Director's Annual
Report
2010
Overview:
2010 was an eventful year both for Washington Borough and its
Library. After three Borough Managers in
five years, the new manager had the unpleasant and difficult task of dealing
with a large deficit. While he had begun
that process in 2009, the deficit could not be repaired quickly, so 2010 saw
more belt-tightening throughout the Borough.
Early in the year, there was the possibility that retaining the
independent Borough Library would be on the November ballot. However, joining the county system would have
meant closing this building, as well as an increased tax burden for the Borough
citizens, so this idea was dropped mid-year.
Meanwhile,
the rest of
With the
reduced staff and increased concern for expenses, we have tried to make some savings
in the area of processing items for circulation. One change was initiated in the fall of 2009,
using date sticker guns to mark the return date on the outside of the book, as
well as moving the barcodes to the outside of the back cover and not using cards
and pockets. This year we also started
generating our own barcodes in house, which is less expensive and better for
our system. In a more obvious change for
our patrons, we updated the patron cards we issue. Now they are white with the drawing of the
library on the front rather than the former dark blue, and the bar codes are
longer, too. This means that if you try
to use a State Library service that requests your barcode number, their system
will recognize it. Patrons with the
older cards and shorter bar codes can call the library for a temporary
solution.
Staff: While we began the year with a staff of three
full-timers (Barbara Rose, Cindy Trimmer and Twila Eglinton) and one part-timer
(Robin Wagner, our building maintenance person), we ended the year without
Twila. She had a child in February, so
Marge Semonchick and Richard Fifield came on as temporary part-time clerks. In
June, when Twila learned that she would also need more neck surgery, she resigned,
and the two temporary clerks were made permanent part-timers. Then in November, Library Director Barbara
Rose announced her plans to retire on March 31, 2011. Plans for her replacement are still in the
planning stages.
Budget: The Borough budget this year was not approved
until very late in the year, due to the financial crisis all over the state,
but we still received a bit more than the state aid minimum, which means we
will receive state aid again next year.
Building:
Thanks to Mr. Ron Duryea the building is in good condition and for much
less than it could have cost. Vandalism
against the windows started the year.
Some panes had to be replaced but one of the most expensive panes was
repaired by Mr. Duryea. During the
summer there was more vandalism against one of the security cameras, so several
of them were upgraded.
In June Mr.
Duryea was again called upon for extraordinary duty when a dead tree from the
property next to the library blew over onto the top of three ornamental pines,
destroying them. Although the
technicalities prevented an immediate solution, eventually Sunshine Tree
Company removed the broken trees from the library’s property.
In July,
during a heat wave, of course, one of the two compressors in our large HVAC
unit had to be replaced. Additionally, we continue to replace high-energy use
ballasts and light bulbs with more efficient models and will continue to do
so.
Thanks to
Hackettstown Public Library’s recent renovations, this library received two
extra heavy-duty tables with matching chairs (now in the children’s room, so
the other two could move into the regular reading area) and four cabinets,
including two atlas cases, one of which is being used for some of the Harpster
collection photographs.
Grants:
As a result of the Compact Disc Anti-trust Settlement Grant Program, the
State Library distributed $565 to us to be spent on music compact discs. The discs were purchased, but are still in
processing.
BTOP
Grant: In the spring we were informed that
Washington Public Library qualified for inclusion into the Broadband Technical Opportunities Grant, with an introductory meeting
on October 5 and 6 which was refreshing as well as informational. The grant is a matching grant from the
federal government, and the Gates Foundation provided the matching funds. Whether or not we can be included in the
Ethernet upgrade section of the grant, our community will definitely benefit
from the software side of the grant, including online access to databases from
two companies that are designed to promote employment opportunities and
information about career and job choices.
In conjunction with the increased use of the library by job seekers, in
October we added a fax service to the other regular business-friendly services
offered (e.g. color printer and limited color copies, document scanning, the
pubic black and white copier, the use of the computers and free wireless access
in and around the building.
The library
also received a very welcome bequest from the estate of Jean A. Davis this
year.
Friends of
the Library: In March there was a reception for Library
Advocates, in an attempt to reinvigorate the Friends of the Library. On September 11, they held a successful book
sale in conjunction with the Town Wide Yard Sale, and donated the $350 proceeds to the library.
Meetings: The director was away from the
library for two meetings this year, both in
Programs:
Among the programs for the year were the following:
·
Read
around the World—more than 70 books distributed by Captain Book (aka Mr. Jim
Miller).
·
Subway
Promotion (The Subway reading promotion for children in the first through sixth
grades ran until the end of March.
Participants received a free child’s mini-meal. The final tally of participants and books
read was 35 participants and 164 books read.
Thank you, Subway of Washington!),.
·
First
Book giveaways at the WBID Warren County Bazaar on April 24, and Festival in
the Borough held on October 2 we gave away a total of nearly 1,000 books
donated for that purpose, plus Kiwanis WHALE program pamphlets for children in
car seats, and a handout about National Cancer month and Domestic Abuse
Prevention Month (October) from the Washington Woman’s Club.
·
Summer
Reading Program, “Make a splash, Read”:
Final numbers for the Summer Reading Program: 149 total attendance at programs, 59 active
participants (100 registered), 352 books read, 17,585 minutes read or 293
hours. We held the last program at the pool, meeting at 12:30 in the Kiwanis
Pavilion for crafts, stories and refreshments (bottled water and goldfish
crackers) before walking over to the pool.
Of all the children that swam only 2 were not members.
·
Craft
Camp for adults, making an assortment of items ranging from greeting cards to
send to the Troops to Christmas box Santas.
·
Washington
Historical Society continued to meet on Thursday nights.
Statistics:
While attendance and computer use were up for 2010 (in 2009 the library
was closed every Saturday during the summer), book circulation continued to
inch downward. Although statistics for
reference use are up, many of these were instances where staff assisted the
public finding information online. As
usual, biography, applied science and history were the most read works of
nonfiction.
It is with
mixed feelings that I complete this last annual report for Washington Public
Library. At this point, I would normally
talk about plans for the future, but this is no longer my place. I have enjoyed my eleven years here and trust
that the library has provided services that the community needed and
wanted. The first decade of a new
century tends to be a time of trends from the old century petering out, while
those that will eventually become firmly connected with the new century are
just beginning to gel. While the
financial situation is currently difficult, this, too, shall pass and the
library will find new ways to serve patrons both in the building and online. I have enjoyed working with both the staff
and the Board of Trustees. In my
experience, we have one of the best Boards in the state, people who are
knowledgeable, active in the
BAR