#4 Reports A. Activities Report
Hedberg Public Library
Activity Report
March 2011
Adult Services
René Bue attended the School District of Janesville Latino Family Day to share information
about HPL and the services, materials and programs that we offer to Spanish-speakers. On
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March 6, she co-hosted the Mardi Gras/Carnaval program with the French and Spanish teachers
and students from Craig and Parker High Schools. René answered a question for the Program
Analyst of the Rock Co. Juvenile Justice Program about Cultural Competency training done by a
Latino for Latinos. She met with Cathy Jennings, Executive Director, and a tutor from The
Literacy Connection to discuss plans for a library program on health literacy to be held on
September 24. René also took a call from Anna Marie Lux from the Gazette about a series that
the Gazette will be doing in June about Latinos in Rock and Walworth counties.
The Big Read 2011 Kickoff event, hosted by HPL on March 28, was a great success. Seventy-
five people partook of food donated by Speakeasy, HHFFRRRGGH Inn, Famous Dave’s, and
Olive Garden restaurants and enjoyed readings of Edgar Allan Poe’s works by Uprooted Theatre.
Free copies of Great Tales and Poems of Edgar Allan Poe were given away, along with
brochures outlining events at other libraries in our area. The Big Read grant was awarded to
UW-Whitewater, the agency responsible for coordinating the program in Rock, Jefferson, and
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Walworth counties. HPL will host a book discussion on Wednesday, April 6, led by Jean
Yeomans and Stefanie Fleck.
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HPL programmers met on March 29 to continue their discussion of library program evaluation.
A brainstorming session led to more ideas to consider at the next quarterly meeting.
The Incredible Edible Book Challenge committee met this month to finalize plans for the April
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10 event in the Program Room. Thirty individuals/groups have registered to participate in the
event. During the afternoon, participants will be able to enjoy demonstrations of garnishes,
making edible centerpieces, and decorating sugar cookies.
Jean attended the Wisconsin Library Association’s Literary Awards Committee meeting in
Madison in March. The committee is narrowing down the field of fiction, non-fiction and poetry
works written by Wisconsin authors. Almost 100 titles, all written in 2010, are under
consideration.
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HPL participated in the annual Trivia for Literacy event in March and finished 8 in a field of
18. The local Zonta Club chapter won first prize this year.
Collection Development
OverDrive e-book download statistics continue to grow. March statistics showed an increase of
over 30%, from 175 to 296 checkouts. That accounted for most of the increase in total circulation
of OverDrive materials for the month. Collection Manager Carol Kuntzelman presented a
workshop on OverDrive in March to acquaint the public with the service and to demonstrate
download procedures for a variety of devices. One attendee successfully downloaded the iPad
app and was already placing holds on titles by the end of the session.
HPL has a new collection neighborhood—the Young Adult Graphic Novel collection. Collection
manager Carol Kuntzelman met with young adult librarian Laurie Bartz to discuss procedures for
setting up the new neighborhood, and cataloger Hope Moccero updated the Millennium catalog
bibliographic and item records for the new collection.
The collection team discussed a proposal for another neighborhood, one that would provide a
browsing collection of oversize (coffee table) books in the adult collection. Stacks maintenance
technician Laurel Fant provided statistics on the prospective size of the collection, and selectors
were asked to review their selection areas to identify candidates for the neighborhood.
Human Resources/Accounting
Linda Hermans received an “I Made a Difference” award for completing the
Communication/Training Team’s Hedberg Hedliners project. For over a year, she prepared
weekly profiles on staff members and displayed them in the staff area. The profiles were both
entertaining and helped the staff connect. Beth Webb received an “I Made a Difference” award
of appreciation from Circ staff for her role in filling in in the absence of a Circulation
Department Head.
There are three larger-than-usual expenses in the April Expenditure Approval List. Saroj
Ghoting is providing Early Literacy Enhanced Storytimes Training for $2,583, part of a
reimbursable LSTA grant. J& G Office Products is receiving $3,162 for the purchase and
delivery of a paper folding machine. SCF Inc.’s payment includes $4,270 for air conditioning
replacement for the downstairs computer storage room.
Reference Services
Statistics
Library wide statistics measuring patron questions are lower this year than they were
at this time last year. However, starting January 2, 2011, HPL started closing Fridays at 5:00
instead of 9:00, giving patrons four fewer hours per week to ask questions. If we remove the
number of questions asked on Friday nights from the 2010 total, there is very little difference
between the totals for 2010 and 2011.
Total Patron Questions, January through March 2010 24,627
Total Patron Questions, January through March 2011 23,984
Percent change from 2010 to 2011 -2.61%
Questions asked Fridays 5:00-9:00 pm, January through March 2010 830
Total Patron Questions (excepting Fridays 5:00-9:00) January through March 2010 23,797
Total Patron Questions, January through March 2011 23,984
Percent change from 2010 to 2011, excluding Friday evenings 0.79%
LSTA
Congressional action and inaction has impacted the availability of LSTA funds for
several projects. LSTA (Library Services and Technology Act) is a federal program where funds
are given to State Libraries (which in Wisconsin would be Reference and Loan) who then
distribute the money to individual libraries and library systems through a series of grants. LSTA
grants were on the “chopping block” in some versions of the federal budget, so while grants had
been approved, the money was not yet (and may not ever be) available.
The first LSTA impact is the library’s computer classes. Computer classes at Hedberg Public
Library are partly taught by Hedberg staff, and partly taught by Arrowhead trainer Sheryl Oberle.
(Sheryl is the only teacher for classes at all other Rock County libraries.) In 2011 Arrowhead
planned to augment training funds with an LSTA grant, and ALS did receive about 25% of the
grant funds at the beginning of the year. By March, much of that money was spent and Ruth
Ann Montgomery announced we would have to scale back class offerings. This may limit the
number of “advanced” classes that we offer, as only Sheryl teaches those classes.
Uncertainties with LSTA have also impacted the Digitization Grant HPL applied for last fall.
Initially ten digitization projects were approved, but all ten were delayed due to the funding
uncertainties. Project managers eventually determined that there was enough money to proceed
with the top five projects. HPL’s proposal to digitize ten Janesville histories and chronologies
was ranked number four, and digitization started at the end of March. We expect to “go live”
sometime in the fall.
Additionally, Badgerlink statewide database project was funding access to Learning Express and
the Wisconsin Newspapers Digital Research Site through an LSTA grant. That grant will not be
renewed, and Badgerlink will discontinue offering these two databases as of July 1, 2011.
Question of the month:
Why is Janesville called the “Bower City”? The librarian found the following information in
Hedberg’s Local History Database. On May 21, 1885 the Janesville Gazette reported “The
name ‘Bower City was first applied to Janesville in 1857 by Mr. W B West. Mr. West was the
author of a book, never published as a whole, in which he took great pride in calling Janesville
“. . . The Bower City, and by mutual consent, adopted by the people of this city, and so remains
unto this day.” At that time there were very few shade trees in the corporate limits of the city
outside the regular native forests. The ‘circus’ ground at the foot of Jackson and Franklin
streets was a dense growth of ‘second growth’ oak, and ‘hickory glen’ was well timbered with
native stock. In other words, Janesville was ‘in the woods’ at the time ‘Bower City’ was applied.
The Local History Database also refers to a newer version of the ‘Bower City’ story. A 1978
article by John A Fleckner says “The name ‘Bower City’ was applied to Janesville by city
boosters ‘for its many elm-lined residential streets graced with fine homes and spired
churches.’”
Technical Services
Changes in staffing in technical services over the past few years, most recent being the addition
of the Shelf Maintenance Technician to TS staff, prompted a job analysis review of department
positions. The purpose of the review was to evaluate current task assignments; make changes
where necessary to increase efficiency and improve workflow; and to update job descriptions to
reflect the changes. A byproduct of the evaluation was a major revision of the TS procedures
manual. TS department head Carol Kuntzelman met with staff during the month to get feedback
on what has been working particularly well and to hear suggested improvements to the process.
There is special recognition of cataloger Hope Moccero’s efforts in the reclassification and
updating of spine labels for over 600 young adult graphic novels, the newest neighborhood in the
Hedberg Public Library collection. The project was completed in less than two weeks.
Kudos also to acquisitions technician Sandie Gilbert for ensuring materials orders and invoices
were given prompt attention while the other half of the acquisitions team was out on maternity
leave during the month of March.
Youth Services
Children’s Services
March was a popular month for outside groups to visit the library. Preschool and kindergarten
classes from Lincoln, Jackson, and Jefferson elementary schools as well as P4J classes from the
YMCA enjoyed stories, tours, and play time in the Children’s Room. Shannon Murphy-
Tollefsrud conducted a tour for a group of Cub Scouts and their parents.
Mosi, our giraffe mascot, celebrated his birthday in grand style with an open-house party that
attracted 71 children and 45 adults. Planned and executed by Jamie Swenson and our field study
student Mandy Canovan, the party featured games, an opportunity to create birthday cards for
Mosi, face painting and, of course, birthday cake. Teen volunteers helped with all of the
activities. Attendees were encouraged to bring cake mix and frosting to donate to ECHO.
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During spring break for the Janesville schools, 3 through 5 grade students participated in an
Invention Workshop brought to the library by the Rockford Discovery Center Museum. Building
on the events surrounding the earth quake and tsunami in Japan, particularly at the nuclear power
plant, the presenter had the children create devices that would transport water from a safe
distance. Their results were fascinating.
The final film in our Winter Family Movies series – Toy Story 3 – drew a nice-sized crowd of
33. The next series of family movies will be on Wednesday evenings in June and July.
Young Adult Services
Programming to meet the needs of college-bound teens and adults continued in March with a
one-on-one advising session with a Great Lakes College Access advisor in the Woodruff
Training Lab. Participants sought advice about the FAFSA form and scholarships. Exhibitors
for the Teen Expo included representatives from Janesville’s charter schools, Rock County
Youth2Youth, Blackhawk Technical College, United Way’s Volunteer Network, Great Lakes
College Access Advising, Pioneer Hi-Bred, Lutheran Social Services, Junior Achievement, U.S.
Navy and others. Materials were also available for summer employment with the City of
Janesville. Amber Culver, a job service counselor at the Department of Workforce
Development, presented an insightful workshop to help teens complete resumes and prepare for
job interviews.
TAB members and other teen volunteers helped Youth Services staff and library patrons at
Learning Through Play, Library Explorers and Mosi’s birthday party. Two volunteers found an
exciting way to promote an upcoming Cupcake Wars program by painting the windows in Teen
Central.
Other
Laurie Bartz attended a meeting of Janesville Mobilizing 4 Change.
Laurie Bartz participated in a conference call as a member of College Goal Wisconsin’s
Development Committee.
Sharon Grover and Laurie Bartz met with others on the HPL Programming Committee to
discuss goals and planning for library programs.
Laurie Bartz attended a Board Meeting of Janesville Virtual Academy; Laurie is a
member of the Virtual Academy Board.
Karin Timmermann met with others on the HPL Edible Book Challenge Committee to
finalize plans for the event on Sunday, May 10.
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