Latah County Library District

DIRECTOR’S REPORT
December 2009

Activity Summary

• An all-staff meeting was held on December 8th. The agenda included a presentation on health insurance and Flex Plan benefits as well as discussion of the current Patron Conduct Code and Internet Use Policy. Policy Committee Chair Mike Brown led the policy discussion. The staff meeting also included separate branch and circulation department meetings.
• Planning continues for the Deary library improvements. Kampenhout and Cheadle met on December 8th with Deary Branch Supervisor Fischer and representatives of the Deary Friends to discuss next steps. If the project proceeds as anticipated, interior painting and the installation of new flooring may take place in January.
• The Neill Public Library in Pullman announced a reduction in service hours beginning January 2nd.  Citing challenging economic times, a budget cut and insufficient staffing, the Neill library also announced it will continue to suspend other services, including public printing, exam proctoring and interlibrary loan services. LCLD staff members are in discussion about how to evaluate the impact this may have on Moscow Library services.
• Through support from the Friends of the Moscow Library, the library co-sponsored Spokane author Jess Walter as he discussed his new book, The Financial Lives of the Poets, on the University of Idaho campus December 3rd.
• VALNet directors met briefly on November 19th and approved a new policy to address withdrawal from the consortium.
• The Friends of the Moscow Library participated in the Alternative Giving Market on December 2nd.  No information yet regarding the specific breakdown, but the event itself netted over $7,600.
• I wrote a column for the local papers: “Let the library brighten your holidays”.
• The library’s annual staff evaluation process continues.

Department and Branch Reports

Bovill Branch Report – Paula Winter

• November was a busier month with story times.   I have 3 families attending story time now; thankfully not all of them come at the same time some times.  When they are all here at the same time things get very busy.
• Home schooling families keep me busy.
• Computers stay busy.
• Friends are looking into laying new countertop in the kitchen.  The countertop that is there was only intended to be temporary and that was 10 years ago.  Hopefully we can lay new laminate without it costing too much.
• I appreciate all the subs we have in the district and the time they have spent helping me out in Bovill.  December will be a busy month for me personally doing some traveling to Seattle and I appreciate everyone’s efforts to help me keep the library covered.

Deary Branch Report – Debbie Fischer

• The remodel has started!  Phase 1 included new ceiling lights and paint, and a ceiling fan to be installed soon.  Other phases will follow.
• Monday evening is a busy night.  We are now open 4 - 8 and are seeing people we haven't seen for a while.  Overall, the change in hours is going well.

Genesee Branch Report – Connie Sobczyk

• Genesee’s Pumpkin weight contest was correctly guessed by 9 year old winner, Winston. His guess of 42 pounds earned him a new paperback!
• The Genesee Quilters Guild donated $50.00 to the Library from which I purchased several books for the less than 5 age group. Every other Friday from November to the end of December, a Genesee quilter reads from one of their book gifts to the youngsters during story time.
• Carol and I are working together to apply for funds from the Genesee Recreation Tax levy appropriation committee. We have selected paint colors and flooring, and discussed options for the windows and lighting. We are expecting information in regard to flooring estimates and bids from painters.
• A rotation of audio and CD books occurred in late October and early November. Patrons have mentioned that they were happy with a change of the browsing collection for their listening pleasure.
• Wal-Mart, after a lengthy waiting process while they went through personnel changes, ultimately could not fill the grant request which would allow Genesee to purchase rod extensions. These extensions would ultimately make our shelving much more patron friendly and efficient.  Wal-Mart had donated previously to LCLD for 2009; they could not contribute anymore for 2009.
• Genesee Library has escaped remarkably well from the flu virus so far. Hopefully, precautionary measures of available hand sanitizers, Lysol spray and wipes will continue to help ward off the super-bugs.

Juliaetta Branch Report – Jan Welles

• Story times were up and down in attendance this month. There were 28 youth and their moms/caregivers in for the three story times.
• Class visits were hit and miss in Nov. as well. Of the seven grades that were scheduled to visit the library, only two classes made it down with a total of 36 students and teachers.
• Book Prowlers met on Nov. 10 with 8 members coming to discuss “The Joys of Motherhood” by Bucha.
• The Friends of the Library did not meet in November because everyone had other things going on. They did however draft and mail a letter to the City of Juliaetta asking to use $400.00 of the library funds the city provides to help pay for the installation cost of the new light fixtures. The City Council will not meet to make a decision on this until Dec. 8th. Once the Friends are informed of the decision, they will pay $225.00 towards the installation.  The new lights are great!!
• The Friends’ sponsored Scrapbook class met on Nov. 14 with 5 adults and one youth getting together to “scrap”. It was lots of fun as always.
• Trustee Mike Brown visited with me at Juliaetta. It is nice to have the Board members come out to see the branches and to visit with the Branch Supervisors. I enjoyed our discussion.
• Rob Foote, District sub Jayne Foote’s husband came in and put up some neat little shelves for us between the Adult Non-fiction and Juvenile Non-fiction shelves. They are perfect for the music CDs which were moved from the shelves that they were sharing with the Audio books. This gives us more room for Audio books which were getting overcrowded and being stacked on top of each other. We now have two empty shelves to catch the overflow.
• I prepared and placed my summer reading order for SR 2010 on Nov. 30! Does it seem like we just finished SR 2009 to anybody else?

Potlatch Branch Report – Donna Quiring

• Another busy storytime month with 3 programs with 47 kids and 26 adults attending.
• Small Friends meeting. Finalized money for the Dinner Theatre. Arts Council and Potlatch Friends each made over 300 dollars
• Finally fixed my PC Reservation! I went in and changed some settings in the area of the conference room and that seemed to fix the problem of it not offering extra time to patrons! It was getting to be a pain when we had to manually give them any extra time. 
• Getting ready for the Christmas Open House on Dec.12th. Fireworks and lighted parade and cookies and cider at the library! Everyone is invited! 
• Other than that, a pretty quiet month.

Troy Branch Report – Margie Fitzmorris

• P.A. Monson, local Troy author, had a book signing on the 2nd. We had a small group of approximately 12. The Friends furnished refreshments and all had a good time.
• Local artist, Sadie Galloway, has on display two photographs on canvas.
• We did an audio, and CD book rotation.
• Dorothy Anderson was so kind to let us use her storybook dolls and matching books in our display case. The kids love the “Where the Wild Things Are” dolls. Just a few of the dolls and books we have are Madeline, Curious George, Paddington, Anne of Green Gables and Ramona.
• Our new signs have arrived and Fern McLeod and Penny Rice have volunteered to install them.
• Sent my Summer Reading order in to Highsmith. Can’t believe we are thinking about Summer Reading in November.
• Evaluations have been done and sent to Anne. J
• Happy Holidays!