Survey says . . .

At the end of last year we conducted a brief survey about what we offer in and through the children's department. The questions topics ranged from the collection to the programming to computers. Like the best of surveys, we learned some interesting and very helpful things. The respondents fell evenly into 2 distinct groups - parents and teen/preteen users. What might be surprising is that their responses were fairly similar - except for computers.

We asked if we should offer internet access in the children's room. Right now, only the online catalog is available, and we thought perhaps it was time to revisit. Over half the parents saw no reason to offer the internet, citing concerns with policing it and it not being necessary since access could be found elsewhere. Overwhelmingly, the kids wanted it. So we are looking into a couple of options: 1) Offer access to our online databases only so that doing homework and research could be enhanced, and 2) Find some good filtering product so that policing usage would not be an issue. Our goal is to make sure that kids have the same quality access and services offered to our adult users while remaining mindful of protecting our young patrons.

Many respondents told us that the kids audiobook collection (cassette and CD) wasn't good enough. Improving that collection is a goal for this year. (In fact it is a goal for the adult collection too, but will be another day's topic.) We have started in a big way by putting together a collection of a new audiobook format - Playaways. These are a nifty product that has no tapes or discs to get lost or damaged, and looks and feels similar to ipods. They are book and player all in one, and we thought kids would be the perfect test group for them. Watch for this collection to be ready for use within a few weeks.

We want to hear your ideas and suggestions. Your comments do have significant impact. Take the time to let us know either by talking to us directly or sending your comments through this blog or our webpage.

Books: Julie and Romeo, by Jeanne Ray
How to protect your children on the Internet, by Gregory S. Smith

Looking ahead

So a new year begins, bringing with it all sorts of possibilities. We all enter each year fairly sure of what to expect during the year - your child is graduating, your parents are planning to move to a warmer climate, this is the year you plan to finally paint the living room. But by the end of the year, we look back and realize we have ended up in a far different place than expected.

Here at the library, we are trying to start the year right - we are going green, well at least greener. It is an ambitious plan and so we intend to move slowly but steadily in the 'green' direction. You may have already seen the blue recycling bins here and there around the library. We decided to take advantage of Salem participating in single stream recycling and expand our recycling efforts in the library. This small step has had a big impact - we now have 3 huge bins for our recycling pick-up and a much reduced amount of trash.

Next we reduced our temperature for the building by a couple of degrees. It hasn't been a tough change to adapt to, and we have reduced our fuel consumption quite noticeably. We just recently reduced the temperature another degree because you told us it was too warm.

Now on to our next step. We are reducing our paper consumption through a variety of changes in routines. One that will impact our users is our plan to reduce the number of notices we send out. Right now we send out a notice to let you know a reserved item is in for pick-up and of course, overdue notices. Each notice involves a full sheet of paper plus large envelope. We soon will be sending out only 2 overdue notices, rather than our current three.

This might be a bit of a shock for some of our users, so we are hoping to convince as many of you as possible to give us an email address. With an email address in your record, all notices - reserve and overdue - are sent electronically - you even get a reminder the day before that your books and movies are due the next day. We are even offering a bit of an incentive. Give us your email address and you can take a chance on winning a Dunkin Donuts gift card. If you already have your email in your account, you can take a chance too. The bonus for us all is that with an email address, we reduce all possible notices to just one in paper form - a great change!

Reducing the amount of mail we send - and currently it is running at about 75 letters a day - will reduce our paper consumption, our ink consumption (fewer catridges going into land-fills), there will be fewer letters to deliver, thus leading fuel savings for the post office.

That's what is interesting about the green process. Even the smallest of changes have a rippling impact on our environment and use of resources. We are very excited about the positive effects of our small changes. Maybe you will join us in this green plan. Make a few changes in your habits, and see the big changes that will happen. Check out how to increase the recycling of your household trash. Reduce the temperature in your house a degree. Give us your email and stop getting those pesky letters!

But as always, we can only imagine what will unfold as the year progresses. We will have to stop and take notice of just how green we are by the end of 2009. I'm sure we will be surprised to see where we are, I hope it is surprised pride at our level of green.

Books: The complete guide to a green home, by Philip Schmidt
This year I will: how to finally change a habit, keep a resolution, or make a dream come true, by MJ Ryan
DVD: Inconvenient truth