The Town of Lincoln, MA - Library Trustees

The Friends are working on a fundraising effort to help the New Orleans Public Library (NOPL), which was badly damaged by Hurricane Katrina last August. Ellen and Jeanne are on a committee with the Friends to plan events. Some ideas that they are considering are: donating the proceeds from one book sale to NOPL, a 4^th of July float and a jazz brunch in October, and passing the hat at the Classic Jazz concert in May. Over 30 libraries around the country are also raising funds or collecting donations for NOPL.

Ellen's Friday Morning book group discussed “Various Voices from the Harlem Renaissance” on April 14. Ellen gathered a selection of material by Harlem authors who wrote during the early 1900s for the group to discuss. As we get close to the end of the fiscal year Ellen and the other department heads are spending the remainder of their library materials budgets on quality materials.

Artwork by students at the Carroll School is on display during April. Classic Jazz’s April program was led by Norm Nichols and was called, “Nothing swings like a violin.” Jeanne had a timely drop-in training program on April 10 where she taught patrons how to find tax forms online. Jeanne’s Mystery Mondays book group discussed Henning Mankell’s “The Dogs of Riga, translated from the Swedish. The Write Stuff writing group met on April 19 for the first time without Jeanne because Jeanne was at a mystery convention called “Malice Domestic” in Washington, D.C. Jeanne reports that most of the members of the Write Stuff have presented impressive work for critique.

The theme of the Children's Room programs during the April school vacation week was, “Get Lost in a Book.” Children ages 3-5 attended the “Once Upon a Time” program on April 18 and listened to make believe stories and made crafts. On April 19, You and Me Puppets presented two Petit Puppet Plays: “Sleeping Beauty” and “The Three Bears” in the style of Victorian Toy Theatre. “A Splintered Tale: A Crafty Adventure” program was presented on April 20 to children ages 6-8 and was based on the works of the Brothers Grimm and Hans Christian Andersen.

Now the Children’s librarians are busy planning programs and booking entertainers for the Summer Reading program. The theme of this summer’s reading program is “What’s buzzing at your library.” Many things buzz. I’m sure that the Children’s librarians will have fun making the library buzz this summer!

The semi-annual delivery survey, which runs for one week, showed that delivery volume at Lincoln is down 15% this April compared to April 2005. Nadine believes the major reason for this decline is the new restriction that DVDs added to a library’s collection within the past year cannot be requested by patrons.

Minuteman Library Network is testing new software from Innovative Interfaces, Inc. (III) that will automatically make “in-transit” and “hold” pick up slips. This will save a lot of labor for library staff in the network. Right now, we have to fill out the slips by hand. It would be terrific to have the appropriate slips printed off automatically when books are checked in!

Reference staff answered at least 430 documented reference questions during March 2006, which is a slight increase over last year. Jeanne was also a member of the Minuteman Library Network’s TV Ad Hoc Committee, which has met three times so far. The charge of this committee is to find a better way to circulate television series on DVDs. In general, these series are all shipped together in a small package. Some libraries are separating the DVDs into separate containers and circulating them separately. This is the most costly way to process the DVDs. The alternative is to leave the DVDs together, which is what the committee is recommending to the other Minuteman committees. This is how Lincoln processes its television series on DVDs.

A boiler inspector came to the library on April 24. There are no records of previous inspections and Bob Bottino does not think the boiler has ever been inspected. While the inspector was here, he notified me that the compressor needs to be inspected as well. However, he could not inspect the compressor while he was on site because the inspection is performed by a different state department. He instructed me to fill out an application requesting an inspection by the state’s Public Safety Department. I filled out the form and the Town’s Accounting Department will mail it with the $25 application fee. However, the inspector advised me that it may be years before the inspection takes place.

Work began on the roof on April 11 with workmen from Dave Gardner Contracting (DGC) bringing in equipment and supplies. ~The next day a crew began ripping off old slate from two sides of the north side (Bedford Road side) of the Gund building. ~The two sides are the side facing the link (flat) roof and the side facing the Tarbell building. ~The ripping crew does not leave the site until the section of roof has been covered with a water vapor barrier and felt to prevent water from entering the building. ~Today the slate rippers are working on the south side of the Gund building.

~ ~ ~ The slater (Kevin Kelly) began installing new slate on April 18. ~Today he should be finished with both of these sides. ~Jim McKenna is happy with Kevin's work. ~However, work is progressing more slowly than we anticipated. ~Scott Richardson and Jim advised me not to be too concerned with the pace of the work. ~The job will probably not be

~ ~ ~ A sheet metal worker is also on site this week installing new copper flashing for valleys in the parapet area of the north side and vent covers to replace the steel covers that were in place. ~Most of this copper is not visible from the ground. ~Because DGC is using a lift instead of scaffolding, the gutters were not removed from the building as was

Red Hawk Studio Architects (RHSA) began work on this project on April 3^rd. I met with Karle Packard on April 7 and gave background information about the contents of the vault and a copy of the preservation survey that was performed last year by the Northeast Document Conservation Center. Mr. Packard’s existing conditions report is due this week and the Building Committee will meet with him to discuss his findings.

Dave Gardner Contractor & Supply, Inc. began work on this project on April 18 by sawing out mortar between the stones with a circular saw. On April 20 DGC’s foreman for this project, John Keohane, Scott Richardson and I met to discuss mortar colors. Scott suggested a dark gray for the stone foundation and selected a color for the mortar of to repoint the brick work around the porch of the Preston building’s entrance.

On April 13 I attended the Massachusetts Association of Public Purchasing Officials’ Annual Conference with Dean Charter, Facilities Manager for the Town of Acton. At this conference I learned that the Attorney General’s Office is adding a new requirement to public construction projects. Beginning July 1, 2006, contractors must submit forms stating that the employees on the job have attended a new ten hour OSHA training class. It is interesting that the Attorney General’s Office is relying on procurement officers to enforce more laws. For example, we are already required to collect a form from contractors stating that their employees have made their child support payments.

Verizon removed the library’s pay phone on April 6 because less than $25/month was deposited into these phones each month. Last year only 370 calls were placed from this pay phone at a minimum cost of $0.50 each. To get the Verizon pay phone re-installed will cost $150. Keeping the phone will cost $45/month and Verizon collects all of the money deposited into the phone. The staff and Trustees would like to make a public phone available to our patrons but the Verizon deal does not sound like a good plan.

An alternative is to follow Acton’s example and simply install a local calls only Centrex line where Verizon’s pay phone was. According to Dean Charter, the cost of this phone line in Acton is $12/month. This sounds a lot more reasonable than the Verizon option! I have left a message with Lincoln’s Assistant Town Administrator, Anita Scheipers, asking if adding an additional Centrex line for local phone calls can be added at the library.