A blog can be a way to summarize recent events at the library and give readers of this web page a little more information about the Evangeline Parish Library System. I hope that you will enjoy reading entries posted here. My comments are strictly my weekend thoughts about the library and are not official policy statements of the library. (Policy is developed by the Library Board; library staff and I implement it.) Best wishes, Mary.
July 2, 2009
I regret I haven't updated this blog in so long. Summer Reading is going very well, and everybody is doing great. Special congratulations to Sherry, Becky, and Lisa at Basile: the Basile Branch checked out 312 items today, which is a record. I know that our whole system doesn't check out in a month what a big town branch might check out in a day, but I'm proud of what we do. The kids are having fun, we are drawing record crowds for our programs throughout the system, and we had the highest overall checkout total in June for the last 9 years,12,881 items.
Chataignier had a record day recently, too. Thank you, Pat and Yvonne. You are doing a great job.
Thank you everybody. I know there is a lot more to write and each of you deserve special individual thanks, but it's past closing time and I need to get home. You all are terrific. That goes double for the parents, grandparents, and kids: you are what Summer Reading is all about. Please keep reading and help us to have a great July.
Mary
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April 24, 2009
This blog began with a Library Fest (at that time called Future Fest) in April 2006. Now Library Fest and the blog are both 3 years old. Tomorrow we tackle Library Fest at the Northside Civic Center in Ville Platte.
I need to thank so many people that are making this event happen. Special thanks go to volunteers Paula, Firman, Janis, and others I will try to thank after the event. Special thanks go to Ruth and Suzy on staff. You both have been terrific today.
In other work items, very special thanks to Cindy. She is becoming more adept at cataloging every day and is making a big difference as we discover problems in catalog searches. Way to go, Cindy!
Emily and Tina D. have the new interlibrary loan system going great. Thank you both so much!!
Yvonne is making a big difference in Chataignier as she encourages adults to use the branch there. Thank you!
Angie is the big hero of the week for spotting a puddle on the floor of the main library and sounding the alert. Then she and Cindy helped me to find the leak's source--a backed up pipe to our central air unit at the main library. Both helped me move a lot of stuff to get to the problem and get items out of harm's drippy way. Thanks!
Tina D. had the roughest and most scary problem of the week: a big tire blowout between Basile and Eunice while she was doing branch deliveries Tuesday. She handled everything calmly and got herself and the library van back to Ville Platte safely. Great job!
I know I am missing people I should thank and hopefully will catch them next week. Truly this is a great team, both at the main library and the branches.
Now on to Library Fest.
Mary
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April 09, 2009
Almost Easter. I wish everybody a very happy Easter.
This blog will soon be three years old. It and the library have been through a lot of changes in the three years. Currently we're getting ready for Library Fest April 25 and for Summer Reading.
A lot is also still being done to work with the new library automation system. Special thanks go out this week to Cindy, who has been cleaning up cataloging records so that titles etc. show up correctly in the new system. It's a long tedious process getting all the records to work properly, but she's making great progress. If anybody spots a record that is not working properly, please let me or her know. Thanks!
Mary
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March 27, 2009
Bit by bit we are getting the new technology in place. Meanwhile, it's also time to turn in the annual report. Things are pretty hectic around here. I hope to write more next week and thank everybody properly.
Mary
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March 12, 2009
We are still struggling with various aspects of the new automation system, but things are getting better. Thank you to everybody (patrons and staff alike) for your understanding and support. Everybody on staff is working very hard to learn the new system and in some cases figure out how to make our equipment work well with it. Thank you!
Mary
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February 27, 2009
We are all deeply saddened by the death of Margaret Reed Fontenot, past president of the Friends of the Library and a wonderful friend to all of us.
Implementing a new library automation system is a frustrating task with so many different aspects. Throughout the system we are all pretty tired and stressed. One Achilles heel of our new system seems to be its inability to play well with our printers, and this is giving us fits. On the bright side, the system will have a lot of great new features. I just don't want one of them to be that patrons are handed a receipt so long that it looks like a small roll of toilet paper! Anyway, I hope everybody will continue to be patient as we gradually get the new system up and running. Thank you all.
Turkey Creek Branch looks great inside, thanks to beautiful new shelving donated by the police jury and the district attorney's office. Special thanks go to Mr. Winston LaFleur and his crew for moving and installing the shelving. They built bases for it, created outlet holes, and stained it all to match and look brand new. Special thanks to Angie and Tina K. also for shifting all the books from the old shelving to the new.
I would write more, but I'm too tired to think. Hope you all have a good weekend.
Mary
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February 19, 2009
Today was "go live" day with Polaris Hosted. We aren't open to the public yet, but we are all running around trying to handle a bunch of different things at once. Everybody is staying upbeat and working great together. I don't want to say how happy I am with the results so far, because that would jink things for sure (grin), but so far so good. Which doesn't mean it's going easy, but does mean that we're making a lot of progress.
Special thanks to Jacob and Jonathan at ISS, who have both worked very hard this week to help us set up equipment for the changeover and iron out problems. Special thanks to Glennys, our trainer from Polaris, who is very patient and flexible and doing a great job. Additional special thanks to Mary Ellen and Bob and Bill from Polaris, who are helping us from afar, and to all the staff of the library. Thank you all for being so great to work with.
Mary
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February 6, 2009
While there are still bills to pay and other work to do, a lot of my time the past week or so has been wrapped up with E-rate and with the planning for the transition to the new library automation system. Thank you to everybody for putting up with me during all this.
Special thanks to Suzy, Ruth, and Linda for keeping the kids' programs going. They came back from Chataignier branch and Basile branch this week with high praise for both the staff there and the Head Start kids participating in the programs. Pat and Yvonne had special treats for all the students at Chataignier and went out of their way to make sure all the kids and adults were recognized and participated. The Head Start class at Basile sung extra songs for our group and knew all the animals (zoo animal program) and were very lively and interested. Overall, it was a good week for kids' programming. Thank you all so much!
Thank you also to Cindy for helping me finish up the current step of E-rate work and for getting all the bills ready for the board president's review before we submit them to the police jury. Thank you also for showing Yvonne how to add copies of a title and jacket and process new books. Yvonne, thank you for being an excellent student!
Thanks to everybody for coming up with excellent questions and comments as we worked through the planned library data changes at the staff meeting Wed. morning. Thanks to Suzy for making great bookmarks to notify patrons of the upcoming closure for the system changeover and for her excellent work on KVPI's "Let's Talk About It" (taped Wed. and aired Thurs.). Thanks to Tina D. for making not one but two deliveries to the branches and for developing the additional information form we are going to use to update our patron records. Her second delivery ensured that every branch will have all the signage and forms needed a week before the system changeover.
Thank you to Angie and Ruth and Suzy for working with the microfilm department at LSU to assemble a year's worth of the Basile Weekly and get it to LSU for microfilming.
Thank you to Emily for helping me build the system changeover training schedule in the middle of all the rest of the work she has to do and for finding a document for the State Library for me. Emily was also the sharp-eyed and clear-headed proofreader/editor on a lot of the other work that was done this week.
Thank you to Pinky for coming up with a great new list of books to order, so long as our money holds out.
Thank you to Tina K. for getting the minutes of the last board meeting ready for the board's review.
Thank you to Mr. Winston for fixing the broken side of the Turkey Creek branch and working to repair damage to the Basile branch ceiling.
Thank you to Flo, Gigi, Sherry, Becky, Lisa, Pam, Pat, Yvonne, Tina K., and Angie for keeping the branch operations running smoothly. Thank you to everybody who works the front desk at main: Eurydice, Gigi, Yvonne, Cindy, Tina D., Tina K., Suzy, Ruth, Angie, Pinky, Emily. You all bring special strengths and a great attitude to this place.
One week to go before the automation changeover. You all are doing great. Now if I can just keep from getting too scared about the data changeover . . . .
Mary
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January 30, 2009
This week has seen a lot of work toward the implementation of the new circulation system and E-rate filings. What that means in human language is that we are continuously wrestling with technology and searching for the means to fund it.
Special thanks this week to Angie and volunteer Janis for their efforts to help somebody from out of state determine where an ancestor had been buried, and to Linda, Ruth, and Suzy for putting on a great new children's program that they will be using with Head Start classes and preschools all during the winter and spring. The program has a zoo animal theme and is a lot of fun. Additional special thanks to Cindy for much help this week with E-rate and to Tina D. for solving a couple of very annoying computer problems.
Overall, this has been a week full of what Eurydice calls "gremlins," equipment malfunctions and other issues. I am grateful that everybody (staff and patrons alike) are good-natured and understanding.
Thank you. I hope you have a great weekend.
Mary
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January 23, 2009
There's no way to cover the gap between June 2008 and January 2009 in a blog entry of reasonable (or even unreasonable) length. Still, that's not going to stop me! Here are a few quick points from the over 6 months' gap:
1) We got through Summer Reading, despite the disappointment of having no tee-shirts or bookbags. The vendor contracted came through for some Louisiana public library systems but not for most of them. We weren't one of the lucky systems. Thank you to all the parents, grandparents, and kids who participated anyway.
2) At the end of the summer Gigi Guillory, Eurydice Thomas, and Yvonne Lavergne joined the staff. Gigi is assistant branch manager for Mamou and Yvonne for Chataignier. Eurydice is working at main--for that matter, all 3 of them work at main some of the time. The library is lucky to have them on staff. Welcome, Gigi, Eurydice, and Yvonne! Special thanks to Mamou branch manager Flo, who was a big help with the interview process.
3) We had Hurricane Gustav go right through our parish and neighboring St. Landry Parish. The whole library system was closed for a week. Ville Platte had power down, no potable water, streetlights all out, etc. Thank goodness the local police and the National Guard all worked to keep everybody safe. The main library's roof was damaged a bit, and we lost some trees. Blue tarps on roofs became common sights, and local folks learned to eat MREs. I opened my office to discover a piece of the ceiling sitting in my chair. But compared to many places we were very, very lucky. Mamou, where our largest branch library is, suffered through two tornadoes. Sadly, there was loss of lives and considerable destruction. The Mamou library was not harmed.
4) Right after Gustav, when we were cleaning up parish-wide from it, came the threat of Hurricane Ike. This one missed us but did horrible damage elsewhere. In our case, the only damage was to our nerves, already pretty frayed from Gustav.
In both cases all the library staff throughout the system did great. Thank you.
5) Basile Branch had a 60th anniversary of the library party and presented a plaque to retiring Basile library board member Calvin Perrodin. Special thanks to Sherry, Becky, and Lisa at Basile for all their work with the event and also for their work when we hosted a Libraries Southwest meeting at the branch.
6) Pine Prairie Branch got a great Discover station for the kids, courtesy of the State Library. This Branch also now has an interagency agreement with the local correctional center. Thank you, branch manager Pam, for all your help with both projects.
7) We had our Library Book Fest November 1st at the Ville Platte Civic Center. Many thanks to everybody who attended or helped with it! Special thanks to Miss Margaret and Miss Paula and all the other Friends of the Library who did so much. Board President Miss Julia and I displayed a plaque honoring outgoing library board member Bill Guidry (later presented to Mr. Bill at the library).
For the first time the Book Fest had a silent auction of vintage books. Also, there were special surveys to get input on preferred styles for a new main library. Miss Margaret worked hard to draft designs incorporating some of the ideas, and we sought reactions and responses. It was a great learning experience for us all, and somewhat daunting to realize that it would be impossible to come up with a style that would be everybody's favorite. However, hopefully we can use the surveys to help come up with a design that will be enjoyed by many and look well at its future setting on Main Street across from Citizens' Bank.
8) The fall was busy with lots of work in preparation for the change to a new automated library system (special thanks to Tina K. and Tina D. for all their ongoing help with that). It was also busy with children's programs (music theme) at every branch (special thanks to Suzy, Ruth, and Linda), and with lots more (special thanks to everybody).
9) Patrola and Yvonne began special efforts this fall to attract more grownups to the Chataignier branch and increase book checkouts by all ages. They have better security lighting, a new ac unit and a heater to keep the building more comfortable, and a printer/fax/scanner that can better handle patron needs. Yvonne has worked with me on book buying plans for the branch. We have also been lucky to get some excellent donations of family VHS tapes for the branch, and Wesley is cataloging some of them whenever he can. The overall efforts have led to more usage of this library branch. Thank you, Patrola and Yvonne!
10) We were sorry about the death of long-time library supporter Judge Preston Aucoin. He is missed.
11) Now as a new year begins, we are all (especially me and Tina K.) rushing with the last minute preparations for the automation system changeover from Galaxy to Polaris Hosted. Suzy is getting things ready for a special Friends of the Library Mardi Gras party Feb. 10, followed immediately by our special Black History Month performer, one of the library's favorite storytellers, Oneal Isaac. Suzy, Ruth, and volunteer Linda are setting up the early childhood programs for the spring (this year with a zoo animal theme). Volunteer Janis is working her way through an evaluation of all the nonfiction books at the main library and serving as the library's liaison to the Evangeline Genealogical and Historical Society. Pinky is busy ordering the new fiction for the spring and summer. I am trying to keep the budget balanced and start the work with an architect for a plan for a future new main library; also Cindy and I are busy with E-rate and bill paying, and Tina D. and I keep busy with computer issues (when Tina D. isn't doing branch deliveries or helping Emily with ILL or Pinky with online ordering). Angie continues to do a lot of e-reference genealogy for us (thanks, Angie!). Emily and Tina D. keep Interlibrary Loan going great and recently took our newest staffers to the State Library's Staff Training Day in Port Allen. They all came back saying good things about the workshops.
I'm sure I missed people and left many things out. The main thing is we all "keep on keeping on" and look forward to the challenges and opportunities that 2009 will bring us as a library system and as individuals. As always, the biggest thanks go out to our patrons, who support and encourage us and are the reason this library system exists. Thank you!
Mary
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January 16, 2009
Finally the blog is back! Our webserver broke in June, and the State Library of Louisiana has been very kindly hosting our webpage until we could get another webserver. Hurricane Gustav and a few other issues slowed us down. Anyway, it's great to be back. I hope this new year will be a great year for the library and for all its patrons, staff, and friends. Thank you for your outstanding support of your Evangeline Parish Library.
Mary
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June 15, 2008
This past week has been somewhat difficult for everybody. The programs went well, and Summer Reading participation is very good, but we've been having numerous technical difficulties with computers and other electronic resource equipment at multiple branches. This past week was also the board meeting, the decision point for which new integrated library system to migrate to, and the deadline for the Acadiana Arts Council Decentralized Arts Funding application. Somehow we all got through it and did OK. Special thanks go out to Suzy and everybody who helped her with the grant, especially Ruth and Emily and wonderful volunteer Janice Landreneau. Other special thanks go out to all the branch managers and branch assistants who kept Summer Reading going last week, and to Ruth for going at short notice to help Pam with program day in Pine Prairie and help Flo with program day in Mamou. Thank you, Ruth!
Thank you also to Tina K. for all the library board meeting help and to Patrola, for working with me over the phone on how to restart a piece of equipment at Chataignier and restore their local area network (i.e., get their Internet back). With time short and gas pricey, what you did was very valuable.
Special guest thanks go out to Mr. David Allen with Acadiana Security Plus, who came out and gave us a training session on the new security system at the main library on Wed. morning.
There are going to be more challenges this coming week, and on Monday and Tuesday I won't be able to be much help, as I will be off, dealing with a family matter. However, you all know that you can call me on the cell if you need me.
Thank you all for all you do for the library and for the wonderful way in which you support each other and me. It means a lot, and makes my job much easier.
Mary
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June 8, 2008
It was so busy last week (and also so hot) that I never got to the Native Plant and Heritage Garden. We did get some lovely history of gardens books that we are putting in the library in memory of Miss Corine.
Summer Reading got off to a great start. All of us were somewhat nervous about how the ad campaign in the local newspaper and KVPI radio would work out, but overall it seems to be working. Branch managers are reporting that they are seeing some new folks at the programs as well as the faithful regulars. This is what we want: to expand our audience, making more people aware of what the library offers at six locations each summer.
Everybody worked very hard this past week and all deserve a lot of credit for the good outcome. Thank you!
Meanwhile, I'm trying to get ready for the board meeting on Thursday and also juggle the usual batch of issues and projects. Special thanks go to Cindy and Tina D. for getting claims ready for the board president last Thursday, to Wesley, who has been cataloging many of the Northeast Ohio Rotary book donations this weekend, to Tina K. for running a special delivery out to Pine Prairie and to Flo for coming in to the main library on her lunch hour at Mamou to take care of a delivery and pickup, to Patrola at Chataignier for working her first program on her own (27 people, I believe), and to the nice guys at ISS for getting a receipt printer up and running at Basile just in the nick of time. Thanks to Pinky for setting us up an account with a bindery and alerting me to a problem with nonreceipt of some genealogy volumes ordered. Also, thank you to Suzy and to Ruth and everybody else who are helping her on the grant application for next year's programs. The application is due June 13th.
Mary
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June 1, 2008
Ms. Corine Roberie, former president of the Friends of the Library and the talented person who started the flowerbeds at the main library, died suddenly this past week. The Library has lost somebody who meant a lot to it. Personally, I spent numerous lunch hours at Miss Corine's house and will miss her keen intelligence, her wit, her hospitality, and her dedication to the library and to the Ville Platte community. I also greatly admire, and have spent many lunch hours walking in, the Native Plant and Heritage Garden she created and fought relentlessly to keep intact. As a retired educator, she made sure that the garden contains an outdoor classroom. I plan to go there sometime this week and just sit a little while and remember her. Rest in peace, Miss Corine.
Summer Reading begins this week, this time with no tee shirts and book bags because the contractor in Baton Rouge hasn't delivered and has a goodly portion of the smaller parish libraries in the state up in arms, so to speak. But we'll just have to manage without the shirts and bags until they arrive. They're nice to have but not essential in the overall scheme of things.
Summer Reading, to my mind, is essential. Studies have shown that reading in the summer keeps kids from regressing in their skills. In a parish like ours with a low adult population of folks with at least GED's or high school diplomas (the lowest percentage in an 8 parish area, according to year 2000 statistics), programs that encourage reading are vital.
So thank you to everybody on staff and volunteers and parents and kids who will work very hard in June and July to make Summer Reading a success. What you are doing will have an impact in Evangeline Parish, both now and long after all of us are gone.
Mary
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May 26, 2008
Adding a short entry. I forgot yesterday to especially thank the Friends of the Library and their president Paula and treasurer Bonnie for arranging for a $600 grant to the library branches to help support Summer Reading and help the branch managers to get items for their branches. Each branch manager will get a $100 check this week to spend on her branch's needs. Thank you so much!
Mary
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May 25, 2008
It was a busy and stressfull week, and we were shorthanded at short notice at the main library. Special thanks go out to everybody who rearranged their schedules to cover desk time, stay to closing, etc. It was all very much appreciated.
Extra special thanks to Tina K., for going to the cataloging workshop at Rapides Parish Library Wed. on short notice. Tina and I learned a lot at the workshop that will be very helpful.
Other special thanks go to Dustin with ISS, who came and worked with Acadiana Security Plus to find a way to wire the new control panel to the new phone line, to ISS for finding the problem with the local area network (LAN) at Chataigner and getting that branch's Internet up again, to Vic's A.C. for getting us a new air conditioner in the basement and doing a very nice job of enlarging the A.C. location and then framing it up, and to the wonderful folks from Rapides Parish Library (Steve, Kelly, and Wesley) who let me ride with them to the administrators' conference in Port Allen on Thursday. It was an awful rain coming back, and I was really glad that I wasn't driving!
I formally got my administrator's certificate at the conference.
Finally, I'd like to thank my son Collins for walking with me Saturday night as part of the Rotary team for the Relay for Life.
Hope everybody will have a good Memorial Day tomorrow and keep our troops--past and present--in mind.
Mary
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May 17, 2008
I'm not feeling very well this weekend and will try to do a quick entry. Hopefully by tomorrow I will be doing a bit better and able to add a bit more.
After having its Internet up and running fine on Monday and Tuesday, Chataignier's Internet was down again Wed., Thurs., and Fri. and is still down. To make matters even more frustrating, with the flex serve still not apparently doing what it's intended to do, the AT&T network operations center (NOC) was totally unaware of this mess and is having trouble resolving it.
We had a big rain storm Wed. and this may be connected with the new outage. I hope that we can get it resolved this next week, and very much hope that the Internet will stay up to Chataignier the next time it rains!
In other frustrating news, the repaired roof at the main library is leaking again, and the whipping heavy rains of Wed. brought water into the added back room at the Pine Prairie branch. Meanwhile, I continued to try to get a panic button system installed in the main library and kept running up against (literally) many brick walls that may have to be drilled through. Ugh!
In good news, our main library basement air quality tests were all as good or better than the outside control air sample. Special thanks go out to Cindy and Tina D. for volunteering to shift their work space back into the basement. They did a great job this past week, working on the records storage area, setting up the cataloging and processing areas, and fixing up their own work spaces. Thank you both!
Meanwhile, Emily and others worked to redo the office space upstairs. People can actually walk around in it again, and grab for a ringing phone without having to lunge through computer monitors, etc. Thanks!
Very special thanks go out to everybody from the branches who came out for the Summer Reading workshop at the main library Wed. and to Suzy and Ruth for getting things ready for them. I know Cindy did a lot, too, to make sure all the branch supplies were ready for pickup, and Tina D. worked hard to have new branch books processed for the branch managers to take back with them. Suzy conducted most of the Summer Reading part of the workshop and did a great job. Special thanks also go out to Emily for working with her on the reading tally sheets the day before and making them much more user friendly. Everybody pulled together to make this a productive meeting and to help get Summer Reading 2008 off to a good start. Thank you.
This coming week will be very busy, with special appointments, workshops, demos, and conferences every day Monday through Friday. I hope it will all work out.
Mary
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May 11, 2008
Happy Mother's Day!
The past week was very frustrating, with computer issues at Basile and Chataignier which then turned into Internet filter issues systemwide. The mess apparently began last weekend, when a storm knocked out some electronics at Hancock Bank across the street from us and burnt out a WIC card in the big AT&T router with our bundled WAN system. A WIC card was also knocked out in the router at Basile, too, and Chataignier also had Internet out.
Work orders, phone calls, and various bits of information were flying back and forth between various parts of CenturyTel and AT&T. I don't know how many people worked on the problem between Monday and Thursday. Some of the folks got conflicting information or got sent to the wrong locations. What fun! Then on Friday we discovered that the Iprism content filter--which had updated and been upgraded during the period when Basile and Chataignier were offline--was also involved, first blocking too much and then blocking nothing at all. Special thanks go out to Bo Soileau with Information Systems Solutions for going into the Iprism remotely and resetting stuff. Additional thanks go to Tina D. for going out to Chataignier while it was closed and checking the equipment out there.
In the midst of all this I discovered that a frame relay management circuit was not operational and had to work with AT&T about when that would be fixed up.
By the end of the week I had pretty much had it with the whole business. All the folks who kind of just stayed out of my way at that point have my special gratitude (and my congratulations on their good sense). Special thanks go to Sherry at Basile for working closely with CenturyTel, AT&T, and ISS as they tried to figure out the problem.
The week was very busy in other ways also. Pinky and I worked a lot on the incoming Northeast Ohio Rotary book donations (thanks, Pinky!), Tom Emerson with Autographics presented a demo on the Agent Verso system (thanks, Tom!), and Cindy and Tina D. got claims together for board president Julia's review (thanks, Cindy, Tina D., and Julia!). Suzy and Ruth and wonderful volunteer Linda gave a fantastic program for Danielle's Day Care (thanks, Suzy, Linda, and Ruth, and thank you Danielle for bringing us all goodies!). Suzy and others also worked very hard on the flyers and other Summer Reading materials which will be distributed at the staff workshop Wednesday (thanks again, Suzy)! Tina D. went out to Basile and helped Sherry a lot with the computers (thank you both!). Plus Pine Prairie's new shelving was delivered and set up (thank you, Pam, and special thanks to your husband Charles for getting his truck and hauling off all the packing that the shelving came in!).
And the auditors started their annual work this week at the Police Jury. Thank you, Cindy and Emily, for getting materials ready for them. You both were a great help.
Library board vice president Jennifer and I went to the Strategic Planning Workshop at the Lafayette Public Library on Wednesday. The workshop was done by State Library staff Diane and Jerome and was excellent. It was a pleasure to get to meet trustees from other library systems and also to get to introduce Jennifer to the directors who were there.
Another fun event of the week was meeting a couple who stopped in the main library to use the computers. They have been riding a bicycle built for two cross country all the way to California and are now in the process of pedaling back to their home in Ohio. They looked like they might be in their 60's and were having a great time. Kudos to them, and thank you for stopping in Ville Platte.
Finally, thank you to Angie, who handled multiple email requests for genealogy information and helped somebody trace the location of an abandoned cemetery. Good work, Angie.
Well, time for a Mother's Day nap. This weekend I feel like I really need one. See you all next week.
Mary
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May 4, 2008
This is one of those weekends where I feel more like reading Lee Child's Bad Luck and Trouble than describing bad luck and trouble at the library. So there's a lot of the past week's activity I will be leaving out!
On the other hand, there is some very good news to report. The biggest piece of good news is that the library now has acquired the back half of the old hospital property in Ville Platte (across from Citizen's Bank and Mikey's Donuts). We've been working on buying it for a while. The library board had acquired the front half several years ago, but buying the whole property at once would have hurt contingency savings too much. Having carefully saved the money, we are glad to be able to buy the back half now.
The old hospital property is the planned site for a future new main library. Now that we have the whole property, the board can start working on plans for what a new main library will look like and might cost. This is a long-term project--a new library is still several years away. But getting the land is an important first step. Special thanks go out this week to our legal advisor Tony Walker for completing the sale!
Additional very special thanks go out to Mr. Warren Blakely of the Northeast Ohio Rotary, who made a long trip through Ohio on Wednesday morning to present invoices on our behalf for reimbursement by the Rotary up there. The Northeast Ohio Rotary is helping us to buy new books for the main library for Summer Reading and other uses. The new additions, about 570 books for ages pre-K through 8th grade, will be a big help! They will cost the Northeast Ohio Rotary almost $8000. Words cannot express our gratitude to the Rotary. Nor to Mr. Blakely, for all he has been doing to make this possible.
Rich Keenan and Maggie Ortego with Cabot came to tour the main library Monday and discuss how Cabot might be able to help us with library projects like Summer Reading. Doris Lively, the director for the Grant Parish Library, helped us to test a library system remotely, and the great folks at ISS loaned us an Infocus computer projector to use during a library system vendor demonstration last Thursday. Thank you one and all.
Other special thanks go out to staff: Tina D. discovered a critical problem with the computers at one of the library branches. Tina K., Suzy, and Cindy participated in the library system vendor demonstration Thursday and provided good questions and insight. Sherry at Basile and Tina K. and Emily have been trying out a different system remotely (a hosted system). Thanks, everybody!
Buying a new automated library system is a very expensive and complex undertaking for us. I really appreciate all the help as the library board and I get ready to weigh possible options. One of the big questions is whether to acquire another system where we house and maintain the server or instead go to a hosted solution. There are pros and cons either way; naturally, I want to provide the best recommendations to the library board that I can.
Mary
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April 27, 2008
Great news this week! The staff member who has been in the hospital for nearly three months is out and doing very well recuperating. We are all so happy and thankful.
Very special thanks go out this week to Lyle and Ted and Sandra at the Acadia Parish Library in Crowley and to Tina K. Tina gave up her flex day this past Friday so that she and I could ride over to Crowley and discuss the TLC integrated library system with the folks there. She watched TLC circulation and reporting with Sandra while I talked to Lyle and Ted about the equipment required and system specifications. Frankly Ted and Lyle were lifesavers! I'll be writing them thank you's but just on the off chance that one or both of them might happen to look at this blog: Hi, guys! You are wonderful!
Tina also really appreciated Sandra helping her to experience so much about the TLC system. TLC is one of the vendors we have a proposal from, and their sales representative will be giving us a demo at our main library May 1st, hence this preliminary trip.
Other thanks go out to the library's other Tina, Tina D., for updating some software at Mamou and Basile and Ville Platte last week, and to Angie for doing the same at Turkey Creek and Pine Prairie. Tina D. will do the same thing at Chataignier this coming week. The updates are necessary for the database packet we are testing to function properly.
Mary
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April 20, 2008
Yesterday's Library Fest at the Ville Platte North Side Civic Center went well. We estimate 75 people attended at one point or another during the 4 hour event. We had folks from Melville who heard about the book sale part on the radio (thank you, KVPI, for a job well done), folks from Big Cane who saw the flyers in the library, a couple from Michigan who were staying at Chicot Park for the Dewey Balfa event (their 18th year doing this!) who also heard about it on the radio, and many local friends. The young folks of Americorps helped a lot before, during, and after the event. And the Friends of the Library were also terrific. Local vendors helped a lot, too, by bringing everything from baby rabbits to homemade wine for sale. Thank you!
Special thanks go to library board member Jennifer Vidrine for attending and to our vendor cash donors. "Vendor cash" is sort of a "pick your own door prize" plan, where door prize winners each get a $5 "vendor cash" ticket to spend with one of the vendors. Jennifer Vidrine, Suzy and Phil Lemoine, Lemoine Insurance, Liz Hill, Bob Manuel, Kermit Miller, Leonard G. Fontenot, and others donated either door prize items or vendor cash. Thank you one and all.
Suzy did a great job coordinating everything, and her backdrop idea worked great. Thank you, Suzy, for all the extra hours worked on this event, especially for coming in so early on Saturday. Pinky, thank you for coming to the event, too.
We were also happy to welcome a new library board member this week, Ms. Elaine Deshotels from Basile, who was appointed by the police jury Monday night to fill out the rest of Mr. Calvin Perrodin's term (through 07/2009) after Mr. Calvin retired. Special thanks go out to Sherry, the branch manager at Basile, who helped recruit Ms. Deshotels for this position. Currently Ms. Deshotels is supervising student teachers in this area for McNeese.
In other news, we are working on purchasing our first digital reference database separate from the State Library's Louisiana Connection databases. To get it we needed to determine our range of library card numbers. The first cards were created in 1999, and neither we nor the supplier could locate paperwork specifying the start card. Very special thanks go out this week to Pinky for figuring out that the director at the time, Wesley, probably had one of the first cards issued. Using his card number, we were able to extrapolate the likely start point. This was important to ensure that when the database is operational nobody finds access denied because his or her library card is outside the range. Thanks go out to Tina D. for working to install the right updates to make the database function properly and for working on usability testing before we agree to accept the product.
Other thanks go to Wesley for coming in and testing out the new cataloging computer (Yipee! It works!).
I'm still working on evaluating the integrated library system proposals and on the main library basement project, among others.
Mary
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April 13, 2008
Today is the two year anniversary of this library blog.
Tuesday night there was a patron at the main library acting a bit strange. Suddenly, he left the building, and less than five minutes later, the electricity went dead. Looking out the window, staff saw him running down W. Main St. with something under his arm. And when CLECO arrived, they discovered that the electric meter had been swiped.
This kind of incident takes more of a toll on us than it might initially seem. People had to stay late and wait in darkness for the installation of a new meter. Then the next day computers had to be restored and I had to spend a lot of time at the DA's office and the police department. All of these things add up to stress, costs, and a waste of taxpayer provided funds. This situation also leads to questions about whether to keep staying open late one night a week.
Extra special thanks go out to Tina D. and Emily, who were working when all this happened, to assistant director Pinky, who left home and drove in to stay with them while the police were at the library and while they waited for CLECO to arrive, and to Johnny Thomas, a patron who stayed and waited and made sure that everybody got out of the building ok. You all were wonderful.
In addition, a special sympathetic salute goes to Flo, the branch manager at Mamou, who found a snake caught in one of the public access computer keyboards at the Mamou Branch Wed. morning. What a way to begin the day!
Everything else seems pretty anticlimatic compared to those events, but I'd like to also recognize and thank Suzy and Ruth for getting special book collections and display materials to the LSU AgCenter Friday, for use with the extension service's programs Saturday for day care providers. They did a great job of putting together an excellent display and collections on music and movement and on parent/school partnerships.
In other news, I am working with the four proposals received for replacement of our integrated library system and lining up vendor demos of their proposed products, Suzy and others are preparing for Library Fest next Saturday, and we all are anxious to see if the new cataloging computer will work. For nearly two months we have been limited to "cataloging on the fly," which doesn't let anybody put in enough information about items for satisfactory searches.
Mary
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April 6, 2008
April 15th is drawing closer, and the main library and branches have been passing out lots of tax forms. This year the tax stimulus package has created many new inquiries and issues, as folks who are not accustomed to filing income taxes are filing for the first time. Special thanks go out to everybody who has worked hard to find forms for patrons. Extra special thanks to Tina D. for creating signage with the IRS information and also signage for FAISA forms. FAISA forms are no longer sent to us, but are mailed out to individuals upon request. Tina's signage is very helpful but doesn't get us into the tax consultant business. Thank you!
In other library news, it was almost 8 p.m. Monday night when I finally hit "submit" on the 2007 annual report, due every April 1st to the State Library. It's good to have it done!
One highlight was that our statistics for Interlibrary Loan, both in terms of items loaned out to other libraries and items received from other libraries, continued to go up. (Thank you so much, Emily and Tina D.!) Also, the average attendance overall for our library programs was up. (Thank you all!).
On the down side, the number of adult books checked out went down, both at the library branches and at the main library. I do not know if this was an unfortunate side effect of the 2007 renovations at two of the branches and the major work done on the main library, or if it is part of the overall trend seen by publishers and bookstores where people are just buying (and presumably also checking out from the libraries) fewer books. Two arguments against it being construction-connected are that juvenile book checkout was not reduced, and the checking out of DVD's went up. People are still using the library--in some ways with the computers they are using the library more than ever. But the adult readers as a whole seem to be reading fewer books. After I get to look at the numbers more closely, I may want to say more about these statistics again.
We had a request from a patron this week to read some wording on the back of a picture. Working with it a bit, I figured out it was Greek but was unable to translate it. So today I took it with me to Mass and asked Father Mike after Mass if he would mind taking a look at it. The words translate as the annunciation of the Mother of God. This coming week I will contact our patron and let him know.
I visited the hospital yesterday to see the Mamou branch assistant manager who has been very ill since the end of January. Happily, she is doing much better--was able to talk and visit and was glad to get library news and some books (not library ones, so she won't have to worry about keeping track of them). Flo, Mamou branch manager, had also been to visit her yesterday. Thank you, Flo.
Other special thanks go out to Suzy for conducting an excellent coordination session for the Friends and Americorps representatives at Tuesday's Friends of the Library meeting and to Paula the Friends president. We are all preparing for the April 19th Library Fest. We had 11 folks at the Friends meeting, and there was enthusiastic signing up to help with Library Fest. It was especially great to see a new generation of Friends members, 3 delightful teenagers eager to help and apparently delighted to learn more about both the Friends and Americorps.
Also, thank you, Angie, for substituting at Pine Prairie on such short notice Friday, and thank you, Tina K., for getting the Feb. monthly report ready for the State Library.
Mary
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March 30, 2008
Well, I haven't finished the annual report yet. The deadline is April 1st, so I'll be very busy with it tomorrow.
My husband and son and I took a 4 day vacation last week during my son's college spring break. We went to museums in Houston and had a good time. But now it's time to get back to work.
Special thanks go out this week to Pinky, for being in charge while I was gone, and to everybody who helped her to keep things running smoothly. Also, extra special thanks to one of our beloved patrons, Mr. Harry, who wrote a very nice letter to the editor that was published in the Ville Platte Gazette last Thursday. Mr. Harry praised the library collection and the very friendly and helpful staff. Thank you, Mr. Harry!
Finally, I want to especially thank the village of Chataignier and village council member Mr. Semien, husband of Chataignier branch assistant Pam Semien. He has gotten so much done for the Chataignier branch in the past few months! The handicapped parking sign has been put up and the handicapped parking space painted, the rusty flagpole taken down and the library sign put back up, and especially a lot of limestone has been placed in the circular driveway to stop the mudhole and muddy driveway problem that had recently made parking very difficult. He also has made certain that the three signs for the library on three roads in Chataignier are back up. Thank you so much!
Mary
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March 22, 2008
I am updating the blog a day early because of Easter tomorrow. I hope everybody is having a great Easter weekend. Incidentally, this blog began with an Easter week entry two years ago.
I am trying to finish the annual report and am working on it today from home. Hope to have it ready to submit before Tuesday and will later post some of the statistics from it here.
Mr. E. J. Deville mentioned to me at Rotary this past week that he had a copy of the life of Euzebe Vidrine in bad condition. He wanted to know if there was some way to preserve it. For folks like me who are not from Ville Platte, I should give a little background: Euzebe Vidrine was hanged in 1924 for killing Leo Wiggins, who was the son of the sheriff (and incidentally the uncle of our library's current assistant director Pinky). Euzebe was a young man who wrote (or dictated--how much of the small booklet are his actual words is somewhat questionable) his life's story while awaiting execution. He claimed to have killed five other people, but the claims have not been verified. His confession did lead to the vindication of another man who had been sentenced to prison for one of the killings. On the gallows, according to one account, he tried to give his last statement in English, stumbled with it, and switched into French for about thirty minutes, in which he admonished the crowd: "Do not gamble. Do not drink whiskey." Anyway, there is still considerable interest in Euzebe's story in Ville Platte.
By the way, this is a type of literature--criminal's accounts of their lives before their executions--with popularity going back hundreds of years.
The library's copies of Vidrine's account are badly photocopied incomplete retypings (book out of copyright, apparently). They look like photocopies of photocopies. Anyway, I was delighted to finally see an original.
Mr. E. J. brought the original (no bindings and paper in very bad shape but each page completely legible and clearly the actual book as published, not a photocopy). Angie scanned it, made us new copies and a CD to keep in our vertical files, and made E.J. a copy and a CD to thank him for letting the library borrow his original for the day. Then Suzy took E.J. to the microfilm machine and helped him find articles from the Ville Platte Gazette for 1924 that covered the events from the murders through the execution's aftermath.
Angie and Suzy, thank you both very much! And special thanks also to Tina D., who quickly installed a CD burner on the computer with the scanner so Angie didn't have to move from one computer to another while working on this project.
I am thrilled at our "new" copies, which are completely legible and capture the look of the original book in a way that photocopies of retyped pages never could. Finally we can actually see Euzebe's face in the photo on the frontispiece, and we know what supposedly happened in those missing pages and places where our photocopy was illegible.
Additional thanks go out this week to cataloger Wesley, who is gathering us up boxes of donated books for the next book sale, and to the wonderful young people of Americorps now staying out at Chicot Park. They are volunteering at the main library in Ville Platte and will also help us with our Library Fest on April 19th. Also, special thanks to Ruth, who was busy Thursday gathering up some materials for a genealogy visitor to the library next week. The person lives in another state and had contacted me by email about her upcoming visit. Ruth and Angie are trying to do what they can to make the visit as productive for our visitor next week as possible.
Happy Easter!
Mary
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March 16, 2008
We had the call and email this past week that terrifies: one from Schools and Libraries Division about those E rate applications that I completed back when we all were coming down with the Dreaded Stomach Virus from Hades. Fortunately, the lady seemed very nice and merciful and willing to help us sort out a problem (referencing a wrong form number in a critical application). Despite her kindness, by the time things were sorted out and the error tracked down, I was literally shaking and felt sick. There have been so many ongoing crises lately--this by no means the worse and none of them comparable to what the libraries south and west of us went through with hurricanes Katrina and Rita. Still, somehow this incident felt like the "last straw."
I thought a weekend away from work would get my spunk back, but then I tripped and fell hard going into a nursing home Saturday and now feel kind of like I need to be one of the residents. Fortunately, nothing was broken--except the cake I had baked and was carrying. Too bad I landed on it, as well as my nose, elbow, and knees.
So much for my whining. In other news, special thanks go out to Tina D. and Cindy for helping me sort everything out with E-rate, to Emily for coming in special on her off day to make sure we all got paid, to Pinky for helping me a lot with the collection development for the Rotary grant, and to Flo and Rhonda, who will keep Mamou Branch open late this coming Wednesday so that a special program from Famillies Helping Families can take place there.
Tina K. and Angie inventoried Turkey Creek Branch and property tagged its items this past week. Thank you both!
Ruth, Suzy, and Linda are wrapping up the preschool spring programs. They have done a great job of developing a new program and delivering it throughout the parish. Thank you all!
Mary
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March 11, 2008
Our Internet and webpage were down Sunday, so I was unable to post. Special thanks go out to Tina D. for her attempts on Saturday to get things running again and to Suzy for observing that the van had been vandalized Saturday afternoon. Suzy was dressed to go to Lafayette but stopped to see what had happened to the library van, phoned the police, and then cleaned the obscene graffiti off the van before she went on her way. Thank you!
In other news, Pinky and I met with a book supplier about the upcoming Rotary donation, and I sent a shelf from the Pine Prairie branch (again with a lot of help from Suzy) off to a library shelving manufacturer in Raleigh to have it color matched for the upcoming shelving for the Pine Prairie addition. Getting the shelf boxed at Office Depot was a long tedious production, as we had to tape three boxes together to make one long enough--but it worked.
I was also able on Saturday to go to the hospital and was so glad to see Lois doing much better.
Anyway, it's annual report month and thus everybody is extra busy with special projects. Thanks go out especially to Tina K., Emily, and Cindy for their help with various parts of the report. You all are great!
Mary
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March 2, 2008
This past week was very busy, with a board meeting and the sending out of the Request for Proposal (RFP) for a new integrated library system. It was also an exciting week, because we learned that a group of Rotary clubs in Ohio are giving the main library $8000 of new children's books. We are very grateful for the donation, which will probably buy about 430 to 450 high quality hardback children's books for ages preschool through sixth grade. Thank you, Mr. Warren Blakely and the Northeast Ohio Rotary!
A patron from Mamou, Mr. Firman Guillory, came to the library board meeting on Monday especially to address the board and commend the Mamou staff, Miss Flo and Miss Lois, for the way they have helped him learn how to use the public access computers. I very much appreciated his kind gesture and also want to thank Flo and Lois for a job well done.
Special thanks also go out this week to Tina K. for all her hard work with the library board meeting and to Suzy for her work this past Tuesday night with the Friends of the Library meeting. Unfortunately, I couldn't attend the Friends meeting, as my husband and I wound up at the E.R. with my mom-in-law that night. It was good to know that the meeting was in good hands with Suzy and the officers and members of the Friends group. Suzy, Ruth, and Linda also gave another great children's program in Mamou this week--thank you all. Additional thanks go out to Emily and her backup Tina D., who are juggling large amounts of interlibrary loan traffic and also learning the new interlibrary loan system that will be going "live" shortly.
At the hospital Tuesday night I was able to visit the staff member who remains in intensive care. She is slowly getting better, and remains in our thoughts and prayers.
Mary
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Feb. 24, 2008
A Mamou Branch staff member remains in the hospital I.C.U. While we are all still very concerned, it is good to hear that she is doing better. We miss you!
Sylvia Davis presented her program at the main library Tues. An assistant principal in Pineville, Ms. Davis is also a very accomplished professional storyteller. Her concluding ghost story, accompanied by an African drum at strategic moments sending out the message, "Somebody's missing," had us all with shivers and chills. Special thanks go to Suzy and Ruth for their work in getting the program set up. Thanks also to assistant director Pinky for attending and supporting the program.
Other special thanks go to Wesley, for working out a "temporary fix" for cataloging while the library cataloging computer is being replaced, and to Mr. James Brooks, the volunteer drawing instructor. He concluded his two week FREE class yesterday. Mr. Brooks gave over 16 hours of time to his students at the main library (classes 4 days a week for 2 weeks), and students were very enthusiastic.
I was one of the judges for the parish science fair Friday at Mamou High. It was a good experience, and I enjoyed seeing the students' work.
Mary
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Feb. 17, 2008
Our thoughts and prayers continue to go out to our hospitalized and very seriously ill staff member and her family. Special thanks go to both Flo and Ruth, who have each gone to see her and her family on their own time on the weekend.
Other thanks go to Flo (Mamou Branch manager) and Sherry (Basile Branch manager) for doing such a fine job this past week with the open houses at their branches (they both made fantastic sandwiches and had their building decorated beautifully), to Basile Assistant Branch manager Becky for the great cupcakes for the open house, to Suzy for getting the boudin for Mamou's open house and staying with Flo until it closed at 7 p.m., to Ruth, Suzy, and fantastic volunteer Linda for putting on a wonderful new program for a Head Start group this past week, to Ruth for going by herself to the State Library's summer reading workshop so that we could have representation, to Tina D. for going by herself to the Bayouland technology workshop so that we could have representation there, to Angie for coming in on her day off to open up Turkey Creek so that we could test an AT&T Internet trouble ticket (false alarm) and to Angie for working so hard with a wonderful family from Texas who came to try to trace an ancestor. Angie has been working with them via email, and it was a pleasure for us all to meet them in person. Finally, special thanks go to Mr. Winston LaFleur for sealing up the edges on a roof vent so my office wall doesn't swell in heavy rains, to Mr. Ronnie Landreneau for consulting on building renovation projects, and to Mr. James Brooks for his wonderful drawing class, which is getting rave revues from his students. You all made a REALLY big difference this past week!
It was a happy but also sad moment at the Basile open house when we showed Mr. Calvin Perrodin, the retiring library board member from Basile, the statue that is being placed in the Basile Branch in his honor. The statue has two little girls looking sad, and the plaque we had made for the base of the statue says how sad we all are to see him go. Mr. Calvin, you will be certainly missed as a board member, but remember you're always very welcome at the Basile branch and anywhere else in the system. You've been a wonderful board member for many years, a true friend to the Evangeline Parish Library.
Happy upcoming Presidents' Day to one and all!
Mary
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Feb. 10, 2008
This will be a short entry, because I've been sick at home since Wed. and am still not back to normal. Special thanks go out to Cindy, for staying past her usual Friday time to go over the bills with the board president. Other thanks go out to everybody who is helping to keep the library system running. This coming week will be a challenging one, with many programs, special events, and meetings scheduled. To paraphrase Davy Crockett's letter home from the Alamo, "I know you will all do the best you can, and I will try to do the same." Our thoughts and prayers are especially with the staff member who is in cardiac care in Alexandria.
Thank you. Now I'm crawling back to bed for a while.
Mary
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Feb. 3, 2008
I'm spending today working on E -rate paperwork online. I would prefer to not be doing this on Sunday, but we have over $63,000 of cost reimbursements for our telephone and Internet depending on this process, and the closing deadline is only 4 days away. If we do not secure this funding, we could wind up unable to provide Internet access throughout the system, beginning July 1st. So I'm trying my best. Tomorrow Cindy and Tina D. and I will pick up where I leave off today.
Special thanks this week go out to somebody at the State Library, Sara Taffae, who is going to work on Mardi Gras day so that she can be available to help us and all the other 63 library systems in the state as we struggle down to the wire with E-rate deadlines. Thank you, Sara! I hope my work today will keep us from having to call you on Mardi Gras day. Instead, we'll be calling you tomorrow, before we hit the "submit" button on these 3 E-rate forms.
We're all worried this week about a staff member who had a heart attack Wed. Thankfully, she is expected to make a full recovery.
Hope you all have a safe and happy holiday.
Mary
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Jan. 27, 2008
The Library Board presented me with a beautiful plaque last week, in recognition of my passing the executive certification exam. It was a total surprise and very deeply appreciated.
And it was certainly a week where some extra encouragement helped a lot. To give just one example, the wall of my office started "bubbling" during a hard rain Friday, and I went around the corner to the next room to discover rain pouring down from a high vent up about fifteen feet. I had to unplug all of the electronics out of my possibly saturated wall and quickly send out a cry for help.
Special thanks go out to Jody Lavergne of Lavergne's Roofing for sending Danny to look at the problem Saturday morning. Hopefully they will be able to fix the vent problem for us soon. Also, many thanks to Ronnie Landreneau of Landreneau and Associates for working with me on the building repair issues.
Other thanks go out to all the main library staff who had to put up with a lot this past week and a half as we've tried to remediate more problems in the basement. You've all been very patient, and it's deeply appreciated. Also, thank you Cindy for staying later on Friday to make sure we had enough coverage in the main building, Tina D. for substituting at Pine Prairie, Ruth for making deliveries in the rain in your pickup truck, Suzy for working on the posters for Mr. Brooks' art classes at the library and the advertising for Sylvia Davis' Black history week special performance, and everybody else for keeping your good humor and flexibility in the midst of a lot of issues and confusion. You all are great.
Mary
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January 18, 2008
I'm doing this entry early (lunch break on Friday). My grandmother always taught me that if you can't say something nice, then don't say anything at all. That just might be the best policy for this week's blog because it's been an especially crazy and stressful week, one that I can't really discuss without becoming disgustingly whiney.
So, in place of a depressing blog entry this week, I would like to present you with something to make you smile, instead. The link below is one I learned about in the current Library Journal. Librarian Jennifer Wolfe in Iowa has posted excerpts and cover pictures from 23 "library career romances" written between 1940 and 1975.
There's some nice nostalgic fun here, a look back to the library days when the word "Internet" was unknown, along with a host of other words defining services such as "E government" which may help libraries to go broke and librarians to go nuts. For all the charm of that time, I wouldn't trade it for now--stresses and all, we take pride in delivering so much more--and faster--to so many more people than the past libraries could. Still, it can be fun to read excerpts from a simpler library time.
I hope everybody has a very nice Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. holiday.
Mary
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January 13, 2008
At the Library Board meeting last Wednesday, the Board approved an additional fifty cents per hour increase for current employees. I was very glad to see this, and on behalf of all the staff thanked the Board.
The Board also approved a mileage increase, from 40 cents per mile to the police jury current rate of 42.5 cents per mile. This is good news for the staffers who occasionally go from branch to branch in their own vehicles on deliveries or to substitute or work with ailing computers.
Board vice president Calvin Perrodin resigned, with regret, from the Board due to health reasons. Everybody is very sorry to lose him, as he has been a faithful member and a strong advocate for the whole system as well as for his hometown Basile branch. Jennifer Vidrine has been elected Board vice president to fill his position. Julia Fontenot continues as Board president.
Special thanks go out this week to the Library Board, for working hard to support the needs of the Library and of patrons and staff alike. Board members serve for NO PAY and deal with many complex and challenging technology, budget, and policy issues.
Thank you!
Mary
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January 6, 2008
I was sorry that one staff member has left the organization. He will be missed.
Special thanks go out this week to Wesley, who came in specially on Saturday to instruct Cindy and me in cataloging, to Cindy, who is taking on the challenge of cataloging with enthusiasm and commitment, to Tina K., who volunteered to cover the desk Saturday on short notice, and to Tina D., who went to Chataignier and retrieved a computer that looks like it was hacked by a young patron and is at least temporarily nonfunctional (it's in the computer hospital now at ISS).
I would also like to thank all the young volunteers from Sacred Heart of Ville Platte who put in so many hours this week rearranging the books at main and helping me start inventory on Saturday morning.
Extra special thanks go out to everybody who is working at the main library and rearranging their schedules if necessary for the good of the overall system.
In news, there will be a Library Board meeting Wed. at 4 p.m. at main.
Geaux Tigers! (BCS Monday)
Mary
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December 30, 2007
This will probably be the last entry for 2007. This time last year we were dealing with the aftermath of the car accident that took out the front of the Basile Branch. Nobody knows what, good or bad, 2008 will bring. One thing I've learned this year is that we just have to keep on trying. It's like that joke about how do you eat an elephant? Answer: one bite at a time.
Everybody at the main library and branches have tried so hard this year. There have been many challenges to overcome: the serious illness of one staff member and the passing away of another (Miss Hazel, our "Silver Fox Club" hostess), the Basile and Mamou renovations, the roof and exterior problems at Main, the basement problems at Main (creating the need to relocate Ville Platte's Summer Reading events plus move all staff workstations and public functions out of the main library's large basement), the project to increase the five library branches' bandwidth (with all its costs and paperwork and implementation issues and confusions)--these issues and more made it a stressful year for everybody. I am so proud of how we all pulled together when situations seemed to keep trying to pull us apart.
Thank you, everybody! That includes staff, Library Board, and all the wonderful patrons who have had to put up with temporarily closed buildings, relocated events and collections, and the occasional moments of chaos and panic. I know I am biased, but I don't see how any director could have a better staff, board, or patrons to work with and for. You all are very special.
Happy New Year.
Mary
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December 23, 2007
It was a rush at work, as we all tried to get ready for the holiday closings. I know staff at the branches all had a lot to deal with, too. Now everybody hopefully is getting a well-deserved holiday break with their families. Thank you, everybody!
Special thanks go out to Cindy and Michael, who are checking the drop boxes and the newspaper deliveries at main during the holiday break. Also, special thanks to Suzy for spending a lot of time and effort sorting out piles of old paperwork, etc. in the main library basement. The two basement rooms she worked on look great.
The library reopens Dec. 27th. That is also the day of the police jury budget hearing, and our budget will be part of that. The Library Board met on Dec. 19th and approved the amended 2007 budget and the initial 2008 budget. The next day I made copies of the budgets and brought them to the police jury secretary-treasurer so that the library's budgets can be included in the public hearing. The hearing is at 5 p.m. on the 27th at the Ville Platte courthouse.
Merry Christmas!
Mary
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December 17, 2007
The Internet was down at my house last night, so I was unable to post on Sunday night as usual. I will try to post tonight.
Mary
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December 9, 2007
Well, I feel like I'm going nuts this weekend, drawing up page after page of cost analysis of different Internet and WAN cost proposals for the library system. So far I've spent at least 5 hours on this at home this weekend, and am not done yet. Tomorrow Cindy and Tina D. and I are taking all the information to the State Library to go over with the consultants and computer gurus there. Hopefully that meeting will clarify things.
The more I run the numbers, the more complex the whole decision seems. For one thing, there is no way to know at this point if the status quo is really an option, and if so, for how long? Thus, it is very hard to attempt to compare other options against the status quo.
It is also hard to quantify time requirements: to what extent can a proposal's cost be comparable if it requires much more staff time and expertise to make it work? This is something else we'll work on in Baton Rouge tomorrow.
Also, what about unintended consequences? Our current system is fast and simple for us to operate. If we switched, for example, to a VPN, would it be as fast and would there be complications for staff in shifting back and forth to the VPN?
Lastly, how do you decide when enough bandwidth is enough? Is a proposal that comes up with more Mbps per dollar spent really a better choice if the bandwidth we have is adequate? And what is "adequate," and how can we project what we will need two or three years down the road in terms of bandwidth?
In short, doom on us! (Just kidding, sort of.)
This will make for a very busy and stressful week, as I also need to get the 2007 final budget ready for Board review and an initial 2008 budget. The Library Board meeting is Dec. 19, so I should have those already ready to send to the board members in advance of the meeting, but do not. Since I don't like to stay in the building alone, this will mean a lot of work at home at night this week. Frankly, I'm no spring chicken and this type of schedule gets harder and harder to keep. But enough whining about that!
It's been a busy week at the library, and I've been in and out with a lot of projects. We had our staff workshop/potluck brunch on Wed. and it was very good, both in terms of the items of business covered and especially in terms of the FOOD. Everybody outdid themselves, and everything was great. It was also wonderful to have almost 100% staff attendance. Special thanks to everybody who made a special effort and sacrifice to be at the main library Wed. morning.
Also, thanks go out to Suzy for getting Summer Reading information ready for the workshop and for working up a very entertaining program, and to Angie for taking pictures. And special thanks to volunteer Linda for joining us. We can't thank her enough for all she has done with Head Start programs this fall!
We all really missed Velma and hope that she will be back with us soon.
Other thanks go to Cindy and Tina D. for getting claims ready for board president Julia's review Thursday and for gathering a lot of information for tomorrow's trip to Baton Rouge, to Pinky for working on the shelf project, to Linda for coming to help her (sorry we got tied up with another project and weren't able to go forward with it then), to volunteers from Sacred Heart who came and helped Suzy with some of the packaging of items for storage, and to Emily and Suzy who helped me get the library van serviced at T & J Ford Friday.
On Thurs. night I went to the Chamber of Commerce's holiday open house and was encouraged to have folks ask me questions about the library and library services. One item that came up was whether the federal government wouldn't pay for a new main library for Evangeline Parish. I reminded the questioner of how much "fun" everybody was having trying to get FEMA reimbursements, and he saw the point: federal government money is not out there just waiting for us to go for it. Basically, there are grants to support programs and services and grants to support technology--but not state or federal or private or local grants at this time to support library construction. But this doesn't mean that we're going to give up.
Speaking of programs and services, I attended an advisory council meeting at the LSU AgCenter in Ville Platte Friday and found it very helpful--am working with some contacts there to come up with mutually beneficial and cost effective partnerships.
Well, back to the cost analyses for Internet and WAN!
Best wishes,
Mary
P.S. It's now almost 10 p.m. I've been waiting to receive some information about the Internet access options and am ready to give up and call it a night. Doesn't look like the information is going to get here in time to take with me to Baton Rouge. Oh well, that's 8 hours spent on this project this weekend so far.
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December 2, 2007
Michael and Tina K. went with me to Abbeville on Wed. to attend a workshop on Booksystems, a type of library system that we are considering. We also toured the main branch there, which was built four years ago at a cost of $154 per square foot (not including furnishings and concrete parking lot). The facility is beautiful, and we came away with some good pictures and ideas for a future main library in Ville Platte someday. Special thanks go to Michael, who was our driver and who had to work out some very confusing roads around the town square: none of us knew who had the right of way or where we needed to go next.
The next day Suzy and Ruth went to a state library workshop in Crowley at the main library there, and came away with some fascinating ideas for children's programs and also some good library arrangement ideas. It is always a good idea for us to see different places and encounter different ideas. Thank you, Suzy and Ruth, for attending this workshop.
Other thanks go to Tina D. for covering deliveries and also for substituting in Pine Prairie.
A lot is still going on in our basement remediation project, plus we are trying to get all the proposals in for Internet access for the next E-rate funding year. Also, an initial 2008 budget has to be developed for Library Board review before the Police Jury's budget hearing Dec. 27. The Library Board will meet Dec. 19, and I am working on the 2007 final budget, the 2008 initial budget, and a revision of the leave policy for the Board's consideration. Plus they will be making a decision on the Internet issue so that we can file the E-rate 471 to be able to recover as much as possible of the costs from the federal government's Schools and Libraries Division program. For them to be able to make that decision, I need to have for them a full and accurate analysis of the costs of each option under consideration.
The more I see of the complexity of the Internet project, the more I appreciate why the State Library came up with the solution it initially did (a bundled WAN network). While their solution is very costly per line, it is a fully E-ratable solution (which means that with the right paperwork we can recover 90% of the costs). It is a solution that doesn't require a lot of hardware, since most of it is provided through the bundled service--but not owned or serviced by the library. It also doesn't require the duplication of a lot of hardware at the different branches since the service all flows through the main library. And because it doesn't require a lot of hardware, it also doesn't require a lot in the way of IT support--which is particularly important for poor rural library systems like ours which outsource our IT.
On the other hand, a solution that sends out to the Internet separately from each branch, such as DSL, can cost a whole lot less per line--but it can mean having to have six (one for each branch) of hardware such as content filters and firewalls. Some of these items are not E-ratable, so hardware costs really shoot up with this solution. Also, this means that there are more pieces of hardware at six different locations to maintain. So while this solution is more "cost effective" in some components, in other ways it is clearly not.
I am going to take all proposals to the State Library for examination Dec. 10th. Overall which is the most cost effective solution, I do not yet know.
Best wishes,
Mary
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November 24, 2007
It was a short work week because of our Thanksgiving holidays. Thanks go out to Suzy for making deliveries on Tuesday and to Cindy and Michael for checking on the drop boxes at Main during the holiday break.
Additional thanks go to Mr. Winston Lafleur and his crew for doing more work on the basement and other areas of the main library. I am looking forward on Monday to seeing how much progress they made while we were closed to the public.
I got a letter from the State Library yesterday, from the Board of Library Examiners. I passed my test and now have an Executive Certificate as a Louisiana public library administrator. The certificate is good for five years and will require continuing education credits to maintain.
Take care. I hope you all had a very happy Thanksgiving.
Mary
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November 18, 2007
We were off Monday for Veterans Day, which was great but also meant that the week got off to a hectic start, with more than five days of work to do and four days to do it in. Among other things, there were monthly bills to pay, a presentation at Ville Platte Rotary Tuesday on the branch renovations, hosting of a consortium of library directors from different southwestern Louisiana parishes Wednesday at Basile, a special "We the People" program on Wednesday at the Turkey Creek Branch, and completion of a very long and complicated technology survey for the State Library to meet a deadline on Thursday. I finally got back to the main library basement project on Friday.
Special thanks go out this week to the following folks:
Parish engineer Ronnie Landreneau and contractor Steve Phillips who graciously were speakers with me at the Rotary presentation.
Sherry, Becky, and Lisa at Basile who worked very hard to get the Basile branch ready for the Libraries Southwest meeting.
Tina K., Angie, and Suzy who took care of all the preparations and hosting of the "We the People" event at Turkey Creek. I wasn't able to attend but heard that Turkey Creek residents had a great time and want to do it again.
Pinky and everybody who has been helping her (Michael, Suzy, Ruth and others) as she relentlessly is weeding the fiction shelves at the main library to make room for more new books.
Ruth, Suzy, and Linda who wrapped up the fall HeadStart programs and reports this week.
Cindy at main who got the vertical file/microfilm/tax form vault in good shape before ordering the new forms.
Thank you one and all!
In other news, it was a pleasure to see Suzy on the cover of "Buggy Tracks" promoting the Evangeline project and inside Buggy Tracks see many familiar friendly faces in the article about local veterans at the World War II memorial in Washington, D.C. It was also a pleasure to have visitors at the main library Friday from Tulane and Norway. They are researching French in different countries and loved speaking French with one of our regular patrons.
I hope everybody will have a great Thanksgiving this week.
Mary
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November 11, 2007
First, happy Veterans Day to all veterans and their families. We will be closed tomorrow in observance of Veterans Day, but we haven't forgotten that today is the official day.
Tina K., Michael, and I went back and forth to Baton Rouge Tuesday and Wednesday, for demonstrations of new integrated library systems (the systems that make possible online catalogs and many other features we take for granted in libraries today). I also needed to go to Baton Rouge to see various people at the State Library about how to evaluate different proposals for Internet access and our WAN (wide area network).
Tueday in Baton Rouge got off to a rotten start as the library van's power steering pump decided to die just as we were pulling into a parking garage. To top that off, the back brakes went, too. Anyway, it was a day not only of meetings but also of calling a service station and getting the van fixed. We had to leave Baton Rouge late and get back late, but on the whole we were very lucky that the problems hadn't started on the Mississippi River bridge!
Wednesday in Baton Rouge went much more smoothly. On both days Tina, Mike, and I learned a lot--in part how very complex the choice of a new integrated library system will be. I have us booked to go visit some libraries who are using new systems so that we can find out more about what the systems are really like to operate.
Back at the main library, Suzy, Ruth, and volunteer Linda were very busy with Head Start programs. Ruth and Linda also did a special program for Danielle's Day Care on Friday and did a great job. Thank you!
And at Basile Sherry is busy getting ready for us to host the Libraries Southwest consortium there this coming Wednesday.
Special thanks this week to Sherry for her preparations for Libraries Southwest, to Flo at Mamou for working on special research requests for a disabled patron, to Mike and Tina K. for having such long days on Tuesday and Wed. with Baton Rouge, to Suzy, Ruth, and Linda with the children's programs, to Tina D. for covering Pine Prairie and Angie for covering Turkey Creek, to Cindy for the work with claims for the police jury, and to Emily for processing the biggest batch of interlibrary loan items I've ever seen!
Mary
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November 4, 2007
Three vendors came calling this past week, and I will be interested to see their proposals for Internet access for the library system beginning in July. Meanwhile, the new upgrade is beginning to show results. Sherry, branch manager at Basile, called the other day to report that the technicians' work this week has made a big difference in bandwidth. I hope this will be true for the other branches as well, very soon.
A lot of folks who have fast Internet access at their homes don't realize that it is more complicated to set up a system for fast access for a main library and six branches. Whatever system we have has to accommodate a lot of special equipment at the main library (content filter, firewall, integrated library system server, webpage server, regular server, etc.) and has to work with the entire library network. I hope to go to Baton Rouge this week and ask the consultants there for some additional guidance as we try to decide what to do next.
While it may seem downright crazy to be searching for other options even as a new upgraded system is installed, funding cycles (especially with E-rate, the federal program that gives schools and libraries Internet access and telecommunications discounts) mean that we constantly have to be looking ahead.
Meanwhile, special thanks go out this week to Suzy, who waited and waited on her afternoon off for Gwyn from the Acadiana Arts Council to arrive for our next grant compliance review, to our volunteer Linda, who also came in for the compliance review at my request so that she could learn more about how our children's programs are set up and funded, to Cindy, who came in for all staff meeting on Wednesday in the middle of her vacation, to Lois from the Mamou Branch, who decided to cut her vacation short and come back early to be at the all staff meeting, and to Angie and Michael for working together to fulfill a special "e-reference" request about an obituary and burial information. We get more and more email requests coming from other states, where the requestors can't travel to Louisiana but need information about ancestors in our area. Sometimes it is hard to determine which parish in this part of Louisiana is likely to have the information, but we always try to help. This time, Michael was able to supply a crucial piece of the puzzle from his days as a reference specialist at Rapides Parish Library. Thank you!
And an even bigger thank you goes to our local genealogist and good library friend Joy who recently went to three different parish courthouses (Opelousas, Ville Platte, Crowley), in search of information for another out of state request. In that case we weren't able to find what the requestor wanted, but it certainly wasn't for lack of Miss Joy trying, on her own time and at her own expense!
This was also the Sacred Heart of Ville Platte Homecoming week, and I enjoyed watching their parade Friday afternoon from the main library's steps, as I'd done two Fridays ago for Ville Platte High School's Homecoming. Congratulations to both Ville Platte High School and Sacred Heart for winning their games this weekend.
Mary
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October 28, 2007
I spent three days in Baton Rouge at the public library administrators' conference. It is where the directors and some other staff from the library systems throughout the state get together and learn about new library developments and issues. I learned a lot but went away feeling a bit like a hamster running in a wheel--the more we get done, the more I learn about that we need to be doing!
Meanwhile, I would like to thank everybody who worked to keep things running back at the libraries. Special thanks go to Tina D. for fixing a computer problem on her own and to everybody who covered shifts for others due to illnesses and other emergency issues.
This coming week will be particularly busy as at least three vendors come to present proposals for the library's Internet access beginning in July 2008.
And of course it's also Halloween in mid-week. I have to find out what the trick or treat schedule is for the various parish towns and see if any of our libraries will be able to participate in some way.
Take care,
Mary
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October 20, 2007
The week started out with a bang as I drove in Monday, and Flo, branch manager at Mamou, called in to report that the branch's computers and phones were all dead. CenturyTel got the phones going again, and Jonathan with Information Systems Solutions (ISS) reset the computers with new surge protectors. They had all been fried, along with a poor unfortunate possum who apparently wandered into the Cleco substation late Sunday night and killed the electricity to a lot of users. Thanks to good surge protectors, we were some of the luckier computer owners in Mamou--all of our computers are fine. I would have hated to discover that expensive taxpayer-funded equipment had been fried by a possum.
Later during the week, I went to Basile and worked with Sherry on the building's exterior. We're trying to get the Basile branch ready for a renovation "grand opening" celebration (although we've been open since April 1st).
Meanwhile, Suzy, Ruth, and Linda (our great new volunteer) handled HeadStart programs, Cindy worked with me on more Erate paperwork, Tina K. got the draft board minutes ready, I worked some more on putting things back in the main library basement and juggled AT&T Internet issues, Angie did a great reorganization of the shelves behind the main library's circulation desk to make room for some generous new donations from the Genealogical Society, Michael worked part of the week in Mamou with Flo, and Emily turned out boxes and boxes of interlibrary loan items. Pinky worked on book orders, answered a lot of questions, and kept us all on track.
Friday afternoon we enjoyed watching the Ville Platte High School Homecoming parade go past the main library. It was a good parade, with lots of VPHS graduates participating and plenty of good candy thrown to an appreciative crowd. I was out there, waving, yelling, and grabbing some candy, too.
Happy Homecoming weekend!
Mary
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October 14, 2007
Well, I took the certification exam Friday. It is too early to know if I passed or not. If I didn't, I'll take it again the next time it is offered (probably next fall). It was a long test, followed by an interview. During the written test, I began to panic as I realized that I had one hour left and more than 4 essay questions left to answer.
In other events, AT&T is working with us to try to get the new routers hooked up at the main library and the branches, and we are working with AT&T to try to get some very complex billing issues ressolved. This week will be a very busy week for Internet issues. I just hope we can get everything done and cleared up before I have to be out of town Oct. 24 through 26 for administrators' conference.
Special thanks go out to Michael, who is temporarily working some days each week at Mamou, and to Sherry, who proposed the paint scheme for the exterior of the Basile branch. I must confess I was highly skeptical when she proposed the doors be painted RED, but the effect is fantastic and goes great with the new sign (for which thanks go out to Phillips Construction and their subcontractor AccuPress). Also, special thanks to Danny Gilane, library development consultant at the State Library, who has seen me twice in recent weeks at short (or no) notice about the Internet bandwidth and billing/E-rate situation.
ESPECIALLY thank you to everybody, at work and at home, who has put up with me being exhausted and grouchy before the exam! Your patience and support are very much appreciated!
Mary
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October 7, 2007
Since I am spending the weekend preparing for the certification exam for public library administrators (given this week in Baton Rouge), this entry will be very short.
Bye for now!
Mary
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September 30, 2007
That good news below (entry, Sept. 23) about revenues and expenditures was probably short-lived, killed by the AT&T Internet project. Looks like I will be working with the budget some more all this week before it goes to the Police Jury. The bad news arrived Friday when I opened an AT&T bill that was much higher than expected. Now we're all working to try to get it sorted out.
Cindy and Tina D. and I were working on the E-rate "paperwork" (now actually online) for CenturyTel last week. That was hard work for us, with plenty of online glitches. On the whole we were very fortunate that we only had to call the help line three times. This coming week's paperwork for AT&T is much more confusing and complex and will require coordination with more people outside the Library. Also very complex is how to get the AT&T new system hooked up by their technicans without creating a situation where Information Systems Solutions (ISS) has to go and physically deal with each of the 50 patron and staff computers in the library system, scattered over six locations. If ISS has to do that, then it will be yet another logistical and financial nightmare for us.
Many thanks to Cindy and Tina D. for their E-rate work, to Ruth for accepting leadership for the upcoming Head Start and other preschool programs, to our wonderful new volunteer Linda who is assisting Ruth, to Michael for making deliveries, to Emily for working with me on Family and Medical Leave Act research prior to the Library Board meeting, to Pinky for taking on more hours while someone is out on leave, to Angie for taking on two new special E-reference projects, and especially to all the staff who helped me surprise Mr. Donald Miley with a "birthday party" at the Library Board meeting. Also, special thanks go to Guaranty Glass of Mamou for replacing the bullet hole-riddled glass at the Mamou Branch and to Phillips Construction for resuming work on the exterior painting at the Basile Branch.
In other news, I am trying to find time to study for my certification exam, which is Oct. 12 at the State Library. It's important for the Library to have a board certified director, and I'm trying to get this done. But time before the test is running out fast!
Mary
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September 23, 2007
The Library Board of Control meets on Wed. Sept. 26th at the main library at 4 p.m., and amending the budget is one of the big items on the agenda. I have been working with the budget most of Saturday, trying to fine-tune and project a number of categories that are still pretty hard to pin down with all the main library renovation work ongoing. From tomorrow at noon until Wed. at 4 p.m., the preliminary amended budgets will be at the main library circulation desk if anybody would like to come look at them and comment before the meeting. Of course, the meeting is open to the public, and time will be allowed for comments then.
Here is a brief summary of some of the budget information to be presented:
1) Revenues: The good news is we should have, by year's end, almost $43,000 more than was originally planned. Over $17,000 of it comes from increased State Aid, and that is very good news indeed. A good chunk of the rest comes from reimbursements for damages to the Mamou shelving and the Basile library front. Anyway, the overall point is that much of the difference comes as reimbursements for expenses already incurred, and won't open up new possibilities. But who's complaining: after all, it would be much worst if the expenses had been incurred and there was no way to seek reimbursement! In this case many thanks go to FEMA (for the water damaged Mamou shelving replacement) and good property insurance (for the aftermath of the Basile car accident that took out a good chunk of the front of the Basile building).
2) Expenditures: The good news here is that overall we held the line on operating expenditures, even with the many added costs of fixing the exterior and roof of the main library and remediating the basement (remediation and roof work still in progress). We are projecting overall operating expenditures of about $15,000 less than originally planned. To allow for the unexpected and uncertainty with the remediation project still in progress, we need this $15,000 margin. On the other hand, it has come at the cost of having to postpone some other needed items. For examples, we are delaying new shelving for new wall space at Pine Prairie and also delaying most audio and DVD purchases. We are also postponing buying blinds for the renovated Mamou and Basile branches.
3) Construction budget: The bad news here is that we will need to transfer almost $40,000 from the library's savings in order to complete the renovation of Mamou and Basile. This results from change orders to build circulation desks at Mamou and Basile and a change order to put carpet in the back rooms at Basile, plus additional costs (not with the contractor and not part of the contract) for moving everything at Mamou and putting it back into the building, for wiring the Mamou branch, and for the replacement of the Mamou shelving that was damaged by high water while in temporary storage on site (note: 75% of replacement paid by FEMA-thanks!).
Considering that the Library Board obtained $500,000 of certificates of indebtedness 3 years ago and should have (knock on wood!) managed to complete all the work for which the certificates were obtained by Dec. 2007 with only an additional $40,000 cost (even after construction costs rose sharply in the state following the hurricanes!) this is, I think, good work. It would not have been possible without a lot of help from the Police Jury and the Parish Secretary/Treasurer and the Parish Engineer. Thank you, one and all!
What have we obtained from the $500,000 of certificates plus the projected additional $40,000 taken from savings? The Library Board has kept faith with the whole parish by making improvements parishwide: a library branch was built at Turkey Creek, the front half of the old doctor's hospital property purchased in Ville Platte for a future handicapped-accessible main library, a program room extension added at the Pine Prairie Branch, and extensive renovations done to the Mamou and Basile branches. It's been a lot of work (and a very busy 3 years!), but all this work has put the library system in a position to give better service parishwide.
And I believe we do give better parishwide service. For example, Turkey Creek went from a one afternoon a week outreach site to a full service branch open 3 days a week (27 hours total). Chataignier Branch now has service 5 afternoons a week instead of two. Every library has all Windows XP patron computers. Summer performers now appear at all six branches instead of each appearing at only two or three. Physically handicapped patrons at Basile can now enter through the beautiful new ramp at the front door and both patrons and staff there are enjoying the more open and modern interior design. Mamou has almost paradoxically gained both more shelf space and open space. Pine Prairie program goers are no longer sitting right at the front door and interrupted by traffic in and out of the building.
On other fronts, we're working hard on the basement renovation and the additional branch bandwidth project, and have begun evaluation of possible new integrated library systems. Special thanks go out this week to Tina K. and Michael for attending demonstrations of integrated library systems on Tues. and Wed. in Baton Rouge, to Angie for covering Turkey Creek while Tina was gone Tues., to Suzy and Ruth for getting library staff from main, Mamou, and Pine Prairie to a special workshop Friday in Lafayette, and to everybody else for covering for all the folks who were at workshops, etc. this week. You all did great!
Best wishes,
Mary
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September 16, 2007
I put public thank you's about Book Fest on the Library's main welcome page. There were so many people to thank: staff, Friends, and sponsors, and others. Without repeating all that information, here's a little more detail about the event and what went on behind the scenes:
Friday was crazy, but went very well, thanks to Suzy renting the Civic Center for the library for two days rather than one. Michael Hebert, Suzy, Velma, and I moved a lot of books from the library and from the library's rented storage room at U-Stor-It. That storage is awesome! Believe me, I know, because we also have rented storage at two different places in Mamou: one that is insulated but not climate controlled, where we have to go in with spider spray cans blasting, and another that is not insulated where I'm afraid to try to go in at all. Also, at one time we rented storage on site at the Mamou Branch where moisture got in during high rains and ruined good shelving. So I can really appreciate walking into a "clean, well-lighted [and air conditioned] place" devoid of anything worse than the occasional cricket.
A lucky break was a slight breeze and temperature drop caused by Hurricane Humberto. Even so, Michael and the others looked really exhausted moving everything. Velma, with her arm in a sling and her bad leg, and I pretty much supervised. Suzy looked sick, too, and it turned out that night that she had bronchitis, which was discovered in a trip to the emergency room. I felt OK but about a million years old. On the whole, we were kind of a rag tag crew, and if not for Michael we wouldn't have made it.
We also wouldn't have made it without Ruth Stanley, who came to the rescue at the Civic Center to work with Michael to put up the banners and decorations that none of the rest of us were either tall enough or in shape enough to place. (The next morning everything looked great.)
Friday afternoon came the Friends of the Library volunteers: Paula (Friends president), Janet and her sister Linda, Jamie, Julia (Library Board president), Miss Margaret (who began the day by making signs for us), and others. I am going to try to find out who all did come and help unpack all those boxes of books and audio and video cassettes that we had placed earlier in the day alongside the long tables under the North Side Civic Center Pavillion. I missed some folks because I took off to check on Suzy in the E.R. after Ruth came back and told me she was there.
I found Suzy in good spirits. What a trooper! The next day she never gave a hint of how her chest was hurting, as she dashed from place to place, making sure everything was going well. But Friday night we were all worried it might be a heart attack. Thank goodness it was bronchitis, but even so I know she was still not feeling her usual self the next day. For one thing, I don't think she got out of the E.R. until 8 or 9 o'clock.
Despite all the dashing around and standing on my bad leg, I really enjoyed Book Fest. It seems to me to bring out the very best in a lot of the community. There is something really special about seeing so many people so happy to come buy books. Many folks buy one year, donate the books back for the next year's sale, and go to the next year's sale and buy some more! I had great conversations with some patrons about favorite books and characters. These brought back some great old memories of days back when I was a young teen who read for pleasure every chance I got.
To me, Book Fest helps fulfill the library's mission by encouraging reading and putting books in the hands of as many people as possible.
The Book Fest was by no means the only unusual event of the week. We closed early on Thursday due to Humberto, and on Wednesday I felt like Humberto was chasing me home as I left Lake Charles following a Libraries Southwest workshop. We are also getting ready for major changes in our AT&T bandwidth service. It was also the week for bill paying and for mid month paychecks, so everybody was working extra hard. Cindy and Tina D. did a great job with the bills, and Emily did great with the payroll. Michael did deliveries between the branches for the first time and did fine.
On the main library basement front, Mr. Winston's crew got most of the painting finished and a lot of the furniture back in place. Special thanks go out here to Emily: I had drawn up her excellent space plan and gone over the diagram with Winston, knowing that likely I would be occupied between Civic Center and U Stor It when Winston's crew arrived to put furniture back. Now we still have some more items to place and another basement room to clean up. Then there will have to be environmental tests of the air quality to make certain that the basement is ok again to use. It's a long process, but a necessary one. Already the basement feels and smells much cleaner.
Last night, after Book Fest, my husband Gary took me and my mom-in-law to Katfish Kitchen in Eola, a place my family has been going to for over 30 years. I was so tired, I felt like keeling over in my oyster platter. Wound up taking the food home for later when I'm not so wiped out. Today I still feel a little like I've been run over by a festival (and a basement project). But it's all good, and all worth it.
Many thanks!
Mary
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September 9, 2007
This was one of those weeks where so much was going on that it's hard to write about it. At one point we had the flat tar roofing crew, the CenturyTel crew, and Mr. Winston Lafleur's basement renovation crew all working on the main library at the same time. Add to this preparations for Book Fest on the 15th and a lot of normal work, and it was a busy week.
I've been dreaming about the basement renovation. At one point I had a dream where I was catching fish out of a drain in the basement.
Seriously, the Main Library basement work looks good so far, and I have hopes that we will be using the space productively again before Christmas. On another happy note, the additional piece needed to complete the Basile ramp was added, and looks great.
Other great news: Suzy told me that our grant application for funding for performances in 2008 was very well received by the grants funding panel, and we are going to receive almost our full requested amount. Thank you, Suzy, Velma, Emily, Cindy, and everybody else who worked to compose or helped edit and proofread the grant application.
There are a lot of deadlines to meet in Sept., and we all are rushing about, trying to meet them. We are trying to get more bandwidth to the branches by Oct. 1, run a good Book Fest on Sept. 15, meet some critical E-rate deadlines, attend demonstrations of library circulation systems at the State Library, get two staff more grant writing training, finish renovations at Basile and Mamou, prepare a new early childhood program to give to Head Start classes and other preschool classes this fall, and prepare for a Library Board meeting at the end of Sept. (tentatively set for Wed., Sept. 26th). And the clock is ticking to get in a funding request into state capital outlays through members of the state legislature before the Nov. 1st deadline: we need to do a request if we want to stand a chance of getting any funding help for planning and constructing a new main library.
Special thanks go out this week to Police Jury president Bill Guidry, who has been coming to check the basement project at each stage and help plan the next stage. Special thanks also go to Emily for coming up with a WONDERFUL space design plan for new use of the basement!
Velma and Suzy taped "Let's Talk About It" on KVPI to promote Book Fest. Listen for their interview with Mark Layne on KVPI this coming Thursday afternoon at 12:30.
Mary
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September 2, 2007
First, Happy Labor Day Weekend, everybody. I hope everybody is getting some well deserved rest.
At the main library, work continues on roof and basement. This is frankly a large repair and renovation effort and won't be done for several months. I can tell that this is frustrating for everybody at Main, as all the construction was so frustrating for Pine Prairie, Basile, and Mamou staff and patrons during their building renovations. (And still is frustrating for them, since there is still work to be completed at all three of these sites.)
I can see the stress of disruption getting to all of us, including me. All I can say is, keep doing the best you can. This too shall pass (one of these days!).
Meanwhile, thank you to all library branch managers and assistants who juggled schedules and travelled to the all staff meeting on Wed. morning. Special thanks at main to Emily, Cindy, Tina K., Velma, and Suzy for getting items ready for the meeting. You all did a great job.
Special thanks and congratulations to Suzy and Velma on the BEAUTIFUL Bonnes Nouvelles two page color spread on the Library's Summer Reading top readers and performers. I know Velma did a lot of work gathering the information, and Suzy worked very hard to compile everything and get it formatted with the newspaper staff. You both did fantastic.
Extra special thanks to Angie, for seeing the roofing crew's tar machine overflowing and pouring hot tar onto the parking lot. Angie sounded the alarm, so to speak, and prevented a really sticky situation from getting even worse!
Now, despite all the mess of repairs, etc., it's time to get ready for the FREE (admission, not the books--they're for sale) Book Fest on the 15th. This looks to be a good year, with a lot of Friends of the Library books, vendor sales, and music from Steve Smith, Charlo and the Southern Tradition Band, and KVPI, plus dance from the Tamizy Drum and Dance Group. It will be at the North Side Civic Center in Ville Platte from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. on the 15th.
This year we're trying something different with one of our featured children's performers: there will be a performance of the Calliope Puppets at 10 a.m. and again at 1 p.m. This way parents who have a morning or afternoon commitment still have a chance to bring their kids to experience one of the puppet shows. Calliope Puppets are awesome, and I hope as many kids as possible will get a chance to enjoy them. Grownups, too!
On a different note, we're trying to prepare for future changes in library automation and to that end several of us will be attending various vendor demonstrations at the State Library in Baton Rouge this fall. Here's an interesting and very important website about Library Automation. This is an excellent site for learning more about it.
I added it to our Links page and also added to Links a section on search engines, currently featuring Quintura, Iquick, Ask, and Yubnub.
Mary
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August 26, 2007
The helpful folks at the State Library (thanks especially, Danny) looked over the proposed service substitutions on the bandwidth and gave the OK, so I sent that paperwork off this past week. Thanks, Cindy and Tina D., for giving it one more final check before I mailed it out.
Thanks also to Tina K. for getting draft board minutes ready to send out for review and to Suzy and Ruth for substituting for Velma with the HeadStart orientation day at VERY short notice.
Velma fell and cracked her wrist in three places. Being a really tough and determined person, she is back at work already. Velma, we all admire your spirit and wish you a great and full recovery.
Also, thank you, Suzy, for trying to track down all of our performers for BookFest (now only weeks away). We're getting excited about BookFest, but also nervous about those performers who have disconnected phones or suddenly are speaking about possible conflicting commitments.
On Friday afternoon I took Michael with me on a tour of 4 branches. Along the way, he got to experience the fun of trying to install wire stabilizers on shelving at Mamou, prop up a sign with bricks in Chataignier, clean spiders (LOTS of them and many different varieties) off stored furniture in Mamou and Pine Prairie, and track renovation things still to be fixed in Basile, Mamou, and Pine Prairie. Thank you, Michael!
Next week will be even busier, and the main library roofing and basement work continues. Oh well: hopefully someday we will have a new main library. Personally, I think one somewhat like the North Regional Branch for Lafayette Parish would be nice. If you'd like to see what I mean, check out this Lafayette Parish construction blog.
Mary
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August 19, 2007
The meeting with AT&T representatives last Tuesday was cordial, but it is still unclear what we need to do. I am seeking advice from consultants at the State Library before proceeding. Special thanks go out to Cindy and Tina D. for attending the meeting with me and for keeping fantastic E-rate records--which will be essential, whatever we decide is our next step. The overall goal is to upgrade our current AT&T WAN bundled network to improve bandwidth to the branches without making the library system go broke!
Special thanks also go to Mr. Winston Lafleur's crew for getting up the carpet in the back two rooms of the basement last week, to Ruth for service above and beyond the call of duty regarding a patron bathroom disaster, to Suzy for doing deliveries two weeks in a row, and to everybody who has been part of my support system as I tried to get the old carpet glue off the floor of one of the basement rooms (and discovered what a mess that was!). Since we temporarily are without water in the basement, I certainly couldn't have gotten as far along with the project as I did Friday afternoon without Michael's bucket brigade. I am trying to get up the glue without producing dust or fumes: whether I will be successful remains to be seen. Recovering the concrete with something other than sealer is not an option: we want to make sure there is no floor surface that could be harboring undetected mold.
Today rain is pounding Ville Platte, and my big worry is: Was the roof work sufficiently far along, or did we get damage from today's rain? (The roof work is critical and was long delayed, even after we had signed the contract with the contractor. Months of heavy rains certainly didn't help.)
And there's another underlying worry. Basically, it comes down to this: we can keep trying to fix this old building indefinitely, expending every ounce of energy and money. Or I can get busy again on the new library project. I'm come to realize I can only "multitask" so far, and concerns about doing the basement safely have also meant trying to do a lot down there pretty much on my own. We can't afford to let this project stop us from meeting critical milestones this fall if we are going to have a reasonable chance to get a new library building within the next four years.
Sometimes I feel it would be best to seal off the basement and go on with the new library project rather than attempt both. But staff at main keep reminding me that it's really tough to get by without a kitchenette and some sort of employee lounge in the current building (both were in the basement), plus come next summer we will desperately need a children's program area (was in the basement, too). Both positions are valid. I know they've had to put up with very cramped and difficult space conditions ever since May, and I want and need to keep on doing whatever I can to try to make the situation more tolerable for everyone. Unfortunately, it often feels like one step forward and two steps back (on bad knees and ankles).
Mary
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August 12, 2007
I'm dealing with numerous computer problems this week, and will be meeting with AT&T representatives about our Internet this coming Tuesday.
Special thanks this week go out to the wonderful police jury crew who came and moved stuff in the main library basement last Thursday, in preparation for carpet removal and basement floor sealing. The guys worked fast and did a great job. Also, special thanks go out to Tina D. with the library system for seeing a problem with a computer monitor in Pine Prairie and going to a lot of effort to take care of it, to Suzy who volunteered to stand in a huge line to return a fan for the library at Wal Mart, and to Lois at Mamou, who came to work early Wednesday to let our project manager Kevin get into the Mamou building to take some renovation measurements. Also, thanks go out to several Sacred Heart volunteers who have been helping rearrange the books at the main library. So many community supporters and folks throughout the library system are willing to go the "extra mile" for the library, and it is deeply appreciated.
Thank you!
Mary
P.S. The roofing work at the main library is finally in progress! Because of the heat, the crew is working at night.
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August 5, 2007
A little over a week ago, somebody shot bullet holes into the front windows of the Mamou Branch Library. I haven't written about it before, because it made me so mad I didn't feel like I could speak about it without starting to rant. We've all worked so hard to get that branch renovated, and for somebody to vandalize the front of it was very discouraging. Now I'm trying to get the damage fixed.
There are also some ongoing issues left over from the Basile Branch renovation, and this week I took pictures of the problems and brought them to Kevin Lafleur, the project manager at Landreneau and Associates, the project's architects/engineers.
In Pine Prairie branch manager Pam Guillory and I are trying to get issues resolved with the air conditioner in the ceiling of the new addition (added last year). I've decided I never want to have anything to do with an a.c. unit in a ceiling again: the thing keeps leaking and messing up the ceiling tiles and the carpeting.
Meanwhile in Chataignier a nice guy named Curtis working for Cedillo Communications put up library signs for us at the "Y" and another intersection. We're still trying to get more folks to use the Chataignier Branch, which has very little use compared to the other branches. I'm hoping the new signs will help draw more attention to the branch.
There is far more going on in the system than facility issues, of course, but this week seemed a good time to show the variety of facility issues that crop up throughout the library system. Naturally, there are a LOT of other facility issues, as well.
Take care,
Mary
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July 29, 2007
We got excellent news this past week: State Aid for this State fiscal year has been more than doubled, from $16,047 to over $33,000! I don't know yet if we will receive the money before our fiscal year is over: we are on a Jan. to Dec. fiscal year, while the State's fiscal year began July 1st. Whenever the money comes, it will be really welcome! State Aid goes to help support technology, and certainly in the technology area we need all the help we can get.
We also got some fine local help this week from Pam McGee, Ville Platte main street manager and dedicated Friends of the Library volunteer. Pam worked for two days on the shrubs and flower beds at the main library. Thank you, Pam!
I should write more but feel frankly sort of drained. There are many projects that I am trying to get done, and sometimes (like this past week) they catch up with me and I just feel like I'm spinning my wheels and not getting very far on any of them. But that's life.
Take care,
Mary
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July 22, 2007
Between all the Summer Reading wrap up events and the Library Board meeting on Thursday morning, it was a really busy week. Everything seemed to work out very well, despite heavy rain and many last minute things for everybody to do.
At the wrap up parties, David LeBoeuf presented new magic tricks, incorporating a brief history of magic in different countries. The kids seemed to especially love his special Ritz cracker trick, as they "threw" imaginary crackers into a paper bag and then to their delight saw David pour the crackers out. Thank you, David!
One outcome of Thursday's Library Board meeting is that Michael Hebert is now a full-time employee. Mike has been associated with this system off and on for nearly 10 years, and we are delighted to have him join us full-time.
Saturday morning I got up early and headed toward Ville Platte. My mission was to get copies of the new Harry Potter book and get them in Wesley's hands for cataloging Saturday morning. Although none were on the Wal Mart shelves when I got to town, the folks there helpfully checked inventory, went into the warehouse area, and brought out more boxes of Harry books. In line right behind me was the Ville Platte High School librarian, also on a mission to acquire copies for her library.
Many thanks to Wesley for cataloging the copies right away. I know he will be tied up for a couple of weekends with his role in the Eunice little theater production of "Fiddler on the Roof," and won't be able to catalog as much for a while. Everybody wishes him great success with Fiddler and we all appreciate the way he and Pinky have kept the new books coming.
However you may feel about the Harry Potter books, there is something fascinating about the way many children are growing up right along with the main characters, and the interest for this book should be intense.
Mary
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July 15, 2007
The rains haven't given us much of a break: while it may get dry for a day or two, we need a stretch of assured dry days. Nobody wants the roof of the main library partly off when a heavy rain comes along!
I talked to Lori Martinez, Sen. Donald Hines' assistant, Friday and learned that the library isn't eligible for emergency funds to help with the remediation because the problem wasn't caused by an emergency, at least not one fitting the emergency definition.
In other news, I went to the Police Jury meeting last Monday to hear the Parish Engineer report to the jury that the renovation projects at the Basile and Mamou branches are substantially complete. Juror Bob Manuel asked me if we were satisfied with the work, and I told him and the jury that we were very pleased and appreciate the jury's support.
I also attended Libraries Southwest on Wednesday at Sowela in Lake Charles. One topic that keeps coming up is rising personnel costs and how to revise pay scales. This is a project that the Library Board here wrestled with in committee meeting Thursday and will be dealing with again this coming week at Thursday's board meeting.
Meanwhile, the big pressing project for us this week, especially for Suzy and Velma and the branch managers, but also for all staff, is Summer Reading wrap up. There are parties to coordinate, records to tally, pictures of top readers throughout the system to get for the Bonnes Nouvelles, and lots of cupcakes to be delivered. It's a lot for Suzy and Velma to coordinate between six facilities. I want to thank them for all they are doing to keep Summer Reading going great.
Everybody deserves a big round of applause. Late in May it wasn't clear that we would be able to even maintain Summer Reading at the main library, because of all the problems of moving the children's collection and losing use of the children's program room. Everybody pulled together, and it looks like we are going to have one of our most successful summers in years. Thank you! And thank you to all the families who have put up with a lot of inconveniences in Ville Platte and come out weekly to support the program.
You all are wonderful. I hope that someday we will be able to build the truly wonderful library you deserve.
Mary
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July 8, 2007
The constant rains are still hampering all work on the main library, plus to some extent putting a bit of a damper on business throughout the system. Hopefully this coming week will be better.
We are entering a very busy time: the last two weeks of Summer Reading, with all the arrangements, events, record tallies, prizes, etc. etc. that that entails. Plus, it is the start of a new critical time for E-rate funding (and accompanying reporting requirements), as we've begun another E-rate funding year July 1st. Top those 2 off with the need to get a revised budget done, review policies, wrap up current renovation projects, deal with pressing maintenance issues at each library facility (each has different issues, but they all have some, and they all need to be addressed as quickly as possible). To top it off, everybody within the library system needs to stay vigilant during hurricane season.
I know it doesn't do any good to keep whining about it, but truthfully there is a whole lot to library work that the public can't see or realize. Still, I guess the same can be said about any business or occupation.
Take care,
Mary
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July 01, 2007
Well, no sign of the roof work yet, and even more discouraging, no sign that the library's request for funds to help with water damage and mold remediation in the main library basement actually made it through the legislature. I was up last night wading through hundreds of pages of bills on the legislature site and couldn't find it. I saw where the Bolton Library at LSUA got $300,000 for water damage and mold remediation (they also got on the front page of The Town Talk this morning), and the Innis Library got close to 2 million for projects, but I don't see us. I am hoping I just was looking in the wrong places or just overlooked our request for $100,000, but I fear the help isn't coming.
As usual, we will all just do the best we can. Everybody on staff at main is having to put up with a lot of inconveniences: they lost their lounge, their refrigerator, their sink and microwave, and basically all of their private space. They're all doing a great job of making the best of a tough situation. And on the bright side, business is really good, with our numbers for books checked out for June actually higher this June than last, despite losing a lot of shelving space. All I can say is: both the library staff and the patrons are really great! Thank you!
Happy 4th of July week,
Mary
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June 24, 2007
I didn't post a blog entry last Sunday, both because it was Father's Day and because my family and I were on vacation. Now we're back, and I know there will be many issues to deal with at work tomorrow. I'm hoping Jody Lavergne with Lavergne's Roofing was able to begin the roof work on the main library.
We have two deadlines I know of next week: the State Aid report is due to the State Library, and next week is our last chance to spend the remaining one thousand dollars of a Gates grant to help our public access computing. I also need to confer with Library Board members so that dates and times can be set for a policy committee meeting and for the next full board meeting. Both dates need to be finalized next week so that these meetings can take place before the middle of July. There will also be a lot to do in preparation for the meetings.
On the list of items the board will need to address are a budget revision and also revision of the library's pay scale. The pay scale will need changing in part because on July 24th the minimum wage goes up to $5.85. Fortunately almost all of the staff members make at least the new minimum wage already, but the change will make parts of the current pay scale out of date. The minimum will rise to $6.55 next July and $7.25 the following July. Thus, now is probably a good time to take a new look at the whole scale. Anyway, I will be working hard on draft budget revisions and pay scales for the Board to consider.
I'm also looking forward to seeing how the exterior work on the Basile Branch has progressed. Adding a ramp to the Basile front entryway is very important: it sends the message that this branch is truly accessible to all. Basile Branch user statistics are way up following the renovation of the interior, and we hope this exterior renovation will also be a big success.
To everybody who worked so hard this past week throughout the library system: Thank you!
P.S. 3:45 p.m.: I just called Pinky to hear how things went. Special thanks to everybody who managed to get the program done, especially Ruth who trained as backup and Susie and Velma who both overcame many obstacles to be there. It sounds like you all had a great crowd! Special thanks also to Tina D. for getting deliveries done at short notice and giving up some personal time to get emergency supplies to the Basile Branch. Pinky said everybody did great.
Mary
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June 10, 2007
I'm almost too tired to write. This past week has been very busy, both at work and at home. Mamou Branch is up and running again, with the computers working. I spent a few hours there on Thursday putting some of the books back on the shelves. The new shelving for the back room really looks good, but the job of getting everything in place is pretty daunting.
I was also happy to attend shows of our first performer of the summer, Papillion. Dressed as a pirate captain, Papillion was a big hit with both the kids and adults as he sang songs about pirates and about caring for and respecting the earth. I saw his show in Ville Platte and Basile. Everywhere he went, he was well received.
At Basile the work on the exterior of the building has begun. The new ramp for the front door should be completed soon.
I dropped in on the Chataignier Branch Thursday afternoon and was delighted to see how many kids of various ages were working on projects at the library.
Meanwhile, work continued at a fast pace at the main library. We moved a lot of items for the fall book sale into storage, with the help of some wonderful volunteers from Sacred Heart. Velma is working hard to keep everything running for this year's Summer Reading program, and Suzy is working on our grant application for next year's programming. The application must be turned in by this Friday for us to have any chance of getting Decentralized Arts funding for next year's programs. Cindy is getting the bills ready for payment by the police jury, and Tina K. and I are trying to catch up on some statistical reports and meet some other deadlines. Pinky, Ruth, Angie, and Michael have been working hard at the desk with many customers, and Tina K. and Angie were also at Turkey Creek. They had very good results for that branch's first program of the summer.
Special thanks go out this week to Tina D. for going to Mamou to help Flo and Lois with reshelving their collection and to Emily, who gave up time off to get needed information to the auditors on her day off. Thank you both so much!
Best wishes,
Mary
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June 3, 2007
Well, one good piece of news was the Galaxy alpha server is working again (for now, knock on wood). This is quite a relief, since there are a flood of books being checked out for Summer Reading. Friday we checked out 432 items at the main library, which is a huge amount for us. Mike, Ruth, Angie, Velma, and many others worked the desk throughout the day. The pace never let up. It was quite busy at other open branches, too. Thank you to everybody throughout the library system for making the opening day of Summer Reading a big success!
Also good news: the work on getting Mamou back up and running is progressing. There is a problem with the Internet circuit, however, and Mamou cannot yet provide Internet access or check out items with the computers. Bellsouth is scheduled to come work on the problem tomorrow. Meanwhile, special thanks go out to Flo and Lois at Mamou for all they are doing to get their branch ready to run again. Lois's grandaughter Amber has been volunteering and helping a lot, too. Thank you, Amber!
Special thanks also to Suzy and Velma for going on "Let's Talk About It" on KVPI. As always, I think you did a great job promoting the start of Summer Reading.
Now here's the weekly update on the main library basement situation. I am sorry, but this part will be long:
1) Monday night at the Chamber of Commerce banquet, library board president Julia Fontenot, police jury president Bill Guidry, and I did our best to make Bobby Jindal, Dr. Don Hines, and Eric LaFleur all aware of the potential need for expensive mold remediation at the main library. All were sympathetic and told us to keep them informed as we found out more.
2) There was a meeting at the main library Tuesday afternoon of representatives of the police jury (Mr. Bill Guidry), Mr. Ronnie Landreneau (parish engineer), library board (Mr. Donald Miley and Mr. Bill), and folks from Envirocon, Jones Environmental, and a company called 1-800-Flooded. The guys went all over the building, looking at the 1937 blueprints and examining the basement especially. I showed them all the many efforts that have been made over the past 6 years or so to get the basement dry and keep it dry: the wall that was cleaned and sealed, the pipe in the basement that replaced an earlier pipe that leaked, the roof constructed over the outside steps leading down to the drain, the sandbags, the pipeline drawing rainwater off away from the south wall and out into the parking lot, etc. Frankly, keeping a basement in a 70-year-old building dry in Ville Platte is not the easiest job in the world (or as one of the experts was overheard remarking, this is the wrong building in the wrong place.) The members of the different companies promised to have a remediation proposal and cost estimates available for a special meeting of the library board on Friday morning. I posted the special meeting announcement and agenda at the main library.
3) On Wednesday a number of agencies worked together to make it possible for us to schedule our Summer Reading programs in the old city courtroom rather than upstairs in the library. The space will be slightly bigger and handicap accessible, plus will keep events from having to be cancelled for any remediation efforts that might create noise or hazards. We are all very grateful for this special help at a difficult time.
4) On Thursday I kept calling Jones Environmental, etc., reminding them that we needed the reports asap. Finally, Thursday afternoon we had them, but there was no cost breakdown (only a $89,468 total pricetag). Several staff members helped me get the packets of reports ready for the next morning's meeting. A copy of the report packet is being kept with the library's records and is available for the public to inspect. I also kept the consultants at the State Library informed, in case we need to try to seek funding or technical support through the State Library (plus sometimes a librarian needs a librarian shoulder to cry on). One bright spot was that the air quality assessment results were better than we had feared, and the other tests done for mold (tape samples taken in spots considered suspicious) were largely negative. Only one tape sample taken up against a small section of sheetrock and a sandbag in the basement was positive for black mold--even a tape sample of previously wetted carpet only about six inches from the sandbag was negative for the mold. The results seem to suggest that basement dampness poses a hazard for future mold growth but current growth is limited and contained. The back of the small patch of sheetrock wall looks like the most likely spot. (My layman's summary, not an expert opinion.)
5) The library board met Friday morning, with 4 of the 6 board members in attendance and with the parish engineer Ronnie Landreneau and the board's legal advisor Tony Walker present. The board agreed to do the following at this time: a) Put doors across the main basement entrance and keep the basement areas non-occupancy areas--i.e., no staff offices or staff lounge or public bookstack or program rooms. b) Seek emergency funding for remediation efforts. These efforts will involve thoroughly cleaning and drying and sealing the basement (and cleaning its contents), under special controlled conditions. c) Have Ronnie Landreneau get more cost and task information from Jones Environmental, a company that is proposing to do remediation. d) Explore other remediation options, since the cost amount cited means under bid law we need to procure other remediation proposals and cost estimates. We also need to work with the police jury on a project of this magnitude. e) Research dehumidifiers and moisture meters for the basement. (By the way, one good thing is that the air supply for the basement is not the big unit on the main floor. The basement has two window air conditioners instead.)
So that's where we are now, with everybody busily working on various tasks related to this project. I would like to thank everybody who helped get ready for the board meeting. You all did a lot!
As soon as we get more information, I will try to have somebody from the library board or police jury brief us in more detail at staff meeting. I am briefing on this project at each staff meeting, but staff probably would like a chance to ask board or jury representatives questions.
No tests have indicated that the basement problem poses a hazard in other areas, and the testing of the basement is not conclusive for a hazard there, either. However, we don't want to take a chance with health and safety. We will get the basement properly cleaned and dried and then environmental test again.
Again very gratefully,
Mary
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May 27 & 28, 2007
Sometimes there come days when challenges really pile up. This past week has been full of those days, and next week looks to be more of the same. I'll try to summarize briefly:
1) We're getting ready for Summer Reading and are suddenly without the ability to check out items quickly (our Galaxy alpha server looks dead, and the work order process to deal with that can't even begin until Tuesday). Complicating the repair or replacement process is the problem that Galaxy alpha servers aren't even made anymore! Our overall circulation system is an aging "legacy" system (one of the very last two or three left in the state), and while time is running out to replace it, many other issues are pressing, also. Plus, replacing it will likely be a year-long process and very expensive and complicated.
2) It's time to get Mamou Branch up and running again, and still there is a great deal of complicated and last-minute work that has to be coordinated to make reopening possible. (I'm leaving this at one sentence, but it could be a page in itself.)
3) We're dealing with environmental issues with the basement at the main library. This basement is roughly a third of our meager square footage, and includes 5 persons' work areas, plus the staff lounge, the storage areas, cataloging and new book processing, and the Young Children's Room and Teen Room. I haven't received any written report yet, and won't get detailed information until Tuesday afternoon. Basically, so far I've been told that the outer basement walls are getting moisture and there is evidence of mold, particularly in the staff areas in the basement. We've had an assessment done by Environcon and will get those results Tuesday afternoon and then be working to remediate any mold situation (remediation probably by Jones Environmental). At the same time, we have to prepare to function without the basement at least for the near future. This is why you'll see major changes and rearrangements of shelving and office space. My first priority was to get all staff out of the basement and relocate the children and teen's rooms. Perhaps erring on the side of caution, I want nobody in the basement until any problems there have been ressolved.
4) Deadlines are looming. We need to sign paperwork for CIPA compliance, get the auditors anything they need, and complete next year's Summer Reading grant application while beginning to implement this year's grant in spite of all the other difficulties. One bright spot here is Wal-Mart has given us $1000 to help with this summer's prizes and supplies. Another big bright spot is notification that we are going to be able to get increased bandwidth in the next few months. It will cost more but will be well worth it, especially for the branches, who have been struggling with frame relay 64 K lines. They will be getting point to point T1. Do I know what those words actually mean? Not exactly, but I know that we have been (and are continuing) to work hard to get the change. Currently it is hard to do Internet searches at the branches because the pages load so slowly and it is difficult to do needed computer updates there because of the very slow downloads.
In the midst of all this, my heartfelt thanks go out to everybody in the library system, and especially to everybody, staff and volunteers alike, who have been working so hard to rearrange the main library's various areas. They've moved an astounding amount of books and shelvage and worked very hard to go through and remove old magazines and newspapers, etc. to make the building able to function with one-third less space. Many of their rearrangement ideas (not sure who came up with each idea first) are very clever and creative, making incredibly good use of space. Everybody has really pulled together, with dedication, good humor, and a real "can do" attitude. Thank you all so much!
VERY gratefully,
Mary
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May 20, 2007
On the personal front, my mom-in-law is doing better. Thank you for expressions of concern.
The Library is getting ready for Summer Reading throughout the system, and we're trying to get the Mamou Branch ready for reopening in time for Summer Reading. Hopefully, the linoleum will be laid by Wed., and then we can arrange for the return of the furniture, etc. Then will come all the computer hookups, and a lot of other electrical and technical issues to be dealt with before reopening. I need to order a refrigerator for the branch (making sure the size will fit in the new kitchenette area), and we have to get the Xerox machine back from its temporary home over at the health unit (many thanks to the health unit for agreeing to store it for us). Finally, I hope to get new blinds ordered for both the Mamou Branch and the Basile Branch, and we hope to get going on the exterior renovation (new front door ramp, etc) at the Basile Branch.
None of this will be made any easier by the fact that I hurt my knee a little over a week ago and am sort of hobbling about.
Friday, I graduated from LSU's School of Library and Information Science with a Master's of Library and Information Science (MLIS). Rebecca Hamilton, the State Librarian, was the guest speaker, and I enjoyed getting to see her and hear her talk. My mother graduated from the same program 65 years ago (1942), and Dean Beth Paskoff very graciously introduced her and led a long round of applause for Mom. Needless to say, Mom was delighted, and so was I. Just for fun, I'm adding a few pictures from the event below. Thank you to everybody who helped make the event possible, especially my sister Ruth who drove me to graduation with my bum knee and very special thanks to all the Evangeline Parish Library staff and Library Board, who have encouraged me as I worked on this degree over the past five years. You all are wonderful!
Best wishes,
Mary
Left to right: Lelia Foster, Dr. Robert Ward, Rebecca Hamilton (State Librarian) / Lft. to rgt: Rebecca Hamilton, Lelia Foster, Dr. Carol Barry
Dr. Ward was my advisor, and he and Dr. Barry are two of my favorite professors whose classes I really enjoyed and learned a lot in.
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May 13, 2007
Happy Mother's Day. This has been a tough weekend for me personally, as my mother-in-law had to be rushed to the hospital Saturday afternoon and is still in the hospital. We're all pretty exhausted, so I need to delay posting work matters here until tomorrow or Tuesday.
Until then,
Mary
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May 6, 2007
The renovation work continues at the Mamou Branch. Meanwhile, folks are anxious at the main library for Lavergne's Roofing to begin replacing the leaking flat roof on the back of the building. Our architect/engineer for the roofing project, Ronnie Landreneau, is going to be in touch with Mr. Lavergne to see when the work can begin.
At the Library Board meeting on May 2nd, board member Jennifer Vidrine reported on two very exciting developments. First, Evangeline Parish was awarded an Active Caring Award on the national level for its work with Katrina and Rita evacuees. The award was given based on the work of many people, especially those involved with the shelters, but also very especially the police jury and the library system. Mr. Bill Guidry, police jury president and member of the library board, included many nice things about the library in the parish's application for the award. Evangeline Parish receiving this award speaks very positively of how well the different public agencies and individual communities came together to deal with the crisis. I hope we will always continue to band together in crises so well.
The second exciting development Jennifer reported on was her trek in Washington, D.C., to see each of the Louisiana delegation or their assistants and present the urgent need for a new main library building. Thank you, Jennifer!
The board voted to make explicit in the library's Electronic Resources Policy something that I believe was already implicit in the policy but perhaps needed to be stated directly: The Evangeline Parish Library has no intention of creating public forums, limited or otherwise, in use of the library's computer resources. In part this means we are not in the interactive mode of many public libraries with new technologies. Here are three examples of how this choice affects library electronic resources and makes them different than in many larger public libraries.
1) This blog you are reading is essentially a newsletter. That is, it has one author and is not a swapping of comments back and forth by different people.
2) The library blocks social networking sites and chat. This does not mean that anybody at the library necessarily disapproves of social networking sites and chat; simply that these are not part of the library's mission. Many good and useful and legal activities are just not part of the library's mission.
3) Our online card catalog does not allow viewers to comment on books, etc. by posting their own brief reactions and reviews.
These are not the only ways that NOT being a public forum, limited or otherwise, affects library electronic resources and how they are used. However, I thought these 3 might be beneficial to illustrate the basic point. The library provides electronic resources for the public to use in researching and learning and doing school work, etc.; it does not provide resources geared toward members of the public individually expressing views, exchanging them with wide groups, or publishing their personal information, thoughts, and experiences and viewing others' personal information, etc. (Incidentally, there is no evidence that the rise in interactive social networking applications has increased the knowledge of the general public: in fact, people are tending to score WORSE on public affairs quizes and general knowledge rather than higher as more and more people spend more and more time online. There is still a LOT to be said for books, magazines, and newspapers.)
Bandwidth and technical resources are frankly quite limited, and attempting to be all things to all people would not be possible for our library system. Uses and changes to technology are happening so fast that there is no way we can make everybody happy. Electronic resource costs last year were more than DOUBLE the costs for all other collection items we purchase combined. That is, we spent more than DOUBLE on electronic resources what we spent on books, magazines, DVD's, videos, audios, newspapers, and magazines for the main library and all 5 branches.
Anyway, just something to think about. I realize you may disagree, and I respect that. There is also a procedure for requesting consideration of policy changes, and this procedure is posted at the main library in Ville Platte and every public library branch in the parish.
Sincerely,
Mary
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April 29, 2007
As expected, the first week back at work after vacation was busy and had its share of surprises. One happy one was board member Jennifer Vidrine's request for some briefing materials about our need for funding support for a new main library. Jennifer was going to Washington and hoped to have a chance to meet with some or all of the Louisiana delegation. In a couple of hours, staff members and I got a PowerPoint together and over to Jennifer's office. Special thanks to all who helped put it together on short notice.
Cindy brought me more good news before the week was over: our E-rate funding request to increase the bandwidth at all of the branches has been approved! This is something we've been working on for nearly a year. Now I have to start working on the schedule and specifics for implementation with Bellsouth/AT&T.
Special thanks go out this week to Tina K., Turkey Creek Branch manager, for working overtime hours at Turkey Creek in order to wait for a locksmith. There has been a chronic problem with the door there, and Tina has been trying to get the locksmith scheduled for some time. When the locksmith could finally come, Tina gave up time at home rather than postpone the appointment.
Other special thanks go out to Assistant Director Pinky for working Saturday to replace a staff member who became ill Friday.
Special thanks go out to Velma and Suzy, who worked very hard on the Summer Reading staff meeting and also on flyers and other items for the upcoming Summer Reading program. They ran an excellent meeting, and Suzy came in extra time on her Friday afternoon off in order to get revised flyers and calendars ready for distribution to the branches this coming week.
Speaking of revisions, we are eliminating ticket incentives for attending programs at the library. Now the only way to get a ticket for the end of summer prize drawings will be to meet a reading goal.
I have mixed feelings. On the one hand, I know that the ticket program had just gotten too unwieldy, both for staff and for parents alike. On the other hand, I can still remember back when we had the same few children attend each program, and I know that our average attendance per program was greatly improved after we started the ticket incentive program. This attendance issue isn't just a matter of statistics: funding to get high-quality performers is largely dependent on Decentralized Arts Funding grants, as administered by the Acadiana Arts Council. These are competitive grants, with ever-increasing competition from schools and towns and other nonprofit groups within the parish. To make a long story short, one part of going after grants is demonstrating an audience for the programs and showing how you are "growing" that audience and increasing the presence and impact of your programs in the parish.
So I'm afraid that dropping the ticket incentives to attend programs will lead to attendance drops that could jeporadize future grant funding and cut the number of performers and performances we can put on (perhaps leading to some branches not being able to have all of the performers appear at that branch). On the other hand, it may not: maybe we have developed a strong core audience that will keep on growing, regardless of whether the kids receive tickets to come or not.
Only time will tell.
Mary
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April 22, 2007
There is a little more gap in blog entries than usual, because last Sunday I was on a cruise ship with my 86 year old mother, my aunt, and first cousin. Although the trip was planned and scheduled nearly a year ago, the passing of Miss Hazel in the week before we left for the 5 day cruise from Galveston made me realize how important it was for us to spend this time with our mothers. We were lucky to have beautiful cruise weather, and we managed ok with our mothers' wheelchairs.
I haven't checked in with work yet, so do not know yet precisely what new challenges await this week. We have an all staff meeting on Wed. morning to prepare for Summer Reading, and the next Library Board meeting is scheduled for May 2nd. There is much to do Monday and Tuesday this week to prepare for both meetings. I also need to get the Summer Reading information pages ready to put up on this webpage.
I also am anxious to see how things are going with the Mamou renovations and meet with whomever is replacing Lucas Buller with Landreneau and Associates as the renovation project manager, now that Lucas has been appointed Registrar of Voters. Lucas has done a great job as project manager on the Pine Prairie addition project and on the Basile and Mamou renovations so far. We will all miss him.
I am looking forward this week to seeing how Suzy and Velma are progressing with developing a proposed lineup of performers for 2008. They have to set up tentative bookings before they can write a grant proposal and submit it to apply for grant funding for the performances. Performers are expensive, especially when we are trying to set up 6 different shows, one at each library location.
I would like to thank everybody throughout the library system for all you have done to keep things running well throughout the system. You do a lot, much of which is not always readily apparent to patrons coming in the door but which is nonetheless essential. THANK YOU!
Looking forward to returning to work tomorrow,
Mary
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April 11, 2007
Monday morning we learned that Miss Hazel, the beloved hostess for the main library's "Silver Fox" coffee hours, had passed away early on Easter morning. I had seen her at the hospital last Wednesday and Thursday, and told her how much we all missed her and were thinking of her. Miss Hazel had celebrated her 86th birthday at the library, and at that time she was still able to drive herself to and from work. She worked faithfully, 10 hours a week, and was an inspiration to us all because of her faithfulness to her work and her dedication to the library. Although for over a year she had not been able to work, she would always say, when I would come to visit her at her daughter's house, "I'm coming back to work on Monday." Both Ginger, her daughter, and I knew that Miss Hazel could no longer work, but we'd always say something like, "Why don't you wait until the weather is a little cooler?" (or warmer, or some other excuse). I think Miss Hazel knew too that we were all talking about what we wished could happen, not what was.
I miss her.
Mary
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April 8, 2007
Happy Easter. I am very happy to report that the Basile Branch is now open again.
Best wishes,
Mary
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April 1, 2007
The first entry to this blog was on April 13 last year, so we're coming up on the first anniversary of the blog. Special thanks go out this week to everybody with the library or the Friends of the Library involved with Future Fest yesterday. We held it under the pavillion of the Northside Civic Center in Ville Platte because of the threat of rain. Which actually turned out for the best, despite the small crowd: the rains started right at the end and were big. Also, the Friends had planned for a fun jump for the kids, and there was one little problem with the planned site on the old hospital grounds: no electricity to keep the fun jump inflated. Anyway, everybody who went to the event (we probably had about 40 people total, coming and going) seemed to have a good time. The performers were excellent. Melissa Stevenson, a teacher from Lafayette who plays guitar and sings and is accompanied by her husband on guitar, was wonderful. I was out at the corner trying to wave down passersby to come attend. (I was the person wearing a Cat in the Hat hat and generally looking like a crazed little nut!) Anyway, I could hear her lovely voice all the way out to N. Soileau St. Rosa Metoyer, our storyteller, was also a lot of fun and at the end had the little kids making a band, each holding and using authentic African musical instruments. Melissa also led the kids on an imaginary train. It was all fun!
Special thanks go out to coordinators Velma Davis and Suzie Lemoine, and to Pinky Demourelle and Tina Deville for also coming out to help and support. Tina was the one in the bunny suit helping Suzie give out the door prizes. We also had library board president and Friends member Julia Fontenot and from the Friends Miss Margaret Reed Fontenot and other dedicated Friends members. I hesitate to name them all for fear of leaving somebody out.
Meanwhile, I didn't get the Annual Report for the State Library finished before I had to leave for Baton Rouge to take my comprehensive exams, so will need to scurry about and get that finished Monday. I still need to get the "number crunching" for several sections of the report done. As far as the comprehensive exam goes, I will have to wait a couple of weeks to find out how that turned out.
I also last week ordered shelving to replace the units that were in temporary storage in a portable storage pod at Mamou and damaged by high water that got into the storage pod back in October last year. FEMA approved a payment of 75% of the appraised value, and now the replacement process is underway. Hopefully the new shelving will arrive in very early June.
Best wishes,
Mary
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March 25, 2007
It's been an exhausting week for a lot of folks here at the library, as we cleared the contents of the Mamou Branch so that renovations there can begin and hopefully be complete before summer. Special thanks to Mamou Branch Assistant Manager Lois Holford for all her work with this process! Meanwhile, the Basile Branch Manager Sherry Bergeron and Branch Assistant Becky Leger were cleaning and moving furniture throughout the Basile Branch in preparation for its reopening. Thank you both so much! Sherry and Becky had the branch looking great for its interior substantial completion review on Friday. Now, with that step behind us, they can arrange for the return and unboxing of 400 boxes of books so the branch can reopen. It's a lot of work to do, and Lois from Mamou will be assisting them. Everything that all three of them are doing to help get these two branches renovated is greatly appreciated.
This whole process would not have been possible without the efforts of Chester Granger, who arranged for a great police jury crew with a big trailer to follow me all around half the parish practically on Wednesday. Those of you who are older may have heard at some point of the old-fashioned "tumbleweed wagon" out West that went from place to place picking up prisoners. Well, we ran our own "tumbleweed wagon" of sorts for library furniture and shelving, moving items between various storage units and facilities in Ville Platte, Mamou, and Basile. Heavy items in the Basile Branch that had been moved to the back while the carpet was being installed in the front were also moved back. It was a complicated process that took a good bit of the day. Then the guys had to move on quickly to other critical tasks for the parish, including the matter of a newly fallen tree. Thank you, Chester and all the police jury guys! If not for their efforts, Basile would not be so close to reopening. Also, critical storage facilities for the contents of the Mamou Branch would not have been cleared and available for a professional moving crew that then on Thursday and Friday packed up and packed out the contents of this branch, with Lois' help.
We had a little scare at Basile: the professional moving company was moving and reassembling two large shelving units from Mamou to Basile. I had forgotten that changing the lighting in the ceiling lowered the available height slightly, and adding carpet and heavy carpet padding raised the floor. Anyway, you get the idea: the shelving just fit!
The exterior work on the Basile Branch remains to be done, especially the new ramp at the front and an exterior "facelift"; however, it will be great to have the branch open again, and I know folks using it will be really surprised (hopefully pleasantly!) at the changes inside.
And back at the Main Library, we had a power surge, followed (despite battery backups) with extensive computer problems: no Internet, no library Galaxy circulation. Special thanks to Tina Deville for coming in on her day off to try to help get the system back up, and also many thanks to Bo Soileau and Ken from ISS who came on very short notice and worked a long time to help get the situation ressolved.
Additional thanks go out this week to Chataignier Branch Manager Patrola Savoy and Branch Assistant Pamela Simien. They attended the Chataignier Town Council Meeting last Monday night and presented various library concerns to the council. A big concern is the state of the flagpole, which the council has agreed to replace. Thank you! We appreciate the dedicated staff at Chataignier and the cooperation and support of Mayor Herman Malveaux and the town council. Now if we could just get more folks to come in and use the Chataignier Branch. Although small, it is a fully-equipped branch, and it has consistent hours 5 days a week.
Suzy Lemoine and Velma Davis are preparing for Future Fest this coming Saturday. Special thanks go out to them and to the Friends of the Library as together they get ready for this big annual spring library event.
As for me, I have a big exam to take in Baton Rouge this week, another step toward eventual director certification. Also, the State Annual Report is due April 1st. It is kind of like doing income tax for libraries. Anyway, if anybody sees me looking grumpy (or grumpier than usual), I'm probably kind of preoccupied and a bit stressed out, but please stop me and say hi. If I can't help you with a library question this week, I'll be glad to find somebody else to assist you.
Take care,
Mary
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March 19, 2007
As renovation issues at Basile grow and preparations for the 60 day closing of the Mamou Branch for its own renovations begin, I feel almost too tired to write a blog entry. Complicating matters are my upcoming comprehensive examination at the School of Library and Information Science at LSU Baton Rouge (one of my hurdles to leap on the way to certification as a director), and the April 1st due date to the State Library for the Annual Report. Anyway, we are making progress on all fronts, but a lot of times it feels like one step forward and two steps back. Plus a growing lack of sleep. Sometimes it's hard to just "keep on keeping on." Oh well. Compared to many libraries in the state that are still having major problems caused by Katrina and Rita in 2005, our problems are not bad.
On the bright side, the weather is truly gorgeous and the new paint on the main library looks great!
Best wishes,
Mary
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March 12, 2007
Renovations can be grim, tedious, and frustrating work. Occasionally, though, we get a laugh out of them. Sherry, branch manager at Basile, which has been in renovations since October and closed since late November, had a dream the other night. She walked in the library, and it was all beautiful. I was there and told her, "Wait till you see the rest of it." Apparently, I opened the back door, and we stepped out to a back part with a gorgeous swimming pool! There was a snack bar behind the swimming pool area, and suddenly I was there too, fixing tacos. Sherry was delighted but worried about how she was going to supervise the library and monitor the swimming area and man the snack bar, too. Then she woke up.
Of course there's really no pool and no snack bar with tacos. I don't know what different interpreters of dreams would make of this, but to me it just shows how much work and thought and worry are going into the renovation, and how much it is on our minds.
Looking forward to a grand reopening at Basile soon,
Mary
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March 5, 2007
Thank you to everybody involved with last Tuesday's art and music reception at the Main Library. We honored six high school students and their art teacher Mike Bordelon and also enjoyed Steve Smith's terrific music. Special thanks go out to the Friends of the Library for providing and serving refreshments and for co-sponsoring Mr. Smith's performance.
Work continues at Basile with more painting of the building in process and with carpeting to begin in the back area this week. Special thanks to Sherry the branch manager for arranging for moving crews this week and also for moving lots of furniture and shelving herself. Sherry saw a chance to get the carpeting started faster if she could get everything out of the back area today, and she managed to get it all done on very short notice. You're awesome!
Also, thanks go out to Velma and Suzy for getting our Head Start reports done, to Suzy for completing applications for facilities for upcoming library programs and for some possible grant support for the Summer Reading Program, to Tina K. for getting library board materials ready and to Tina K. and Angie for working on an email request for information about the tragic dance hall fire of 1919 in Ville Platte, to Tina D. for being a terrific rabbit (we found an Easter bunny costume) for the recent children's programs at the main library, to Cindy and Tina D. for working with me to analyze our electronic resource costs (nearly $75,000 total) for 2006, and to Emily and Tina D. for working on the "Playaway" project together (our plan to introduce a new form of books on tape to patrons--thanks also go to Pinky and Ruth for being good sports and helping them test the playaways for ease of use). This is only a very small sample of what's been going on at Main. Each person at the main library has a lot of different jobs to do, and it is a real credit to everybody that they manage to get so much done.
I enjoyed reading to a class at James Stephens Montessori on Friday as part of the annual Dr. Seuss read across America program. The kids were great.
Best wishes,
Mary
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February 25, 2007
Oh happy day! The exterior painting on the main library has begun! If anybody recalls previous entries on this blog, back in the Nov. 19, 2006 entry I mentioned that even Bobby Jindal had told me that the building needed painting. (I'd introduced myself to him after a Rotary meeting where he was the guest speaker, and the comment about our building's condition was his response because he'd driven past the library on the way to Rotary.) Anyway, a very nice crew of painters are hard at work, and the front of the main library looks much better already. Yipee!
In other good news, Steve Phillips of F. Phillips Construction has worked on the new back door for the Pine Prairie Branch's new program room, and hopefully now water won't come in under the door in heavy rains. And Mr. Winston Lafleur has installed a new door closer on the back door at the main library: now we don't have to choose between the door staying wide open or trying to close like a guillotine. Thank goodness.
Of course I spent part of Ash Wednesday picking up busted beer bottles in the main library's parking lot, and I suspect Flo and Lois had a similar situation to face at the Mamou Branch. There are also plenty of ongoing maintenance and construction issues throughout the library system. But when several issues get ressolved, it boosts our spirits.
Sherry, the branch manager from Basile, and I also boosted our spirits a bit more by selecting furniture for the new sitting area at the Basile Branch. With the branch temporarily closed, it is easy to get discouraged, but the furniture purchase (to be delivered when the building is ready for it) reminds us that there will be a light at the end of the tunnel. Sherry and I both think that in the long run the Basile patrons will be very pleased with the changes to what had been a dark building with many small rooms. And the new furniture (loveseat, coffee table, and two chairs) was very reasonably priced and should work great.
Special thanks go out this week to Miss Vena with Experience Works, who has worked tirelessly to keep the shelves at the main library in good order. We will all miss her greatly when her time assigned to the library is over.
Best wishes,
Mary
P.S. I am reading Reading Lolita in Tehran: A Memoir in Books by Azar Nafisi. Prof. Nafisi's account of the extreme censorship of ideas in Iran reminds me why free public libraries in the U.S. are such a great opportunity for everybody and not to be taken for granted. Sometimes when I get caught up in library problems it gets hard to step back and see the big picture and remember what we are working for. At times like that, a book like Prof. Nafisi's is a good reminder.
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February 18, 2007
I got a little surprise last Wednesday at the Bayouland "I Love Technology" workshop when this blog was on one handout and shown briefly to the group.
If any folks from the workshop happen to stop by to look at the blog more, welcome!
In Evangeline Parish Library news this week, renovations at the Basile Branch continue, and folks continue to ask me what's taking so long. In part, I think we all hate having the branch closed so much that it is really hard to see any days when no work crew is working. Two days in a row with no work crew, and folks get really anxious. On the other hand, if you step back and see where we were in mid October, before the renovations began, and see how the building's interior is shaping up now, 4 months later, a great deal has been accomplished. Factor in the added nearly $10,000 worth of damage to the front that had to be dealt with after the Nov. 22nd car accident. Throw in the building of a new circulation desk that wasn't a part of the original contract. Overall, there's been a lot going on.
Sherry, the branch manager, Becky, branch assistant, and I were out there painting more shelving last Friday. Sherry sat down at the new circ. desk and spun in her chair, remarking with surprise and pleasure at how well she was able to see so much of the building with only a turn of the chair. The colors look great, too. We're all anxious for the painting to be finished and the flooring done so that we can start moving the 400 boxes of books and videos, etc. back from storage and add some nice furniture to the new seating areas.
We're not sending out overdue notices for Basile, will waive all fines as necessary during this period of building closure. Special thanks go out to Sherry and Becky for trying hard to help folks even with the building closed. As we paint shelving, I see them pass tax forms and quick photocopy work out the door. Friday I saw them take the time to show some tax form changes to a customer from across the street. Thank you for your dedication and professionalism.
Meanwhile, in other developments, Lucas, our project manager from Landreneau & Associates, told me last week that it's time for me to rent some climate-controlled storage for the computers and other items that will have to be in temporary storage during the upcoming Mamou Branch renovations. Looks like the start of that project is about three weeks away. And efforts to fix the water coming in under the new back door at the Pine Prairie Branch are supposed to happen very soon. Also, Ronnie Landreneau is getting estimates for the Library Board for repairs to the roof at the main library (Ville Platte). I hope the main library exterior paint work will start soon, too.
Special thanks go out this week to Ruth at the main library for coming in on no notice Saturday morning to take the place of a sick staff member (the stomach bug has hit the main library, with two staffers lately having to go home very sick). Ruth, thank you for changing your Saturday plans and saving the day!
Wishing everybody a happy Mardi Gras,
Mary
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February 11, 2007
Well, I watched my oldest (my only daughter) get married yesterday. The days leading up to the wedding have been pretty frantic. Everybody at work, throughout the library system, has been super-supportive and patient with me the past few weeks. I appreciate this very much. Thank you one and all for all your kindness and encouragement!
Since it wouldn't be appropriate in this work blog to talk about the wedding, and since I can't quite bring myself to talk about anything else this Sunday, please excuse this break in the blog entries.
Well, one work note: Miss Velma is back at work after her knee injury! Welcome back, Velma!
See you again next Sunday.
Best wishes,
Mary
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February 4, 2007
Looks like the entry below, the first for 2007, was also the only one for nearly a month! The Library system has had a lot going on. Here are a few highlights:
1) In Basile the broken glass has been replaced, and Branch manager Sherry Bergeron and assistant Rebecca Leger have been doing a wonderful thing for the library: repainting all the wooden shelves to match the new wall color. I helped a bit a couple of days this past week and don't think the professional painting crew doing the walls was kidding when they said that they would hire these two ladies. Thank you, Sherry and Becky!
2) At the Main Library we are all hoping that Miss Velma will be able to return to work soon following her knee injury. We miss her, and preparing for the spring children's programs is not the same without her. Special thanks to Suzy and Ruth who are working hard to keep things going.
3) At the Main Library special thanks also go out to Cindy and Tina D. for extra and very essential work this past week with E-rate applications, the lengthy and complicated multi-step process that largely funds the library system's Internet and telephone lines.
4) At the Main Library special thanks also to Suzy for doing the lion's share of the work for our temporary exhibit of 6 paintings by students in Mike Bordelon's art class at Sacred Heart High School. Come visit "Art in the Stacks." I especially like a painting a young man made of a home with sentimental meaning in his family.
5) Special thanks to assistant director Pinky who worked with me to order new children's books for Summer Reading for the main library and all branches. Books are expensive, and therefore making choices of what to buy with a limited budget is hard. Just 30 new books for each of the 5 branches and 50 new books for the main library creates a bill of between $3000 and $4000, depending on choices. This is a significant percentage of our book budget for the whole year. Pinky did a great job.
6) Special thanks to Tina K., who has completed several sections of the Annual Report.
7) Beyond the library staff, very special thanks to Police Jury secretary/treasurer Doug Deville and to Chester Granger for arranging for removal to temporary storage of much water-damaged shelving at Mamou. Branch manager Flo Deshotel found the storage facility and rented the space on the library's behalf, and she and her branch assistant Lois Holford worked with Mr. Granger and others to get the shelving moved. Mr. Granger and crew provided the moving trailer and worked in icy sleety rain to get the job done! Thank you one and all!
8) Extra thanks also to Mr. Deville for arranging for repairs of the rotten woodwork on the Main Library.
Those are just some of the good things happening. On a less happy note, we are still trying to get the metal canopy issue fixed at Pine Prairie, the ongoing database problems where Ancestry.com is not working right through the Louisiana Library Connections resolved (trying to determine if the problem is with our end, the State Library, or at Proquest: so far rebooting our router fixed the problem, but only for a day or two before the site began to fail to load again), and catch up with a mountain of paperwork and continue work on the annual report. We are also hoping for warmer weather soon so that the exterior paint work on the main library can begin now that the rotting woodwork on the building has been repaired.
On a personal note, I am getting ready for my daughter's wedding very soon and may continue to be slow adding to this blog for a while.
Hope you enjoy finding out what's going on within your public library system. Thank you all for your help and support.
Best wishes,
Mary
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January 7, 2007
This is the first entry for 2007. I hope that everybody's new year is off to a good start. The broken glass has been removed from the Basile branch, and repairs are scheduled to begin tomorrow. We hope to be able to reopen soon. Also, a contractor has been engaged by the police jury to begin repairs on the exterior of the Main Library (Ville Platte). Much rotting woodwork needs to be replaced before the exterior wood can be repainted. Meanwhile, plans are in progress for completing the renovation work at the Basile branch and beginning renovations at the Mamou branch. Overall, it's a busy time.
A customer came in the other day and surprised us with flowers to say thanks for helping him with some genealogy research. Other customers dropped off special food treats at the main library or at branches just before the holidays. This all means more to all of us here at the library system than we can possibly say. We deeply appreciate your support and encouragement.
Thank you!
Mary
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December 31, 2006
Happy New Year! My family and I went to Mass earlier this evening and are now watching for the New Year. We hope everybody is having a safe and happy New Year's and will have a great 2007.
Good news: Thursday the repair work on the Basile Branch began with the broken glass removal. Many folks in Basile have told the branch manager Sherry how anxious they are to see the library open for business again. In a time when some folks claim the Internet will make libraries obsolete, it is gratifying to see that communities do count upon their libraries and miss them deeply when something happens to close them, even temporarily.
Thank you for caring about and supporting libraries. You make a big difference in people's lives.
Best wishes to all,
Mary
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December 25, 2006
Merry Christmas! The Library is closed for the Christmas holiday. In addition, I took a little vacation time last week to watch my daughter graduate at LSU. Assistant Director Pinky's granddaughter graduated in the same ceremony at the Maravitch Center, so we were both there, happy and proud.
The Library reopens as usual Wed. Dec. 27th. A lot of critical E-rate work (a process that primarily funds our telephones and our Internet) is due by Jan. 10th, so I will be working a lot on that with Cindy and Tina D. in the next week. Failure to do that work would cut off a major source of Federal funding as of July 1st.
But on Christmas Day that's not the focus of my thoughts. It was great to be at Mass last night with family and greet Christmas with family this morning.
I wish everybody a wonderful holiday and a safe and happy New Year.
Mary
P.S. At home I'm reading "Mayflower" by Nathaniel Philbrick. This nonfiction book is as exciting to read as fiction, and really makes the Pilgrims come alive. For example, William Bradford was a young man: he and his wife Dorothy left their three-year-old son in Holland for the boy's safety. Then Dorothy Bradford fell overboard and drowned. Where I am in the narrative Bradford is overcome with sickness and grief and is asking for a little beer, but the crew of the Mayflower is trying to hoard the last of the beer for their journey home and the sailors tell him "were their own father he should have none."
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December 17, 2006
Appraisers are busy visiting the Basile Branch and accessing damage. Hopefully soon we will be able to begin repairs.
Meanwhile, tomorrow night is the Police Jury budget meeting. Library Board president Julia Fontenot and I will be there to observe and to answer any questions that the jurors or the public might have about the Library's budget.
Here's a summary of some financial highlights for 2006: First, in the operating accounts we had revenues of $692,209, of which 84.7% came from taxes, 5.45% from State Library grants, 2.8% from fines, faxes, and photocopy services; 2.28% from E-rate reimbursement, 2.43% from interest accounts, 1.61% from Acadiana Arts Council grants for putting on programs, and 0.06% from all other sources (gifts, corporate donations, local grants, bookbag sales, etc.).
For next year we will have slightly higher tax revenue but lower E-rate, State Library, and Acadiana Arts Council grants. Thus, revenue for 2007 is projected to be about the same as for 2006.
Expenditures in the operating accounts for 2006 were $655,240. The single highest cost item was primary salaries for the 20 staff members at 38.7% of the total. Next was computer and library automation costs at 12.53%; other personnel costs (retirement, FICA, life/health insurance, etc.) at 12.23%; debt service on the certificates of indebtedness that are funding the branch renovation projects at 10.17%; library collections (books, magazines, newspapers, audios, DVD's, VHS tapes for the main library and 5 branches) at 5.33%; insurance, audits, and administrative fees at 3.65%; electricity and electrical repairs at 2.86%; Summer Reading programs and other events at 2.45%; telephone service at 1.83%; plumbing, heating, and ventilation at 0.7%; travel, fuel, and continuing education at 0.7%; and all other operating expenses for the main library and the five branches combined at 8.78%. This "all other"category includes grounds maintenance, photocopy machines, building and equipment rentals, paper and other operating supplies, gas, water and sewer, pest control, and anything else not covered in the other categories.
Expenses will be higher next year and with revenues essentially static, it will be hard to keep the budget balanced in 2007 without transferring money from savings.
That's the bad news. The good news is in 2006 we did manage to replace 19 patron computers throughout the system with Windows XP machines with nice flat screen monitors, add a nice new room at the Pine Prairie Prescott branch, start renovations to Basile Branch, increase the use of the new Turkey Creek Branch, have a strong Summer Reading program and other special events (including the first BookFest since the hurricanes), and start answering "e reference" questions--questions submitted by e-mail. On the whole, the Library is making progress.
Well, it's midnight, and past time for me to say goodnight. I hope you all are having a great week before Christmas.
Goodnight,
Mary
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December 10, 2006
Well, last week's blog entry said, "I hope to have more positive news to report next time." The truth is the situation with Basile's damaged building front has not changed from last week. I wish I had better news to report.
More bad news to report: Velma Davis, our intrepid Summer Reading coordinator and great co-organizer of HeadStart programs and many other events, fell and badly hurt her knee (broke it in several places) last week. I spent part of last Wed. going to Eunice to see the insurance agency about Basile's damage and then on to Opelousas to visit Miss Velma in the hospital. She underwent surgery Tuesday. We all wish her a speedy, successful recovery. In the meantime, we'll all certainly miss her at work very much.
I have a final exam to take Tuesday in my graduate library and information science class. So much has been going on at work, I've been pretty exhausted when I get home and haven't studied enough (truthfully I might say haven't studied at all--and I'd better get busy studying ASAP).
Finally, a big thank you to those who came out for the library's open house Wed. We had guests from the library board, Friends of the Library, Ville Platte City Hall, the Police Jury, the LSU AgCenter, and library patrons. Thank you one and all. Special thanks to all the staff for making the combined staff meeting/open house extra special with delicious holiday food. My personal favorite was Miss Ruth's fruit pizza with sugar cookie base, but it was all terrific. Thank you again!
Best wishes,
Mary
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December 4, 2006
Well, today I got an initial estimate on the cost of repairing Basile's front and faxed it off to the insurance folks. I understand how frustrated everybody is with the need to wait for clearance before beginning repairs. In the meantime the building is really too cold for staff to stay inside long (after all, we're also heating the great outdoors with all the holes in the front of the building). It's also unsafe for customers--all it would take for a child to get hurt would be for a parent to look away for just a minute while the child ran over to the broken building front.
I hope to have more positive news to report next time.
Sincerely,
Mary
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November 26, 2006
Wednesday afternoon it was kind of a slow day at the library, with Thanksgiving Day just around the corner. And then the phone rang at 4:30. Sherry, the branch manager at Basile, had news to give me: a car had just crashed into the front of the Basile Branch, breaking glass, bending the step railing, damaging the front of the building. The ambulance and police were at the scene, and the driver was on her way to the hospital. We all hope she wasn't injured.
Meanwhile, the question was how to secure the library. Closing time at Basile is 5 p.m., and with less than half an hour left before closing for a 4 day Thanksgiving break, the building was broken wide open. Thank goodness for staff at Basile, Sherry and Becky, who stayed until 6 p.m. to get the building secured. Special thanks also to the kind volunteers in Basile who got plywood and an air gun, and to Steve Phillips and the folks of Phillips Construction (the contractors currently renovating the Basile branch) for rushing all the way from Ville Platte with plywood and other supplies and covering the damage until Monday. With everybody helping, larger troubles were averted. Thank you!
I hope everybody had a great Thanksgiving. I give thanks for all the great folks who care about the library and come to its rescue.
Thankfully,
Mary (who will be at Basile Monday morning, doing what I can to help with the cleanup)
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November 19, 2006
I spent Thursday and Friday at the State Library's administrative conference in Port Allen. I learned a lot about current legal issues and problems of sustaining public access computers. Each thing learned seems to make me aware of more potential problems and more things we need to get done, but it was a great conference.
The Library Board meets tomorrow at 9 a.m. I want to bring to the meeting some of the information covered in the conference. We also have to deal with the budgets. Basically, this is the time of year that we get budget amendments for the current year ready to go to the police jury to be combined with other police jury amended budgets for the December budget meeting (December 18th this year). This is also the time of year for making an initial next year's budget to go to the police jury.
Most years, by careful saving, we're able to add a little money to the Library's accounts. This year we may have to draw on some of those savings. Through the Gates Foundation we were able to spend about $22,000 for new patron computers (helping every library branch in the parish), but the Gates Foundation won't reimburse the money until after the first of the year. We also are struggling to stretch our capital improvements funds to cover all of the renovation work on the branches. It looks like the money alloted may not be sufficient, and we may have to transfer some out of savings to cover the balance. Finally, there is a great need for repairs on the main library, and that may also have to come out of savings.
The state of the main library's exterior is pretty bad! A young man who had intended to paint it knocked just about all of the remaining paint on it off with his pressure washer, exposing just how badly it does need painting. (If you've thought to yourself or mentioned to others that the library needs painting, you're not alone and are in good company: Bobby Jindal told me it needs painting.) But before we get it painted and fix the exterior wood trim, we also need to fix the leaky roof (start at the top and work down), and that's a daunting proposition. For one thing, we really want to work within our budget but also as far as possible keep the traditional appearance of the building, which is in Ville Platte's historic district. Anyway, I am trying to get some estimates and ideas and turn them over to the parish engineer for consideration. We need to move on this matter as soon as possible, because the leaks are getting worse.
All of this and more will be discussed at the meeting tomorrow morning. If you're free tomorrow morning, please consider dropping by the main library at 9 a.m. to watch. There'll be doughnuts and coffee and orange juice, and everybody is very welcome.
Sincerely,
Mary
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November 12, 2006
In last Sunday's blog I said the renovation stuff would get worse before it got better, and it sure did: with water damaging shelving at Mamou. The branch staff there and I were busy last week trying to clean and salvage what we could of some shelving that had been moved into a temporary storage unit in preparation for the renovations. Heavy rainfall put the storage unit in a temporary lake, and the water got in.
Meanwhile at Main I am working to get estimates for roofing repairs. The main library is scheduled for exterior repairs and repainting, but the leaking roof needs to be fixed first. There is also a leak problem that we are dealing with in the new addition at Pine Prairie.
And of course the budget work still needs to be done. Part of it is in the hands of the board now, but more needs to be prepared and sent out tomorrow, so everybody on the board will have a chance to review the drafts before the meeting on the 20th.
Guess I'd better factor in some more money for building maintenance!
On the bright side, I took a little break Saturday to go to the Veteran's Day parade in Mamou and was very impressed. Taking time to honor veterans kind of helps to put other problems in perspective.
With gratitude to all our veterans, including my husband Gary,
Mary (Army wife)
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November 5, 2006
I'm spending the weekend mainly at home working on the revised 2006 budgets and initial 2007 ones, drafts to send out to each of the library board members to review before the next board meeting. For each year there are 3 budgets: one for regular operations, one for the sinking fund that pays the principal and interest on the money the library borrowed to make possible a new branch in Turkey Creek and renovations in Pine Prairie, Mamou, and Basile, and one for the construction work that is going on at the various branches. It is a lot of work, and I need to get these drafts--already late-- in the board members' hands as soon as possible.
Another pressing project is updating of our technology plan, which is key to a lot of the computer and Internet work done for the main library and branches. I wrote the previous draft plan mainly over the Mardi Gras holiday back in 2005, and it needs major revisions to keep us current and to correct some things that were just pretty much wild guesses in the first document. One thing the board and I are trying to plan for is increased Internet bandwidth at the branches. I am preparing paperwork for the State Library to try to help make this possible. There will also be a major State Library meeting for all the library directors later in November, and I'm hoping that information at that meeting will help. Anyway, I spent part of this weekend going over the Feb. 2005 plan and pencilling in notes and additions. One good thing I could see was that we have accomplished a number of the technology goals set back then. However, new major technology problems are on the way, and we have to plan for how to deal with them both in terms of equipment and budget.
So basically it's last quarter of the year crunch time with a lot of critical paperwork. This is a side of the library that doesn't show when you come to Main or one of the branches, but it's essential to keeping the whole operation functioning and not in the red financially. If I look frazzled and grumpy when you see me, please accept my apologies. The library work practically never ends for me when I go home, and this season of the year the stress builds up.
That notwithstanding, I'd still love to speak to you in person. If I look grouchy or preoccupied, it's probably because I'm thinking about number crunching; not because of anything else. I'm really really sorry. Stop me and say hi. Please.
Please accept additional apologies if you've been trying to find items at Mamou and Basile during the renovations! Branch staffs are all doing the best they can, but renovation projects are always chaotic and stressful for all concerned. It will get worse before it gets better, but by next summer we should have branches in Mamou and Basile that are much more attractive and fun places to work and visit.
Mary
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October 28, 2006
We've got more water problems in the library system with the recent heavy rains: roof leaks at main, water in the new room at Pine Prairie, and water inside one of the temporary storage facilities we're renting during the renovation. The storage facility with water in it at Mamou contains shelving temporarily moved during the renovation. Special thanks go out to Mamou branch manager Flo Deshotel and branch assistant manager Lois Holford as they deal with this unexpected new problem.
In other news, outreach coordinators Velma Davis and Suzy Lemoine will be working the late shift at the main library Tuesday. They are looking forward to the trick or treaters between 5:30 and 7:30 p.m. and plan to have special surprises for them.
Velma and Suzy are also doing the weekly HeadStart library programs. This fall the theme is "Bears," and kids are especially enjoying going on a "bear hunt." We all extend a special thank you to our friend Caroline at HeadStart for obtaining her bus driver's license and getting the kids to the various library branches for the programs. Miss Caroline, you're our hero!
Pine Prairie branch manager Pam Guillory used a generous donation from the Friends of the Library to purchase a special handicapped accessible computer table for her branch. She and I both extend a special thank you to the Friends for their continued support throughout the library system.
Thank you to all the library's supporters! We appreciate you!
Best wishes,
Mary
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October 21, 2006
It's been a busy (and rainy!) week. Ville Platte's Tee Cotton Bowl week is always special, with out of town visitors, decorations throughout town, and a general air of fun and good-natured competition. For out of parish web visitors who may not have yet discovered the Tee Cotton Bowl, it's the annual football game between Ville Platte High School and Sacred Heart High School of Ville Platte.
Meanwhile in the library system we were facing leaks at the main library and rain coming under the door of the new addition at the Prescott Branch in Pine Prairie. At one point it looked like a mini-hurricane, as driving wind and rain spun papers down W. Main Street in front of the main library. As I drove between some branches this week to make deliveries, I saw downed trees. Despite the rotten weather, all library board members came for the board meeting Wed. It was a very good meeting, with three visitors and good visitor input on electronic resource issues and on development of the Chataignier Branch.
The renovation work began at Basile Branch this week and will soon begin also at Mamou Branch.
At Chataignier Branch, branch assistant manager Pamela Simien came up with a clever way this week to draw in more customers: she talked the members of a cheerleading squad into coming into the library for a meeting before going outside to practice their routines. When I drove up, Miss Pam was sitting outside of the community center, cheering the girls on. Way to go, Pam! Keep encouraging more customers!
Special thanks also go out this week to Suzy and Velma for working so hard to finish the wrap up grant report for the Acadiana Arts Council. Velma recently got out of the hospital, and Suzy's mother has been in the hospital all week, so both were working under extra stress. Despite this, they did a superb job.
Wishes for a quick recovery go out to Suzy's mother and to the library's assistant director, Pinky, both recovering this week from operations. Pinky, we all miss you here at the library!
Mary
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October 15, 2006
Don't forget the Library Board meeting on Wed. October 18 at 4 p.m. at the main library. Everybody is welcome, and refreshments will be served.
The Friends of the Library meet this coming Tuesday at the main library. It will be the Friends' first meeting since Book Fest, and I'm sure folks will want to discuss our recent successful event. The Friends did a great job with both the food sales and book sale, and they were also wonderful greeters. Miss Margaret did a fantastic job with the kids' friendship bracelet craft, too.
I wish that I could attend Tuesday's meeting, but I have my midterm examination in my "Technology Resources for Information Professionals" class the same night. Technology is definitely a weak area for me, and I'm in over my head with this graduate class. But hopefully this class will help me to do a better job for you with the technology resources of the library. The goal of all this is to provide you with better electronic resources (faster computers and connections, more databases, improved system checkout and search functions, and greater Internet capacity in the future).
Because the Internet is such a complex issue, especially for parents and kids, the library has purchased copies of a new Internet safety DVD for young people. It will be available at all branches.
Special thanks go out this week to the Police Jury (especially secretary/treasurer Doug Deville), Information Systems Solutions (ISS), and the ARC for arranging for our old computers to be cleaned up and donated to the ARC. Thank you!
Mary
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October 9, 2006. I couldn't post this past weekend because the motor on the air conditioning system at home died, and we don't use the computer when the temperature is over 84 degrees. Anyway, the ac unit is now fixed, and that's a great relief.
At the library everybody is busy as usual. The second Monday of the month all bills are due to the police jury, plus the library's getting ready for the next board meeting (October 18 at 4 p.m. at the main library--open to the public and everybody invited to attend), trying to work on the end of grant report for the Acadiana Arts Council, sending staff to a special database workshop in Lafayette and to an E-rate update workshop in Alexandria, and keeping all of the regular work of the library going.
In short, it's a typical week. Well, maybe not quite typical, since last Friday was Squirrel Day (witness the occasional bumper sticker saying, "Squirrel: It's what's for dinner"). And this week marks the first Cotton Festival since Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. Everybody is hoping that this year's Cotton Festival will be a great success.
Happy Cotton Festival! And squirrels, watch out!
Best wishes,
Mary
P.S. The new sign is now in place at Chataignier, and it seems to be helping. More folks are dropping by to visit this branch. If you're in Chataignier between 2:30 and 5:30 Monday-Friday, you're very welcome to stop in.
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October 1, 2006. Wow! Over two months since I last made a blog entry. The last few months have been a blur of activity for the library. I apologize for the length of this entry, promise not to wait so long between posts, and pledge to write shorter entries in the future. Anyway, here are some highlights of the past 3 months:
1) The Dollar General grant I mentioned in this blog a few months ago turned out to be specifically to provide books for each of the young people who completed Summer Reading this past summer at the main library in Ville Platte. A lot of time and effort by staff went into selecting, purchasing, and preparing the books for distribution to the 80 young people who completed the program in Ville Platte. Parents have told me how excited and pleased their children have been with these keepsake quality hardcover books.
2) The new EBSCO databases and other databases provided to us FREE by the State Library are available through the "Links" page on this web page and are working GREAT. Click on "Louisiana Library Connection Databases" to get to a host of wonderful databases, including lots of practice tests for many ages and professions through Learning Express. These resources are NOT available for free through the open regular Internet.
3) The main library and all branches have one or more new patron computers that are faster and better. Each has a 19 inch flat screen monitor. These computers and monitors have been added through a Bill and Melinda Gates grant program, coordinated by the State Library. The cost of the new machines will be reimbursed through the State Library and the Gates Foundation. Additional costs for our library system involve removing old computers, wiping them clean of data, and preparing them for storage and future disposal through police jury procedures. We were also able to return to the State Library the 3 borrowed computers we were using at Turkey Creek, and replace them with FOUR new patron computers of our very own.
4) New staff computers for the circulation desk at main and all branches have been added through a State Aid program. These will enable us to help customers faster.
5) Pine Prairie now has a new program room. Work remains to add some new shelving and get a problem with the overhead air conditioner fixed. However, the new room looks great and will be a big help next year when it's time for Summer Reading again. It will also provide more space year round so this branch can add many new items to its collection. Soon we will be looking for volunteers to assist the branch manager Ms. Pam Guillory and other library staff as they try to get all the current books, which had to be moved during construction, back in place!
6) The contract was awarded to F. Phillips Construction for renovation of the Basile and Mamou branches and a preconstruction meeting was conducted by our architect/engineers, Landreneau and Associates, last week at Basile and Mamou. Calvin Perrodin, the Library Board vice president and board member from the Basile area, attended the Basile meeting. Katy Marcantel, new board member from the Mamou/Vidrine area, attended the Mamou meeting. Actual work at both branches will begin on or after October 18. Library staff from these branches and from the main library have been hard at work getting these branches ready for renovation. So much has to be done! This past week we received great help from the Town of Mamou in enlisting a jail crew for an hour to help us move many heavy items. Thank you!
7) The 3rd Annual Book and Culture Fest on September 23rd at the North Side Civic Center was a great success. Clearly we had the largest sustained crowd so far. One person told me how surprised she was that the library had so many performers, such a large Friends of the Library book sale, and so much for visitors to do. The pavillion was alive with KVPI and then pianist Steve Smith--great music and entertainment to enjoy while shopping for used books at rock bottom prices. It was also a fun place to sit at an open table and listen to music while enjoying food from the Friends of the Library hot dog sale and tasty pies and other products from the participating Farmers' Market vendors. Meanwhile, inside the pavillion a steady stream of entertainers and authors kept the place alive. Wendy Billot and Dee Scallan did children's programs in the morning with an emphasis on wetlands ecology; Jim Brown and Curt Iles offered brief adult book talks; Ville Platte's own Blues Mothers were show stoppers at noon and had a great group of kids selected from the audience and participating on stage; and then we wrapped up with well known storyteller Oneal Isaac, performing courtesy of Decentralized Arts Funding administered through the Acadiana Arts Council. If you didn't get to be there and hear the story about the Edge of the World, ask somebody who was there about it!
8) A sign project is in progress for Chataignier Branch, to help folks to find it. Mary Soileau in Chataignier has generously agreed to let us put a large sign on her front lawn. Now we have to clear the actual placement with DOTY, because of gas and water lines. The sign is ready for placement, looks fantastic, and will be put in place by its maker, Cedillo Signs, as soon as the specific placement is cleared. The stakes with green tape I put in Friday on Ms. Soileau's property mark the intended general location, at the intersection of highways 29 and 95 in Chataignier.
9) To try to help me better understand and deal with the ongoing challenges of technology for libraries, I am taking a graduate course once a week this semester in "Management of Information Technology Resources," conducted by LSU and available by video conferencing at the Learning Center in Rapides Parish (on the old airbase). The more I learn, the more I realize how complex and challenging the issues are that face ALL public libraries, but especially library systems like ours serving predominately rural low-income areas.
Well, there is much more going on, including a LOT of critical last quarter of the year budget work, Federal government paperwork connected with our Internet access, and technology planning for next year. We will be having a board meeting mid month--specific details to be announced soon--and everybody will be welcome to attend and hear more about what your library is doing and the many challenges it faces.
So many staff members have been working so diligently with all these major changes! I hate to signal out folks to thank, because everybody has been working on some or all of the major projects. Also, each person at one time or another throughout the summer months has worked extra hard at regular library tasks because other staff had to be pulled out to work on these special projects at very short notice. Some volunteered time at Book Fest. Also, board members, Friends of the Library members, high school students, and other volunteers have all pitched in with Book Fest and other recent projects. Thank you one and all!
Very gratefully (and frankly kind of exhausted),
Mary
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July 21, 2006. As you can see, there was a bit of a time gap between the last blog entry and this one. Everybody has been so busy with Summer Reading, the time just flew by.
Overall, the main library and the branches all had successful Summer Reading programs, with good levels of program completion by the young readers. We know that parents and grandparents had a lot to do with that, and we thank them very much.
I was at a Summer Reading wrap up party in Mamou yesterday, and the children were outstandingly polite and appreciative--so polite that the performer noted it and commended them all. All the summer events I have seen have been excellent, and everybody has worked so hard to make them possible.
Thank you! Next year the program will be streamlined a bit to make record keeping less time consuming for both families and library staff. Also, we will still have reward tickets, but there will be fewer of them to reduce supply costs and stress.
If you have any comments or suggestions, please email me or call me. Thanks! All input is welcomed as we strive to make good summer programs even better and more fun. And don't forget that you are very welcome at the Library Board meeting on July 31st at 9 a.m. at the main library.
Gratefully,
Mary
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July 9, 2006. The Library Board will meet Monday, July 31st at 9 a.m. at the main library (Ville Platte). The meeting is open to the public, and refreshments will be served.
Despite announcements of meetings, etc., I am always surprised that many people in the parish do not realize that there is a library board (and there has been one for over 50 years). Basically, here's how it works: by law, the police jury appoints folks to the library board. The board is then responsible for setting library policies, etc. and overseeing the administration of the library system throughout the parish. This is essential because public money (a dedicated ad valorem tax) funds the vast majority of the library's facilities, activities, and programs.
Generally the summer time is when the board takes a look at current policies and sets up committees if necessary to study any changes that might be under consideration. They welcome input from library users throughout the parish. The comments help the board to determine what work needs to be done in board committee and brought before the full library board at a later date (probably September).
If you would like to suggest changes to any library policy, please try to attend the meeting on July 31st. If you cannot attend, feel free to contact me at the main library (363-1369) or contact any of the library board members: Julia Fontenot (President), Calvin Perrodin (Vice President), Bill Guidry (Police Jury President and ex officio member), Donald Miley, Jennifer Vidrine, and Marie Soileau. Their addresses are listed on the library board of directors page of this web site.
The library administration wants to hear from you. Policies are difficult to create, revise, and implement in a rapidly changing technological world, and all comments and concerns will be considered as policy committees meet.
Thanking you in advance for your input,
Mary
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July 3, 2006. I really appreciate all the folks who help watch out for the library branches! Concerned callers today let us know that the 4 day weekend was taking its toll on the library book drops in Ville Platte. The back one was overflowing. I came into work for a couple of hours to deal with the books and also to waive fines to make sure that nobody was charged anything for the days we are closed for the 4th of July weekend. It was really gratifying to see how many books had been checked out and returned. Thank you for using the library and also for watching out for its needs!
Another thank you this week goes out to the kind lady who called to let me know that she was really enjoying using the library's links page. I see the links page as sort of a virtual reference library that is available 24/7 to anybody with access to a computer. Anyway, I am trying to make it a very useful virtual library, filled with reliable information sources on a wide variety of topics.
The library is moving more into electronic reference: i.e., assisting customers through email. This week special thanks go out to staff member Angela Henry for volunteering to find brief newspaper articles for someone, then scan them and send them via email. This made a big difference to somebody who was unable to get to the library. Thank you, Angie!
More good news: Dollar General has awarded the main library a community development grant to help with some of the costs of this summer's reading incentive programs. I don't have the details yet, but hope to have them soon. The bad news was that our application for the Mamou branch was turned down. Hopefully in future years we will be able to develop a grant application to Dollar General or another organization to help with summer reading incentive costs throughout the parish.
Happy 4th of July!
Mary
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June 26, 2006. I didn't get to blog yesterday because the air conditioning is out in my home and neither the computer nor I felt like typing away in over 86 degree heat. Last week was very busy with all the construction activity at the Pine Prairie site, as well as Summer Reading programs, etc. Pine Prairie's future program room is looking good so far!
We had good news last week from the State Library: the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation is promising Evangeline Parish Library about $24,000 to reimburse spending on patron computers throughout the system. There is a deadline to get it done, and of course we're all going to work hard to turn this project into a reality. Oldest computers throughout the system will be replaced first, and the three patron computers at Turkey Creek (all of which are on loan from the State Library) will be sent back and replaced with new computers.
A smaller donation, but absolutely no less appreciated and valued, came Saturday from the Ville Platte Homemakers Club to help support the Library's "treasure chest" of gifts for young people who meet their Summer Reading goals. Joan Miller, a member of the group, was at the library one day and we discussed how important it is to give young people incentives to keep reading throughout the summer. She went back to the Homemakers Club and proposed that the club assist us. On Saturday I was very happy to accept a $50 check from the club's president, Frenella Saucier, with club members Azelma Deville, Janice Fontenot, Maud Soileau, and Al Vizinat looking on. The club is small (all the members above, plus Joan Miller and Phoebe Deshotel), and a $50 check from 7 dedicated ladies means as much--or more--than thousands of dollars from a billionaire (although we definitely appreciate Mr. Bill Gates a lot too!). Anyway, I ran to Wal-Mart and with careful spending came back with almost seventy-five treasure chest gifts for the money.
The treasure chest and other Summer Reading prizes would not exist if it weren't for generous donations, among them a very special donation of $100 to each of the 6 library branches from the Friends of the Evangeline Parish Library. This money is for the branch managers to use in part for other uses to enhance their branch operations but also goes to help fund the "Golden Ticket" drawing cash prizes for young people at the end of the summer program.
Private individual donations will also be funding some of the $10 cash prizes, and I will be recognizing those donors on this page soon.
Thank you!
Gratefully,
Mary
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June 17, 2006. Suzy and I just about killed ourselves (or made ourselves crazy, or both) on the two grant applications to seek funds for spring, summer, and fall performers next year. But we did manage to get them in on the deadline (June 15th). I made it to the first two sessions of my summer library science course, and Pinky kept the schedule afloat as several staff were sick this week. Special thanks go out to circulation manager Tina King, who stayed and worked extra on Friday because the system was so shorthanded. Meanwhile, at Pine Prairie, Pam Guillory and I tackled the question of why did the building suddenly stink so much after she and Suzy had moved about 50 percent of the collection in preparation for the future joining of the new program room (now under construction) to the current building? Pam and I decided that we'd probably stirred up dust from a lot of items that hadn't been moved in a long time, and we set about trying to clean house on Friday. We moved old tax forms, newspapers, and yellowed paperbacks galore.
Summer programs went well this past week. Ashleigh D'Aunoy, who appeared at main and all the branches, did a very good job of presenting African musical instruments and songs. She is a Bright New Worlds artist, and we were very lucky to have grant support to pay her performance fees.
Tropical Storm Alberto has come to Florida and gone, reminding us all that we may have to actually implement our hurricane and disaster plans. Emily Fontenot is the library's disaster coordinator, and she did a beautiful job of preparing individualized disaster plans for the main library and every branch. The library board approved her plans and formally commended her work at the May meeting. Congratulations, Emily, on a job well done! Now I truly hope that we never have to use those plans!
Tomorrow is Father's Day. Tina Deville has been doing fine displays for the main library, and she has one up now for Father's Day. The covers of the books that feature fathers or grandfathers fishing with their children remind me a lot of my own late dad. I miss him and miss fishing, too.
Happy Father's Day.
Mary
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June 11, 2006. Summer Reading is in full swing, and I am delighted that some children are already earning more than one reading certificate. In general, programs are showing good attendance, too, although it was a disappointment to have only 5 children at Chataignier's program last Thursday. Hopefully the group there will increase as the summer continues.
Meanwhile, even as Velma Davis is trying to coordinate all of this year's summer programs, Suzy Lemoine and I are trying to get the grant applications completed to help the library pay for programs for next year. We are developing two grant applications--one for the spring and fall special events and one for the numerous summer events--and need to get them finished tomorrow. It is a time-consuming business: whenever I hear somebody remark that there are grants out there just for the asking, I smile, because I know that there is always a big cost, in time and work. However, thank goodness for grants! Without them our current summer reading programs with high-quality paid performers would be impossible.
Other work is in full swing, as well. Cindy McDaniel and Tina Deville work very hard with the bills and many other jobs, Tina King with the monthly reports and many other jobs (including being branch manager for Turkey Creek), Emily Fontenot with interlibrary loan (which is going great) and payroll, and Pinky Demoruelle (the assistant director) with scheduling and acquisitions. Angela Henry, Ruth Stanley and really everybody also work very hard at customer service. Wesley Saunders and Michael Hebert come from Rapides Parish Library part-time to catalog and make it possible for us to add new books to the library collection each week. Meanwhile, at each branch the branch manager and assistants are busy with all the Summer Reading activities there. They are all going out of their way to make this a good summer for adults, teens, and children alike at the library.
Overall, I think this is a wonderful group of people to work with, and we all thank the residents of Evangeline Parish for being terrific customers and library supporters. Thank you!
Mary
P.S. I've been asked to give a presentation at a book club in late June and have just finished the book, The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, by Mark Haddon. This book is funny but also very intense, especially for anybody who has a special needs child or adult in his or her life. It's available at the library.
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June 4, 2006 Friday the metal walls and roof went up on the addition at the Prescott Branch in Pine Prairie. This is great news, but it also means Pam Guillory, the branch manager at Pine, is now faced with the challenge of getting over half of her book collection moved out of the way before the addition is joined to the current building. There are also issues about whether some scheduled programming for Summer Reading in the branch may have to be relocated to the Turkey Creek Branch. I will try to find out more about the construction schedule and post any library operations changes as soon as possible.
Anyway, on Friday as I drove up to Prescott Branch and saw the big trucks there, I knew we were in for some quick adjustments in plans! Where the day before there was only a concrete slab, Friday a room was rising. Quick schedule adjustments at the main library made it possible for Suzy to come out and help Pam. Together they got over half of the branch's book collection off the back wall (where the addition will join the current building) and stacked in piles on the floor. Now to find some place to put these books, and fast, because there is a storyteller program scheduled at Prescott for next Wednesday! I brought a couple of book trucks in my Escape, and Suzy will be bringing her trailer loaded with 4 larger book trucks on Monday. It is all pretty stressful, but Pam and Suzy are together doing a wonderful job of getting ready for the next construction phase.
Undoubtedly during construction the branch will have to be closed at times, for reasons of patron safety. I hope we will be able to announce the closures in advance; however, the work Friday caught us completely offguard, and later work may also.
Thank you for your patience.
Mary
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June 1, 2006. I didn't get to blog last weekend because I was working on grant applications to seek additional funding for our summer reading programs. We're working to secure more financial support for the various incentive prizes that are given out to children, teens, and adults throughout the library system. Suzy Lemoine gave up her day off to come help finish the grants. Thank you, Suzy.
Now we still have two more big grant deadlines to meet before the end of June. We're seeking grants for performances for next summer (grant 1) and grants for performances at Future Fest next spring and Book Fest next fall (grant 2). Both grants are due June 15th, so this is a busy time at the library.
Summer Reading registration seems to be off to a good start today. Registration is open to all ages, so feel free to join in. Special thanks are due to the branch managers and their assistants and also to the library system's Summer Reading coordinators, Velma Davis and Suzy Lemoine. And of course the biggest thanks go out to everybody in the parish who supports Summer Reading by participating.
Thank you!
Mary
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May 20, 2006. The Library has recently been blessed with several donations of children's books. Some will be added to the collection, and others will become part of the "tote bag prizes" for Summer Reading. At all of the five branches and also at the main library there will be four tote bags--one for each of the Summer Reading age groups. These will be prizes in the end of summer drawings. Now, thanks to the donations, each tote bag will have at least two nice children's books in it, along with many other goodies. Thank you!
If you're a fan of western paperbacks, plan to drop by the main library soon. We hadn't bought western paperbacks in a while and needed to add new ones to the paperback collection upstairs. Now you may find some new ones to enjoy, as well as fresh copies of some old classics. For the next three weeks or so, a few more will be added to the collection each week, so plan to drop by more than once.
If you were ever a fan of Little Women, you may want to check out March, the book that imagines the life of the girls' father while he is in the Civil War. I read it last weekend and found it fascinating. It is also definitely not for children, because it is a very graphic account of deaths, suffering, and injustice.
Best wishes,
Mary
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May 12, 2006. The summer is almost here! I have one son to get graduated from high school and a daughter to welcome back from LSU. And the library is a beehive of activity as throughout the system staff get ready for Summer Reading. We are busy implementing grants won last year, while we also scramble to meet the deadlines to apply for grants to help fund next summer's programs. And of course we're all getting ready for hurricane season, just around the corner.
No matter how busy we may get, we are all always glad to see you. Please make the nearest branch of your library one of your frequent stops this summer.
Happy Mother's Day!
Best wishes, Mary
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May 5, 2006. Well, it's Friday. I didn't get to post last weekend because I spent it working on the draft hurricane emergency response plan for presentation to the Library Board at their next meeting. The meeting is Tuesday, May 9th at 4:30 p.m. at the Main Library. It is open to the public, and refreshments will be served. The board will be tackling some tough issues because hurricane season creates many different potential problems for us and for our parish and the parishes around us. Last year we were kind of caught off guard by the magnitude of the problems. This year we're working hard to get ready.
As promised in my last blog entry, the Summer Reading calendar of events and the instructions for the Summer Reading program are now up on this website. At each branch we soon will be photocopying flyers for distribution to schools and other locations. One real achievement this summer is that almost all of the performers will appear at all the branches and the main library. If you miss them at one location, check the calendar and come see them at another!
And I'm hearing some real interest from teens and adults in our Summer Reading Rewards programs for them. Yes, the fun doesn't have to stop when you are no longer a "kid": we have incentive programs this summer for all ages, thanks in part to generous funding support from the Friends of the Library. Thank you so much!
Wishing you all a good weekend, Mary
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April 23, 2006. Library staff are busy trying to develop procedures for this summer's Summer Reading program and also procedures for dealing with hurricane season. In terms of Summer Reading, we are trying to create a program that rewards kids of all ages for reading books of all lengths. The reasons for this are twofold: 1) Kids at the same chronological age may be at different reading levels. 2) Many short books have subject matter that may be helpful for older children or even adults during particular points in their lives and may be inappropriate for some younger children; therefore, the length of a book is not necessarily a good indicator of whether a particular book is a good choice for a particular child. (The library's official policy is that parents, not library staff, are responsible for their children's book selections and are encouraged to monitor their children's choices for appropriateness to the particular child.)
Anyway, we are trying to work out a flexible program that will encourage more reading by all ages this summer--a program that doesn't force kids to only get credit for books on "grade level." We want older children to feel free to choose shorter books if they are interested in them or if they want to read them to a younger brother or sister or a younger child they are babysitting. And the younger child can get credit for listening! Plus, this summer's program will also allow credit for audiobooks (sorry, no credit given for videotapes or DVD's).
We also want to make it a program where children can gain a sense of completion and achievement in a shorter period of time. This decision arises from three reasons: 1) School seems to be starting earlier in August every year, so there is less summer for Summer Reading. 2) Kids often spend part of their summer somewhere else. 3) Summer Reading programs today have competition from so many other summer activities. We realize that sports, camps, Vacation Bible School, family vacations, and visits to relatives out of town are all important activities of summer as well as reading.
When the plans have been fine-tuned, they will be posted on this website. Please know that the staff and I all realize that they won't be perfect and that, as in every summer, some problems and misunderstandings will occur. What they will be is an honest and very careful attempt to encourage Summer Reading to be an active part of family life this summer in Evangeline Parish.
And wait till you see the great lineup of summer performers! The calendar of events will be released by the end of this week.
More about this and about hurricane season planning later. For now, best wishes, Mary
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April 13, 2006. I hope you had a chance to see today's issue of the Ville Platte Gazette. Heather Bogard of the Gazette did a wonderful front page of the Lifestyles section all about the Library's Future Fest that was held last Saturday, April 8th. On the front page of the Gazette you can see faithful Friends of the Library member and past Friends president Jamie Vidrine face painting at the Friends' free face painting tent. Inside on the front page of Lifestyles don't miss Miss Julia, Library Board president and Sacred Heart High School social studies teacher, and Miss Cheryl of KVPI attending storyteller Karen Livers' pretend 19th century "charm school class." "Annie Christmas, Queen of the Mississippi" (i.e. Karen Livers in costume) is teaching several young people, including our two intrepid volunteers above, how to curtsy. I, on the other hand, was hiding out with Heather in the back, taking pictures and trying to avoid being in them!
The Tamizey Drum and Dance Company from Lafayette was wonderful. The troupe leader, Ashleigh D'Aunoy, will be a featured performer during Summer Reading this summer. If you didn't get a chance to see their performance last week, please try to see her this summer. She is both an excellent dancer and an outstanding teacher of dance. One of the true high points of the Tamizey performance was when the troupe took young volunteers from the audience and taught them a dance. And the four drummers were fantastic, plus we all enjoyed the In Jesus Name Gospel group from Opelousas.
The overall purpose of Future Fest was to call attention to the property that the Library Board has purchased for the site of a future new main library. Although we all love our current 1937 building, we basically have outgrown it. As a result, the Board purchased the front half of the old doctors' hospital property and began plans to secure a grant to help pay for a new fully handicapped-accessible library. The initial process of securing financial help was underway when Hurricane Katrina flooded New Orleans. Katrina and Rita's damage to the state have caused us to put our plans on hold for now--but not forever, because Ville Platte and Evangeline Parish deserve a handicapped-accessible main library with more space for computers, programs, and everything else. In the meantime, I got a bit of good-natured kidding at Rotary recently about seeing our "new library" on the spot: Bob Manuel's big tent, Suzy Lemoine's cute little Cajun cottage on wheels, the city's very handy portable stage, and a port-a-potty from Tate's!
All kidding aside, the work that went into getting all those items onsite and ready for Future Fest was considerable. At one point, as we tried to put the top on Bob's tent, the wind caught it and we all (the team of Bob and Daughter, plus Doug Deville, Velma Davis, me, Suzy, and Liz Hill) looked like we were trying to hold onto a Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade balloon! Then there were the adventures of the outstanding team of Velma and Suzy (the event's coordinators) as they tried to move the little Cajun house down the street and position it on the grounds. Somehow it all worked out!
Well, that's it for this first blog entry. I hope everybody will have a wonderful holiday weekend. As Passover begins and Holy Week for Christians continues, may this be the beginning of a beautiful spring for one and all.
This page last updated 07/02/09.