April 6, 2026 Librarian’s report
Personnel – We have applied for a summer worker through Saratoga County’s Summer Youth Employment Program. We have participated in this program for many years. It is good training for youth and gives us some help during our busy season.
1st Quarter programs –Gretchen has had some nice programs for story hour. We just had a two week break and are now back with two months of programs. Gretchen experimented with the timing of story hour with two weeks a month being at the usual morning time slot and two weeks of the month being at an after-school time to encourage families to come. We have decided to stick with the morning sessions as they are better for young children’s schedules and have proven more popular. In February we had a program for Bring Your Child to the Library Day. Our The Big Read program has done ok with the creative writing workshops proving to be more popular than the painting sessions. We will be winding down this month with showcases of the work done happening in May. The writing group has found loyal writers and will probably continue after the grant period ends. Farm 2 Library has been on hiatus for the winter; but our Food Angel has been very good at sharing baked goods and occasionally other goodies like eggs and salad mixes.
Upcoming programs – Story Time will continue through the end of May, then take a break until Summer Reading starts at the end of June. Planning is in high gear for the Summer Reading Program. Gretchen applied for funding through Stewart’s Holiday Fund match and we received a check for $500. We plan to use that for special programing during the summer. We plan to hold an open mic event, possibly at the Barn, to let our creative writers read some of their work and will host an art exhibit at the library to show off the results of the painting workshop. Both will happen in May. The Big Read is over at the end of June, so we will need to get our statistics to SALS for the final report. Farm 2 Library restarted April 2. Rockwell Falls Library will continue to cooperate with us on picking up the produce. In April we are hosting “Messages From Survivors: One Family’s Holocaust Legacy. This is an interactive exhibit with QR codes linked to video and audio clips. In conjunction with this Rena Bernstein, a local survivor, will be speaking here on Tuesday April 14 at 7pm. For those of you who attended the SALS annual meeting last year “Messages From Survivors” is the program that was highlighted.
SALS & Directors’ Council – The SALS Annual Meeting will be at the Queensbury Hotel on Monday May 18. More information will follow. SALS new director Kim Bolan visited our library and met with Franklin and me. The annual report software used to be provided by Baker & Taylor and this has affected the timeline for submitting the report. NYS has a new program and it was just made available to us on March 30. Our data has to be entered and submitted to SALS for review by the end of day on April 7. We will get Love Your Library funds this year. This money is from the County and is for Summer Reading. SAIL (Southern Adirondack Independent Living) is available to do accessibility consultation for free as well as help with grant writing for accessibility issues. They also have an equipment loan program.
Joint Automation Council / computers – Michelle Largeteau has retired as the director of JA. The new director should be in place soon. The new Vega Discover catalog will be live April 20. There will be a link to the old catalog for a while for those who prefer it. Last year’s end of year PC purchase order encountered problems which has slowed this year’s ordering process. They hope to present us with an order form soon. Pricing will probably increase and wait time may also be affected.
Friends – The annual book sale will take place July 25.
Maintenance –The front porch is being cleaned April 13. The carpets are being cleaned May 6. The windows are being washed May 26. Should we have the AC serviced before the summer?
Other – Cornell Cooperative Extension has helped us set up a Seed Library that is housed in the entryway. They will restock seeds and information as needed throughout the growing season. As time allows, I am working on cleaning out files and work areas. I attended a workshop presented by the Talking Book & Braille Library. We are eligible to sign up for an institutional membership. This would give us access to equipment for demonstration purposes and allow us to help people sign up for services through them. I am planning on using some of the money received in memorial donations to purchase museum passes for loan through the library and also setting up a summer concert here with the Luzerne Music Camp.
Meetings attended in 1st quarter of 2026:
- 1/6 Directors Council
- 2/9 SRP workshop (Gretchen)
- 2/13 workshop
- 2/27 Comfort Food Meeting
- 3/3 Directors Council
- 3/5 mtg Saratoga Center for the Family (Becky & Gretchen)
- 3/13 Directors Handbook
- 3/24 Vega Discovery walkthrough
- 3/26 webinar
- 3/30 Cornell Cooperative Ext. mtg.