Library Activities March 2012

Posted on April 9, 2012 by

We started our move out of the First American Title building on February 20. The library staff worked very hard and very efficiently getting us moved. I’m very impressed with the dedication and perseverance displayed by the entire staff. Nevertheless, by the February 28^th we knew that we couldn’t get the library up and running by March 5^th, which was our target date. We sent out notices and emails to let folks know that we had to postpone our opening till March 7^th.

Kathy Draine and Chris Wilhelmi deserve special recognition for “above and beyond the call of duty” work that they did in organizing the move. It was difficult to plan how to recombine items from two different locations and keep them in order, not to mention how
to keep the interlibrary loan processes from bogging down while we were closed.

Our opening day was incredibly busy. Like moving into a new house, we were still struggling with finding places to put things and then looking for where we put them. The chart attached shows how significant the increase was over the circulation on the same day the past two years. We were above 200 circulations each hour, whereas we are usually under 100 per hour. I take this to be an indication of how our community loves the library.

On March 9^th I conducted our first official tour with a group from the Senior Center. They were happy to see the improvements and had many interesting questions.

The Grand Opening on March 10^th was an extremely successful event. We had approximately 400 attending! We did run out of food, but we had live music by a harpist, and the Friends of Sandy Library provided door prizes for the drawings that occurred throughout the evening.

On March 23 we had to have the front doors replaced. This was a planned fix. On the 23^rd I also met with the new Director of the Library Network office, Kwang Kye. After a year and a half without one, it is such a relief to finally have a manager in the Network office.

Library Activities, February 2012

Posted on March 13, 2012 by

By the time February rolled around, we had been preparing for our move back to the library for many months. Thanks to Kathy Draine and Chris Wilhelmi for their excellent organizational planning, we were ready to roll on Feb. 21.

But before that happened, Alex Farnham came to reinstall the glass mobile in the skylight, and we had new shelving installed in the adult area.

On Tuesday morning, the entire staff met for breakfast and a meeting to discuss moving plans. By 10:00 we were loading up book carts. The move was very demanding, but it would have been much worse without the excellent planning that had been done, and the fact that we did not have to move and reset as many book cases since we bought new ones. We still have bookcases to deal with at the former Radio Shack. We are considering selling them.

Once again the library staff were all dedicated and hard working throughout. We had several volunteers helping as well. On Feb. 29 we were completely out of the First American Title building, but we realized that we could not be ready to open to the public by March 5^th as we had planned. We put out notices and a mass email was sent out to library patrons that our new opening date would be March 7^th.

We received a total of $7200 in donations specifically for the Children’s Forest.

Library Activities, January 2012

Posted on February 14, 2012 by

CITY OF SANDY STAFF REPORT

FROM: Beth Scarth

SUBJECT: Library Activities, January 2012

In addition to our regular work serving the public, we have been very busy planning our move back to the renovated building. Library patrons are asking lots of questions. During January we had meetings with shelving installers and movers, and weekly construction meetings on site.

Our current plan is to close in the temporary location on February 21 (we will be closed on the 20^th for President’s Day). We’ll begin the systematic move back, incorporating the items in storage, and will reopen in the renovated space on March 5.

Our Grand Opening Celebration will be on Saturday, March 10. There will be a children’s event from 1 – 3pm with a presentation of “Mother Seuss” by Cinda Tilgner. We’ll have an evening event from 6:30 – 8:30. We are planning to have music and refreshments and door prizes sponsored by the Friends of Sandy Library. There will be a short program beginning at 7pm, and tours of the building will occur throughout the evening.

The library has begun to seek donations for the Children’s Forest sculptures that will be placed in the renovated library. There has been much discussion about how they will be painted and assembled, and the final installation will be interesting to watch. It is scheduled for There are two types: deciduous and conifer, just like we see in our forests. The trees are abstract and will be a very unique and fun addition to our children’s library.

At the top of this page is a thumbnail of an elevation sketch of the trees in place. Click on it to get a better view. The trees butt up against book cases This gives you the idea of what it will look like as you look into the children’s area from the ramp into the main floor of the library.

Library Activities, December 2011

Posted on January 9, 2012 by

December’s weather continued to be nice for construction! The renovated library is looking more complete and we are beginning to make final arrangements for our move back.

Weekly construction meetings are held on Wednesdays, and I tour each week. Walls are painted, carpeting is down, and the fireplace is in. It is really looking great.

After an all-staff meeting on December 14, we delivered homemade goodies to the construction workers at the library site. We wanted to show our appreciation for the beautiful work they are doing, and they appreciated the goodies.

When we began the grant writing process, I asked the Friends if they would supply the funds for the equipment in the community room. I gave them a rough estimate of $30,000. They agreed to that amount, and we were all pleased to see that my estimate was double what is actually needed. I met with board members of the Friends of Sandy Library to present my “wish list” on the 14^th. The Friends board will meet in early January to OK these expenditures.

On two occasions, Joe Preston found empty, broken DVD cases in the garbage cans at Meinig Park. In all, 28 DVDs were stolen, cases broken open and dumped in the park. In order to try to stop these thefts, we have rearranged the collection somewhat so that we can make sure that a staff member is close by the DVDs at all times.