August 5, 2010

Summer is finally here and it's been so nice to see the sun!   Our summer reading programs have been a big hit this year with hundreds of kids, teens and adult participating.   We're looking at having record registration numbers.   We had over 800 people come to our program presented by the Reptile Man and luckily our other programs have all been under sunny skies since we hold them outside at our Carnegie Court due to the large numbers attending. 

Most of the events for the summer have ended, but summer reading is still in full swing with opportunities to win prizes and simply enjoy a good book.  So do keep reading.

The Farmer's Market has been fun to have as a neighbor each Tuesday from 1:30 to 6:00 and it's now a little crazy around here on Tuesday evenings with Tunes on Tuesday, but what a great summertime event. 

As you know, we've had to cut our hours due to city budget restrictions (all departments of the city took about 10% cuts).   We've eliminated Monday hours, but you've still been coming.   We saw checkouts go up by 5% as compared to July 2009 and that means that more of you are in the library at the same time!   And we've noticed that!   We're averaging 153 checkouts per hour compared with our average last year of 122 checkouts per hour.    We're glad you are finding us at our reduced hours.

If you've been by the library lately, you've seen our new stainless steel book returns.  Our library Friends purchased them as we needed the increased capacity.   Our two old returns held 14 cubic feet of returned books and av and the new ones will hold 28 cubic feet, twice as much.   We've had a couple of glitches with the installation (one was damaged in shipping) but even so they have been a great addition and will really help on the weekends and during the day when we won't have to come outside as often to empty them.   Just a note, the design allows you to use the same drop for your av and books, but please no Toddler Totes, they are still too big and jam the return.   Thanks to the Friends and to all of  you for shopping at their used book sales for the new returns.

That's it for now, see you soon in the library...

Leah

Leah M. Griffith
Library Director
503-537-1256
leah.griffith@newbergoregon.gov