Business is booming at the Library. In the 12 years since the renovation was complete the number of items checked out has more than doubled. In FY2006 the Library closed on Mondays after volunteering not to seek restored funding in the second override. With new hours designed to serve all segments of the community and a staff determined to continue providing the best library services possible, library use has continued to increase in spite of this cut. As of the end of November, circulation has increased 46% since we closed on Mondays. Our circulation per open hour is the highest of the 32 libraries in CLAMS. Our circulation per Full-time Equivalent staff member, one of the highest in the consortium, has increased 48% in the past five years. A full spreadsheet of statistics is attached to this report.
LONG RANGE PLAN
Our Long Range Plan was developed using community input using the American Library Association’s planning model for public libraries. We’re in the final stages of the year-long process of preparing our next Long Range Plan. In addition to basic library services, the new plan will focus on the service responses of General Information (meeting the community’s need for information on a broad array of topics), Commons (offering services and programs that enable residents to meet, interact, and exchange ideas on areas of interest) and Current Topics and Titles (providing opportunities for people to explore popular cultural and social trends and enjoyable recreational experiences.) Having a Long Range Plan in place has ensured we focus our efforts in areas that are important to the community. The road map it provides has been an essential ingredient of our success. Like the previous one, the new Long Range Plan won’t be a wish list of “nice-to-have” things we want to add on to existing services with additional funding. Instead it will enable us to continue to prioritize the services we can offer in response to community needs, something which is particularly important in tight financial times.
LIBRARY SERVICES
The Library serves all segments of the community – families with young children, seniors, working adults, elementary, high school and college students, people with disabilities, job seekers, non-native English speakers, and residents who are homebound – and we’ve created a welcoming and inclusive atmosphere for residents and visitors. Community members use the Library to find recreational reading, for accurate information on subjects such as medical conditions, legal issues, managing investments, educational opportunities and financial aid, read the newspaper, use a computer or attend a program.
Children and Youth
Services for children and youth remain a prime focus. Parents and children come to find picture and storybooks that develop pre-literacy skills. They attend story-times, creative movement programs and a variety of special performances by storytellers, puppeteers and magicians. We’re heavily used by middle and high school students who come to the Library every afternoon to use our Homework Center, meet friends, work on a school project, use the computers, play a board game or attend a Dance, Dance Revolution, Wii Sports, Lego Mania or Chess program. The Library provides a safe place for youngsters who might otherwise be home unsupervised. Our early evening hours on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays make it easier for parents to pick their youngsters up on the way home from work or to bring the family to the library after dinner. We support teachers by offering “institution cards” that have longer loan periods and don’t accrue fines. This enables teachers to expand the number of books in their classroom libraries and to support a unit in the curriculum. We regularly host class field trips for library instruction. In the past year we’ve also started a daytime book group and other programs for youngsters who are home-schooled, something that was lacking in the area.
Reference Services
Public demand for reference services continues to be strong. Conventional wisdom might have held that use of reference services would decrease with the increasing availability of information online, but that hasn’t been the case. The number of reference questions we respond to has increased over 500% since 1998. Even with good computer skills, the amount of information online often overwhelms people and they cannot find what they want. So the traditional role of the Reference Librarian in helping people access information and develop “information literacy” skills continues. Some seek reference help wanting only the answer they’re looking for. Others seek staff for assistance in locating and evaluating online content and for help in improving their searching techniques.
Technology
Access to technology is a basic component of library service today. Many residents and visitors rely on our public computers to check email, do research, surf the Internet, create a resume, search for a job, and improve their technology skills. The 24/7 wireless service we offer at the Library and at our second site at the Brooks Academy Museum draws many residents and visitors to Historic Harwich Center.
VITAL Program
Our Vision Impaired Technology Assistance at the Library (VITAL) remains a national model – one of two public libraries that we know of in the nation that provides instruction to teach people with vision loss to become independent use of computers and assistive technology programs. This year Carla Burke, our VITAL Coordinator, was honored by the Red Cross as an American Hero for her role as mentor/role model for people with disabilities. She is also recognized as a leading advocate for the inclusion of people with disabilities in all areas of community life. This fall she has been providing instruction to a member of the Dennis-Harwich Lions Club so they can begin offering instruction at the Dennis Memorial Library.
Programs
Last year we offered over 800 educational, cultural and recreational programs. Our on-going book discussion and writers groups enable residents to stimulate their intellectual curiosity and exchange ideas. We also offer computer tutoring and informational lectures, author talks and musical performances. In February we hosted a Business After Hours program for the Chamber of Commerce and spoke to the business community about services we offer. One attendee was Luke Hinkle of My Generation Energy, who later gave a presentation on Solar Power for us. This fall, with the assistance of Harbormaster Tom Leach, we began a monthly brown bag lunch program, “Science First Friday Harwich.” In February we’ll add another book group to the 8 we already have. This one will focus on the classics and be led by Dr. David Frankel. On Sunday, Jan. 3rd the Friends of the Library will sponsor an entertaining talk by Marcia Monbleau as part of their “First Sunday” program series. In February they’ll have a Woodwinds performance. On January 14th, Barry Worth of the Utility and Energy Conservation Committee will give a presentation on the History of Wind Power in Harwich.
Because our programs and services are not targeted to certain age groups or segments of the population, they enable community members to meet and get to know others who they would not ordinarily cross paths with. Our programs and services are free, so there are no economic barriers to participation. These programs benefit individual residents, and they help the town by building a sense of community.
Policies and Procedures
The need to develop written policies and procedures is a frequent theme in your discussions. You should know that policies and procedures are well documented at the Library. The Trustees have approved many written policies, covering everything from Staff Use of Technology, the Patriot Act, Customer Service and Volunteers. In the past year we updated our policy on the use of our bulletin boards and public information areas and developed a new set of By-Laws for the Board of Trustees. These policies are supplemented by written procedures developed by the Library Director to provide guidance for staff members. Hard copies are provided and discussed at staff meetings and posted on our staff blog for easy reference.
Focus on Efficiency
We are constantly evaluating operations and looking for ways to eliminate unnecessary tasks and streamline procedures. We instituted and then expanded our self-check options which enable users to check materials out themselves. In the next few weeks we’ll be the first on the Cape to implement “self service holds,” which allows users to pick up materials that are on hold for them and check them out themselves. Staff assistance will remain available for those who are unable or prefer not to use the self-service options. These efforts have enabled us to stretch our staffing resources further while accommodating increased use.
Improvements in our automated library system allow patrons to place requests and renew items from home. We have actively encouraged patrons to sign up for email notices, which reduces the cost of printing and mailing overdue notices and eliminates the need for a volunteer to call patrons when an item on hold arrives.
Library staffing is extremely lean, not just in terms of measures like circulation per FTE, but also in terms of benefit costs. 78% of our 18 permanent employees are part-time. 4 staff members are full-time with full benefits, 3 are part-time with some benefits, and 11 are part-time working an average of 10 hours per week without benefits. Having such a large number of staff working a small number of hours increases the effort needed to schedule and manage the staff and ensure good communication. In addition, in recent years we reduced the Town’s benefit costs $18,000/year by voluntarily splitting a vacant full-time position into part-time positions. We reorganized again this fall to realign duties to try to keep up with the increasing workload without adding staff. We rely heavily on over 100 volunteers and are always recruiting and training new ones.
Regionalization
The Library participates in the CLAMS library consortium. This regional effort, begun over 20 years ago, was ahead of its time, particularly since it involves municipal and private entities. The creation of CLAMS allowed libraries to automate without the cost of purchasing and maintaining their own automated systems. It’s also greatly expanded what’s available to our patrons. Rather than being restricted to the 70,000 items at the Brooks Free Library, our patrons now have easy access to over 1.3 million holdings of the other member libraries.
The Library Director has been active on the CLAMS Board and is currently serving as President. She and staff members on other CLAMS committees have worked to encourage changes in procedures and standardization among member libraries that promote efficiency. Our efforts to re-evaluate the method of assessing membership fees were successful and resulted in a stabilization of our fees. We’ve advocated for the changes in packaging requirement for the region’s inter-library loan delivery service now being implemented that will save time and money. The CLAMS Board has also looked at consolidation with other library regions, although efforts are now on hold waiting for the outcome of a demonstration project at the state level.
Our
Concerns:
Funding
Ensuring adequate funding is a top concern. The Town Administrator’s preliminary budget for FY11 contains a $15,971 reduction ($9080 in Expenses and $6711 in Salaries & Wages.) It would be impossible to absorb this reduction without impacting services for the public and library hours. The $9080 cut in Expenses will mean continuing to defer building maintenance and reduced purchases of books and materials at a time when residents are relying more on the free services we offer. Our Salary request was fixed, based on provisions of the union contract. The $6711 reduction equates to 8 fewer staff hours per week and would make it difficult to maintain our existing 5-day, 39-hour per week schedule. Since the Library voluntarily closed one day a week just a few years ago, we hope that every effort will be made to spare us from any staffing cuts this year. We already have 11 part-timers averaging only 10 hours per week, so we may need to lay one employee off rather than further fragment the staff by reducing several people a few hours each, and that could result in unemployment costs.
The $652,000 appropriation for the Brooks Free Library in the Town Administrator’s preliminary budget is $8,872 below the state’s Municipal Appropriation Requirement (MAR) of $660,872. This means the Town’s library certification will depend on the article supporting the Chase and Harwich Port Libraries passing at Town Meeting. Given the tight economy, that article is likely to incur stronger opposition this year.
The Town can apply for a waiver to the MAR but one factor considered is whether the library had a disproportionate cut. If the library is again the only “non-essential” department reducing hours and services that could negatively impact a waiver request. Even if a waiver is granted, it becomes increasingly difficult to maintain certification in subsequent years unless significantly more funds are appropriated for library service the following year.
While use of technology by the staff and public has grown dramatically, the amount of dedicated Library staffing for this function has remained constant. It is zero. We do not have a technology coordinator or systems librarian, or any budgeted funding for technology. The Library Director performs those functions in addition to her other responsibilities. Without a systems staff or assistance from outside vendors, we install, configure and maintain 45 computers with many specialized software programs, two wired networks, and a wireless services ourselves. We also research and implement innovative and free or low cost hardware and software solutions. For example, we’ve developed a customized solution of open source software and settings that provides automated time and print management of our public computers. For $125 per year, our solution has reduced patron conflict over computer time and limited the need for staff intervention. A vendor-provided product would have cost over $20,000. Similarly, when implementing our wireless service in 2005, we researched available options and used an open source product that protects our wired computers and we configured with time limits and bandwidth controls. We initiated this service for a one-time cost of $500 for hardware and a yearly fee of $75. The lack of systems staff and funding for technology remains a concern for the future particularly since computers have become so integral to our operations and ability to serve the public.
As you know we have advocated for centralized building maintenance for a number of years. Except for one building that has a facility manager, department heads located in a building are responsible for managing that facility while also managing the staff and operations of their department. Time spent on facility maintenance detracts from our ability to focus on the mission and function of our departments. The Highway Dept. responds to our needs as best they can, but are hampered by lack of staffing. The Town would be better served by having facility maintenance directed by someone with expertise in facility management, building maintenance and building systems, especially with the increasing sophistication of the systems in our buildings, and by the economy of scale involved in having one elevator contract, one HVAC contract, etc. A facilities manager would be able to assess the need for repairs, evaluate the quality of the work performed, and to prioritize projects between departments. Our funding request for building maintenance is developed by a careful review of the preventive maintenance/service contracts, the average of the last three years repairs and any major work known to be needed. It has been reduced for a number of years, causing maintenance work to be deferred. Other building maintenance needs have not been brought forward for funding because of the lack of time and technical expertise to assess what’s needed and develop proposals. We do not look forward to answering angry residents at Town Meeting about why our beautiful facility has not been maintained.
The present level of custodial staffing does not allow the Library to properly clean the building and to preserve and protect the Town’s investment. We have a part-time, 30-hour per week custodian for a heavily used public building. According to library standards for custodial services we should have 57 hours of custodial service for the size of our facility. With heightened awareness of public health this year, we have concerns about the frequency of restroom cleaning, cleaning of handrails, countertops, etc. Bookshelves should be dusted weekly, but this is never done and must certainly impact air quality as well as the functioning of the HVAC system. We have limited housekeeping services, not the custodial staffing that provides for minor maintenance. The Library was not included when custodial service was centralized for other Town buildings this year.
In addition to housekeeping duties, our custodian had to assume responsibility for the transportation of “recycling” materials to the Transfer Station after the override failed and the Highway Dept. stop weekly pick-ups. Calling this material “recycling” makes it sound like an optional function. It isn’t. We need to dispose of a large volume of materials of newspapers and magazines, books that have been withdrawn, and large volumes of books in poor condition left at our door by the public. The custodian borrows a Hwy truck every 3 to 4 weeks, costing us approximately $1400 in her time. Storage of these materials in between runs is a problem and they often need to be shifted from one location to another. We requested another $600 for additional trash pick-up so we can throw the materials away, but those funds will need to be cut from our budget to absorb the reduction in our Expense request.
Respectfully submitted,
Brooks Free Library Board of Trustees
Robert Widegren, Vice Chairman
William D. Crowell, Treasurer
Mary Warde, Secretary
Elizabeth Drewes
Kathleen Remillard
Jeannie Wheeler