Director's Report for September 2012

Annual Booksale over – State Aid application – juvenile Collection development

Circulation
For September, 2012, our circulation was 4,869 items.  This is 16% lower than last month, continuing our typical fall drop off in circulation.  We usually have our lowest circulation months in Nov and Dec, then pick up again in Jan and Feb.  This September is also 11% lower than previous years.  I am still unsure if the consistent 10-12% decline this summer compared to previous years is just a result of Evergreen statistics vs Millenium, or a true reduction in activity.
Laptops: 14.  Nooks: 6.  Games: 86.

Unique Patrons
445 Upton patrons have items due in the next 3 weeks. 

Digital Content Use
BYKI: In September, 4 users accessed byki for a total of 16.3 hours.  Our top languages were English for Spanish speakers and German.
Wowbrary: 2 Wowbrary users cancelled, for a total of 112 active subscribers.
Overdrive: eBook circulation to Upton patrons: 166, eAudio circulations: 39. 

New Patron Registrations:  14 new patrons registered in September.

Passport Applications processed in September: 5.

Programs
Library book group: 8 people met on September 26th.
Senior book group: 6 people met on September 4th.
Thursday storytime averaged 5 children per session for 7 sessions.
TinyTots lapsit averaged 7 children per session for 3 sessions. 
Library Table: 4 visits, averaged 12 patrons and 36 items.
Lego Days: averaged 3 children per session for 3 sessions.

Special Events
Heritage Weekend storytime – 12 children attended on Sept 29th.
Annual Booksale – also held on Sept 29th.

Upcoming Events in October
Monday, Oct 22nd and 29th – First Grade field trips to get library cards.

Plans for Next Month
1) Children’s collection storage project
2) Library improvement planning
3) Publicize digital resources

Collection Development
We added approximately 171 items to our collection in September.
The adult fiction weeding project was completed in time for the Booksale.
Approximately 500 volumes were withdrawn from storage plus 800 more from the regular collection and donated to the booksale.
That should give us room for about 24 months worth of new purchases before the fiction shelves are completely full again.
Our next step is to work on the juvenile picture books and nonfiction.  Nicole and I have a plan for moving a significant number of items (about a third of the picture books and a fifth of the nonfiction) up into storage.  This will allow us to make the remaining items more accessible and provide display space.  The goal is to see an increase in circulation for these items.

Financial Report and State Aid Application
Our FY13 application for State Aid and Certification is completed and ready to submit.
In addition to some policy and staffing requirements, there are three main numerical standards for certification. 
Upton easily met and exceeded the standards for Hours Open and Materials Expenditure.  The most difficult standard for us is the Municipal Appropriation Requirement, which is the amount of money the Town votes to dedicate to library services each year.
Our FY13 requirement was $213,427, and our projected amount reported was $213,972, so we are meeting the requirement by only $545, or 0.25% of our budget.
Meeting that requirement relies on projected income from the Revolving fund of $3,127, so a small decline in Rev. Fund revenue could easily force us to either apply for a waiver to meet that requirement, or ask for a supplemental appropriation from the town in the spring.
I received another report from the Town Accountant on the balances in our trust funds, which verified that the numbers I reported at our last meeting were correct, including the separation of the expendable interest vs the protected principal amounts.

FY12 Materials Expenditures
In FY12 we spent $45,825 on new materials from the Library operating budget.  The Friends of the Library spent an additional $3,710 on the Museum pass program.  Our expenditures on print and audio-visual materials remained close to our FY11 levels, while electronic resources increased.
As a percentage of total materials expenditures, we divided our resources as follows:
Print Books     :     54.3%
Print Serials    :    7.5%
Audio        :    13.8%
Video        :    15.3%
E-Books    :    2.2%
Online Resources:    4.5%
Other (Video Games): 2.1%

2014 Budget Priorities
Based on our FY13 State Aid application, to maintain certification for FY14, our total municipal appropriation will need to be $216,378.  This is an increase of about $3,000 over the FY13 budget that was approved last May at the ATM, and that amount lets us just barely squeak by, relying on revolving fund income to make up the remainder.  I’d much rather see a $5,000 or so increase, which would cover us in case of a decline in revolving fund receipts.  That equates to a 2%-2.5% increase in our total budget.
About 75% of our budget is wages and salaries, so the wage recommendation from the Personnel Board has a significant impact on our total budget.  If the P. Board recommends 3% wage increase, that might let us meet certification without any other increases.  If the P. Board recommends 0% (as they did this year) or something in the 1%-2% range, we will need an increase elsewhere to meet certification standards.

We had a significant ($3,000) increase to materials budget for FY13, and our materials budget is currently adequate to meet our needs.
Here are some ideas for other areas we could increase.  If the Trustees can indicate which ones are higher priority, I can start gathering information to be prepared for the FY14 budget process.

1)    Increase programs budget – we cut this to the minimum in FY09/FY10 to $1,000.  An increase here would let us run more cultural events, about $500 per event.
2)    Add an operational line item for replacing circulating computer devices so we could replace laptops / ereaders / other devices (ipads?) on an annual basis, without requiring special articles or grants.
3)    Expand library hours of operation.  It would extend services to our patrons if we were open longer on Saturday.  Being open from 9-5 Saturday instead of 9-2 would cost an additional $4,500 for staff.
4)    Shift utility costs to the library budget, specifically heating, electricity, custodial are paid from other town line items.  Moving these items to the library budget would increase our appropriation with little overall financial impact to the town.  This change might make sense in anticipation of other town departments moving out of the Knowlton-Risteen building.