Annual Report 2007

Annual Report of the Trustees for 2007
 

Our big news this year is that we began participating in the New Hampshire Downloadable Audiobooks Program. Any registered borrower from our library who has internet access, a PC and an Mp3 Player is now able to download from the comfort of their own home-free of charge-audiobooks from an ever-expanding collection offered through the New Hampshire State Library.  We thank the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation for the Gates Staying Connected Technical Support Grant that covered our setup costs.  We've had 26 users download a total of 134 audiobooks since we joined the program back in May.

During its past eleven years, our Book Group has read its way through more than 100 novels, biographies, plays and more.  New faces are always welcome at the meetings.  Our Summer Reading Program for children was a fun jaunt across America with "Reading Road Trip U.S.A."
 
We have a challenge we hope you'll help us with in the upcoming year:
The Robert & Karin Finlay Foundation is pledging $25,000 each to the three New Hampshire libraries or museums that increase their membership by the largest percentage.  Whether you've never joined the library, or have let your membership lapse, 2008 is definitely the right time to come visit the library.  What will you get in exchange for signing up?  Access to our 11,000+ books, magazines, audiobooks, and videos, not to mention the hundreds of thousands of materials we can borrow for you from other New Hampshire libraries.  Computers to use for word processing or Internet access.  A book club that offers you the opportunity to discuss a favorite book, try out a genre that's new to you, or, at the very least, get out of the house and among the company of other adults for a couple hours a month.
 
We added 632 books and other materials to the library, and removed 459, giving us a collection of 11,116.  Forty-one names were purged from our patron files, and 55 new members signed up, leaving us with 476 registered borrowers.  There were 2141 visits to the library, 5568 materials were checked out, we borrowed 153 books from other libraries, and loaned out 494 materials.
 
We thank everyone who supported the library in 2007: Our Wednesday evening volunteers, the parents and others who helped out during our Summer Reading Program, Judith O'Donnell for her extremely generous donation earmarked for the purchase of hardcover books, and everyone who brought in their used books, or dropped a little something into our donation can.

 

Respectfully submitted,
 
Sandy Starkey, Chair
Sue Barnes, Secretary
Marty Bender, Treasurer