September 2008 Report

Library Director’s Report-September 2008

We are fortunate to host a Management Exchange staff member, Sarah Nunes, for the next three months. Sarah is a Division Manager for the Human Resources Department at the City of San Jose. She will be developing a customer service training program for the library, along with helping us with other organizational issues such as succession planning, team building and organizational structure.

The grand opening of the Redwood Shores Branch Library was a huge success. On Saturday September 6, more than 1,200 people came to enjoy the grand opening festivities; 500 of these visitors received new library cards; and 10,000 items were checked out on Saturday and Sunday. I want to personally thank our Library staff, City Council, Library Foundation, Redwood Shores Community Association and all City staff that contributed to this great community building project. We should be very proud to be working and living here. For a community to have four unique libraries (and a brand new beautiful one!), and to receive the support we enjoy, is very rewarding and reflective of our wonderful community.
• We also welcomed newly hired staff at the Redwood Shores Branch Library:
o Raymond Delara, Library Assistant
o Lucy Palasek, Library Assistant
o Leticia Torres-Yee, Library Assistant
o Kristin Hope, Senior Library Page
• In September, the Shores Library checked out 44,116 library materials, and issued 1,164 new library cards.
• 21,270 customers visited the Shores Library during the month of September.
• 75% of all users are families on the weekends and kids after school.
• Sundays are the second busiest day, Saturdays the busiest.
• Saturdays and Sundays have been busier than the Downtown Library!
• Customer comments are overwhelmingly positive and grateful.
• The Parks, Recreation and Community Services department is collaborating with the Shores Library by offering classes in meeting rooms of the new library. This month baby skills, yoga, karate and mad science classes were held.
• 40 people attended the first monthly bird walk from the Shores Library led by a Sequoia Audubon Society volunteer. Participants identified 23 species of birds! This will be a monthly program.
• Jacky Averill has been working to secure the building permit for the Interpretive Center for a November installation. She met with consultants and city engineers and even went under the floor to take photos to gather the needed information for the completion of the technical installation drawings.
• With the Redwood City Library Foundation, Jacky secured a $100,000 grant from Oracle for the Redwood Shores Library Interpretive Center, and we have now raised $282,000, ten thousand dollars shy of the total cost!
• Jan Pedden held a reception to thank the Shores volunteers for their hard work at the grand opening. Over sixty people, including staff, attended the event and enjoyed desserts from La Tartine. We will continue to development volunteer opportunities, including Interpretive Center docents/monitors.
• Rochelle Carr, a local artist with her own gallery downtown, has donated a large painting “love of reading” to the Shores Library. She painted it specifically for the new library as she watched it being built (she lives two blocks away!). We will hang it in the family place above the toddler computers.

Although cities and counties escaped huge cuts from the State budget, there is still uncertainty as another deficit looms for next year. 5% reductions in literacy, PLF (public library fund) and TBR (transaction based revenue—money we receive for lending our materials to other libraries) were implemented this year. The State also took money from all city redevelopment agencies, which will affect all funds. Local and regional economic indicators are uncertain at best, and the City Manager will be keeping the organization updated when solid data is in hand.

The Downtown and Fair Oaks libraries will be cutting over to the new fiber optic network in October. This is huge project, and every computer has to be newly configured.

Also this month, 12 new public computers and 2 toddler computers will be installed at Fair Oaks. All upholstered chairs and benches at Fair Oaks have been replaced; the service desk has been completely re-faced; and the lighting has been upgraded. I am negotiating an early date for carpet replacement. The Library Foundation has committed raising $250,000 to replace and augment the library’s book and media collection; and our Library Friends gave $16,000 for library programs for the Fair Oaks community, including continuing our literacy partnerships with schools in the neighborhood.

With the arrival of the Italian Circus setting up next to the Downtown Library from October 17 – 27, parking lot B will not be available for library customers. Here is press release:
Redwood City, CA – The Circus is coming to town! Redwood City is proud to welcome “Zoppé – an Italian Family Circus” from October 23rd through October 26th for spectacular two-hour performances that will enthrall the entire family! The Circus tent will be set up right next to the Downtown Library (1044 Middlefield Road) in Redwood City and will host a gala benefit performance on October 23rd, followed by 2 shows on October 24th and 3 shows on both October 25th and 26th.
Showtimes:
Thursday, October 23, Special Gala Benefit Performance (details to be announced);
Friday, October 24, 4 pm and 8 pm;
Saturday, October 25, noon, 4 pm, and 8 pm;
Sunday, October 26, noon, 4 pm, and 8pm.

Here is an article Malcolm Smith wrote for the newest edition of the city newsletter:
Spotlight on the Redwood City Public Library
With the grand opening last September of the new Redwood Shores Branch Library, Redwood City’s library system has expanded to four branches, now serving every corner of our community!

And these are not your grandparents’ libraries…at Redwood City libraries, there’s music and fun, a variety of programs and presentations, homework help, computer labs, tutoring, a café, workshops and speakers and activities, specialty programs for kids, teens, families, and seniors, special events, videos, DVDs, and CDs, multi-lingual materials, games, Internet workstations – and that’s just the beginning!

Each library is really a community destination, offering an incredible variety of wonderful materials, services, and activities. All together, there are over 64,000 library card holders in Redwood City, who have access to over 300,000 books, CDs, videos and DVDs. Do you have your library card? If not, just visit any branch to get yours, and then enjoy the wondrous and vast opportunities at the Redwood City Public Library.

During the last year, over one million items were loaned out from your libraries – that’s an average of about 13 items for every man, woman, and child within Redwood City. An incredible 116,000 children and families attended library programs or received homework help – and there were nearly 600,000 visits to our libraries, and over 300,000 computer uses by community members.

The Library is also a place for volunteers – over 1,200 library volunteers participated just in the last year, mostly tutoring or reading to children, and they all add great value to the community. For example, tutors from the renowned Project READ program held a total of 57,000 tutoring sessions with their adult learners, while 60 Traveling Storytime volunteers read to over 675 children each week. In fact since 2001, Storytime volunteers have done over 7,000 sessions, reaching a total audience of over 100,000 children!

Other volunteer’s efforts include the Redwood City Library Foundation – their latest success is the raising of an incredible $850,000 to fully stock the new Redwood Shores branch. There’s also the Redwood City Friends of the Library, who raised $50,000 last year in support of programs for adults and youth. And 157 kids in the Library’s Teen Volunteer Program put in nearly 1,200 hours, helping out in our four libraries.

Have you visited a Redwood City Public Library branch lately? Each one offers so much for the community, so many services, and so many events and activities for the whole family:
• Fair Oaks Branch Library – 2510 Middlefield Road, 780-7261
• Schaberg Branch Library – 2410 Euclid Avenue, 780-7010
• Redwood Shores Branch Library – 399 Marine Parkway, 780-5740
• Downtown Library – 1044 Middlefield Road, 780-7018
For a look at what’s going on at the Redwood City Public Library branch near you, visit www.redwoodcity.org/library.