Library: Town Report

REPORT OF THE OLIVIA RODHAM MEMORIAL LIBRARY
The Olivia Rodham Memorial Library had a very busy year. Overall use of the library is up 20%, with a 25% rise in adult use, and a 59% increase of patrons coming in to use the wifi for computers. We attribute increased usage to the decline in the economy, a more consistent schedule of hours, an added two hours to the schedule (run by volunteers), a downloadable book program for audio books and the addition of high speed internet, available to the public.  We still offer many of the favorite services we always have, including a fine selection of books, periodicals, audio books, videos and DVDs, adult programs and children’s programs, interlibrary loan and the town website.  A free library card is available to all Nelson residents so please come in, e-mail or call to find out more.

CHILDREN’S LIBRARY PROGRAMS
During the summer the Nelson Library invited children to participate in the 2009 Summer Reading Program, “Summer Time and the Reading is Easy”. Nelson children came to the library for summer reading books. Books read were tallied and prizes awarded, including a Toadstool gift certificate. This annual statewide program is sponsored by CHILIS (Children’s Librarians of NH). Programs offered to children this summer included Hunt and Alison playing some exciting music, bookmaking with Anne Ames, and a bird walk with Julie Tilden. For our grand finale, Norman Ng came to perform magic during Old Home Week, for an audience of 112 people. This program was supported in part by a grant from the New Hampshire State Library and donations from the Bryne Foundation, CHILIS, Cogswell Benevolent Trust, and the NH Library Association. During the school year we have two programs: our weekly story time and the library enrichment programs. Story time includes a light snack and stories read by the librarian or a guest reader. This after school program welcomes Sara Shepherd, who volunteers to read and do an activity, and Sandy Ferguson, who gladly fills in during Sara’s absence. Library enrichment programs at the library were offered four times this year to the Nelson school. The whole school attended in three groups to learn library skills.

ADULT LIBRARY PROGRAMS
Every year the library presents a Forum with guest speakers. This year’s calendar included Raising Sheep in Nelson: Past and Present by Ted Lenk and Susan Weave; Rebellion, Emigration and Celebration: Selections from the Irish Songbook by Rich Popovic; “Murdered by His Wife”: Revolutionary Massachusetts’ Most Extraordinary Murder by Deborah Nava; and Roads in Nelson: Today and in Yesteryear by Rick Church.  We thank John Cucchi for archiving these talks and making them available at the library on DVDs and CDs. Other programs were: Slide Rules: How Stuff was Figured Out Before the Calculator, two programs with tax experts to educate patrons in different tax areas, and the adult book group, which met once a month to discuss novels, memoirs and biographies.

GRANTS
The Library received two grants in 2009. For our children’s summer reading program, we received the Kids, Books and the Arts Grant, of $200, for Norman Ng to perform (see above). With the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation Online Opportunity Hardware Grant we purchased one computer and peripherals this year, and covered the cost of supporting a public access computer in a public library for four years, including set-up, maintenance and tech support. The grant amount for 2009 was $1950 and the required match was $650. The grant amount for 2010 is $1300 and the required match is $1300. The Friends of the Library have agreed to pay the matching funds.

COMPUTER
The Olivia Rodham Memorial Library continues to move ahead in the world of technology. As mentioned above, we received the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation Online Opportunity Hardware Grant, phase one. The Nelson website http://townofnelson.com, sponsored by the library, has all sorts of information and an events calendar covering the many activities in Nelson. We wish to thank our webmaster, Gordon Peery, and all the contributors, especially Rick Church for the Nelson history column and Betsy Street for school news and photo submissions. The website averages over 500 hits a month. With wireless high speed from WiValley, patrons may use either our public computers or their own laptops. A new addition this year is Downloadable Audio Books on the Overdrive website. On this site a patron can download both children’s and adults’ audio books and play them from a computer, on an MP3 player, iPod or burn them to a CD. The website is http://nh.lib.overdrive.com. Town residents may sign up for this service at the library.

FRIENDS OF THE LIBRARY
The Friends of the Library continue to support the library in many ways. They provided funds for the new computer, through the Gates Grant program, $650 in 2009 and $1300 for 2010, as well as $1,000 for new books, a sum which constitutes a third of the library’s material budget. They support the summer reading program with refreshments and gift certificates. Their big fundraiser of the year is the Book Sale on Old Home Day in Nelson. In 2009 the sale generated a total of $1,822. 50, divided among memberships ($820.25), books ($989.25) and book bags ($13.00).

PERSONNEL
Kristine Finnegan is the librarian and Susan Hansel is the regular library substitute, with Jennifer Fraser filling in. Library volunteers perform many and varied tasks. Their contributions to the Library are immeasurable and are greatly appreciated by the library staff. Volunteer hours in 2009 totaled 404. Several volunteers who run programs were mentioned above. Susan Hansel has volunteered to cover keeping the library open two extra hours, and Martha Collins fills in for her. Patrons with overdue books are called twice a month by Kathy Schillemat. Regular volunteers are Pamela Tolman, Betsey Church and Susan Hansel. Terry Mednick has maintained our computers, and computer statistics programs are updated by Tom Buttrick. We also thank occasional volunteers Liza Constable, Jonathan Weis, Iva DeMartelly, Barbara and Jacqueline Roland and Elena Mednick, as well as Dublin School students.  Library Trustees for this year were Linda Cates, Sue Meehan, Bruce McSheehy, John Zurich and Max Nunnemaker, who took over in November to fill out Lumina Greenway’s term.

DONATIONS
Donations to the library always play a large part in updating our collection. In 2009 we received monetary donations from Rotary Club members, The Friends of the Library, and George and Frances Alderson in memory of Bob and Hallie Robinson. Other library funds used to purchase items for the collection were the Celia Wiechart Memorial Fund, the Elizabeth T. Hatch Memorial Fund, the Hardie Shepard Children’s Book Fund, the Henry Melville Fund, the Mary Fiske Elliot Fund for Garden Books, the Nelson White Fund, the Professor William Churchill Gerrish Special Fund, the Sidney Plant Special Fund and the Henry Melville Fuller Fund.  Many donations are made of actual books, audio visual materials, and magazines. Thank you to Pamela and Ethan Tolman, Susan Hansel and Bert Wingerson for their donation of current monthly magazines, to Lumina Greenway for her large donation of the latest best sellers in books and DVDs, and to many others for their generosity in passing on books, DVDs and audio books on CD.

OLIVIA RODHAM MEMORIAL LIBRARY STATISTICS FOR 2009
Library Collection
Volumes in the library at the beginning of the year          8,885
Library book purchases of adult books & audio/visual materials               23
Library book purchases of children’s books & audio/visual materials                68
Gifts of the Friends of the Library               70
Books & audio/visual materials donated by patrons             341
Books & audio/visual materials taken out of circulation             160
Volumes in the library at the end of the year           9227
Library Circulation
Downloadable audio books  used                                                                        276
Adult non-fiction            345
Adult fiction            902
Juvenile and easy         1,330
Adult audio/visual            882
Juvenile audio/visual            109
Periodicals           960
Interlibrary loan         1,330
In house use                     530
Total Circulation         6,664
Computer use         1,214
Reference questions         1,862
Number of patron visits to the library         4,869

Respectfully submitted,
Kristine Finnegan, Library Director

847-3214      nelsonlibrary@wivalley.net