Wrapping Up 2011

It's that time of year when we look back at the previous year and report out to our board and community about the changes we made.  Our team keeps an ongoing list during the year of new events, initiatives, partnerships and programs that have been significant - things that have had an impact beyond our usual work of collection development, desk work and programming.

This year we surprised even ourselves.  Without looking at circulation or programming stats, here's the big changes we made.

Major New Initiatives

·         Play Learn Read children's literacy center developed with constantly changing content

·         1000 Books Before Kindergarten Club, parent/child reading initiative launched - 500 signed up

·         Rubber Ducky Club, summer reading club for kids birth-35 months successfully debuted

·         Story Action Pod to support Early Literacy activities for K-2 kids created & updated

·         Monthly rotating daycare  deposit collections begun

·         Cookie Club, an incentive program to encourage library use during Dec – Jan premiered

Notable Changes

·         Re-branded the boat as a "Reading Area" to encourage kids to read rather than run

·         5,735 visits generated by our “passive programs”:  SLP, 1000 Books, Cookie Club

·         kicked off “Rocky and Flare” and "Babe and Todd" videos to publicize events

·         relocated new materials and teacher/parent resources to be more visible/accessible

·         Created an e-newsletter and after hours program just for 1000 Bks B4K kids             

·         Created a "Between Storytimes" coupon book to encourage library use even when no programming is being done

Who knows what 2012 will bring? I'm excited to see!

Image: 'Wrapped Gifts Retirement Party 7-8-09 8' http://www.flickr.com/photos/10506540@N07/3703145222