The library’s future in a digital world

In 2011, we answered 10,125 questions, including the adult and children’s reference desks.

What kinds of materials are people checking out these days?

New materials are always going out. You will not come to this library without seeing a patron with a new book or CD in hand to check out. Other items that go out frequently are magazines, large print books, and books on CD. If we have a new DVD, you won’t see it at the library because they’re requested online and we have a long waitlist for those. We have a policy of not buying more than one copy of each DVD, but we can get them from other libraries.

We have a good fiction collection, and we are updating and improving our nonfiction. We’ve added new travel books, and we’ve gotten quite a few books recommended to us by the Ulster Literacy Association, who promote literacy by training volunteer tutors from the community, something we’d like to get other libraries involved with. Kingston’s library is doing that, too.

Is there a five-year plan in place for the library?

There was a plan done about three or four years ago and we have achieved all of it. We are working now with the Mid-Hudson Library system to make our next three-year plan, including revisiting our mission and developing a vision on what the community needs. We have started working on that, and hopefully in the next few months it’ll be ready.

What about the programs the library offers? How is the attendance for those?

The library offered 485 programs in 2011, with 8,020 people attending. In 2012 so far, in seven months, we’ve had 450 programs with 6,897 people attending our programs.

What are people interested in and what programs are they signing up for?

Up to now we’ve been letting the community tell us what they want, just putting the programs out there in front of them and letting them choose. The most popular are the health-related programs, particularly the yoga and fitness classes, and also the educational programs; people love those. Our own staff teaches the computer programs, and in the coming year we want to offer resume building workshops and classes for job seekers on how to write cover letters. I’ve taught these when I was at Glens Falls [library], and I love teaching classes, but can’t now due to time constraints.

We are constantly expanding our services and programs, and we do three to four teen programs a week now, too, that are all well attended. We have increased storytime for children, adding one session to Saturdays for parents who work on weekdays, and that’s been very successful.

What’s on the horizon for the library?

We have added fax services for our community. My vision has been to make our library a copy center; we don’t have a Staples in Saugerties, and we can’t have everything they have, but at least we can have a lot they offer in terms of copying and printing, and that’s something I’m already working on.

We are going to have five e-readers to loan out soon, already with books downloaded on them, so people can try those out on a trial basis. We’re looking right now at what books to put on them, and within the next month this will happen. They’ll all be in one format, which we haven’t determined yet, but we’re leaning toward the Nook. We already have all the different formats for the staff, so they can assist patrons with their e-readers when they bring them in.

The budget vote is coming up. Ken Goldberg, treasurer of the library’s board of trustees, said to me recently that it was difficult in the planning stages for the renovation of the library to anticipate what all the costs of operation for the larger building would be, given that it was unknown territory, but now that the new building has been open for a year and a half, the board has a better handle on what the operating costs will be in the future. Do you think there will be any surprises in the operating expenses this year?

We did have to hire more employees, but we are doing our due diligence, trying to be conservative so the community doesn’t have to pay too much. They have already done much for this beautiful library. We did add a teen librarian last year, and we also increased our hours. We’re now open 10 a.m.-8 p.m. [on] four weekdays. But if we have expenses that come up that we didn’t anticipate, we’ll make cuts somewhere else in the budget.

Along with the vote on the proposed 2013 budget on Sept. 6 will be the opportunity for voters to choose three new board members for the library out of seven candidates. That’s a lot of candidates for positions that don’t generally garner that much interest from the community. Why do you think so many people are running for the board?

People love this library. I’ve spoken to almost all of these candidates, and they’re all regular library patrons. They just love the way we function and they want to be a part of it.

Copies of the proposed budget are available at the library and online at www.saugertiespubliclibrary.org. The vote on the budget takes place on Thursday, Sept. 6 from 10 a.m.-8 p.m. at the library. Absentee ballots are available at the library after Tuesday, Aug. 21.