TFML Staff Exchange

Reference Statistics for July 2005

Adult Services Staff

Walk-Ins 474
Telephone 197
Instruction 31
Other help 273

Virtual reference 2
Instant message reference 39
Email reference 15

Total adult reference 1031

This is about 10 busier than July 2004.

Department Heads Meeting
August 3, 2005

Anne reported that new board member Robert Sullivan is head of the technology subcommittee for the board. She collected some long range plans for him to study.

Anne reported that the cost of fixing all our ten-year-old task chairs would be about $5000. She is looking into the costs of replacing them instead.

We will have an in-service day on October 28 with a speaker. The topic will be Trends in Customer Service and will include discussions of 1) acceptance of premium service costs, 2) choice overload, 3) outreach services, 4) customized services, 5) entrepreneurs in the community, 6) niche marketing, and 7) long tails (a business term about statistical distribution).

We will have another in-service day on December 9 to visit a library and have lunch.

We should have new library cards within three weeks. The idea of having the key-ring cards was dropped because we couldn’t get enough info on the tiny cards and the cost. All the library cards have to be replaced by December 2008.

I'm just putting this here because it bothers me that there have been no new entries in over a week!

If you haven't heard, the lastest MasterPlan is to get all of our A/V material (besides nonfiction DVDs) together. This will a) be convenient and b) make room for the expanding Mystery collection. To make room for the BOT and BOCD, Beth and I are weeding the VHS collection a bit.

Sandy let us know that they aren't going out very much, and my glances into their records confirm that. The Old Tyme movies seem to be among the more popular of tapes, so this might leave us with a strange collection.

What do you think the reaction would be if we nixed the collection all together?

Check out the food section of the Chicago Sun Times on August 17th. There is an front page article on the chef and owner of Vie the new restaurant in Western Springs.

i deleted 25 300s today. some will be replaced with more current items soon.

I attended this afternoon's meeting of the Big Read libraries. The most important facts that need to be passed on are as follows:

1. Our book is Seabiscuit by Laura Hillenbrand.

2. We will run the programs and book discussions in February and March 2006 and finish off with an event in early April.

3. I have committed Thomas Ford to designing and managing the website and to producing the press packet.

4. Nancy is the head of the book discussions committee, which is setting dates for the discussions and putting together questions for the discussion leaders.

5. We will steer away from programs that will attract hundreds of people and go for the smaller audience events, which may include some films or event that will also be run at other libraries.

The committee is working hard already to make all the arrangements. All the dates should be set in the next few weeks. During that time, Aaron and I have to come up with a website plan.

The funding discussion was interesting. Sheila Hope of Westmont is meeting with a bank to see if it will sponsor the program. She is also planning meetings with Lions Clubs (she may meet with one for each community) to see if they will fund the purchase of audiobooks and large print. She is planning to meet some Rotary groups as well. She has started talking to Arlington Race Track also to see what they might give us in terms of sponsorship or program speakers or prizes.

Depending on how much funding Sheila's committee can swing, we may have to ask our friends groups for help. I do not think this will be a problem, as I bet our friends would support a program or two and some materials.

There were many ideas for programs, some of which seemed a little far afield to me, but they might still be popular. (It was the Depression Glass program that seemed to have no connection to me.) The committee is narrowing them down in the next few weeks.

The next meeting of the full committee is at 1:30 on September 13 at the Downers Grove Library.

Today I ask Bonnie and Jim, who were working on the the piles of books donated to the Friends, to watch for copies of Seabiscuit that we could add to the collection. Within minutes Bonnie found one incoming. Jim thinks there are some more in the boxes that are ready for the sale in October and will catch them for us. Thanks to the Friends.

I haven't posted before so I felt I should to join the club. The picnic was a great success! I had 22 participants of the summer reading program show up. I felt that was a great turn out considering many kids were out of town and its hard for information to reach that age group. The raffle went smooth and the winners were notified. For all those that care, I did win every water balloon toss, so age and experience do count in life. Thank you to all for helping make this summer reading program a wonderful experience.

Do we have a list of non-fiction videos/DVD's? A patron this morning said it would be nice if the videos were all together for browsing purposes (I told her they used to be like that), and she asked whether there was a list that would help serve this purpose.

The YS Scouting project is now complete. We have updated all of the badge requirement manuals and added in a wealth of resources for den leaders and Scout Masters. Please feel free to check it out! Shan