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#4 Reports A. Activities Report Hedberg Public Library Activity Report October 2010 Central Services When circulation checkout area construction was nearly completed, access to TV DVDs was th opened to the public on Wednesday, October 20. Circulation for this popular format almost doubled compared to last October. Checkout at the four self-check stations showed twelve days with percentages in the eighties th ranging from 80% to 84.6% (Friday, October 29). The lowest percent was 61.2% logged in for rd. Saturday, the 23 As part of the circulation reorganization, circulation clerks began training as circulation assistants creating one job class for the department in order to maximize staff for work tasks and for staff vacancies due to illness or leave time increasing availability and flexibility. With this change, all circulation staff will be scheduled to rotate among five stations: Account Services, Full Service Checkout, circulation workroom, sorter and shelving. st On October 21, Linda Rogers, Circulation Department Head, announced her retirement with her rd last day scheduled for January 3, 2011. Collection Development Linda Rogers’ report on the increase in ‘TV on DVD’ circulation is not a surprise to HPL selectors. The multi-disc TV series kits continue to be one of the library’s more popular collections. In the past, concerns about cost resulted in a policy of limiting purchase of DVD multi-disc sets to one copy. In October, due to their popularity and the increasing number of titles with long hold queues, the collection team agreed to the purchase of multiple copies of popular multi-disc DVD titles to satisfy demand. The recent increase in circulation adds weight to the team’s belief that this is a collection that will continue to see a high level of public interest. Reference Services Total Patron Questions: 2010 2009  Patron questions asked at Reference Desk – 2906 3210  Patron questions asked at Service Desk – 2869 2929  Asked at Youth Services 2016 2235  Asked at Bilingual Desk (when staffed) 2 0  Asked at Teen Central (when staffed) 104 33  Asked via email 36 42  Total patron questions 7933 841 Reportable Reference Questions:  Asked at the Reference Desk 1096 1379  Asked at Service Desk 266 191  Asked at Youth Services 669 693  Asked at Bilingual Desk (when staffed) 2 0  Asked at Teen Central (when staffed) 12 13  Asked via email 17  Total for all service points 2062 2276 Statistics from InterLibrary Loan:  Items requested from other libraries for Hedberg patrons – 372  Items received from other libraries for Hedberg patrons – 352  Requests received from other libraries to borrow Hedberg materials – 579  Items lent to other libraries from the Hedberg collection – 408 We have made some changes to our database lineup over the past few months. We ended our subscription to World Book Online and to the journal database “Infotrac General Business File”. Our use of World Book Online declined after Badgerlink added the Britannica databases to our lineup. Since the Britannica does not cost HPL anything and we do not need two online encyclopedias, we are discontinuing World Book Online. (We will, however, continue to purchase the print version of World Book Encyclopedia.) “Infotrac General Business File” is a very expensive database and business journal articles are available elsewhere through Badgerlink. We were not using this database enough to justify the expense, so we have discontinued this subscription as well. We have expanded our subscription to the “P4A Antiques Reference” database so patrons that may access “Antiques Reference” from home with their HPL library card. UW-Madison student Matt Hendel is doing his Reference Field Study here at HPL. His main focus will be Reference, and he will be at HPL for a total of forty hours during the months of October and November. During the first half of the field study Matt will be talking with various people about what they do and how it relates to helping patrons find information in the library. He will spend the second half of the study at the Reference Desk observing and practicing the reference process. Matt previously worked as a volunteer in the Children’s Department for the Summer Library Program Mary Buelow, Carol Kuntzelman, Jean Yeomans, and Elizabeth Hough represented the library at the 2010 Rock County Business Expo. We spoke to people about a wide variety of library resources: programs for adults, children’s storytimes, audiobooks, overdrive, book discussion groups, computer classes, space for quiet study, WiFi access, library and Badgerlink databases, Reference USA and other business resources. (The Library’s participation in this project follows the Strategic Plan goal of “Communicating our Mission and Value - Increase staff presentations to adult community groups”) Question of the month: “Where is the sidewalk map?” The City of Janesville has developed an installation plan for sidewalks in the city. The City Engineer’s Office has published a document titled “Pedestrian Transportation Corridor Plan” that describes the plan’s details, and a companion map to help property owners determine the approximate year sidewalk installation is scheduled along their property. The map gives the sidewalk construction schedule for Janesville streets through 2017. The library keeps the document on the “Current Shelf” at the Reference Desk - which is where we keep government planning documents while they are featured in the news media - and we have posted the map on the wall near the Reference Desk. Many Janesville residents have come to view the map over the past few weeks. Technical Services Collection manager Carol Kuntzelman attended a ‘Some Dewey’ webinar in October. Staff from the Gail Borden Library District, Elgin, Illinois, reported on their effort to de-emphasize the use of the Dewey classification system and to set up browsing collections at both the branch and main library. In an effort to provide better customer service and more self-service for patrons, the branch set up ‘bays’ representing 28 non-fiction and 10 fiction categories. Non-fiction subjects ranged from Cooking/Entertaining to Home & Garden with genre collections including such popular categories as Fantasy, Inspirational and Thriller. The layout resembles a bookstore setting with a lot of face out shelving and excellent signage. The immediate result of the change was a 50% increase in circulation in the collection. Their modified Dewey collections are similar to our HPL’s neighborhoods; in fact, one of their collections is designated ‘DIY’. They have taken the concept further, however, and I think their success calls for my arranging a an HPL collection team field trip. Youth Services Children’s Services One of the highlights of this month was a wonderful Library Explorers program on stamp collecting. Aimee Devine, homeschool mother of two boys and a regular library user, offered to help introduce children to stamp collecting. Sixteen children had a terrific time listening to mail related stories, learning about the tools of stamp collecting, and creating a page for their own stamp collection with the many stamps that Aimee brought with her for the children to take home. Camille Rammer, along with René Bue and Bryan McCormick, attended the Rock County Community Baby Shower where we gave away our first “Growing a Reader” packets. One of the mothers with whom Camille spoke that evening came to get a library card and redeem the coupon for her baby’s board book the very next day. In conjunction with our Box Office Books reading incentive program, we kicked off our Harry Potter movie countdown with Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone on Friday, October 8. Fans of all ages are enjoying the movies and the popcorn that Movies 10 pops for us. On Saturday, October 30, Story Shorts featured Halloween books, music, and crafts and was followed by a Halloween Parade that wound its way through the Children’s Room and the Check-Out area, with stops along the way where staff handed out stickers and bookmarks. Most children came in costume accompanied by their parents and grandparents. It was great fun. As part of the Jackson Elementary School Resource Sharing Pilot Project, Sharon Grover and René Bue did a bilingual storytime for 196 children in Early Childhood through third grade classes. The audience was so appreciative they clapped at the end of every page! The teachers and the school library media specialist as well as the school principal are very pleased with how this pilot project is proceeding. Young Adult Services Teen Advisory Board members met and elected officers for 2010 – 2011 school year: President, Isaiah Hoffland; Vice President, Patrick Cummings; Secretary, Catrina Janssen. 2011 Summer Library Program discussions have begun. Laurie Bartz and Shannon Murphy-Tollefsrud created “The Hunger Games: Read It, Play It, Survive It!,” a program based on the popular trilogy by Suzanne Collins, featuring nerf archery, plant identification, knot tying, and a cornucopia filled with items to help teams survive the mock games. Sixth grade class visits to the library got underway during Teen Read Week in October and will continue through December. Sharon Grover was invited to Edison Middle School to booktalk titles that seventh graders would enjoy reading for pleasure. Using a PowerPoint presentation (suggested by the teacher), about 15 age-appropriate books and audiobooks were presented to 68 students and five teachers. A dragon-drawing poster contest was held for teens and the winners were announced at the showing of Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire on Friday, October 29. This is the book and movie where Harry must battle dragons in the Tri-Wizard Tournament and the teen winners drew their inspiration from the dragons in the book. Teen volunteers contributed 23 hours in October. Interviews and training continue for new school-year volunteers. Other Youth Services News:  Sharon Grover, Julie Westby, and Laurie Bartz met with 14 homeschool parents to discuss library services to homeschool families. Our relationship with these families is very solid and, as part of our strategic plan of identifying and communicating with target audiences, it was time to reach out to this group more formally to ask how we’re doing and discover what else they’re looking for from the library. All of the parents (who covered a wide range of homeschool philosophies) raved about HPL services and offered some suggestions for materials that would be beneficial to many homeschool families. We’ve begun ordering some of the suggested titles and are happy to now have an open email dialogue with this group. We’ve agreed to meet at least once a year.  Laurie Bartz, as a member of the College Goal Sunday planning committee, participated in a conference call with committee members.  Sharon Grover attended a meeting of the Even Start Family Literacy Advisory Committee. The Even Start Family Literacy staff is very worried that their funding will be discontinued next year and the program will cease to exist. Even Start Family Literacy provides literacy services to low-income adults in addition to preschool for their children. The program is housed at Wilson Elementary School.  Laurie Bartz attended a meeting of the Janesville Virtual Academy Board on which she serves as a member.  Laurie Bartz and Diana McDonald met with a representative from the Great Lakes Higher Education Corporation to plan some programs that will aid parents and students with the college application process.