Quarterly Update to City Council

Transcription

1 Sausalito Public Library Quarterly Update to City Council Q1 FY 2018 (July to September 2017) Previous update to Council: Q4 2017, received and filed July 25, 2017 I. Quarterly Accomplishments Promotion of Rebecca Burgan to Senior Library Assistant On August 18, Library Assistant II Rebecca Burgan was promoted to Senior Library Assistant. Rebecca has been with the Library for two years and recently completed the Southern Marin Management Academy. In her role as Senior Library Assistant, Rebecca will manage operations at the Library Circulation Desk, oversee the work and schedules of library assistants and pages, and handle cash deposits and payroll for the department. Rebecca has been a great addition to the Library staff, and we are all looking forward to working with her in her new role. Senior Library Assistant Rebecca Burgan at the Circulation Desk New Library Website A new Library website launched on Wednesday, August 15, the same day that the City of Sausalito launched its new website. The new Library website features an attractive design and color scheme, plus easier access to popular resources like program listings and our digital collections. Assistant City Librarian Augie Webb led the development of the website, which can be found at Page 1 of 7

2 The Sausalito Library homepage at Launch of Kanopy With the launch of the new Library website in August, the Library also launched Kanopy, a streaming movie service that is now available free for Sausalito residents. Kanopy features fifty classics from the Criterion Collection of U.S. and foreign films, including titles like Breathless, Metropolis, and Rashomon. You'll also find thousands of other recent independent and documentary films, such as East Side Sushi, 2 Days in Paris, and I am Not Your Negro. Movies from Kanopy can be viewed on computers, mobile devices (via the Kanopy app for ios and Android), and on televisions via Roku. The Kanopy streaming movie service, now available to Sausalito Library users Page 2 of 7

3 Art Installation by Raylene Gorum It s getting increasingly difficult to do something completely new in the Library, but we pulled it off in August and September with the installation of Knot Language by local artist Raylene Gorum. Made of intricately cut vinyl, Knot Language depicted a chain of knots stretching from one end of the Library's tall windows to the other. According to Raylene, Knot Language was inspired by a convergence of Sausalito's living maritime tradition and the Library, our community's repository of information. Knots depicted included an Inca quipu "talking knot," a Celtic knot, and a Chinese ten accord knot. Although most of the installation has now been peeled off, we have kept the quipu that adorns one of the tall windows. Knot Language by Raylene Gorum (quipu at left) New Writers Circle In August, the Library hosted the first gathering of a new group facilitated by writer and Sausalito resident Cindy Knoebel. The new Sausalito Writers Circle will meet twice a month on Sunday to share and critique each other s work in progress. Members submit up to ten double-spaced, numbered pages (poets: 2 poems) in advance of each session, and the group s time together is spent offering productive and positive feedback to one another. The MeetUp page of the new Sausalito Writers Circle Page 3 of 7

4 Eclipse Program Children s Librarian Erin Wilson hosted a solar eclipse event in Dunphy Park on Monday, August 21, featuring snacks and 80 pairs of eclipse glasses to wear and share. Unfortunately, Sausalito s fickle summer weather did not cooperate, and the morning of August 21 was overcast with thick clouds. The contingency for bad weather was to hand out the eclipse glasses so that people could hop in their cars and seek clear skies to the north or east; at the 9:00 a.m. start of the event, nearly 100 people were lined up for the protective glasses, which were quickly distributed. A long line of people waiting for eclipse glasses on an overcast August 21 Page 4 of 7

5 II. Q1 Metrics For Q1 2018, we ll look at trends in e-book and e-audiobook circulation. The charts below reflect traffic on OverDrive, the Sausalito Library s primary platform for e-books and e-audiobooks. The OverDrive service is available to library users throughout the MARINet system, but the data below is for Sausalito residents only. Looking at the past five years, monthly e-book checkouts are relatively flat, while e-audiobook checkouts have been increasing steadily. These trends are consistent with what is being seen in the publishing world. The most recent data from Publishers Weekly show a 1.6% increase in adult e-book sales for the first five months of 2017, compared to a 26% increase for downloadable audio. The conventional wisdom is that the e-book reading experience isn t enough of an improvement to overtake the print book market. It s a different story with e-audiobooks, which are much more convenient than CDs, and where a smartphone becomes a portable audiobook player with the installation of an app like OverDrive or Audible. This line of thinking is reinforced in our circulation of physical items, where in Q1 2018, the circulation of print books for adults rose by 1%, and circulation of audiobooks on CD fell by 20%, compared to Q E-Book Checkouts 10/1/2012 2/1/2013 6/1/ /1/2013 2/1/2014 6/1/ /1/2014 2/1/2015 6/1/ /1/2015 2/1/2016 6/1/ /1/2016 2/1/2017 6/1/ E-Audiobook Checkouts 10/1/2012 2/1/2013 6/1/ /1/2013 2/1/2014 6/1/ /1/2014 2/1/2015 6/1/ /1/2015 2/1/2016 6/1/ /1/2016 2/1/2017 6/1/2017 Page 5 of 7

6 III. Goals for Q and Beyond In this section, we will look at current and future initiatives underway to improve and expand library services in the community. Hiring a New LA II We received 16 applications to fill the Library Assistant II position formerly held by Rebecca Burgan. Applications were due by Friday, September 22. The first round of interviews for the LA II position are scheduled for Friday, October 20. The Library Assistant II is a full-time employee who splits his or her time between helping the public at the service desk and processing new library materials in the staff workroom. New Furniture In the spring, the Library staff arranged a visit from an ergonomics specialist from Kaiser Permanente. The specialist recommended new chairs and keyboard trays for staff in the workroom. We are currently in the process of testing new chairs, which we expect to pay for with a grant from the Sausalito Library Foundation. New Shade A new electric shade has been installed for the high windows of the children s room. Unfortunately, the company we worked with ordered the wrong covering for the shade, so we have been waiting for a replacement part, which should be installed soon. Once the covering is in place, we will complete electrical work and the shade will be operational. The shade will be at its most useful during the summertime, when the late afternoon sun blinds Library users and interferes with presentations on our projection screen. Owls Our blockbuster program for the fall of 2017 will be Owls: Spies in the Sky, a Friday evening program presented by Sausalito resident Robert Timineri. The program will feature a visit from two owls from WildCare, the wildlife hospital and San Rafael, followed the demonstration of an owl in flight by Master Falconer Kate Marden, the founder of West Coast Falconry in Marysville. Digital Newspaper Archives The Library currently has two separate digital archives of Sausalito newspapers, the Sausalito News from 1885 to 1966 and the Marin Scope from 1971 to Thanks to a grant from the Sausalito Library Foundation, we ll be bringing the two collections together onto the same platform, the California Digital Newspaper Collection. The merger of the collections will save money in the long run and make it possible to search across both archives at once, rather than moving back and forth between two different archives. Respectfully submitted, Abbot Chambers, City Librarian October 11, 2017 Page 6 of 7

7 APPENDIX: Q Statistical Dashboard Page 7 of 7