January 2009 Report

Library Director’s Report- January 2009 

 

 

We are planning different ways to engage and inform staff around the upcoming City budget process. Weekly drop-in brown bags, regular unit and all-staff meetings will be held, along with frequent updates from me via email. I would like all staff to stay informed and feel like they have a say in the hard financial decisions ahead.

 

Sign of the times: computer use for resume writing is increasing daily. Staff is spending a lot of time assisting folks; and classes are being scheduled.

 

Our Youth Agenda Initiative, the collaboration with Library, PRCS, PD and the City Manager’s office, is winding down an intensive training on serving youth. We will then begin to train all staff, and look towards phase two: organization assessment on how effective our services are. This will include community surveys, on-site consultants reviewing and analyzing our programs, and making recommendations. This is very exciting, and although it is a multi-year process, should help us tremendously.

 

Redwood Shores use continues to be heavier than anticipated—not only in lending materials, but program attendance, visitor count and meeting room bookings. RFPs for the Café space will be reviewed in early February. We will also be adding a nice quiet room off the lobby for those who would like to read in absolute silence.

 

A crew from Split Rock Studios arrived January 16 with a truckload of custom fabricated mud, birds and fish which were squeezed through the doors of the Redwood Shores Branch Library. Over the next 7 days, Jacky Averill and Carlos Espinoza orchestrated installers, electricians and aquarium specialists while the Environmental Interpretive Center took shape. Work continues on several exhibits before the completed project opens to the public at the end of Feburary.

 

We are fortunate to have some intensive City IT assistance working at the Library during the next few months—training staff, upgrading our network and servers, and standardizing our desktops, hardware and protocols to City standards.

 

A contract has been signed for a small CIP project to upgrade the signage system at the Downtown Library. The learning center/teen space remodel/HVAC project has not gone out to bid yet due to issues with the rooftop placement of the new units.

 

The library’s Customer Service Team is meeting twice per month. The team is currently working on devising standard telephone guidelines; email guidelines; a customer service survey; and consistent circulation policies.  Information will be shared and discussed with all library staff.

 

Thanks to generous funding from the Friends of the Library, an exciting slate of Family Author Nights in the schools is being planned for the late winter and spring.  Family Author Nights are the ultimate in community building, partnering with schools to provide books and an evening presentation at the school that is open not only to students, but their entire family as well. Last year’s pilot program at Hoover School drew over 350 people to hear writer Francisco Jimenez, who not only inspired his audience but who stayed for hours afterwards to sign copies of his book – copies which had been given to every middle schooler at Hoover as part of the program. This year, the Friends have allowed us to expand the program to four schools, and to provide copies of the authors’ books to students for free. Talks are given in Spanish, with simultaneous translation provided. Support from the schools is terrific, with parent groups selling food as fund-raisers, organizing raffles and child care, and teachers generally collaborating enthusiastically in order to guarantee success. The Family Author Nights scheduled so far are:

• February 12 at Hoover School: illustrator Elizabeth Gomez, local artist and painter of the mural that hangs above the Spanish books in the Family Place Downtown.
• March 25 at Taft School, Yuyi Morales, just named winner of the Pura Belpre prize. Check out her website: http://www.yuyimorales.com/
• May 21 at Garfield School, Viola Canales, author of The Tequila Worm, ex-army captain and currently teaching at Stanford.
• Viola Canales will also be appearing at Hoover for an afternoon assembly in May.
• Fair Oaks will also host a program; stay tuned for details.

The Library also received a grant from Maureen Hayes Author/ Illustrator Visit Award for $3,800 to host an additional author visit to Garfield Elementary Charter School. Noted children’s author, Pam Munoz-Ryan, has agreed to visit and we are in negotiation to include 2 more schools.

 

 

Reports from Library Managers:

 

Redwood Shores

• 46,429 library materials were checked out.
• 14,468 customers visited the library.
• Storytimes at the Redwood Shores Branch Library continue to be very popular with 685 attending this month!
• In response to our teen customers looking for programs and activities geared towards their age group, a weekly “Teen Activities and Gaming” program has begun.  Each Wednesday, from 2:00pm – 5:00pm, library staff (Ray) is available in the Teen Room to work with teens from the ages of 12 through 18 and grades 6 through 12, providing gaming with the Wii and other activities of interest.  This month, 44 enthusiastic teens participated in the activities.  The teens are very thankful for the program and they have mentioned that that they will tell their friends about it.  The library will be adding additional programs in the future.
• Library staff (Leti, Lucy, Ray and Liz) received an information questions-answering training session provided by a Downtown Library staff member (Roz).  The training covered the types of questions that the staff is asked during the course of their work; open-ended reference questions and responses; and information on utilizing the various databases and online services that are available.  This training has proven to be very valuable to the staff.
• Library staff (Lucy) is going through storytelling training and once completed, will be able to assist with and provide storytelling during the storytime sessions that are offered at the library.
• 104 students utilized the Homework Center this month.  The Homework Center is open Monday and Tuesday, 3:00pm-6:00pm; Wednesday, 1:00pm-6:00pm; and Thursday, 3:00pm-6:00pm.  Any students that need assistance with their homework or a place to do their homework in an environment that is conducive to school work are welcome.
• Library staff (Kasia) has spent a significant amount of time this month working on and resolving a variety of computer related issues at all of our library facilities.  The library staff is very appreciative of Kasia’s knowledge and expertise in this area. 
• Artwork by 3^rd grade students from Sandpiper, Belmont Oaks and Nesbit Schools is on display in the Storytelling Room.  We are very pleased to have the students’ original artwork featured in the library.
• The Redwood Shores Branch Library invited the community to celebrate an historic moment, by hosting a viewing of the 2009 Presidential Inauguration on Tuesday, January 20, when Barack Obama was sworn into office as the 44^th President of the United States of America.  The library opened the doors to the community room at 7:00am and provided continuous coverage of the day’s events on our big screen television, as 60 community residents enjoyed each other’s company and shared stories as they witnessed history.  The community was very appreciative and thanked the library for providing the venue and the opportunity for community building.

 

Schaberg

• 13,823 library materials were checked out.
• 5,806 customers visited the library.
• 235 children attended the various story time sessions that were held this month.
• The Homework Center was well attended this month, with 318 students coming in to get assistance with their homework.  The Homework Center is open Monday through Wednesday, 2:00pm-5:00pm; and Thursday, 1:00pm-5:00pm.
• Library Assistant Carla Nolasco has transferred to the Schaberg Branch Library—welcome Carla.
• Library staff (Mary Lou, Wendy and Carla) has worked diligently to keep the Schaberg library collection “refreshed” by featuring and merchandizing the collection and maintaining various displays throughout the month.

 

Fair Oaks:

• Statistics—Fair Oaks Branch circulated 7,716 library items, 13% more compared with January 2008.
• Programming—Programs continue to be successful.  This month Rosca de Reyes program drew 125 participants.  Other standing monthly program, Basic Computer classes on Monday evenings has 4 to 6 participants per session. Family Friday Night, a parents support group, presented Personal Finance and budgeting workshop to 62 participants. El Concilio de San Mateo continues its nutrition workshops with an average of 12 participants per session.
• Beginning January 13, Armando Ramirez started a trial of Tiny Tales story time, one at 12:00 noon and another one at 3:00pm.   We are testing which will be the most popular to decide on schedule.  It was a great start with 6 participants to up to 16 participants.
• Armando started a book club with students from the Opportunity School which helps High School students who at risk.  The school is located in the Fair Oaks Community Center.  This month they are reading The Circuit by Francisco Jimenez, they will continue with Breaking Through to finish with Reaching Out.
• Staff—two new faces are part of the Fair Oaks Library Team.  Erica Gonzalez-Palafox is our newest Part-Time Library Assistant and Luis Sosa, a new Page.  Staff has been working with them on providing a good customer service, keeping the collection in order and making materials available to customers as soon as possible. Also, duties performed by Carla Nolasco will be distributed among all Fair Oaks staff.  Kasia have been working on fixing the problems with the public computers.
• The Fair Oaks Branch received a grant from the Friends of the Library for programs.  Maria Diaz-Slocum attended the Friends meeting and gave an update on all the Fair Oaks programs sponsored by the Friends and how much we have spent to date. Also, Maria as the Library Representative at the Immigrants Day Committee is working on the publicity part. 
• Downtown:
• Statistics—Downtown circulated 67,326 library materials; 7 % less than last January 2008.
• Shifting:—Jenny and Elisa coordinated a major collection shifts which: brought more capacity for materials downstairs, compacted and refreshed the fiction collection, added a gondola to the New Fiction collection and Home and Garden section.  Travel DVDs are in the travel section allowing easier access to customers to this collection. New mysteries have moved to the Reading Room and the Friends of the Library have been able to expand their book selection to the public. Science Fiction paperbacks have been added to the new science fiction section. And to inform the customers where the collection moved, staff has been working on signs for both Downtown and Redwood Shores.
• Plans are to move the Fiction collection downstairs for better customer service.
• We instituted the Quick Picks program which will allow customers access to non-holdable items in our collection. This collection of materials is meant to keep hot-ticket items on our shelves.
• Purchases—We bought  new trade paperbacks, computer books for Downtown and Redwood Shores, new cookbooks, new Books on CD; working on a $50,000 acquisition of  Adult DVD order for Downtown; staff has been quickly working through the large J DVD order and repackaging needs.
• About 75 people attended Dr. Amy Ladd’s excellent presentation on hand arthritis.  This program was co-sponsored by Stanford Health Library and the Friends of the Library.  Information on the standard of care for this common ailment held interest from many in the Redwood City Community and beyond.  The talk was filmed for more online users in the future.
• Local Self-help author and coach, Maryam Webster returned to the Downtown Library to discuss weight loss, and increased her audience by focusing on this popular topic.  A great story-teller, Maryam told about her personal journey, recovering from a major trauma and losing fifty pounds, sharing energy techniques that anyone can employ.
• Panelist Moazzam Sheikh, author of The Idol Lover and Other Stories from Pakistan, complimented our questions as being “on the intelligent side,” which is saying a lot given that the subject matter was South Indian literature and poetry.
• Knitting class continues to be popular; at the last class the group took up three tables in the fireplace room, including two children.
• In attendance for all our January 2009 adult programs were163 participants.
• Upcoming Programs—the library is partnering with PeninsulaWorks.  Peninsula Works will offer a workshop on computer based job search and career research on Thursday, March 12 at noon in the Computer Lab.  This workshop is being presented by Yvette Alzugaray, San Mateo County Employment Services Specialist. 
• Professional Development—Maria Kramer attended American Libraries Association Midwinter Conference in Denver, Colorado. 
• Molly Spore-Alhadef attended the 2009 Digitization Symposium held on January 9 at San Francisco Public Library. Topics of interest at this symposium were on copyright, imaging issues, digitizing newspapers & newsletters and primary resources.
• Interesting questions—we had several researchers who are writing books whose subjects that touch Redwood City in some way, e.g. the man writing a book about the man who attempted a solo round-the-world bicycle trip and passed through RC making the front page of the newspaper in 1892. There was also the documentary film maker who wanted the photo of Varney the pilot who was so active at the RC airport in 1920, and subsequently founded United Air Lines.
• Certainly the most memorable event was the publication of “Art Deco San Francisco” which traces the career of Timothy Pflueger the famous Bay Area architect who designed the Fire Station which houses the Downtown Library.  The writer, Therese Poletti, came here to research the Fire Station construction, and graciously thanked Molly and the History Room in her Acknowledgements at the beginning of the book.

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  Youth Services:

  • Along with planning the Family Author Nights, Cristina and all the Youth Services librarians have been busy getting ready for the KinderCard SuperSaturday on February 21. Every kindergartener in the district got a library card application and a visit from a librarian, plus an invitation to the open house.
  • Caroll and Jan had a table at the Pre-School Preview Night at Red Morton on January 28.  They distributed library card applications and flyers on February events and story time schedules.
  • Chuck was the guest storyteller and wrap-up speaker at the Silicon Valley Community Foundation’s “Raising a Reader Early Literacy Conference” held at Sequoia High School on Saturday, January 24^th.  130 parents, preschool teachers and day care providers attended the event.
  • Jacky and Sarah created a display of Marley and Me books, calendars, and pamphlets which were provided free from Fox Pictures to coincide with the release of the movie. All of the materials were given to surprised and happy kids and teens.
  • Caroll co-hosted the San Mateo County Reading Association’s Author Breakfast featuring Cynthia Chin Li and Ashley Wolf at Redwood Shores Branch Library on January 31.
  • Fearing that no one would come for a program immediately after New Year’s Day, Chuck decided to save a performers fee by putting on a puppet show himself for the monthly Dad and Me @ the Library program. Amazingly, nearly 100 kids and parents attended the Saturday morning program.
  • The monthly Family Night program featured Fratello Marionettes performing a show of the classic fairytale “The Frog Prince.” The measure of a good show is how well it holds the audience’s attention. Not only was the audience completely involved in the performance, many (including two other puppeteers in the audience) stayed fifteen to twenty minutes after the show to look at the marionettes and talk with puppeteer Kevin Menegus.
  • Traveling Storytime volunteer and now paid on-call storyteller Judith Roman began Wednesday morning Preschool and Tiny Tale storytimes at Redwood Shores. The storytimes were added in response to the large audiences attending Jan Pedden’s storytimes there on Thursdays.
  • Teen Area and Collection: Sarah created a display with books that had faces on the covers.  The display was called “Putting your best face forward in the New Year.” These attractive covers have been popular and Sarah needed to refill the display twice.
  • Volunteers: Sarah worked with 38 volunteers for a total of 84.75 hours in the month of January.  During the weekly art activity, Sarah noticed that the teens were not spending as much time with the kids as they should be so Sarah has started modeling behavior with the teens again.  She also took them aside and talked about her expectations and what they could do to be positive role models for the children.  Hopefully in the next couple of weeks they will be able to embrace these ideas.  This month the children made owls from heart shapes, snowmen with buttons, polar bears covered in cotton and foam mittens.  A total of 57 people attended.
  • The Library Teen Council met to create fantastic posters for the Twister Event and to help develop publicity for the Valentines in February.
  • School Collaboration: This month Sarah worked with an Intern (Cinthia Zamora) from Summit Preparatory Charter High School.  Cinthia completed the following tasks during her 85 hours at the library: created a storytime including flannel board, queried customers for a customer service survey, analyzed data from the surveys and created a report, observed storytimes and reference desk interviews, ran Nintendo Wii gaming at the Redwood Shores Library, and created a children’s program on water sports which she will run in May or June.  Cinthia will be returning for another 85 hours in May.
  • Sarah attended the monthly High School Librarian’s meeting at the Menlo-Atherton Library.  She is trying to find dates to run Library Card Registration day at each of the High Schools.  
  • Sarah started a new Teen Book Club which has been named “Talk Soup.”  They will be meeting on the first Tuesday of each month.  In February they will discuss Speak, by Laurie Halse Anderson.  The first meeting was a great success with 9 teens and 2 adults attending.  The rules for the group are as follows: 1. Dialog not Debate; 2. Everyone’s Opinion is Valid; 3. Have Fun; 4. Good Food.  Sarah was excited to see so many teens connecting over literature. 
  • Jan’s Redwood Shores storytimes are being very well attended with an average total of 150 people attending her three weekly storytimes.  Jan helped oversee the addition of two more storytimes at Redwood Shores by training Judith Roman in the “fine art” of reading to babies and their parents.  Judith’s storytimes are also growing each week!  
  • Jan also has the opportunity to help the new Spanish bilingual storyteller prepare for her first event at Redwood Shores and to meet with families at the Preschool Preview event.

   

  Project READ

  • Project READ trained 16 new tutors in January.  They completed 15 hours of training and will be matched in one-on-one pairs with learners from Project READ’s youth, adult and family programs to improve their literacy skills.
  • In December, over 100 KIP learners, tutors and families came together to celebrate a successful semester of tutoring, learning and community service.  Our teen and preteen tutors completed over 1200 hours of community service tutoring in the KIP program during the fall 2008 semester!
  • In January, we kicked off the New Year with a story hour at Fair Oaks Community Library.  Over 60 students, tutors and family members joined in the sing-along story time and the musical instrument crafts.  Everyone also had the chance to make their very own 2009 KIP Story Hour calendars, an annual highlight.
  • KIP at the Library is also up and running with 40+ pairs.  All students have an assessment-based, individualized tutoring plan, which their teen tutors implement during their sessions.  In addition, KIP pairs have been working on their expressive language skills, telling and writing stories in a variety of formats including using story boards, creating video books, folded booklets, and finger puppet scripts.
  • In addition to KIP at the Library, 9 other students are paired with AmeriCorps members at Fair Oaks Elementary in a program that has affectionately become known as “bonus KIP.”  These pairs were formed to meet a wide variety of individual needs, including students who are receiving special education services, students who are significantly behind their peers and students who are at grade level, but still need the extra support as they enter more advanced grades and make the shift from learning to read, to learning from reading.
  • We continue to welcome new learners and families to our Family Literacy Center, and work together with our established community of learners. This month we have seen some amazing progress with both our adult and children learners. We are excited about getting our new computer lab up-and-running, as are our learners. In January alone, 40 learners used our lab, clocking in over 90 hours of computer usage.  While learners are on the waiting list or between tutoring sessions they are now able to receive help at Project READ’s new Family Literacy Center.  We are very fortunate to have our AmeriCorps members are here to help with our instruction time, both homework help, and drop-in tutoring. We also have welcomed new volunteers that help on a drop-on basis, and are looking forward to more volunteers in the upcoming months. With the help of our volunteers we were able to offer 62 hours of instruction that included homework help, one-on-one tutoring, and even some small group tutoring.
  • Project READ’s first FFL Story hour of the New Year brought in a lot of laughter. Daffy Dave clowned around with the families, showing off his wacky moves. He got a lot of laughs! More than 80 learners and family members attended this month’s Story hour, and took part in five pre-literacy crafts centered around homemade musical instruments. Families were able to go home with new books to build their home libraries, including this month’s family book, “It’s Raining, It’s Pouring.”  The event was a success with the help of many community volunteers, including 15 Hands On Bay Area volunteers.

More Project READ Success Stories!

 

We know we are successful at Project READ when our learners return to the program as tutors. The ripple effect, however, is even greater than we suspected. Marta and her three children — Diego, Erick and Carolina – all former learners in our program have graduated from Project READ’s tutor training and now volunteer their time to tutor other new learners in need of literacy help. Diego, now 18, was the first in the family to make the move from learner to tutor in 2005. He tutored while he was in high school and is now attending college. Marta was next; encouraged by her son, she became a tutor in 2007. Erick, 15, and Carolina, 14, are now learners-turned-tutors too. They are a family of diligent and hard working learning partners – proof of the profound effect of Project READ and lifelong learning.

 

Robert, one of our adult learners who came to us to improve upon his basic reading and writing skills, achieved some major goals this month. In addition to building his basic reading skills, he has grown his own vocabulary and spelling words to enable him to complete a sample invoice from his work, one of Robert’s major learning goals. In addition to improving reading, he’s been writing, spelling and even completing crossword puzzles! This was a great month for Robert.

 

Louis, an adult learner, has been in the construction industry for over 30 years, but has never actually been able to read numbers, or understand measurements. This month Louis learned how to measure using a tape measure and ruler, understanding the appropriate mathematical terms, units of measure and even conversions. We tried different learning techniques, until we found one that worked. Louis was so happy and proud of his accomplishment. He asked a pretty simple question: “Why didn’t someone just show me this years ago?”

 

Another new member is Kevin, a second grader. Kevin, a very shy, emergent reader, came to Project READ just a month ago. Since that time he has certainly come out of his shell, and loves to play word building games with our volunteers, and other learners. He comes in regularly with his dad to work on homework, reading, and computer games. We started duet reading with Kevin, and last week Kevin and his dad came in to show off his reading— he read his first book to us and even wrote a few sentences about the story (with the help of his dad). It was a great learning moment for both Kevin and his dad.