The Library was open 23 days in November and had 4,467 visitors. The library was closed on Veterans Day (November 11) and on November 17 and 18, 2023, due to installation of spray foam insulation. We closed at 5 p.m. on Wednesday, November 22 for the Thanksgiving holiday and reopened on Saturday, November 25, at 10 a.m. with regular hours.
We offered 14 programs for over 30 attendees. We had 134 meeting room reservations for 344 participants. We hosted an additional 18 meeting room uses for staff use (photography, meetings, programs, etc.)
Eight incident reports were filed, including: an accidental triggering of the silent alarm, disruptive teen behavior, misuse of library resources in the Teen Room, a facility event, an unattended child, and first aid.
Administration
Debby Jackson took on many of the tasks left by the director in her absence. She also worked on scheduling and payroll, Weekly Reports, upcoming social media posts, and Board of Library Trustee tasks. As of the end of November, she is transitioning to her new position as Head of Teen Services. She helped to train Shannon Phelan to take over the role of Administrative Assistant for the library.
Eileen maintained the collection of periodicals, took care of incoming mail, and prepared bills.
Staffing
Several staff members cross-trained to take over new positions, including Debby Jackson as Head of Teen Services, Allison Cusher as Head of Technical Services, and Shannon Phelan as Administrative Assistant.
We recorded at least 17 low coverage instances (others may not have been documented due to short staffing) due to scheduled, earned leave of benefited staff, chronic understaffing in the Teen department, a vacancy in the Technical Services department (since filled by Allison Cusher), and staff out on leave.
The Director is taking an FMLA-eligible leave of absence through the end of the calendar year.
Budget
At the end of October we were at 47% of our budget for the 2024 fiscal year. 90% of those expenses attributed to contracted services billed annually at the beginning of the fiscal year such as Bibliotecha and CWMars.
Building
Assistant Town Administrator William Blake is overseeing building issues and had several meetings with various contractors regarding general maintenance as well as flood remediation.
Construction Update
Insulation has been replaced, walls have been repaired and painted, and flooring has been removed in the Children’s Program Room and Children’s Work Room. No definitive timeline has been provided for completion of construction activities.
IT Update
Staff are working on developing procedures for laptop in-library use.
Volunteers, Outreach and Partnerships
Crescent Manor BookWagon had seven participants, 22 check-outs and renewals, and five requests. We delivered 16 items to homebound patrons. We had seven volunteers who put in 8 hours of work.
Social Media
We have 1,036 followers on TikTok, 2,234 followers on Facebook, 825 on Instagram, 113 on YouTube, 430 on Pinterest, and 8 on Flickr.
Children’s Services
The Children’s Room staff has continued to work out of the Friend’s Café. Staff have adjusted to what has become our new normal, but it has been challenging. Children’s Room staff have continued to field near-constant questions and concerns from the public ranging from sympathetic understanding to frustration about the closure of the Children’s Room, our current programming hiatus, and the temporary suspension of the Friends of the Grafton Public Library’s book sale.
Due to ongoing remediation in the Children’s Room, we still don’t expect programming to begin again until the new year. Once construction has been completed, staff will need at least a week to set the room back up, unpack boxes, clean and organize, and set up workstations before we can welcome patrons back into the space. We need a minimum of 4 weeks lead time to plan and advertise any programs.
It seems likely that Community Rooms will be completed before the Children’s Room, so we will be moving into that space to allow the Friends of the Grafton Public Library to reclaim their space. Since the Community Room is larger and carpeted, we will be able to bring in a selection of toys and computers to add to the books we are offering. We will keep the layout flexible so children’s programming can also be held in the space.
Outreach programming continued with visits to NGES, Busy Bee, SGES, and Silver Spruce.
Teen Services
During the month of November, Allison C. (Head of Teen Services) spent about a third of her time cataloging materials for the library, since she prepared to take over the Technical Services position in December. One of the teen programs scheduled for this month (fabric gift wrapping) was cancelled due to the building being closed for spray foam installation. There were no attendees at our monthly Manga and Anime groups this month, and our D&D program reboot hasn’t taken off as expected. With Debby starting in December, this is a great time for the teen department to re-evaluate and try new things to better serve our population.
Borrower Services
Museum Passes
There were 42 museum reservations: 35 were picked up and there were 7 “No Shows.”
Circulation
We registered 64 new borrowers and corrected three accounts for Grafton patrons.
Evergreen
The CWMARS Users Council meeting on 11/14 included a preview of Aspen, the new public catalog that will be debuting in March 2024, and a list of upcoming trainings for administrators and front-line staff.
ILL
We made eight out-of-network requests; three were unfillable. We sent out five items to certified libraries.
Displays
Our main display for November was Native American Heritage Month. The four smaller displays were: Carnegie Medal, Warm Family Stories, Thanksgiving: Gobble Up a Good Book, and World Vegan Month. A graphic novel display was set up for National Author’s Day.
Programs
Sandhya hosted one daytime “Unplug with Art” program for adults on 11/14: eight people attended. She organized and hosted an evening Stencil Art program for adults on 11/13: ten people attended.
We had a department staff meeting over Zoom when the library was closed for construction on Friday 11/17.
Seed Library
The seed packets program has been closed for the season.
Reference Services
We recorded the following statistics for database uses: Gale 288, PebbleGo 0, Peterson’s 0, Transparent Language 1, Novelist 10, Ancestry 654, ComicsPLUS 4, Pronounciator 1, BookFlix 0, and Teachables 0. We had 93 adults and 2 teens record public computer use. WiFi statistics were unavailable. Staff placed 489 holds for library materials.
Heidi assisted with tech and reference questions as well as circulation and room reservations / check-ins and museum passes. She also hosted book groups, worked on collection development, program planning, PR, statistics and prepared for Grafton Celebrates the Holidays.
Eric assisted patrons with technology, reference, museum passes, room requests / check-ins and circulation questions. Eric ordered new books for the non-fiction collection, put out new non-fiction materials, planned for December staircase display, organized parts of the new and general non-fiction collection, watched training videos on Niche Academy while the library was closed for repairs, assisted with cataloging and technical services tasks, and worked on monthly statistics.
Displays
Eric made a “Meet Someone New” staircase display. Heidi made an “In Memoriam” end cap display for Henry Kissinger and a Gnomevember display to support the New England Botanic Garden at Tower Hill.
Programs
We held the following in person book discussion groups:
“Not Just for Young Adults” Book Discussion Group: Bittersweet, by Sarah Ockler.
Daytimers Book Group: Our Missing Hearts, by Celeste Ng.
GPL Mystery Book Group: The Ghost of Christmas Past, by Rhys Bowen.
“Reads Well with Others” Adult Book Discussion Group: The Kitchen Front: a novel, by Jennifer Ryan.
The “Inspirational Book Club” and Guided Meditation: Sorry, Sorry, Sorry: the case for good apologies, by Marjorie Ingall & Susan McCarthy.
Technical Services
Allison Cusher prepared to take over as Head of Technical Services at the beginning of December. Eric Lindstrom and Allison Picone cross-trained to provide uninterrupted service to patrons during the transition. Over 300 items were added to our collections in November.
Friends
The Friends of the Grafton Public Library book sale remains on hold as the Children’s Room continues to use the Friends Corner as their temporary collection location. The next Friends meeting will be posted to the Friends Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/GPLFriends
This week we circulated 1,685 items, received 538 items in transit, and sent 628 items. We requested 365 items and fulfilled 357 hold requests; registered 12 patrons for library cards; and added 54 new items. The most popular book this week is Miss Dimple Suspects: A Mystery by Mignon Franklin Ballard.
The library will be closed on Saturday, December 23 and Monday, December 25 and will reopen on Tuesday, December 26 with regular hours.
The Children’s Room and Community Room remain closed, and the Friends of the Grafton Public Library book sale remains on hold awaiting reconstruction. Book bundles and gifts are available for purchase at the library.
Children’s Room staff planned for how the Community Rooms could be used for a temporary Children’s Room. Reference staff hosted several book discussion groups, including: the “Reads Well with Others” Book Group discussion of “Elevation” by Stephen King; the Daytimers Book Group discussion of “The Winter People” by Jennifer McMahon; and the GPL Mystery Book Group discussion of “The Bone Orchard” by Paul Doiron.
The Library was open 25 days in October and had 6,752 visitors. We offered 21 programs for 1,615 attendees (see trick or treat totals). We had 121 meeting room reservations for 401 participants. We hosted an additional 23 meeting room uses for staff use (meetings, programs etc.) and filed 8 incident reports, including first-aid and a car over the curb in the parking lot.
The Library was closed in observance of Indigenous Peoples’ Day on October, 9, 2023.
GPL participated in Octoberfest on Saturday, October 14 and saw 275 visitors to the table who enjoyed discussing the library while having fun with temporary tattoos.
On the evening of Saturday, October 14, the Grafton Public Library hosted the Capital Campaign donor party. The event was a smashing success for Capital Campaign, yet a few concerns were raised regarding trustee conflict of interest and treatment of staff, and as well as Facility Rental procedures.
The Library opened at 2 p.m. on Thursday, October 19, 2023 due to staff development. Staff members had a chance to decompress, enjoy a craft that is being offered as an adult program, collaborate as a staff and work in departments. Breakfast and lunch were provided.
On Wednesday, October 25, we participated in the Friendly Trick or Treat event at the Town of Grafton Municipal Center sponsored by the Grafton Recreation Department and handed out rubber ducks instead of candy and greeted 215 people.
Throughout the day on Halloween, staff and patrons alike enjoyed posing and taking pictures in the life-sized Barbie box created by Children’s Room staff. Staff members dressed as various Barbies throughout the day. We had 100% staff participation in our costume theme which was a lot of fun and a boost to staff morale.
Halloween evening on October 31 brought 859 trick or treaters to the library where we exhausted our supply of rubber ducks, handing out nearly 1,400 rubber ducks between the two trick or treating events.
ADMIN No Interim Director has been named, yet Administrative Assistant, Debby Jackson, has assumed a great deal of the tasks left by the director in her absence and has a contract to be compensated for taking on additional duties per Town Administration.
Eileen maintained the collection of periodicals, took care of incoming mail, and prepared bills.
Debby worked on scheduling and payroll, compiled Weekly Reports, worked on upcoming social media posts, planned the Staff Development Day and Grafton Celebrates the Holidays, covered the Teen Room, and worked on Board of Library Trustee tasks.
STAFFING We recorded 21 low coverage instances due to scheduled, earned leave of benefitted staff, chronic understaffing in the Teen and Reference departments, and staff out on leave.
The Director will be taking an FMLA-eligible leave of absence through the end of the calendar year.
Cynthia O’Neil in Technical Services had her last day on October 27, 2023 as she accepted a position outside of the library. Her position was posted internally and is expected to be filled on a full-time basis by the beginning of December. In the interim, staff from Teen, Reference, and Borrower Services are filling in to prevent a lapse in service.
The 12-hour Children’s Room position remains unfilled with a permanent replacement since July 1. An additional Children’s Room staff member has requested to drop four hours from her schedule. Department Heads have spoken with William Blake who has approved posting two 8-hour positions in November and we hope to have them filled in early December as well.
BUDGET At the end of October we were at 47% of our budget for the 2024 fiscal year. 90% of those expenses attributed to contracted services billed annually at the beginning of the fiscal year such as Bibliotecha and CWMars.
BUILDING Assistant Town Administrator William Blake is overseeing building issues and had several meetings with various contractors regarding general maintenance as well as flood remediation.
CONSTRUCTION UPDATE Reconstruction was delayed throughout the month of October for various reasons. When the initial insurance claim was submitted, carpet in the impacted areas was intact. After the work ServPro completed, the carpet began pulling up off of the floor and cabinetry in the Children’s Program Room and the bench by the window had been removed and disposed of; it became necessary to reevaluate and submit an updated insurance claim to MIIA. Construction was further delayed by permitting issues.
We are still waiting for return of chairs from Tucker, they are repairing stitching issues on the upholstery of several chairs. Several wooden chairs from the Wheelock Historic Reading Room are in need of repair as well. We will be looking into whether they can be repaired by Maintenance or if we will need to contract services.
IT UPDATE Preparations are being made to begin laptop rollout. Heidi Fowler was tasked with piloting the program with one set of laptops on the second floor. The process was put on hold as the staff adjusted to the Director’s leave of absence. It will be revisited in November per request of the trustees and in light of the patron verbal altercation incident that occurred.
OUTREACH Crescent Manor BookWagon had 4 participants, 35 check-outs and renewals and 4 requests. We delivered 14 items to Homebound patrons.
Heidi attended the Special Grafton Historical Society tea on Saturday October 14th at which they had tea and decorated hats.
VOLUNTEERS We had 10 volunteers who put in 29.75 hours.
SOCIAL MEDIA We have 1,022 followers on TikTok, 2,001 followers on Facebook, 815 on Instagram, 112 on YouTube, 135 Twitter, and 430 on Pinterest. We have 2,150 subscribers on Constant Contact and a 70% open rate on emails.
CHILDREN’S SERVICES Due to flood remediation, the Children’s Room staff have continued to work out of the Friend’s Corner. Staff have been adjusting to the new work flow, but it has been a rocky transition. Children’s Room staff have continued to field near-constant questions and concerns from the public ranging from sympathetic understanding to frustration about the closure of the Children’s Room, our current programming hiatus, and the temporary suspension of the Friends of the Grafton Public Library’s book sale.
At this time the Children’s Room staff is planning to have programming begin again in the new year. Construction is expected to being in early November, and we anticipate it taking the whole month to complete the project. Staff will also need a week to set the room back up, unpack boxes, and set up work stations before we can welcome patrons back into the space. We need a minimum of 4 weeks lead time to plan and advertise any programs.
We are back in full swing with outreach programming and visited NGES and Busy Bee during the month of October. We have added Silver Spruce to our outreach line up and hope to schedule future dates with SGES.
TEEN SERVICES During the month of October we’ve seen a sharp decline in the number of teens stopping by after school. Although we get a regular core group of 5-8, it seems that the decline is due to increase in after school clubs and athletics. We are trying various programs and times to see what will bring in teens. We relaunched Dungeons & Dragons. It is a teen-led program that is being held every other Monday. There has also been a significant decrease in the number incident reports in the Teen Room which I believe is the result of having teens fill out a new behavior agreement, reminding them of behavior expectations, having multiple consistent staff members in the afternoon, and the overall decrease in large crowds that used to visit daily. We are happy to report that we are still a very popular destination on half days.
BORROWER SERVICES Museum Passes There were 43 reservations; 36 were picked up and there were 7 “No Shows.”
Passports
We are still not accepting appointments for Passports.
Circulation We registered 47 new borrowers and corrected 2 accounts for Grafton patrons.
Evergreen A patch was installed in Evergreen on 10/8 for features enabled throughout the month. Updates included online eCard renewal for patrons, eCards available for patrons from certified non-CW MARS Massachusetts towns, extended item renewals based on original due date instead of renewal date (except for overdue items), and combining the courtesy and autorenewal notices into one notice with auto-renewals processing two days prior to the due date.
Seed Library The Seed Library program has been closed for the season; seed donations have been requested from the community. Approximately 150 seed packets were donated by a local nursery.
ILL We made 5 out of network requests; 0 were unfillable.
Overdrive No significant news.
Displays Adult Services Our main display for October was Harvest of Horror. The 4 smaller displays were: Horror Books & Movies, Autumn Fiction, Stranger Reads, and Coffee and Cookies (celebrating International Coffee Day and National Homemade Cookie Day). A graphic novel display was set up for scary comics.
Programs Sandhya hosted one daytime “Unplug with Art” program for adults: 2 people attended. She organized and hosted the third and final session of the Diamond art program for adults: 9 people attended (and 2 registrants notified ahead of time that they couldn’t attend).
REFERENCE SERVICES Programs In- person book discussion groups: “Not Just for Young Adults” Book Discussion Group: The Downstairs Girl by Stacey Lee; Daytimers Book Group: Other Birds by Sarah Addison Allen; GPL Mystery Book Group: Artifacts by Mary Anna Evans; “Reads Well with Others” Adult Book Discussion Group: Under the Whispering Door by TJ Klune; and the “Inspirational Book Club” and Guided Meditation: 13 Things Mentally Strong People Don’t Do: Take Back Your Power, Embrace Change, Face Your Fears, and Train our Brain for Happiness and Success by Amy Morin.
Saturday Afternoon Knitting (Saturday, October 21st; 2pm-4pm).
Displays Eric created a “Harvest of Horror” staircase display for Spooky Season and Heidi set up an “In Memoriam” end cap display for Matthew Perry upon his passing.
Heidi assisted with tech and reference questions as well as circulation and room reservations / check-ins and museum passes. She also attended professional development, hosted book groups, worked on collection development, program planning, grant writing, PR and statistics.
Eric assisted patrons with technology, reference, museum passes, room requests/check-ins and circulation questions. Eric ordered new books for the non-fiction collection, put out new non-fiction materials, planned for November displays, set up new desk space, shifted the collection to make more space, did collection maintenance, monthly statistics, helped clear out the reference desk before it was moved downstairs, attended professional development and put out new non-fiction books. they also trained on Technical Services and Cataloging.
527 Staff-Placed Holds
We recorded the following statistics for database uses: Gale 684, PebbleGo 0, Peterson’s 0, Transparent Language 2, Novelist 9, Ancestry 701, ComicsPLUS 13, Pronounciator 3, BookFlix 7. We had 132 adults use public computers and 11 teens record computer use. WiFi statistics were unavailable.
Technical Services Cynthia O’Neil accepted a position with CWMars and had her last day with us on Friday, October 27, 2023. Prior to her departure, department heads and Debby met to discuss a staffing plan that would keep the department running and prevent a lapse in service for patrons. Allison Cusher (Teen), Allie Picone (Borrower Services), and Eric Lindstrom (Reference) all trained with Cynthia prior to her departure. The vacancy was posted internally and until it is filled, Allison C, Allie P, and Eric are working in the Tech Services office and any desk time this month is being covered by temps.
Tech Services added 729 items in October and deleted 247 items.
Friends The Friends of the Grafton Public Library book sale remains on hold as the Children’s Room continues to use the Friends Corner as their temporary collection location. Friends will be present at Grafton Celebrates the Holidays on December 3 to sell book bundles and other gift items.
The next Friends meeting will be posted to the Friends Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/GPLFriends.
This week we circulated 1,759 items, received 595 items in transit, and sent 677 items. We requested 421 items and fulfilled 297 hold requests; registered 13 patrons for library cards; and added 43 new items. The most popular book this week is Each Kindness by Jacqueline Woodson. We hosted 37 meetings in our conference, study, and tutoring rooms for 73 people, including Girl Scouts, as well as private work, study, homeschool, and tutoring sessions.
Make plans to join us for Grafton Celebrates the Holidays on Sunday, December 3 from 12-4 p.m.!
The Children’s Room and Community Room remain closed, and the Friends of the Grafton Public Library book sale remains on hold awaiting reconstruction to be completed from flood damage sustained in August. Drywall work began this week, yet we have no definitive timeline for completion of the project.
Admin
The director is on FMLA leave through the end of the calendar year. In her absence, there has been no disruption in services and every department is running along smoothly. Thank you to everyone who has been helping out during this time.
Admin staff managed communications and accounts.
Borrower Services
Borrower Services staff managed the adult circ desk, delivery, museum passes, the lobby, room reservations, and Automatic Materials Handling equipment. We assisted patrons, placed holds, managed out of network requests for materials, performed readers’ advisory, processed pending library card applications, administered the home delivery program, and supervised volunteers. Staff performed collection development activities, processed new materials, prepared materials and graphics for the monthly staircase and endcap displays, prepared for upcoming adult programming, and worked on the newsletter.
Children’s Services
Children’s Room staff continued program planning for the new year, reorganized and maintained the temporary collection, stored excess materials that were not able to fit on current shelving, lesson planned for December outreach programming, assisted patrons with hold requests and reader’s advisory, communicated with patrons, updated displays with seasonal items, began summer reading planning, continued planning a Children’s Room Grand Reopening party, prepared for GCTH programming, created seasonal room décor, presented two sessions of outreach storytime to Busy Bee Academy, met with the Teen Department, met with Tech Services, reviewed Children’s Room Library Associate applications, and fielded many questions about the Children’s Room closure.
Teen Services
Staff interacted with teens and provided supervision in the Teen Room during after-school hours and supervised volunteers.
Reference Services
Reference staff assisted patrons with tech, circulation and reference questions; ordered books for the adult non-fiction section; hosted the “Reads Well with Others” discussion of The Kitchen Front, by Jennifer Ryan and the Inspirational Book Group and Guided Meditation discussion of Sorry, Sorry, Sorry: The case for good apologies by Marjorie Ingall and Susan McCarthy; worked on statistics; and planned a December staircase display.
Technical Services
This week Allison started moving her office items upstairs in anticipation of her new role in Tech Services and worked on creating carts of replacement items for damaged items in the Children’s Room.
This week we circulated 1,777 items, received 353 items in transit, and sent 718 items. We requested 421 items and fulfilled 395 hold requests; registered patrons 18 for library cards, and added 94 new items. The most popular book this week is My Life in France by Julia Child with Alex Prud’homme. We hosted 31 meetings in our conference, study, and tutoring rooms for 101 people.
The Grafton Public Library was closed Friday, November 17 and Saturday, November 18, 2023 for installation of spray foam insulation. The Children’s Room and Community Room remain closed and the Friends of the Grafton Public Library book sale remains on hold awaiting reconstruction. Thank you to everyone who has been helping while the director remains on FMLA leave. Things continue to run smoothly.
Borrower Services
Staff managed the adult circulation desk, delivery, museum passes, the lobby, room reservations, and Automatic Materials Handling equipment. We assisted patrons, placed holds, performed readers’ advisory, and supervised volunteers. Borrower Services had a department meeting via Zoom; a staff member attended the CWMARS Users Council meeting on behalf of the library; and an evening Stencil Art program and a daytime “Unplug with Art” program were hosted for adults.
Children’s Services
Staff began program planning for the new year, especially Summer Reading! Placed book and materials orders, reorganized and maintained the temporary collection, lesson planned for November & December outreach programming, updated displays with seasonal items, began planning a Children’s Room Grand Reopening party, provided 9 preschool outreach Storytime programs to local preschools, selected replacement flooring for the CR Program Room and Work Room, created room décor, reached out to YFCP to reschedule Friday’s Young Scientists program, met with NGES’s Media Specialist, and assisted patrons.
Teen Services
Staff supervised the room and held sessions of Dungeons and Dragons and Anime Club.
Reference Services
Reference staff assisted patrons with tech and reference questions, ordered books for the non-fiction collection, and hosted “Not Just for Young Adults” Book Group discussion of Bittersweet by Sarah Ockler.
Technical Services
A big Thank You to: Allison (Teen Services), Allie (Borrower Services), and Eric (Borrower Services) who continue to take shifts in Tech Services cataloging new books and putting them into circulation for patrons until the vacancy is permanently filled.
The Grafton Public Library will be closing at 12pm on Friday, December 15th for professional development. The Library will be open from 10:00am-12:00pm on Friday, and will reopen on Saturday, December 16th at 10:00am for normal operations.
We will be closed on Friday, November 17 and Saturday, November 18, 2023 for installation of spray foam insulation in the areas that sustained flood damage. Due to the airborne chemical nature of the material, it is required that the building be unoccupied on those days.
This week we circulated 1,847 items, received 510 items in transit, and sent 568 items. We requested 392 items and fulfilled 452 hold requests; registered 11 patrons for library cards, and added 79 new items. The most popular book this week is The Richest Woman in America: Hetty Green in the Gilded Age by Janet Wallach. We hosted 34 meetings in our conference, study, and tutoring rooms for 79 people including Small Stones planning, as well as private work, study, homeschool, and tutoring sessions.
Thank you to all of our visitors who made Halloween so amazing this year! We passed out 1,400 rubber ducks between the Recreation Department’s Friendly Trick-or-Treat event last week and Trick-or-Treating at the library on Halloween night. Many people stopped by the library on Halloween throughout the day and not only enjoyed the staff Barbie costume theme, but had their picture taken in our life-size Barbie box as well.
Building
The Community Room and Children’s Room remain closed and the Friends of the Grafton Public Library book sale is still on hiatus as we await reconstruction from flood damage. While we anticipate construction should begin soon, we do not have a definitive timeline. We thank everyone for their continued patience as we navigate this situation.
Admin
The director is out on FMLA leave through the end of the calendar year. In her absence, staff are keeping the day-to-day operations running along smoothly under the supervision of our incredible Department Managers. We would like to thank Trustees Carrie Hogan and Aaron Vandesteen for coming out to sign the warrants to pay bills this week; Jen McNeil from the Children’s Department for managing website updates; Mary Lauria and Kristin Pasacane for assisting with payroll submission; and Town Administrator, Evan Brassard and Assistant Town Administrator, William Blake for their continued support.
Eileen maintained the collection of periodicals, took care of incoming mail, sent late notices, prepared bills, paid invoices and assisted with coverage for Borrower Services. Debby compiled the Weekly Report, and worked on payroll, scheduling, social media, tasks for the Board of Library Trustees, and in the Director’s absence, continues to assume a number of additional tasks to keep the Admin office on track.
Borrower Services
Staff managed the adult circ desk, delivery, museum passes, the lobby, room reservations, and Automatic Materials Handling equipment. We assisted patrons, placed holds, performed readers’ advisory, and supervised volunteers.
Kara added adult fiction standing order titles to future orders; put out new adult graphic novels and manga; prepared the ARIS, circulation statistics, and circ narrative for October; sent October’s OverDrive MARC records to CWMARS; pulled materials for Crescent Manor and made the monthly visit; ordered items for next month’s Crescent Manor visit; took down last month’s staircase and graphic novel displays; set up the November endcap and graphic novel displays; and created bookmarks. Jane posted the New York Times Best Seller List for print and audio fiction and recommended titles for purchase; corrected patron records with the wrong home library; prepared graphics for an endcap display featuring vegan cookbooks to celebrate World Vegan Month; and prepared tongue twisters to display celebrating International Tongue Twister Day on November 12. Ranjita posted the New York Times Best Seller List for print and audio nonfiction and recommended titles for purchase performed a routine check of the Library of Things. Sandhya managed out of network requests for materials and followed up on open issues; worked on interlibrary loans and followed up with patrons; cleared expired holds and followed up with patrons who had missing items; assisted patrons with room reservations, and a number of faxing, printing, and scanning services; checked, updated and responded to interlibrary loan items ordered and unfillable requests; planned adult programming for November/December including necessary items to order; coordinated with patrons and volunteers about home delivery; reviewed expiring museum passes and processed renewals; and continued preparing for the next season of the Seed Library. Allie added titles to the Humorous section in the Readers Advisory Database, researched Readers Advisory databases at other libraries, and converted RA Database to Excel; added new contacts to Constant Contact for e-newsletters; set up the staircase display for November for Native American Heritage Month; edited the newsletter and prepared for distribution; reviewed the meeting room policy for tutors; and trained with Technical Services for CAT Center requests, processing/cataloging new books, repairing books, and Ingram ordering and grids. In Tech Services, she processed new books and submitted CAT Center requests for MARC records.
Children’s Services
The Children’s Room staff continues working out of the temporary CR space located in the Friends of the Library Corner while we await repairs to damage sustained in the August flood. As we continue with our department’s displacement, we are feeling the strain and challenges of working with limited space and resources. Staff have continued to field questions and concerns from the public ranging from sympathetic understanding to frustration about the closure of the Children’s Room, our current programming hiatus, and the temporary suspension of the Friends of the Grafton Public Library’s book sale on a daily basis. At this time, the timeline of the project continues to be unclear, making it challenging to alleviate the concerns of the public.
Children’s Room staff presented outreach Storytime programming at Busy Bee Academy, planned and prepped for Halloween trick or treating, worked on a life size Barbie box prop to be used for display during Halloween, began program planning for the new year, began our yearly Summer Reading promotional material order, placed book and materials orders, reorganized and maintained the temporary collection, stored excess materials that we not able to fit on current shelving, lesson planned for November & December outreach programming, assisted patrons with hold requests and reader’s advisory, attended professional development, communicated with patrons, updated displays with seasonal items, attended the Summer 2024 webinar, and assisted patrons.
Teen Services
Allison spent some time working in Tech Services to catalog materials, working with Allie and Eric who are also being cross trained on that department; attended the department head meeting; compiled monthly stats for October; and worked on a book order. Sarah S. changed displays for November, planned programming, answered questions, and performed readers’ advisory. Shawn interacted with teens and supervised the Teen Room during after-school hours.
Reference Services
Heidi and Eric assisted with tech and reference questions, circulation, room reservations and museum passes. Heidi hosted the “Reads Well with Others” Book Group discussion of Under the Whispering Door by TJ Klune, worked on event PR, statistics, and collection development. Eric also cataloged and ordered items for the adult non-fiction section, recorded monthly statistics for databases, and organized the new non-fiction section.
Technical Services
Prior to her departure at the end of last week, Cynthia trained Allison C, Allie, and Eric in various aspects of Technical Services. All three worked brief shifts throughout the week to keep the department moving along without interruption in service getting new materials on the shelves for patrons.
This week we circulated 1,173 items, received 506 items in transit, and sent 524 items. We requested 448 items and fulfilled 454 hold requests; registered 12 patrons for library cards, and added 171 new items. The most popular book this week is The Richest Woman in America: Hetty Green in the Gilded Age by Janet Wallach. We hosted 30 meetings in our conference, study, and tutoring rooms for 83 people including Grafton Youth Football and Cheer and Grafton Democratic Town Committee, as well as private work, study, homeschool, and tutoring sessions.
Admin
The Director is out on FMLA leave through the end of 2023. In her absence, a number of staff members at the Grafton Public Library and the Town of Grafton Municipal Center are pitching in to assure that nothing falls through the cracks. Thank you to Jen McNeil from the Children’s Room for her continued work updating the website and EventKeeper; Trustees Roger Trahan and Aaron Vandesteen for coming in to sign the bills; Mary Lauria and Kristen Pasacane for their assistance with payroll; Evan Brassard and William Blake for their continued support, especially William who has been an invaluable resource the past few weeks.
Eileen maintained the collection of periodicals, processed incoming mail, sent late notices, prepared bills, paid invoices and assisted with coverage for Borrower Services. Debby compiled the Weekly Report, finished the Director’s Report, and wrote Director’s portions of the November newsletter; worked on preparing payroll, approving and scheduling leave, scheduling; updated events on social media; reached out to various agencies to get several overdue safety inspections completed; and performed a number of tasks for the Board of Library Trustees including preparation documents for, attending, and recording minutes of the October 25 meeting.
Borrower Services
Staff managed the adult circ desk, delivery, museum passes, the lobby, room reservations, and Automatic Materials Handling equipment. We assisted patrons, placed holds, performed readers’ advisory, and supervised volunteers.
Kara checked CWMars top titles against the collection; reviewed industry newsletters to add upcoming titles to purchase lists; ordered requested e-book and e-audio titles; prepared the first adult fiction and graphic novel orders for November; prepared the large print adult fiction order for November & December; and created signage and pulled titles for the November endcap and graphic novel displays. Jane posted the New York Times Best Seller List for print and audio fiction and recommended titles for purchase; corrected patron records with the wrong home library; collected items with alerts from invalid RFID tags; continued weeding adult fiction; and deleted lost fiction titles from the catalog. Ranjita posted the New York Times Best Seller List for print and audio nonfiction and recommended titles for purchase; and performed a routine check of the Library of Things. Sandhya managed out of network requests for materials and followed up on open issues; worked on interlibrary loans and followed up with patrons; cleared expired holds from the hold shelf and followed up with patrons; worked on the home delivery service; planned for and tested adult programming options for November and December; processed museum pass renewals and reviewed upcoming expiration dates; and continued preparing for next season’s Seed Library. Allie posted September and October general e-newsletters to website & printed physical copies; created permanent labels for the New Fiction and New Nonfiction shelves; wrote instructions for printing shelf labels to ensure exact dimension for the plastic shelf strips; edited the general e-newsletter events and updated the High Demand Holds; created a printable Adult Events calendar; displayed New to Fiction October books on top of the fiction shelves; ran a report on patrons interested in the newsletter and added contacts; and received overview and basic training for Technical Services.
Children’s Services
The Children’s Room staff continues working out of the temporary CR space located in the Friends of the Library Corner while we await repairs to damage sustained in the August flood. As we enter our fifth week of displacement, we are feeling the strain and challenges of working with limited space and resources. Staff have continued to field questions and concerns from the public ranging from sympathetic understanding to frustration about the closure of the Children’s Room, our current programming hiatus, and the temporary suspension of the Friends of the Grafton Public Library’s book sale on a daily basis. At this time, the timeline of the project continues to be unclear, making it challenging to alleviate the concerns of the public.
Children’s Room staff attended the Grafton Friendly Trick or Treat event hosted by the Grafton Recreation Department, planned and prepped for Halloween trick or treating, began program planning for the new year, began our yearly Summer Reading promotional material order, placed book and materials orders, reorganized and maintained the temporary collection, stored excess materials that we not able to fit on current shelving, lesson planned for November outreach programming, assisted patrons with hold requests and reader’s advisory, created an organization system for toys stored in our book bins, communicated with patrons, updated displays with seasonal items, and assisted patrons.
Teen Services
Allison worked with Cynthia to train in Technical Services to continue the work of the department after Cynthia’s last day on October 27. Sarah S. ran manga club, coordinated with teen volunteers, shelved new manga titles, and read reviews for upcoming titles. Shawn interacted with teens and supervised the Teen Room during after-school hours.
Reference Services
Heidi and Eric assisted with tech and reference questions, circulation, room reservations and museum passes. Heidi hosted the Inspirational Book Group and Guided Meditation discussion of 13 Things Mentally Strong People Don’t Do: Take Back Your Power, Embrace Change, Face Your Fears, and Train Your Brain for Happiness and Success, by Amy Morin and worked on event PR and collection development. Eric ordered new materials for the adult non-fiction collection, put out new books, trained on Technical Services and Cataloging, and planned November book displays.
Technical Services
This is Cynthia’s last week! She was offered an amazing opportunity and has accepted a position with CWMars. This week she ordered new books and unpacked items as they arrived; worked on cataloging new YA manga, DVDs, and adult nonfiction; added grids to items in Ingram; and trained staff and prepared documentation to help with a smooth transition upon her departure.
This week we circulated 2,013 items, received 702 items in transit, and sent 607 items. We requested 542 items and fulfilled 433 hold requests; registered 8 patrons for library cards, and added 233 new items. The most popular book this week is The Richest Woman in America: Hetty Green in the Gilded Age by Janet Wallach. We hosted 25 meetings in our conference, study, and tutoring rooms for 60 people including Brownie Troop 65197, office hours for Senator Michael Moore, and Grafton Girls Softball, as well as private work, study, homeschool, and tutoring sessions.
The Grafton Public Library was closed 10 a.m. – 2 p.m. for staff development on Thursday, October 19. The event was attended by all available staff and was a chance for staff to collaborate across departments.
The Children’s Room and Community Rooms continue to be closed awaiting reconstruction to remediate flood damage. Assistant Town Administrator William Blake is in communication with and will be notified by MIIA insurance adjusters when work can begin. We apologize for the inconvenience.
Admin
The Director is out on FMLA leave through the end of 2023. In her absence, things are running smoothly with no disruption to service as GPL staff and Town of Grafton employees are pitching in. Special thanks to Jen McNeil from the Children’s Department for updating the website and making a number of corrections and additions to EventKeeper, trustees Roger Trahan, John Bubriski, and Carrie Hogan who have come in to sign warrant sheets so that bills can be paid on time, Town Accountant Mary Lauria for assisting with payroll submission, and to William Blake and who has been maintaining communication with department heads and providing staff and facilities support.
Eileen maintained the collection of periodicals, took care of incoming mail, sent late notices, prepared bills, paid invoices, picked up lunch for staff development, and assisted with coverage for Borrower Services. Debby planned and coordinated details for Thursday’s staff development; compiled the Weekly Report; worked on payroll, scheduling, social media, and tasks for the Board of Library Trustees; and completed a number of tasks left on the Director’s To-Do List.
Borrower Services
Staff managed the adult circ desk, delivery, museum passes, the lobby, room reservations, and Automatic Materials Handling equipment. We assisted patrons, placed holds, performed readers’ advisory, and supervised volunteers.
Kara helped plan for upcoming staff transitions; prepared adult fiction orders for November; prepared the large print adult fiction order for November & December; prepared an order of graphic novels and manga for November; prepared for the move of the second and first floor desks; and helped organize storage and free up workspace in the Technical Services office. Jane posted the New York Times Best Seller List for print and audio fiction and recommended titles for purchase; corrected patron records with the wrong home library; collected items with alerts from invalid RFID tags; collected items with alerts from old displays; and continued weeding adult fiction. Ranjita posted the New York Times Best Seller List for print and audio nonfiction and recommended titles for purchase; processed ComCat requests; and performed a routine check of the Library of Things and First Aid Kits throughout the building. Sandhya managed out of network requests for materials and followed up on open issues; worked on interlibrary loans and followed up with patrons; cleared expired holds from the hold shelf and followed up with patrons; worked on the home delivery service; hosted the final session of the Diamond Art program; hosted a craft session for attendees at staff development; prepared graphics and selected materials for the November endcap display; planned for and tested adult programming options for November and December and ordered supplies; processed museum pass renewals and reviewed upcoming expiration dates; and continued preparing for the next season of the Seed Library. Allie created and adhered shelf labels for Blu-ray, DVD, Video Games, and Manga sections; requested additional shelf labels; worked on the November newsletter by requesting content from staff members and creating a new design, including new graphics, an updated Upcoming Events section, and an updated High Demand Holds section; created graphic for November’s Native American Heritage Month staircase display and a printable general events calendar for November; worked on the New Fiction shelf display, including processing new adult fiction; researched an older mystery book series for a patron; and discussed Art Rail additions with a trustee.
Children’s Services
The Children’s Room staff continues working out of the temporary CR space while we await repairs to damaged sustained in the August flood. As we enter our fourth week of displacement, we are feeling the strain and challenges of working with limited space and resources. Staff have continued to field questions and concerns from the public ranging from sympathetic understanding to frustration about the closure of the Children’s Room, our current programming hiatus, and the temporary suspension of the Friends of the Grafton Public Library’s book sale on a daily basis. At this time, the timeline of the project continues to be unclear, making it challenging to alleviate the concerns of the public.
Children’s Outreach programming is back in full swing with staff providing outreach to NGES preschoolers, Silver Spruce, and hosting a table at Octoberfest.
Teen Services
Allison worked with department heads to help plan for staffing issues in the coming weeks. Sarah S shelved new books, facilitated Dungeons and Dragons, ran Anime Club, and coordinated with teen volunteers. Shawn supervised the Teen Room during after school hours and provided much needed support to Borrower Services staff when there was an altercation between patrons on Tuesday.
Reference Services
Heidi and Eric assisted with tech and reference questions, circulation, room reservations and museum passes. Heidi hosted the Daytimers’ Book Group discussion of Other Birds, by Sarah Addison Allen, the GPL Mystery Book Group discussion of Artifacts by Mary Anna Evans; and worked on a grant and event PR. Eric also set up their new desk space and helped clear out the reference desk before it was moved.
Technical Services
This week, Cynthia ordered new books and unpacked items as they arrived. She cataloged new YA graphic novels, adult fiction, and audiobooks; worked on fixing problem items and replacement items; added grids to items in Ingram; sent in requests for records to the CatCenter; and covered the desk for Borrower Services.
