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Annual Report -- 2003
Director’s Report
A survey of Wisconsin citizens revealed that
residents value public library service. About 90% of the population
(library users and non-users) agreed with the statement "the library
is personally important to me." More than two-thirds of the
population said that the library is an essential part of their community.
No matter what the size of their community or the size of their library,
the library is as essential as other municipal services. And what did they
respond when asked what their public library could do to improve their
services? They replied more books and more hours.
Our member libraries added more books, as well as other types of
materials: DVDs, videocassettes, audio books, e-books, CDs, and magazines.
Our Cataloging Service reports that 28,000+ titles, an increase of more
than 4,000, were added to the EasiCat database in 2003. We have more than
1.1 million items in EasiCat - a catalog that is available to all the
residents in the Library System.
However, I am sorry to report that our libraries did not add more hours of
service. We saw the initial effects of the state fiscal crisis affect
local library service. In response to concerns by the City of Sheboygan
officials about the loss of state revenue, the Library System's resource
library, Mead Public Library, reduced its service hours significantly,
closing evenings, and all day Friday and Sunday. While other libraries
were able to maintain their service hours, these reduced hours affect a
large portion of library users.
As you read through this report you will see the reasons that people value
library service. More than 63% of the Library System's residents have
library cards. These residents checked out about 2.3 million items - a 4%
increase in use over 2002. They requested more than 192,000 items through
EasiCat - a 36% increase over 2002. And because of all this activity, our
delivery service moved more than 500,000 items among the libraries - a 25%
increase over 2002.
Because of EasiCat, we continue to have success with reducing the walk-in
crossover borrowing at Mead Public Library. We show a 6% decrease in the
number of crossover loans at the library and a 21% increase in City of
Sheboygan residents' use of other libraries. This combined to produce an
overall decrease of 15% in walk-in crossover borrowing from 2002 to 2003.
When we add in the increased number of EasiCat requests for Mead Public
Library, we also show a decrease of 3.5% from 2002.
The Library System succeeds because of the cooperation by the member
libraries and their municipalities.
The member library staff work together
harmoniously planning and carrying out those library services that have
been coordinated by the library system. The user gets great service at a
reasonable cost. They carry out the motto penned by Melvil Dewey,
"The best reading for the largest number, at the least cost."
I acknowledge the hard work and dedication of the library system staff. We
again faced a tight fiscal year and they found ways to reduce costs and
improve service. For example, our Cataloging Service staff modified their
workflow and reduced the costs for the OCLC service. They also increased
the cleanup work on the EasiCat database. Our commitment to helping
libraries pays off when residents place a high value on library services.
The Library System Board is also committed to ensuring a high quality of
library service to the residents of Sheboygan and Ozaukee Counties. As
representatives of the various constituencies served by the member
libraries, they provide the direction that continues to improve and extend
public library service to all system residents. I admire their dedication
and conscientious efforts to foster cooperation and encourage
collaboration among the public libraries, the municipalities, and the
counties.
David Weinhold, Director
Eastern Shores Library System Mission Statement:
The Eastern Shores Library System is established as a
federation of public libraries which has as its mission: to improve and extend public library
service to all residents of the library system.
Resource Library Services
ESLS contracts with Mead Public
Library in Sheboygan to respond to requests for information on a specific
subject. Member libraries have access to a toll-free 800# to use when
calling the resource library. The new reference librarian liaison convened
a "get-to-know-you" meeting for reference librarians that
included the `chat' reference services, such as Ask Wisconsin and Question
Point.
Library Services to Youth
In 2003, two ESLS staff members
shared the Youth Services Liaison position. We convened two meetings of
the youth services staff from member libraries and, along with the
Manitowoc-Calumet Library System, co-sponsored a SLP workshop featuring
Rob Reid. Jennie Stoltz from the F.L. Weyenberg Library represented the
system at the annual state youth services meeting in Madison.
All thirteen libraries and the bookmobile participated in the multi-state
Cooperative Summer Library Program with the theme "Laugh it up at
Your Library." Over 7,000 children participated and they read or were
read to for a total of 39,791 hours during the summer. We continued to
design and print the weekly reporting cards, informational flyers,
calendars, mazes, word searches, and contracts. We also purchased the
commercially produced materials for the libraries. ESLS purchased a
"Happy Face" die for the Ellison Machine for use with the SLP
theme. We coordinated the lending of the Ellison machine and offered to
cut a limited number of shapes for the libraries on request. The Time for
a Tale kits were loaned to libraries through interlibrary loan and to
bookmobile customers for use by preschools, day cares, and homeschoolers.
Continuing Education and
Consulting
The Library System sponsored 7
workshops on the following topics: Adults Teaching Adults; Developing
People Skills; Handling Multiple Responsibilities; Weeding and Collection
Management; It All Begins With Babies; WiscNetMail; Badgerlink Refresher;
and Something Funny Happened at the Library. 285 individuals attended the
workshops. In addition to public library staff, participants included
school librarians, literacy volunteers, childcare providers, and academic
librarians. Five workshops were cosponsored with Manitowoc Calumet Library
System. Two were funded with a TEACH grant through CESA
Delivery Service
The ESLS Delivery Service
experienced a 25% increase in use100,000 more items were delivered than
were in 2002. 515,916 items were delivered among the 13 public libraries,
the bookmobile, Lakeland College, Northern Ozaukee High School, and Kettle
Moraine Correctional Institution. The South Central Statewide Delivery
Service delivered and picked up 36,105 items from ESLS. These items were
coming from other libraries in the state for our libraries, or were items
from our libraries going to other libraries in the state. We split the
ESLS delivery service between two drivers to distribute the workload and
make the service safer. One driver drives 3 days a week and the other
drives 2 days a week. We negotiated a payment to begin in 2004 from Kettle
Moraine Correctional Institution for twice a week delivery service.
Intersystem Agreements
All residents in Sheboygan and
Ozaukee counties can borrow materials from libraries in other systems
because ESLS maintains agreements with adjacent library systems. We
also collaborate with adjacent library systems on workshops and other
services, including shared Internet services with Manitowoc Calumet
Library System. Through a CESA grant, we purchased additional laptop
computers for a training lab that we share with Manitowoc Calumet. ESLS
and 14 other library systems participate in the Wisconsin Public Library
Consortium, which purchases and makes electronic books available to all
system residents through netLibrary.
Services for Users with Special
Needs
System and resource library staff
attended the state leadership conference on early learning and the role of
public libraries. Following the conference, ESLS and Manitowoc-Calumet
co-sponsored one of the local workshops on the theme of infant brain
development and the library's role in early learning. Through an LSTA
grant, the Arrowhead Library System created a CD of library phrases in
Spanish and English. ESLS received permission to copy the CD and printout
for each of our libraries. Two bookmobile customers volunteered to
translate the library card application into Spanish. All libraries
received copies of "Adults with Special Needs: a Planning Guide"
published by the DPI through an LSTA grant. We feature a tip from the
publication each month in the monthly newsletter, the Library Connection.
Six ESLS libraries (Cedar Grove, Kohler, Mequon, Plymouth, Port
Washington, and Sheboygan) are on the Accessibility Role of Honor, meaning
that they have an electronic door opener for at least one entrance.
Eastern Shores is the only system in which all libraries are accessible in
all areas that were surveyed by the DLTCL. The Bi-Folkal programming kits
were made available to customers of member libraries and the bookmobile
for use in programming with older adults.
We continued to administer a $5,000
grant from the Sheboygan County Crime Prevention Fund for the purchase of
books for the Sheboygan County Detention Center. The bookmobile stopped
regularly at Rocky Knoll Health Care Facility in the township of Plymouth
and at Brookside Assisted Living Facility in Waldo. We provided interloan
and delivery service to the Kettle Moraine Correctional Institution.
Multitype Library Services
ESLS maintained agreements for
interloan and/or delivery service with Lakeland College, UW-Sheboygan,
Northern Ozaukee School District, Concordia University,
Kettle Moraine Correctional Institution, and Lakeshore Technical College.
Lakeland College is a full participant in EasiCat, the shared automated
catalog.
Cataloging Services
ESLS used OCLC records to catalog
28,165 items for member libraries, a 20% increase from the previous year.
The average turn-around time between the time a library entered a short
record and the time the record was overlaid with the matching OCLC record
was about two weeks. 442 new records without matching OCLC records were
enhanced, up from 118 in 2002. 11,422 OCLC holdings for items no longer
owned by ESLS libraries were deleted during the year. The cataloging staff
continued the cleanup of the EasiCat database during the yeardeleting
43,568 empty records after the last library either discarded their copy of
the item or moved it to a better record. An additional 6,721 duplicate
titles were deleted through cleanup and merging. Also deleted were 1,220
duplicate subject headings, 5,906 duplicate author listings, and 436
duplicate series statements. Audiovisual records were enhanced to specify
whether an item is a VHS, DVD, CD, Cassette, or CD-ROM, making the search
more meaningful for the customer.
Web sites and electronic books were
added to EasiCat during the year. To verify that the sites are current,
reports were run regularly to verify the web addresses. Problems were
either corrected or deleted. Best-seller lists and lists of award winning
books were maintained. In 2003, ESLS began adding Library of Congress
supplied table of contents and publisher's description information to
EasiCat.
A general cataloging meeting, as well as cataloging training and refresher
courses were offered to staff at member libraries. Workflow changes caused
the number of OCLC searches to be reduced from 3.8 searches per item in
2002 down to 2.4 searches in 2003, resulting in a considerable cost
savings for each item cataloged.
Internet Services
A second high speed data line was
installed during 2003, doubling the bandwidth available for Internet
access at libraries in Eastern Shores and Manitowoc-Calumet Library
Systems. Over 450 computers at the libraries in the two systems were
connected to the network. The routers at some of the libraries and at the
ESLS office were replaced.
Public Information
The library newsletter, The Library
Connection, was published 9 times during the year. Beginning with the June
issue, they were also published on the web site. The countywide Library
Service Memo was published quarterly and sent to county boards and the
chairperson/president and clerk of each village and township located in a
non-libraried area. A narrative summary of the annual report was prepared
and distributed to libraries, library board members, and area legislators.
News releases were submitted to area newspapers and PSAs about National
Library Week and National Library Card Sign-up Month were sent to the
radio stations. The system's web site was updated to include links for
librarians in the areas of Special Needs, Hispanic/Latino, Books &
Book Clubs, and Children & Reading. Board meeting agendas and minutes
are posted on both the system's web site and on each county's site.
Following the state Legislative Day, ESLS sponsored a meeting with local
legislators that was attended by public and school librarians and board
members.
Payments to Member Libraries
ESLS distributed $725,025 from
Sheboygan County and $180,310 from Ozaukee County to the libraries as
reimbursement for serving the 45,500 people from non-libraried
municipalities in the counties. At the request of the ESLS Board, Ozaukee
and Sheboygan Counties authorized County Library Planning Committees to
review and revise the County Library Services Plans. The committees will
organize and meet during 2004.
Interlibrary Loan
All 13 member libraries and the
bookmobile are direct requesters and responders on the state ILL network.
Staff from the state Reference and Loan Library conducted training at the
ESLS office on the new WISCAT interface. The workshop was attended by
representatives from every library. We continued to operate a
clearinghouse that received 2,169 requests from member libraries after
they were not supplied by Wisconsin libraries. After further research,
most of these requests were referred to academic or out of state
libraries. Of the 135 requests received from the multi-type libraries, 110
were filled. In turn, the multi-type libraries filled 109 of the 118
requests from member libraries that were referred to them. Numerous
libraries in the system work with book clubs and request multiple copies
of titles from the system clearinghouse. During 2003, we received 84
requests from libraries for their book clubs and were able to supply 595
copies for use by their participants.
Shared Automation
All of the 13 public libraries in
Sheboygan and Ozaukee Counties, the bookmobile, and Lakeland College are
full participants in EasiCat, the shared automated catalog. The Horizon
software for the catalog was upgraded during the year. A new server was
purchased to run the web catalog. Telecirc, an automated calling program
to notify patrons when items are on hold for them, was implemented at
three libraries. A Debt Collect module was configured for one library.
ESLS staff supplied monthly statistical reports for the member libraries
and customized reports as needed.
Bookmobile Service
Circulation for 2003 reached an
all-time high68,805 items were checked out. Bookmobile staff processed
approximately 3,000 reserves for their customers, 792 subject requests,
625 reference requests, and 350 e-mail requests. They prepared
approximately 30 collections of materials bi-weekly for teachers and home
schoolers and three collections bi-weekly for institutional use. New
during the summer of 2003 was a regularly scheduled stop at the Lakeside
Canning Company's seasonal workers camp in the Village of Belgium.
The 254 children who participated in the summer library program on the
bookmobile had the opportunity to earn "bookmobile bucks" that
they could use to purchase items such as water bottles, book bags, glitter
pens, and boomerangs.
During the year, 1,609 books, 30 books on tape, and 62 videos were added
to the collection. Over 8,000 items were weeded from the collection and
donated to correctional facilities, day care centers, shelters, and home
schooling families. The satellite antenna was installed on the vehicle.
Problems with the satellite connection have resulted in the staff having
to continue to use PC Reliance, the backup system, for daily transactions.
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