reasoning behind that? what are some of the positions you have had trouble filling? >> we are trying to clarify the one or two ago by, and there are some part-time vacancies. but the vacancies -- we built into the budget an attrition rate. last year, we noticed a decline in our revenues, so we needed to make sure we did not go into this year with a deficit, so we had to freeze some of the hiring, and we were able to do that by virtue of deploying staff from branches that were closed during renovations, but we will no longer have the luxury of doing that, so we have begun to fill those positions, and we've had great support from the department of human resources. it does take time to recruit, so we have made great headway on doing that. that is the reason why we have had some of these positions vacant for a long time. we've been very strategic, emphasizing that we would fill these positions on the need for

public service to make sure that the facilities are open when we literally cut the ribbon for some of these new libraries. but again, we are working with the analyst's office to make sure that some of the ones that have been vacant for a while, that we quickly fill them to make sure there is no adverse effect on public service. supervisor kim: is there a particular type of position where you have had trouble filling [inaudible] has this impacted service to neighborhoods? >> the has been minimal level of staffing at some of our neighborhood branches, and we are at that stage right now. it is just a slow process. with all due respect, it does take time. but by virtue of the fact that we are closing libraries in the region, we had the opportunity to hire folks from outside and recruit librarians. those are the ones that are really sometimes challenging to fill, but we are making some progress. supervisor kim: i was curious

because one of the great things about the public in richmond fun we passed in 2004 was that we were able to fund libraries in our schools. because we have not been funding libraries for so long in california, very few people were getting degrees in library science, so we had trouble filling those positions, and we were excited to have that back, particularly in our elementary schools. i was not sure of that was true in public libraries as well. >> it is a dire situation in the school library arena, so you have seen a lot of layoffs in the area. so we will have the opportunity to recruit folks that will be leaving to find new employment opportunities. supervisor kim: we got a few e- mails about the elimination [inaudible] on the renewals or returns?

>> i can speak to that. we were looking at some significant savings by eliminating mail notices. that is about $100,000 that we are estimating. we want to do it in the appropriate way. there is still an option for folks that want to receive mail notices to have that. but we had a good discussion with the library commission last week in terms of the timing so that we make sure that we do notice individuals so they have the option of having mail notices. but the fact is there are other options, whether it is telephone or automated service reminder, whether it is e-mail. the use of technology i think will realize some significant savings, but again, we want to be sensitive to the public. supervisor chu: thank you very much. given that the department still working with the budget analyst on this item and there are no questions from the committee, we will see you next week. our next department is the law library.

before we begin the presentation, however, i want to give everybody noticed we will likely be taking a break at 1:00 today. since you are the next two apartments, you probably will be called, but otherwise, we will be resuming probably around 1:40. thank you. >> good morning. i am the law librarian. i just have a few preliminary remarks. just to familiarize any of you who are not so knowledgeable about the law library and what we do -- supervisor chu: could i ask you to pull the microphone closer? >> the law library continues to be the city's access point for citizens to obtain legal information needed to protect their rights and manage their legal affairs. the law library especially meets the legal information needs of the many members of the public who do not have a legal background or training and many

of whom are unable to obtain counsel or assistance from litigants, and this is all walks of life, including small business owners, people of middle income, as well as low- income patrons. the law library also serves city departments, nonprofits, the judiciary, and others. in terms of services, the law library provides -- that the library provides include the most comprehensive legal databases available. we have interactive corp. forums, calculators, and extensive assistance to our patrons. what i would like to do is tell

you a little bit about our budget, which is pretty much the same. we do not have any significant budget increases or changes, rather. we are continuing with no increase in personnel, which actually has been the case for decades. the most significant factor regarding our next year or year and a half is that the library must move out of its current location, the veterans building. it is closing at the end of 2012. we are working now with real estate to identify and of rebuilding that will provide safety for all the library service collections and needs. normally, i would like to comment on the process. take two or three years to plan, calculate, and accomplish, so it is a very challenging situation, but we are happy we are working now with the real estate

department. i am happy to answer any questions supervisor chu: chu -- answer any questions. supervisor chu: thank you. this department did not have a budget analyst report. i did have a few questions. looking at some of the statistics that were provided, it looks like more and more individuals or patrons are using the computer to conduct legal research. has grown steadily, it looks like since 2009. how was the department working towards this trend, which is more and more access to documents online? how is your department addressing that? >> there is two corrections. one is the we were able to acquire a few more public computer workstations, and they are generally always filled.

we do not limit the amount of time people can use the computers, but we do ask that the use one hour at a time. some of the tools are extremely complicated, but on the other side of the equation is that we have unbelievable licensing costs for these databases. it is extraordinary. it limits how many workstations you can have because of the extraordinary cost of the licenses. i will say that one prominent legal editor or legal publishing company is looking at well over $200,000 a year to come from the law library just for the services we have had, and includes a reduction because their costs have gone up.

it is very exciting. not everything can be done on line. not everything the can be computed. one of the issues that concerns me personally is the more things that are online -- who reads e- mails longer than a paragraph on line? people will print out cases and other materials, and i am concern about the haves and have-nots about who plays -- who pays for the printouts of the materials. there is still need for many of the printed materials. we were also able to reduce print materials by adding some electronic products. supervisor chu: do you have a sense of whether there are opportunities to work with our public libraries also? when i think about a typical resident, going to my branch library, i might not necessarily think about going to a law library or know where they are. a lot of times i might be going and asking if there's a way to access legal documents.

and do you work with public libraries to have them referred to our law library or at least have them -- because they are clearly going down the pathway of more technology and more computer resources to be able to access those portals. >> yes, we have a very close connection with the government document section of the public library. they are familiar with us. they refer people. the exchange information appeared on the library with page, i believe there is an option to speak to a library alive, which also provides an option to speak to a county law libraries live. we are interested in doing some training about law library resources and how to use them to the public library, so we are very excited about this. county law libraries in the state are trying to work closely with public libraries to promote that access. supervisor chu: perhaps you

could follow up with us on how that collaboration is working, because i think that would be a good benefit for the citizens. >> i can give you an example. last month, there was a collaboration among various groups including the court and law library and the public library, and a program was held during wall week at the public library. we provided speakers and materials, and just reached out to a number of people. that is an example of some of the projects happening, but there is always room for many more. supervisor chu: a final one -- it did not really say in the materials, but how many people actually utilize our law library? >> we do not have the count equipment that many places do. which is unfortunate, but it is very expensive, and we have not been able to do that. it is difficult for me to do

anything but guess, which is pretty inadequate. we are open at the civic center branch during the week. we have evening hours and weekend hours at our downtown branch because we want to serve those people that are working during the day, but i am not able to provide your specific numbers. supervisor chu: for the law library, can the materials be checked out like a typical library, or do they have to be used on site? >> the library rules forever have provided that lawyers who work or have offices in san francisco may check out materials, but we have not ever had enough resources to be able to extend that to the public, but we allow them to use everything, of course, in the library. we have a copy machines. we help them understand how to use the materials, but we do not have enough of those resources to be able to check out to

residents. supervisor chu: do you have a sense of the folks who are practic -- practicing law in san francisco, since the are able to check out? do you have a sense of how large that group might be? >> hard to say. we provide services to them on various levels. most people think of lawyers as being big firms, but the majority of lawyers out there are small firm practitioners or small businesses, and they cannot afford, for example, some of these extraordinary subscription costs. so they use us, but we also provide services to other attorneys, large firms, by sending them e-mail materials of resources that we have, which saves them from coming to the library. so we provide an improvement on the phone through circulation and also through electronic

means, and our electronic services that are document delivery are increasing. we get calls from all over the country as well. supervisor chu: i guess i am just trying to get to the idea of how well utilized our law libraries are, and if we cannot track the number of drop-in public users, and the only thing we have is we do at least allow folks currently practicing law to be able to check out books, and i am thinking that is probably one of the better metrics we do have. >> it does provide some data, but what happens is if you have ever seen a law review book, it is about this big, and people will come in and copy what they need and not necessarily take the book, so it is kind of hard, but when we have a new facility, we will not only need security, but we will need to be able to have those tools that we just could not wrangle in the

veterans building. supervisor chu: do we have that data base of people who are checking out books? >> we keep figures of how many things are checked out. it does not cover the full scope of those services because a lot of them are provided electronically. i understand what you are getting at. what you need, which is important. and our data collection methods are close to being anecdotal because of the limitations we have. supervisor chu: can i ask you to perhaps work with your staff to see if you can provide that information to us in some way? knowing we are limited in terms of being able to attract individuals coming in, it is important for us to know how well utilize our law library is, and if the only metric we have is only a limited portion of people are able to check it out, we should at least have that data base of -- is it 200

people? 100 people? >> i see what you are saying. we do know how many people are with us, so i could give you that information. supervisor chiu: i have a couple of questions. i have always been curious as to why the city has a law library system for a variety of reasons. as a former attorney, there are so many other law libraries in town. most major law firms have law libraries. most government law offices have them. i have always wondered what metrics exist as to what the demand is for our law library system, so i would be interested in knowing and understanding that. is there a specific reason why

we have to have our own as opposed to sharing with another system? >> first of all, our law library was established in 1865 and became a public law library in 1870, and it was first in the state, and it became the model for the statewide county law library system. enabling legislation and the charter provide that it gets very limited funding from the county, which is primarily quarters, facilities, and three salaries. the law library originally had been serving the legal profession. over the last 20 years, there are so many more ordinary citizens coming to the law library. whether it is because there's just more interest in the law

from television or whatever it may be, and those are the people that particular the need services because it is very complex, as you know. it is difficult for them to know how to navigate the law. many times they are not eligible for legal services. there are narrowly-defined -- narrowly defined eligibility for services. the legal profession continues to use the peer over the last 15 or 20 years, a lot of firms will call us and say that they are reducing their space, and they want to know if we will continue to get certain things because of we are, they will get rid of it. and a lot of small firms have downsized their libraries. i can also tell you -- supervisor chiu: i'm sorry, do

we charge those law firms anything to use our library, or do they have access as the public does? >> everybody has free access, but for added value services, we have a sliding scale program, which depends on the number of attorneys. firms with less than 10 get free services that are the add-on, which are getting materials for them, packaging them for delivery, special reference assistance, so there is a membership of firms ranging from the tiny two big firms, and it is a sliding scale, so it goes up to an amount -- i think the top amount is $2,000 a year for some of the bigger firms. but the licensing cost in the law firms -- i was told 10 years ago that it is $40,000 a year per lawyer, and that was 10 years ago.

so they do not necessarily have to keep their print materials, but they are paying for the electronic, and we keep archive materials that everybody needs. the state supreme court materials is one of the things we have. it is meeting a need for not only the legal profession, the judiciary, but it is for the public, and their needs are greater and greater. supervisor chiu: i appreciate that. having been in so many law libraries in san francisco, there are just so many libraries out there in just a little perplexed. i'm trying to understand how many members of the public who would not have access to other

places use hours or even why our law library is not an annex of our public library system. >> because we have completely different legislation. we receive some funds by the city and county by statute and by charter. supervisor chiu: but that would not have to be the case, obviously, if that change, right? >> it is state law. it can be changed in that way. yes, there are other libraries. there are law school libraries, and we utilize them for our customers as well, but many of the law school libraries are private, or you have to pay a fee in order to use the library. some of the materials that they have are not the kinds of materials that the -- -- regular public is interested in. ecb at one point, as you

probably know, that there were not even practice materials at many law schools. we do tend to have a demographic that the law schools do not, so many of them are not open or do not have materials for the general public to use. supervisor chiu: i appreciate that, but i just think for $750,000 a year, i wonder if there is a more efficient way to provide access to the public, and i think that most of these libraries have more extensive collections. i am religious asking the question is this really the best use for us to provide access to the public, so i would again provide my voice to just wanting to understand exactly who is serving in our library, how many members of our public who are not lawyers who would have access to these other places actually are served, and is there another way for us to do that? >> all right, thank you. supervisor chu: thank you. just to reiterate, for a long

time, there has always been the question of how well utilize our law libraries are and if there is a way to improve access. that is why i asked about the partnership with the public libraries and if there's a way to better utilize that. we've got public libraries and branch libraries across the city, said that as a good way to think about it. the other way also, in terms of revenues, if i look at the budget correctly, i do not see any revenue lines coming in. did you say we do trust the private law firms? them up by statute, we have to provide free access, which we do, but we do have some value- added services. they may bring in $60,000 a year, but that is not within the city's budget. supervisor chu: all right, thank you. if you could follow-up with the committee on usage information, that will be helpful. >> a cake, it is going to take me a week or two to be able to

do that. thanks. any other questions? supervisor chu: i think that is it for now. thank you. ok, department on the status of women. >> good morning. executive director of the department on the status of women. the mission is to promote the equitable treatment of women and girls of san francisco through policies, legislation, and programs that focus primarily on women in need. our overall budget is $3.5 million. i am very pleased to report that the mayor has committed to protecting direct services to women survivors of violets and their children. in the proposed budget, our single largest program, the violence against women prevention and intervention grant program, will be funded at current levels. i want to thank the supervisors

who also supported us in this goal. what does our budget paid for? we plan to allocate $2.74 million to 34 programs, ranging from crisis lines to shelters and additional housing, legal services, and case management that serve 30,000 women survivors of violets and their children annually. in the first six months of the year, these agencies serve over 15,000 women and 18% increase over last year, and over half of these women were primarily spanish-speaking. the agency's help 82 women escaped violent homes, slightly lower than the 96 last year. provide a transitional housing to 66 women, 35% more than last year, and feel that over 9000 crisis calls, a 32% increase over last year. with the same amount of dollars, with the exception of a onetime work order and the spike in

marriage license fees, our partner agencies are meeting the needs of more and more women and their children. with me here to there are members of our partner agencies. we could not reach this many women without their work. while our largest program remains intact, our budget reflects a staff reduction of 11%. we are only able to partially backed bill a full-time position that we lost mid year. this will make it a challenge to fulfil our rather large mandate. we are as green and effective a department as you will find in the city. for now, our budget is balanced. in the coming year, i will be pursuing grand opportunities aggressively to respond to grant opportunities which are shrinking.

we have dedicated funding for our violence against women prevention education grant program in particular because crisis services should not be so heavily dependent on the vicissitude of the general fund. our overall budget represents 1/20 of 1%. the small, our impact is large. together with the police department, we announced in march new police coze and additional staffing at the police department to address child abuse, elder abuse, and stalking, which constitutes the most pervasive forms of violence in san francisco. together with the human rights commission, we stopped the work of the san francisco collaborative against human trafficking that sponsored 20 out reach events in 30 days in january. we thank supervisor chu for her leadership in this area and invite all the supervisors to get involved in these efforts to

fight slavery happening in our own city right now. our department continues to get national and international attention for its human rights work. finally, i just want to announce that we are pursuing an opportunity to host the fifth united nations world conference on women here in san francisco, the birthplace of the united nations in 2015. the fourth world conference occurred over 15 years ago in beijing. this would be the first world conference on women held in the 21st century. with new and exciting ways to connect women technologically. we expect 50,000 women to come from around the world to shape the women human rights agenda for years to come. while our staff is small, our objectives are huge. i want to thank rebekah from the mayor's budget office for her

support in this process. happy to answer any questions. supervisor chu: thank you. we do not have a budget analyst report on this. can you talk about your staffing? you have generally 5 positions in your budget. how does that break out among the operational needs of the department? >> i have one commission secretary who doubles as an office manager. i have one full-time grants administrator who oversees the 34 programs, and then, i lost a full time policy analyst on the family violence issues, so i no longer have a full-time staff person dedicated to funding policy reforms on domestic violence. i have two part-time people working on human rights, the commission to eliminate all forms of discrimination against women. we do a lot of technical assistance with other cities. both