2016 Annual Report

Webster Free Public Library

Annual Report of the Trustees for 2016

 

Our children’s programming this year included a visit to the Elementary School during “I Love to Read Month” in February, where we signed students and their parents up for library cards and raffled off books, and an end-of-school visit from the Elementary School students, some of whom had never before visited our library.  Our six-week summer reading program, “On Your Mark, Get Set…Read,” ended with laughter and fun at a presentation by Malik the Magic Guy.  Children stopping by the library have enjoyed the Makerplay activities we have been able to borrow from the NH State Library, including Legos, Ozobots, and Cubelets.

Our Book Group finished its 20th year, and we anticipate it going on for many more.  We had several special programs this year, including “Birds, Bats, and Butterflies—Keeping Common Wildlife Common in New Hampshire,” by UNH Cooperative Extension master gardener and volunteer Ruth Axelrod, a presentation on Tasha Tudor’s life and work by John Hare, and “The Five Headed Muse” (about writing), by Kendra Saunders   We also re-established our Homebound Book Delivery program, had an open house during Old Home Day, and held two book sales.

We thank our evening volunteers—Sue Barnes, Mary Smith, Julia Bender, Karen King, and Mary Evanovski—as well as those who volunteered to read stories or bring in refreshments during out summer reading program storytimes.  Thank you to the many people who donated their used materials to the library and to those who dropped something into our Donations can.  A big thanks to Judith O’Donnell and to Marylou and Phil Desmarais for their generous contributions.

We removed 51 names from our patron files and added 59, giving us a total of 573 registered users. 2,183 people visited the library. We added 503 books, audiobooks, and DVDs, and removed 499, leaving us with a total of 10,888 materials. 5061 books, audiobooks, DVDs, museum passes, and magazines were checked out, along with 1000 downloadable audiobooks, 565 eBooks, and 167 eMagazines. We loaned 366 materials to other libraries, and borrowed 176.

Our most popular DVD of 2016 was Mr. Holmes, and the most popular book was a tie between Paula Hawkins’s The Girl on the Train (which was also last year’s favorite) and Fredrick Backman’s A Man Called Ove.  

By borrowing materials from the library, our members saved more than $81,000 over the cost of purchasing them.

 

Respectfully submitted,

NANCY E. PICTHALL-FRENCH, Chair
MARTY J. BENDER, Treasurer
LESLIE COLLINS, Secretary