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The Belmont Public Library has experienced many changes in 2003. Four critical personnel position vacancies were created by retirements, unprecedented in the history of the Library. Joyce Higgins, Coordinator of Children’s Services, retired in February after 16 years of service, Mary Anciello, Library Assistant II in Technical Services retired in July after 17 years of service, Esther Folts, Administrative Assistant to the Director, retired in September after 25 years of service and Duane Crabtree, Coordinator of Public Services retired in October after
30 years of service. Our retired staff members represent a total of ninety years of service to the Belmont Public Library and the loss of ninety years of collective institutional knowledge. We anticipate a full complement of staff to be in place in the near future. In addition to the personnel retirements, Trustee Thomas Faulkner retired effective November 1, 2003. Mary Keenan was appointed to fill out his term until the next election.
A new online catalog and circulation system was launched by the Minuteman Library Network (MLN) in July, 2003. After rigorous evaluation of the top contenders, MLN chose Innovative Interfaces’ Millennium, a web- and JavaTM- based system. This change has enabled MLN to offer better library service network-wide and respond to individual library users’ requests for expanded capabilities. The new catalog allows for a more precise search and lets users distinguish easily between various formats, such as video versus DVD, or book-on-tape versus book-on-CD. This system also makes locating items within the library easier, and offers several new features, such as the ability to print lists of items and their locations. Library users are able to update their email addresses and establish their own
PIN numbers online.
To prepare for the new system, the library completed the transition to an all PC environment by replacing the remaining “dumb” terminals. PCs for staff were upgraded to Windows 2000 to allow the running of the new software; at the same time, receipt printers and barcode scanners were also upgraded. Staff not familiar with the Windows environment received in-house training prior to the transition. All staff received training on the new software either directly from MLN or from a previously trained staff member before MLN switched over to the new system. Staff training will continue, especially on the more advanced features of the software.
A new Long Range Plan was developed in 2003. A five-year long range plan is a requirement of the Massachusetts Board of Library Commissioners (MBLC) in order for the library to be eligible to apply for federal and state grants. The purpose of the planning process is to identify library service needs, and then develop goals and objectives that reflect those needs. To accomplish this task, a Long Range Planning Committee was formed in June, 2003. This Committee was made up of three Trustees, three members of the Board of the Friends of the Belmont Public Library, six Library staff members, one Warrant Committee member, twelve Belmont citizens and the Library Director. The Committee met weekly from July through September, using the American Library Association‘s publication “Planning for Results”
by Ethel Himmel and William James Wilson as a guide in preparing the Long Range Plan.
The planning process began with a visioning session of the Long Range Planning Committee to form a shared vision for the future of the Library. Data was gathered that gave the committee statistics on the community profile and on library usage and costs. This data, together with collection and circulation statistics available through the Minuteman Library Network, and in-house statistics tabulated on a regular basis, gave a picture of current patterns of usage and changes in service over the past five years. The committee also conducted a survey evaluating services, staff, usage and facilities. Focusing on these results, together with an analysis of growth potentials and needs, the Long Range Planning Committee was able to prioritize service responses and establish goals and objectives that will guide the library
through the next five years. One important part of the new Long Range Plan is the new mission statement for the Library, which is to provide free and equal access to information and ideas, and to serve the diverse interests of the community through a wide range of resources. Continue to be a central gathering place that welcomes all to share in its services and programs.
The Library would like to recognize the members of the Long Range Planning Committee for their hard work and dedication in preparing the Long Range Plan. Vera G. Dreyer, Chairman of the Board of Library Trustees; Hal Shubin, Trustee; Heli Tomford, Trustee; Martha Gallagher, Friends President; Elissa Grad, Friends Board Member; Ruth Kaplan, Friends Board Member; Duane Crabtree, Public Services Coordinator; Fred Dooe, Technical Services Coordinator; Mary Hall, Supervisor of Circulation; Christine Hunnefeld, Technology Librarian; Liz Moult, Coordinator of Children’s Services; Elisabeth Strachan, Branch Librarian; Pat Brusch, Warrant Committee; Judy Cotton, Lynne Doblin, Sarah Ellison, Peg Hodder, Richard Kaplan, Joan Martin, Ruth Matz, Rick Lawson, Jennifer Farley Smith, Grace Taylor, Neil Wasserman, and Maureen Conners, Library
Director.
A new carpet was installed in the children’s room at the beginning of the summer giving the room a much needed facelift and improving safety for children and adults walking through the room. A long needed rubber roof was installed on the flat roof of the Library during the summer of 2003 to eliminate the frequent leaks that had required patching many times over the years. Comfortable new chairs were purchased for the Main Adult Reference Area to replace the chairs purchased for the Library when it opened in 1965. The main staircase in front of the library was closed because of safety issues. Town officials have allocated a sum of money to have a study done to determine why the stairs continue to shift and sink. Work on the Wellington Brook Stormwater Culvert improvements began in November, 2003 and will
be completed in January, 2004. In spite of this major inconvenience, residents continue to demonstrate a strong demand for library services. Patron traffic at the Main Library has increased to 324,800 visits this year. The Library’s circulation continues to increase every year with an increase of 18,000 items this year over last year. With an annual circulation of 495,948, Belmont continues to be ranked among the most heavily used libraries in its population group, which includes 54 Massachusetts communities.
The Reference Department continues to be extremely busy. Patrons continue to use a wide variety of printed materials, computer databases and other resources for research as well as requesting information and assistance from the Reference Staff. Increasingly the Reference Librarians are finding that the patron questions involve more than a quick answer. They are providing much more bibliographic instruction, which involves teaching patrons about the computers, helping them find new Internet sources of information and showing them the new databases available at the Library. There were 35,400 reference questions answered this year, either in person, by phone or by email.
Patrons can request materials either from other MLN member libraries or from outside the Network, either by themselves through the Virtual Catalog or with the assistance of one of the librarians using the on-line catalog center. These interlibrary requests exceeded 30,000 this year. Transportation of the materials from library to library is one of the services that the Metrowest Regional Library System provides.
Internet use continues to increase annually. This year, individual patron use increased by twelve percent, up from 24,826 to 28,133 this year. There are now ten work stations with public Internet access, three of which also have Word, so patrons can send attachments. Reference Librarians teach individual patrons how to search the new library catalog at the reference desk and several workshops for the public were conducted by our Technology Librarian, Christine Hunnefeld. She also offered ten programs on computer related topics; Internet Basics, PC Basics and the Library Catalog. The library borrowed a mobile training lab from the Minuteman Library Network to offer hands-on training in PC basics. These hands-on workshops allow patrons who do not know how to use a mouse to receive the training they need to
use the new online catalog.
The library has added some new databases this year – Corptech (company profiles of public and private technology companies), Grolier Online (includes the Encyclopedia Americana, Grolier Multimedia and Lands and Peoples), Westlaw (Massachusetts General Laws, cases, court rules and law periodicals) and the Historical New York Times (includes entire text back to 1851). The latter database in particular, was used to great advantage by the eighth grade students for their National History Day projects. The Reference Staff spent many hours teaching students how to research their topics and the Historical New York Times proved invaluable. The Student Resource Learning Center database was terminated after June 30, 2003 due to state budget cuts.
The Adult Department sponsored 30 programs this year including book talks and book discussions. “Books and Bites,” a book review program at the library, had another wonderful year. Presentations during 2003 included The Piano Tuner by Daniel Mason, The Accidental Tourist by Anne Tyler, Seabiscuit by Laura Hillenbrand, The Lobster Chronicles: Life on a Very Small Island by Linda Greenlaw and The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd just to name a few. The book discussion group at the Belmont Senior Center, conducted by Reference Librarian Miriam MacNair, continued to meet with lively and enthusiastic participation. The books discussed included The Mayor of Casterbridge by Thomas Hardy, The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie by Muriel Spark, The Sun Also Rises by Ernest Hemingway, Fathers and Sons by Ivan Turgenev and Madame Bovary by Gustave Flaubert. The book discussion group at the Main Library had stimulating discussions as well. Some of the books discussed included Sense and
Sensibility by Jane Austen, Plainsong by Kent Haruf, My Antonia by Willa Cather, Seize the Day by Saul Bellow and Death in Summer by William Trevor.
Many of the Reference Librarians attended classes and workshops given by the Metrowest Regional Library System and the Minuteman Library Network. Some of the courses attended include Powerpoint, Excel, File Management, Science Fair Projects and Strengthening Communications with the School Community. Attendance at these classes is a good source of continuing education for our staff. The Metrowest Regional Library System, a State organization, values their service to the Belmont Public Library at $229,088.00 for this year.
Belmont’s Young Adult Program is one of the most active in the Minuteman Library Network. Contributing to its success was a strong school-library collaboration thanks to our Young Adult Librarian, Emily Reardon. Every sixth grade Social Studies class at the Chenery Middle School, a total of twelve classes, visited the Library in March or May. Bibliographic instruction by the Reference Librarians introduced students to a wide variety of books and other materials as well as electronic resources on Ancient Civilizations in preparation for their first major Social Studies research project. In April, twelve of the thirteen tenth-grade English classes visited the Library to learn how to search all of the resources available at the Library on current and controversial issues for a unit on persuasive writing. In
November, Reference Librarians conducted 98 half-hour individual and small-group reference appointments for a total of 131 eighth-grade students, helping them find primary and secondary sources and other resources for their National History Day projects, a major element of the public school Social Studies curriculum. In another effort to help students, the Young Adult Department updated and redesigned the Homework Links on the Library Web site, to make the pages more attractive and easier to use.
Another highlight of the year was the Second Annual Belmont Band Bash, an outdoor concert held in front of the Underwood Pool and made possible by the co-sponsorship of the Belmont Police Department DARE program and the Belmont Youth Commission. The event was held from 3 to 6 PM on Thursday, May 29, to kick off the Library’s Teen Summer Reading Program. Five bands featuring Belmont High School musicians performed for an audience of approximately 200 teenagers. Helping out at the event were members of the Library’s Teen Advisory Board. This volunteer group selected a fantasy theme for the 2003 Teen Summer Reading Program and named it “Discover the Power: Open a Book.” One hundred thirty-two students signed up to participate in the program, which featured bi-weekly trivia contests, a pizza
party, and a prize drawing with prizes donated by local businesses and the Friends of the Belmont Public Library.
During the summer, the Young Adult Department benefited from the assistance of a particularly talented and devoted group of high school volunteers – 25 students who performed 664 hours of community service to fulfill their high school graduation requirement. These students wrote book reviews that will be posted on the Library Web site, created decorations for the Young Adult Room, shelved and organized books throughout the Library and pitched in for any projects that needed to be done. The Young Adult Department also offered three babysitting workshops, a collage workshop, and a Manga/anime Book Club for middle school fans of the Japanese comics called manga. The group met monthly under the leadership of Chenery parent and Veterans Administration Librarian, Elaine Alligood.
The Children’s Department continues to be very active. In September, Children’s Librarian Elizabeth Moult was promoted to Coordinator of Children’s Services. She had been the Acting Coordinator since Joyce Higgins’ retirement. As usual, the Children’s Department offered a lot of programming for the community. Story time programs offered throughout the year included a Book Babies group for children age 9 to 24 months, Stories for 2’s and 3’s, and a Storycraft for children age 4 and 5. Story times were held for approximately 10 weeks in the fall, 6 weeks in the winter and 9 weeks in the spring. Total attendance at story times was 1800 children. The book discussion group for children in grades 4 through 6 which started in 2002 increased in popularity with a
much larger group of students meeting once a month for fun activities and lively discussion about an assigned book. New this year at the Main Library is a once a week playtime which provides a forum for parents with toddlers to meet other parents at the Library while their children are playing. Toys were purchased with funds donated by the Friends of the Library.
Popular folksinger Julie Goetz continued to entertain at the Main Library and both branches for twice monthly Sing-A-Longs. Additionally, singer Liz Buchanan came to the Main Library once a month for well attended performances in the Assembly Room of the Library. The Jane Gray Dustan Trust Fund, which supports children’s programming, brought other attractions throughout the year including nationally known storyteller Jim Weiss, Susan Paino with an interactive dance performance, magician Steve Rudolph’s “Magic of Reading,” “Mad Science of Boston,” storyteller Carolyn Martino’s “Spooky Stories for Halloween,” and a “Caribbean for Kids Holiday Songs” program. All of these programs were well attended, with 1,750 children and their parents attending.
The Summer Reading Program, “Read, Think, Create @ your Library,” was kicked off in June with the Imagine That Children’s Theater production. Other summer performances sponsored by the Jane Gray Dustan Trust Fund included storyteller Carolyn Martino; magician Steve Rudolf; singers Marcus Gale, Liz Buchanan, Kathy Earabino; Mike the Hatman; and an animal show with Michelle’s Menagerie. Other summer activities included noon-time movies, pop-up book day, chalk the front walk, bubbles on the lawn by the pool, a “Wild Things” party, and several craft days. Attendance at all of the summer activities was 1900 with 655 enthusiastic children enrolled in the Summer Reading Program. The Friends of the Library generously supported the Summer Reading Program by providing incentive prizes to all
those who read.
The Children’s Room Community Service Program for sixth graders continued to grow with a large number of Chenery Middle School students signing up to help out in the Children’s Room. The program enables the middle school students to fulfill their community service requirements at the Library by shelf reading (putting books into proper alphabetical order and Dewey Decimal sequence) and helping the staff by preparing supplies for the Storyhour crafts activities at the Library.
The Waverley and Benton Branch Libraries continued popular adult and children’s programs such as story times and book discussion groups. Over 90 programs were held at the Branches, with over 500 people attending. Belmont author Karen Jo Shapiro read from her newly published book of funny children’s poems Because I Could Not Stop My Bike and encouraged the children present to write. The Benton Book Discussion Group had lively discussions on contemporary book such as Father Melancholy’s daughter by Gail Godwin.
The “Belmont Bugle,” the quarterly newsletter produced by the Library Director and funded by the Friends of the Library, continues to be popular with our patrons. The seventh annual Staff Day was held in June. This year the topic of the day was the new automated online catalog and circulation system. Most of the day was devoted to training on the new system. The Friends generously provided a luncheon for the entire staff. Marcie Shorr-Hirsch, a member of the Board of the Friends of the Belmont Public Library, conducted a visioning session with the staff that afternoon to develop a common vision of what the staff would like to see in their Public Library in the next ten to twenty years. The Friends also conducted visioning sessions with members of their Board of Directors, the Board of Library
Trustees and the Long Range Planning Committee. The workshops so far have resulted in thoughtful and inventive suggestions such as multipurpose spaces for exhibits and community gathering, flexible-walled areas for small group study to support school and life-long learning, and even an in-library café.
The meeting rooms continue to be booked solidly through out the year. There were a total of 728 meetings with 15,948 people in attendance. Of those, 361 were Library sponsored programs with 8,008 people in attendance. The Claflin Room is the repository of our local history and because of its valuable contents; the room is open primarily when there is a member of the Historical Society present. The Flett Room is used for many Library sponsored programs, such as the Storyhour programs conducted by the Children’s Librarians, meetings of the Young Adult Advisory Board and many community group meetings. The Assembly Room is also used for many of the Library sponsored programs and Town and community group meetings when a large attendance is expected.
Volunteers continue to play an important role in the functioning of the library. This year our dedicated volunteers contributed over 3,600 hours to shelving and organizing books, conducting special projects, staffing the Claflin Room, delivering books to the homebound and assisting in the “Books and Bites” book review program. The Trustees truly appreciate the many hours of dedicated service to and enthusiastic support of the Belmont Public Library by all our volunteers.
The Library is very fortunate to have the support of many community groups, most notably the Friends of the Belmont Public Library, the Rotary Club, the Garden Club and the Belmont Historical Society. The Friends of the Belmont Public Library continue to sponsor the “Belmont’s Own” lecture series which features local personalities. Some of the programs this year were Gary Braver discussing his book Gray Matter, Anita Robboy discussing her book Aftermarriage, Laura Kastner discussing her book The Launching Years, which was held in conjunction with the Belmont High School PTA, and a panel of mystery writers including Al Blanchard, Bill Tappley and Dana Cameron. The Friends held their Annual Books Sale in October and it was the most successful book sale they have ever had. The book
sale proceeds enable the Friends of the Library to continue to support Young Adult and Children’s programming and fund the Museum Pass Program, which consists of passes to fifteen institutions – The Aquarium, Audubon Society (with Drumlin Farm in Lincoln being the most popular and closest site), Children’s Museum, DeCordova Museum and Sculpture Park, Discovery Museum, Essex/Peabody Museum, Museum of Fine Arts, Gardner Museum, Harvard Art Museums, Harvard Natural History Museum, John F. Kennedy Museum, Plimoth Plantation, Science Museum and Zoo New England (Franklin Park and Stoneham Zoos). The museum passes are available to all residents of Belmont who have a current Minuteman Library Network card. The passes were circulated 1,736 times. The Friends also donated two flat screen monitors to the Circulation Department and one to the Reference Department.
The Trustees are committed to continuing to provide quality library services to the community. We believe strong libraries are essential to education and lifelong learning, to economic development, to strong communities and to a strong democracy.
Respectfully submitted,
Vera G. Dreyer, Chairman
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