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Library Directors Report

Posted on: April 8, 2022 - 3:01pm

March 8, 2022

PERSONNEL: nothing new to report

PROFESSIONAL GROWTH: nothing new to report

COMMUNITY INTERACTION:

  • Attendance totals: Adults = 212 / Teens = 5 / Children = 31 / Overall total = 248

NOTE: this is a 21% increase in total attendance from January’s attendance

Special Note: Sue reported that on Sat. 2/26 there were 22 people in the library at 1:20.

  • We had our March ZOOM program (“Gorgeous Gardens of New England” presented by Joanne Pearson) last Friday. It was very successful, and I have already had some positive feedback. Prior to the program, we had 62 registrations and 36 attended the event.  About 1/5 of the attendees were from New Salem. The others were from all over the state.
  • There are no other programs scheduled for March. Starting in April, there will be multiple programs throughout the month, including starting another 5-week “Tales & Tunes with Katie” which was very popular last fall. We will also be hosting an Earth Day Celebration on Sat. 4/23 “Earth Rhythms” with Roger Tincknell (from Shutesbury). I am finalizing a talk by Prof. Toni Lyn Morelli from UMass on climate change issues that will be held via Zoom.
  • Yoga class had 20 attendees in February.
  • The Book Discussion Group had 10 in February.
  • No in-person meetings were held in the library during February.
  • Circulation totals: February circulation = 668 (primarily books and DVDS) [using more accurate # now]

This is a 41% increase from the January circulation / 86% of circulation was to New Salem cardholders / 195 items from other libraries / 200 items sent to other libraries

e-books/e-audiobooks circulation: 224 items (incl. 16 from Libby) [This is a new statistic that I did not know about previously, but I will report on it regularly now. This means that our total circulation is really 892. I can also see that 12 e-items were children’s material and 5 were YA. This is great because it means that young people are using the e-option (since they are not coming in to the library as much lately.]

COLLECTION DEVELOPMENT (February):

42 Adult Fiction books                                                                  3 Juvenile Fiction books                              

10 Adult Non-Fiction books                                                         18 Juvenile Non-Fiction books

 5 CD audiobooks                                                                             0 Juvenile CD audiobooks

 10 DVDs                                                                                              0 Juvenile DVDs

 5 YA Fiction books                                                                         12 Picture book

6 YA Non-fiction book                                                                   0 Board books

Total: 121 (purchased) items added in February (plus 9 donations added to collection)

MAINTENCE & EQUIPMENT:

  • Tech 1 installed Nordic back-up systems on the 3 staff computers (same as other Town computers)

FOLLOW-UP ON QUESTIONS and/or DECISIONS FROM LAST (OR PREVIOUS) MEETING:

  • Zoom meetings will be allowed to continue until July 15th.
  • COVID update: things are continuing to improve, and the State and now the Town have discontinued the mask requirement. The Library cannot require people to wear masks, so I have made signs indicating that they are “optional”. It seems that we can go back to what was happening late last summer before towns began mandating masks again. I have spoken with the staff and they are comfortable with the practice where patrons and staff can do what feels comfortable to them. Also, we could allow in-person meetings again in the library with no specific limit. This is what we had prior to January. Or, we can set a max. limit that would be something above 10 – more like 25 (which is only about ½ the maximum # for the community room).
  • Monitoring computer use: Since Nov., the use has been 12 in Dec. & Jan and 13 in Feb.

MISC. OTHER INFORMATION: 

  • All 6 new chairs are finally in their new home at the table in the YA area.
  • The library budget meeting is scheduled with the Finance Committee on Friday, Mar. 11 at 9:00 am. As it stands now, both Judy and I will be attending the meeting.