Southern Ontario Library Service

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Lincoln is ready for its pre-audit, and hoping to be accredited in this cycle for presentation at OLA 2007.

Head, Clara & Maria – Library Week – The library staff has phoned everyone (250 residents in the area code 705) to come and visit, and chat at the library while enjoying coffee, squares and juices.

Merrickville Library preparing events to concur with the 175^thanniversary of the Rideau Canal, in 2007

Pembroke – Public Library Week – Filled with fun activities like:

• Hugs, Snuggles & Rhymes
• Pembroke has Talent
• Pumpkin Painting & Make a Boo Bag
• Storytime - Punch & Judy Puppet Show (with puppeteer Bob Stutt)
• Antiques Road Show with Thomas Wuehr
• Pirate Event /Shrieky Maze (Costume party! Dress like a pirate, princess, or any costume
• Run for the Shelves & Hot Chocolate
• Wilderness Tours & Heleconia Press
• Jane from Purvis Gallery – Framing
• Staging your House (Professional realtor tips to prep your house for the housing market or just give it a new look.
• Dewey Divas
• Friendship Wings (Support Our Troops) Make a Canada Bird or Paper Crane. Later they will be sent to our troops.
• Computer Games and Hot Chocolate.
• SPECIAL - Friday evening - Oct 20 – Library open from 10:00 am- 12:00 Midnight!!!!ZZZZZ Relax @the Library around the fireplace with coffee and doughnuts.

Port Colborne –  celebrated 100 years of library service, recognizing board members with a pin, and creating a donor plaque (similar to NOTL’s bookcase)

Renfrew – Open house

October is Canadian Library Month and the week of October l6 to 21 is Ontario Public Library Week. The theme of the month/week is — Libraries - the World at your finger tips. If you have not visited the library for a while please come and visit us to see the library’s main floor extension with skylight and fireplace, and sliding ramp doors. If you visit the library during Library week, October 16-21, you can enter to win two brand new hockey books 1) A Canadian Saturday Night- Hockey and the Culture of a country by Andrew Podnikes 2) Hockey A People ‘s History by Michael McKinley. One draw will be made on October 18^th and the other on October 23^rd … Guided tours and refreshments will be on October 18^th6-8pm.

Author reading -- Frank Cosentino, whose play 'Charlotte Birthday', that was recently staged in Renfrew, will be in the library on Thursday October 19that 6:30pm. He will read from his new novel Hail Mary Heaven Sent. Frank has written more than a dozen books. He is Professor Emeritus and senior scholar at York University and has been a CFL quarterback and a college coach. Everyone is welcome.

Welland –  celebrated Doors open Niagara with the designation of the old Carnegie Library as a historical site. It was one of the last libraries to receive Carnegie funding.

Head, Clare & Maria – Joined the DVD pool.

Richmond Hill – has found their patrons use of electronic resources doubling every year.

Whitby has seen use of their e-resources increase significantly.

Ajax – Board has been involved in extending invitations to the local business community and seniors to discuss how they can better serve them.

Brockville – Taking into account residential expansion, the Brockville Public Library is looking at the possibility of opening to the public on Monday. This, however, would entail supplemental cost for staffing etc. Brockville P.L. has now over 500 people within walking distance of the library.

East Gwillimbury – has a “books for babies” initiative with funding from Community Services from the Durham region. Merrickville PL did a community profile survey and decided to open an additional evening a week.

Pickering – is focusing on community linkages. It holds an annual open house that features events like a book launch. It also serves to raise the profile of the board on the community and hopefully improve board recruitment. The last election resulted in a total board turnover with more applicants than positions.

Renfrew  – Starting October 7^th Renfrew Public Library will be opening longer hours. On Saturdays the library will be open to 4pm instead of 2pm. Last year, as a part of its Strategic Plan, the Library Board did a community survey on library services. Extending library services on weekends was suggested by a good number of people. The Library Board responded positively to this popular demand and the Town Council approved the extended hours on a three months trial basis in its 2006 budget. In January an evaluation will be made to decide if the extended hours will be continued in 2007.

Killaloe – Current library space is a major issue – would like to expand the children’s area, add more computers if space was available and build an office for the librarian- possibility of moving in an old school building.

Renfrew –  The recent installation of automatic and sliding doors to the ramps of the library have made the library more accessible to wheelchair, strollers, walkers and those who find it hard to open the heavy doors. This was made possible with special capital funding from Town Council.

Uxbridge –  in the middle of redoing its roof.

Ajax –  is looking to expand its village library and the Board hopes it will be part of a multi-purpose facility set to open in 2012.

Arnprior – Expansion project – use of the basement space – ongoing

Bonnechere Union – On track with its expansion. Municipality will not be taking over the space left available by the departure of another community group so this will allow the library to expand. A fellow consultant has accepted to help prepare the different contracts – for free. Bruce Packley does it free as part of his job as Director of Human Resources of Renfrew County.

Caledon – opened the Margaret Dunn branch in June, and circulation has spiked.

Clarington – is planning to build a freestanding Newcastle branch.

Markham –  is looking at linking a new branch with the Markham-Stouffville hostile library as part of a Wellness Centre. Markham recently opened a new branch: Angus Glen and is currently renovating Markham Village. All administrative staff will move into the Village branch once renovations are complete.

North Grenville  – plans for a new central branch in Kemptville are on-going

Oshawa’s new Legends branch is seeing good usage. It is located in a community facility which includes a pool and rink.

Pembroke – Looking at another option to move – The Laurentian School is now vacant - City Hall is looking at the possibility of acquiring it as a multi-services building: City Hall, fire department, police department and library. The library would be situated on the second floor. There seems to be two main streams of thinking about this possible move. A petition has been started to keep the library where it is now, taking into account that there is practically no parking available right now and that it is situated in an old building on a steep hill making visiting it very difficult for seniors, while another group of patrons, including the librarian would like it to move somewhere else to be able to provide more parking spaces, increase its availability and visibility.

Perth  – is in the early planning stages for an extension of its library

Port Colborne  – just opened the new Archives building beside the library and uses the new space for programming.

Whitby’s new library which opened last year has resulted in increased membership: 6% overall and 21% in new branch. The library received an award for interior design and was featured in Canadian Architect.

Cornwall  – mentioned that their active Friends group initiatives are requiring a lot of staff support and that this is a stress on staff.

Markham – is on track with using the Board governance model. The Board uses teleconference extensively and works with a “consent agenda”. The Board also has a website to allow for members to ask “detail questions” so that the meetings do not run on as long.

Bonnechere Union – Trillium grant in October 2007 for $50,000 over one year to renovate the library, which will provide members of the community with greater accessibility to activities and programs. The grant received for its expansion went to the municipality because the available space belongs to the municipality.

Fort Erie – received $40,000 from the Royal Bank for an after-school program.

Head, Clara & Maria – invested all the money received by the Province for literacy in a reserve fund but may take some of that money out to start the process towards getting high speed. Having high speed would not only be helpful to the public library but also to the community.

Killaloe – received a literacy grant from the Ministry.

Waterloo Regionreceived a $105,000 grant for rural literacy from the Province, and it received $29,000 from the Hallman Foundation for furnishing at the Baden branch.

Whitewater Region – has received Trillium grant for automating three branches – (librarian has started bar-coding the books) – three branches will have access to high speed.

Renfrew – Lack of Internet high speed in Renfrew County has been a problem for a while but the Renfrew Public Library has recently started a new wireless Internet service. The library now has made high speed wireless access to the Internet available. Our patrons can use the Internet from their own laptops from anywhere in the library. This service is ID and password protected. Patrons are advised to check at the desk before login into the Internet.

The Welland – Digital History online project is not fully implemented. It includes information on the Welland Canal and local industry. And the library is one of 10 wireless hotspots operated by the City.

Ajax  – has put together an information package for potential candidates to the library board. The municipal councillor on the board suggested submitting recommendations for appointment to the Council. Library CEO is part of Board recruitment process and the Board reports to Council on a regular basis.

Brockville – The rep from Brockville suggests that trustees asked their municipal clerk to put the library on the agenda of some of the regular municipal council meetings 2 or 3 times a year to make what she calls “good news from the library presentation”. This would be excellent PR and visibility for the library. Following an analysis of different statistics from the Annual Survey, Brockville P.L. has been able to show to its municipal council that the cost to the library to answer a reference question at Brockville P.L. cost a average of 85 cents, one of the lowest in the province.

East Gwillimbury – has a very good rapport with Council. The current Mayor served on the Board.

Kawartha Lakes – PL has good relationship with local councilors as 3 sit on the library board. There is a local initiative that has local merchants offering discount to patrons who show their library card.

Markham  – has a very supportive Council. Three councillors sit on the Board.

Oshawa has a good relationship with its Council.

Pickering – has a good relationship with Council and the current mayor has served on the library board. The board regularly promotes itself to Council. It makes annual presentation with this year’s focusing on people and promoting the value of the library.

Port Hope  – has 1 councillor on the board. The board regularly takes information to the Council in between budget presentations. For this year’s municipal election, library board has invited candidates to come into the library and work along side a Board member on the circulation desk for an hour. This is the second term they have made such an invitation. The Board has also asked Council to be involved in interviewing potential Board candidates.

Uxbridge –  board submits candidate’s names for the library board. It wants to make sure that new members represent a good mix from the community. In order to promote a better relationship with Council the Board sends its Minutes to all councillors.

TC #7 - request that SOLS Board policy specify that to be a member of the SOLS board one must be currently a member of a library Board – except for ministerial appointees

TC #7 – Discussion brought forward by the Renfrew rep about Knowledge Ontario

• What are the risks to our libraries (funding)

• How do libraries currently justify requests for funding from their local funders?
• Will there be implications for staff?
• Encouraging people to stay at home to access information sources traditionally found in a library has implications for the socio-cultural roles of our local libraries?
• What will be the future implications?

TC# 8  –  discussed OPL Annual statistics and want SOLS to request that they be posted as EXCEL files again so that the data can be extracted easily by libraries who make use of them for comparisons – as SOLS staff is not doing this anymore

TC# 8  – voted unanimously to support a motion initiated by TC#7 to request that SOLS Board policy specify that to be a member of the SOLS board one must be currently a member of a library Board – except for ministerial appointees

Future updates from OLBA will be distributed ahead of time on the listserv.

OLA Superconfence- Possibility for new trustees to attend the OLA Superconference for free the first time around. Twenty workshops geared to the trustees will be offered at the 2007 Superconference.

Leadership Development Program for trustees will be an all day programme at OLA on February 2. Special note that new Board members can attend OLA for free. Glen Murray, the guru of cultural municipal planning, will give one of the addresses at OLA and will be part of a panel along with Ken Haycock– Dean of the Library School MLS Program of San Jose University (over 2,000 students).

City of Caledon – proclaims October as Love your Library Month – the library schedules a number of programming activities.

Welland – celebrated with Food for Fines, authors’ readings, and Niagara Reads Niagara.

East Gwillimbury – wants to create a “teen area” and possibly a “Teen Advisory Committee” and create their own webpage.

Lincoln – plans to start a Teen Advisory Committee in 2007.

Port Colborne, Welland and other Niagara region libraries participated in Niagara Reads Niagara.

Waterloo Region  – has great success with summer reading – best turn out ever.

Head, Clara & Maria  – History project goes on. Two students taking Microsoft Access courses at Algonquin College will participate through the Renfrew County Future Development Project: Train the trainer.

Ajax – sends out kits to potential Board candidates

Cavan, Milbrook, North Monaghan  – wants to recommend adjusting representation on the Board to focus more on skills of library representatives than geographic location. Right now there is too much focus on making sure each small community is represented.

Clarington – takes a “job fair” approach to board recruitment. The board participates with other municipal committees in this fair to recruit potential candidates. The library also puts notices in the local newspaper.

East Gwillimbury’s – board has created criteria for potential new board members. They are hoping to attract someone with budget experience.

Haldimand  – will have almost a full board turnover after this term. Each current board member is making personal contact with good candidates, and encouraging them to put their name forward. The CEO has developed some material including successes of current board.

Killaloe – 2 trustees have resigned.

King Twp.  – is not getting involved in the municipal elections at all.

Lincoln – prepares a flyer which is available at the library and at town hall. It targets specific individuals and each board member is asked to find a candidate that fits their criteria too.

Markham’s Board Chair and CEO sit in on interview for the library Board. The Board is looking for more diversity and youth in its membership. It has found there is a lot of work for a board with a growing community.

Oshawa – has a lot of people applying to get on the library board. Current board members have submitted their biographies to council to express their interest in remaining on the board.

Richmond Hill  – facing turnover in Board.

Waterloo Region – has no problem with recruitment as it has a regional council made up of mayors who are required to attend meetings.

Welland – took part in a municipal fair and information night to recruit new board members.

Arnprior – Llibrarian Pat Bouchard is retiring at the end of October.

Augusta Township – deciding on extending current part-time paid hours of service over 6 days. Staff finding this difficult – incurs more travel time and broken up days for the same pay.

Bonnechere Union – welcomes a new librarian : Sarah Eccleston, an MLS graduate from the University of Alberta

Brockville – Looking at adding a new staff member because the library personnel is right now stretch to the limit – not necessarily a professional librarian – must find budget to hire this new person.

Killaloe – Colleen Ryan-Franey is stepping down – looking at suitable candidates.

Ottawa PL  – trustee mentioned that Employment Standards Act changes to make 65 yrs retirement non-mandatory – will cause problems where health coverage and pensions deductions have not taken this into account in the current contracts. Presumably one may be working after 65 but have not coverage.

Stormont, Dundas and Glengarry County Library  – is reviewing its need to have a MLS graduate as a CEO. The job ad will ask for Business Management or MLS.

Ajax worked on a Strategic Plan.

Cavan, Milbrook, North Monaghan is formulating a 5 year plan. The expansion of the Millbrook branch and the integration of the CAP site play a big part in this new plan.

East Gwillimbury – has just completed its Strategic Plan. Board is looking to build a new branch in Queensville.

Haldimand – completed their Situational Analysis with Anne Marie Madziak of SOLS.

King Twp.  – just finished their five year Strategic Plan. The library will be conducting a needs assessment.

Welland – has completed a 2006-2010 plan with 6 strategic objectives.

Whitby – is preparing a Strategic Plan wit the help of the Randall Group.

King Twp. – has just installed SIRSI as its new ILS.