Circulation
Circulation for May was 4,538, an increase of 5.9% over last month, and a slight increase of 1.9% over May of 2007.
Collection Development
We added 193 items to the collection in April.
This is significantly higher than usual, due to several things. First, Lisa and I cleaned out some back cataloging that had been waiting for us, and second, we happened to do two large book orders this month (beginning and end), instead of one in the middle.
Shakespeare DVDs from the BBC: For several years now, I have wanted to purchase some of the BBC’s film productions of Shakespeare’s plays. This version of Shakespeare is very traditional, using the original language with little or no modernization. The company that sells them is having a half price sale until the end of June, offering the entire set of 37 plays for $750. Once I prepare the vouchers for our June 16th meeting, if we have the funds remaining in the expense account or State Aid, I would like to order this set.
Magazine Subscriptions: I have changed vendors for our annual magazine subscriptions. We previously used Demco, Inc, a national company. I received a price quote from a competing company, EVA Subscriptions, which was 10% lower than Demco’s prices. EVA is a local company based in Shrewsbury, and is used by several nearby libraries including Milford and Grafton. I hope that using a smaller company will result in better customer service.
Programs
Library book group: 8 people met on May 28th.
Senior book group: 6 people met on May 6th.
Music and Movement averaged 59 participants per session for 2 sessions.
Deb Hudgins has taken a full time position, and will not be available to run the music program. We will consider our options for a replacement or different program in the fall.
Thursday storytime averaged 7 children per session.
TinyTots lapsit averaged 11 participants.
Teen Tuesday was attended by 12 young adults.
Library Table: 4 visits, averaged 2 patrons and 5 items.
Special Events
The third grade classes at Memorial school visited the library as part of their annual field trip to Town Hall and the Knowlton Risteen Building.
Volunteers
16 items were delivered to 3 patrons on May 14.
Upcoming Events in June
Flyers are being distributed to advertise the summer reading program. They will be sent home with students at United Parish Pre-school and Memorial Elementary school the first week in June.
Registration begins June 10th, and the kick-off is June 18th with the theatre troupe from UNH performing an adaptation of “The Ugly Duckling” at 6:30pm, Nipmuc High school courtyard.
We have animal events every Wednesday in June.
Booksigning and presentation by local Author Ann Davidson has been moved to June 17th, instead of June 10th.
Staff
Eileen will complete her first six months of employment at the end of June. If you have any comments to contribute to her probationary review, please send them to Matthew by June 15th.
New Staff Computer
The new staff computer has arrived and is installed. I needed to purchase a new bar-code scanner to be compatible with the new system, and I also bought a combination printer / fax machine / scanner for the office. This replaces our old fax machine which had very poor print quality and a broken feeder, so it could only take one page at a time.
Music Funds
We received a check from the office of the Attorney General for $325.86. This money is Upton Library’s share of the settlement of a lawsuit against several large CD distributors. The funds must be used for music related materials or programs that are an addition to our regular services, and cannot be used as a replacement for existing funds. The two best options I would suggest are to either; purchase new music CDs for our collection, or, use the money to fund whatever program we choose to replace the weekly Music and Movement program in the fall.
Community Information Display
I have talked with Kelly McElreath, the Town Clerk, about what types of community information is publicly available through her office, and what would be most helpful to our patrons.
To start with, my plan for the community information display in the library is to include: a calendar of upcoming town meetings and public hearings, bound circulating copies of the Town bylaws, archived non-circulating copies of minutes and proceedings from Town Meetings, Selectmen’s Meetings and School Committee Meetings, and circulating DVD copies of filmed Town Meetings, Selectmen’s Meetings and School Committee Meetings.
Jon Miguel, the cable coordinator for the Town of Upton will make the DVD copies for the library at no cost, all we have to do is supply the blank DVDs.
The next step to consider would be making a searchable index of the contents of the DVDs. This process would be time consuming, but would be an amazing historical resource for the future. For example, an index would allow a patron to locate and view all the discussions about a third water source during Selectmen’s Meetings and Town Meetings. If we decide to pursue this project, it might be an excellent proposal for grant funds.
Plans for Next Month
1) Summer Program, Summer Program, Summer Program!
2) End of the Fiscal Year cleanup, and finalization of our budget for next year.
3) Implementation of the Community Information Display
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