Minute by Minute: 2023 Impact Report, Princeton Public Library

Jennifer Podolsky in her office on the third floor of the Sands Library Building.

Welcome People Services

Awave hello, a question answered with a smile, a walk to join a search for something that couldn’t be found. It is the accumulation of these everyday gestures of kindness that give a library a reputation for exemplary customer service. And if there’s one thing that stands out in all the feedback I get about this library, it is that in dealing with the public our staff goes beyond professionalism and courtesy by adding a personal touch. As one customer wrote recently, “I get the sense that the people who work in the library genuinely care about me as a person.”

For this year’s Impact Report, we wanted to focus on the daily interactions at our service desks, to capture those moments, large and small, that leave people with the sense that they are not only being served, but appreciated. We decided to take a journalistic approach and station a writer and a photographer at three of our services desks for an hour on three different days and report what happens during that hour.

Since most interactions at our services desks are recorded using a specific-to-libraries application called Gimlet, we were able to identify some of our busiest times when scheduling our writer and photographer. Our hope was to capture the stories behind the data, to see how interactions at the desk translated into answers to questions that connected people with our services — and to do so organically. In the process, you’ll meet a few of our customers, some of whom were kind enough to take a few minute to share.

As you go through the pages, please note that the layout you see here will be repeated in the spreads: a timeline and statistics will be in this column, with people and services in the other two columns.

We’re open 4,320 minutes each week. Here are what 180 of those minutes looked like on one Wednesday evening, one Thursday morning and one Sunday afternoon in March, 2023.

Jennifer Podolsky Executive Director

IN THIS COLUMN you’ll meet the people who worked the service desks during the hours we selected. Staff volunteered to participate in this project and were selected based on who was working during the busiest hours as identified by data gathered from the service desk app Gimlet. While we have four service desks on three floors the focus is on one desk on each floor: the Checkout Desk on the first floor, the Information Desk on the second floor and the Youth Services Information Desk on the third floor.

THE ANSWERS

This column contains answers to questions posed to staff and services to which they were referred. One common observation by both staff and customers is that the library offers so many services that often the public can only be aware of a fraction of those. Our hope here is that readers will learn about new services and more about the services they’re already using.

YOU’LL ALSO MEET the people who were served by our staff and hear from some about how they feel about us. All but one person who interacted at the service desks agreed to be photographed. Most shared some onthe-spot remarks and said it was OK to check back with them for additional comments after publication.

STATS

Statistics cited in this report related to questions answered at service desks came from Gimlet, a statisticstracking app used by the library.

Checkout Desk

March 8, 6:15 - 7:15 p.m.

Ken Richardson and Kyoungran Kim with Gayle Geiger on March 8.

Timeline People Services

6:15 p.m.

Ken Richardson is 15 minutes into his post-dinner shift when the book return cart wheels by his place at the Checkout Desk, the larger of the two services desks on the first floor. The cart contains materials returned to the book drops on Sylvia Beach Way. Book drops are emptied around 9 each morning, then again at 1 p.m. and 6 p.m. Book drops at Princeton Shopping Center and at the Witherspoon Hall municipal complex are emptied once a day. Returned materials are usually processed within 10 minutes of being received and are ready for the next borrower a few hours later.

6:20 p.m.

A customer approaches the desk asking about a missing flash drive she left on one of the public computers on the second floor. Ken checks the Lost and Found cabinet behind the desk; unable to find the flash drive, he directs the customer to the second floor Information Desk.

6:26 p.m.

Ken answers a phone call from a customer inquiring about a play, “The Wanderers” by Anna Ziegler, which the Roundabout Theatre Company is performing off-Broadway. The play is not in the library’s collection and Ken offers a possible reason: the book was just released. Ken reviews with the customer how she can suggest a purchase, which could lead to the play being added to the collection.

(Editor’s note: About two weeks later, the compilation “Anna Ziegler Plays Two,” which was released March 9 and includes “The Wanderers,” is added to the collection. At publication time, the book was checked out and there was one hold on the next available copy.)

6:33 p.m.

Kyoungran Kim, a trainee working the desk with Ken, has the first traditional checkout of the shift: Leo Grenker, whose mother, Grace, wants him to do the interaction. Leo hands Kyoungran his red card and mother and son leave with three books.

6:36 p.m.

Gayle Geiger is next to approach the Checkout Desk. Gayle doesn’t have her card with her, so Kyoungran looks up the number. A cardholder since 1998, Geiger stops to comment how she “loves everything about this library” and, in addition to regularly borrowing, frequently scans the shelves of the Friends & Foundation Bookstore. She says she was

KEN RICHARDSON’s first chapter was in music journalism. He is a 10-year veteran of the library and in addition to duties at the Checkout Desk, he does data entry and maintains an internal website for the Lending Services Dept.

LOST AND FOUND

The library collects items left behind by visitors and stores them at service desks until the items are retrieved. The main Lost and Found is at the Checkout Desk.

SUGGEST A PURCHASE

Princeton Public Library is one of a handful of libraries in New Jersey allowing customers, via a form on the website, to suggest that books be added to the library collection. The Selectors Committee reviews each request via a set of criteria and decides whether to proceed with the purchase. In cases where an item does not meet that criteria, customers are referred to the Interlibrary Loan program. Customers can suggest an e-book purchase through the Libby platform.

FRIENDS AND FOUNDATION BOOKSTORE

KYOUNGRAN KIM, pictured here with Leo Grenker, studied psychology and special education in her native South Korea and earned a doctorate in special education from Vanderbilt University. She came to the library in 2022 after volunteering in school libraries. Her training period ended while this Impact Report was being produced.

This volunteer-run bookstore is open during regular library hours, offering gently used books, CDs and DVDs for sale at bargain prices. Books and audiovisual materials on the shelves of the bookstore are carefully curated by volunteers from among the thousands donated each month to the library. New materials are added daily; some materials are saved for a three-day annual sale, which this year will be Oct. 13-16. Books that do not make the cut for the bookstore or the annual sale are donated to charity. Book sales managed by the Friend and Foundation raise thousands of dollars each month, money that supports collection development and programming.

Inside the Friends and Foundation Bookstore on March 8.

Timeline People Services

delighted to find a copy of Mark Twain’s “The Purloining of Prince Oleomargarine,” a posthumous book for young readers published in 2017, for the bargain price of $1.

6:45 p.m.

While Kyoungran is answering a question about printing fees and remote printing, Ken is renewing a card for Mario Yepes-Baraya, a resident of Lawrence Township who pays an annual fee of $75 for a senior non-resident card. Ken waives a fee during this transaction and when Mario’s wife, Jean Yepes, joins him at the desk, Ken remembers that Jean is an English Conversation Group volunteer and they chat about the program.

6:52 p.m.

Princeton High School 12th-grader Benjamin Nuland asks Ken to confirm a room rental for Saturday between 11:30 a.m. and 1 p.m. Ken confirms the rental, which is a meeting of the municipal Human Services Commission with high school students to hear their concerns, and covers the food and drink requirements for the room. Benjamin asks to speak with Kim Dorman, the library’s community engagement coordinator, who happens to be covering an author talk in the Community Room.

6:58 p.m.

Laura Gaetjens is ready to check out when her husband, Dr. John Cotton, is recognized by another library cardholder, whose child was a patient of Dr. Cotton. During the conversation, Dr. Cotton remembers he has an item on the Hold Pickup Shelf, a compact disc recording of a Tchaikovsky symphony.

7:11 p.m.

Hana Kahn comes to the desk to check out her Interlibrary Loan “Le Côté de Guermantes,” a volume of Proust’s “In Search of Lost Time” in French, which was borrowed from the Burke Library at Hamilton College. The exquisitely bound book, the third of seven volumes of what was previously known in English as “Remembrance of Things Past,” is a second edition dating from 1920.

7:15 p.m.

As the reporter and photojournalist leave the desk, a customer on her way upstairs stops to ask when the library building will close. With a smile, Ken replies, “We’re here till 9.”

MARIO YEPES-BARAYA is a resident of Lawrence. Though he is a regular visitor to the Headquarters Branch of the Mercer County Library in Lawrence, he is one of 965 people who pay a fee for a Princeton Public Library card. (Mario pays a $75 per year senior rate; his wife, Jean, gets a free card because of her work as an English Conversation class volunteer.) “The people here are nice and very helpful,” Mario said, gesturing toward the Checkout Desk. “Mercer County’s collection is good; this collection is great. The cultural programming is a plus.”

NON-RESIDENT CARDS

Free library cards are available to residents of the Municipality of Princeton and to a wide variety of individuals, including property and business owners; and students and faculty of public schools and all institutions of higher learning located in Princeton; first responders; and municipal employees. People who don’t fit into these groups are invited to purchase a card for a fee, which is discounted for senior citizens, employees of local businesses and students attending private schools in Princeton.

ENGLISH CONVERSATION GROUPS

As a town with a large community of native speakers of world languages, the library has long offered classes for those learning English. The library is one of several partner institutions working with English language learners. Since 2016, the library’s focus has been on conversation groups, which allow speakers of multiple world languages to build skills through guided dialogue. The groups, which are designed for those with intermediate and advanced English skills, meet four times a week, both in person and virtually.

BENJAMIN NULAND is a 12th-grader at Princeton High School, where he plays on the soccer team, performs in theater productions and is active in social justice initiatives. He was honored by library partner Not in Our Town Princeton with a Unity Award for his antiracism work at PHS.

ROOM RENTALS

In addition to nine free study rooms, which cardholders can use for up to two hours a day, the library has four rooms

Artist at work on the first floor on March 8.

Statistics People Services

to rent at rates ranging from $20-$50 per hour for nonprofits; the private rate is $50-$150 per hour depending on capacity. The rooms have capacities of between 10 and 150 people and come equipped with audiovisual equipment. (Some equipment requires an additional fee.) Food is permitted in rental rooms.

HOLD PICKUP

March 8, 2023 An hour and a day Questions answered

67 883

DR. JOHN COTTON is a retired Princeton pediatrician who practiced at The Pediatric Group for 36 years. He is the former chair of the Pediatrics Department at University Medical Center at Princeton and has served on numerous state and local organizations to promote the health and well-being of children. He said he never tires of being recognized by former patients and their parents in the library.

Cardholders have the convenience of placing a hold on items in the online catalog, whether they are currently being borrowed or are on the shelf. Hold pickup avoids a situation where someone sees an item is available and after traveling to the library discovers it has been borrowed by another customer. Those placing a hold receive an email notification when the item is placed on the hold-pickup sheves and have four days to pick up the item. About 20% of library materials checked out are items colleced from the hold-pickup shelves on the first floor.

INTERLIBRARY LOAN

HANA KAHN has been a library cardholder for 40 years. She is an assistant professor at Temple University in the Spanish and Portuguese Department. She is a regular borrower of materials from other libraries through the Interlibrary Loan Program. “This library is perfect in every way,” she said. “The service is always efficient and the people are always friendly. (The library) becomes a part of your life.”

When the library doesn’t have the item a customer is looking for in its collection, the customer can request that the library borrow it from a partner library in the national collection-sharing program known as Interlibrary Loan (ILL), which includes public, university and specialty libraries throughout the nation. Customers are charged a $3 processing fee for ILL borrowing — the fee could be higher depending on policies at a partner institution — and may have up to five active requests. (Customers are notified of ILL fees and can cancel the transaction prior to the item being ordered.) Average turnaround time is two to three weeks.

*At the Checkout Desk on the first floor as recorded in Gimlet, a statistics-tracking app used by the library. Many questions on the first floor are answered at the Welcome Desk, which is adjacent to the Checkout Desk.

Information Desk

March 9, 11 a.m. - Noon

Beth and Casey Lew-Williams with Dana Treichler at the Information Desk on March 9.

Timeline People Services

11 a.m.

The third hour of Dana Treichler’s shift on the second floor Information Desk begins with a phone call from Heather, whom Dana described as a “regular,” asking for the phone number of Le Pain Quotideien in New York’s Central Park. (Heather, who does not have access to the internet, calls back at 11:05 a.m. because her pen malfunctioned while Dana was giving her the number.)

11:04 a.m.

A customer returns a Museum Pass for the Museum of Modern Art.

Unlike most other Museum Passes, the pass for MoMA must be picked up at the library by 3 p.m. the day before the visit and returned to the library by 11a.m. the day after use. (Editor’s note: Coincidentally, the second MoMa pass was checked out at the exact time the first was returned.)

11:07 a.m.

Sari Ruskin is looking for a study room and greets Dana with a smile and a hug before securing a room for two hours. Dana calls Sari “one of our regulars” and says building relationships with regular visitors is one of the things she likes about working at the library.

11:18 a.m.

After spending a few minutes logging previous desk interactions in Gimlet and checking her email, Dana is approached by another second floor regular, Abby Bogner, who asks Dana to adjust the flame on the fireplace in the reading area.

11:27 a.m.

Another study room inquiry, this one from cardholder Binita Adhikari, who has a reservation and asks about the protocol for room turnover. Dana says she should knock on the door to notify the previous user that she is here a minute before her reserved time.

11:29 a.m.

Holding a new library card she just obtained at the Checkout Desk, Adi Caspi stops at the Information Desk to ask about the process for reserving study rooms; specifically, she wants to know if they are suitable for videoconferencing. (Editor’s note: They are.)

DANA TREICHLER began working part time at the library in 2016. She became a full-timer after earning her master’s degree in library science in 2021. In addition to providing reference assistance and readers advisory at the public desks, she organizes technology classes, is content producer for the monthly Tech newsletter and participates in outreach to the senior community.

PHONE CALLS

Librarians answer many questions by phone, ranging from what Dana referred to as “White Pages” calls from people who are not online to specialized questions related to research and inquiries about municipal services. The Information Desk also fields calls from people hoping to reach the Princeton Public Library in Indiana or West Virginia.

MUSEUM PASSES

The Museum of Modern Art is one of seven destinations in New York that can be visited for free through the Museum Pass program. Free passes are also available to four museums in New Jersey and four in Philadelphia. Most passes can be printed at home.

STUDY ROOMS

SARI RUSKIN is a lecturer at Rutgers University. A Princeton resident, she is a frequent library visitor and uses the Study Rooms for tutoring. “I love this library for everything it is,” she said. “I adore the people here. They are so friendly and helpful; and I mean everyone, every time. It is a community treasure — it’s that simple.”

ABBY BOGNER is a resident of South Brunswick who retired eight years ago and has purchased a non-resident senior card every year since. “I come here every day to read the paper,”

The second floor has nine study rooms that can be used for between 30 minutes and two hours once a day. Five of the rooms are equipped with software and HD monitors to enhance collaboration. Cardholders can reserve a room up to 48 hours in advance and have 10 minutes to arrive after the reserved time. Those without cards can stop at the desk to check for availability. Though called “Study Rooms,” the nine spaces are used for a variety of purposes, including tutoring, interviews and Zoom meetings.

FIREPLACES

When the Sands Library Building was built in 2004, the design included gas-powered fireplaces on the first and second floors. Architect Nick Garrison said their inclusion was an homage to the 1,687 public libraries built between 1886 and 1919 with funding from

Reading The Times of Trenton in the Judy and Bill Scheide Living Room on the second floor on March 9.

Timeline People Services

11:33 a.m.

Rae Padulo, a cardholder for 22 years and resident of the Tree Streets neighborhood, makes it three study room questions in a row for Dana. (Editor’s Note: During the course of an hour, Dana answered seven questions about study rooms.) Rae said she uses the study rooms occassionally for work related to her freelance writing business, but visits the library all the time. “This is the best library ever,” Rae said.

11:36 a.m.

A customer walks up to the desk and picks up a guest pass to use a public computer. Guest passes are some of the most frequent transactions at the Information Desk; this one required no interaction with Dana since the customer is a regular visitor who knows the protocol for using public computers.

11:38 a.m.

When Kwangran Qian is having difficulty finding a chemistry book in the collection, Dana looks for the book in the online catalog, walks with him to the Science and Nature Neighborhood and helps him find the book.

11:44 a.m.

Inspired by something they read earlier that week in the Library Connections newsletter, Beth and Casey Lew-Williams come to the desk looking to learn more about the history of their Princeton neighborhood, Jugtown. Dana reviews the holdings in the Princeton Room and shows them how to search the Papers of Princeton database.

11:52 a.m.

Dana leaves the desk to help Lauren Valvanis retrieve a document she sent remotely to the printer in the Business Center.

she said. “I’ve made a lot of friends here over the years. The library is definitely a part of my daily life. I love it here.”

industrialist Andrew Carnegie. Most of these libraries had fireplaces.

NEW LIBRARY CARDS

Along with their card, new customers get the first of a series of emails outlining library services. The emails cover borrowing, the collection, digital resources, events and study rooms.

PUBLIC USE COMPUTERS

BINITA ADHIKARI is executive director of Health Foundation Nepal and a doctoral candidate in nursing at Johns Hopkins University. “I love this library and am grateful for it,” she said. “I work from home and it’s great to get out of the house and have another place to work and meet with people.”

The second and third floors have Windows and Macintosh desktop computers for public use. Cardholders can log in with their cards to initiate hourlong sessions, which can be renewed up to five times a day. Visitors can use guest passes, which can be renewed once before a new pass is required. Public computers are equipped with Microsoft Office 2019 and have the ability to print. The Tech Center contains a Pro Row of iMacs featuring software for editing film, audio and images. Cardholders can also borrow MacBook Air laptops for use in the library and Chromebooks and other gear for home use.

COLLECTION NEIGHBORHOODS

The second floor contains most of the adult nonfiction collection, which is organized into “neighborhoods” of books organized by subjects. Within each neighborhood, books are arranged according to the Dewey Decimal system.

NEWSLETTERS

ADI CASPI is a visiting student in the Department of Politics at Princeton University from Hebrew University of Jerusalem. She lives in the neighborhood and had used the library many times before getting a card to borrow materials

The library’s Office of Marketing and Communications produces the weekly Library Connections email, which is mailed to 30,000 cardholders a week. OMC produces the monthly Books & Authors; Kids, Teens and Families; and Tech newsletters.

Shift change: Kristin Friberg takes over for Dana on the Information Desk.

Website-building class taught by staff member Stephen Millett in the Technology Center on March 9.

Statistics

People Services

and reserve study rooms. Asked why she chooses the public library over any of the 10 libraries on campus, she has a oneword answer: “convenience.”

PRINCETON ROOM

KWANGRAN QIAN is a former Montgomery Township resident living in Pennsylvania whose wife works at Princeton University. “I love this library and use it often while my wife is working. I spend most of my time here reading books and magazines in the Newsroom.”

BETH AND CASEY LEW-WILLIAMS

moved to the Jugtown neighborhood of Princeton in 2014 and one of their first stops was to Princeton Public Library. An associate professor at Princeton University, Beth is a historian of race and migration in the U.S., specializing in Asian American history. Casey is a professor and director of graduate studies in the psychology department at Princeton. Casey said he uses the library once a week as a place to work away from home and campus. The couple’s two children are frequent library visitors.

LAUREN VALVANIS is a Princeton resident who makes annual gifts to the library to supplement taxpayer support. She also serves on the Refugee Resettlement Coordinating Committee of Nassau Presbyterian Church. “This library is so great,” she says.

Designed for the casual researcher, the local history collection includes books and information about the history of Princeton, its people and its institutions. The room contains maps, census information, local newspapers on microfilm, city directories and an assortment of small publications and other resources, including genealogy reference material, a collection of Princeton High School yearbooks and artwork related to the town, including a tile by Katherine Hackl depicting an 1870 march in Jugtown by the AfricanAmerican community in support of passage of the 15th Amendment.

PAPERS OF PRINCETON

This digital archive contains searchable town and Princeton University publications dating from an Aug. 29, 1834, issue of The Princeton Whig to the Dec. 18, 2015 issue of The Daily Princetonian. A collaboration of the library and Princeton University, this invaluable resource for researchers is continually updated as publications are scanned and made available.

BUSINESS CENTER

The Business Center houses a printing station, document and book scanners, photocopier, microfilm machine and typewriter. Customers can print in color or black and white from library computers on the second floor or wirelessly from a personal laptop or device. Print jobs can be released at the central print release station and must be picked up within 24 hours. Documents can be scanned at two dedicated stations and saved or faxed; scanning and faxing services are free. Scan stations have translation capabilities.

Information Desk

March 12, 1:15-2:15 p.m.

THIRD FLOOR

Martha Liu sharing reading recommendations with Emma on the third floor on March 12.

Timeline People Services

1:15 p.m.

Martha Liu greets everyone who walks (or rolls) through the door with a smile. Even as a steady stream of people — on foot, on scooters and pushing strollers — fills the floor, she says it’s an unusually quiet Sunday so far. This could be because the previous day was so busy: it was Pi Day and NJ Makers Day, which meant multiple programs on the first and third floors. “I think everyone is recovering,” Martha said.

1:17 p.m.

Dina Bishay comes to the desk with a simple request: the red crayon is missing from the art box she borrowed. Martha reaches into a nearby drawer and retrieves a crayon.

1:21 p.m.

With a lull at the service desk, Martha heads for the north end of the floor overlooking Wiggins Street to select picture books for an upcoming outreach visit to the Marcy T. Crimmins Learning Center at Princeton Community Village, one of six Pre-K programs run by Princeton Public Schools. The theme of the story time will be “movement,” so the selections are based on music and dance. She pauses to point out the picture book “Wild Symphony” by bestselling author Dan Brown, and adds it to the list.

1:27 p.m.

While his children browse the collection, Jamoday Awothar approaches the desk to ask Martha about a library card. He is new in town, having moved here from Paris earlier in the week. Based on the address he shares, Martha suspects he lives in neighboring Montgomery Township. She explains the protocols for purchasing a non-resident card, emphasizes that his family is welcome to use library resources and attend programs and gives him information about the new branch of the Somerset County Public Library System that opened last year in Montgomery.

MARTHA PERRY LIU has been working in the Youth Services Department since 2005. She lives in Hopewell Township with her husband, Ben, and two children, Silas and Evie. In addition to working the desk, she organizes programs, including story times. She writes the popular monthly “Top 5 for Under 5” post on the library blog.

DINA BISHAY is a doctoral candidate at Princeton Theological Seminary focusing on how politics and culture have influenced both secular and Christian education in her native Egypt. Dina and her husband, Amir, have two daughters, Layla and Nelly. “My daughters love the library!,” Dina says with enthusiasm. “They always ask me to take them here, because there is a lot for them to do there, either read books from the amazing collections you have, do arts or play with the nice Montessori-

PI DAY

Princeton is believed to be the only town that celebrates Einstein’s birthday with a multiday series of events for all ages. The library was one of the main venues for the first Pi Day in 2009 and has hosted events ranging from science programs for kids to lectures with internationally renowned physicists.

ARTBOXES

Located under the Information Desk on the third floor, these boxes for toddlers and older kids contain materials for agespecific projects. These boxes contain a pencil pouch, crayons, coloring sheets and blank paper along with special items such a rubbing plates and lacing cards. The boxes are frequently borrowed on weekend days, and the contents are refreshed by staff on a regular basis.

March 12: Pop-up art table for making Earth Day art to be displayed in April.

Timeline People Services

1:33 p.m.

Minutes after Mr. Awothar leaves the desk to reunite with his family, Martha fields another library card question, this one from Zhiou An, who lives in a neighboring town. Martha encourages her to bring her children to story times, which do not require a library card.

1:35 p.m.

Martha notices Alyssa Donaire looking over her shoulder from the art table and leaves the desk to explain that the library is looking for young people to create art for a display that will appear in April marking Earth Day.

2:01 p.m.

Alyssa returns to the desk with her finished artwork, a mixed media tree with colorful leaves, birds and a word collage related to nature. (Editor’s Note: Alyssa’s artwork was included in the Earth Day display on the main bulletin board of the third floor.)

2:04 p.m.

Just as Martha is bemoaning the fact that her hour with the reporter and photographer didn’t include any readers advisory, Shefali Shah and her daughter, Emma, walk up to the desk. Shefali and Emma know Martha, who first met them when Emma was a 2-year-old attending story time. Emma and Martha head for the stacks to find new books for Emma’s upcoming Spring Break.

2:15 p.m.

Dina Bishay returns her art box, including the red crayon, to the desk as more people enter the third floor.

type toys you have here. They could spend hours and don’t want to leave. I’m really grateful to the staff for making it such a great and safe place for them.”

OUTREACH

The Marcy T. Crimmins Learning Center is one of several local preschool programs the library visits on a regular basis, providing story times and other educational support to students and staff. Youth Services staff also visit the Atkinson Child Development Center at Homefront and Princeton Nursery School. Staff hosts preschool visits, including a March visit by the Burke Foundation Early Childhood Center at YWCA Princeton. In addition, the department offers Library in a Box, a kit designed to freshen up a preschool classroom library.

OTHER LIBRARIES

JAMADAY AWOTHAR is corporate director of internal audit for Crown Holdings Inc., which designs and manufactures sustainable and innovative metal packaging technology solutions. He said while disappointed that his family did not qualify for free library cards, he was very grateful to Martha for inviting his family to use the library and for pointing him toward the new library in Montgomery.

ALYSSA DONAIRE lives in Princeton with her mother, Sara, and her father, Dr. Michael Donaire. She attends Littlebrook School. Sara says the family spends a lot

Library card inquiries by those living outside of Princeton are a regular interaction at all service desks. Part of the reason is that Princeton shares its ZIP code with a half dozen other towns, some outside of Mercer County. Another reason is that multiple developments in three counties contain the word “Princeton” in their names. Those new to these communities naturally assume Princeton Public Library is their library. If a customer is not eligible for free borrowing privileges here, staff review how they can purchase a card, then how they connect with their local public library.

STORY TIMES

One of the library’s foundational tools in building literacy skills, story times by library staff are offered five times a week in the Story Room and once a week in the courtyard at Princeton Shopping Center. In addition, story times in German, Japanese, Spanish and Urdu are presented monthly by guest readers.

Nelly Bishay colors a sheet from an art box on March 12.

Young reader on the third floor on March 12.

Statistics People Services

ART TABLE AND DISPLAYS

The art table is a pop-up feature on the third floor, where kids and teens are invited to create art that will be displayed on one of several bulletin boards on the third floor and in the Teen Center. Art submitted for display by young people is available for pickup.

READERS ADVISORY

March 12, 2023 An hour and a day

193,337†

†( Editor’s note: This number represents an 11% increase in borrowing of physical items from the collection by children and teens compared to 2021. While part of this increase is attributable to the steady return of borrowing toward pre-pandemic levels, another contributing factor is the elimination of extended-use fees for youth materials, a change enacted in 2022. )

of time in the library because “there’s always something to do here.” Sara said she was grateful that Martha took the time to explain what the art table was all about. Alyssa was very happy her work would be display.

SHEFALI SHAH AND EMMA visited the library within a week of moving to Princeton in 2015 and have been regulars ever since. “Emma grew up in this library,” Shefali said. “When we moved here, we didn’t know many people and some of the first members of the community we met were library staff. They were so welcoming and made such good recommendations about places to go and things to do. The library really is the heart of this town. When we started coming here, we met amazing people who we’re still friends with today. We love it here.”

Most library staff are voracious readers and never tire of making recommendations to children and parents. Staff maintain dozens of age- and topic-specific lists on BiblioCommons, the library’s online catalog. In addition, young readers and their parents can receive personalized recommendations based on their interests and preferences as expressed on a form filled out on the library website.

FEE ELIMINATION

In an effort to remove barriers to library use, in 2022 the Board of Trustees put an end to extended-use fees for youth materials. The Friends and Foundation provided two years of funding to offset revenue previously generated by fees.

People

You make us smile and we do the same for you. The relationship between the library and its customers has never been stronger. Staff are recognized outside the building and introduced to the family and friends of customers. “A customer saw me in the local Apple store and introduced me to her husband and said I went beyond my job and helped her in the library,” staff member Lakshmi Ramesh told our Board of Trustees recently. For regulars, we are a daily touchstone in their lives. For newcomers in a growing town, we are a welcoming presence. Your smiles tell the story of the library.

Services Contact

Many of the services we offer are funded by generous private gifts, both large and small. Princeton’s taxpayers are an indispensable part of our success; their support pays for a staff that is customer-focused, both at our service desks and behind the scenes. Tax support also goes a long way to ensuring that the Sands Library Building continues to be a safe and welcoming space for library services. This tax support represents about 75% of our operating budget. The other 25%, including many of the items in the Services column of this report, comes from private gifts from people like you. Please consider a gift to the Annual Appeal. Visit princetonlibrary.org/donate or scan the QR code. Thank you for your smiles — and for your support.

To learn more about how your gift can change lives minute by minute, please contact:

Dawn Frost, Development Associate 609-924-9529, ext. 1284

dfrost@princetonlibrary.org

Writing and Design: Tim Quinn / Photography: Catherine "Cie" Stroud

Data Consulting: Becky Bowers

With thanks to Erica Bess, Susan Conlon, Dawn Frost, Amy Hiestand, Kyoungran Kim, Martha Liu, Karen Rackley, Ken Richardson, Dana Treichler and Sonja Vloeberghs