Director's Mid-year Recap of Changes Left Us Breathless!
If you listen closely, you can hear the sound of librarians catching their breath. It’s been a busy winter and spring, and we’re heading into the Summer Reading Program beginning May 18.
Library Director Regina Greer Cooper paused recently – and only briefly – to recap what the library has been up to since our fiscal year began in July 2017. She seemed out of breath, too.
If you missed it, here’s some of Regina’s recap of news that shaped your libraries.
The Friends of the Library had its second- and third-highest book sale totals in its history at its fall 2017 and recent spring 2018 book sales, with $143,264.64 and $142.065.18, respectively.
The Friends are giving the Library some of the proceeds to pay for a 24-hour library vending unit and first-year startup costs. Funds will also come from a $40,000 Library Services and Technology Act grant. The library plans to place the vending unit in west Springfield, where residents have asked for more service. The library can’t build and staff a brick-and-mortar branch at this point, but this unit will help answer needs.
Another $11,178 grant upgrades the laptops for adults taking Edge Mobile computer courses.
A $15,000 grant from the Firehouse Subs Public Safety Foundation AED Fund bought AEDs, or automated external defibrillators, for all 10 branches and Friends sorting building to respond to cardiac emergencies.
The library’s new Laton Endowment Fund topped $500,000 through the Ursala Laton Trust. Annual, unrestricted disbursements will give the library extra funds for special needs.
A new mobile-friendly library website launched, along with an online book discussion site, Goodreads. Some 5,000 more digital audiobooks were recently added through RBdigital. Mercy Hospital Springfield donated its historic archives for anyone to research. And four library branches now offer Video Remote Interpretation so patrons with hearing impairments can converse with an interpreter for library help.
The Springfield Symphony Orchestra’s Salute to Veterans concert in November featured World War I letters taken from the missourioverthere.org collection. Major WWI programming is coming in November 2018.
And that’s just the beginning. Stay tuned, there’s more to come.
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