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2. Chanhassen Library Annual Report CITY OF CHANHASSEN 7700 Market Boulevard PO Box 147 Chanhassen, MN 55317 Administration Phone: 952.227.1100 Fax: 952.227.1110 Building Inspections Phone: 952.227.1180 Fax: 952,227.1190 Engineering Phone: 952.227.1160 Fax: 952.227.1170 Finance Phone: 952.227.1140 Fax: 952.227.1110 Park & Recreation Phone: 952.227.1120 Fax: 952.227.1110 Recreation Center 2310 Coulter Boulevard Phone: 952.227.1400 Fax: 952.227.1404 Planning & Natural Resources Phone 952.227.1130 Fax: 952.227.1110 Public Works 1591 Park Road Phone: 952.227.1300 Fax: 952.227.1310 Senior Center Phone: 952.227.1125 Fax: 952.227.1110 Web Site W'/IW. ci .chan hassen.mn. us J. -- TO: Todd Gerhardt, City Manager Laurie Hokkanen, Assistant City Manager }J.1)v O~ FROM: DATE: April 4, 2007 SUBJECT: Chanhassen Library - Annual Report Attached please find the 2006 Annual Report for the Chanhassen Library. Janet Kinney, Branch Manager, will be present to give an overview of the Library's operations and future plans. The City of Chanhassen · A growing community with clean lakes, quality schools, a charming downtown, thriving businesses, winding trails, and beautiful parks. A great place to live, work, and play. City of Chanhassen Library 2006 Annual Report Janet Kinney, Branch Manager 2006 was a year of change at the Library. Due to increased funding the Library was able to add service hours to accomplish the long standing goal of seven day service and to increase the open hours Monday through Friday. This change resulted in increased service in all of the measures we track. We also had several staff changes and increased our programming for young people and adults. The report below summarizes the year 2006 at your library and I look forward to talking with you at the April meeting. Public Service These are the primary statistical indicators that libraries use to measure their business: Statistical Indicators: 2006 2005 Chanqe Circulation (Items checked out): 288,224 255,450 +13% % of Circulation done on self-check machines 64% 61% Visits (as measured by gate count) 280,490 249,951 +12% Hours of Internet Use 39,938 30,891 +29% New Customers (Library Cards) 3,379 3,699 - 9% Hours Open 2,877 2,366 +22% The Library was able to restore and expand public service hours beginning in April 2006. This has proven to be very popular with our users, as indicated by the increase in circulation and the number of visits. The new Sunday service hours (1 pm-5pm) are well used and seem to attract families who linger in the library longer than at other times of the week. We also observe the frantic student getting ready for the start of the new school week and business people hiding away with a laptop connected to the wireless to finish a report. And we even see folks "just reading!" The efficiencies represented by patron self-pickup of holds and self-check outs continue to be a great support to our service delivery. The self-check out machines remain extremely popular with the children but patrons of all descriptions use them regularly and seem satisfied with the process. One of the most popular services that we offer, access to public computers and printers, is still a challenge. The public computing environment is frequently changing (for the better!) but therefore the staff needs to assess and solve a variety of challenges while multi-tasking other duties. The solution appears to be continuous training and the staff has accepted the challenge! The service is used by every type of patron and is clearly still needed even in this highly "wired" community. The work at the Information desk continues to transform. The Librarians still field interesting and challenging traditional reference questions, but the increase in Readers Advisory inquiries is dramatic. While this is a core service for a public library, the traditional library tools do not always serve us well. The Librarians are developing web sites and using online tools and doing "just-in- time training" by collaborating with each other to provide interesting recommendations to the great readers of Chanhassen. Public Contact Chanhassen Library continues to provide a wide variety of programs designed to meet the interests of young and not so young library users. Youth Service programs are key to our work and there were many outstanding events for kids and teens this year. Maren Wilbur worked with Melissa Brechon and District 112 to develop the first "Hooked on Books" program. This was a Saturday morning program designed to encourage families to include reading in their daily lives. Maren provided a pre-school story time; library cards were issued and the Director participated in a read a-loud. The Friends of the Library provided financial support so that we could give each child a library bag with a book and information about the library. It was very well attended and will be held again in February 2007. One of the most important library services is the Summer Reading Program. Research proves that a child who reads during the summer returns to school in the fall ready to learn. This year's theme was "Catch the Beat at Your Library." The youth program was for infants to students entering 5th grade in the fall and the teen program was for students entering 6th grade through 12th grade. The Program ran from June 9 to August 19th. Summer Reading for Kids includes reading records to encourage kids to read at least 20 hours; special performances to attract families to the library; incentives for completing reading goals and a Book Review contest for teens. The registration for the reading program, 2,259 kids, reflected an increase of 300 kids over the year before and 3,849 kids attended a performance over the summer. This amount of programming and excitement would not have been possible without the exceptional support from the Friends of the Chanhassen Library and the Chanhassen business community. Cash and in-kind contributions allowed the Library to offer prizes and incentives throughout the summer. The kids loved it and it helped keep the kids reading during the summer. A complete report on the Chanhassen Summer Reading Program was prepared in September and is available in the Library. " Other services for children included the continuation of the family story times and the lap sit story times. Class visits to the library included most of the kindergarten classes in our service area and various private and public school classes pursuing research for papers. The teens responded well to a DDR (Dance, Dance Revolution) Party. The adult programming continued with many successful programs. Rowena Lauterbach has primary responsibility for the Summer Reading for Adults which featured a Summer Scavenger Hunt, and "Hot Reads for a Cold Night" which encouraged winter reading by offering suggestions for great books and prizes! Both of these programs are very popular and will be offered and probably expanded in 2007. The Great Decisions Series is a very important part of the Library's programming. Funded by a grant from the Friends and organized by the Foreign Policy Association, these outstanding programs present expert opinions on the hot topics of the day. We have also had many local authors come and discuss their writing and absorbing sessions on topics ranging from the Greatest Generation to "Forgetfulness: is it normal or a warning sign?" Kathy Perschmann is the force behind this great programming and she is always coming up with new ideas and great presenters. Kathy Perschmann is also responsible for the adult Book Clubs in a Bag, a wonderful service that now includes 28 titles. Community Involvement The Friends of the Chanhassen Library remain very good Friends indeed. The three book sales a year are eagerly awaited community events. The Friends participated in the Chanhassen February Fest by sponsoring the Medallion Hunt and a Literary Bingo game played on the ice. They supported a Poetry Contest for children, the Summer Reading Program (both mentioned above) and the Barkus parade! For adults, they supported 11 author talks, 3 musical programs and 8 Great Decisions Foreign Policy discussions, and the Books in a Bag program. The active Friends do so much to make the library and its services come alive in the community including contributing over $9,000 in direct funding to the programs of the library and countless volunteer hours and gifts in kind. The Branch Manager represents the library at the Chamber of Commerce and serves on the Business, Industry and Education committee. This is a great opportunity to get to know the business leaders and some of the students in Chanhassen. Collection Development The collection at Chanhassen continues to grow and expand as a result of improved funding. Delays that resulted from issues with a major vendor resulted in fewer juvenile titles being received during the early months of the year, but a concerted effort on the part of Donna Peterson and Janet Karius released a flood of beautiful new kid's materials during the last quarter. Chanhassen staff took the opportunity to shift the children's collection to accommodate more non- fiction, to better display the AV resources and to more prominently display the magazines. The room looks great and the books are much easier to shelve and to retrieve. Some recent trends continue: electronic resources are replacing print copies of reference books and periodicals; demand continues high for current materials on computers, jobs, travel, decorating; school assignment information; and just plain "good reads." Staff After a time of relative stability in staffing, Chanhassen had considerable turn over this year. Library Assistant Christi Barich completed nursing school and left to pursue her career. Ingrid Rimmereide was selected to fill the position. Budget changes and extended public service hours allowed for the hiring of part-time librarian Geraldine Gillis and part-time library assistant Gail Iskierka, who handles some of the increasing inter-library loan traffic. In August, Circulation Supervisor Geri Thostenson resigned to accept a position with the Public Schools and Mary Wilson, former Carver County manager and life time county resident assumed the Circulation Manager's position. In September, Branch Manger Chad Lubbers accepted a position with the Washington County Library system. Janet Kinney, formerly of the Brooklyn Public Library, became the Branch Manager at the beginning of October. BuildinQs This Chanhassen Library building continued to operate at a very high level of performance. Routine maintenance was beautifully handled by the city staff. The primary areas of continuing concern regarding the interiors of the building are the ergonomics of the materials handling and the temperature in staff areas and the two conference rooms. Plans are being made to address these issues. The other building issue is the external signage. Great thanks go to Todd Hoffman of Chanhassen Parks and Recreation who was able to fund a project to raise the exterior lighted sign to increase its visibility. The next challenge will be to get signage on the building. An amazing number of Chanhassen residents still do not realize this is a public library. Branch Goals for 2007 The following goals were identified by the Chanhassen Library staff at the January 10, 2007 all- staff meeting. 1) Improve service to teens: Create a teen Advisory Board ) Increase teen programming and activities Increase teen reading opportunities - 2) Increase community visibility Improve publicity for programs Increase outreach to senior communities, faith based communities and schools Increase diversity in cultural programming Sponsor a community open house 3) Improve collections Weed selected Dewey classifications of the adult non-fiction collection Staff training on adult readers advisory Improve access to children's series books Improve teen fiction collection 4) Improve the physical environment of the library Start coffee service for the public Improve lighting in teen area Add warming touches to the library.