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#4 Reports A. Activites Report Hedberg Public Library Activity Report March 2010 Adult Services On her own time, Ren é Bue promoted library events at the School District of Janesville’s Diversity Committee’s meeting, the Rock County Complete Count (Census 2010) Committee meeting, and at the School District of Janesville’s Cesar Chavez Workshop for high school Latino students. During the month of March, she taught several computer classes to Spanish- speaking patrons, helped people get library cards, completed translations for library and Friends programs, and attended various library staff meetings. Planning for the upcoming Cinco de mayo continued, with Ren é attending a Friends board meeting to request sponsorship of that event. Jean Yeomans, Linda Belknap, Ren é, and Elizabeth Hough met with Ben Strand (UWW) and st Martha Gammons (ALS) to continue planning the BIG READ 2010 event on April 1. The library is hosting the kickoff for the community read program. The event includes a musical performance by Felipe Rodriguez, Jr., free food, and a drawing for books, t-shirts, and tickets to th the May 4 performance of Sones de Mexico at the Young Auditorium. The event was funded by the BIG READ 2010 grant. Future activities include a free book giveaway at HPL’s Cinco de th mayo event on May 8. The monthly Mondays Are Murder book groups met this month to discuss Justice Denied by J. A. Jance. The League of Women Voters, HPL adult programming, HPL youth program and th HPL bilingual programming sponsored the Voting Rights, Voting Fights program on March 16 thth in celebration of the 90 anniversary of the 19 amendment which gave women the right to vote. Ann Bausum, a Beloit author of young people’s history books, presented at the program, along with several young women who enacted the roles of important women suffragists. JATV taped part of the program. Jean and Kate Hull finalized plans for a new book group for adults. Reading on the Rock begins th on April 29 and features a 3 month-long series of discussions. The group will read The Wettest County in the World by Matt Bondurant in April, The Lace Reader by Brunonia Barry in May, and Bridge of Sighs by Richard Russo in June. All three titles were bestsellers in the recent past and may have been overlooked by the general reading public. The book group is sponsored by the Friends of HPL. If the first three discussions are well-attended and the demand is there, the book group will continue. Jean, Burdette Richter, Carrie Hermanson, Elizabeth Hough, and Bryan met in March to continue planning the October Reading Between the Wines fundraiser. th Jean attended the March 25 session of the Janesville Police Department’s Best Practices in Community Policing training. Central Services Circulation was down again this month. We experienced six days were the circulation was 3,000 or higher compared to twenty days last March. Of the total ALS circulation, HPL represented 57%. Hedberg continues to borrow more materials from other ALS libraries than it loans but only by 252 circulations. Circulation for the new neighborhood, Do It Yourself, was 414, Job Resource Center showing B 233 circulations and Youth Services iography neighborhood at 122. OverDrive had 801 total checkouts with HPL patrons using 64% of the total. Almost half of our new registrants opted to have their electronic photo in our database. This is the first month for a gate count comparison since the thermal counters were operational last March. The comparison showed a decline of 4,004 entering the building. The busiest day with people entering the building was Sunday March 14 with an hourly average of 904. Collection Development Carol Kuntzelman provided the Dewey number ranges for Elizabeth Hough and Rebecca Haefner to prepare new shelf signage for the DIY neighborhood. Public information’s efforts were so successful, similar signage was added to the adult audio-visual collection shelves. The collection manager also worked with Elizabeth and Rebecca to prepare a handout listing DIY books, magazines, and DVDs for the new neighborhood. Both efforts make the materials much more visible, and, we hope, will increase circulation. Human Resources/Accounting In March, “I Made a Difference” awards went to Julie Westby for taking on the extra responsibilities of the Special Needs program and assisting a field study student, Steve Wenzel for his quick and reliable responses to supply requests, Patricia Hetzel for organizing a mass parent letter mailing on short notice, and Karin Timmermann for restoring the children’s room stuffed animal book character Arthur to his former glory. In Accounting, differences between the amounts listed in the March expenditure approval list statement and the March operating statement are due to journal entries recording 2009 accounts payable, purchase card expenses, refunds, and expenses charged by the City directly to library accounts. Examples of these are cell phone expenses, the cost of adding postage by wire to the library’s postage meter, and the postage cost of mailing library bill payments. Reference Services Total Patron Questions: ? Patron questions asked at Reference Desk – 3088 ? Patron questions asked at Service Desk – 3033 ? Asked at Youth Services 2120 ? Asked at Bilingual Desk (when staffed) 4 ? Asked at Teen Central (when staffed) 21 ? Asked via email 38 ? Total patron questions 8304 Reportable Reference Questions: ? Asked at the Reference Desk 1371 ? Asked at Service Desk 296 ? Asked at Youth Services 750 ? Asked at Bilingual Desk (when staffed) 1 ? Asked at Teen Central (when staffed) 8 ? Asked via email 20 ? Total for all service points 2446 Statistics from InterLibrary Loan: ? Items requested from other libraries for Hedberg patrons – 532 ? Items received from other libraries for Hedberg patrons – 575 ? Requests received from other libraries to borrow Hedberg materials – 887 ? Items lent to other libraries from the Hedberg collection – 650 The Hedberg Public Library partnered with German Interest Group, and presented a program “German Genealogy Resources @ HPL” on Monday April 5. About 60 people attended. Half were members of the German Interest Group, and the other half were members of the general public. Reference Librarian Sue Braden demonstrated how to access two popular genealogy subscription databases, HeritageQuest and AncestryLibrary, and reviewed materials on HPL’s web site www.hedbergpubliclibrary.org/reference_genealogy.html. The group then toured the library’s German genealogy resources, including those in adult non-fiction, Reference, and the Janesville Room. The GIG provided an excellent listing of HPL’s resources for German genealogy, which they shared with the library. HPL and the local Social Security Office held the sixth Social Security E-Workshop on Wednesday March 3. After the workshop, Reference and Social Security staff discussed possibilities for future programs. While there is continued interest in the program, attendance does not support a monthly schedule. The Social Security E Workshop series will switch to a quarterly schedule, and the next workshop will be held June first. Mary Buelow, and Guynith Thompson, attended the Janesville Police Department’s Best Practices in Community Policing training on March 18. Question of the Month: A patron wanted proof that Jose Cardenal played for the Milwaukee Brewers before he signed on with the Chicago Cubs. The patron wanted something that she could print or photocopy and take to work. She was trying to settle a bet with a coworker, and needed definitive proof. The patron had no computer skills – she could barely use a mouse, and had no idea how to search the Internet for this information. It was a quiet afternoon, and the librarian had time to sit with the patron at the computer. They searched for Jose Cardenal and found a Wikipedia article that stated Cardenal played 53 games for the Brewers in 1971. Wikipedia, however, was not an authoritative enough source to win the bet. The librarian did a Google Image search for Cardenal in a Brewers uniform, and found images of baseball cards from Cardenal’s Brewers’ days. The patron took a printout of the picture, and presumably won the bet. Technical Services With a quarter of the fiscal year completed, Acquisitions is on target with ordering, having spent a quarter of the materials budget. Expenditures are equally distributed, with a quarter of the adult and youth services budgets spent. The same is true if you look at the budget by format, whether it is print, audio-visual or electronic. Selectors have been very good in submitting their selecctions and spending in their assigned areas. Youth Services Children’s Services Program attendance has picked up considerably during the past several months, particularly at storytime sessions, making YS staff glad we are waiting until semester’s end to examine our priorities for storytime programs. Library Explorers welcomed community volunteers Jon Wangerin, Beth Wheelock, and Judith Dietert-Moriarty. Each adult talked to the gathered children and adults about what they do for the community, and why. Children then decorated fabric for quilt squares to be used in blanket for Project Linus. The third, and final, Learning Through Play session created by Camille Rammer and Shannon Murphy-Tollefsrud featured a grocery store. Fifty-nine children and 51 adults participated in this program, which encourages a variety of educational stations that are easily reproduced in the home. Mosi, our giraffe mascot, celebrated his birthday in style at a program planned by Jamie Swenson. Games and birthday cake were the highlights of the party. Many in attendance had their picture taken with Mosi and we collected cake mix and frosting to be donated to the Echo food pantry. A cadre of teens from our Teen Advisory Board provided the help needed to assist the 93 children enjoy the event. Sharon Grover, Julie Westby, and Laurie Bartz met with Allison Kaplan from the UW-Madison School of Library and Information Studies to give input on the field study experience with Elizabeth Tubman. Liz did an excellent job and we were pleased to be able to offer another practicum experience for a library school student. Dr. Kaplan informed us that she always mentions HPL as a good placement because of our excellent collections and the wide variety of program experiences available for her students. Young Adult Services Monthly programs in March included TAB, B-Force Middle School Book Club and a program in th honor of the 40 anniversary of Earth Day using hand-made beads to make necklaces. nd March also ushered in the 2 annual Teen Job Fair at HPL. Sandra Bier, Employment and Training Specialist at Rock County Job Center was joined by colleagues Amber Culver and DeAnn Paulson-Warn. They provided valuable resources, one-on-one advice and a workshop about resumes and interviewing called Job Tips for Teens. Approximately 150 people attended the Job Fair this year and were able to meet prospective employers and fill out applications. Laurie Bartz, Diana McDonald and Liz Tubman shared in the privilege of helping area teens through the Job Fair. Reality Check, a program sponsored by the Business & Marketing Education Departments at local high schools, was held this year at Parker High School. Laurie Bartz joined director Bryan McCormick and dozens of area business representatives to help guide students through real-life scenarios and learn to maintain their financial well-being. Craig High School media specialists graciously invited Laurie Bartz to attend a lunch hour book club at school and then accompany the group on a field trip to the Governor’s mansion in Madison through the program Read On Wisconsin! Participantstook part in a group discussion with Jonathan Friesen, the author of the book Jerk California, and Wisconsin’s First Lady, Jessica Doyle. Also included was a tour of the Governor’s residence and the Capital. HPL (Youth Services, Adult Services, and the Nancy Parker Program Foundation) partnered thth with the League of Women Voters of Janesville to celebrate the 90 anniversary of the 19 Amendment and the League at a program entitled “Voting Rights, Voting Fights. “. Laurie Bartz and Sharon Grover worked with teens (most of them from our Teen Advisory Board), to open the program with speeches from famous women in the struggle for suffrage: Sojourner Truth, Frances Willard, Carrie Chapman Catt, Belle Case La Follette, and Dolores Huerta. This portion of the program was filmed by JATV and will be available on the library’s website. Beloit author Ann Bausum, who has written books of interest to middle and high school students on American history, then spoke about the history of voting rights in this country. A lively question-and- answer period followed Ms. Bausum’s presentation. Teen volunteers assisted at Mosi’s birthday party. Organizer Jamie Swenson praised the efforts of the teens involved. All together, teens volunteered 42 hours in the month of March.