9/8/2009 BOARD OF LIBRARY TRUSTEES Minutes

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Mashpee Public Library R 0 Box 657 Mashpee MA 02549 Circulation in August was 12,881 items, compared t0 12,409 items last August. Year-to-date circulation is 27,145 items; an increase of 1,453 (5,60/o) more than FY 2009. We are just starting to see a degrease in daily business as of the past few days. It was a very busy and stressful summer. Based on last year's figures, we did one fifth of our year's business in just two months., The outcome of the Warrant review was very disappointing. We are months away from the opening of a beautiful facility and faced with the prospect of being dreadfully understaffed. Bridget Bontrager complied some statistics from last year's ARIS; a statistical report that all libraries submit to the Board of library Commissioners at the end of each year. Bridget put the CLAMS' libraries into a spreadsheet format that compares staffing, circulation, and hors open by population group. I inserted the actual population figures for fihe four libraries in our group, communities � between 10,000 and 14,999 residents. As you can see, Mashpee has the largest population served. We are serving 29% � more people than the smallest town, Brewster. If you move to the FTE column, � Mashpee has 5.6 Full Time Equivalents, compared to Brewster's 8.5 FTE. The comparison between Mashpee and Harwich and Nantucket is even more striking. All the libraries are open similar hours. The minimum for this population group is 44 hours per week. Harwich falls slightly below the minimum. Mashpee's circulation was 8% less than Brewster, but Mashpee was operating in minimal spice and, with a quarter of its collection in deep storage. Our staffing levels don't compare favorably even with the 5,000 to 9,999 population group, Over half of that population group had better staffing levels than Mashpee. T have included a flyer for The Cape and Islands library Association Fall Meeting. The topic is the Challenging Patron. The staff has requested to attend, i would like to close that day for a staff training day. Given the challenges that face us in the new building, I'm hoping the staff will hear some advice that will help them to cope with the stresses that lie ahead. I had some good news on the proposed reduction of the library budget. We are receiving $4,808 less in state aid this year because of cuts to the state budget. Joyce Mason had proposed taking a matching amount from the library budget because of the lesser state aid. I questioned if this would amount to a double cut of $9,616 and she agreed it would have that effect. She decided to look i elsewhere for that cut, i i