Trustees of the Winchester Public Library

Library hours were reduced for the second year when a failed override in December 2004 brought further budget reductions in July, 2005. The Library, which had previously lost Sunday hours and six weekday hours, closed on Monday mornings for a total loss of twelve hours per week in two years. What is the cost of those hours lost? In dollars, it represents 1 /1,000th of the Town's operating budget, or about $80,000 to re-open the Library. What is the cost to our citizens? We have heard from many of them that they consider the Library an important educational institution and a vital community center. They want us to open the doors. The Trustees are dedicated to working with Town government in re-opening the Library, making its resources available to all.
This year, Library administrators, Director Lynda Wills and Assistant Director, Barbara Yuan, were charged with maintaining quality services and staff morale in the face of staff reductions and an increase in business. Their teamwork and the goodwill of a supportive staff have seen us through a difficult year. The Library is an outstanding success because of our dedicated staff.
The Friends of the Library, Bonnie Alpert - President, continue to provide valuable library programs and services that are outside of our operating budget. In addition to the funding they contribute, their many hours of volunteer work make it possible for us to hold programs for adults, and major events such as our annual Endowment party. Their work is augmented by the forty men and women who volunteered over two thousand hours last year in all aspects of library operations. We could not succeed without these volunteers.
The Library's Endowment Fund is a long-term investment in our future. Interest and earnings from this fund helped initiate wireless Internet service last year and improved the furnishings of the Homework Center. Endowment funds also improved our local history collection and will provide access to the holdings of the Town's Archives Center. As the fund grows, projects are planned that will enhance Reference and Children's services as well.
Library Trustee, Jennifer Clifford, did not seek another term. Matthew Twomey joined the Board and brings his enthusiasm for library services and his fundraising expertise to the table. Library Trustees are charged with the guardianship of one of our most important public institutions. Public libraries provide free and open access to information and resources for all. We are fortunate to have the support of so many Friends, staff, volunteers, and fellow citizens in our efforts.

Kevin J. Drum, Chair
Leo F. Roche, Jr., Vice-Chair
Jon French
Denise Doherty Pappas
Matthew Twomey

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Library Director

Winchester citizens value their public library services and they said so very clearly this year, with their vocal support for the restoration of lost hours and with their extraordinary level of usage. In FY 2004 the Library was open seven days a week for 65 hours. In FY 2006 that had dropped to 53 hours/week over six days. This was a difficult year for Library staff who faced an ever-growing level of business per hour/open with a reduced workforce and the second reduction in Library hours. In addition, the state funded inter-library delivery system collapsed in July, unable to sustain the enormous growth in lending among Minuteman libraries. In Winchester alone, that business has risen 493% in five years. Winchester patrons had the dual frustration of reduced Library hours open and the inability of the network to provide materials. Once again, our excellent Library staff demonstrated their determination to provide the highest quality library services possible, with grace and good humor, despite the budget driven loss of hours and staffing.
Fundraising efforts and grant support supplied a wide variety of programs and services. The Friends of the Library do an outstanding job each year, providing the funds for all of our children's programs and supplies, staff development workshops, museum passes, magazine subscriptions, books on CD, and the very popular Friends' Express book collection of best sellers. EnKa and Rotary Grants donated additional museum passes. Grants from the John and Mary Murphy Foundation funded the Year of the Play and the Year of the Short Story, with programs and workshops for all ages. Another Murphy Foundation grant gave us materials for new parents who were invited to bring their infants to the Library. The Friends of the Library and the Murphy Foundation contributed to the very popular Winchester Reads town-wide reading event this year. The Winchester Co-Operative Bank again underwrote our enormously successful Rush Out and Read program that sends teenagers into the community to read to young children.
The support of Trustees, staff, Friends, volunteers, and Library patrons never ceases to amaze me and can turn even the most difficult fiscal times into productive and in their own way, satisfying years for all of us. Worthy of special mention this year, was the retirement of Virginia (Ginny) White who was a friendly, smiling fixture at the Circulation Desk for nearly thirty years. Two of our forty outstanding volunteers deserve special mention as well. Elvira Del Greco and Barbara Leaf have worked together every Tuesday morning for many years, mending and restoring thousands of books. They have saved more than a hundred thousand dollars worth of books and kept our out-of-print volumes in circulation.

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Children's Services: Yvonne Coleman, Department Head

"Community" and "services" were the watchwords of the Children's Department in 2005. In an effort to network with the schools, the librarians spoke at the teachers' in-service meeting in September and have seen an increase in the use of Teacher Packs, and in the use of "Assignment Alerts" on the teacher website. The Summer Reading program, "Go Zooey for Books" attracted a record-breaking 625 participants and helped the Stone Zoo celebrate its 100th birthday. The John and Mary Murphy Education Foundation funded "Every child Ready to Read @ the Library," a grant targeting programs and materials for early literacy. Thanks to the generous support of the Friends of the Library, special programs brought in record audiences for puppet shows, music, crafts, thematic "mini-series" for older children, and science programs.

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Circulation Department: Karen Brown, Department Head

Despite having fewer staff - and fewer hours - to conduct library business than we did five years, ago, our circulation has risen by 49% and visits to the Library by 23% since 2000. In 2005, the staff circulated 509,851 items. Circulation of audiovisual materials continued to climb, and customers using the Library 24/7 via the Web to request materials put additional pressure on the staff during the Library's open hours. Network transfers (materials coming in to fill requests) have grown almost 500% since 2000. With fewer staff, the Library was busier in 2005 during each hour we were open than ever before.

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Information and Community Services: Julie Kinchla, Department Head

2005 was a year of progress for the Reference Department. With lowered staffing levels, we changed staffing patterns while reshaping and reintroducing services. These services included readers' advisory, computer instruction and library tours for middle school students. Thanks to our Young Adult librarian, we have also been increasingly successful in securing advance assignment information. A print vending station was installed, providing convenience for patrons and relieving reference staff to assist patrons in the use of the Internet and to handle more complex reference questions. Thanks to the generosity of the Friends of the Library, we now have the Historical Boston Globe and the MagillOnLiterature Plus databases for patron use.

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Technical Services: Geraldine Pothier, Department Head

This department added 14,258 items and withdrew 12,710 items in 2005. One of our goals is to expedite the receipt of new materials by establishing contacts with vendors and by setting up new ordering systems. Another goal is to make it easier for both patrons and staff to locate materials through the re-classification and re-labelling of various parts of the collection.

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Volunteers: Barbara Yuan, Assistant Director

Volunteers gave 2,305 hours to the library by working in all departments of the library (and outside library walls) as they shelved, mended, and processed materials, delivered to homebound patrons, and read to residents of nursing homes. Our two bookmenders repaired and put back into circulation 1,201 items. Volunteers have read to residents at the Gables for many years and have now brought this popular program to the Winchester Nursing Center. The library could not do without its volunteers whose gift of time and effort free the staff for many other tasks.

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Library Staff: Barbara Yuan, Assistant Director; Yvonne Coleman, Julie Kinchla, Karen Brown, Geraldine Pothier, Department Heads; Stephanie Wolflink, Elaine LeGendre, Mary Wiellette, Marie Ariel, Janet Nelson, Lisa Hill, Paula Cerrato, librarians; Marilyn Goldthwait, Naomi Ferguson, Linda Bohan, administration; David Strugnell, Sarah Thompson, Elena Khalandovsky, Charles Gillis, clerical; Judith Andriesse, Rosanne Barrow, Joanne Brady, Corinne Castrini, Jeri Cerutti, Mary Giglio, Judith Holland, Mary Beth McAteer-Margolis; Mary Sherburne, Virginia White, library aides; Kathleen Clark, Sarah Huntington, Lione Kazlauskas, Lev Khalandovsky, Loan Marotta-Pham, Elaine Murphy, Laura Reboul, Ida Rozhitskaya, Myroslava Shyprykevy, senior pages; Francis Beckett, John Coyne, Stephen DeMaio, Charles Mullen, custodians.

Respectfully submitted,
Lynda Wills, Director

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