Annual Report 2014

HIGHLAND COUNTY DISTRICT LIBRARY

System Report

The Numbers

BOARD OF TRUSTEES

Fred Yochum, President

Jeff Cloud, Vice President

Kim Douglas, Secretary

Stephen Hunter

Larry Nartker

Mary Ellen McCarty

Sharon Higgins

Jennifer West, Director

Emily Evans, Clerk-Treasurer

Margaret Magee, Greenfield Branch Manager

Sharon Aukeman, Leesburg Branch Manager

Elaine Williams, Lynchburg Branch Manager

Highland County District Library

Annual Report - 2014

Jennifer West, Director

2014 was a year of surprises, including a snow day in November!

The annual circulation for 2014 was 471,906. This number includes the circulation of e-formats (e-books, digital or downloadable audio, and videos). However, at the request of the State Library of Ohio, “computer use” and “in-house use” are not added to the circulation statistics. We are instructed to count all materials in all formats that are checked out for use outside the library.

The 2014 Summer Reading theme was “Fizz, Boom, Read!” Hillsboro had a special weekly program for families during the summer. We had great participation with 295 children, 40 teens and 84 adults registering. After the kick-off on May 31, families enjoyed programs on magic with Leland Pennington, Butterflies, Haunted Ohio Spirits, Science Matters, Wild About Reading, Wild About Eyes, the inflatable Indoor Dome Theater, Craft Night, the Southeastern Big Foot Organization, and the big finale with Ronald McDonald. Thanks to Lyn Tone and Emily Evans for this fantastic summer!

Our meeting room has been used by the Ohio Virtual Academy, the African American Awareness Research Council, Health Insurance Marketplace enrollment, Ohio Child Care Resource & Referral Association, Corporation for Ohio Appalachian Development, Ohio Medicaid, Health Quest, Big Brothers/Big Sisters, the Daughters of the American Revolution, the Brush and Palette Guild, Ohio Waiver program, a couponing group, Buckeye Online, Child Care training, TRECA Digital Academy, and testing and tutoring.

State Representative Cliff Rosenberger, Senator Bob Peterson and Jim Millikin of the Secretary of State’s office have also used the libraries to meet with the public. The four libraries remain a drop-off location for “Holiday Mail for Heroes” cards to be distributed to military service personnel, their families and veterans.

I proctored twelve exams for local students and made monthly visits to the Laurels, Bell Gardens (formerly known as Highland House) and Heartland nursing homes. The Belfast Head Start building has closed and the children were relocated to the Hillsboro Head Start location. We have been able to follow them and still make monthly story time visits. I have been asked to serve on the Head Start Policy Council as well.

We participated in the Highland District Hospital’s Health Fair, Flag Day and Veteran’s Day celebrations hosted by the Highland County Veterans Service Commission, and an open house at Hillsboro Elementary School. The Hillsboro Kindergarten classes visited us again for “Community Day” in September and took a tour of the Hillsboro library as well as enjoying a story time.

In December the Hillsboro Library received a visit from none other than Santa Claus! The big guy visited the 80 children who participated in the Winter Reading Contest and earned Golden Tickets. Parents signed their children up for a time to visit with Santa and enjoyed working at craft stations as they waited.

Joan Cockerill retired in January after 30 years of service in the Children’s Department. We thank her and wish her a happy retirement. There is no separate report from the Children’s Department this year.

CHILDREN’S DEPARTMENT: Joan Cockerill (retired in January), Nikki Fain, Emily Fryman and Gabrielle Pitzer.

ADULT DEPARTMENT: Lyn Tone, Barb Barker, Karen Davis, Lora Davis, Sandra Duplain, Sandra Jenkins, Vickie Johnson, Donna O’Dom, Vanessa Turner and Laura Weingartner.

NUMBERS:

County Population (2013 estimate): 43,299

Circulation: 471,906

Per capita circulation is 11 items

Registered Borrowers:
Adults	22,109
Juvenile	4,075
	26,184

Circulation for 2014:

	Hillsboro	Greenfield	Lynchburg	Leesburg	Totals
Books	131,357	54,418	34,849	35,326	255,950
Periodicals	10,279	2,456	1,298	697	14,730
DVD/VHS	83,296	27,414	15,495	11,760	137,965
Music	3,306	1,891	941	699	6,837
Audiobooks	6,593	1,736	858	1,101	10,288
ILL to other libraries	16,029	4,729	5,100	3,000	28,858

TOTALS	250,860	92,644	58,541	52,583	454,628
E-formats					17,278
TOTAL					471,906

In 2014, the State Library of Ohio simplified the Home Location codes to make it easier for the staff to catalog materials and get circulations statistics, and to make the items displayed on the public catalog more consistent for the patrons to view. This meant the Highland County District Library went from 89 home location codes to 34.

The circulation for CD-ROMS, toys, storytelling kits, mystery kits, maps and pamphlets are now included in the Books on CD or Tape (“Audiobooks”) category.

Also at the request of the State Library of Ohio, “computer use” and “in-house use” are not added to the circulation statistics. We are instructed to count all materials in all formats that are checked out for use outside the library.

Computer Use	33,094	7,941	4,288	4,132	49,455

In-house Use	27,539	7,036	4,160	5,015	43,750

"In-house use" includes use of newspapers, periodicals, microfilm reels and honor paperbacks.

Average library attendance in a Typical Week	2,981

Average Reference Transactions in a Typical Week	190

Average Non-Reference* Transactions in a Typical Week	587

(*directional, policy, mechanical)

PROGRAMS:

Hillsboro	20	Adult Programs	152	Attendance
	101	Juvenile Programs	953	Attendance
		Other Locations	1,562	Attendance
Total:	121	Programs	2,667	Attendance


Greenfield	49	Adult Programs	1,022	Attendance
	69	Juvenile Programs	1,532	Attendance
		Other Locations	283	Attendance
Total:	118	Programs	2,837	Attendance

Leesburg	100	Adult Programs	1,543	Attendance
	115	Juvenile Programs	2,861	Attendance
		Other Locations	771	Attendance
Total:	215	Programs	5,175	Attendance

Lynchburg	73	Adult Programs	1,226	Attendance
	155	Juvenile Programs	1,942	Attendance
		Other Locations	938	Attendance
Total:	228	Programs	4,106	Attendance

Totals	242	Adult Programs	3,943	Attendance
	440	Juvenile Programs	7,288	Attendance
		Other Locations	3,554	Attendance
Total:	682	Programs	14,785	Attendance

OUTREACH:

Outreach was provided to 408 elderly or disabled residents at the Laurels of Hillsboro, Bell Gardens (formerly Highland House) and Heartland nursing homes by Jennifer West, serving as outreach librarian. She was accompanied twice by Cassandra Tone who dressed as a pink flamingo (in honor of the actual Pink Flamingo Day) and as the Statue of Liberty!

GREENFIELD BRANCH LIBRARY

Written by Margaret Magee, Branch Manager

2014 was another busy and exciting year here at the Greenfield Branch Library. We have registered many new patrons and have many new items for our community to share. We have enjoyed serving our Greenfield community’s informational, educational, and entertainment needs.

We had some great adult programs here at the library and they included CET Ready to Learn workshops for preschool caregivers, the Bookworms adult book discussion group, Beginning computer classes, Stroke Support Group provided by the Greenfield Area Medical Center, Book sales, Summer Reading contests, CPR classes presented by Debbie Hensley, Summer Reading Kick-off, Genealogy Club headed by Earlene Scott, Ohio Benefit Bank Tax Preparation, Quilting Club, led by Lisa Fields and Carol Brady and Author Signing by Adam Honnold.

Children also had many great programs as well. These were story hours each week for ages 2-4. Summer Reading programs – “Fizz, Boom, Read!” – we had a sign up of 291 for the summer. A Season Readings Christmas Club with 79 children involved which was concluded with the Christmas Gift shop on December 6. We gave school class, 4-H, Scout and preschool tours and programs. We also had a Library Summer Camp with 586 in total attendance, Drop-In Kid’s Crafts, a Mother’s Club program for children with Rhonda Sponcil leading.

We have worked with many local agencies to provide more and better services. These include Edgewood Manor, Greenfield Area Medical Center, Village of Greenfield, Concerned Veterans of Greenfield, Greenfield Head Start, CET, Highland County Board of Elections, Greenfield Rotary Club, Greenfield Farmer’s Market Committee, Greenfield Historical Society, Greenfield Soccer Association, Greenfield’s Mothers Club, Education Classroom of Tomorrow, Ohio Virtual Academy and others.

We received donations from many local businesses, clubs and individuals including Greenfield Mother’s Club, New Sabina Industries, Wal-mart grant, McDonalds, Shopko, Star Cinema, The Willow, Domino’s, Subway, Save-A-Lot, Advance Auto, Wendy’s, Community Market, Robbins Village Florist, Bob Evans, The Glitz, Long’s Retreat, Kroger’s, Pizza Hut, Dakota’s, Jett’s Embroidery, Greenfield Chiropractic, Buck’s Tire Service, Tecumseh, CARE Chiropractic, Big City Pizza, W & W Cleaners, Walgreen’s, Frisch’s, King’s Island, Newport Aquarium, Cowaburger, The Beach, COSI, Renaissance Festival, and many items from our patrons.

There were many wonderful displays in our showcase this year: Charles Walker (Toy Farm Machinery collection), Wendy Royse (Antique Postcard Collection), Summer Reading – “Fizz, Boom, Read,” Constitution Week, Harold and Judy Schmidt (old school books), Week of the Young Child artwork (Head Start), Nativity Scenes (Marian Library, University of Dayton).

Our community room has been in continual use this year. Besides our library programming, many community groups (Greenfield Concerned Veterans, Divas, Greenfield Mothers’ Club, Greenfield Farmers market Meetings, GSAY Soccer Meetings, Greenfield Voting Site, Greenfield Area Medical Center Stroke Support, Boy Scouts, ECOT and Ohio Virtual Academy, Ohio Services for the Visually Impaired, Bureau of Vocational Rehabilitation, Ron Dudley – local writing project, Health Source Ohio, Highland County Board of Developmental Disabilities, London Academy) have used the room for their meetings and events.

2014 has moved by quickly. Our staff, patrons, and community working together make a great team to enrich our community. We look forward to serving our community in 2015.

Greenfield Staff: Margaret Magee, Branch Manager; Debbie Wise, Linda Fugate, Kathy Patton, Jessica Leaverton, Melinda McGee, and Kathy Van Matre.

LEESBURG BRANCH LIBRARY

Written by Sharon Aukeman, Branch Manager

The Leesburg Branch Library endeavored to accomplish its mission of serving the Leesburg community in a variety of ways during 2014. As in previous years, patron use of our computers has greatly increased. We provide as much assistance as possible for our patrons who have limited computer knowledge but need to job search, create resumes, and perform other online tasks. We also offered on-site test proctor services for those taking online college courses. And we welcomed a new book scan service to Leesburg through Millennium Business systems. This allows for easy scan to fax, scan to USB, scan to email and scan to print capabilities for our patrons.

Attendance at our regularly scheduled adult programs is strong. Our Knit-Together group continues to grow. Unfortunately, we have lost some of our RRR book club members due to death this year, but the group added a few new members at the end of the year. Other programs that we hosted for our adult patrons include: Veteran’s Day Appreciation Breakfast, holiday contests and treats and the Leesburg Luminaria during December.

We continue to have steady participation for our children’s story times on Thursday mornings. This past year, the children had visits from Johnny Appleseed, the Little Red Hen and our local firefighters, were able to “travel” to New Orleans for Mardi Gras, and learned about sharing with others and being thankful by re-enacting the story, Stone Soup. In addition to our weekly story times for Wee Ones (age 6 months to 36 months) and Tater Tots (age 3-5 years) we had wonderful programs to coincide with our summer reading theme. “Fizz, Boom, Read!” was a great success this year. Our young patrons experienced science in a variety of ways. They learned about germs and the importance of good hand washing; they learned about Ohio owls and dissected owl pellets; they participated in a program about electricity and helped perform shocking experiments; and they got to “play with their food” by doing experiments with everyday food items after learning about good nutrition.

Our children’s fall/winter reading program was The Polar Express Experience. After reading and earning “Golden Tickets” during the months of October and November, 50 children traveled on the train to the North Pole; stopping at various points along the way where characters read the story and gave each traveler a treat. The trip culminated with a visit from Santa.

We also participated in the Fairfield Elementary School’s “Lions on Literacy” night. The book being showcased was “Charlotte’s Web”. Library staff members who attended the event dressed up like Wilbur and Charlotte and spoke to the students and their parents about our library and its services.

Attendance at our teen reading group, SPARX, continues to grow. The group meets monthly to discuss a title chosen by the teens and to enjoy some food and fun. The teens also participated in their summer reading program, “Spark a Reaction”. Many books were read and prizes won. One of their programs during summer reading was “Supper with Snakes”. The teens ate slithery snacks and local resident, Vince Howard brought in snakes for the teens to look at and hold. We have also had teens volunteer with us as part of their community service requirement for the Fairfield School System. It has been exciting to meet these young volunteers as they assisted us with a variety of tasks.

We enjoy working with local organizations to provide services to the community at large. Some of these programs/organizations include Fairfield School, Leesburg Fire Dept. and Life Squad, and the Highland County Extension Office. Our library also participated in the Holiday Mail for Heroes during the Christmas season.

The Leesburg Library has been blessed by donations from local businesses and patrons. Through their donations of books and other materials, we were able to hold two book sales which enable us to provide materials for our story times. Financial donations assist us with our summer reading programming.

We continue to encourage our patrons to share their collections with us in our display case. This year’s displays included collections of snowmen, dolls, antique kitchen utensils and Santa decorations.

The library staff strives to meet our patrons’ information needs in the most efficient and enthusiastic manner possible. We each have different talents and strengths that intertwine to fulfill our patrons’ needs to the best of our abilities. We look forward to 2015 and the many challenges our library and the Highland County system will face in the new year.

Leesburg Staff: Sharon Aukeman, Branch Manager; Rebecca Howard, Shirley Fetters, Belinda Baldwin, Ashley Rainey

LYNCHBURG BRANCH LIBRARY

Written by Elaine Williams, Branch Manager

2014 was a year filled with interesting programs at the library and more school visits to reach those outside its walls!

In addition to our perennial Knit-n-Stitch and Pageturners Book Club, we offered free classes to adults on Decorating with Icing, Extreme Couponing, and how to make Paper Roses. The entire community enjoyed our Community Taste Test in the summer (Pepperidge Farm's Extreme Cheddar Goldfish beat out the Cheezit brands). We partnered with the Lynchburg Historical Society in the fall to present an art show that featured Lynchburg artists such as Hilda Hendee, Marie Selph, and Glenn Aber.

Our children's librarian visited the schools more often this year, bringing her Tornado Talk to the kindergarteners and Lynchburg History to the third grade classes. She coordinated with the middle school librarian this year to speak to all sixth, seventh, and eighth grade students (197 students) about what the library has to offer. Students took home letters to parents about how to get library cards, and many students received their first library cards through this outreach. Elaine also visited all of the elementary school classes dressed as a mad scientist in order to promote this year's summer reading club, FIZZ--BOOM--READ! 206 children signed up as a result.

The most popular children's programs this year were part of the summer reading club's science theme. Twenty-nine children came to build their own robots, and 56 attended "Shockingly Fun," an interactive program offered by Science Matters America. Participants experimented with electricity and chemistry with fascinating results! FIZZ-BOOM-READ! was one of our most popular themes ever. Fifteen teens and eighty-five adults also participated in summer reading clubs for their age groups. It was a great summer.

We continue to offer three story times a week; all ages are welcome.

We look forward to serving the public in 2015!

Lynchburg Branch Staff: Elaine Williams, Branch Manager/Youth Librarian, Beverly Wilkin, Carol Frost, Jean Bush, Debi Dillon.

ADULT PROGRAMS:

HILLSBORO: Black History Month program (held at Southern State Community College) celebrating the African American Awareness Research Council’s 20^th anniversary, Carol Cartaino, “Pros and Cons of Self-Publishing”, book sales, Plant Swap, Jim Milliken, representative from Ohio Secretary of State office, and Barb Barker, monthly craft programs.

GREENFIELD: CPR Classes, Genealogy Club, Bookworms book discussion group, Stroke Support group, CET Ready to Learn workshops, computer classes, Ohio Benefit Bank Tax Preparation, Book sale, Quilting Club, Job Fair, Brian Fox – VA Benefits, author signing Adam Honnold.

LEESBURG: Book sales, Veteran’s Day Appreciation Breakfast, visits from the Highland County Extension Agent, Holiday Mail for Heroes, Knit Together group, Teacher Outreach, monthly teen and adult book groups, and celebrations for Valentine’s Day, Halloween (Beggar’s Night) and Christmas (Luminaria).

LYNCHBURG: Knit-n-Stitch group, the Pageturners Book Club, Decorating with Icing, Extreme Couponing, Adult Summer Reading program, Community Taste Test, Paper Roses with Karen Adams, local Artists Craft show, and the Annual Christmas Tea.

DISPLAYS:

HILLSBORO: Brides books, Black History Month, Diana Harvey – Appalachian Artisans Guild, Lynn Neal – Hats, Summer Reading, Elvis books, Lyn Tone – Coca Cola Collectibles, Cemetery artifacts, “Staff versus Patron art contest, Mary Nelson – Basket ornaments.

GREENFIELD: Charles Walker (Toy Farm Machinery collection), Wendy Royse (Antique Postcard Collection), Summer Reading – “Fizz, Boom, Read”, Constitution Week, Harold and Judy Schmidt (old school books), Week of the Young Child artwork (Head Start), Nativity Scenes (Marian Library, University of Dayton).

LEESBURG: Belinda Baldwin (Snowmen), Brenda Armstrong (Cabin Arts Festival), Shirley Fetters (Dolls), Library Staff (Easter), Shirley Fetters (Cameras), Library Staff (Summer Reading program), Library Patrons (Egg Drop Contestants), Shirley Fetters (Kitchen Utensils), Library Staff (Polar Express) and Belinda Baldwin (Santa Collection)

LYNCHBURG: Art Show by Lynchburg artists (sponsored by the Lynchburg Historical Society), Cookie Jars, Postcards, Roseville Pottery, Vintage Children’s books, Insect collection, Coffee Mugs, Canning Jars, Horror movie Memorabilia, Beanie Babies and European Vacation.

DONATIONS AND GIFTS

Hillsboro: Nancy Perin Axmacher in memory of her grandmother, Lyne Letcher Spargur, Deborah and Charles Harsha in memory of Ron Turpin, Ronald Toops in appreciation of research help, Betsy Groen in memory of Carol Leslie, and Margie Ann Reno Hahne in memory of Mrs. Robert (Marjorie) Reno, Charles Sanford “Sandy” Harsha, and her parents Robert and Marjorie Reno. Higgins Construction, Merchant’s National Bank, New Sabina Industries and Altrusa International of Highland County to the Summer Reading Program.

Greenfield Branch Library: Greenfield Mother’s Club, New Sabina Industries, Wal-mart grant, McDonalds, Shopko, Star Cinema, The Willow, Domino’s, Subway, Save-A-Lot, Advance Auto, Wendy’s, Community Market, Robbins Village Florist, Bob Evans, The Glitz, Long’s Retreat, Kroger’s, Pizza Hut, Dakota’s, Jett’s Embroidery, Greenfield Chiropractic, Buck’s Tire Service, Tecumseh, CARE Chiropractic, Big City Pizza, W & W Cleaners, Walgreen’s, Frisch’s, King’s Island, Newport Aquarium, Cowaburger, The Beach, COSI, Renaissance Festival, and many items from our patrons.

Leesburg Branch Library: Batter Up Bakery, Candle-lite, Chakeres Theaters, Cincinnati Reds, COSI. Fifth-Third Bank, Frisch’s, Heritage Club, Highland Lanes, Hillcrest Productions, Joy Gallimore & Highland District Hospital, Kay Simmons Insurance, Kings Island, Leesburg Hardware, Leesburg Market & Meat, Mane St. Salon, New Sabina Industries, Ohio Renaissance Festival, Saucy Sisters Pizza, Southern Hills Community Bank, Square One, Star Cinema, The Beach Waterpark, Wellers Plumbing & Heating, Active Small Town Gals, Blair & Sharon Aukeman, Becky & Jeff Johnson and Brenda Bond. Also numerous gifts of books and other items from Jennifer Alloy, Shirley Brewer, Sofia Burgess, Marilyn Butler, Marcia Carlin, Doug Carmean, Bonnie Cunningham, Sadie De Haas, Kathy Downey, Richelle Fair, Cheryl Ford, Marcia Grimm, Carol Gustin, Becky Hurst, Sandy Irvin, Rebecca Johnson, Alberta Kelly, Alex King, Susan May, Candace Mick, Jeanette Newland, family of Joyce Orr, Helena Schneider, Ashley Schottelkotte, Anna Sellers, Nancy Sonner, Rebecca Surber, Janet Turner, Mary Vidorek, Jennifer Waterman and Pam Weston.

Lynchburg Branch Library: Jane Taylor & John Gregory, Darlene Michael, Christa Moore, Patricia Yankee, Eastern Star, New Sabina Industries.