New World of Overdues

Effective September 1, 2011, the library's overdue system will be changing.

Changes to overdue fees
Books    -    $0.25/day
Magazines - $0.25/day
CDs     -      $0.25/day

Maximum overdue fee per item - $10.00

Patrons will now be billed and suspended once any of their borrowed items becomes six weeks overdue.

So what's the reason behind all of these changes?

Let me explain what it's *not*, first:

It's not that we hate our patrons.  We like them a lot!  Without patrons, we wouldn't get to work at the library!

It's also not a way for us to bring a lot of money into the library.  In the past year (July 2010 - June 2011) the library has collected around $100 per month on average from all overdue fees and replacement fees for lost books.  This represents a very small portion of the library's budget, and if our patrons all return their borrowed items on time, we won't even be collecting that much in the future.

So why are we increasing our overdue fees?

The main reason for increasing our overdue fees is simply to have patrons return their borrowed items on time.  The majority of the library's patrons always return things on time, and the changes to our overdue fees will not affect them at all.  However, we do have a small number of perpetually overdue patrons.  These patrons, while very nice in many other ways, seldom return their items on time, and perhaps increased overdue fees will provide some encouragement for them to do so.

There are a few other reasons though.

The library makes it reasonably easy for you not to have overdue items.

• If we have your current e-mail address in our system, you will automatically receive a courtesy e-mail three days before your items are due.
• We're centrally located, only a minute walk from the main parking lot in the shopping district.
• When you borrow items, you're given a date due slip.
• You may renew items in person, online, or by phone.

Finally, the library hasn't increased its overdue fees in years.  The cost of books and other library materials has been rising steadily for years, and our overdue fees do not reflect this.

We're not naive, folks.  We know some of our patrons will be unhappy with the changes to our overdue system.  But if it encourages all of our patrons to keep track of their library items and return them on time, it'll make things better for all of us.

Everyone a Reader

A few months back while preparing for our strategic plan process, I was told that the library should have a vision statement in addition to our mission statement.  I hadn't heard of a vision statement before, and did some reading.  It sounded to me like vision statements are supposed to be shorter and broader than mission statements, and written to be more of a goal than a process.

Because I wrote the library's mission statement, which was then approved by our library board, I started looking at our mission statement and thinking about how I could adapt it into a vision statement.

The Tumbler Ridge Public Library's mission is to improve and promote literacy, intellectual freedom, and free access to information for all residents of and visitors to Tumbler Ridge.

Even now, in my heavily biased opinion, it seems fairly concise and covers the important things we do around here.  But I had no idea how to condense it further or how to make it into a goal.

After some thinking, considering, and (most importantly) pondering, I came up with this for a possible vision statement:

Everyone a reader.

And that's what it's really all about.  We can define and limit things, but it ultimately comes down to that as a goal.

Everyone a reader.

People borrowing John Grisham's newest?  Readers.

Children looking at picture books?  Readers.

Teenagers browsing graphic novels?  Readers.

Men who only seem to like westerns?  Readers.

Audiobook affictionados?  Readers.

E-book enthusiasts?  Readers.

Everyone a reader.

As long as libraries exist, reading will continue to be a cheap, fun activity suitable for all ages.  There's no reason everyone can't be a reader.

That's the goal folks.  Now we just need to make it happen.

Midsummer Update

Hello good readers,

Today seemed like a good time to update you on things happening around the library now that we've left July (and hopefully all its rain) behind.


Summer Reading Club
Summer Reading Club is still ongoing at the library.  Programs take place at 3pm from Tuesday to Friday every week.  Make sure to register your children and have them return their reading records on time so they can receive a prize at the closing ceremonies!

Tuesday, August 16th:  Reading records due
Friday, August 19th:  Closing Ceremonies at 3pm


Evergreen Update
We've been using Evergreen as the library's ILS for seven weeks now, and it's working out pretty well so far.  I've spent some time fighting with it (and learning interesting things in the process), and on the whole I'm liking it much more than our old system.  We've got to spend more time getting e-mail addresses from patrons into our system so it can send out courtesy e-mails before items are overdue, but things are going very well other than that.


Renovations
Renovations to the Community Centre are continuing.  I know everyone is frustrated with the library's current layout, the lack of seating, and the lack of access to some books (especially the picture books), but we're doing the best we can folks.  Once the interior work is finished, we'll be looking at installing the new flooring we'd hoped to install this year, and then rearranging the library to make the best use of the space we've got.

The rearranging we did last summer and then built on last winter was fairly minor.  We opened up the left side of the library and made it more accessible in general.  But now we're looking at bigger ideas.  Can we move the children's area?  Do we need to look at one-sided shelves to place against walls?  Can we set things up better for patrons using their notebooks or tablets?  So far our answer to those questions is "Yes."

Since Paula arrived in November, she, Sharon, and I have been talking at length about the library's layout and how it could be arranged better.  With any luck, you'll see the results of all those discussions in a few months.


Brief Congratulations
I'd like to take a moment and offer my congratulations to Paula, whose term as Head Librarian recently exceeded the length of my tenure (8 1/2 months) as Interim Head Librarian.  ...I'd also like to congratulate Sharon and myself for behaving for this long and not scaring Paula off with our antics!

On a serious note, I'm still having fun back at my Head of Technical Services position, and am very grateful she's decided to stick around.  Thanks Paula!


History of the Library
I've spent some time over the last few months working on and off on a history of the Tumbler Ridge Public Library.  So I've been reading through the old Tumbler Ridge newspapers stored in the reference room, and transcribing library-related stories.  I'm only up to 1986 so far, but I've found a number of good stories about the early days of the library and Tumbler Ridge in general.

There's a lot happening in Tumbler Ridge right now between the attempt to re-open Quintette Coal, the development of an underground mine, new housing, and wind turbine construction, and I think it's a good time to take a look back.  Thirty years ago, there were some fairly lofty goals set for Tumbler Ridge, and I think now's the time to look at them, then see what we can do about exceeding them.


Online Stuff
Finally, if you're so inclined, please take a moment to read my Twitter feed and the Library's Facebook page.  My Twitter feed is full of random whining, occasional poetry, and nonsensical banter with my brother.  The Library's Facebook page is mostly being used for event announcements, but I've also started posting photos of my current whiteboard drawing of what the library really needs.


And with that folks, I'll bring this blog post to a close.  Take a minute to visit the library, borrow a book, and then enjoy the good weather while it lasts.