Grafton Public Library

Weekly Report February 27-March 4, 2023  

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This week we circulated 2,784 items, received 374 items in transit and sent 691 items. We requested 524 items and filled 387 hold requests; registered 7 patrons for library cards, and added 100 new items. The most popular book this week is Spare by Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex. We hosted 20 meetings in our conference, study, and tutoring rooms for 48 people including Grafton Book Club, Grafton Democratic Town Committee, and Tai Chi Ladies, as well as private -work, study, homeschool, and tutoring sessions.

The Grafton Public Library will have a delayed opening at 2:00 pm on Thursday March 9 for Active Shooter training – practicum. This is a scheduled training -please do not be alarmed by loud noises coming from the library between 10am-12pm.

The Friends of the Library’s Spring Fundraiser takes place Saturday April 1; Egg Hunt tickets go on sale Saturday, March 11 when the library opens at 10am.

Admin
Beth covered both the Children’s and Teen Room on Tuesday–we had just over a dozen visitors in youth services between 10am-6pm—and in the Teen Room on Wednesday evening. She completed the December 2022 and January 2023 MBLC MPLCP grant reports, and a grant report for MA Office on Disabilities from our grant for hardware and training for patrons with low vision. We have the following available for use:

  • Da Vinci Pro All-in-One HD Video Magnifier with full page text-to-speech OCR that allows it to easily read your favorite article or book aloud in a male or female premium voice and in many different languages. Sign up to use in-house our 10-seat conference room (219).
  • MagnaLink Zip PREMIUM portable video magnifier for enlarge objects on the desktop (near), like a book or newspaper, or to look across a room (distant). Check out or in-house use.
  • Explorer 5 digital video magnifier – use to take a snapshot and enlarge a spine label, a price tag, ingredients list, a receipt, or any other information that you need to increase font size of for readability! Check out or in-house use.

Beth sent out the March newsletter, reviewed meeting room use requests, collected February statistics, prepared materials for the library’s budget hearing with FinCom on March 15, submitted bills for payment, compiled a list of resources for computer and browser accessibility, completed a non-fiction book order, met with IT, held a meeting with staff, reviewed incident reports, and communicated with Trustees, Capital Campaign, and other town departments. She met with a GHS student interested in completing a library internship, and worked on a list of tasks and paperwork for the internship. She updated the website, updated procedures, posted two Temporary On-Call Library Associate Positions for the Children’s Room and Teen Room, and responded to applicants.

ADA millwork continued in the Borrower Services Workroom, Teen Maker Space and Staff Office, and public computer counters. Tucker Library Interiors came to install additional signage. HVAC team was on site to work out a programming issue that is not allowing the system to respond as scheduled.

Staff completed MIIA’s First Amendment Audit webinar and discussed at staff meeting. We reviewed our Code of Conduct for compliance in 2021. We will be reviewing addition of Authorized Personnel ONLY signage on interior doors, additional book carts to block access to staff desks and computers, and need for privacy screens for public service desks.

Eileen maintained the collection of periodicals, processed incoming mail, and prepared and paid bills. Debby attended NGES Community Reading Day, worked on compiling a list of shifts we need covered as we face an unprecedented staff shortage due to family leave and reached out to staff to fill those vacancies. She also compiled the Weekly Report, worked on upcoming social media posts, helped clear the sprinkler room to meet compliance standards from the Grafton Fire Department, completed payroll and scheduling tasks as well as tasks for the Board of Library Trustees, and covered the Teen Room Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday.

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 relocate items from storage, shelved new adult fiction, took down February displays, set up the March staircase display and website title list for National Crafting Month, created signage and set up a graphic novel display for March for Will Eisner Week, created space for adult fiction duplicates, reviewed weeding procedure with staff, checked CW MARS top titles against the collection, reviewed adult fiction standing order titles for March, pulled materials for Crescent Manor and made the monthly visit, and prepared the ARIS, circulation statistics and narrative for February. Jane posted the New York Times Best Seller List for print and audio fiction and recommended titles for purchase, corrected patrons with the wrong home library, worked on weeding adult fiction, set up an endcap display for March highlighting Irish authors or books set in Ireland, finished the Niche Academy homelessness training, and watched webinars on “Ornery Teenagers: Compassionately and Effectively Managing Their Problem Behaviors” and on “Service Dogs: Your Obligation Under the ADA.” Ranjita posted the New York Times Best Seller List for print and audio nonfiction and recommended titles for purchase, processed new adult fiction, processed Commonwealth Catalog requests, processed pending library card applications, performed a routine check of the Library of Things, performed the monthly AED and first aid checks, and set up an endcap display for women’s history month. Sandhya managed out of network requests for materials, cleared expired holds from the hold shelf and followed up with patrons, worked on interlibrary loans and followed up with patrons, contacted patrons to pick up new library cards, processed pending library card applications, continued to prepare for the re-opening of the seed library, updated EventKeeper for postponed programming, and worked on the home delivery service, including ordering items, making calls, coordinating volunteers, and signing a new patron up for the service. Allie checked in new fiction books, added Historical Fiction and February stickers to fiction titles, added stickers and updated the status to display for new to collection titles, continued the Niche Academy homelessness training, worked on the NoveList Plus training, began webinar “Alison’s Mastering Influence and Negotiation,” performed troubleshooting when the Evergreen server was down, took down the February end cap display, designed graphics and put up the March end cap display “Our Books are Better than Gold,” checked in and recorded statistics for 7-day and 3-week fiction books, pulled duplicate books to put in storage, shelved nonfiction, and accomplished newsletter tasks, including running the report, adding contacts, editing, and adding “FOR SCREEN READERS” alt text description for images.

Children’s Services
New shelving was installed in the Children’s Room which means more space for more books! Sarah attended NSS Community Reading Day, performed collection maintenance and development, prepped for upcoming school visits, assisted patrons, and communicated with staff. Jen assisted patrons, updated EventKeeper, updated social media, updated the March calendar, sent out the March newsletter, and assisted with the website. Stacie shifted books and furniture and decorated the Children’s Room. Mare kept in communication with volunteers, worked on volunteer scheduling, shelved materials, and attended to patrons.

Teen Services
Allison completed the First Amendment Audit training, worked on the February monthly report, and ordered books for March. Sarah S continued to inventory the manga list; trained a new volunteer; put up book displays for books with green covers, Women’s History Month, and National Crafting month; collated list of titles for YA/MG fiction, graphic novels and nonfiction for April through June to add to order lists, and updated the manga release spreadsheet

Reference Services
Heidi and Eric assisted with tech and reference questions as well as circulation. Heidi was prepared to host the Inspirational Book Group (and Guided Meditation) discussion of Wintering: The Power of Rest and Retreat in Difficult Times by Katherine May, but the meeting was postponed until next week. Heidi also prepared for the Friends of the Library Community Read. Eric installed the new staircase display with “National Hobby Month” as the theme. He also assisted in collection development and set up a check-in with our Comics Plus vendor.

Technical Services
Cynthia ordered new books and unpacked items as they arrived; cataloged new adult nonfiction, various video games, and DVDs;  sent in requests for records to the CatCenter; fixed problem items; and ran reports to gather cataloging statistics for the month of February.

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