Happy New Year from the Grafton Public Library’s Children’s Room

Posted by mcneilj on 28 December 22

Check out our latest newsletter to see what we’ve got planned for January 2023.

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Weekly Report: December 19-24

Posted by bethg on 27 December 22

This week we circulated 2,237 items, received 528 items in transit and sent 644 items. We requested 457 items and filled 404 hold requests; registered 12 patrons for library cards, and added 154 new items. The most popular book this week is Mad Honey by Jodi Picoult. We hosted 17 meetings in our conference, study, and tutoring rooms for 32 people including Girl Scouts, Grafton Girls Softball planning, and Cub Scouts Pack 107 AoL Den, as well as private work, study, homeschool, and tutoring sessions.

We closed early at 5pm due to the anticipated flash freeze on Friday December 23. As a reminder, the Library will be closed on Saturday December 24 through Tuesday December 26 in observance of the Christmas Holiday – no materials are due. The Library will close at 2 p.m. on Saturday, December 31 and remain closed in observance of the New Year Holiday through January 2, 2023. We will reopen on Tuesday, January 3, 2023.

Admin
Beth paid bills, worked on collection development and the FY24 budget, met with various staff members, and covered in the Teen Room. She attended meetings with the construction team and Town department heads.

Eileen maintained the collection of periodicals, took care of incoming mail, and prepared bills. Debby compiled the Weekly Report, worked on social media posts for three different platforms, completed payroll and scheduling tasks as well as taking care of items for the Board of Library Trustees.

Borrower Services
Staff managed service desks, delivery, museum passes, the lobby, room reservations and Automatic Materials Handling equipment. They assisted patrons, placed holds, performed readers’ advisory, and supervised volunteers.
Kara added patron requests to order lists, prepared graphics for next month’s display for Public Domain Day, started working on the December circ narrative and stats, followed up on open scheduling questions, planned desk and break coverage during times of low staffing, and reviewed industry publications for backlist titles, new releases, and upcoming titles to add to collection. Jane updated links on the library’s site due to the new Town of Grafton website, posted the New York Times Best Seller List for print and audio fiction and recommended titles for purchase, and corrected records for patrons with the wrong home library. Sandhya managed out of network requests for materials, worked on interlibrary loans, researched adult programming ideas for February, created graphics and gathered books for the January end cap display, provided training to other staff on covering CLIO requests during upcoming time off, and worked on the home delivery service, including updating and archiving files, providing fliers to the Children’s Room for new parents, following up with interested patrons, and signing up a new user. Allie edited the hold slip template to reduce PII (Personally Identifiable Information), added code to hold slips to include patron alias, corresponded with CW MARS to make holds slip edits, prepared the January 2023 newsletter for release, added a “Did You Know” section to the January newsletter about the reduced PII, planned the January endcap display (Art Browsery: Look – Learn – Create), followed up with Bibliotheca on two support cases, performed troubleshooting with Bibliotheca to fix the lobby self-check machine, and added new fiction 7-day and 3-week books to the display.

Children’s Services
Sarah presented four sessions of preschool outreach at SGES, planned for upcoming programming, placed materials orders, met with staff to discuss January and February programming, met with Kristin to schedule Grafton History Day for MSES, and discussed weather procedure with Beth. Jen updated Event Keeper and social media, updated and posted the December calendar, sent out an email blast alerting people to the change in our programming schedule, began working on the January newsletter, and met with Sarah to discuss January and February programming. Cyndi continued to update the Library of Things book, weeded magazines, and assisted Kristin with bulletin board decorations. Stacie decorated the Children’s Room, assisted patrons, and planned future book displays. Mare assisted patrons, managed volunteers and their schedules, shelved items, and shelf-read Children’s Room Blu-Rays and DVD’s. Kristin has communicated with the local schools, met with Sarah to schedule Grafton History Day for MSES, and dropped off C.A.R.E. books to NGES and SGES.

Teen Services
Staff are working on the missing and lost teen items report and a weeding report to make room on our shelves for new books.

Reference Services
Heidi and Eric assisted with tech and reference questions as well as circulation. Heidi hosted the Daytimers book group discussion of The Matzah Ball by Jean Meltzer, and the GPL Mystery book group discussion of A House of Ghosts by W. C. Ryan. She also worked on program planning and PR. Eric continued organizing the non-fiction collection, ordered books for the non-fiction collection, worked on creating a procedure for materials ordering, and created a spreadsheet for program feedback.

Technical Services
Cynthia ordered and unpacked new books; cataloged new adult fiction, children’s books, and audiobooks. She also worked on fixing problem items, sent in requests for records to the CatCenter, and made bookplates for books that were part of a donation to the library.

Weekly Report Week of December 12-17, 2022

Posted by bethg on 16 December 22

This week we circulated 2,462 items, received 538 items in transit and sent 633 items. We requested 477 items and filled 406 hold requests; registered 4 patrons for library cards, and added 205 new items. The most popular book this week is Mad Honey by Jodi Picoult. We hosted 31 meetings in our conference, study, and tutoring rooms for 81people including Brownies Troop 65197, Grafton Community Nurses, as well as private work, study, homeschool, and tutoring sessions.

As a reminder, the Library will be closed on Saturday December 24 through Tuesday December 26 in observance of the Christmas Holiday – no materials are due.

Admin
Beth met with the Board of Library Trustees, who approved the 2023 Action Plan, which was submitted to MBLC and is posted on the Library’s website. She worked on the January newsletter, paid bills, and made website updates; corresponded with various town departments, staff and patrons; and  hosted GUM Jam which had a record 16 attendees.
Eileen maintained the collection of periodicals, took care of incoming mail, and prepared bills. Debby compiled the Weekly Report, worked on upcoming social media posts, and completed payroll and scheduling tasks as well as attending and taking notes for the Board of Library Trustees meeting on Wednesday evening.

Borrower Services
Staff managed service desks, delivery, museum passes, the lobby, room reservations and Automatic Materials Handling equipment. They assisted patrons, placed holds, performed readers’ advisory, and supervised volunteers.
Kara followed up with the DVD vendor on replacing a locked DVD case, discussed follow up actions for an item error on a patron account with the cataloguer, requested supplies for book displays and items that are new to the collection, and reviewed industry publications for collection development. Jane created graphics for the January staircase display for series starters and selected books to request to fill that display, corrected records for patrons with the wrong home library, posted the New York Times Best Seller List for print and audio fiction and recommended titles for purchase, and collected items with alerts for cataloging corrections. Ranjita posted the New York Times Best Seller List for print and audio nonfiction and recommended titles for purchase, processed ComCat requests, performed a routine check of the Library of Things, and processed pending library card applications. Allie assisted senior library book group patrons, created and set snowflake backgrounds for the three self-check machines, issued support ticket to Bibliotheca for the lobby self-check machine not properly reading cards or printing, researched labels for items new to the collection and magnetic shelf label holders, reported a Library Connect labeling discrepancy to Bibliotheca and spoke to support services several times, processed and displayed 7-day and 3-week fiction books, and curated and created graphics for the January 2023 general newsletter. Sandhya managed out of network requests for materials, worked on interlibrary loans, cleared expired holds from the hold shelf and followed up with patrons, prepared for the January end cap display and created graphics, followed up with a patron and the lending library on replacement of a missing item, and prepared for and hosted a second book folding program for adults.

Children’s Services
Sarah presented at Willard House and Busy Bee Preschool, met with various department heads
about programming and procedures. Jen updated EventKeeper and social media, worked on the January CR newsletter, brainstormed a plan for programming since the program room is unavailable and the community rooms do not have heat. Cyndi prepared for the January Sewing Club, assisted in decorating the CR, cleaned and organized the CR workroom, and managed the Library of Things. Stacie decorated the CR for winter, hosted the winter art activities, planned upcoming book displays, and assisted patrons. Mare worked on scheduling and communicating with current volunteers, reviewed applications for new volunteers, started work on a New York Times Bestseller List display sheet for Children’s picture books/middle grade books, and attended to patrons. Kristin planned for upcoming book clubs, dropped off the C.A.R.E.S. books to NGES and SGES, hosted book clubs and communicated with the local
schools.

Teen Services
Multiple staff covered in teen services due to staff absence. Sarah worked on the lost/missing item list, read reviews for manga and graphic novels, checked 2023 middle grade fiction titles, and made more holiday-themed bookmarks, and finished putting up winter decorations. WE bounced out several teens who returned under a no trespass order.

Reference Services
Heidi and Eric assisted with tech and reference questions as well as circulation.  Heidi worked on collection development, hosted the “Not Just for Young Adult” book group discussion of Carols and Chaos by Cindy Anstey and worked on program planning and PR. Eric continued adjusting the non-fiction collection to make more room. He also refreshed endcap displays, shipped a box of discarded books to Better World Books, and continued work on weeding.

Technical Services
Cynthia unpacked new books; ordered new adult fiction, nonfiction, and graphic novels; cataloged adult fiction, nonfiction, and children’s books, and worked on revisions for the Ingram processing and spine label project.

2023 Library Closings Announced

Posted by bethg on 15 December 22

Monday, January 2 CLOSED – New Year’s Day
Monday, January 16 CLOSED – Martin Luther King, Jr. Day
Thursday January 19 DELAYED – Professional Development Day – open at 2 p.m.
Monday, February 20 CLOSED – President’s Day
Thursday, March 9 DELAYED – Professional Development Day – open at 2 p.m.
Monday, April 17 CLOSED – Patriots’ Day
Saturday, May 27 CLOSED – Memorial Day weekend (unpaid)
Monday, May 29 CLOSED – Memorial Day
Monday, June 19 CLOSED – Juneteenth
Monday, July 3 EARLY CLOSING – Close at 5 p.m.
Tuesday July 4 CLOSED – Independence Day
Thursday, August 17 DELAYED – Professional Development Day – open at 2 p.m.
Saturday, September 2 CLOSED – Labor Day weekend (unpaid)
Monday, September 4 CLOSED – Labor Day
Monday, October 9 CLOSED – Indigenous People’s Day
Thursday, October 19 DELAYED – Professional Development Day – open at 2 p.m.
Friday, November 10 CLOSED – Veterans’ Day
Wednesday, November 22 EARLY CLOSING – Close at 5 p.m.
Thursday, November 23 CLOSED Thanksgiving Day
Friday November 25 CLOSED Thanksgiving holiday
Saturday, December 23 CLOSED – Christmas (unpaid)
Monday December 25 CLOSED – Christmas (observed)
Monday, January 1, 2024 CLOSED New Year’s Day

Weekly Report  Week of  December 5-10, 2022

Posted by bethg on 09 December 22

Millwork to lower counters and sinks to ADA compliance is scheduled to begin next week in multiple areas of the Library. We appreciated your patience as some areas, rooms and services may be out of order, or meetings may need to be relocated. The project is expected to be completed by the end of the year.

This week we circulated 2,766 items, received 636 items in transit and sent 618 items. We requested 469 items and filled 492 hold requests; registered 29 patrons for library cards, and added 205 new items. The most popular book this week is Mad Money by Jodi Picoult. We hosted 34 meetings in our conference, study, and tutoring rooms for 91 people including Girl Scout Troop 11225, Grafton Book Group, Tai Chi ladies, and Grafton 4H as well as private work, study, and tutoring sessions.

Admin
We received notice that we will receive $21,301.90 before the end of the year for our compliance in the MBLC State Aid to Public Libraries program. Beth led the Monday Music and Movement class for a half-dozen families when our contracted performer missed the gig. She covered in the Teen Room on Monday and Friday due to staff absences. She met with various staff and union representation, and corresponded with IT, Evan, HR, Trustees, Capital Campaign, Friends, HDC, Accessibility Commission, accounting, the Town Clerk’s office, vendors, MBLC, and volunteers. She worked on the 2023 Action Plan, FY24 budget, prepared a schedule of work for the sink and counter remediation; scheduled meeting rooms; started the 2023 Food Permit Application; worked on the Building Inspection application; made website updates; paid bills; and prepared materials for next week’s Board of Library Trustees meeting on Wed 12/14 at 7pm via Zoom. She prepared non-fiction and graphic novel book orders; supplied missing Building Committee Meeting Minutes, and made sure a meeting room for Saturday was set up before she left on Friday afternoon.

IT
Staff are preparing for a switch from Google Suite and Gmail to Office 365 and Outlook; IT provided instructions for file backup, which Beth distributed and then completed the task for her account. Multiple staff members have expressed concern over the new authentication procedure which will require use of personal devices to access email on your phone or files from a laptop or tablet from home, for example during work from home days in lieu of snow days or leave time during inclement weather, or during a pandemic. Beth forwarded the concerns to IT.

Eileen maintained the collection of periodicals, took care of incoming mail, and prepared bills. Debby prepared the weekly report and worked on various scheduling, payroll, and Board of Library Trustee tasks.

Construction
Building Committee met Monday evening, and voted to proceed with a $29K revised proposal to install the doors in the YA Maker Space and Presentation Area. The Construction Team met on Monday afternoon. HVAC work is on hold while we wait for the correct part. In the meantime, the Children’s Program closet had to be emptied for the anticipated part installation, rendering the program room unusable, and because the system is turned off for some portions of the building, our community room is 61 degrees. We anticipate part delivery Friday and installation on Monday, followed by system mapping to restore appropriate temperatures to all areas of the building. Sunshine Sign was on sign to replace incorrect donor cells on the donor wall, which has been veiled while we waited for these repairs, and to remove the Dedication Plaque, which has misspellings and omissions due to a miscommunication.

Borrower Services
Staff managed service desks, delivery, museum passes, the lobby, room reservations and Automatic Materials Handling equipment. They assisted patrons, placed holds, performed reader’s advisory, and supervised volunteers.

Kara arranged coverage for open shifts at the end of December, cleared April and May events from EventKeeper to make room for new reservations, discussed CW Mars proposed change to hold slip PII, scheduled a department meeting for next week, and ran Evergreen reports for lost, transit, and missing items for November. She reviewed backlist adult fiction titles, followed up on an account question with the media vendor representative, and placed December orders for new adult fiction, DVDs, CD audiobooks, e-books, and e-audio.

Jane posted the New York Times Best Seller List for print and audio fiction and recommended titles for purchase, set up the “we love books a latte” endcap display about coffee, helped a patron pair their laptop to a meeting room TV, registered new patrons who made online library card applications, ran a report for new items with alerts, and brainstormed with Heidi for the January staircase display. Ranjita helped staff Grafton Celebrates the Holidays, posted the New York Times Best Seller List for print and audio nonfiction and recommended titles for purchase, processed ComCat requests, performed a routine check of the Library of Things, processed pending library card applications, and performed the monthly check on AED and first aid boxes.

Allie took down the November endcap display, set up the main display for December, worked with IT on backing up the Google drive, creating a pricing sheet for the Friends’ Corner with the PayPal QR code, researched and discussed the proposed change to the hold slip PII, planned the January 2023 newsletter and endcap display, and reset the Lobby, Reference, and Borrower Services self-checks to print the events calendar QR code on the receipts. Sandhya helped staff Grafton Celebrates the Holidays, managed out of network requests for materials, worked on interlibrary loans, cleared expired holds from the hold shelf and followed up with patrons, and gathered circulation data for the Library of Things to suggest items to weed or relocate to the young adult collection. She prepared instructions for the upcoming book folding programs, planned ideas and dates for January programming, and hosted the Hedgehog Book Folding program for adults.

Children’s Services
Sarah met with Cyndi and Beth and attended a meeting with Beth, Cyndi and Evan. She presented three sessions of preschool outreach at NGES, brainstormed a plan for programming since the program room is unavailable and the community rooms do not have heat, reached out to storytime registrants, and worked at the Library during Grafton Celebrates the Library.

Jen updated event keeper and social media, worked on the January CR newsletter, brainstormed a plan for programming since the program room is unavailable and the community rooms do not have heat. Cyndi worked at Grafton Celebrates the Holidays, prepared for Sewing Club, assisted in decorating the CR, cleaned and organized the CR workroom, met with Sarah and Beth, attended a meeting with Beth, Evan, and Sarah, and managed the Library of Things. Stacie decorated the CR for winter, planned upcoming winter art activities, planned upcoming books displays, and assisted patrons. Mare worked on scheduling and communicating with current volunteers, reviewed applications for new volunteers, started work on a New York Times Bestseller List Display Sheet for Children’s picture books/middle grade books, and attended to patrons. Kristin planned for upcoming book clubs, dropped off the C.A.R.E.S. books to NGES and SGES, assisted Cyndi with Sewing Club, and communicated with the local schools.

Teen Services
Allison completed the monthly stats for November, created BeanStack challenges for 2023, ordered manga books, and worked on additional book carts to order. Sarah decorated the Teen Room for winter, put up displays for holiday reads, continued training with our new volunteer and read weekly manga and graphic novels reviews for future collection orders.

Reference Services
Heidi and Eric assisted with technology and reference questions as well as circulation. Heidi worked on collection development, monthly statistics, and book group preparations.  Eric finished planning out shifting books in the non-fiction area and worked on monthly statistics.

Technical Services
Cynthia ordered and unpacked items, ran reports to see how many items were added and deleted for November, compiled her monthly report, cataloged children and adult nonfiction books, adult fiction, and young adult books. She worked on revisions for the Ingram processing and spine label project.

Weekly Report: Nov 28-Dec 2, 2022

Posted by bethg on 01 December 22

We have been prepping for our Grafton Celebrates the Holidays Open House on Sunday December 4 from 12-4pm. This year we are offering henna, storytime, seasonal crafts from Grafton RISE, and a Friends table with book bundles, canvas bags, notebooks, bookmarks and memberships for sale. We will host the Girl Scouts Gingerbread House contest and a table from Central MA Foster/Adopt MA Initiative – please stop by!

This week we circulated 2,361 items, received 723 items in transit and sent 742 items. We requested 462 items and filled 403 hold requests; registered 15 patrons for Library cards, and added 323 new items. The most popular book this week is Mad Money by Jodi Picoult. We hosted 29 meetings in our conference, study, and tutoring rooms for 78 people including Brownies Troop 65197, BSA Scout Troop 107 Astronomy Merit Badge class, Cub Scout Pack 107 AOL Den as well as private work, study, and tutoring sessions.

Admin
Beth was out on sick leave for most the week, but responded to urgent email and had phone conversations with the Trustee Chair and Capital Campaign chair. She completed the Library’s December newsletter, 2024 Action Plan, and October MPLCP construction grant report. She setup Niche Academy enrollment for all staff, who will be participating in a year-long online training initiative for responding to marginalized populations, including homeless, teenagers, and mentally ill patrons. She attended a policy subcommittee meeting where we discussed art display, security cameras, meeting room and facility rental and parking We will allow for up to 4 consecutive books for groups or individuals meetings daily, weekly or monthly, and re-evaluate in March 2023—we had been allowing one booking at time to encourage turnover and equity of use. We anticipate installation of a replacement distributor for an HVAC issue on Friday.

Eileen maintained the collection of periodicals, took care of incoming mail, and prepared bills. Debby compiled the weekly report, attended and took notes for the Board of Library Trustees Policy Subcommittee meeting, watched the “Good Kids, Bad Behavior” webinar, and completed ordering, scheduling, and payroll tasks.

Borrower Services
Staff managed service desks, delivery, museum passes, the lobby, room reservations and Automatic Materials Handling equipment. They assisted patrons, placed holds, performed readers’ advisory, and supervised volunteers.

Kara pulled materials for Crescent Manor and made the monthly visit with Susan, ordered requested e-audio materials, reviewed CW MARS top lists against our collection, reviewed a report on top hold titles for CD audiobooks, brainstormed ideas for collection development and readers’ advisory next year, continued processing incoming volunteer applications, re-started a previous volunteer, worked on the ARIS and circulation statistics for November, and prepared the circ narrative. She put up a display of fiction and nonfiction titles for December to celebrate Jane Austen’s birthday, created signage, and prepared a list of titles for the library’s website.

Jane posted the New York Times Best Seller List for print and audio fiction and recommended titles for purchase, corrected records for patrons with the wrong home library, collected items with alerts for cataloging corrections, and corrected typos on the library website. Ranjita posted the New York Times Best Seller List for print and audio nonfiction and recommended titles for purchase, processed ComCat requests, processed new adult fiction titles, performed a routine check of the Library of Things, added new puzzles to the collection, and provided orientation and training for a new volunteer. Allie created laminated shelf labels, proofread and edited the general e-newsletter, inserted alternate text descriptions for screen readers for newsletter graphics, added contacts to the newsletter distribution list, printed copies of the Tough Topics flyer, researched and solved problem with self-check receipts in System Manager, updated the Bibliotheca issues sheet with serial numbers and IPv4 addresses of all the self-check machines, and provided direct web addresses to edit all the self-check machines from the computer. Sandhya managed out of network requests for materials, worked on interlibrary loans, cleared expired holds from the hold shelf and sent follow up emails to patrons. She performed troubleshooting on the AMH, purchased materials for the upcoming book folding programs, processed online library card requests, and worked on the home delivery service, including ordering items, making calls, processing holds, and coordinating volunteers.

Children’s Services
This week in the Children’s Room wrapped up our big Dinovember program and began the transition to all things winter. We also started up our winter sessions of storytime programming!

Sarah ran four session of outreach preschool programming for SGES, ran two sessions of outreach preschool programing for Busy Bee, planned and prepared for GCTH, co-ran a session of Sewing Camp, followed up with staff, met with Allison to discuss programming, followed up with members of Grafton RISE to discuss the craft they will be running during GCTH, lesson planned for upcoming preschool, toddler, and outreach programming, and met with Cynthia to discuss spine label text.

Jen ran a session of Library Babies, planned for upcoming storytime sessions, ran a LEGO Brick Builders program, finalized and sent out the December Children’s Room newsletter, planned for New Year’s @ Noon, began the January Children’s Room newsletter, and updated EventKeeper. Cyndi painted items to hide for the December passive room hunt. She planned programs, window displays, and room decor for the next 3 months and organized the Library of Things. Stacie ran a Dino Egg session, prepped book displays, planned room themes. Mare assisted a patron with placing holds on materials from outside the network, continued to manage volunteers, replenished display books, and assisted patrons by placing holds. Kristin dropped off C.A.R.E.S. books to NGES and SGES, planned for upcoming programs, provided outreach to the local schools, and began planning the January bulletin Board.
 Teen Services
This week the teen room worked on new displays for Pearl Harbor Remembrance, Gifts to Make, and Holiday Books as well as using some of the larger displays to showcase the new books to the collection. Allison worked on monthly stats and book orders.

Reference Services
Heidi and Eric assisted with tech and reference questions as well as circulation. Heidi also worked on PR, Readers’ Advisory with patrons and preparing for Grafton Celebrates the Holidays.  Heidi also hosted the “Reads Well with Others” book discussion of The Watchmaker of Filigree Street by Natasha Pulley and the Inspirational Book Group (and Guided Meditation) discussion of Friendfluence: The Surprising Ways Friends Make Us Who We Are, by Carlin Flora. Eric shifted books to make more room in the non-fiction collections and received training on how to use the Ingram website and shifted book displays for December.

 Technical Services
Cynthia ordered books, unpacked new books, worked on revisions for the Ingram processing/spine labels project, and cataloged new young adult graphic novels, children’s graphic novels and nonfiction, and adult nonfiction.

We’re counting down to 2023 in the children’s room!

Posted by mcneilj on 30 November 22

Due to a construction issue, these children’s programs have been canceled for December:

Library Babies, Toddler Time, Preschool Storytime

Lego Brickbuilders, Video Games and Comics Creator Club.

We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause.

The weather outside is frightful, so join us in our toasty warm library for storytime!

Library Babies, featuring songs, bounces, and interactive board books, runs on Tuesdays at 9:15am. Toddler Time, an active program for walkers through age three, is held on Wednesdays at 9:15am and 10:30am. Storytime for preschoolers is held on Thursdays at 9:15am. Registration is required for Preschool Storytime and Toddler Time.

Because the 9:15am programs take place before the library opens to the public, please enter through the children’s program room door on the right side of the library. There will be directional signage posted outside the library on storytime days. Please arrive on time for these programs. Due to their short run time, we cannot allow any latecomers to enter. Storytime programs will run until Thursday, December 22nd.

Ms. Kayla from Apple Tree Arts will visit the Library for a Music and Movement program from children aged two and up on Monday, December 5th at 10:30am. Registration is required.

On Wednesday, December 14th at 3:30pm, join us at the Willard House & Clock Museum for a special storytime and a tour of the museum’s beautiful grounds. This program is for preschoolers and registration is required.

There’s lots to do for older kids at the library too! Join us for Comic Creator Club or one of the three Bookworms book discussion groups. All four programs meet on Tuesday, December 13th. Please adhere to age requirements when registering. See graftonlibrary.org/events to see what books each age group will be reading this month. Books can be picked up at the library.

Feeling creative? Drop-in to LEGO Brickbuilders December 15th, 22nd and 29th from 3:30-5:00pm. Sewing club will be held on December 2nd and December 1oth.

Feeling artistic? Drop in and create Winter Art on Tuesday, December 6th, Tuesday, December 20th or Thursday, December 15th from 5:30-7:00pm.

Feeling competitive? We’re bringing out the Wii or Wii U to play some Nintendo Classics on the big screen in the program room on Friday, December 23rd  from 3:00pm-5:00pm.

Join us during school vacation week for a replay of some of our more popular school aged programs. Winter Art will be on Tuesday at 5:30pm, Video Games will run on Wednesday at 3:00pm, and Lego Brickbuilders will meet on Thursday at 3:30pm.

New Years at Noon is back, and bigger than ever! Join us on December 31st at 11:30am for a child-friendly bash. Count down to 2023 with us in our big community room. We’ve got lots of surprises in store!

To sign up or see all Library programs, please visit our online calendar.

Weekly Report: November 14-19, 2022

Posted by bethg on 18 November 22

This week we circulated 2,576 items, received 524 items in transit and sent 581 items. We requested 541 items and filled 453 hold requests; registered 7 patrons for library cards, and added 68 new items. The most popular book this week is Mad Money by Jodi Picoult. We hosted 27 meetings in our conference, study, and tutoring rooms for 137 people including group meetings of Girl Scout Troop 11225, Grafton Democratic Town Committee, MetroWest Building Officials Association, Brownie Troop 65197, North Grafton Elementary PTG, MLSA Union, Mystery Book Club, and Grafton Girls Softball as well as private work, study, and tutoring sessions.

A reminder that the Library will have several closures in observance of Thanksgiving: Wednesday November 23 the Library will close at 5:00 p.m. and remain CLOSED Thursday and Friday November 24 and 25, reopening Saturday November 26 at 10:00 a.m.

Admin
Staff met Tuesday morning; much of the meeting was focused on Meeting Room reservation procedures. We will be reviewing the Meeting Space and Facility Rental policies at a Board of Library Trustees Policy Subcommittee meeting on Wed Nov 30 at 7pm via Zoom.

Beth covered all day in the Teen Room on Friday so Teen Services staff could attend the Teen Summit. She attended a program in partnership with Willard House and Clock Museum on Monday evening, which had 55 attendees. She prepared for and attended the Board of Library Trustee meeting. The Board voted to update the Code of Conduct with a few minor changes – editing age 14 to age 13 to reflect the correct age for youth allowed unattended at the Library, and eliminating the Policy/Procedure Breakdown. Going forward, all policies will contain a line directing visitors to our website for our Appeals Process for policy disagreements. We also passed a Privacy and Confidentiality Policy. Beth updated staff on new policies. She worked on an action plan update for 2023, updated the website and internal documents, such as the emergency contact list, and worked on the December newsletter. Beth worked on Nonfiction and Graphic Novel collection development and recommended magazine titles for 2023. She had meetings with various staff members and corresponded with Trustees, Friends, vendors and committee members.

Eileen maintained the collection of periodicals, took care of incoming mail, and prepared bills. Debby created content for and managed social media accounts, updated the lobby display for Dinovember, completed scheduling through March 2023, worked on payroll and current scheduling needs, made a call for service when the elevator stopped working, attended to various tasks for the Board of Library Trustees and attended the Trustee meeting on Wednesday evening.

Borrower Services
Staff managed service desks, delivery, museum passes, the lobby, room reservations and Automatic Materials Handling equipment. They assisted patrons, placed holds, performed readers’ advisory, and supervised volunteers.

Kara attended the Annual Circulation and Resource Sharing meeting, ordered adult fiction and non-fiction e-books and e-audio, prepared an order for new regular print adult fiction as well as replacement copies for worn backlist titles, attended a meeting with the library’s Ingram representatives, followed up with a media vendor about an open order, and prepared lists of materials for a December endcap display. She reviewed staff changes to the orientation and training materials for new volunteers, prepared thank you cards for recently retired volunteers, and started a new volunteer.

Jane assisted a patron with the AV setup for Community Room A/B, posted the New York Times Best Seller List for print and audio fiction and recommended titles for purchase, collected items with alerts for cataloging corrections, and worked on display ideas. Sandhya managed out of network requests for materials, worked on interlibrary loans, cleared expired holds from the hold shelf and contacted patrons, performed troubleshooting on the self-check, processed pending library cards for new patrons, prepared instructions and materials for the upcoming book folding events, suggested updates to the organization of the library’s website, and worked on updating the volunteer policies, procedures, and project list. She worked on the home delivery service, including ordering items, making calls, processing holds, and coordinating with Children’s Room staff about offering home delivery to their patrons. Allie recorded stats for room reservations, planned the main display for December and created signage, called IT support for Bibliotheca AMH troubleshooting, helped a patron with the Libby App and Kindle, and created signage for Audiobook, DVD, and game shelves. She created graphics, content, and event descriptions for the newsletter.  Ranjita posted the New York Times Best Seller List for print and audio nonfiction and recommended titles for purchase. She processed ComCat requests and new adult fiction titles, performed a routine check of the Library of Things, and processed pending library cards for new patrons.

Children’s Services
Sarah attended “Willard House and Clock Museum: 50-Years of Collecting Excellence: An Illustrated Lecture” and assisted with set up, set up drop-in play programs for toddlers and preschoolers, made dino eggs for an upcoming program, attended an Ingram selector’s meeting, communicated with YFCP and STEM Beginnings, shepherded Young Scientists, assisted in running Sewing Club, and updated past stats into the new recording format.

Jen updated EventKeeper, worked on the December calendar, began working on the December newsletter, updated the large in-room calendar, planned for the upcoming session of Library Babies, set up a drop-in play session for babies, planned for the New Year’s at Noon event, and wrote press releases for the Children’s Room.  Cyndi ran a session of the Sewing Club making aprons, attended a union session to discuss the dress code, completed the Library of Things Inventory, made fabric bookmarks for December’s sewing club activity, cut fabric to prepare for December’s sewing club, and trained and managed volunteers.  Stacie’s move to 20 hours per week was approved; she replenished book displays, ran an Autumn Craft program, planned for winter themed school age art activities, and prepped for upcoming Dinovember activities. Mare, who has dropped to 12 hours per week, coordinated and managed volunteers, assisted patrons, and shelved materials.  Kristin held Comic Creators Club and three Bookworm Book Clubs, suggested books for the CARES program at SGES, and NGES and delivered/picked up books at local schools.

Teen Services
We continue to document very cold temperatures in the Teen Librarian’s office. Beth has been in communication with MA Board of Labor relations regarding the HVAC system which is waiting for parts. A space heater and instruction manual has been provided to the Teen Services staff for use in the room. Staff completely cleaning of the Teen Services office.

Allison added a craft program to the teen schedule for December, ordered additional supplies, sent out a reminder email for Manga Book Group next week. Sarah assisted setting up the Nintendo Switch for teens to play Just Dance, performed Reader Advisory, set up displays for Transgender Day of Remembrance and National Family Week. She shelved new YA fiction with so many cool new titles added to the collection. Both Allison and Sarah attended the virtual New England Teen Summit.

Reference Services
Heidi and Eric assisted with tech and reference questions as well as circulation. Heidi worked on statistics and program planning, attended the “Willard House and Clock Museum: 50 years of Collecting Excellence, an Illustrated Lecture” in dress inspired by clocks to publicize this library-museum collaboration. She hosted the meeting of the Daytimers’ Book Discussion Group to discuss The Colors of All the Cattle by Alexander McCall Smith and the GPL Mystery Book Group discussion of The Island by Ragnar Jónasson. Eric continued weeding the nonfiction collection, worked on future book displays, and updated the monthly Book Club cheat sheet for staff. 

Technical Services
This week Cynthia worked on unpacking, processing, and cataloging children’s, young adult, and adults books and had a meeting with Baker & Taylor to get our account set up. She held a meeting for several staff members with our Ingram representatives about consolidating accounts and getting materials correctly processed upon their arrival.

Weekly Report: Week of November 6-12

Posted by bethg on 14 November 22

This week we circulated 2,628 items, received 553 items in transit and sent 678 items. We requested 563 items and filled 502 hold requests; registered 19 patrons for library cards, and added 68 new items. The most popular book this week is One by Kathryn Otoshi. We hosted 32 meetings in our conference, study, and tutoring rooms for 72 people including BVT Drone Team, Marvel Championship Game, Bruce Hollow II condo Association, as well as private work, study, and tutoring sessions.

Admin
Beth visited Grafton Historical Society to retrieve items on temporary loan from our 2013 renovation. She corresponded with Willard House and Clock Museum regarding our upcoming program on Monday 11/14 (7pm lecture). She hosted GUM Jam, drafted a 25-year Capital Improvement Plan, met with CIPC, and solicited quotes for cupola restoration and preservation. We have added a small collection of sensory toys and manipulatives for adults to check out for in-house use—these are puzzles, stress relievers and textured items that are great for study breaks and, to tinker with during webinars or meetings. Thank you to Kristie Proctor for the suggestion. Beth worked on documents for the upcoming Board of Library Trustees meeting, connected with vendors (we will we ended our access to Hoopla and Freegal at the end of the year, and replacing with Kanopy and Filmocracy for streaming video content, and held a staff meeting attended by most of the staff.

Eileen maintained the collection of periodicals, took care of incoming mail, and prepared bills. Debby prepared and posted content for social media, notified the winner of our Branch Manager Stick Contest for dogs, tended to details for our weekly NaNoWriMo “Come Write In” event, scheduled library staff through March, coordinated details for the upcoming Board of Library Trustees meeting next week, and attended the staff meeting on Monday and took notes.

Construction Update
Beth worked on constructions financials for the final report and met with Lauren Stara, our construction specialist from MBLC, to discuss financials for the MPLCP grant. The Building Committee met and rescinded the funding approval for doors, and are back to investigating a less expensive solution. We have a new project manager from CTA who is trying to move along outstanding issues including HVAC and stair gate. Capital Campaign put together benches and DPW will be installing them.

Building
Snow markers were installed along walkways. Renaud HVAC was on site for semi-annual filter changing. LG/Veterans was on site to complete some remedial work.

Borrower Services
Staff managed service desks, delivery, museum passes, the lobby, room reservations and Automatic Materials Handling equipment. They assisted patrons, placed holds, performed readers’ advisory, and supervised volunteers.
Kara placed an audiobook order, ordered backlist large print titles, followed up on an outstanding media order, checked CW MARS top titles against the collection and marked items for future orders, restarted a previous volunteer, continued to work on volunteer records, and worked on running Evergreen reports for each department.

Sandhya managed out of network requests for materials, worked on interlibrary loans, cleared expired holds from the hold shelf, performed troubleshooting on the AMH and self-check, and worked on updating the volunteer policies, procedures, and project list. She prepared to host two upcoming book folding programs in December, including scheduling event space, preparing program descriptions, creating graphics for program advertisements, and preparing instructions for the activities. Allie planned the December newsletter, prepared volunteer materials for the welcome packets, attended the CWMARS Annual Circulation and Resource Sharing meeting, reset the lobby gate, performed troubleshooting on the AMH sorter when it was stalled by an autumn leaf, and planned displays for December, including an endcap display, the main display, and office décor. Jane corrected records for patrons with the wrong home library, posted the New York Times best seller list for print and audio fiction and recommended titles for purchase, collected items with alerts for cataloging corrections, and attended the CWMARS Annual Circulation and Resource Sharing meeting. Ranjita posted the New York Times best seller list for print and audio nonfiction and recommended titles for purchase, processed new adult fiction titles, processed ComCat requests, performed a routine check of the Library of Things, and processed new items including puzzles and sensory kits.

Children’s Services
Sarah attended the Monday staff meeting, met with members of the Friends of the Library Board to discuss possible fundraising efforts using iREAD summer reading materials, attended the Get Ready for 2023 Summer Reading with iREAD webinar presented by iREAD and MBLC, worked with Allison C on an assigned project, downloaded summer reading manual and graphics and added them to the summer folder in shares, ran a session of Once Upon a Storytime at Willard House, ran three session of preschool outreach at NGES, attended a meeting, co-ran a session of Sewing Club, made baking soda dinosaur eggs for an upcoming program, met with Jen about December programming, and worked on collection development and maintenance.

Jen planned for the next session of Library Babies, worked on the CR newsletter, updated EventKeeper, met with Sarah about December programming, worked on the December program calendar, co-ran a Dino Storytime in costume, assisted with taking photos and video for social media and attended the Monday staff meeting. Cyndi located a storage space for new spin art in the CR supply closet, organized the CR workroom, began to decorate for Dinovember, trained new volunteers, rearranged room for sightline of computers, and updated the CR daily listing, co-ran a Dino Storytime, and attended the Monday staff meeting. Mare continues to work on organizing volunteer schedules, reaching out to new volunteers, helping to manage current volunteers, and training new volunteers. She helped assist patrons, including answering reference questions at the desk. Stacie has been decorating the room for Dinovember, setting up the science nook with fossils, she updated displays, and assisted patrons. Kristin has been planning for upcoming book clubs, dropped off items at both NGES and SGES, coordinated with the schools about upcoming school visits, assisted in scheduling SGES preschool outreach dates.

Teen Services
Allison reorganized the teen office countertops with the help of Sarah B. She browsed digital manual and artwork for summer reading 2023 – “Find Your Voice,” went through damaged/problem teen items. Sarah went through weekly manga reviews, did reader advisory, chose the next two titles for manga book club and previewed anime choices for the next anime club meeting. She also researched various winter holidays for teen room theme ideas for December.

Reference Services
Heidi and Eric assisted with tech and reference questions as well as circulation. Heidi hosted the November meeting of the “Not Just for Young Adults” Book Discussion about Stealing Snow by Danielle Paige. Heidi got the library’s Scarecrows back from The Community Harvest Project Scarecrow contest. The library’s Scarecrows (inspired by the book Waltz of the Scarecrows, by Constance W. McGeorge and May Whyte) won the Harvest Home Festival’s Scarecrow contest. Eric continued weeding, investigated books for collection development, and researched alternative vendors for the hotspots to compare pricing.

Technical Services
Cynthia ran a report of cataloging statistics for the month of October, ordered new children’s and adult nonfiction books, cataloged new biographies and other books that were bought as part of a recent donation, made corrections in the catalog to some children’s non-fiction books, requested original cataloging from the CatCenter, cataloged two new puzzles to be added to the Library of Things Collection, and met with Beth on Thursday.

Weekly Report: Week of October 31-November 5, 2022

Posted by bethg on 04 November 22

This week we circulated 2,406 items, 498 received items in transit and sent 641items. We requested 555 items and filled 436 hold requests; registered 19 patrons for library cards, and added 68 new items. The most popular book this week is A Bad Case of Stripes by David Shannon. We hosted 21 meetings in our conference, study, and tutoring rooms for 44 people including Cub Scout Pack 106 Wolf Den and Brownie Troop 65197 as well as private work, study, and tutoring sessions.

The Library will serve as a collecting location for unwanted Halloween candy, to be sent to military troops by Girl Scout Troop 11087.

Please register for our partnership program with Willard House and Clock Museum on Monday November 14 at 7pm! Executive Director and curator Robert C. Cheney will present an illustrated lecture 50-Years of Collecting Excellence” in celebration of the museum’s 50^th anniversary and the recent loan of a Willard clock to the Library, on display in the Historic Reading Room. A wine and hors d’oeuvres reception will follow. Register online at https://www.eventkeeper.com/code/ekform.cfm?curOrg=GRAFTON&curID=591894&CFID=63558057&CFTOKEN=28fb335c38466f62-9EB5BC31-D4AE-528A-5350574659F23D00.

Admin
Beth greeted trick or treaters at the Common Entrance and sent them into the building on Halloween – over 500 people came through. She met with American Alarm for a walkthrough for a quote for annual fire alarm test and inspection and reached out to Xcel for a quote for annual sprinkler inspection. She completed and sent the November library newsletter, worked on planning for Grafton Celebrates the Holidays, contracted an online seminar training on “Good Kids, Bad Behavior: What to Do About Unruly Young People in the Library,” met with staff, and met with Ann Marie Foley, our newest representative on the Select Board. She submitted bills, worked on the FY24 budget, dealt with policy violations, updated the website, posted to social media, and finalized an order for new nonfiction. Policy Committee met to review the draft Art Display and Exhibit policy, and will review the meeting room and facility rental policy next, on Wednesday Nov 30 at 7pm via Zoom. She represented the Library at NGES Community Read Day on Friday morning.

Eileen managed mail service and the periodicals as well as preparing bills. Debby posted the entries to the Stick Library contest for dogs in partnership with Quite Fetching Barkery, put up a photo wall for Halloween visitors to take pictures, greeted trick-or-treaters who stopped by the Admin office, created the “Lost & Left Behind” and NaNoWriMo displays in the lobby display case, created and posted content for social media, organized and labeled keys, attended the Board of Library Trustee Policy Committee meeting on Wednesday evening and took notes, as well as weekly reporting, scheduling, payroll, ordering, and Board of Library Trustee Tasks.

Construction Update
Beth completed and turned construction reports for July, August, and September. Building Committee approved a credit last week and change order for additional HVAC commissioning work and for doors for the presentation area, but we are still trying to find a less expensive solution. The Construction Team met to discuss doors, the humidifier, and leaks. Beth did a building walkthrough with the Bob Berger, Tom Frederico, Paul Farrar, and William Blake to look at remaining outstanding items from the construction project. Capeway Roofing was here to look at the leak in the Historic Reading Room; we are still waiting for photos and report to determine the cause. John Keller from CTA came by to review the work still needed on the gate for the bottom of the stairs. Volunteers assembled benches for DPW to cement into place.

Borrower Services
Staff managed service desks, delivery, museum passes, the lobby, room reservations and Automatic Materials Handling equipment. They assisted patrons, placed holds, performed readers’ advisory, and supervised volunteers.

Kara helped organize treats for the Halloween trick-or-treat event, continued processing volunteer applications and onboarding new volunteers, took patron requests for future audio book orders, processed pending library card account requests, adjusted staff schedules as needed, and reviewed the meeting room and collection development policies for comment. She worked on the ARIS and circulation statistics for October, prepared the October narrative, pulled materials for Crescent Manor, and made the monthly visit with Susan.

Sandhya managed out of network requests for materials, worked on interlibrary loans, cleared expired holds from the hold shelf, contacted game companies about missing parts of board games, worked on the home delivery service, resolved a lost ComCat book issue with the owning library, worked on volunteer training materials with Allie, tested ideas for a book folding program for December, and set up end cap displays for succulents, terrariums, and air plants and for Thanksgiving.  Allie created the November Borrower Services calendar handout, processed November’s display books, helped set up the Blu-ray player for a book club event, fixed an issue with the lobby printer, made November newsletter edits, ran a New Patron report for the newsletter, updated the website with October newsletter links, met with a volunteer about scheduling, worked on updating the volunteer materials sheets, updated the readers’ advisory book, and helped patrons with the Libby app. Jane helped a patron with the A/V system, corrected records for patrons with the wrong home library, posted the New York Times best seller list for print and audio fiction and recommended titles for purchase, collected items with alerts for cataloging corrections, and set up the endcap display for “No Shave November” and the main staircase display for “National Games and Puzzles Week.” 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, processed new adult fiction titles, performed the monthly AED and first aid boxes check, and set up an endcap display for Thanksgiving recipes.

Children’s Services
The Children’s Room staff assisted patrons, shelving, and tidying up toys and games. Sarah worked Monday night and handed out goodies to trick-or-treaters in the Children’s Room, worked on book and material orders, ran two storytime sessions at Busy Bee Academy, attended a meeting, met with the Girl Scouts to discuss Gingerbread House placement for GCTH, researched library train tables, made playdough for “Dinovember,” met with Beth and Cyndi regarding CR computers, rearranged CR computers to increase sight lines, spoke with Cynthia about the upcoming CR Ingram order, and assisted Allison with a project.

Jen worked Monday night and handed out goodies in the Children’s Room, finalized the November CR newsletters, updated the website, planned for upcoming story times, gathered materials for a Dino Storytime. Cyndi shepherded  the Young Scientists, trained new CR volunteers, met with Beth and Sarah regarding CR computers, rearranged CR computers to increase sight lines, and completed an incident report. Mare reached out to new volunteer applicants, communicated with current volunteers, coordinated volunteer schedules, and arranged for volunteer training. Stacie worked on planning passive programming for November, pulled books for display, decorated the room, and set up the November sensory table. Kristin delivered books to local schools, planned for upcoming comic and book clubs, and prepped for the November Bulletin board.

 Teen Services
Allison cleaned out the teen room office and removed items from the Maker Space counters. she worked on October stats and prepared carts in ingram so that Cynthia could order new teen items. Sarah handed out treats during the Library’s trick or treat program. So many fun costumes! She also created new displays for Aviation History Month, NaNoWriMo, and Mythology.

 Reference Services
Heidi and Eric assisted with tech and reference questions as well as circulation.  Heidi hosted the “Reads Well with Others” Book Group discussion of Nine Perfect Strangers by Liane Moriarty and the rescheduled “Not Just for Young Adults” Book Discussion on The Accident Season by Moira Fowley-Doyle.  Heidi also removed the library’s Scarecrows from the Grafton Recreation Department contest to install them at The Community Harvest Project for their Scarecrow contest. The library’s Scarecrows (inspired by the book Waltz of the Scarecrows, by Constance W. McGeorge and May Whyte) will be seen by all the folks who attend the Harvest Home Festival on Sunday, Nov. 6 from 11am-3pm. Eric set up a staircase display for the Toys & Games theme and worked on ARIS report statistics.

Technical Services
This week has been a good week for our Library of Things Collection! Cynthia added a Yamaha keyboard to the collection (we LOVE turning items on our No log into Yes!), as well as five sensory kits that include a variety of sensory and fidget toys which can be checked out by patrons for in-house use. She ordered YA books and cataloged adult fiction and children’s books as well as cataloging replacements for previously lost or damaged items.