Staffing

· Library Page Jill Schellenberg resigned her position during the month.

· The Materials Processor position remained open.

Facility

· No changes in the facility to report.

Professional Development & Meetings

· Meetings and workshops attended by professional staff included:

o Monthly Library Supervisors Meeting

o Monthly Staff Meeting for Librarians, Circulation Coordinators, Library Assistants & Materials Processors

o Monthly Staff Meeting for Library Pages – Mary Reed & Pamela Myers

o Lakeland Library Cooperative Finance Committee Meetings – Pamela Myers

o Lakeland Library Cooperative Board Meeting – Pamela Myers

o Lakeland Library Cooperative Delivery Committee Meeting – Pamela Myers

o Lakeland Library Cooperative Policy, Planning & Services Committee Meeting – Pamela Myers

o Lakeland Library Cooperative Continuing Education Committee Meeting – Pamela Myers & Mary Reed

o Lakeland Library Cooperative Readers’ Advisory Workshop – Mary Reed and Susan Carlson

o Lakeland Library Cooperative Youth Services Committee Meeting – Jill Reyers

· Meetings and workshops attended by para-professional staff included:

o Lakeland Library Cooperative Readers’ Advisory Workshop – Becky Ilkanic

Programming, Promotions, Publicity, Special Projects,

Departmental Activities, etc.

· March 14: Book Discussion Group For Adults

o Book: Digging to America by Anne Tyler

o Facilitators: Mary Reed and Candace Hulst

o Attendance: 17

· March 31: 32º Club – Fall/Winter Adult Reading Program concluded

o Participants: 49

o Finishers: 29

o Program sponsored by the Friends of the Library

· “It’s Time To Read” Family Reading Program Continued

o Program runs through April 14, 2007

o Program sponsored by the Friends of the Library

· March 02: Read Across America Day – In Celebration of Dr. Seuss’s Birthday

o Costumed character The Cat in the Hat visited with Library patrons from 2:00 pm – 4:30 pm

o Attendance: 25 children

o Children were offered the opportunity to participate in a make-and-take craft

· March 13: Drawing Program for Youth

o Attendance: 24 children and 1 adult (registration was limited)

o Program sponsored by the Friends of the Library

· Promotional materials (e.g., press releases, displays, etc.) prepared for upcoming programs and activities (e.g., “Spring Story Time”) – Jill Reyers

· Youth Services featured author (Dan Gutman) book display – Sue Kirvan

· Youth Services featured series (My Weird School) book display – Sue Kirvan

· Youth Services book display for Dr. Seuss’s Birthday – Sue Kirvan

· Spring bulletin board display in Program Room – Sue Kirvan

· “Celebrating March” Youth Services table display – Sue Kirvan

· Lobby table book display of “Small Business Resources” – Susan Carlson

· Weeding of Adult Nonfiction 900’s (through 978.2’s) continued – Susan Carlson

· Patron database clean-up – Pamela Myers

Friends of the Library

· The group voted to expand the hours of all future quarterly book sales to correspond with the Library’s opening hours.

· Friends members voted to purchase 2,500 library card protectors for the Library in the amount of $500 (plus shipping and set-up).

· The group also approved the purchase of 125 bookends for use in the quarterly book sales. (It was agreed any discarded bookends would be given to the Library Director for disposition.)

Service & statistical information

Service and statistical information for the month of March 2007 is presented below.

	March	March	% Change	2007 YTD	2006 YTD	% Change YTD
	2007	2006	2006 - 2007 %			2006 - 2007
Circulation (Items)
Total Circulation	28,999	29,233	-0.80%	81,941	80,034	2.38%
Check-Outs	25,751	26,399	-2.45%	72,728	71,972	1.05%
Check-Ins	24,998	25,227	-0.91%	67,609	65,640	3.00%

Interlibrary Loan (Items)
Loaned	3,248	2,834	14.61%	9,213	8,062	14.28%
Borrowed	3,452	3,643	-5.24%	10,340	10,001	3.39%
Paged (Searched For)	3,363	N/A	N/A	10,347	N/A	N/A

Holds
Placed By Staff	922	939	-1.81%	2,713	2,648	2.45%
Calls to Patrons (Min.)	1,657	1,945	-14.81%	4,779	5,095	-6.20%
# of E-mail Notices	1,409	N/A	N/A	4,238	N/A	N/A
# of E-mail Items	2,061	N/A	N/A	6,464	N/A	N/A
# of Telephone Notices	1,549	N/A	N/A	4,518	N/A	N/A
# of Telephone Items	2,042	N/A	N/A	6,013	N/A	N/A

Traffic Count	12,318	12,888	-4.42%	35,091	35,535	-1.25%

Other

During the month, additional information emerged regarding the precarious condition of State Aid funding to Michigan libraries and cooperatives. Not only are libraries and cooperatives in jeopardy with regard to State Aid funding in relation to Michigan’s FY 2008 budget, such institutions are also not necessarily being held harmless with regard to reductions to such funding in 2007 in light of potential cuts to the FY 2007 budget. Thus, library directors were informed that the receipt of full State Aid payments in FY 2007 was now in question. In all of the Lakeland Library Cooperative (LLC) meetings held throughout the month, discussion focused on how to address the impact of such cuts on the Cooperative, as well as its services and its fees to member libraries.

A review of services provided to member libraries and their patrons by LLC ensued. Representatives from member libraries agreed that the only service areas that could be cut were those associated with inter-library loan and delivery, as other areas (e.g., online catalog, automated system, technical support, cataloging, etc.) were deemed essential to the basic or core operations of both the Cooperative and its member libraries. In addition, LLC staff members were directed to review internal operations at the Cooperative headquarters and identify areas for possible cost savings and cuts. Further review and discussion was scheduled to occur at subsequent meetings planned for April.