5.8 LIBSR 05-28-2019Library Services Coordinator Report -Board Meeting -5/28/19
In children's programming, our new series "Schooled in Art" continues to be full with between 12-15
participants at each session. We plan to continue the program into the summer, adding a "Schooled in
History" component. Story times continue to have great attendance and drive circulation on Monday
and Wednesday mornings to our highest numbers during the week (see attached handouts referenced
below). Our Lego/S.T.E.M. clubs have been close to full each session, and kids and staff are enjoying
the extra added components of S.T.E.M. and coding toys such as Code -a -Pillar, and Coding Mouse
Mazes.
In adult program news, we have been offering a Dementia Speakers series, in cooperation with our
Becker and Big Lake branches in March/April/May. Becker and Big Lake had limited attendance (under 5
at each session, but our session on April 15 had 13 attendees, with one more session on May 20. We are
also proud to be offering a fraud prevention presentation on May 16, with the crime prevention
specialist from the Elk River Police Department. Our educational presentation with educator Arn Kind,
in honor of the 75th anniversary of Normandy Invasion, on May 9 drew a crowd of 26, with excellent
feedback.
In outreach news, I attended a Rotary luncheon on March 7, and as a result of that presentation, the Elk
River Rotary agreed to do a matching donation of $750 to our April Locally Growin' fundraising
campaign. With that donation and other donations from patrons, our Friends Group, AARP, and others,
we raised a total of $1900! The donation dollars will be spent primarily to purchase coding and STEM
games for the collection, as well as coding and STEM kits for Elk River's use at our children's programs.
Some of the dollars will also go to add some additional adult programs. I will be attending the Senior
Day Out program in Big Lake on May 16 with our LSC from the Becker/Big Lake branches. In other
outreach, we will be visiting most of the elementary schools in the district in the coming weeks to
promote our Summer Reading Program.
Summer Reading Program starts June 10. With the arrival of summer we have many fun programs for
children and teens including Jr. Master Gardeners, the "Big Fun Show with Dave Walbridge", a
Claymation/Stop Action Movie class, a skateboard art class with artist Mark Rivard, which was very well
received last summer, S.T.E.M. classes in conjunction with Sherburne County 4-H/U of M Extension, the
Dollipops show, and the Oz Brothers.
I attended the Sherburne County presentations with our Executive Director, Karen Pundsack in April,
and presented my annual library report to the City Council on May 6. Some of the handouts provided at
those two reports are attached here. The highlights of those reports were increases in summer reading
program participation in Elk River in 2018, and increases in both number of programs offered at Elk
River Library and in the numbers of attendees at those programs in 2018. These highlights would not
have happened without the great work of the Elk River staff, and the help of community partnerships
that we have able to build over the last year. Thank you to the Board for your support!