Volume 2, Issue 1
Library Quarterly The
EAST BONNER COUNTY LIBRARY DISTRICT
Dec 2014 to Mar 2014
Your library is growing to serve you better by Susan Bates-Harbuck, Quarterly Newsletter Co-Editor
The adjacent property on Cedar St. and site of the future library expansion. Sandpoint library’s evolution and from a house of books to a platform popularity finds its present building for learning and participation in this even truer for libraries than for often jammed to capacity. The parkever-changing digital age,” said baseball diamonds in cornfields. ing lot is frequently full to overAnn Nichols, Library Director. For more than three decades the flowing. A recent survey of more Sandpoint library served its public than 800 library visitors and comwith an 11,805 square foot former “The addition of the property and munity members revealed that rePost Office building on Second its two buildings will allow the spondents enthusiastically supported Avenue. However, by the 1990’s library to increase parking and the library and said that the changes it became obvious to library padedicate a space to the Make-It they would most like to see are trons and staff that more room was program, which can be a bit noisier more computers, more parking, needed. Population growth, and messier than the current buildincreased library use and ex“Libraries are meant to reflect the ing was designed for. It will free panded range of services had the community’s interests. “Now with up our meeting rooms for more library’s old Post Office walls use,” Library Director, Ann this new property, the opportuni- public bulging. As a result, Bonner Nichols added. The new property County voters approved a bond ties and possibilities are only lim- can provide more storage space for to build a new library, which ited by the imagination and vision library supplies and materials; opened in April of 2000. possibly add new after-hours meet-
“If you build it, they will come” is
Fourteen years later, East Bonner County Library’s 30,500 squarefoot building on Division and Cedar in Sandpoint maintains the traditional library role as the source for reading, listening and viewing materials, as well as the hub for dependable research, answers to nearly every question, storytimes for children and a safe public gathering place. Library services nationwide have evolved to include tutoring, educational and entertaining public programs, faxing, copying, extensive literacy programs, computer and internet access, notary service, public meeting rooms and now the MakeIt program for teens and preteens, designed to get them excited about science, technology, engineering, art and math and incidentally building their skills for the present and future job market.
of the community and the library.”
ing rooms or create some quiet study rooms, increase the number of public computers, perhaps start a community garden to comple~Shannon May, Library Trustee ment the Seed Library and grow food for the Food Bank. We might even start checking out garden quiet spaces to study, and more tools. programs for children and youth. Fortunately for the community, a timely opportunity presented itself to the library when the adjacent property to the west of the Sandpoint branch became available recently. As a result, the library has purchased the neighboring Cedar St. property. Money set aside for the library expansion by district trustees in 1999 from the sale of the old Second Ave. library has been used for the acquisition. “The excellent money management of trustees over the years has allowed us to add to our library campus, which will enable us to continue to expand
“Libraries are meant to reflect the community’s interests,” said Shannon May, Library Trustee. “Now with this new property, the opportunities and possibilities are only limited by the imagination and vision of the community and the library,” he said. For more information contact Ann Nichols Library Director 208-263-6930 ext 1208 ann@ebonnerlibrary.org
Here’s What You Had To Say: Library Survey Results by Ann Nichols, EBCLD Director
This summer the Library District conducted a public survey to see how library services measure up to what people want and need from their library. Staff and volunteers went to local grocery stores to pass out the surveys during National Library Week. That week turned out to be very rainy and cool, so the times spent at these locations were shorter than anticipated and more surveys were conducted at library locations than in the general community. Because of that, the results are undoubtedly skewed to library users. Never the less, the information collected was interesting. Of the more than 800 questionnaires returned, people tend to visit the library at least weekly (560 people). Some come once a month (183), and others like to stop by every day (87)! All three library branches experience the most usage from 12 noon until 5 p.m. and 485 responders like the hours just the way they are. Of those that would like to have the library open more hours, most (150 people) would like to have Sunday hours. The second most requested (99 people) would appreciate opening at 9:00 a.m. followed by (82 people) who would rather
have the facility stay open until 9:00 p.m. When asked what programs were found to be most enjoyable, the totals were fairly evenly spread out. The adult technology and entertainment programs got the most votes, but the survey itself was filled out by a majority of adults. Junior and Young Adult programs in education, entertainment and technology were evenly split by the responses to the survey. The most popular method listed for receiving information from the library was by email (366 people) followed by information posted on the Library webpage (261 people), posters/handouts at the Library (245 people), word of mouth (174 people), text or phone (149 people), the Bonner County Daily Bee (134 people), the Library Facebook page (89 people), local radio (79 people), Sandpoint Online (71 people) and other means (33 people). Not surprisingly, getting books was the number one reason people come to the Library. Checking out DVDs was the second most popular reason followed by getting CDs, magazines and playaways. Computer and/or WiFi use was also high on the list. Getting answers to reference questions or access to a photocopier were about equally important.
Programs for adults, teens and children and computer classes were all about equally dispersed, and the notary service, meeting room availability, faxing service and tutoring were listed as well. Of the services requested at the Library, people listed more service hours (105), more computers (100), quiet spaces (98), more downloadable materials (63), More published materials (59), more programs (57), more staff (44), more remote services (21), and more telephone lines (16) as the most important. Due in part to these responses, we have added extra staff, purchased several iPads that will be available for in-house use in the near future, provided downloadable streaming movies and music and changed to a more robust telephone service. We will be exploring how to provide more services to remote patrons and other ways to best serve you. Thank you for responding to our survey and for the overwhelming show of support for the library. Please let us know of any ways we can provide better service. There are suggestion boxes at all locations, and your input is welcomed. Thanks!
Ann Nichols Director
Save a tree and never miss an issue. You can sign up to receive every issue of the Library Quarterly via email. Call 208-263-6930 ext. 0 or email us at infodesk@ebonnerlibrary.org.
Patron Designs Library Coasters by Annette Anderson, Library Quarterly Co-Editor This spring, the library held a contest to design our 2014 coaster. Joan Krummert a regular Bookmobile patron submitted the winning drawing. Hundreds of coasters have already been distributed to local café’s, restaurants and bars.
feeling of life in Northern Idaho and we are honored to use it to promote the library. If you manage or work at a local business and would like a supply of coasters to use, you can contact the Sandpoint Branch Information Desk at 208-263-6930 to organize pickup.
Her design truly captures the Page 2
THE LIBRARY QUARTE RLY
Technology News
by Amanda Ruff, IT Support Services Coordinator There are some pretty exciting things happening in the technology department of the East Bonner County Library District. Here are just a few things we are doing to keep up with the newest technology trends in libraries. You are all probably familiar with the fantastic free services we have been providing for some time now - Overdrive for eBooks and eAudiobooks, and Freegal for free music downloads and streaming music. Well, we have recently added even more services for streaming and reading online. Flipster is a service for reading magazines online through your browser and via the app available for iPads. Hoopla provides streaming movies, tv shows, music, and audiobooks.
Be sure to stop by the information desk or visit our website for more information. These are awesome new services that we’re sure you’ll enjoy! On the hardware side of things we are working to locate iPads throughout the Sandpoint Branch so you can more easily look for books while you're in the aisles. You will also be able to use these iPads to place holds, check your account, view your loan history (if you have that feature enabled), and more. Because they can be used as library catalogs, the iPads should eliminate the wait to use one of the six existing catalog computers. One of these will be located in the children’s area and have the children’s catalog as the default display.
We have also purchased iPads that will eventually be available for patrons to check out for in-library use. There will be several iPad Airs that will be pre-loaded with apps so you can read digital magazines, use our streaming services, surf the internet, play games and much more! There are still a lot of details to work out before these iPads are available, but we are looking toward the future and for the best ways to serve our patrons. We would love to hear your ideas, too. If you have any suggestions about how we can improve the technology here in the library, feel free to email us at itstaff@ebonnerlibrary.org.
Visit ebonnerlibrary.org to access these free digital resources and follow us on Facebook to be the first to know about what’s happening at your library.
Get the Latest Magazines Without Having to Leave Your Home by Vanessa Velez, Non-Fiction and E-Book Acquisitions Do you like magazines? Do you like the idea of being able to read the newest issue of your favorite magazine, for free, from the comfort of your own home? If you answered yes to these questions check out Flipster, the library’s new digital magazine service. Through Flipster, the library now subscribes to over 60 popular magazines, including Consumer Reports, People, Newsweek, Country Living, Good Housekeeping, Time, Rolling Stone, Sports Illustrated, Runner’s V O L U M E 2, I S S U E 1
World, Mental Floss… the list goes on! All you need is your library card number and PIN for instant access to any of these titles, to read online or download to your favorite device to read later. So what are you waiting for? Find your favorite magazine and get reading! * Flipster can be found in the Magazines section of our website
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E A S T B O N N E R C OU N T Y L I B R A R Y DISTRICT
Sandpoint Branch 1407 Cedar St. Sandpoint, ID 83864 Phone: 208-263-6930 E-mail: infodesk@ebonnerlibrary.org Clark Fork Branch 601 Main St. Clark Fork, ID 83811 Phone: 208-266-1321
We’re on the web: www.ebonnerlibrary.org
East Bonner County Library District Mission Statement The mission of the Library District is to provide free and open access to information and ideas which are essential to a democracy. In support of this mission, the District encourages lifelong reading and learning, supports activities important to our diverse community and is dedicated to the basic First Amendment principles of intellectual freedom and access to information without censorship.
Special thanks to Selkirk Press for their help in preparing this issue for distribution.
Selkirk Press 1714 Industrial Dr. Sandpoint ID 83864 208.263.7523 weprint@selkirkpress.com
Borrow Library Materials From Libraries Across the US by Sue Elsa, ILL Coordinator and Janet Roubicek, ILL Assistant
Children’s Newsletter Sign Up Today!
Did you know—our library has an interlibrary loan department (ILL) that borrows materials for our patrons from hundreds of libraries across the United States. If a patron requests an item (book, CD, DVD, magazine article, etc.) that is not in our collection, our acquisitions librarians decide whether or not to purchase it. If it is not purchased or is not available for purchase, Interlibrary Loan takes over, using internet databases to search all across the country for the item. When a library or several libraries are found to have the item, a borrowing request is sent on behalf of our patron. This process usually takes 2 to 4 weeks, depending on the item and its availability. ILL is busy every weekday receiving items for our patrons, then returning them to the lending libraries, all through the US postal service. Because interlibrary loan operates as a reciprocal system, we also lend hundreds of items to other libraries across the nation each and every month. All this borrowing and lending is absolutely free to our patrons
and to the libraries we lend to. Here are a few guidelines to keep in mind when you are requesting something new or different: We accept up to 6 requests at a time from any patron, and residential patrons are allowed up to 24 interlibrary loan items per calendar year. That’s a lot of borrowing power. We encourage our patrons to give priority to the items we borrow for them through interlibrary loan. If a renewal is needed, we have to first contact the lending library to ask for an extended due date. In order to keep our borrowing privileges with other libraries, we strive to return their items on time, just as any library patron would. So—next time you’re looking for something and it’s not in the catalog, don’t hesitate to fill out a green request slip (or our online request form). We can probably find that item for you, one way or the other!
Sign up to receive a digital newsletter from the Sandpoint Library's Children's Department. This newsletter, featuring upcoming events, will be sent by email 2-3 times a month. You can sign up via the library’s Facebook page. Go to facebook.com/ebonnerlibrary and click on “Children’s Newsletter” in the menu bar then filling out the short form. You can also sign up to receive the newsletter by contacting Suzanne at (208) 263-6930 ext. 1211 or suzanne@ebonnerlibrary.org .