent" Library Board meeting^1.

^1 An administrative assistant takes handwritten notes during the Library Board meetings and later prepares a typed draft to be submitted to the Library Board for review during the Library Board meeting. Only after the Library Board reviews and approves the draft do the minutes become final. Any characterization of the handwritten notes concerning Library Board meetings as "minutes" in previous correspondence in inadvertent; handwritten notes do not constitute minutes under the Open Meeting Law. See G. L. c. 30A, s 22(e) where "notes are listed as a separate category of records

Accordingly, on March 18, 2014, the fourth day after receipt of the March 14 request, the City responded informing that the handwritten notes pertaining to the March 18, 2014 Library Board meeting would be made available upon payment of an estimated fee which is authorized under G. L. c. 66, s 10(a) and 950 CMR 32.06(2).

Our public library archives materials and public records are available without fee and should be available without fee. Records management at our public library needs more review with regard to Massachusetts guidelines for records management



The requester never paid the estimated fee. Since then, the draft minutes of the March 13, 2014 Library Board meeting were prepared, approved by the Library Board at the April 9, 2014 Library Board meeting, and uploaded to the Public Library's web site on April 14, 2014, and thus, the final and approved minutes of the March 13, 2014 Library board meeting have been readily available to review free of charge since April 14, 2014. Therefore, since the City timely responded to the March 14 request, and given that the minutes of the March 13, 2014 Library Board meeting have been made available on the Public Library's web page, allegation that the minutes of the March 13, 2014 Library Board meeting are not available is both erroneous and unfounded.

Not available promptly. The notes for the draft of the Minutes aren't available promptly as should be in the same way library archives materials and public records are available promptly without fee, an intellectual freedom concern.
...any attempt, be it legal or extra-legal,* to regulate or suppress materials in libraries must be closely scrutinized to the end that protected expression is not abridged.
Adopted June 25, 1971; amended July 1, 1981; amended January 10, 1990;
January 28, 2009, by the ALA American Library Association Council.
* “Extra-legal” refers to actions that are not regulated or sanctioned by law. These can include attempts to remove or suppress materials by library staff and library board members  that circumvent the  library's collection development policy, or actions taken by elected officials or library board members outside the established legal process for making legislative or board decisions.  “Legal process”  includes  challenges to library materials initiated and conducted pursuant to the library's collection development policy, actions taken by legislative bodies or library boards during official sessions or meetings, or litigation undertaken in courts of law with jurisdiction over the library and the library's governing body.

No longer are library staff, library users, library stakeholders, any with an interest satisfied with only meeting the Public Records and Sunshine Open Public Meetings requirements, including Freedom of Information obligations, in a reactive way, responding to citizen-generated requests slowly on paper. Instead, Open Data and Open Government call for proactive information sharing, inviting transparency, scrutiny, and accountability. 



B. the Public Library Responded to the April 10, 2014 Public Records Request seeking to Read the Draft Minutes of the April 9, 2014 Library Board Meeting.

With respect to allegations as to an April 9, 2014 violation of the Open Meeting Law, the Library Board met on April 9, 2014, and on April 10, 2014 at 4:14 a.m. The requester submitted a public records request seeking to read the draft minutes of that meeting. At the time the request was made, the minutes of the April 9, 2014 Library Board meeting had not yet been created, and therefore, were not in existence; however, handwritten notes concerning the April 9, 2014 Library Board meeting had been created. Although the handwritten notes were not responsive to the request seeking "the most recent minutes," in the spirit of being cooperative, on April 22, 2014, the Public Library responded to the public records request informing that pursuant to the Public Records Law regulations, specifically, 950 CMR 32.03, the handwritten notes would be made available for him to read upon payment of a fee of $3.22. Furthermore, in response to subsequent follow-up correspondence from the requester concerning the "draft minutes" of the April 9, 2014 Library Board meeting, the requester was informed that the minutes would be made available on the Public Library's web site at no charge once they had been finalized and approved by the Library Board. Because the Library Board did not meet in May, the April 9, 2014 Library Board meeting minutes were not approved until the June 18, 2014 Library Board meeting. The minutes of the April 9. 2014 Library Board meeting are now available on the Public Library's web site at no charge. Because at the time of the request, the minutes were not in existence, and in addition, since the requester was informed that the handwritten notes concerning the April 9, 2014 Library Board meeting would be made available upon payment of a small fee, the City has not violated the Open Meeting Law with respect to the April 9. 2014 Library Board meeting. The Library board has not denied access to either handwritten notes concerning the Library Board meetings, or approved meeting minutes.

Prompt access has been deflected with barriers, obstacles of delay, denial, duplicate fee. Public library archival materials are within our public library services program. Access for library archives materials and library public records are routinely available in the Reading Room without fee and should be available without fee. Cambridge Public Library records management should follow Massachusetts guidelines at

No longer are library staff, library users, library stakeholders, any with an interest satisfied with only meeting the Public Records and Sunshine Open Public Meetings requirements, including Freedom of Information obligations, in a reactive way, responding to citizen-generated requests slowly on paper. Instead, Open Data and Open Government call for proactive information sharing, inviting transparency, scrutiny, and accountability. 



C. The April 24, 2014 Open Meeting Law Complaint does not Comply with the Procedural Requirements set forth in 940 CMR 29.05

1. The Allegation concerning the March 13, 2014 Library Board Meeting was not Filed within Thirty (30) Days, and thus, is Untimely.

As a procedural matter, the complaint regarding an alleged March 13, 2014 violation of G. L. c. 30!, s 22 (the "Open Meeting Law") is untimely, and therefore, need not be considered. Specifically, under 940 CMR 29.05(3), an Open Meeting Law Complaint must be filed within thirty (30) days of the date of the alleged violation of G. L. c. 30A, ss 18-25. In this case, the Library Board met on March 13, 2014, which the requester alleges is one of the dates of the alleged violations, however, the requester did not file this Open Meeting Law Complaint until April 24, 2014, which is well beyond the thirty (30) day deadline for submitting Open Meeting Law Complaints. Therefore, because the requester failed to timely submit complaint concerning the March 13, 2014 Library Board meeting, the Library Board asserts that this Open Meeting Law Complaint is untimely to the extent that it alleges any violations concerning the March 13, 2014 Library Board meeting.

Reference Desk Requests should not have to be escalated anyway, considering procedure. A better informed Reference Desk Department could make available or facilitate for library users access to read the most recent notes/draft/minutes of the Public Meeting of our Library Board in the same way as are made available any other of our public library archives materials or public records.
See also
ALA American Library Association RUSA Reference and User Services Association Guidelines for Behavioral Performance of Reference and Information Service Providers
http://www.ala.org/rusa/resources/guidelines/guidelinesbehavioral

The Library Bill Of Rights
athttp://www.ala.org/news/press-releases/2014/06/75th-anniversary-library-bill-rights


 2. The requester should be Estopped from pursuing a Second Open Meeting Law Complaint concerning the March 13, 2014 Library Board Meeting.

The requester previously filed an Open Meeting Law Complaint on March 21, 2014 concerning the March 13, 2014 Library Board Meeting, a copy of which is attached hereto as Exhibit B. In the March 21, 2014 Open Meeting Law Complaint, the requester alleged that by the date of the Open Meeting Law Complaint, the minutes of the Library Board had not been made available with all pages in full. On April 10, 2014, the Library board responded to the March 21, 2014 Open Meeting Law Complaint stating that because the Open Meeting Law Complaint was filed prior to the ten (10) day deadline within which the Library Board must respond to requests for meeting minutes under G. L. c. 30A, s 22(d), the Open Meeting Law Complaint was not ripe. A copy of the Library Board's April 10, 2014 response is attached hereto as Exhibit C. Therefore, since the Library Board has already responded to an Open Meeting Law Complaint filed by the requester concerning the March 13, 2014 Library Board meeting, the requester should be estopped from pursuing a second Open Meeting Law Complaint concerning the same Library Board meeting.

Any and all materials made available at the Public Meeting should be listed and made available afterward for library staff/library users/library stakeholders/any with interest. 



3. The Open Meeting Law Complaint was not directed to the Clerk of the City of Cambridge, and thus, Fails to Comply with the Filing Requirements of 940 CMR 29.05

Under 940 CMR 29.05, the requester is required to file a copy of the Open Meeting Law Complaint with the City's Clerk; however, the City's Clerk has no record of the April 24, 2014 Open Meeting Law Complaint. Therefore, because the requester failed to file a copy of the April 24, 2014 Open Meeting Law Complaint with the City's Clerk, that Open Meeting Law Complaint should also be dismissed in its entirety for failure to comply with the filing requirements set forth in 940 CMR 29.05

Sent the Open Meeting Law form to all parties indicated on the form.



D. Conclusion

As required by 940 CMR 29.05(5), the Library Board reviewed the allegations of this Open Meeting Law complaint, and determined that the allegations are without merit. The Library Board voted to adopt this letter as its response to and resolution of the April 24, 2014 Open Meeting Law Complaint. The requester is being informed of the Library Board's action by courtesy copy of this letter.
Very truly yours,
Susan M. Flannery, Library Director
_________________________________



Cambridge Public Library [Logo]

April 10, 2014

Amy Nable, Assistant Attorney General
Director of Division of Open Government
Office of the Attorney General
1 Ashburton Place
 Boston MA 02108

Re: Action taken by the City of Cambridge Public Library Board of Trustees on Open Meeting Law complaint dated March 21, 2014

Dear Ms. Nable:

On behalf of the City of Cambridge Public Library Board of Trustees (the "Library Board"), I am writing to advise you pursuant to 940 CMR 29.05(5) of the action taken by the Library Board on the Open Meeting Law complaint. A copy of the complaint dated March 21, 2014 (the "Date of the Complaint") is attached as Exhibit A. The requester alleges that the Library Board violated the Open Meeting Law, G.L. c. 30A, because he alleges that by the Date of the Complaint, the Library Board's minutes were not "made available with all pages in full." The Library Board denies that it has violated the Open Meeting Law

Any and all materials made available at the Public Meeting should be listed and made available afterward for library staff/library users/library stakeholders/any with interest.



The Library Board met on March 13, 2014. On march 14, 2014 at 2:33 a.m. the requester sent an email to the Library Board members and associated Library staff seeking minutes of the "last" meeting of the Library Board pursuant to the Open Meeting Law.

1. The Complaint was not ripe at the time of filing.

Pursuant to the Open Meeting Law, G.L. c. 30A s22(c), "Minutes of all open sessions shall be created and approved in a timely manner. The minutes of an open session, if they exist and whether approved or in draft form, shall be made available upon request by any person within 10 days." The Library Board met on march 13, 2014, the requester made a request for the draft meeting minutes on March 14, 2014 and filed an Open Meeting Law Complaint on March 21, 2014, just eight (8) days after the Library Board's meeting. Therefore, at the time of the filing of the Complaint, the issue was not ripe because minutes of meetings of public bodies subject to the Open Meeting Law are not required to be available until within 10 days of the meeting.  ld  Therefore, at the time of the Complaint there could not yet have been a violation.

A more complete timeline would reflect the delay, deflecting, denial involved after each Public Meeting of our Library Board. Reference Desk Requests shouldn't have to be escalated anyway!

Please make available to read in the Reading Room or by email the most recent notes/draft/Minutes from the most recent Public Meeting of our Library Board.


2. The requester has been informed that there is a fee, permitted under the Public Records Law, for the information requested.

In response to the March 14, 2014 email, the City's Law Department responded via letter pursuant to the Public Records Law, G.L. c. 66 s10, with an estimate of the cost of the time to respond to the request for the draft minutes of the Library Board meeting of March 13, 2014.

Notes/draft/Minutes routinely at hand after the Public Meeting and in word processing preparing the draft could be as routinely available as any other public library archives materials and library public records. Readily available records are the result of better records management principles and practices. See also Massachusetts guidelines at



3. The requester has been informed that shortly after minutes are approved by the Library Board, the approved minutes are put on the Library's website and are accessible at no charge.

In addition the requester has been made aware by way of conversations with Library staff that final minutes of Library Board meetings are made available at no charge on the Library's website.

As required by 940 CMR 29.05(5), the Library Board reviewed the allegations of this Open Meeting Law complaint within fourteen business days of its filing. At its meeting of April 9, 2014, the Library Board determined that the allegations were without merit and that the Library Board did not violate the Open Meeting Law, and the Library Board voted to adopt this letter as its response and resolution. The requester is being informed of the Library Board's action by copy of this letter.
Very truly yours,
Susan Flannery, Library Director

Main Library 449 Broadway Cambridge MA 02138 617-349-4040
Boudreau Branch 245 Concord Avenue 02138 617-349-4017
Central Square Branch 45 Pearl Street 02139 617-349-4010
Collins Branch 64 Aberdeen Avenue 02138 617-349-4021
O'Connell Branch 48 Sixth Street 02141 617-349-4019
O'Neill Branch 70 Rindge Avenue 02140 617-349-4023
Valente Branch 826 Cambridge Street 02141 617-349-4015

Tuesday, December 24, 2013

Cambridge Public Library
Meeting: Board of Trustees
Date: December 12, 2013
Time: 6:30 PM
Place: Board Room, 449 Broadway

COC 3

/Present: Bill B. Janet A. Andre M. Nancy W. Pat P. SF MG/
[William Barry, Janet Axelrod, Andre Mayer, Nancy Woods, Patricia Payne, Susan Flannery, Marilyn Gagalis]

Agenda
Discussion
Action

Agenda
[checkmarked]1. Minutes: November 19, 2013

[checkmarked]2. Correspondence:
. Jane Newton Saladin

[checkmarked]3. Old Business:

[checkmarked]. Fundraising /NEA Grant--did not get, Debra Hoover, consultant is working diligently: she thinks we don't need a feasibility study, Have not found a proper consultant,/

[checkmarked]. Accept final draft of mission statement /unanimously accepted/
         /This will be presented w/ vision to Dept. Hds 12/13/13./

[checkmarked]4. New Business:

[checkmarked]. FY15 Budget /O'Connell Branch needs restoration, Outside of bldg is in bad shape. It will be a capitol budget request. We will apply for a community preservation grant to supplement./

[checkmarked]. Conflict of Interest Acknowledgement

/Plan to talk about strategic plan? January/

Friday, March 8, 2013

Learn to be
A Library Advocate

When:
Tuesday, March 26, 2013
6:30pm reception
7-8pm speakers

Where:
Community Room L2 Second Floor Underground
http://www.cambridgema.gov/cpl/hoursandlocations/mainlibrary/floorplans.aspx
Main Library
449 Broadway
Cambridge
http://cambridgema.gov/cpl/hoursandlocations/mainlibrary.aspx

Speakers:
Massachusetts Library Association
http://mla.memberlodge.org/

Massachusetts Board of Library Commissioners
http://mblc.state.ma.us/

Snacks provided
Free admission

Love the library and want to learn how to
be a library advocate in your community?

" This event will walk you through the basics of library advocacy: What it is, why it's important and how community members and libraries can work together to ensure information access for all. Budget cuts threaten library services that may leave some libraries understaffed and underfunded. Learn from state experts how to advocate for Massachusetts libraries and your local library and gear up for Library Legislative Day on 3/26 "

Sponsored by the Friends of the Cambridge Public Library
http://cambridgelibraryfriends.blogspot.com/
http://www.cambridgema.gov/cpl/aboutus/friendsofthelibrary.aspx

Tuesday, May 17, 2011

Minutes. Boston Public Library Board.


Minutes. Boston Public Library Board
http://bpl.org/general/trustees/meetings.htm

.

-Draft. Minutes. Cambridge Public Library Board May 5, 2011 public meeting.


Cambridge Public Library
Board of Library Trustees
http://cambridgema.gov/cpl/aboutus/boardoftrustees.aspx

May 5, 2011
Minutes
DRAFT

A regular meeting of the Board of Library Trustees was held on Thursday, May 5, 2011 at 6:30 PM in the Trustees’ Room, 449 Broadway. The following members of the Board of Library Trustees were present:
• Janet Axelrod
• William Barry
• Andre Mayer
• Patricia Payne
Also present:
• Susan Flannery, Director of Libraries
• Marilyn Gagalis, Administrative Assistant/Programming

Minutes from the March meeting were approved.

Correspondence was acknowledged from:
• Kevin Henkes

Old Business:
• Marilyn Gagalis provided an update on Cambridge Science Festival events being hosted by the library during the week of May 2, 2011.

• Janet Axelrod provided an update on fundraising efforts. It was decided to schedule a meeting with the Friends of the Library Board in October to discuss fundraising plans.

• Susan Flannery reminded the board that the Central Square Branch will be opening May 16th. The branch looks great and the staff is anxious to return. Ms. Flannery reported that this project proceeded very well and she was pleased with the contractor, the electricians, the plumbers and the flexibility of the staff during this process. Library administration is currently interviewing for a new branch manager.

• Susan Flannery reminded the board about the following programs:
May 18th Rogers Celebration at the Valente Branch
May 19th Poetry Program in the Lecture Hall at the Main Library
May 23 Harleston Parker Medal Award ceremony in the Lecture Hall at the Main Library

New Business:
• Ms. Flannery announced that Maya Escobar, Teen Librarian was chosen to receive one of the City’s Outstanding Employee Awards for 2011. The award ceremony will be on Friday, May 6, 2011 at 9:00 in City Hall. All are invited to attend.

• Ms. Flannery announced that the library has received four PR awards from the Massachusetts
Library Association.
o First Place for the newsletter On & Off Broadway
o First Place for Merchandise, Cambridge Voices, the book published by the Friends
o Third Place for the library’s new web site
o Third Place for the teen web site

• The Friends of the Cambridge Public Library have a new blog: “The Open Book”. It can be found at the following address http://Cambridgelibraryfriends.blogspot.com or you can link from the library’s web site. This blog will also be linked with the library’s Twitter page.

• Janet Axelrod and William Barry asked about the meeting room policy and suggested that bookmarks be printed with the general rules for use of rooms. Another suggestion was that signs be posted at the rooms detailing the rules for use.

• Ms. Flannery informed the board that as part of our building program, we are required to perform a transportation survey with staff and the public at randomly chosen times. This survey will take place during the week of May 9th. There will also be a vehicle count taken that week in the library’s garage.

• A question regarding electronic readers and devices was raised and board members proceeded to discuss the library’s role in providing these devices. It was mentioned that some materials may become available only through electronic devices in the future thus requiring the library to provide access. At this time the library does not provide electronic readers.

There being no further business, the meeting was adjourned.
Respectfully submitted,
Andre Mayer, Secretary

.

Thursday, May 5, 2011

Cambridge Public Library Leadership


Cambridge Public Library Board
Janet Axelrod, Chairperson
William Barry
Andre Mayer, Secretary
Patricia Payne
James Roosevelt, Jr.
Nancy Woods


Administration
Administrative Assistant
Kelly Linehan
Marilyn A Gagalis

Library Analyst
William F Courier

Assistant Director
Bertha Chandler

Director of Libraries, Communications
Susan M Flannery


Public Services
Senior Librarian
Carole Feeney Withrow
Alyssa K Pacy

Staff Librarian
Luke W Kirkland

Administrative Assistant
Kathleen Collins DerKazarian

Assistant Director
Karen E Brown


Reference
Associate Librarian
Mark Freed


Circulation
Manager Borrower Services
Jennifer L Blakely

Senior Librarian
Ingrid Nowak


Support Services
Facilities Manager
Warren F Pearson


Computer Technical Support
Information Systems Coordinator
Jule O'Donnell


North Cambridge O'Neill Branch Manager
Lyndsay Forbes

Valente Branch Manager
Ardemis Kilroy

Observatory Hill Boudreau Branch Manager
Linda Haines

East Cambridge Branch Manager
Yan Qu

Mount Auburn Collins Branch Manager
Joseph A Logue

Central Square Branch Senior Librarian
Amanda Gazin

Senior Technician
Ricardo Ricard
http://cambridgema.gov/cpl/aboutus/boardoftrustees/Directory.aspx
http://cambridgema.gov/budget/fy12submittedbudget.aspx
http://www.bostonherald.com/projects/payroll/cambridge/annual_rt.DESC/Libr/


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Tuesday, June 3, 2008

Intellectual Freedom, Freedom to Read, Sunshine Open Public Meetings principles, Freedom of Information FOI principles of open government.