Administratively Speaking

Repairing the Portico

By plnkh | August 21, 2006

If you’ve driven by (or come to) the library today, you will have noticed that the front entranc is closed off and the columns are coming down on the portico. Some time ago is was determined that the capitals and plinths were visibly rotting and the condition of the columns themselves was questionable. They are now being replaced with composite parts that will look just like those that have held up the portico roof for the past 78 years.

While the work is in progress, the front entrance and book drop will remain closed for your safety. Please use the rear entrance and book drop.

Topics: Building | No Comments »

Passing the Baton

By plnkh | August 16, 2006

In July Kathy LaRocca passed the baton for our Youth Services to Beverly Arlequeeuw, newly arrived in Goshen from Ohio - land of the best supported library service in the nation. In September, Lisa Hewel will pick up the baton for Support Services that was passed by Jennifer Bradshaw. Jennifer has left us to become the new director of the Woodbury Public Library (our loss being their gain). Lisa, a Middletown resident, will be coming to us in mid-September from the West Milford (NJ) Public Library. In the meantime, our circulation staff are to be commended for their grace under pressure, making the decisions required of them, providing the courteous service you expect.

At the end of August, Kitty Ruberte-Smith will be taking family leave for the birth of her second child. We expect her back in early December, until then her preschool programs will be covered by other youth services staff.

What are Support Services? Circulation (registering new borrowers, checking materials in and out, home delivery, reserves, shelving) and technical processes (ordering, linking, processing for circulation, inventorying). Circulation staff are the library’s front line, and technical processes staff are the rear guard. Both groups combine to provide you with a continuous flow of materials.

Topics: Announcements, Staffing | No Comments »

Summer Scramble

By plnkh | July 13, 2006

The Summer Reading club is in full swing. If you’ve been in the library in the afternoons when program sessions have ended and Goshen’s children are reporting on their reading, you know just how hectic it is. It’s wonderful to see so many famiies in the library. It’s also a little scarey because little ones (whose heads are well below eye level) are in danger of being tripped over in the crowd.

Our new children’s librarian, Beverly Arlequeeuw (new to the area from Ohio) has stepped right into her role. Aside from the challenge of remembering where she is supposed to be at any particular time - we are offering programs at the Scotchtown School, the Main Street administration building and in our own meeting room - she has had no problems making the transition to Goshen and learning our ways.

Many people think that summer is a quiet time in the library. Quite the reverse, it is the time of year that many of you are free to read all the good books you haven’t gotten to during the winter. You like to take things away on vacation, pick out books to listen to in the car, select videos for the kids to keep them calm while traveling. We offer travel packs (Book A Trip) for families that are preselected by our youth services staff to facilitate your vacation preparation.

It is also time for programs on the lawn. July 22 is the date of the third annual Big Band concert. Shakespeare has moved to Craigville Park, courtesy of Joint Recreation, because a larger venue was required to stage Ken Tschan’s production of As You Like It. Six performances will be offered over the weekends of July 14-17 and July 28-30.

We hope to see you often this summer!

Topics: General | No Comments »

Rites of Passage

By plnkh | June 9, 2006

Last night the friends and colleagues of our children’s librarian, Kathy LaRocca celebrated her impending retirement with a dinner held at the Harness Racing Museum. Kathy has been with the library for 18 years and has been responsible for children’s programs for 16. After receiving her MLS in 1999, she became the third librarian on the staff (joining me and PT reference librarian Fran O’Gorman).

Children’s services changed dramatically in Kathy’s hand. In 1993 we offered 174 programs for 3252 children. This year, to date we offered 248 [prorams for 4469 children - growth of 42% and 37% respectively.

Supporting each other’s creative impulses, we had the temerity to hang a soft sculpture of Mother Goose in the children’s area in our main (oak paneled) room where she turned her tail on the library’s early benefactors, Charles J. Everett and George Duncan Wickham.

We also added collections of paperbacks, audio books, videos, beginning reader’s and parenting materials to enhance our services to Goshen’s youth.

With creative ideas continually demanding an outlet, we articulated a philosophy of youth services and developed programs to advance it: Wee Reads for infants; Toddletime for toddlers; Circletime for 3 year olds learning how to sit still for 15 minutes, and after school sessions (French language, cupcake decorating, Civil War soldiers, book discussions). Kathy has set the standard for youth services.

On June 30 she will be passing the torch to a new librarian, with her own ideas and creative impulses. It won’t be the same here - I’ll be losing my staunchest ally - but I hope it will be as good.

Topics: Announcements, Staffing | No Comments »

Your virtual Library

By plnkh | May 25, 2006

We’ve spent a lot of time in the past month reworking this website to make it more useful. Some might wonder why, when we have been working for the past 13 years to get a new building.

Our mission is to provide free and open access to information, ideas and resources to enrich our community. All residents of the Goshen central school district are entitled to service by this library. You all can’t come here - you won’t fit. Some of you are more comfortable conducting your business form home - e-mail, e-billing, e-shopping and e-research. This community is home to many commuters, “soccer/baseball/football/drama/band” families and time is at a premium. Our website brings the library to you. It allows you to plan ahead to make the best use of your time while you are here. You can order your books, do your basic encyclopedic research, plan your program calendar from home. You can even talk to the staff by sending e-mails (contact us) or by posting to one of our blogs.

We still need a building. Our survey demonstrated that you want more books, more audio books, more videos, more music, and more computers. Our planning process demonstrated that many of you crave a public space to meet and greet your neighbor, study quietly and attend enriching programs. We will always need libraries. They won’t be the privately supported reading rooms this one started out as, and they won’t be warehouses full of books. Libraries have evolved with society. Technology is a fact of life. The virtual library and the library building are two aspects of the same, essential public service that is fundamental to our democracy.

Topics: General | No Comments »

What You Think

By plnkh | April 28, 2006

We took an in-house survey the week of April 17. Here are the results from the 318 responses received:

85% came to the library by car
70% Goshen cardholders; 20 % other RCLS libraries; 6% no card; 4% other states
79.5% come for books; 48.7% for videos; 31.76% for audio books; 25.47% for programs
66.6% find things by browsing; 49.5% use the catalog; 46.8% ask for help
94.9% generally leave satisfied!
33.9% wish we had more new books; 18.8% more DVDs; 16.35% more audio book CDs; 12.26% more music CDs; 7.23% more magazines; 3.46% more foreign language materials; 1.26% more newspapers. Top requests in the ?other? category were space and quiet reading areas.
Additional programs - interest was greatest for adults in the areas of music, computers, local interests/history and health. For children - music.
There was no conclusive ?best? day or time for programs.
79.8% get our newsletter in the mail.
56.9% read the newsletter.
42% find our upcoming events in the Record; 32.7% in the Chronicle; 18.86% in the Independent; 7% on our website.
30.5% use our website for the catalog; 25% to check their account; 7% for the events calendar; 5% for e-reference; 22% do not use the website and 3% did not know we have one.
45% have ordered items from other libraries in the last six months.
75.47% find the library hours convenient.; 3% do not. There was no consensus as to the ?best? add on, though longer Sunday hours and 9 - 9 daily were suggested.
Top choices for computer training were Microsoft Word, basic Windows XP; advanced Internet.

I thank those of you who took time to complete the survey. We will use this information along with the goals and objectives detailed in our strategic plan, to help us improve your library services.

Topics: Announcements | No Comments »

Pleasing our audience

By plnkh | April 14, 2006

I recently attended the bi-annual Public Library Association conference and came back from Boston brimming with ideas (and frustrations). No matter how you look at it our building is too small for the community. The best we can do (and we do our best) is to stress the most heavily used services and address your most frequent demands. Compared to other small public libraries we do a good job. But there is so much more we could, and should be doing for this community that we can’t because we have no space to expand into. To stress one service, fulfilling one need, we have to de-emphasize or eliminate another.

With that in mind we have conducted an in-house survey to determine how we’re doing and what you want that you are not getting. We chose the week of our budget vote for the survey, because voting draws in people who are neither library users nor supporters. Since you all pay taxes and our job is to serve the whole community (babies to seniors), we want to see if we’re overlooking something important to you that we could provide. The survey will continue through Saturday and I’ll publish the results here when they are tallied.

We encourage you to share your thoughts on this Blog. A community dialogue about your library would benefit all of us. If you need help blogging, you can contact Jaemi at the library at 294-6606, x18, or via IM (see sidebar).

And check back soon to see where we are heading.

Topics: General | 2 Comments »

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