New Display for Audiobooks

The audiobook collection in our library hasn't been displayed very well in the past.  The laminated cards were held in a small box on the same piece of furniture that held the video and DVD cards.  When the audiobook cards were kept there, they looked ugly and were hard to browse.

I've been thinking about a better way to display them, and think I've come up with one.

To the left of the circulation desk we have a corkboard hung over top of an old doorway that dates back to the early days of the Rec Centre.  As of last week, this corkboard was just used to hold old pieces of paper like a thank you certificate from 2001.

I cleaned it off yesterday, and started printing smaller copies of the laminated cards for the audiobooks.  Now patrons can come in to the library, easily browse our audiobook collection, and pull the card off the wall for the audiobook they want to borrow.

Now, the impetus behind this project is our incoming youth audiobook collection (which I blogged about previously).  When the youth audiobooks come in, they'll be arranged on the lower half of this corkboard.

"But Jacob," you're thinking "there isn't enough room for many more audiobooks on that corkboard!"

You're right.

This corkboard is being used as a test audiobook display.  If it works well, helps audiobooks to circulate, and is liked by patrons, my plan is to buy a roll of cork and use the cork to cover one (or more) of the wall panels on the outside of the reference room, opposite the magazine racks.  Then we'll have a wall to display all of the library's audiobooks in an easy-to-browse way that doesn't take up much space.

But before we make that investment, I want to make sure that a corkboard display of audiobook cards will work.

So where do you come in?  Easy!  Borrow some audiobooks!

More Library Rearranging

If you haven't been to the library in the past few weeks, you haven't seen the results of our last round of rearranging.

First, we moved the plants, round table, and bank counter (I'm still not sure why we have this thing in the library, and I'd be happy to give it away to anyone who wants it) away from their place next to the fire exit.  With the extra room in that area, we moved the final two shelves of adult fiction from their old location (up against the walls near the magazines) and placed them back-to-back, butting up against the adult fiction shelves closest to the back door.

A day later, I was in the library while it was closed, and I thought "Hey!  There's room for some seating here!"

So I grabbed a few of the green wedge-shaped chairs from around the library and made a small curved couch out of them.  Now instead of a cluttered area with tables and bank counters and plants, we've got a nice little reading area.

It looks better, works better, and unifies the library's adult fiction section again.

But it wasn't good enough.  When we first started moving the archives into the reference room, my ultimate plan was to clean out the corner of the library where the archives had been to make another reading area.  I was a little bit bored last Saturday and started moving things.  Sharon joined in, and her husband Brian gave me a *lot* of help moving the archive filing cabinet and rotating the first adult paperback shelf.

The end result?

Another nice, bright reading area instead of a closed off corner that was essentially wasted space.

A side benefit to this rearranging is that the light coming in from the end window is no longer limited to a dusty corner.  The whole left side of the library is brighter and looks better than ever.

So, what's next for the library's layout?  Who knows!  Stay tuned!

Youth Audiobook Collection Underway!

When Sharon and I talked about our plans for 2010 last fall, we decided that we'd like to spend some money on creating a youth audiobook on CD collection.  However, when budget time came around this spring, it was seen as a fairly low priority compared to other things and we put the project aside.

In mid-April, I came across a note on the back of the library's Telus bill that said something like "Do you know what Telus does for communities?" with a URL.  I visited the site, and found that Telus has grants available for various projects in Canada.  So I filled out the application, ran it by our community grant writer for suggestions, and sent it off in early May.

On June 9th, I received a phone call from a Telus representative who told me that they thought our plan to create a youth audiobook collection was great and that it was the exact sort of project that Telus likes to fund.  When he told me Telus would be giving the library $1000 for this purpose, I had a hard time responding to him and thanking him.  I thought my grant application had been pretty decent, but really didn't expect such a positive response.

A few weeks later, the cheque arrived in the mail, and Sharon and I started to make plans.  We researched audiobooks we thought would be good for the library, and asked children who were participating in Wednesday Club to suggest audiobooks they'd like the library to order.  Unfortunately, the suggestions we've received to this point are not available in audiobook format, but we'd like to encourage everyone to keep trying!

Yesterday, Sharon and I went through the list of audiobooks we had researched and selected a group of them to purchase.  Here's what we ended up ordering:

A.A. Milne's Pooh classics boxed set
Akimbo and the elephants
The Alchemyst
Anne of Green Gables
The Bunicula collection
Charlotte's web
The Chronicles of Narnia
Coraline
French for children
Geronimo Stilton books, 1-6
Green eggs and ham and other servings of Dr. Seuss
Hardy boys #1:  the tower treasure
Hatchet
I miss you, stinky face
James Herriot's treasury for children
The Lightning thief
Magic tree house books, 1-8
Nancy Drew #1:  the secret of the old clock
The Outsiders
Ramona the brave / Ramona Quimby, age 8
Ramona the pest / Ramona forever
The Roald Dahl CD collection
The Spiderwick chronicles, books 1-5
Tunnels

We still have nearly half (about $450) of the Telus grant left for more audiobooks.  Sharon and I have ideas, but we really want to know what our patrons want.

If you can think of youth audiobooks you'd like the library to order, please let us know!

(That being said, there are two sets of books we will not be ordering at this time:  Harry Potter and Twilight.  Both series, while extremely popular, are incredible expensive in audiobook form.)

Summer Reading Club 2010 - Reading Rocks!

I thought I'd take a moment to discuss the Tumbler Ridge Public Library's
"Won't Ask, Won't Tell" policy.

"Your children won't ask if Summer Reading Club is educational,
and we certainly won't tell them!"

The Summer Reading Club is a sneaky way to keep your children's minds active over the summer.  They'll be too busy enjoying the stories, crafts, and other activities to realize they're learning things at the same time.

Registration for the Summer Reading Club will take place at the Opening Ceremonies on June 19th, and programming will run from Tuesday to Friday weekly from July 6th to August 20th.

Summer Reading Club Schedule

Saturday, June 19th at 1pm -- Opening Ceremonies
      Registration
      Lion's Club BBQ
      White Elephant Sale (fundraiser for library)
      Music
      Facepainting
      Popcorn and cotton candy
      Door prizes

Weekly Schedule (starting July 6th)
      Every Tuesday and Thursday at 3pm -- Storytime and a craft
      Every Wednesday and Friday at 3pm -- Storytime

Wednesday, August 18th -- Reading Records Due

Friday, August 20th -- Closing Ceremonies

Weekly Themes

Week 1:  July 6-9:  Readers Roar!
Week 2:  July 13-16:  Rock 'n' Roll Reading
Week 3:  July 20-23:  Riddled Readers
Week 4:  July 27-30:  A Rocky Read
Week 5:  Aug. 3-6:  Read a Ruckus!
Week 6:  Aug. 10-13:  Rise Up Readers!
Week 7:  Aug. 17-20:  Risky Reads

Before I wrap this blog post up, I'd like to thank all the sponsors who have made donations so far:

Western Canadian Coal - $6,000.00
Spectra Energy - $2,500.00
Peace River Coal - $1,000.00
Lion's Club - $500.00 + holding a BBQ at the Opening Ceremonies
Lakeview Credit Union - $500.00
Shell Canada - $500.00
Grizzly Crane - $200.00

Thanks folks!  We couldn't run this program without your support!

Pax Bibliotheca

"People demand freedom of speech as a compensation for the freedom of thought which they seldom use"
--Soren Kierkegaard

If you're a regular visitor to the library, you've probably heard me say something like "Excuse me!  I'd like you to watch your language in the library!" or "LANGUAGE, PLEASE!" (which isn't grammatically correct, but certainly gets my point across).

I don't enjoy censoring people.  Throughout history, librarians have stood against censorship, and I believe very strongly that we should continue to do so.  Recently I noted in a grant application that "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."

So why do I ask people to watch their language in the library?

I do it for three reasons.

First, I still believe in the concept of "serving the greater good," in spite of the abuses perpetrated under that banner in recent years.  I believe the library should be a place where parents can bring their children without worrying about what they'll see or hear during their visit.  A library should be a place to find good books to read, not a place to hear people complaining about "f***ing this" and "f***ing that".

Second, I don't believe it's necessary to use offensive language in the library unless a heavy book falls on your toes.

Third, I ask people to watch their language in the library as a matter of courtesy.  The vast majority of people don't swear (at least not to excess) around their parents, teachers, or religious leaders.  I'm just asking you to extend the same courtesy to library staff members and patrons.

English is an incredibly fluid and versatile language.  There are plenty of intriguing and descriptive words out there, and it astounds me that people choose to limit themselves to such a small, offensive, subset of them.

Keep it clean in the library folks.

Thank you.

Reference Room and Library Rearranging

Well folks, things progressed faster than I expected.  Thanks to a *major* volunteer effort from Brian Bray and tons of sweat from myself (and somewhat less sweat from Sharon, who was busy with storytime for the first part of the day), we've got the reference section moved into the new reference room.

Now, we haven't finished moving stuff (including the bookkeeper's desk and computer) *out* of the reference room, so any patrons going into the reference room will have to be accompanied by a staff member for now.  I'm hopeful we'll get the bookkeeper installed in the library's back room early next week, and the reference room will be open after that.

Photos:

The start of the library's ANF section.

The left side of the U is gone (moved into the reference room), which has really opened things up.

One wall of the reference room, which has the vertical files and the start of the reference collection.

The reference section continues along the second wall, and ends in a shelf on the right side of the door (not shown)

Of Revelations and Reference Rooms...

Over the next few weeks, you'll notice some changes to the reference section.  Tomorrow we'll be removing one of the shelves in that area, and another will hopefully follow in the next week or so.  They'll be going into what will become the library's reference room.

A few weeks after I became interim head librarian, I installed myself (and a computer to work on) in the library's back room which was the library's office many years ago.  The library staff have since worked to clean up and rearrange the back room so that the library's bookkeeper can take up residence there again as well.  These changes will free up the library's office to become a reference room.

In the short term, the reference room will house the library's reference collection and a few small tables and chairs for patron use.  In the long term, I hope to move the archives into the reference room as well which will free up more space in the library's main area.

The creation of a reference room should have a few major benefits to the library as a whole:

1)  It'll give us more shelf space for our adult non-fiction collection

• We're using emptied shelves from the library's back room as part of the shelving in the reference room, which should leave us with one large shelf to expand ANF into.

2)  It'll open up the library somewhat

• The left side of the reference U will be gone, which should make the front of the library feel more open.
• If we are able to move the archives into the reference room as well, rotating the first set of shelves in the paperback section will give us a small open reading area and light from the end windows will be able to reach the rest of the library.

3)  It'll give us a quiet space

• At times (especially during storytime or Wednesday Club), the library can be fairly noisy.  This reference room will give the library a quiet reading and study area.

Please have patience with us while we're making this change.  We'll try to make it as painless as possible, and the end result should be well worth it.

Thoughts on Paperwork

Today I spent a few hours working on paperwork.  Why is this significant?  The paperwork didn't involve the use of my computer.

As a registered charity, the Tumbler Ridge Public Library has to submit an annual return to Canada Revenue Agency.  [As a brief aside, I think it was a stupid decision to change the agency's title from "Revenue Canada" to "Canada Revenue Agency."  I had to walk out to the front of the library to ask library staff members if the word "the" was required in front of "Canada Revenue Agency".  Their response?  "No."]

I started working on the forms, printing everything in block capitals to keep my writing legible, and things went smoothly for a minute or two.  Then disaster struck!  I was writing "Tumbler Ridge" when it happened.  I wrote the T and, thinking about the U next, ended up writing a backwards J.

I swore quietly to myself (this is a library after all -- nobody needs to hear me using that kind of language), and walked out front to retrieve a bottle of white-out.  After a brief waiting period while the white-out dried (during which I amused myself with a hockey puck I keep on my desk), I carried on.

I started filling out a description of the programs conducted by the library, and decided to split them into two categories:  children's programs and adult/family programs.  I wrote out the children's programs, then started writing the adult/family programs on the next line.  A moment later, I remembered another children's program.  I squeezed it in with small writing and congratulated myself on making it fit, until a few seconds later when I thought of another.

Muttered swear.  Big sigh.  Globs of white-out.  More time with the puck while the white-out dried.

And I carried on until I reached an area where I had to fill in the details of the library's board members in 2009.  This area required the addresses of every board member (including the town name), so I had to write "Tumbler Ridge" multiple times and........

I did it again.  Another backwards J.

More muttered swearing.  Even bigger sigh.  More white-out.

Later on when I ranted to Sharon about how stupid I was, she stopped working for a moment, looked up at me, and said "That's why I use pencils for paperwork Jacob."

And in writing this, and re-reading it, I finally have a response for her.

"That's why I use computers for everything Sharon."

A big thank you and AGM news

It's time for a two-for-one sale.  Two topics in one blog post!


The Big Thank You

To everyone who took the time to sign a letter to town council supporting the library,

Thank you.

Because of your efforts over the past three days, we were able to submit over one hundred letters to town council requesting that they do not proceed with the final cut to the library's budget.

The library staff and board have been overwhelmed by the support from the residents of Tumbler Ridge, and the knowledge of this support will help us carry on regardless of the final outcome.


Once the town's budget has been finalized, the library will be posting notices regarding any changes to library hours and programming.

Please keep watching for posters around town and on the library's website:  http://tumblerridge.bclibrary.ca


AGM News

It's taken a little longer than we had hoped, but we're ready to have our AGM.

Tumbler Ridge Public Library

Annual General Meeting

Wednesday, April 14th

7pm at the library

Agenda

• 2009 in review
• 2010 and the year ahead
• Trustee nominations

Of Books and Budget Cuts...

If you haven't already heard, the library's budget is going to be cut again.  Without going into too many details, our grant-in-aid has been cut twice now (first our budget for capital expenses was cut entirely and then our operating expenses were cut), and is slated to be cut again.  The total amount of the cuts to our operating expenses is around 17%.

If this final budget cut is made official, the library *will* have to make changes to its operating hours, staff hours, and programming to balance the budget.  There is a very real chance that the library will no longer be open on Sundays, Saturday mornings, or after 6pm Tuesday-Thursday.

Nothing is official yet.  However, if the final cut remains when budget numbers are set in stone, we will have to make some very hard decisions.

So what can you do about it?

Let town council know.  Be polite, but let them know that the library is an important part of Tumbler Ridge, and that its budget shouldn't be cut any further than it already has been.  If you're ambitious, feel free to write a letter to town council in the next few days.  Otherwise, we have pre-written letters available at the library for this purpose.  Just drop by, sign one of them, and the library will deliver all of the letters to town council.

Thank you,

Jacob Fehr
Interim head librarian