Report of the Library Director for June 2014

Summer reading activity – Planning grant awarded – Air quality retested

Circulation

June circulation activity was 4,543, an increase over May, but significantly lower than last year.  This is 6.4% higher than May and 20.4% lower than last year.  The first week of school vacation has been very busy with summer reading requests. 

Laptops: 20.  Nooks: 8.  Games: 31.

Unique Patrons

As of July 3^rd, we had 3065 items checked out to 811 unique patrons.  This is a 68% increase in unique patrons over May, which shows the increase in number of library visits with the start of summer.

Digital Content Use

BYKI: 5 users for 5.1 hours.  The most popular languages were Spanish and Italian.

Overdrive: eBook circulation to Upton patrons: 266, eAudio circulations: 66.

Wowbrary:   We have 138 active subscribers to Wowbrary. (-1)

New Patron Registrations:  7 new patrons registered in June.

New Items: We added 209 items to the collection in June.

Passport Applications  processed in June: 8.

 

Programs
Library book group: 6 people met on June 25^th.
Senior book group: 7 people met on June 10^th.

Thursday storytime 5 sessions, averaged 8 children.
TinyTots lapsit 4 sessions, averaged 7 children.

Library Table: 4 visits, averaged 11 patrons and 37 items.

ESL classes: 6 classes, averaged 2 students.

Summer Program Events

Total registrations: 143

Little Red Wagon theater, June 24^th: 82 attendees.

Science Experiments, June 26^th: 39 participants.

Red Cross Babysitting Class, June 27^th : 15 students.

Upcoming Events in July

Beatles 50^th anniversary celebration – July 10^th, 7pm Memorial School

Ed the Wizard teaches science – July 16^th, 6:30 Nipmuc HS

Big Bang Theory trivia – July 23^rd, 7pm Fire Station

Lil Folk Farm petting zoo – July 30^th, 11-1 Library Lawn

Plans for Next Month
1) RFQ for building program consultant
2) ARIS annual report to MBLC

3) Continue repair / improvements to library space

Air Quality Report

We have received the results of our post-repair air quality testing by Gordon Mycology.

The good news is that levels of mold spores in the library air are significantly reduced, and are actually lower than the number of spores found in the outside air.

The basement remains damp, with several areas of water intrusion.

Deb Gordon had several suggestions for further improvements, some of which I hope to implement this summer: sealing the basement door and utility holes in the floor, and covering the basement sump hole.  We should also look into the possibility of replacing the carpet and pad in the back hallway if we plan to use the Board of Health space in the fall.

Planning and Design Grant

The MBLC has awarded a provisional grant in the amount of $44,220 to the Town of Upton for a library planning and design project.

The first step in the project is to hire a library building consultant to conduct a needs assessment through a survey, focus groups and public meetings.  After this is complete, Matthew will work on a library building program, while the Feasibility Committee hires an Owner’s Project Manager and begins to investigate possible facility sites.

Library Facility Improvements

Lots of small improvements going on, mostly in the “waiting for price estimates” phase.

Windows have been cleaned.  Waiting for price quotes on powerwashing the building siding.

Circulation desk – waiting for final design drawings.

New lighting – waiting for electrician to find appropriate fixtures and give price quote.

Landscaping – the DPW has a plan together, bushes and plantings will be put in this fall.

Patron Chairs – have been selected and ordered, I have gotten the check from the treasurer, just need to take the payment to Bob’s and arrange for delivery.

Summer Reading – Collection Development

The summer reading assignments from BVT, Miscoe and Memorial schools are significantly different this year from previous years.

Most grades have a single book, or a small selection of books that they are required to read, along with a large variety of “recommended” reading.

I am going to attempt to purchase enough copies of the core books for each grade so that we can keep them in stock for students to borrow.

We get a lot of students that only visit the library once per year for their summer reading book, and they are often reluctant to wait while we order a copy via interlibrary loan.

So far I have invested about $500 ordering extra copies to keep up with demand, which has gotten us 5-10 copies of each title.

I will continue the policy of re-ordering more each time we run out until we can manage to keep them in stock or I’ve spent another $500 for a total of $1,000 invested in this collection.  If we hit the $1,000 point, I will re-evaluate if we can continue to purchase, or if we need to fall back on interlibrary loan requests.