HomeMy WebLinkAboutAgenda - 03-19-2019 12-2 - Information Item - Memorandum - Highlights of Library Accomplishments for Summer Fall 2018
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137 W. Margaret Lane 900 Old Fayetteville Road 100 N. Greensboro Street
Hillsborough, NC Chapel Hill, NC 27514 Carrboro, NC 27510
919.245.2525 919.969.3006 919.918.7387
To: Board of County Commissioners
From: Lucinda Munger, Library Director
Date: March 18, 2019
Re: Highlights of Library Accomplishments for Summer / Fall 2018
Attached, please find highlights of the library’s accomplishments based upon our EPIC strategic plan.
We share our system-wide accomplishments with our staff during each staff day. Feel free to contact
me if you would like additional information on any of our efforts.
You can find our strategic plan online at --
https://nc-orangecounty.civicplus.com/DocumentCenter/View/2526/Strategic-Plan-PDF?bidId=
Cc: Bonnie Hammersley
Travis Myren
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INFORMATION ITEM
Highlights of Our Accomplishments based upon our EPIC Strategic Plan
Summer-Fall 2018
ENGAGE
Meet people in the community | Listen to learn | Improve our services
Training we are integrating into our work
x Engaging with Diverse Communities
x Star Party (in preparation of hosting our own party in April)
x NC Preservation Consortium Annual Conference
Special programs we’ve hosted/attended to engage new and existing customers
x Summer Learning was huge hit –,
- In YS: 800+ children registered; 67 programs held with 2,948 people attending; 574,200 minutes were read by
ages birth to grade 5; 225 books were donated to Fairview through our Book Bucks program
- In ATS,80,514 minutes were logged for reading and public service by middle school and high school students
this year.
x Chamber Candlelight Home Tour
x Library tour for Child Protective Services staff and library card sign up at OC Government Employee Appreciation
Luncheon
x This past Halloween the ATS department (and TAB) participated in trick-or-treating and had a cookie decorating
passive program, Halloween candle holder decorating passive program and a social media costume selfie
contest. As hoped for, a very racially diverse audience participated.
x Kafi, along with several part-time and circulation staff members made connections and new friends at this year’s
Bull City Comicon.
x Passive programs have been a big hit in ATS. Library patrons are working puzzles like crazy.
x Andrew and Annette worked with Sharon from Purple Crow Books and the Friends of the Library to bring three
local authors, J.G. Hetherton, Julian Rankin, and Hal Crowther to the library.
We’ve been refining the collection and our approach to building it
x The Cybrary’s collection continues to evolve. Albeit much smaller, the collection there is now as diverse as the
collection at Main. We continued efforts to curate a small but healthy collection of children’s items at the
Cybrary, which has shown surprisingly robust circulation statistics. Credit to Damaris for the bulk of the work in
this project.
x YS greatly expanded our Early Reader Nonfiction section from two shelves to nine by pulling appropriate titles
from JNF to improve circulation.
Our digital presence continues to grow, thanks to the social media team (Terri, Jody, Stephanie, Kafi and Cara)
x Facebook is up 20%, Twitter up 18% and Instagram (just started in January 2018) has over 550 followers
PARTNER
Work with county and local government to address customer needs | Create a community engagement framework |
Outreach to schools
SEA accounts -- We entered year 3 with The Expedition School, year 2 with Orange County Schools and year 1 with
Chapel Hill Carrboro City Schools. Total number of SEA accounts is now over 16,000. This has been a very complicated
process for the folks at CBL owing to its location within a school. Staff there continues to reevaluate procedures to best
suit their needs and frequent requests from school staff, but they’re getting the hang of it. Thanks to Jason for handling
all of the backend work needed to support the SEA and Educator account initiatives.
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Other school connections supported by YS: The Goddard School, The Expedition School, Orange County Public Schools,
Durham Public Schools, Food for All Club (Cedar Ridge), Tiny Tots & Tiny Tots Too, Fairview Child & Family Development
Ctr., Efland-Cheeks Community Center, to name just a few!
We now have a division dedicated to community engagement. The 2 staff members who lead the division are Erin and
Libbie. Many library employees are involved with outreach and engagement, and the new division will help us manage
those activities in a much more strategic way.
Circulation partnered once again with the Department of Social Services (DSS) and OCIM around the holidays and had a
very successful Food &Toy promotion. Twice a week, staff delivered several bins of food to DSS. DSS picked up four
Toys for Tot boxes from the library and we delivered seventy Barbie dolls and two van loads of toys to DSS which was
over 500 toys. We collected over 800 non-perishable items for people and three totes of pet food.
In the aftermath of the huge hurricane this fall, Erin coordinated a food, clothing and supply drive here at Main. It was
amazing to see how many people responded.
INCLUDE
Improve our website | Keep our spaces welcoming and safe | Improve services to rural customers
We got a new website! Thanks to the team that informed what it is you see and work with today (Terri, Jason, Jody,
Heather and Andrew)
Thanks to the Internal Communications Committee, we now have a communications agreement that goes over what we
value as it relates to talking/emailing/meeting with each other to get work done. This will be used in the on-boarding
process moving forward. Committee members are: Tim, Andrew, Lori, Helen and Libbie
Denise assumed responsibility for the volunteer program at Main. She provides our volunteer staff with a welcoming
and supportive experience and this helps us get our work done.
In the aftermath of the huge hurricane and power outages this fall, library staff at Main set up tables and chairs for
people to come to the library. We were packed and our customers were so appreciative.
CONNECT
Improve customer service | Improve communication with the Friends of the Orange County Public Library
Tech services has been on the money with improvements that help us serve our customers more effectively. We now
have library account text alerts for customers, the Cedar Grove kiosk is significantly more reliable and our processes are
greatly improved. Hats off to Pam, Jason, and now Rae and Cara.
Our Friends groups are focused on wonderful activities, bringing attention and funds to the library. The Friends at Main
have organized the Local Author Book Fair, held some pop-up book sales, and Ghost Stories at the Burwell School, to
name a few. The Friends of the Carrboro Branch are moving forward with materials and plans to fundraise for the
Southern Branch. Thank you to Andrea and her support of these very important groups.
We revamped our organizational chart to include a branch manager at Main and to move Nitya as supervisor for Tech
Services. Nitya wins the award for most adaptable library staff member!
Courier services continue to increase in popularity among our patrons. In the first five months of FY1819, over 5,000
items were delivered to the branches in Carrboro. Main Library Circulation staff deserve acknowledgement for their
efficiency.
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