BOARD OF LIBRARY TRUSTEES ANNUAL REPORT 2008

To the Residents of East Longmeadow:

The East Longmeadow Public Library continued its mission to serve the cultural, informational, educational, and recreational needs of the community.  Entering its fifth year in a new, expanded building, the library continued to provide more service to the community with an overall increase in circulation of over 10 percent from the previous year.  The library also reached a new milestone—over 200,000 items circulated during FY2008!  This continued increase in circulation reflects an ever-increasing number of patrons from both East Longmeadow and surrounding communities using the library for programs and services, as well as the library’s constant efforts to offer a comprehensive collection of materials. It is also worthy to note that in 2008 the library again filled more requests from non-East Longmeadow library patrons than it received items requested by our patrons.  This statistic again shows that our collection is not only in demand by neighboring libraries, but is comprehensive, current, and is able to meet the needs of our patrons. 

The library was not immune to change during the past year, however.  In the spring, Trustees Diane Tiago and Kathleen Cordier decided not to seek re-election after serving on the Board of Library Trustees for six and three years, respectively.  Their dedication to the library and experience as Trustees will certainly be missed.  These vacancies on the Board were filled by Amie Singh and Timothy Seeley who successfully ran for election in the spring.

Library staffing in the Children’s department also underwent changes during the year when Joanne Parisi, part-time Children’s Librarian Assistant, left her position in July.   Kay McCormack, part-time Children’s Library Assistant, was hired to fill that position.  The library was once again fully staffed when Jennifer Couturier was hired to fill the position of Children’s Library Assistant vacated by Ms. McCormack.  While this was indeed a period of transition for the Children’s staff, newly hired staff brought both experience and talents that were sure to benefit the library and the community as a whole.

The library once again participated in the state-wide Summer Reading Program.  This year's theme, “Wild Reads @ Your Library” was the most successful program to date.  More than 1,000 children participated in reading for pleasure and taking part in a number of activities organized and coordinated by the Children’s Department staff and 100 “junior volunteers”.  The Friends of the Library donated funds for 25 basket incentive prizes which helped keep children motivated to read over the summer.  New for 2008, was the addition of 40 mini-basket reading raffle prizes for Summer Reading program participants who visited the library each week, and a “Reads in MA” online component that allowed children to register and record their readings via the Internet.  Two or three special programs were planned each week including: Meet the Wild Birds of Prey with Tom Ricardi; a cartooning workshop with Michael Cady; Wild about Cooking, with Katie Wilton;   Up Close with Wild Critters, from the Lupa Zoo; Wild about Reading, with award-winning musicians Davis Bates and Roger Tincknell, a Wild Pirates Performance by the Toe Jam Puppet Band Variety Show; Bubblemania with Casey Carle, the world renowned Bubbleologist, and a visit from the “Read to Rover” program, given by Kelly Phillips and her reading therapy dog Lassie.  To conclude the Summer Reading Program in August, over 275 summer readers and their families attended a Roller Skating Party at Interskate 91.  In summary, more than 1,200 children and their families attended these summer programs and almost all were filled to capacity.

Throughout the year, the Children’s department offered a variety of story times-- pajama night story times, drop-in story times, a Babies and Books program throughout the year, as well as weekly “Make & Take” arts projects for all ages.  During February and April school vacation weeks various programs attracted over 400 children and their families.   Every program was a hit with the audience and most programs were filled to capacity.  In December the Children’s area once again had a Giving Tree to benefit the families of Our Place Shelter in Holyoke. More than 48 children received gifts over the holidays donated to this organization.  In March, the library held its second “Food for Fines” month in an effort to get back long overdue materials.  Library patrons were encouraged to return overdue items, with overdue fines waived in exchange for canned goods to benefit Our Place Shelter of Holyoke.  By the end of the month over 700 pounds of non-perishable goods had been collected for this organization, while in return the library received many of its long overdue items. In October, the library was informed that it had received a Stavros Access Award, given by the Stavros Center for Independent Living in Amherst to organizations that have shown improved access for people with disabilities. 

Use of the library’s two meeting rooms continued to be popular.  More than 350 local meetings and non-profit events were held over the course of the year, with each room providing a comfortable space for a variety of programs that benefited the entire community.  Utilizing these rooms, the library held some very special and interesting events this year including author talks, genealogy workshops, chess club for children and teens, and a PlayStation Battle of the Bands contest.  Especially worth noting was a Watercolor Painting for Adults workshop hosted by local artist Susan Pecora and sponsored by the Friends of the Library.  Also in 2008, the library’s Conference Room provided much appreciated space for Council on Aging members to hold weekly events while their facility underwent renovations.  During the summer, weekly Italian classes for both adults and teens were given by Professor Rocco Mesiti.  A lively Adult Book Discussion group, led by Library Trustee Susan French, also met each month throughout the year.

The Library Trustees wish to acknowledge the generous funding provided by the Friends of the Library, without which many of the above-mentioned Children's programs would not have been possible.  Many other Children’s programs were funded in part by the Western Regional Library System and the Massachusetts Board of Library Commissioners.  Additional program funding came from Peoples Bank, the Early Childhood Resource Center’s East Longmeadow, Wilbraham, and Hampden Community Partnership Council, and the Meadow’s Lodge of Free and Accepted Masons.  Throughout the year, several performances either received support from local businesses, or were generously discounted by those performers themselves.  The Library Trustees appreciate the community’s generous support, for without it we would be unable to deliver the many educational and recreational activities this community enjoys.

The library continued to facilitate communication among the schools via the library’s website, by providing teachers with an “Assignment Alert” form as an easy way to notify the library staff of up-coming homework assignments.   Cindy MacNaught, Children’s Librarian, also continued her participation on the Meadowbrook School Advisory Council and the Community Partnership Council of East Longmeadow, Wilbraham and Hampden.  Her relationship with the personnel at the three elementary schools as well as with other local educators has proven to be an excellent way to communicate the needs of each institution, and a means to help these local educators make every resource tool available to our children.

The Library Trustees continue to be proud of the library’s informative “web presence”.  In our constantly changing world, the need for both up-to-date and accurate information remains crucial.  The library’s web site continued to see activity on its two web logs or “Blogs”—“Leroy the Library Dragon Blog” for children, and the Teen Reading Blog. New this year, was the addition of a monthly “Making Tracks through the Stacks” column written by Susan Peterson, Library Director. Thanks again go to the creativity and hard work of the Information staff, most notably, Sharon Bellenoit, Reference Assistant and Library Webmaster, along with Susan Teale, Assistant Director and Reference Librarian, for providing an informative, comprehensive, timely, and enjoyable way to access information about your public library.

The Information staff, with support from Library Director Susan M. Peterson and other library staff members, continued to focus its attention on reaching out to the teen community in East Longmeadow during the past year.  More young adult books and DVD’s were added to the collection, and an Online Reading Club for Teens was created and added to the library’s website.  Local teen authors were invited to participate in lively panel discussions as well. Teens also met during the year to preview Anime films and made suggestions for potential Anime purchases.

Even though 2008 proved to be the library’s busiest year ever, we continued to offer our patrons the services and programs they have come to expect and enjoy.  These services and programs would not have been possible, however, without the hard work of a dedicated library staff and the support of many others who volunteer their time and energy to your public library year after year.

The Board of Library Trustees wants the community to know that we take our elected duties seriously, and our intention is to provide the best public library service possible for this community.  Your input is encouraged and always welcomed. 

Respectfully submitted,

Susan French, Trustee Chair

Virginia Robbins , Trustee Vice Chair

David Boucher, Trustee Secretary

Timothy A. Seeley, Trustee

Amie Singh, Trustee

Gregory M. Thompson, Trustee

Susan M. Peterson, Library Director

Circulation Totals:  203,829 (FY2008)

East Longmeadow Library Card Holders: 11,060 (does not include registered borrowers from neighboring towns)

Library materials:  80,377 (FY2008)