Seeking new Children's Librarian

Employment Opportunity at Upton Town Library. Application deadline Feb 3rd, 2012

The Town of Upton seeks to fill the full-time position (40 hours/week) of Children’s and Young Adult Librarian.
Position reports to the Library Director and is responsible for planning, organizing, implementing and supervising library services related to children, young adults and their parents.

Statement of Duties: Work includes coordinating the operation of the Children’s and Young Adult library, including collection development; planning and implementing programs; providing reader’s advisory and reference services; and cataloging library materials. The Children’s Librarian also serves as the primary contact for schools, parents and local educational institutions; performs outreach to heighten community awareness of library services, manages the operating budget and capital improvement plan of the Children’s library and serves as department head in the absence of the Library Director.

Library Description: Upton Town Library serves a community of approximately 7,500 residents. We are a C/WMARS mini-net member, and certified for State Aid. The library has a collection of 37,000 items, including e-content, and 65,000 yearly circulations. Nearly half our circulation is juvenile materials.

Qualifications: Requires a Masters Degree in Library Science and 6-18 months of related work experience. Also requires a class D motor vehicle license; computer skills in word processing, spreadsheets and library system computer applications; excellent oral and written communication skills; physical ability to occasionally lift and or move boxes weighing up to 30 pounds.
Schedule and Salary: This is an hourly position that requires 40 hours/week, including at least one evening per week and at least one Saturday per month. The position also requires attendance at meetings and workshops that may occur outside normal business hours. Starting Salary: $17.37 – $19.97/hr + benefits, DOE.

Completed application and resume must be returned to the Board of Selectmen’s office by 5:00 PM on February 3, 2012 either by email to: brobinson@upton.ma.us or by mail: Board of Selectmen, 1 Main Street, Box 1, Upton, MA 01568. Applications and the job description are available on the Town’s website:
Town of Upton Employment Opportunities.

The Town of Upton is an Equal Opportunity Employer

Report of the Library Director for December 2011

Evergreen Circulation delayed again – draft FY13 budget – Wii games circulate

Circulation
Circulation for December was 3,432. This is nearly identical to last month, and a decrease from last year (9.5% decrease). 631 interlibrary loan holds were placed.
Our laptops were checked out 17 times in December, and our Nook e-readers circulated 6 times.

Digital Content Use
BYKI: In December, 12 users accessed byki for a total of 11.2 hours. Our top languages were German, French and Japanese. For the year, we’ve had 94 users and 201 hours of use.
Wowbrary: 3 new users signed up for Wowbrary, for a total of 94 active subscribers, and the newsletters produced 33 click throughs to the library catalog.
Overdrive: eBook circulation to Upton patrons: 122, eAudio circulations: 28.

New Patron Registrations
13 new patrons registered in December.
Collection Development
We added approximately 53 items to our collection in December.
Passport Applications Processed in December: 15

Programs
Library book group: Does not meet in December.
Senior book group: 7 people met on December 6th.
Thursday storytime averaged 6 children per session for 7 sessions.
TinyTots lapsit averaged 13 children per session for 4 sessions.
Library Table: 4 visits, averaged 9 patrons and 26 items.
Lego Days: averaged 6 children per session for 4 sessions.

Special Events
Parents and Students in the Spanish Immersion Program organized an evening storytime which was attended by 14 children on December 22nd.

Plans for Next Month
1) Submit FY13 budget to FinCom
2) Receive applications for Children’s Librarian
3) Collection development project

Evergreen Circulation System
Evergreen transition was delayed a second time until the middle of February. I am scheduling another staff training session for February 6th.

Children’s Services
Our staff have all accepted several extra hours of scheduled work time to provide coverage of the circulation desk until we find a new Children’s Librarian.
Tinytots Friday storytime is cancelled.
Thursday 10:30 and 1:30 storytimes are being covered by Regina and will continue.
Support for school assignments will continue, but we won’t be able to do proactive outreach to local educators.
Juvenile collection develop will continue at a minimal level, enough to maintain the current collection.

Children’s Librarian Position
The job posting has been approved by the Personnel Board, and is being coordinated by the Town Manager. The internal posting will be from Jan 9th – Jan 13th, and the external posting will start January 16th, with applications due by February 3rd.
The next step is for the Trustees to select members for the Search Committee, and schedule a meeting after February 3rd to review and qualify the applications.

FY13 Budget
A draft budget is ready for the Trustees to review. Our network membership fee is slightly down, State aid grant is slightly up. I have included a $1,000 increase in our materials budget and a $960 increase in miscellaneous expense to upgrade our public internet connection from 5Mbs to 20Mbs.

FY13 Action Plan
The action plan committee and I have a draft FY13 action plan ready for the Trustees to review. We have some creative specific ideas for improving publicity of library services, along with some objectives to increase library programming.

Videogame collection
The videogame collection is circulating. I put out our starter collection of 2 xBox games and 12 Wii games on January 3rd. Three days later as I write this, we have only 3 titles left on the shelf.

Men’s Club Grant
The Upton Men’s Club has invited us to apply for some grant funding this winter. I have prepared a draft request to purchase 2 – 4 iPad tablet computers. My goal with this is to make them available for in-library public use, similar to our 3 laptop computers. Patrons could use them to access internet content, make use of social networking tools and learn to use tablet technology. If the grant is funded, I will investigate what free or inexpensive apps are available that our patrons might want to use.

Friends of Upton Library Museum Pass Program

The Friends of the Upton Library Museum Pass Program
is open to all Upton residents with library cards in good standing.
To reserve passes, stop by or call the library at (508) 529 6272.

Discount passes are currently available for the following museums:

Boston Children's Museum
Admits 4 @ $6 each
300 Congress St
Boston, MA
(617) 426 8855

Ecotarium
Admits 2 adults @ $6 each, 2 children @ $4 each
222 Harrington Way
Worcester, MA
(508)929 2700

Garden in the Woods
Admits 4 @ $2 each
180 Hemenway Road
Framingham, MA (508) 877-7630

Higgins Armory
Admits 4 Free
100 Barber Ave
Worcester, MA
(508) 853 6015

Museum of Science
Admits 4 @ $5 each
Science Park
Boston, MA
(617) 589 0100

Museum of Fine Arts
Admits 2 @ $7 each
465 Huntington Ave
Boston, MA
(617) 267 9300

Mystic Aquarium
Admits up to 4 at a discounted rate
(2 Adults @ $6 off and 2 Children @ $4 off)
Mystic Aquarium & Institute for Exploration
55 Coogan Blvd.
Mystic, CT
(860) 572 5955

New England Aquarium
(not available in July & August)
Admits 4 @ $10 each
The New England Aquarium Central Wharf Boston, MA 02110-3399
(617) 973-5200

Providence Children's Museum
Admits 4 @ $2 each
100 South St
Providence, RI
(401) 273 5437

Roger Williams Park Zoo
Admits 4 at a discounted rate ($3 off)
1000 Elmwood Avenue
Providence, RI
(401) 785 3510

Tower Hill Botanic Garden
Admits 4 Free
*This pass was donated by The Blackstone Valley Gardeners
11 French Drive
Boylston, MA
(508) 869 6111

Worcester Art Museum
Admits 2 Free
55 Salisbury St
Worcester, MA
(508) 799 4406

Report of the Library Director for November 2011

Evergreen Circulation Dec 30th – Budget Process for FY13 begins

Circulation
Circulation for November was 3,474. This is less than both last month (8.1% decrease from last month), and last year (10.2% decrease). We had an unusually high number of interlibrary loan holds placed in November, 727.
Our laptops were checked out 10 times in November, and our Nook e-readers circulated 6 times.

Digital Content Use
BYKI: In November, 9 users accessed byki for a total of 8 hours. Our top languages were Creole and Italian.
Wowbrary: 1 new user signed up for Wowbrary, for a total of 91 active subscribers, and the newsletters produced 55 click throughs to the library catalog.
Overdrive: eBook circulation to Upton patrons: 75, eAudio circulations: 28.

New Patron Registrations
15 new patrons registered in November.
Collection Development
We added approximately 132 items to our collection in November.
Passport Applications Processed in November: 3

Programs
Library book group: 7 people met on November 30th.
Senior book group: 6 people met on November 1st.
Thursday storytime averaged 5 children per session for 6 sessions.
TinyTots lapsit averaged 14 children per session for 2 sessions.
Library Table: 5 visits, averaged 9 patrons and 26 items.
Lego Days: averaged 5 children per session for 3 sessions.

Special Events
Parents and Students in the Spanish Immersion Program organized an evening storytime which was attended by 12 children.

Upcoming Events in December
Staff Training Monday December 12th.

Library Closed Saturday Dec 24th and Dec 31st.


Plans for Next Month
1) Staff Reviews
2) Begin Budget for FY13
3) Annual Report to Town

Evergreen Circulation System
CWMARS is on schedule to switch over to Evergreen library software the weekend of Dec 31st. Our main training session is scheduled for Dec 12th.

FY13 Budget Process
The Town Manager is developing some standardized forms and processes for departments that report to the Selectmen. The intent is to make the budget process more consistent and provide accurate information to the FinCom and Town Meeting. I recommend that the Library adopt as many of these new procedures as possible, so we stay in sync with the majority of other town departments.

Rdio Music Subscription
I have signed a purchase agreement to start Rdio music subscription on January 1st, 2012. I also renewed our BYKI subscription for another year. Both these products are sold by the company “Recorded Books”.

Videogame collection
I have selected 2 xbox game titles and 10 wii game titles that we can purchase as a starter collection. I plan on purchasing these items from Amazon.com in mid December. We have to wait until our Amazon account payment is processed before we make the purchase because our credit limit with amazon is only $1,000.

Revolving Fund
I would like to continue our discussion about how the Passport Acceptance fees fit into our revolving fund authorization.
Here is the current text of our revolving fund authorization that was passed at the ATM.

Unanimous consent that the Town vote to establish a revolving fund, as recommended
by the Board of Selectmen, for the Upton Town Library in accordance with M.G.L. Chapter 44, § 53E ½. The purpose of this fund shall be to replace items lost or damaged by those who borrow materials, and to replace items used in activities for which a fee is paid and to purchase new materials. Receipts to this fund shall be fees and fines paid for lost or damaged materials or, for overdue books, for use of the fax, copier and printing facilities, and for purchase of used library materials. Expenditures from this fund shall be authorized by the Library Director, with the approval of the Library Board of Trustees, and be limited to Six thousand dollars ($6,000.00) for Fiscal Year 2012.

Lego Days Dec 2011 Thursdays 3:45-4:45

Upton Town Library will be holding a new session of Lego Days on Thursday afternoons 3:45-4:45 this December.

Our five week session will be held on December 1st, 8th, 15th, 22nd and 29th.

Lego Days is an hour of socializing and creative building. We provide a
selection of Legos and a theme to build on. Each child's creations are
displayed in the library until the next week. You don't need to bring your
own legos, and please remind your child that these legos are just to build
with, they don't get taken home. We encourage parents to either participate
with their children, or enjoy the library while their children are
building. Lego Days is recommended for children ages 7-12. Younger
children are welcome, but need direct parental supervision.

Participants sign up for the 5-week session, and meet each Thursday Afternoon
at the Upton Town Library.

As always, space is limited, so sign up soon.

You can sign up by calling the library at 508-529-6272, emailing
mbachtol@cwmars.org or stopping by the library.

The registration fee is $5 per child, and covers all 5 sessions.