Library Director’s Report- May 2009
I want to highlight library services to the Fair Oaks community this month. We implemented a new service model at the branch library a year ago that is proving to be very successful. It is a two part strategy: retooling internal library operations and aggressively getting out into the community. A high-touch customer service model combined with many community-centered programs held in the library (including outside of regular library operating hours) such as computer training in both Spanish and English, storytimes, informational presentations with child care available, and family events have resulted in an incredible 40% increase in circulation, and a 25% increase in visitors this year. Also, by partnering with the School District, our Family Author events (see description of the latest below), have resonated with kids and their families, not only by helping folks understand the power of story and reading but that learning is a community effort. Also our Project Read literacy services have many programs based in the neighborhood’s school—the largest is our KidsInPartnership program which partners elementary children in need of assistance with at-risk high school mentors. We also have many preschool and daycare sites where our Traveling Storytime volunteers read to weekly. All in all our library services, with the help of our community partners and our community-as-partner, are doing what we are charged to do—help our kids and families succeed in school and life. The Fair Oaks Branch Library staff, our Youth Services and Project Read staff, are to be commended in really making a difference in the lives of our residents by helping build a healthy community.
Thanks to the Friends of the Library, we were able this year to bring books and the real, live authors who wrote them to Hoover, Taft, Fair Oaks, and Garfield schools. With the one exception of the Hoover assembly, the programs were community events, held at night and en español so that not only students but their families could come. And come they did. We have had close to a thousand people in our community enjoy the food, festive atmosphere, and inspiring presentations that have been the Family Author Nights.
An estimated two hundred and thirty middle school students and their parents attended the final Family Author Night program at Garfield school. The speaker was Viola Canales. Copies of her autobiographical novel, the tender and funny Tequila Worm, had been given to each 6th, 7th, and 8th grader at Garfield thanks to the generosity of the Friends of the Library. The Friends also brought Viola Canales to Hoover for a middle school assembly, and provided copies of Tequila Worm for each and every 7th and 8th grader. By the time Viola spoke at Hoover, Sonia Sotomayor had been nominated to the Supreme Court. This gave extra resonance to the visit by Canales, a lawyer who grew up poor in a tiny barrio in Texas, gained a scholarship to an elite prep school, went to Harvard, served as a captain in the U.S. Army, worked for the Clinton administration, and now teaches at Stanford. Her talk to the kids was amazing. She spoke not only about dreaming big, but about the hard work – and hardship – it takes to get anywhere. She talked about the importance of staying in school, and about figuring out what your own stories are and letting them sustain you. She was encouraging and inspiring. Afterwards, the students asked questions and lined up excitedly to have their books signed and to make personal contact with the author.
This school year our online one-on-one homework help site has had over 1,200 sessions by our community’s students interacting with expert real time assistance. The average session was 40 minutes, and mostly used by middle and high schoolers. These grades are very difficult to help in our city’s homework centers due to the difficulty of some of the material. This is a 50% increase in use over last year, and we will again fund it this year. By getting the word out more effectively, we should see more and more use. This is a great example of how technology can help us deliver services more efficiently.
Project READ participated in the Day of the Child/Kermes celebration at Fair Oaks School. On this special day, 500 children received a book from Project READ to take home and enjoy and staff reported that children reached for the books even more eagerly than they reached for the animal crackers that were also available at the table! On Wednesday, May 20, 130 students, tutors, and family members gathered at the Fair Oaks School cafeteria to celebrate the hard work and achievements of the KIP participants. Chuck Ashton kicked the evening off, had the crowd engaged and laughing and really set the celebratory tone for the whole night. Each tutor, learner and AmeriCorps member received a handmade, personalized award certificate highlighting their specific contributions and accomplishments during this KIP year.
May was Wetlands Month and the library collaborated with the Loma Prieta chapter of the Sierra Club to create a day of celebration. The wetlands that surround the Redwood Shores Library formed a perfect backdrop for the day. Mayor Rosanne Foust presented a proclamation signed by all council members recognizing Wetlands Month. Supervisor Jerry Hill and Assemblyman Ira Ruskin also spoke to the crowd. Environmental organizations were on hand to discuss their involvement in wetlands. The Marine Science Institute brought leopard sharks, flounders, bay shrimp, red beard coral and other marine life in small touch tanks. Kids were encouraged to create a fish, flipbooks and wetland jewelry. Approximately 400 people attended.
Over 400 community respondents have responded so far to our web survey to name books on the public Book Tower sculpture that will be placed in the parking lot across from City Hall!
The Shores Library again lent close to 50,000 items and had 27,000 visits in May. There has been no let down in business since the doors opened in September. Compare these numbers with Downtown (78,000 items lent, and 48,000 visits), combined with managing four busy community rooms, it is easy to see that our design for the library resulted in a great user-friendly library and an efficient and effective operation. Café improvements should start soon and a grand opening will be planned.
Sequoia High School students visited Downtown Library. These “reluctant students” approached their international social justice projects, with challenging topics like drug policy and violence in Mexico, with interest and intelligence, and had as much to offer as they had to learn. Almost every member of the class visited the library to meet with a librarian to begin to learn about research methods, including searching library databases. Most importantly, they learned that there is help to be found at the Library.
Memorial Day brought the celebration of the 150th anniversary of Union Cemetery. Local History staff attended in full historic costume and portrayed the women of 100 years ago laying flowers on the graves of the Union soldiers in the GAR plot.
Family Learning:
• 264 hours were logged in Project READ’s computer lab. These computers supplement our learners’ experiences from young children to adults. For example students may be researching end of the year papers, teens and tweens writing essays, younger students learning new words through web-based phonics programs, tutoring pairs working together on literacy software, and adults using our lab to help better manage their bills, email family members, and even find new apartments.
• Another example: a family new to the program that has transitioned over from our jail program, is working on a drop-in basis on her reading and writing skills, in addition to attending our monthly story hour with her 5-year-old son and 2-year-old daughter. While mom works on her reading and writing, her son works with tutors on his homework and reading skills, and her youngest is exposed to reading through stories read by our tween tutors (5th through 8th graders), and taking part in pre-literacy crafts. It truly is a shared family experience!
• End of the year conferences have proved to be a very positive experience for many of Project READ’s families. One mom came in to share her 3rd grade son’s success since working with Project READ; “he has shown a 30% increase in reading, writing and math since his last conference.” His teacher wrote to us saying, “With your help he has greatly improved his test scores and his confidence has increased.”
Twenty new tutors graduated from Project READ’s May Tutor Training Workshop. In the 15-hour training, the new tutors learned all about Project READ and the materials and methods they will need to individualize their tutoring sessions based on their learner’s goals and learning style. Each new tutor will be matched one-on-one with a Redwood City adult or child who wants to improve their reading, writing and critical thinking skills.
The Youth Services Department celebrated Children’s Book Week by presenting a series of events for “Cowboy Week.” Cowboy themed craft, bookmaking and storytelling programs at all libraries attracted over 600 children. Thanks to the Girl Scouts working on community service badges and our teen volunteers who helped out.
Library Director


