Report of the Library Director for March, 2013

Library improvements on May ATM – Magazine selections made – Passport activity high

Circulation
March circulation activity was 4,897, which is a 0.7% decrease from last month, and 17% lower than previous years.   I am going to check these stats again later in the week, Evergreen reported them oddly because of trying to run March stats on April 1st, but this is much lower than I’d like to be in March.
Laptops: 16.  Nooks: 6.  Games: 69.

Unique Patrons
271 Upton patrons checked out items in the last week of March.

Digital Content Use
BYKI: In March, 8 users accessed byki for a total of 7.5 hours.  Our top languages were French and English for Spanish speakers.
Wowbrary: 1 new users signed up for Wowbrary, for a total of 123 active subscribers.
Overdrive: eBook circulation to Upton patrons: 205, eAudio circulations: 40. 
New Patron Registrations:  9 new patrons registered in March.
New Items: We added approximately 53 items to the collection in March.
Passport Applications processed in March: 23.

Programs
Library book group: 4 people met on March 27th.
Senior book group: 5 people met on March 5th.
Thursday storytime averaged 8 children per session for 8 sessions.
TinyTots lapsit averaged 6 children per session for 4 sessions. 
Library Table: 4 visits, averaged 11 patrons and 38 items.
Lego Days: averaged 4 children per session for 3 sessions.

Special Events
Spanish Storytime – 9 children participated on March 28th.

Upcoming Events
Jungle Jim’s Jedi training - April 17th, 3pm-4pm Nipmuc HS

Plans for Next Month
1) Prepare for Town Meeting
2) Summer Program 2013 planning completed
3) Garden Day 2013 planning

Evergreen Update
CWMARS continues to work on improving response time from Evergreen circulation software.  A number of short term fixes will be implemented in April, and development work is being contracted for a long term fix to be applied in the fall or winter of 2013.
Upton Library is currently one of the test libraries using a new version of the staff client software, which has been well received by staff and shows potential to make circulation transactions smoother.  If testing proceeds well, this new client will be implemented for all libraries in mid-April.

Library Improvements
The library improvement project will be on the town meeting warrant for May 9th ATM.  We continue to investigate the odor problem.  BVT’s HVAC class has visited the library three times.  They report that the air ductwork is clean and in good repair.  They made several suggestions to keep the basement drier, including replacing some water circulation seals and installing more effective dehumidifiers.  The Town Manager is taking action to implement these suggestions.
John Pilling from GZA GeoEnvironmental performed a visual and olfactory assessment of the building.  He did not identify any obvious mold locations, but did note a mold/mildew odor.  He provided a proposal for further investigation via moisture measuring and air sampling.
John Robertson and I have located a potential source for the odor in the carpet in one corner of the library.  We hope that replacing the carpet and carpet pad, along with patching a heating pipe access hole in the floor as part of the library improvement project will alleviate the odor problem.

Collection Development
Our annual magazine subscriptions for next year have been ordered.  I cancelled Antiques magazine due to lack of use, and 3 more titles have ceased publication (Home education, Newsweek, Skateboarder).  I added 3 new subscriptions: Practical Homeschooling, PC World and Invincible Iron Man comic.
I also installed wall-mounted periodical shelving for the Young Adult magazines, this should increase their visibility and free up some linear shelf space for other materials.

Passport Agent Training
I’d like to have additional library staff trained as a Passport Acceptance Agents.  Initially, only the Library Director was trained, so that the circulation staff would not be distracted from their regular duties to accept passports.  With the staffing and schedule changes we are implementing on July 1st, we should have sufficient coverage to allow 1 circulation clerk time to prepare passports.  Additionally, training a second person will let us accept passports during more evening and Saturday hours.  Many of our patrons using the passport service have expressed appreciation for our Saturday acceptance hours.