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#6 Reports A. Activities Report Hedberg Public Library Activity Report February 2009 Adult Services Jean trained three Hedberg @ Home volunteers (two new people and gave the third a refresher course) in February. All three have been assigned to patrons. Forty patrons are active participants in the program. Forty-seven volunteers have been trained to date. Three are waiting for new patrons to deliver materials to and four have to be trained. Regency House and St. Elizabeth’s Nursing Home residents enjoyed library programs in February. The theme was St. Valentine’s Day. Residents learned about the history of the holiday from library books and played several word games. Jean led two book groups at Riverfront, Inc. and one group at Riverview Heights. Participants enjoyed discussing the books. Jean and Carol Kuntzelman led the second meeting of the Mondays Are Murder book group. The featured book was The Face of Deception by Iris Johansen. The Rock County Health Assessment Planning Committee continues to work on its strategic plan for a healthier county. The group will keep meeting monthly through June 2009 to develop a plan to present to the Health Department board of supervisors some time this year. The Downtown Riverfront Park Committee met this month for a discussion of spring cleanup in April and library programming. The committee is working on the creation of a central feature for the park which will draw people to the park from the downtown area. Rene’ hosted the February First Friday Family Fiesta which was attended by 27 persons. The English Conversation Group, a collaborative programming effort, was held at the same time. Two persons joined the group in February. th Rene’ and Bryan coordinated and hosted the staff diversity training workshop on February 16. Santo Carfora and Bob Baldwin were the trainers. The El Dia del los ninos library event will be sponsored by Cricket, a new cell phone company. The company contacted Rene’ to ask if they could donate $200 for books to be given away at the event. JATV will be showing an Alliant Energy program taped here at the library. Rene’ coordinated the program which was held last fall. Central Services Circulation was up this month compared to last February. With implementation of Millennium came an improvement in the ease of use with their self-check software. Circulation this month from patrons checking out their own materials has more than doubled since February 2007 when the library was still using the old system. Library card registration was up 28% compared to last February. This month is the first time that HPL moved from a net borrower to a net lender within the ALS system. Over 17,500 ALS delivery items (22% of our total) were checked in this month. Of the total circulation and reserves place on OverDrive (down loadable materials), 56% of the total was from HPL card holders. Collection Development New Gab Bag titles were selected for book discussion groups to check out. The selections were evenly divided between fiction and non-fiction, and include such titles as Little Heathens, a personal reminiscence of growing up in the Great Depression, and The Book Thief, a young adult story set in Nazi Germany about a girl who rescues books from book-burnings. Human Resources/Accounting Guynith Thompson, Diana McDonald and Helene Ramsdell received “I Made a Difference” awards for their efficient reorganization of work space. Laura Gottlieb and Mary Buelow received awards for their efforts to improve access to tax forms. The December 2008 operating statement is finalized and a copy is included with this packet. The year ended with a fund balance of $436,184. The completed January 2009 operating statement is also included and can replace the preliminary statement issued last month. Reference Services Statistics from the Reference Department: ? Patron questions asked at Reference Desk – 3726 ? Patron questions asked at Service Desk – 2912 ? Combined total of questions at both Desks – 6638 Statistics from InterLibrary Loan: ? Items requested from other libraries for Hedberg patrons – 458 ? Items received from other libraries for Hedberg patrons – 463 ? Requests received from other libraries to borrow Hedberg materials – 894 ? Items lent to other libraries from the Hedberg collection – 522 By the end of February, the Reference Department set up a table of tax forms near the Service Desk. Forms available for free distribution are: Federal (IRS) forms 1040, 1040A, 1040EZ, instructions, and some schedules; and Wisconsin forms 1, 1A, WI-Z, NPR, and the Homestead. There are also charts (both Federal and state) for patrons to determine which form is appropriate for their personal circumstances. Library staff have found that the forms distribution is largely self service. Patrons review the charts, take the forms they need, and rarely require staff assistance. Service Desk reports that the number of patrons who need help with Tax Form Reproducibles at the photocopiers has dropped significantly, and Reference Desk reports that the number of patrons who need help with tax forms on the Internet computers has also dropped. Many patrons have also commented that they really appreciate that they can now pick up the paper forms. We have been reviewing our procedures for Reference statistics to ensure they are in line with state and national definitions and expectations. Contacts between library staff and patrons fall into two broad categories: “Reference Transactions” and “All Other Patron Transactions”. The definition of a “Reference Transaction” is set by NISO (National Information Standards Organization), and is very specific. Managers generally use the combined total of both numbers to track workflow and staffing needs, but should report only the “Reference Transactions” number to the state. In recent years, HPL has been the combined total number to the state. As a result of this review, we will be making some changes to how we collect and report reference statistics. Prior to October 2007, we were reporting the combined total of all questions from the Reference Desk. Starting October 2007, we were reporting the combined total of all questions from both the Reference Desk and the Service Desk. By summer 2009 we will be reporting the total of Reference Transactions only, but it will be a combined total from the Reference Department, Youth Services Desk and the Service Desk. We are also revising the statistics for 2008 to the combined total of all questions from the Reference Desk only, as this is somewhat closer to the number we should have been reporting. Three Reference department staff member attended a two part Webinar on the Overdrive Digital Library. The training is designed to help staff become more comfortable answering patron questions about the service. Question of the month: A patron wanted to know what clinics in the area offered “colonic irrigation therapy” – a kind of hydrotherapy that uses water for cleansing the colon to improve digestive health. . After searching through several directories, reference staff found that most directories are not this specific in their clinic listings; however, “Magic Yellow Online Yellow Pages” did have a category for colonic irrigation with 15 listings in Wisconsin, including two in Madison. Technical Services As part of a continuous improvement approach, at their February meeting Technical Services staff brainstormed ideas for reducing materials acquisition and processing costs and for streamlining the operation. Suggestions for increased efficiency included reducing paperwork and investigating the outsourcing of audiovisual processing. Head of Technical Services Carol Kuntzelman successfully completed the Janesville/Beloit Certified Public Manager program and graduated on a lucky Friday the thirteenth. Youth Services Children’s Services February was dominated by visits from and to preschool children who, for a variety of reasons (physical, emotional, or socioeconomic) have special needs. Working closely with Kristen Moisson, Coordinator of Early Learning and P4J for the School District of Janesville, and Connie Robers, Director of Rock-Walworth Comprehensive Family Services (Head Start), HPL was able to reduce the cost-per-student of busing to the library as well as increase the number of students attending the special needs programs. Students, teachers, and parents were treated to an exciting storytime and were shown what the public library has to offer families. This year staff did 17 in-house special needs programs for 555 participants and seven programs in the schools for 68 participants. This was an increase of over 200 from 2008 participation in the special needs programs. In addition to the 24 special needs programs, Youth Services staff did 36 other in-house programs that attracted 1428 participants. The normal round of storytimes remains extremely popular and monthly programs (Library Explorers, Family Fun Night, and the bilingual First Friday Family Fiesta) all bring in longtime, as well as new, children and families. The February theme for Learning Through Play, Transportation, was very popular with the families in attendance, especially little boys who enjoyed playing with the trucks and other vehicles. Young Adult Services Teen volunteer training sessions were continued in February. Two teenagers assisted adults with Wii Bowling and Tennis and PS2 Dance Dance Revolution stations at the library’s Health Fair. Others helped at the Children’s Department Family Fun Night. In February, teens volunteered a total of 11.5 hours. Teen Choice Gaming drew 15 participants on a Friday evening at the library. RuneScape Club was also offered after school on a Friday during February. Teen Central hosted a successful FAFSA Day in the Woodruff Training Lab. The Free Application for Federal Student Aid is the first step toward obtaining federal student financial aid, such as the Pell Grant, student loans, and college work-study. In addition, most states and schools use FAFSA information to award their financial aid. Thirty-two students and adults participated in the Saturday morning program, most filing and printing their completed online applications during the session. Linda Osborne, Financial Aid Coordinator from UW Rock County, and Kristin Fillhouer, College Access Advisor with Great Lakes Higher Education, provided capable help for those in attendance. In addition, the library received free financial aid informational pamphlets for use during the program from Kristin and Great Lakes Higher Education through a federal grant program. Library resources included several books from the Job Resource Center on financial aid and scholarships and a list of web sites. Local high school counselors and principals helped distribute handouts and signs and some participants were referred from Job Service. The Teen Advisory Board meeting had its highest attendance of the year with 22 teens sharing summer reading program ideas and pizza.