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#4 Reports A. Activities Report Hedberg Public Library Activity Report January 2010 Central Services Circulation was down this month compared to last January. Circulation by department - adult and children equally decreased while circulation by area, Janesville and other areas showed a slight decrease in “other areas” category. Whereas circulation by format, print, video and audio, shows a more significant decrease in video and audio, 4,472 less compared to1, 338 fewer print item checkouts/renewals. A snow storm, Thursday 1/7 affected the gate count and circulation. Fewer people, 1,950 come into the library that day compared to a January 2010 Thursday average of 2,667. Checkouts were down by 870 compared to other Thursdays in the month. Of total ALS library checkouts, 145,822, 58% take place at HPL. Traffic into the library has increased. The gate count shows a difference of 22,746 from last January when the count was estimated since the existing gate counter was faulty. The busiest nd “traffic” day of the month was Tuesday, January 2 with 3,430 people entering HPL. The number of reserves on the hold shelf has increased. Ten days this month over 1,000 items were waiting for patron pick-up. The number of reserves filled has consistently increased. The adult DVDs have been compressed and shifted since the VHS tapes have been removed. Adult audio books and CD ROMS have also been shifted to make room for the Large Type collection. The new neighborhood “Do It Yourself” will soon be located in the old LT space. Beth Webb, HPL senior circulation assistant, was hired part-time by University – Rock County to teach computer classes at their campus. Collection Development Work is moving forward with creating the new do-it-yourself (DIY) neighborhood. Collection Manager Carol Kuntzelman met with a committee representing selection, public information, building, and administrative staff to decide on a location, the process, and a timeframe for the project. The group decided that the new collection would be located in the area by the former Service Desk and agreed on a plan that would include the reorganization and formal establishment of a Spanish language materials neighborhood. Dave Peters provided a design for the layout of the area. Circulation staff members Linda Rogers and Laurel Fant immediately began a consolidation of the DVD and audio-book collections to make way for the shift of the large print collection to its new home following the audio-book titles. Selectors Jean Yeomans and Kate Hull saw an opportunity to weed the large type and home improvement collections in order to make room for the new materials purchased with library foundation funds. Target for completion of the project is mid-March. Reference Services Total Patron Questions: ? Patron questions asked at Reference Desk – 3128 ? Patron questions asked at Service Desk – 3126 ? Asked at Youth Services 2208 ? Asked at Bilingual Desk (when staffed) 27 ? Asked at Teen Central (when staffed) 23 ? Asked via Email 56 ? Total patron questions 8568 Reportable Reference Questions: ? Asked at the Reference Desk 1289 ? Asked at Service Desk 253 ? Asked at Youth Services 850 ? Asked at Bilingual Desk (when staffed) 6 ? Asked at Teen Central (when staffed) 6 ? Asked via Email 21 ? Total for all service points 2425 Statistics from InterLibrary Loan: ? Items requested from other libraries for Hedberg patrons – 551 ? Items received from other libraries for Hedberg patrons – 554 ? Requests received from other libraries to borrow Hedberg materials – 819 ? Items lent to other libraries from the Hedberg collection – 698 Several “behind the scenes” changes happened with the computer classes in January 2010. ALS trainer Sheryl Oberle moved her office from HPL to ALS, and the task of scheduling classes moved from Computer Services to Reference Services. The transition has been smooth for all staff concerned, and it has been seamless for the public. Sue Braden taught a special class reviewing Internet Basics and Rockcat instruction for six students and three teachers from Janesville's Chestnut House School. The students, ages 18-21, are working toward their high school diplomas. Mary Buelow attended the CORD Service Provider Summit on January 15. This was a great opportunity to connect with other agencies in who provide services to unemployed job seekers in Rock County. The “GM” oral histories have been posted to the HPL web site under Community > Local History > Digital Resources > GM & UAW: In Their Own Words. These are interviews of twelve local retired manufacturing employees. Interviews cover their experiences in Janesville, th during the first half of the 20 century. Question of the month: A Patron wanted a list of Hispanic and African American newspapers published in the Janesville and stateline area. Reference staff checked with HPL’s Bilingual Coordinator Rene Bue, and – at Rene’s suggestion – Wanda Sloan, the Diversity Specialist at Blackhawk Technical College. Reference staff also checked the Internet. Between the three sources, staff put together the following list: The Chronicle (Beloit); El Tiempo (Rockford); Espejo (Rockford); La Voz de Beloit; and Conexiones Latina (Rock, Dodge, Walworth, Jefferson). Technical Services Technical Services staff completed a massive withdrawal project, providing a year’s worth of popular magazine issues, audiotapes, children’s books and approximately 5000 videos for the special January Friends’ sale. All were popular with the public, with the Friends collecting over $2600 over the two-day period. TS RFID taggers moved on to the children’s collections, and completed a good portion of the print titles by the end of the month. On now to the picture books! Youth Services Children’s Services Programming for the New Year began with our regular storytimes the first full week of the month. Learning Through Play, a program that encourages imaginative play for children ages 1- 4, was a big success with a medieval theme that included a wonderful cardboard castle. Camille Rammer and Shannon Tollefsrud create the magic behind this program. For the January Family Fun Night, Camille teamed up with Karin Timmermann for “A Night at the Library: Bedtime Stories.” Sixty children and 43 adults enjoyed this evening event. January was a month that attracted quite a few groups (91 children and 51 adults) to the library for field trips, stories, and tours. Young Adult Services B-Force Middle School Book Club members translated questions from the Gnommish fairy language to English before discussing the book Artemis Fowl, first in the popular series by Eoin Colfer. TAB members held their monthly meeting followed by a Web Committee meeting. A second TAB meeting for officers was conducted this month to clarify and finalize their recommendations for the summer program. Final Exam Cram tutors helped their high school peers stay on the track to success at an evening event during exam week. Refreshments were provided. Sixth, seventh and eighth grade students from St. Pat’s walked to the library to locate materials having to do with their research topics. A brief class on using RockCat was provided in the Woodruff Training Lab and staff was available to assist students during their visit. Teens volunteered for 20 hours in January helping with Children’s Department activities such as the Learning through Play program. Other Julie Westby, Laurie Bartz, and Sharon Grover attended a Summer Library Program sponsored by ALS and hosted by the Beloit Public Library. It was a wonderful morning of sharing ideas for programs and crafts and everyone came away with great information and a newly invigorated feeling of camaraderie with those who do youth services in our system. Elizabeth Tubman, who has been a WFIC Intern with HPL and was the Children’s Room Temporary Employee last summer, is with us once again as a UW-Madison SLIS (library school) Field Study Student. Liz will be putting in 120 hours at HPL, learning more about programming for children and teens and working on a collection development project with Sharon Grover who is supervising Liz’s practicum. Sharon Grover attended the ALA Midwinter Meeting in Boston where she chaired the Odyssey Award Committee, an “annual award … given to the producer of the best audiobook produced for children and/or young adults, available in English in the United States.” The committee selected Louise, the Adventures of a Chicken, produced by Live Oak Media, as the winning audiobook. Honor audiobooks were In the Belly of the Bloodhound (A Bloody Jack Adventure), produced by Listen & Live Audio, Peace, Locomotion and We Are the Ship: The Story of Negro League Baseball, both produced by Brilliance Audio. Long hours of deliberation were the hallmark of these meetings, highlighted by calling the winning and honored producers on Sunday morning. Committee members each listened to between 500-600 hours of audiobooks before attending the meetings in Boston to make these selections. Over $20,000 of audiobooks will be donated to HPL from the submissions for this award.