Report of the Library Director for December 2008

Circulation
Circulation for December was 3,695 items. This is a 6.4% decrease from last month, but a 5.9% increase over December of 2007. This bears out my prediction last month that our winter circulation decline was spread over two months, instead of a single steep drop from Nov – Dec. Circulation should start swinging back up in January.

Collection Development
We added 51 items to our collection in December, significantly less than usual. No special reason for this, just a coincidence of when books come out and when we place orders.
Lisa and I met with a representative from World Book publishing, and purchased a new encyclopedia set as well as a complete set of juvenile non-fiction books on animals.
I have further condensed our adult reference collection, which is now down to about half the size it was a year ago. The opened space will be used for expansion of the adult audio visual collection, which is our fastest growing collection.

Northbridge Library Certification Status
The Northbridge library has recovered the majority of its funding, and is currently meeting all but one of the major requirements for state certification. The library will not be able to re-apply for certification until fall of 2009, but I would like the Trustees to reexamine the policy on decertified municipalities and decide if we should resume loaning Upton items to Northbridge residents prior to their official recertification.

Programs
Library book group: met on December 3rd.
Senior book group: 11 people met on December 2nd.
Thursday Storytime averaged 10 children per session.
TinyTots Lapsit StoryTime averaged 16 participants.
Teen Tuesday was attended by 12 young adults.
Library Table: 3 visits, averaged 5 patrons and 10 items.

Special Events in December
Lisa presented a special storytime at the new bookstore in town, Kaleidoscope Books, Cards & Gifts on December 17th, to coincide with a Friends of the Library fundraiser. 14 children participated. The store donated 10% of all sales that day to the Friends of the Upton Town Library.

Three ULTRA members and 1 Library Director watched a free screening of the movie “Elf” on December 30th, as a semi-spontaneous program during school vacation week.

Volunteers
One volunteer delivered 7 items through our Home Delivery program. Several of the patrons that used to receive items through home delivery are now being served through the Library Table at the Senior Center, or the Senior Book Group organized by Donna.

Upcoming Events in January

Input on library building initiative
Lisa and I have started aggressively soliciting input from members of the Upton Community about building a new library facility.
To start with, we are asking for any comments or thoughts from the community on what they would like to see included in a new library and why they might support or not support a new library. We are also trying to make the process more transparent, and distributing accurate information about the status of various projects.
As we receive more responses, I would like to refine our efforts to get input on specific design decisions, but for now our goal is to start a discussion and simply get more community members informed and involved.
We are pursuing a variety of avenues to reach people, both library patrons and non-library users. Lisa has created a Facebook cause, and sent emails to distribution lists, and the responses over just a few weeks have already given me some new insights and suggestions to present to the Trustees.
Right now we are archiving all responses on a blog at: http://newlibrary4upton.blogspot.com/
In the near future, I will be setting up a discussion board, which has more tools for organizing and requesting input.

Anyone that would like to send us some input, make a comment, ask a question can do so in a variety of ways:
Leave a comment on the blog: newlibrary4upton.blogspot.com
Email to Lisa: uptonstorytime@yahoo.com or Matthew: mbachtol@cwmars.org
For those that don’t have access or inclination to use email, a good old phone call (508)529-6272 or written letter to Matthew Bachtold, P.O. Box 1196 would also be appreciated.
Comments can be made anonymously and any questions will be answered to the best of my ability.

Staff
Annual Personnel Evaluations have been completed for all Library Staff.
Congratulations to Eileen Rakitin who has been a library employee for over 1 year.


Plans for Next Month

1) Continue Budget and Compensation Study process.

2) Begin planning for 2009 spring and summer events.

3) Evaluate public computer services.