Looking forward to the fall and beyond at the library

This is at the back of my apartment building. I'm
ripping out the invasive ground elder so I can see 
where to put the new beds and pots. It won't be
eradicated, but it will be more manageable.
Very symbolic.

The last year has been very challenging. We ended all pandemic restrictions (excepting our plexiglass screens) right before the summer of 2021, our adult services librarian was promoted to director in September (which was awesome) and we've been dealing with a lot of alarming budget issues, staff turnover, and peripheral issues on top of trying to get library services restarted and recover from the initial stages of the pandemic. We went into the summer covering for not having a full-time adult services manager and also for the retirement of my school colleague who does a lot of our storytimes. My goal was to get people into the library, have a more or less familiar set of programs and summer reading, and give staff a chance to recover a little from the exhaustion and stress of the last year(s).

We're going into the fall fully staffed, with a great new adult services librarian and a wonderful new school colleague, most of our budget issues have been more or less resolved, and while there will always be changes and challenges, it looks, hopefully, like things will be a little calmer for at least a while. I've tried to plan a fall schedule that will use our resources most efficiently while not burning out staff. 

Fall program schedule

• Weekly programs
• Paws to Read (supervised by teen services associate)
• Family storytime (run by school colleague with me as sub/backup)
• Outdoor/movement storytime (run by youth services associate with me as sub/backup)
• Lapsit (run by school colleague with adult services associate as sub)
• Kids Make it/Project Explore (run by me with help/backup from associates and aides)
• Lego Challenge (drop-in stealth program, set up and run by me)
• Monthly programs
• Bookaneers (run by me, will offer more than once a month if time allows)
• Fact Finders (run by me, will offer more than once a month if time allows)
• Teen Advisory Board (twice a month, run by teen services associate)
• Special teen events (run by teen services associate and TAB)
• I like to move it (movement and healthy snacks, run by school colleague)
• Let off STEAM (run by school colleague and myself)
• Pokemon Club (twice a month, run by teen services associate)
• Anime Club (twice a month, run by teen services associate)
• Outreach and special programs
• Monthly field trip from the special education school (youth services associate)
• Monthly visits to two 4K centers and kindergarten/1st grade at our rural school (adult services associate)
• Two family Halloween programs, community outreach for Christmas parade, Christmas cookie program (school colleague)
• Collaborative events - puppet show for 4K, live animal show at school, play therapist presentation at library, resilience book club for parents

There will probably be lots more field trips and school visits but they aren't planned yet. One 4K center has moved down the street from the library and we expect them to make frequent library visits. I have an experienced aide ready to make monthly visits to an after school center. We're also looking to make a lot more connections with the middle school especially and I also hope to set up visits with the Head Start housed in a nearby elementary school.

I had hoped to have my weeding/relabeling project in the picture book neighborhoods finished before fall programs resume, but the attack on Baker and Taylor has temporarily halted that, so I will have to wait to resume work on that project. I am in the final stages and the Friends of the Library have given me funds for a lot of the replacements I need. We are working on additional prizes (book bags and reading buddies) for Read and Grow: 1,000 Books Before Kindergarten and I am hoping to have Reading Explorer: 500 Books before Middle School revamped and ready to resume in December. Teacher requests have already started (my teachers are great about asking in advance!) and I am doing a big overhaul of the library Pinterest boards. The last big project of the year will, hopefully, be the replacement of the flooring in our Storyroom.

In the new year, one of our two adult services associates will have their hours increased to half-time, which will mean my staff will only rarely have to fill in at the front desk. My youth services associate schedule will change to five days a week in the morning and they will take back the outreach that was farmed out to our adult services associate. We'll be bringing back our biggest library program, life-size candyland, and running it on both Saturday and the following Monday, and I hope to increase school field trips and individual class visits to the point where I will no longer need to try and see 1500 kids in the space of a few weeks right before summer. I'm also planning to revamp our summer reading program - it will not be a major change to how we do things, I will not go back to prizes or logs, but I will have more alternatives for kids to choose from and our take home kits will be adapted to be more environmentally friendly and less work for staff.

I am sure other things will happen, new emergencies will arrive, and there will be new crisis to deal with, but I'm hopeful that going forward we'll be less liable to burnout while still serving our patrons.