Report of the Library Director for March, 2012

Children’s Librarian hired – Evergreen in May – Babysign class held

Circulation
Circulation for March was 4,195. This is slightly more than last month (3.4% increase), and lower than last year, which was a very high March circulation (20% decrese). 557 interlibrary loan holds were placed.
Our laptops were checked out 29 times in March, our Nook e-readers circulated 10 times, and our videogames had 52 circulations.

Digital Content Use
BYKI: In March, 13 users accessed byki for a total of 10 hours. Our top languages were French and German.
Wowbrary: 7 new users signed up for Wowbrary, for a total of 108 active subscribers.
Overdrive: eBook circulation to Upton patrons: 126, eAudio circulations: 48.

New Patron Registrations
15 new patrons registered in March
Collection Development
We added approximately 77 items to our collection in March.
Passport Applications processed in March: 15

Programs
Library book group: 5 people met on March 28th.
Senior book group: 4 people met on March 6th.
Thursday storytime averaged 4 children per session for 9 sessions.
TinyTots lapsit is not held until we have a children’s librarian.
Library Table: 4 visits, averaged 10 patrons and 23 items.
Lego Days: averaged 10 children per session for 5 sessions.

Special Events
Parents and Students in the Spanish Immersion Program organized an evening storytime which was attended by 8 children on March 21st.
Baby sign language was held on March 13th, 20th, 27th, and was attended by an average of 4 children and 4 parents. An additional Saturday babysign workshop has been scheduled for May 19th.

Upcoming Events in April
Nicole Basbanes is scheduled to start on April 9th. Our top priority will be restarting tinytots and re-invigorating Thursday storytimes.
Matthew is attending a CPR and First Aid class on April 9th and 10th, offered by the town through MIIA insurance.

Plans for Next Month
1) Training for Nicole
2) Complete recommendations for ATM
3) Collection development projects


Children’s Librarian Position
Nicole Basbanes has accepted our job offer for Children’s and Young Adult Librarian. Her first day will be April 9th.

Spring/Summer Children’s events
I have scheduled the following children’s events for this summer. More publicity will be forthcoming as they get closer:
Babysign workshop: Saturday May 19th, 10:30-11:30am, Upton Library
Red Cross Babysitter Training: Monday, June 25th, 9:00am-3:30pm, Memorial School
Little Red Wagon : Wednesdsay, June 27th, 6:30-8:00pm, Nipmuc HS

FY2013 budget and wages
The Personnel Committee and Town Manager have made a recommendation that for FY13, the pay rate for our three circulation clerk positions be increased to the “proficiency rate”, or middle of the range, which will be $14.64 per hour. The other three positions in the library are recommended to have no pay increase for FY13.
I’ve attached a review of a proposed FY13 Library budget if we accept these recommendations.

Evergreen Circulation
CWMARS has a new target date for the switch to the new circulation system. Pending more testing of some aspects of the software, they are hoping to make the change over Memorial Day weekend, which is May 26th-28th. If everything seems to be going ahead, I will schedule another training session for staff in mid-May, and the library will be closed on Saturday May 26th.

Community Service Volunteers
I have had three young men fulfilling a community service requirement by volunteering at the library. They have helped by sorting the donated books upstairs, organizing the attic space, and by repainting our outside railing. I am pleased with the success of these projects. Two of the volunteers have completed their hours, and one plans to continue working about 4 hours per week through the spring.