reform issues, and the commission has actually received a number of proposals from the department of human resources. i have convened a committee of departmental representatives from major departments and employee organizations to review proposals that are presented to the commission. we are taking a global look at all our rules and policies, specifically looking at the leaves of absence rules and, i believe, generally, in making the rules responsive to the operational needs of our city departments and personnel management. i would be happy to answer any questions you may have. supervisor chu: taking a look at

your budget because we do not have a budget analyst report on this item, your budget looks fairly flat. the total budget looks to be increasing by about $20,000 or so, and that appears to be coming from the mandatory fringe benefits, correct? >> exactly. supervisor chu: no significant changes in staffing, materials, personnel, supplies? >> no, there are none. supervisor chu: you had talked about convening a working group of individuals to evaluate the proposals that have been brought before you, and the commission will be taking this up. do you have a sense but when the commission will be reviewing those? how does that generally work in your operation? >> we will be presenting these proposals to the commission. also there will be public hearings and bald and notices to everyone, to various parties, and they can chime in in terms of these proposals, the effect,

and what they feel about them, and then we will draft proposals, and they will be posted and adopted by the commission after a full hearing. supervisor chu: do the proposals generally come from the department of human resources as they are going through labor negotiations and contractual conversations with labor unions and apartments? >> actually, they come from our department and other city departments that have some issues regarding the rules. supervisor chu: ok, so it sounds like they come from various sources. in terms of our responsiveness to those changes and evaluation, is there ever a time line under which we have got to have action either approving or disapproving of proposals? back after a complete hearing, we are required to post our rules for 10 days before any adoption, and we are also

required to meet and confer on the changes with employee organizations. on the average, i think we get through these rules within six months or so. from proposal or idea to actual adoption. supervisor chu: ok. do you think it is possible for you to provide information about some of the rules that have been enacted in the past year perhaps or some of the things we're working on or some of the things the commission will be considering in the coming year? because they have certainly a very big impact on our operations. we definitely want to see these rules considered at the commission in a timely way.

given that we did not have any recommendations from the budget analyst and any report on this item and there are no questions from the committee, why don't we move on to the next apartment, which is the public library. >> good morning. city librarian. i want to start by basically talking about the fact that at a time when we are seeing our neighboring libraries with threatened closures of library services, in san francisco, it is impressive to see that we continue to innovate libraries and expand services. this past saturday, we opened the 19th project associated with the branch library improvement project. we will be opening the visitation valley library on

july 30 and the new or take a library in august, and the golden gate valley in september. that will mean that we will have just about all 24 neighborhood libraries completed, and we will be beginning construction of the bay view library next month, and the north beach will be moving forward. the eir was recently accepted an completed, so thank you for your support. the library proposed budget is placed at about $86.8 million, and that includes the payment of our debt service. it also includes a healthy $9.1 million for our books and materials budget. it does maintain our current service level in terms of branch hours, and we continue to do strong out -- to our schools and

students -- strong outreach to our schools and students. we have about 140 computers available to the public. this last year, that represented about 500,000 library hours of use by patrons. we are expanding access to our laptop lending program. we have about 50 libraries that currently have the laptop lending program in operation, and we expect to expand that to an additional 12 in the next couple of years, completing the project. as each new library opens, we have the laptop lending program. workforce development is also really important. our lab is open for folks either i need a transition, learning how to apply for new jobs through resume writing workshops, etc., and that has become very important during this tough economic times. we continue to focus on our

technology infrastructure, expanding our band with capacity and our wireline network. that is also important in terms of equity for our diverse community. our virtual presence through the website, more focused on online learning and replacing computers is also part of our emphasis, so you will see an increase in our i.t. budget for the -- for that. i do want to take a moment to talk about the five-year outlook, and a lot of it is contingent on continuing to have healthy revenue on our property tax base line and the general fund contribution as part of the library's preservation fund. we have been managing our fund balance to make sure that we complete our branch library improvement program, so there is two project that i think you should know about. we are relying on our fund balance to complete those. we also want to maintain our

service levels. the number of hours, for example. the charter requires based on the library preservation fund 1211 hours per week. we are actually exceeding that, which is also a good thing, so we maintain our facilities open at least six if not seven days a week throughout the city. we need to obviously focus on maintaining labor costs so we do not see an increase. matter of fact, this year, we have seen a reduction. again, we continue to focus on our core mission, which is books and materials, maintaining service hours, and the information technology infrastructure. in terms of the analyst recommendations, we will continue to work with mr. rose to reach agreement on the proposed cuts so that it does not adversely affect our public services, so that concludes my overview of the library's budget. thank you.

supervisor chu: thank you very much for the presentation. the new libraries, do they have identified funding sources, or is the plan to issue bonds in the future in order to pay for the substantial repairs and construction work? >> we would corporate -- prefer not to incur additional debt through revenue bonds, so it is our plan to look at the fund balance of the library's preservation fund for growth. right now, the good news is that if we close out projects, any additional funds go back to the program reserve to complete the bayview, so we are confident, and that is why we have to make sure we manage that reserve carefully, not only to balance the remaining project needs, but also the maintenance of our overall service level, so i appreciate that question. supervisor chu: for the projects that have come on line, no and no. projects have opened up

across the district and the city. in our district, we saw the park side open up, and hopefully soon, we will see or take it. -- c. ortega -- see ortega. >> a couple of projects, we have a contingency fund, so we work carefully with the contractors and dpw to make sure they are not only on schedule but on budget, and that is the good news. over the next couple of months, we will complete all but two of the projects, so we are in a very intense portion of the program leading to a conclusion. supervisor chu: a quick comment, i went to visit log cabin ranch and saw the library that was there, and i wanted to thank you for taking the time to put the resources out there and but those services. i think the kids there certainly

appreciate that. >> the juvenile justice center also has a library, and they do great work. supervisor chu: thank you. why don't we go to the budget analyst report? >> our recommended reductions are detailed on pages 21 and 22. the total $486,476. none our general fund reductions. they are all ongoing reductions. they would still allow an increase of $2,890,776 or a 3.5% increase in the department's budget. we are still working with the department and will report back to you next week. supervisor chiu: thank you. first of all, mr. librarian, i want to thank you for all the work you have been doing on the north beach library. i mentioned before that your sort often jealous of my colleagues' wonderful new libraries in their districts,

and hopefully we will be able to move forward as quickly as possible. i was happy to see in the budget book that you call out the work you had been doing around the language access ordinance and helping to translate into different languages. this is based on a piece of legislation that i passed in 2009. could you talk about the work you're doing in that area, specifically what you're doing, what you are translating. these translations have not been called out by other departments, and i want to get a sense of what your doing and whether there are things you're doing that could be done in conjunction with other departments to make sure that we have full language access across the city. >> absolutely. i appreciate the question and the opportunity to talk about what we're doing in that arena. first of all, our newly redesigned web pages in multiple languages, and that has seen a tremendous amount of increase. any resource we have in terms of virtual language -- multiple

languages, we make available in virtual presence. specifically to the language access ordinance, i will have our deputy librarian speak to you. >> good morning. just wanted to say the translation we do at the library is mostly around our resources and services, so we came to insure that all of our services are available in all languages that the patron needs them in, and that could be anything from cited or collection resources to the staff that provide the reference to them or collection service. as well, we did translations of all of our print materials around our programs and services so the brochure you get that explains how your library could work, the application to get a library card, the website, and we also collect actively in languages, both in print and in electronic resources, so we are looking at making sure that we

understand the new census data to make sure resources are available in locations across the city in all those formats. supervisor chiu: at this point, beyond chinese and spanish, what are you translating into? >> russia is also a pretty common translation language. we also provide programming in those languages. we are looking at the growing populations in tagalog. vietnamese is also commonly requested. supervisor chiu: thank you. i appreciate that work. supervisor kim: i just had questions about some of the vacancies that exist in the department, some of which have been vacant since 2000. has that impacted your ability [inaudible] what do you think is some of the 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 ooo