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#4 Reports A. Activities Report Hedberg Public Library Activity Report August 2011 Adult Services Congratulations to René for receiving the ALA International Book Fair’s Free Pass again for 2011 in Guadalajara, Mexico! She will attend the book fair in November and December. René met with Angela Smalley, Spanish teacher at Parker High School to discuss plans for HPL’s fall bilingual programs. Parker High School students have proven to be great volunteers for our events in the past. The magazine, Great People, Great Stories, which covers life in Rock County, will feature an article about library services to Latinos in September. René was interviewed by Beth Ernst in August for the article. Among the phone calls and emails René received in August were requests for hospice care and grief support groups for Spanish speakers and a list of organizations that work with the Latino community for outreach workshops for immigrants that HUD (Housing and Urban Development) will be providing in our area in the near future. Jean finished the line up for the fall adult and Nancy Parker programs. This is the first set of Parker programs since Linda Belknap retired in 2010 and Jean is excited about the schedule. The first program, suggested by Bryan McCormick, deals with suicide prevention. Rock County has seen an increase in the number of suicides in 2011, making the topic a very timely one. The seniors at St. Elizabeth’s, Cedar View (Cedar Crest), and Regency House learned about the history of the NASA program in presentations this month. Jean shared information about the space program and the plans for the future now that the shuttle program has ended. The Riverview Heights th The Red Cross blood drive on August 10 was a great success! We were congratulated by Red Cross staff on the number of pints we collected (27) because it is very unusual for a first-time blood drive to meet or exceed their goal. Our goal was 25 pints. HPL offered a fall S. A.F.E. class for women in August. We offer the class, taught by Janesville police officers, at the beginning of each semester. The next class is scheduled to be held in early/mid January 2012. Circulation Services We are happy to report that total circulation for the month is UP by 1,105 items or 1.1% from last year. The number of library visits was down by 4% compared to last year, but improved from the 13% drop last month. The increases are probably due to the family and young child reading inspired by our Summer Library Program. We filled 1,030 more Holds (reserves) this year than last, an increase of 12.4%! (We handled 8,291 holds in 2011 and 7,261 in 2010.) The busiest day in August, based on the number of items checked-out was Tuesday, August 2, when we circulated 3,763 items. This month, an average of 81.7% of all checkouts were done using our Self Checkout machines. 89% On Sunday, Aug. 7, of our items went out via shelf check! We reached this exceptional level, even with 8 days when computer problems forced us to work with only three machines instead of four. In August of last year we were averaging about 61.7% self check with a high on one day of 70.8%. Past Projects  “Teacher Loan Cards” The are available. As of Sept. 10 we only have two.  UW- A browsing collection of our former Jackpot items is now up and running at the Rock County campus library . Beth Webb, Senior Assistant in the HPL Circulation Department, will continue to facilitate our collaboration. She reports the U-Rock collection is already getting some use.  On-line library card applications went live on Monday Sept 12. Next month we will be able to start looking at statistics.  The Circulation Dept used approximately 12 hours a week of staff time as we worked shifting project with the Technical Services department on their . Laurel reported it Completed by Sept. 1, 2011 as planned. Upcoming Projects  Service and Reference Staff Cross Training – Customers can get quite annoyed when they are bumped from phone to phone to find a staff person to do basic things for them. It seems odd to them that the person who answers the phone can’t renew a book. In order to keep improving our levels of customer service, we are going to teach the Information Desk staff how to do basic updates on patron records. After our training, all Information Desk staff will be able to renew books, update addresses and phone numbers and answer basic questions about fines and holds pick up. In the future, Circulation Department staff will be given basic instruction in placing holds and locating materials in our collections so basic services will be available from ALL library staff. In depth questions will of course continue to be referred to the separate departments.  Circulation staff training series – Because of all the transitions in leadership over the past year, and the many changes the circulation department staff have been asked to absorb, staff have noticeable gaps in their knowledge. We need to go back to basics and make sure everyone know best practices and efficient work flow. We will cover specifics in each of three topics so as to fill in the gaps and bring the entire department to a higher standard and greater consistency. Topic areas we need to cover are: Check-Out Desk Responsibilities; Efficient Workroom Tasks and Flow; and Accurate Shelving. Collection Development We have been seeing a steady increase in OverDrive e-book circulation over the past year, but were pleased to see a 20% jump in checkouts just this past month. E-books are catching on with our public, and we have yet to see the impact of OverDrive titles being made accessible via Amazon’s Kindle reader. OverDrive is still on track to launching a Kindle-compatible version in December, just in time for the holidays! Collection Manager Carol Kuntzelman, with the help of Elizabeth Hough and Rebecca Haefner, put the final touches on promotional material for the 2011-2012 mystery book discussion program. The theme this year is the evolution of the mystery novel, from the first British mystery story The Moonstone to the advent of the hard-boiled PI of American fiction to the current popularity of the northern European mystery writers. It should make for some interesting discussions. Human Resources/Accounting Account adjustments at the end of July include $13,325 in state computer assessment property tax credit that was added to our miscellaneous revenue account. This is an annual distribution. The library’s account was charged $14,901.50 for the second half of our annual property/liability insurance. Amp Electric’s total of $2,298.60 includes labor and materials for the installation of a high- voltage surge suppressor, and a computer systems area horn strobe installation. Arrowhead Library System is being reimbursed $1,041 for Hedberg’s share of the system’s Movie Licensing USA copyright compliance site license. Comprise Technologies’ bill for $5,050 is for a Smart Access Management upgrade. SAM is a time, internet and print control system for managing the use of public computers. The Early Literacy Grant has a charge in the bill list for $1,643 for Ellison. This is for three SureCut Die Sets and the amount is not reflected in operating expenses. Package Pro Express Delivery’s total of $4,305.60 includes billings for May-August that were not formerly submitted. It appears the bills were misdirected, and Package Pro has been requested to direct billing to Michelle Dennis for approval. Sunrise Packaging Incorporated’s bill for $1,900.43 is for audio /video materials processing supplies. Information Services Hedberg owns copies of the entire run of the Janesville Gazette (1845 to present day) on microfilm. While microfilm is very durable format, reels are occasionally damaged and need to be replaced. When Collection Management reduced the number of magazine subscriptions for 2012, they notified Information Services there would be some cost savings in 2011 as well (subscriptions start and end in July) and we could use some of that money to replace damaged Janesville Gazette reels, which are purchased out of the same budget line item. Reference librarians Laura Gottleib and Diana McDonald surveyed the Gazette microfilm collection to identify which reels are in most critical need of replacement. Laura inspected each of the 1141 reels of microfilm and inventoried which reels are damaged but still usable, and which ones are damaged and should be replaced. Diana then checked the date ranges of issues on the damaged films in the Newspaper Access and Wisconsin Newspapers Digital Research databases to see which issues are available to our patrons in digital format . They identified 85 reels that are damaged and not digitally available as the highest priority for replacement. While we will not be able to replace all 85 with the 2011 savings from magazine cancellations, we will be able to make significant progress in that direction. Arrowhead Library System is submitting a grant to develop and teach three computer search classes, in financial literacy, health literacy, and resources for “living green”. Even as people learn the technical skills of using a computer such as mousing, keyboarding, menus interpretation, and file maintenance, few have developed effective online search techniques. We regularly observe patrons who don’t know any search option other than typing a lot of words in Google or Yahoo, and their search results are often less than satisfactory. This is of special concern when they are searching for medical and financial topics where it is critical to find accurate and authoritative information. If the grant is successful, ALS will contract with Hedberg provide assistance with the class development. The classes would be developed by Arrowhead trainer Sheryl Oberle and Reference librarian Diana McDonald as a team. Sheryl will bring her experience of class design and Diana will bring her knowledge of reliable sources, effective search techniques, and web site evaluation. These two people have worked together effectively in the past, and I expect this collaboration will be successful. Sheryl will provide most of the actual teaching, especially at the other six ALS libraries. Question of the Month – A patron wanted to know the telephone number to call if she had a complaint about her “Safelink” phone service. The patron says “Safelink” is a government program free cell phone for low-income people. The librarian did not find the telephone number on Safelink’s web site. She did find two clues where to look next. First was a statement “SAFELINK WIRELESS® service is U.S. government supported program for Income eligible households provided by TracFone Wireless, Inc. In order to participate in the SAFELINK WIRELESS® service, persons must meet certain eligibility requirements set by each State where the service is to be provided.” On a different part of the web site it stated that clients would receive the “Lifeline Service” through Safelink wireless. She then searched for information about the “Lifeline Service” and found it is administered by the “Universal Service Administrative Company”. The USAC web site referred complaints about the phone service first back to the phone company (in this case Safelink) and if that is not successful to the state public utility commission. They then gave links to the public Utility commissions for all fifty states, including Wisconsin, and listed a Wisconsin toll free number 1-800-225-7729. Technical Services TS Shelf Maintenance Technician Laurel Fant reports that the back shifting of the adult non- fiction collection has been completed. She is now on to shifting the fiction and genre collections and has recovered enough space to assign additional shelving for the ever popular romance and mystery collections. Rebecca Diedrick, who is periodicals selector, is ordering replacement microfilm of the Gazette microfilm the reference staff identified as in poor condition. Technical Services has recovered enough savings from the cancellation of magazine subscriptions to replace a significant number of the damaged film. Laurel Fant has completed the inventory of all adult audio-visual materials, and is now inventorying children’s AV collections. The operation is going smoothly, and we are happy to report we continue to identify a relatively small number of not-on-shelf items. Youth Services Children’s Services The summer reading program ended with 218 children and 97 adults participating in games, crafts, and trivia in the library on August 2. Children’s Room staff and our college students created a variety of fun activities that had the room humming from 10:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m. Our registrations for the summer reading program were down by 298, but our completion rate (at least one pass returned) remained at about 60 percent. The registrations may have been lower, but program attendance was steady and those who participated – both children and their adults – seemed pleased with the programs. Youth Services staff is already looking ahead to next year to develop a means of taking the summer reading program “on the road” to children who cannot get to the library. Young Adult Services Involving teens in the summer library program planning process continues to result in higher participation levels and greater interest in programs and library use in general. Two-thirds of Teen Advisory Board members registered for the reading program, Read Around the World in 40 Days, and three-fourths volunteered in Youth Services during the school year and/or summer. The inspiration of TAB members who designed the teen summer library program contributed to having a total of 497 middle and high school students register this summer. Sixty-one percent (301) completed the first Voyage Voucher and thirty-four percent (168) completed all four Voyage Vouchers. Read Around the World in 40 Days concluded on August 3 during a finale event t which teens participated in games and a lively version of Read Around the World Pictionary, created by our summer intern Travis Wood. Winners were drawn from the 3,762 summer reading program prize drawing entries. Teens earned entries by reading, checking out library books, attending programs, and submitting book reviews through our Web page. A Teen Volunteer Reception was held for our 58 teen volunteers. They were recognized for contributing 682.25 hours from September 2010 through August 2011, assisting with many activities including Learning Through Play, Awesome Activities, Faces of the World, Mosi’s Birthday Party, Saturday Story Shorts, Library Explorers, and the children’s summer library program and finale. Other  Laurie Bartz assisted Janesville Mobilizing 4 Change (Partners in Prevention) with a booth at the Rotary Corn Roast.  The final report for our internship through the Wisconsin Association for Independent Colleges and Universities was completed and submitted by Laurie Bartz.  Sharon Grover completed and submitted the final report and budget figures to the Young Adult Library Services Association for the YALSA/Dollar General Grant.