610
Quincy St.
Ÿ Rapid City , SD 57701
605-394-4171 Ÿ www.rapidcitylibrary.org
DIRECTOR’S REPORT: SEPTEMBER 2006
BOARD OF TRUSTEES
ADMINISTRATION
Community, Governmental and Interlibrary Relations: G. Chapman met with Casey Peterson to discuss
the possibility of an independent fiscal expense review for library services as
a means of public communication, another meeting was scheduled with the Chair
and Vice Chair of the Library Board with a report to be provided by Casey
Peterson, SDLA 2006 Conference Planning meetings have increased to once a week
until the conference, the beginning stages of the space use plan have been
implemented with projects forthcoming – updates will be provided to the Board,
a majority of the staff participated in a two day session with consultant Mary
Bushing about customer service and collection development, G. Chapman attended
the three day Thinking Ahead Conference at Salt Lake Public Library.
Building
& Grounds: Estimates
are being acquired for trenching in new breaker panel, floor boxes for
electrical and data connections where the technology commons is planned.
Training:
An All-Staff
meeting was held on August 24 to discuss a number of library
updates, including the Foundation’s announcement of the capital campaign
kick-off.
A training session on
the new version of “Ask
a Librarian” was presented to the public service staff via a web conference
on August 8. The presentation was given by Tutor.com. Public services staff
also met to discuss and train on how to use a “wiki,” a new public service
staff communication tool.
PUBLIC
SERVICES/YOUTH
Programs: Youth services completed the Summer Reading Program
(SRP) on August 31st. SRP
participants were invited to the Elks Theater for a special showing of the
movie ‘Hoot’, based on the popular children’s book. Also included in the
program was a presentation by Wildlife Experiences, assisted by a live tawny
owl. A total of 693 youth participated
in the SRP, with more than 120 of them participating throughout the entire
summer. Staff is working to evaluate the
programs and outline a recommendation for 2007.
A special program was offered in partnership with the Rapid
City Public Library, Minnelusa Historical Society, Master Gardeners, the
PUBLIC
SERVICES/ADULT SERVICES-REFERENCE
Services: The Oral
History Pilot Project is near completion of their goal for conducting 19
interviews by September. The web
site has been reconfigured and enhanced for easier navigation and access.
The remainder of the interviews are being edited prior to being posted online.
Both the reference desk and youth services desk were disassembled
and turned into separate service points to coincide with the space use
plan. Both floors now have two service
points located in separate areas, arranged to best meet patrons’ traffic and
usage patterns.
Collections: The main floor stacks and collections have been moved and shifted. Signage is being updated to help patrons locate materials.
Staff is
currently working on weeding the Reference collection in anticipation of
incorporating the Foundation Cooperating Collection into the Reference area.
SUPPORT
SERVICES/CIRCULATION
2006 Summer
reading program “Tails of Nature”
·
A
“pin the tail on the bison” was displayed at circulation. Patrons registered
for monthly prizes by completing a tail with a recommended tale either at
circulation or online. 44 tails were submitted.
·
Monthly
drawings for prizes were made from the tails submitted:
o
In
June, Ybanez won
o
In
July, Kayla Vance won Old MacDonald’s farm passes
o
In
August, Rolle Spencer Rowe won a $20 Scheels gift certificate.
OUTREACH: 32 volunteers contributed 371 hours in August. This
is an increase over last month but a 12% decrease from 2005 (417 hours). 57 homebound
patrons and 4 institutions received delivery.
SUPPORT
SERVICES/NETWORK SERVICES
Services:
- Working
with Wiki (collaborative online knowledge base) and other online methods
for sharing information
- Working
on making the weekly staff announcements blog available from outside the
library
- Developing
a photo archive program for the library
- Researching
document imaging systems for the proposed digitization center
- Moving
computer equipment to implement the space use plan.
SUPPORT
SERVICES/TECHNICAL SERVICES
Services:
·
Jennifer Irwin and Ed Hughes used the much of the
month preparing for the transition to a combined Circulation-Technical Services
department
·
Grace Hammond was hired as Collection Management
Librarian 1
·
Along with Jeanie McCallister, Ed worked with union
steward on changing scheduling language in the union contract
·
Hired
EQUAL
OPPORTUNITY EMPLOYER