Director’s Report and Highlights September 16, 2008 Pamela Nyberg Kiesner, Director Bellingham, Washington Barkley Branch We are especially pleased to be meeting this month at our new branch library in the Drake Building, Barkley Village. This is the first branch library Bellingham has opened since the Silver Beach Branch opened in 1924! Since that time, of course, we also added 3 Haggen drop boxes, 30 outreach facilities, and the WCC Connection! We’re very excited to add Barkley to the growing list of ways we are reaching into the community. Our special thanks to Stowe Talbot and Jeff Kochman for making this space possible. The space is donated to the library for 42 months free-of-charge – and nearly all of the furnishings were also donated by the Barkley Company. What a gift to this community. The Friends of the Bellingham Public Library also helped to make this branch possible, by funding most of the picture books to start up the children’s collection. We are grateful for the support of our Friends! Business meeting Our meeting will be brief, including an update of our 2008 and 2009 budget status. You’ll hear from the staff and board committee that met to discuss our facility use rates; a revised proposal is in your packet. In brief, we propose increasing our facility rates by 25% in 2009, and suggest that we increase our rates on an annual basis (rate to be determined) beginning in 2010. We’ll also have a status report on the Fairhaven Branch, and will end our meeting with a tour of the Barkley Branch. Making room at Central Over a weekend in August, the VHS collection was withdrawn. Here are some points about why this was a timely decision: · Demand by library customers for the DVD format has increased, and VHS usage has dropped in recent years. · Space at the Central Library is at a premium, and the DVD format takes up less room than does VHS, and the DVD collection is growing. · Many video series owned by the library had missing, lost, or damaged parts that could not be replaced as videos. · Did you know? The library stopped purchasing the VHS format at least three years ago. · Many of the library’s video titles were out of date, providing inaccurate information – especially in the areas of travel, health, education, and law. · Popular video titles that are available on DVD have been added to the collection in the DVD format.