Director's Report to Library Trustees for February 2007

February has shaped up to be a pretty busy month for MGPL. While the statistics are down from January, February is traditionally a quiet month, it was still the best ‘slow’ month over the last 26. A review of the total monthly circulation counts since January of 2005 reveals a steady increase in loans since January of 2006.

The part time Reference Librarian position has been posted.

The Director and Colleen Ringel attended the Morton Grove Chamber of Commerce and Industry’s Networking Mutli-Chamber Luncheon, an excellent opportunity to talk with local small business owners and gauge their understanding of library services and ascertain their information needs. My conversations with some 20 owners revealed they have little understanding of what their local public library can offer, but they are willing to try anything that can give them an edge in marketing or improving their business. Over the next six months the Library will experiment with ways to better serve the Morton Grove small business community.

Blogs as a means of electronically communicating with out having to use the established medial outlets have been around so long even the major political parties have picked up on the techniques. MGPL has sprouted several blogs of its own recently. There is one for most every library interest group – Teen Blog, Tech Services Blog (staff only), MGPL Parents Blog, MGPL Almost Teen Blog, MGPL Reference Blog (staff only) and Sunshine Times Blog (staff only). This is a great trend as it allows staff to directly communicate with quickly and effectively. Patrons can also respond via the blogs.

With all this experimentation underway some basic order is needed. A committee of Katy Opderbeck, Natalya Fishman and Colleen Ringel are developing guidelines for branding the public blogs so they are identifiably MGPL products. Policy is being developed establishing areas of responsibility and content control. The draft policy will be presented to the Board for approval at a future date. Establishing a policy to govern and protect patron e-mail (and other electronic) communications with staff is also called for.

The ‘Activity Room’ is nearing completion and will be open to the public by the end of next week. While primarily intended for Youth Service and Young Adult Services other teams may make use of the space if called for. Once this task is complete planning will begin on the second floor changes.

The seating of the new Board will be an opportunity to address financial, managerial and long range planning issues. Fund raising, personnel policies, department organization, the role of the Library in the Morton Grove community and its impact on replacing or remodeling this building can be address now that the building can support current demands.

Several items concerning internal operations are in New Business. Your guidance will be very helpful.


Statistical Summary

Total circulation for February was 23,475 down from 26,984 last month, a 13 % decrease. February 2007 total circulation exceeded February 2006 by 11%.

Adult circulation for February was 11,474 down 18.2% compared to last month’s 14,028. It is up 9.5% compared to last February.

Youth Services circulation is up 12.4% compared to February of 2006. However the 11,975 items circulated is a 938 item decrease over last month.

The Reciprocal Borrowing Program (RBP) accounted for 3,868 items loaned to other communities or 16.5% of total circulation for the month. This is a decrease of 1,005 items compared to January. RBP circulation for February 2006 was 4,247.

Patron registrations for February are almost exactly the same as last month at 8,646 active cards, with 76 new and 102 renewals. This represents 38.5% of the Morton Grove population with active cards. While new registrations were up in February the total number of card holders increased by just 10 people.

Adult reference activity was down 6% (90 questions) compared to last February with 1,363 questions. It is also down compared to January 2007 by 342 questions.

Youth Services reference activity for the month was 817, up 11% over last February. YS answered 1,109 questions in January of 2007.

Morton Grove residents made 88 Interlibrary Loan requests (down by 15 from last month. Other libraries requested 129 items (down by 14 items from last month) from MGPL of which 60 were filled.

Online Database use, as reported by the vendors, was 1,109 users or sessions conducting 3,170 searches. Broken down by user type, 148 in-library users conducted 423 searches, 800 patrons connected remotely for 2,288 searches and staff signed on for 161 sessions and 461 searches.

Adult Internet PC usage was 691 compared to 773 in January and down -7% compared to last February. One Internet PC station was out of service for the month and is the most likely cause of the reduction in use. Youth Services Internet use was 171, down from January’s 194 and up 99% from February 2006. YS Mac/PC usage was up 40% from last year at 286 signups.

Website hits from non-staff users were 151,373 for the month (down from January by 22,012.) This is an average of 5,4063 hits per day, a 4% increase over last February.

MyMedialMall downloads were 37 for the month, up from last month by 5 with 69 year to date. Registration now totals 154 with 9 patrons joining in February.

MatchBook Select now has 740 subscribers: Children & Teen (182), Adult (454), Miscellaneous (104). Subscription increases by category are: Overall – no change, Children & Teens – no change, Adult – no change and Miscellaneous – no change. MatchBook Kids now has 31 registrations.

Program attendance was 712 for Adults, 1,429 for Youth Services totaling 2,141 for the month.