2020 January Librarian’s Report

2020 Meetings:

  • January 6
  • April 6
  • July 6
  • October 5
  • December 7

Other important dates: Book Sale – July 25

Year in Review: Though we did not have the excitement and bustle of Corinth’s Bicentennial in 2019, we managed to keep quite busy providing services and programs to the community.

            We have continued to reach out to the Corinth community and have partnered with the Corinth Museum and the Image Committee for programing.  We worked with the school to encourage library card sign-ups and for transportation to our winter gaming event.  We keep the Town and Village Halls on our news and programming by regularly posting on their bulletin boards and checking in with the clerks.

            If one thing defined our year, it was training and continuing education.  We took advantage of free opportunities offered by SALS taking workshops at SUNY Adirondack, SALS, and online.  We fulfilled new requirements taking anti-harassment training.  We also worked to stay up to date on library technology. 

            As time allowed we also worked on our cleaning and straightening project and made strides in our work area and in the cellar.

Correspondence – Letter re: Trust Settlement of Harriet Hawley Miller bequest.  W-2s and year end info arrived from ADP today.

Personnel – All staff and volunteers will again need to take anti-harassment training, and will do this as last year online as coordinated by SALS.  This was done in May of last year, so will probably be done in May again this year.  All employees and volunteers need to take this every year.  Cost for the library will probably be the same as last year.

Michael is having surgery on 1/8/2020.  He has been able to work with minimal schedule changes since his diagnosis.  He will be out for at least one week after the surgery.

4th Quarter programs – Puzzles, Story Time, Science Monday, International Gaming Day, Photo-Share with the Corinth Museum, Hour of Code, Do You Want to Paint a Snowman (Hometown Holidays).  There were 15 programs with a total attendance of 124.

Upcoming programs – We will continue to hold Story Time and Science Mondays, Board Game Club starts, Take Your Child to the Library Day 2/1, puzzles, drop in crafts in March, and possibly a show-and-tell type program with the Corinth Museum.

Grants:

  • NYS Bullet Aid grant 2018-2019 $4000 – This grant is finished and closed.  We did not receive bullet aid this year.

 SALS & Directors’ Council –SALS is again providing grant money to libraries for Continuing Education during 2020.  These grants may be applied for 3/1/20, 5/31/20, and 9/27/20 and must be used during 2020.  The maximum available is $1,000 / library total for the year. 

Joint Automation Council / computers – Charter Communications (which has merged with Spectrum) has contacted us regarding our complimentary internet service.  I was also contacted by NYS asking me to verify that we are receiving this for free.  It appears that continuing this service is a requirement of the merger.  My latest information indicates that Spectrum will be upgrading our modem.  Our static IP addresses will decrease to just one, though it will be possible to purchase additional ones at if it becomes necessary.

Friends – The 2019 annual Book & Bake Sale in July went smoothly netting the Friends $1,686.35.  There was also a small book sale coinciding with the Hometown Holidays event in December at which $105 was raised.  The 2020 Book & Bake Sale will be on July 25. 

Maintenance – Lloyd changed bulbs for us.  There were no other issues this quarter.

Tax Cap – The required reporting for this was submitted on 11/12/19 and the amount we are allowed to ask for in 2019 is $63,954.

Meetings attended in fourth quarter 2019:

  • 10/8/19            webinar (Michael)
  • 10/9/19            WordPress workshop @ SALS
  • 12/16/19          SALS LEAP Q & A online
  • 10/29/19          webinar
  • 11/4/19            CMA meeting
  • 11/8/19            Directors’ Council @ SALS
  • 12/5/19            meeting here with reps. from Sar. Co. Health and Comfort Food Communtiy

Old Business:

Website update – Our new website is done and went live today.

Minimum Standards – the new updated standards must be met by 1/1/21.  We are in good shape to be able to meet the changes by the deadline.

NYLA – It looks like enough SALS libraries are willing to join NYLA as organizational members for us to receive the volume discount.  As SALS will be coordinating this we should hear from them in the near future.  Our cost will be $150.

Census – We expect that our computers will be used to fill out census forms and that we will be helping people with this as time allows.

New business:

ADP – Asking to provide us with Worker’s Comp policy.  It seems that periodically ADP will seek to provide us with services that we receive elsewhere. 

Farm 2 Library – This is an award winning projectthat SALS and the Comfort Food Community collaborated on with a few libraries in Warren and Washington Counties.  The project uses libraries as a pick up spot for fresh produce to food impoverished communities.  We have been invited to be a part of this.  If we accept the invitation we will be provided with a glass front mini fridge.  We can take part year round or can start in the spring and run through December (there is a lot of flexibility with this.)  Fresh food is supplied weekly.  Anyone in the community can take what they want / need – there are no quotas or limits.  There is no charge and we are only asked to keep a tally of the number of people who partake.

            Our cost would be the electricity to run the fridge, and a small amount of staff or volunteer time to make sure the fridge stays clean.  Marketing materials would be provided from SALS for promotion in the community.  Because we are a little out of the way for the providers, we may need to help find a volunteer to pick up the food once a week in the Glens Falls / Queensbury area.

            Our benefits would be in providing a wonderful service to the community, which would hopefully bring new people into the library.