July and August 2009

 

Library Director’s Report- July and August 2009

It was a busy summer:

 

                              Downtown   Fair Oaks    Schaberg         Shores                         Total

Circulation

Jul-2008	78,365	8,052	15,511	211		102,139
Jul-2009	83,774	12,164	16,608	53,008		165,554
Aug-2008	69,907	6,740	14,615	180		91,442
Aug-2009	83,525	11,292	16,440	52,981		164,238

 

Visitors

Jul-2008	42,193	4,940	5,628	0		52,761
Jul-2009	44,991	8,546	6,976	25,927		86,440
Aug-2008	39,493	7,485	5,194	0		52,172
Aug-2009	45,103	11,974	6,619	26,609		90,305

 

Over 3,000 kids and parents participated in our Summer Reading Program to keep families reading over the summer!

 

4,000 folks attended a family program this summer at our four libraries.

 

The Library Foundation, in conjunction with the Fair Oaks Branch Library, hosted very successful booths at the North Fair Oaks Community Festival. The Foundation raised money; however, the greatest benefits were the connections with residents regarding the Foundation’s campaign for books, including connecting with several individuals that offered to help. It was a major undertaking that required many hands: twenty foundation members, library staff and volunteers were involved (and no one had time to sit!)

 

Project READ’s tutors and learners were honored in July at Project READ’s Annual BBQ and Award Ceremony. Our youth tutor and learners were specifically recognized not only for their hard work tutoring and studying during the school year, but also for their artistic talents and contributions to the BBQ decorations. These decorations, which are the culmination of a year’s worth of art projects, transformed the CAB building into a beautiful yearbook of all of the faces that form the Project READ family! Vice-Mayor Howard and Supervisor Groom very generously attended this great event.

 

Thanks to the incredible generosity of Project READ donors including the generous donations from the Redwood City Employee’s Giving Campaign, our volunteers helped us pack new backpacks filled with school supplies and gave them away to over 280 Project READ FFL, FLIC and KIP families. Due to the economy, this year’s backpack giveaway was greatly needed and much appreciated. Families came in throughout the week to express their gratitude and appreciation—the smiles on their faces were worth all the stuffing. Families went home ready for the first day of school with new backpacks, school supplies, and lunch bags. Parents continue to call and express their gratitude, explaining that if it had not been for this program, their children would not have had a backpack or the necessary school supplies this year. One father of three, exclaimed, “Thank you so much. I didn’t know what I was going to do because I don’t have a job anymore.”

      

In response to our budget situation, and to position us for the future, the Downtown Library is experimenting with new staffing models of customer service in response to becoming for efficient with our resources, similar to our branch libraries model. Other areas that our staff are working on: a more proactive model of customer service; more self-service options for our customers; a more effective way to answer phone calls; the use of technology to make our materials handling more efficient; remote and portable computer tools for staff; more meaningful opportunities for volunteers; and an increase in cross-training.

 

In the month of August we had a total of 41 teen volunteers that worked for a total of 318 ¾ hours! This is the largest amount of time in one month.

 

The Redwood City Public Library is participating with the San Mateo County Internship Program Job for Youths. This program pays for half of the interns cost. The internship program is geared to provide young adults valuable work experience and to develop employment skills. Starting in August, we have had interns working at the Downtown Library as Pages and Senior Pages. They will be working with us for several months.

 

Jacky Averill and Roz Kutler presented at the American Library Association Annual Conference about devoting library space to interactive exhibits. They proudly showed off our wonderful and innovative Environmental Interpretive Center at the Redwood Shores Library.

 

Jenny Davis has been selected to attend the 2009 Eureka! Leadership Institute, sponsored by the California State Library. This is a very competitive process and the panel commended her for her excellent application and project description. The fellows will meet in San Jose for one week in October and will focus on developing our future leaders’ skill sets using real-world applications through each participants project (Jenny’s project is to research, analyze and devise service responses for the library non-user). They will also meet via the web and attend several day meetings during the year.

 

Last month at City Council:

• The Mayor and Council officially recognized Kathy Endaya, the Project READ staff and their volunteers for receiving a proclamation from the San Mateo County Board of Supervisors honoring our program for its work with literacy in general, and the inmate program at the Maguire Correctional Facility and Women’s County Correctional Facility, specifically. This successful volunteer-based literacy program has grown to serve over 280 inmates annually and also extends literacy services their families.
• The Mayor and Council also officially recognized Liz Meeks and Brian Lee for some great Redwood Shores Library accolades: winning the Award of Merit from the American Public Works Association; the 2009 Outstanding Achievement Award from the Western Council of Construction; receiving kudos for being one of the best child- and family-friendly libraries in the Bay Area; and general all around excellence as a library! Mayor Foust was very enthusiastic about how well used and well received the library has been.
• Council approved the 2^nd floor library remodeling and HVAC replacement projects. The tech lab will be redone with upgraded wiring, another entrance, a wall constructed between lab and staff space, and new lighting and paint; a teen area built; three small study rooms constructed where the old staff office is; desk relocated; Project READ tutoring space reconfigured/spruced up. Remember new signs are on order, including directories.
• Council also approved upgrading the cross walk in front of the library to make it much safer for our community! It will be similar to the one in front of the post office on Jefferson.

 

Help Project READ continue our important services by attending the Trivia BEE on Oct 16, at Canada College; or form a team, sponsor a team or become an event sponsor. Visit www.triviabee.org for more information.

 

The construction work for the Redwood Shores Branch Library café space began on August 24. Construction is slated to last about 4 weeks or so and the café is planning on opening sometime during the first 1-2 weeks of October. The actual date is yet to be determined.

 

The Redwood Shores Community Association has generously given the library a matching grant of $1,200 to provide a series of environmental education classes led by the Marine Science Institute to 5^th and 6^th graders (fall 2009) and to 3^rd and 4^th graders (winter 2010). These classes will be promoted to Redwood Shores Library customers and to Sandpiper Elementary and Central Middle School students. The goal is to involve local students with the natural world that surrounds them in the Redwood Shores neighborhood. Each 6-week series of educational activities will focus on wetland plants and animals that live side-by-side in Redwood Shores with its residents. The idea is “the better we know our neighbors”, the more protective we will be of their homes and environment. While measuring, comparing, and interacting with fish, invertebrates, birds, and plants, students would be naturally motivated to develop eco-friendly habits such as recycling, conserving water and producing less waste. Students in the 5^th and 6^th grade series, who attend all 6 sessions, can become a volunteer docent in the library’s environmental interpretive center. Docents will guide library visitors through the interactive exhibits, augmenting the experience with additional information. Students will be admitted to the program by signing up at the library.

     

Bookstock was a fun affair with music by the Raytones, face painting, a Friends of the Library book sale and food by Flaming Dogs. Attendance was down from past years because of the 105 degree heat, but over 250 people attended at some point during the afternoon. Thanks to PRCS for their support. The Raytones enjoyed the event so much that they offered to come back to perform again sometime in October, possibly for this year’s Halloween Costume Parade. 

 

The Library and PeninsulaWorks has partnered to offer residents workshops in job hunting, application writing and filing, resume help and more. Last month folks learned the “do’s and don’ts” of filling out the computerized job applications used by an increasing number of employers. “Computers can become a barrier to finding new employment when job hunters get “rattled by the whole online process,” said Roz Kutler, our programming and adult services librarian.”They’re great at, say, being a trades person, but now they’re being told they have to apply online,” Kutler said. “Maybe it wasn’t really not that important that they’re literate online, but now they have to be.”

 

More Project READ highlights:

• At the end of July we bid farewell to our five Notre Dame AmeriCorps members, Courtney Geib, Marisa Swingle, John Beard, James Ruggiero, and Jeremy Polacek. These dedicated individuals came from all over the US and gave a year, or two, of service to our Project READ family. During their year of service, these amazing individuals have…

• Served over 100 learners and tutors in the KIP program
• Given countless hours to tutoring children and adults in the Project READ Family Literacy Instructional Center
• Supported the new “KIP at the Library” Program, providing over 50 youth with an introduction to the resources of Redwood City’s Public Library
• Conducted ten story hour events for over 400 students, tutors and families
• Helped put 1000s of books into the homes of Project READ students
• Hosted an Award Night, acknowledging the personal contributions of all KIP participants
• Accompanied students on field trips to San Francisco’s Zoo and the California Academy of Sciences
• Expanded children’s horizons here on the peninsula by venturing to a Pumpkin Farm in Half Moon Bay, San Jose’s Children’s Discovery Museum, as well Redwood City’s local bowling alley
• Brightened tutors’ futures by visiting and exploring San Francisco State University and the College of San Mateo
• Staffed a four-week “Summer KIP” literacy enrichment program for 50+ KIP learners and tutors

• Project READ’s Family Literacy Learning Center (FLIC) welcomed several new families, trying to prepare for the school year. Many of these families have children in the same schools, so parents were able to get to know each other. It is wonderful to see families working together, reading stories, working on pre-literacy crafts and playing educational games in small groups. We logged in over 130 lab hours in the month of August, and over 120 hours of computer usage. We started a new program, a Read Aloud, which includes all Project READ learners. We invited our Project READ emergent readers, Pre K, Kinder, and young new readers, and their parents to come to FLIC to be read to by our tutors. Each of our learners keeps a reading record of all the books they have read that they can share with their teachers this fall, as well as take part in literacy activities related to the book. Parents are thrilled to see their kids so excited about reading and books. It is a great way for families to enjoy reading and literacy activities together.
• This month we had our first Teen/Tween tutor training for FLIC. We are so excited to have graduated 13 new Project READ teen tutors. These young tutors, many of whom are part of a Project READ family themselves, work with our youngest learners (K-3^rd grade) to help them with homework, and other literacy and educational activities throughout the year.
• It has been a very exciting summer for the KIP learners and tutors! In July, more than 50 learners and tutors came together for an enriching program that included map making, geography studies, math skill practice, visual art projects and dance classes. During the four-week summer program, students and tutors enjoyed theme-based, hands-on literacy and math activities. Students, tutors, and staff also had the opportunity to venture outside the classroom and neighborhood to see different worlds come to life at the California Academy of Sciences and the San Francisco Zoo.  Each day also included a free lunch and nutritious snack thanks to our long-standing collaboration with Second Harvest Foodbank.