Oct 6, 2025 Librarian’s report
Personnel – We did get a SYEP worker. The program was 7 weeks this year. Our worker was here for six weeks; he left before the program ended.
3rd Quarter programs –The Summer Reading Program ran from June until mid-August. There were weekly programs, craft programs, and a wrap up celebration. All the sessions were well attended. 54 children and 2 adults signed up, 26 picked up their reading certificates. There were weekly story times on Fridays through mid-August. Anne Clothier presented us with a copy of her new book and was here for a meet the author event. Farm 2 Library and the Food Angel programs were very popular with 352 people participating in Farm 2 Library and 146 in the Food Angel program.
Upcoming programs – Story Time starts back up in October and will run through the Hometown Holiday weekend. Two times a month Story Time will be after school to encourage family participation. Gretchen is doing a seasonal Creation Station; this season is the Evil Garden, an envelope art contest celebrating Edward Gorey. Farm 2 Library ends after October. November is International Games Month and we will have a drop-in gaming afternoon on November 1st. There will be a special event of some kind during the Hometown Holiday celebration. The Food Angel usually continues through the winter though not on a regular schedule. Funding for the Big Read came through. Each library that is participating received 21 books. The grant also is paying for a meet the author event on October 8. This is an online event; we will be projecting it for people to watch in the library or people can use the QR code to get the link to watch at home. There will be a book discussion on the 11th. Then we will have a creative writing series led by Mary Ann Morreale, and a painting series led by Kendra Schieber. The Friends are donating money to cover our matching costs which are for the art and writing supplies. The series will end next spring with an open mic night at the Barn and an art show at an as yet undecided spot.
SALS & Directors Council – Sara Dallas is now retired. The new director of SALS is Kim Bolan. There are other new staff members at SALS as well. We have been told to expect ~ 20% less form NYS. There was no cut this year, so that may be in the future. We submitted a letter of support for SALS’ grant request from Saratoga County for funding to support Overdrive and the purchase of electronic materials. SAIL has a lending library of assistive devices (the Saratoga Library is partnering with them) and they will be attending a future Directors Council meeting to share information about the program. The Library Speakers Consortium provides virtual author talks (2 per month) for $500 per year.
Joint Automation Council / computers – Our new computers are here and online. The TXT messaging issue has been fixed. The JA is in the process of updating the JA Agreement (due to SCP having left the consortium) and will have more information as that process proceeds. JA fees will be slightly more next year ($426.57 per month instead of $420.24).
Friends – The Friends annual book sale was July 26. We made $1215.
Maintenance – We have put down a deposit with Allerdice to fix the cracked window. We had work done on the A/C to fix a leak in 1 unit. In the spring we will need to have the system serviced. The Furnace will be serviced on Nov 4. The lighting issues were taken care of by Jay McAdam. We have a proposal from Mahoney to install an alarm system.
Other – On our Staff Day we made progress in several areas, especially in the basement. We found a postcard of Yaddo and donated that to the Historical Room at the Saratoga Library. We have started a Care Kit. This consists of hygene products for people in need. There is a sign in the bathroom letting people know we offer this and the kit is kept in the back work area. Items in the kit were donated by me. When they get low we may solicit donations for more items.
Meetings attended in 3rd quarter of 2025:
7/15 Directors Council 8/19 Directors Council