WebJunction

Now I *know* there are other small/rural librarians out there -- don't be shy.

You can just say "hi" and introduce yourself, or even talk about the special challenges a small/rural librarian faces.

hi karen...it simply isn't possible most of the time! I've been a small district director for over 6 years now. at first I would work 60-80hrs a week trying to do it all....but after the ole ticker tried to fail me I now work my 30hr work most of the time. You learn with time to prioritize and see what the public needs/wants the most...and then of course volunteers can be a help (or a hindrance...lol).
by the the way I'm new here also...it's taken me a few years to find the time to do more than skim the headlines of webjunction...I'm only here now because I'm waiting on my son to get ready to head into the 'real office'. Anyway, I"m director of a District of 5,000 spread within four counties in IL. Our tax levy is less than $100,000 but we maintain 5 library branches with 28 on-line pcs...with me as the main tech support. Our Gates are slowly but surely biting the dust (we got 6 with the grant). I've had new motherboards installed in two and they are now just regular pcs without all the upgrades.

Wilma! Hello! It's great to have you join the conversation on All Aboard.

Hopefully this topic will be a nice place for small and rural librarians to find each other and exchange information, resources, or solutions specific to their libraries. If you know of other folks who might want to join in - pass the word along!!

Have you had a chance to check out the rest of the board? Let us know if you have any questions or suggestions!

And, again, welcome aboard!

Hello,
I am a tech at the Kingsport Pulblic Library in TN. What are some of your most ask technical questions? I am getting a range of questions like I don't know how to use Word to I just deleted my paper that I typed up "How can I retrieved that paper".

> I think one problem we may have is the definition of
> "small" libraries. I have seen some people refer to
> their "small" library in a town with a population
> over 20,000.
>
> We only have about 2,000, so maybe we should add
> "tiny" to our definition?
Hi Chris
I agree but you can have a small library in a large town. My town has a population of fifty thousand but is served by a Large town cenytre library and four samll branch libraries.

I guess we could use the Scotland Scale

[url http://www.worldpath.net/~ndpl/notso.wav ]http://www.worldpath.net/~ndpl/notso.wav[/url]

My name is Bill, I am both Library District Trustee and volunteer library worker for the Liberty Hill Texas Public Library. We serve around 1500 people, and have only had the libray a year now. Looking forward to seeing what Web Junction has to offer. Thanks.

hmmmm, I wonder if we could lure Chris Watkins to post in these forums a bit???

Hello Martina! Let me echo Chrystie's welcome to WebJunction. Please feel free to start some new discussion threads if you have particular issues in mind!

Hi, my name is Martina and I'm the Director in a very small library in Iowa. I hope to share ideas and maybe get some help on questions that Librarians have in small rural libraries.

Thank

Martina

This just posted to the RURLIB-L list for rural libraries:

-------------

Hello all, my name is Chris Watkins, and I'm doing a feature for American Libraries on how rural libraries overcome the challenges of being geographically isolated. I'd welcome comments and/or the names of a couple of people who would like to be interviewed. The article will appear as a cover story early next year, but my deadline is looming.

As you can imagine, this is a huge subject, so I'm focusing on how the following come into play:

connections with cooperatives or other networks

partnering with other libraries or community organizations

programs/activities/initiatives

resources and resource sharing

special populations

Please reply to [url mailto:cwatkins@aol.com ]cwatkins@aol.com[/url] by this Friday, November 21. Many thanks!

Some of you may have noticed the little "Rural Libraries" non-link in the green focus box in the left side bar.

Next month we'll be highlighting all that WebJunction has to offer small and rural libraries.

If you have ideas on what we should highlight, or new content we should investigate, please post here!

Otherwise, stay tuned...

Hello from rural South Carolina.

Finally, I can post here. Haven't been able to since the site opened. Turns out it was my original login. Who knew?

I'm the computer guy, secretary, circ desk, shusher, and sometimes "heavy box" toter in Winnsboro, SC.

Nice to meet all of you.

Hi Chrystie-

Hope the problem has been worked out and I'm happy to be
joining in the discussion. Just to let you know our summer
reading program is just starting up and the theme for this year
will be "Surf Your Library"

Michael

I left out tax preparer, but that's just a couple months a year.

I am a bit CURious as to the specifics of how and why Mike could not post. Can you explain a bit what the problem was and how you found out about it?

and...

it appears that we now know of at least one other WJ member that this has happened to (as of this morning)

...details forthcoming.

I couldn't agree more. Living in a rural area, we were not the first to get ointernet access and so I had heard about the internet lonnnnnng before I actually got to use it. Needless to say I had heard all the horror stories of freaks and weirdos, hackers and pornspammers, etc. etc. I was so pleasantly surprised to find how quickly and easily I connected with friendly, helpful and intelligent people from all walks of life and every corner of the globe. I was sold on the web the very first day I surfed it and my opinion has not changed a bit in the 8 years that have passed since that day. If anything I am more of a web advocate now than ever before, due in no small part to great sites like this one!

I'm Bob, the Library guy. I've been the Library Director at the Carnegie Library in Ballinger, TX since August 11th. I have been cramming to learn the how-to's of being a librarian. Web Junction has been a large part of that growth. Our library is an independent non-profit organization. Learning how to get the Library Board to do something besides gossip has been a major concern. Any suggestions would be helpful. They do not answer to any government entity, even though we receive about 20% of our funding from city and county coffers. Most of the Board members are women. Business men will not serve because of the lack of working as a business.

Help!

Bob

I'm Bob, the Library guy. I've been the Library Director at the Carnegie Library in Ballinger, TX since August 11th. Ballinger serves a population area of about 6500 in West Texas. We are about half way between Abilene on the North and San Angelo to the Southwest. Our library is 95 yrs old and on the national registry of Historic Landmarks. We are an independent non-profit organization with about 16,500 items in our collection. Biggest need is to have the Library Board do more than talk.

Any suggestions?

The Library Guy

There are a lot of planning tools out there ... using some of them might at least suggest a direction for the board's conversation. ;-)

There's also the issue of programming. Board members in rural areas, I think, tend to know lots of local folks who've been around and can do things. Which also, I suppose, leads to local history.

It's nice to see another library-type Bob about. ;-)

I've stayed out of this conference because my library is only rural in a relative sense -- it's now become quite suburban.

(I think you mean Bobspence -- darn this software.)

Hi Bob, welcome to the group. One of our current board members is orignally from Ballinger, and still visits there quite often.

For your sign issue -- you say one member saying it wasn't needed killed it. Was a vote actually taken, or was it just discussed and died without a vote? If it's the latter, you have to stress to your President the importance of calling for a vote.

It might help to place an * or + on the agenda line items which require a vote.

Hello,

My name is Mary Merrell and I'm Jane of all trades in Cleveland, TX. It's nice to hear from other libraries

Hi, my name is Ken Newman and I am in charge of running a branch library in a rural twp in MI with about 1350 people. I'm interested in talking about the stuff nobody ever talks about, the normative functions of a library as public space. How about this topic: I have had 3 patrons die in the past 6 months: how do we serve patrons as they die? For all of these patrons, the library was a big part of their lives, and the library played a large part in the process of death and grieving for them and their families, but I was never trained on this and I have found not one shred of resources on this. At least half of my funtions are social in nature, providing a secure and stable space for people whose lives are often insecure and unstable. Oh, and occasionally they want books, but for the most part 50% of what I do is not "books" and yet there is no recognition, no training, no resources, and no funding for what might even be the majority of my job. I'm not complaining at all, it's a very fulfilling and rewarding and satisfying job (obviously I'm not talking about the pay here), I'm just interested in seeing if anyone on earth is interesting in talking about these kinds of subjects.

Hi. My name is Rose and I am the librarian at a county library in Philip, SD. We serve a county of about 2400 people. The area is isolated-about 90 miles from the nearest fast food restaurant.

Hi - I'll introduce myself with the thought that I'm really small. I am the branch manager fora rural town in Missouri. population 411. I work for the Mexico-Audrain County Library District. I agree that our problems are unique and constantly changing. I have seen a lot of changes since I started this job in July, 1966. Yes this summer will be 38 years. Our biggest accomplishment has been a brand new paid for building that we moved into in May, 1999. I'll be watching this website for any new and interesting ideas

Hi Ken,

This is Marilyn and I'm director of a small rural library in Colorado. I know exactly what you're talking about. This library is 30+ years old and the people who established and nurtured it are beginning to die or move off the mountain. We ARE the community center here and being a place for social interaction is one of my highest priorities. I love it. But there's not training that I know of that fits the bill for this situation. Except for Mom's advice to "always say something nice." We do a lot of programming though that includes health, death & dying issues, etc. That seems to help.

I'm home with a stuffy nose today (trying not to share what I have with my co-workers) and found was catching up on my overloaded e-mailbox when I found a link to this site from INCOLSA (Indiana Cooperative Library Services Authority). It looks great.

I've been library director in Odon, Indiana for four years, a new career for me after being a full-time mom for 17 years. We serve a population of less than 3,000 and are open 23 hours per week.

My biggest challenge is prioritizing my time. Being only parttime, I obviously can't do it all and find it too easy to do the things I enjoy and let the more difficult things go undone. I'm in an enviable position since this library has not had an active director for much of its history so whatever I do is more than my predecessors have done.

Anyway, that's plenty for an intro. Just wanted to say hi.

Mary Ann, it's great to have you with us! Does your library have public access computers that you're responsible for as well? What kinds of things are going on in your library this summer?

Hi -

I am the Director of Palmer Public Library in Palmer, AK. We're a city of just over 5,000 but we serve a much larger clientele (15K) from the surrounding unincorporated area. I've been here 2.5 years, after 20+ years away from libraries. Things sure have changed! Fortunately, my just previous positions included a lot of IT work, as that's what I spend a lot of time doing. I've been reading WebJunction since I heard about it at Gates training. We were the last state to receive Gates computers and have benefitted from having everyone else go first and get the bugs worked out. We currently have 8 public access computers (2 Gates) and would add more if we have more space - and electric outlets!

Pat

Well, I received the upgrades - and the box looks really nice in my office! It's a matter of time, since neither the library or the city has any IT support - we have an RFP out for an IT contract but that'll be awhile. I'm working with the IT person from our local Borough (county) libraries. She and I will do the first upgrade together and hopefully both learn enough to do the rest.

Wow, it is great to see so many rural librarians on WJ! I hope you have gotten a chance to see this month's [url http://webjunction.org/do/DisplayContent?id=1235 ] Focus on Small and Rural Libraries[/url] here at WebJunction. We will continue to post success stories from rural libraries around the country, so keep them coming in!

I am the only staff person at a rural library, that serves about 440 people. I found this discussion from the Gates group news postings and sometimes it's very hard been the only person in charge. How do you all handle all the things we have to do. Our libary is open 23 1/2 hours and I work about 25 to 27 hour a week. Thanks

Wow! This topic is really jumpin.

Welcome Aboard! most recently to newman, martina, tanderman, and librarylil. It's great to have all of you with us. I've been offline for a few weeks now, so haven't yet had a chance to get caught up on everything that has occurred while I was away. I hope you guys are having a grand time getting acquainted with WJ's members and all the other stuff we've got going on around here!

Again, welcome and we look forward to seeing more ...

Yes, hello and welcome to you all! It is great that the Gates group news postings are helping people find their way here, newmanlibrary. WebJunction is a great resource for all libraries but especially great for remote and/or understaffed libraries.

Martina, you certainly hold the unbeatable record for smallest staff. Do we have any other one-person operations here?

Tanderman, someone once told me that part of Eisnehowers great interstate highway master plan was that every five miles on every interstate there is a one mile straight stretch suitable for landing a large aircraft. Do you have any friends who are airline pilots?

Librarylil, we are doing the exact same thing at our library, adding an elevator to a grand old building. When this is complete we will start expanding into a new children's room and doubling the space of the adult section in the process. It is exciting for us but we also worry about maintaining the character of our great old building...

I participated in the on-line conference today on sustainability for rural and small libraries. This technology is great, even though I am very new at it. I'm looking for the information we saw and comtributed today on WebJunction. Can you help me find it?

What you say is true. My problem is in a small library you have so many hats to wear. I just commented to my assistant that I get too many irons in the fire at once and sometimes lose track of which one I'm working on. I try to prioritize but then the phone rings or a patron has a question or a fax arrives and I'm off and running in another direction. During the last hour of the day, if I can, I try to spend some time here in wj, but most often do not take the time to reply. But I am here and listening and learning. The Junction has been an able comforter. Thanks!

Rose,

How to get people to participate in an online forum is a question that has given me much trouble over the years. There does not seem to be any silver bullet solution that always works for everyone. I guess it just has to be a combination of the right type of forum and the right type of person. It does seem that if the interest is there, you can hardly keep some people away. Likewise, you can lead a web user to a forum but you can't make them post!

Your job description sounds like mine - even it the hat doesn't fit - wear it anyway. BONUS - when they ask for a certain department - and you don't want to talk to a sales person, then you can say they're out today.

We are small/understaffed but I think in many ways our public likes small better. Usually its friendlier, more patron oriented.

Well said Bob, I salute you. Working in a rural environment where there is often a very limited budget and finite resources can be difficult. It takes a special sort of person to remain creative and optimistic in such a situation...

We have just been awarded a Texas Book Festival grant that I have earmarked for How-To books. I have set a goal of being the most practical library in West Texas. Any suggestions regarding publishers of such would be appreciated. Am I asking for a "how-to"?

Hi Chrystie,

We just *met* in the sustainability workshop. I'm head librarian and techie in a town of just over 700; we're open 10 hrs/wk, and in the middle of automating the library. With only two staff members and one PT volunteer, it's taking us a long time... Looking forward to scoping out all the resources here!

Hello I am employed in Fort Worth, Tx as a librarian, but live in a town of 2,000 outside of Fort Worth that serves residents of several counties. Having just moved to this rural community, I hope to learn more about rural library services and issues.

Hi,
I am Linda and the director of our town library. Our town pop. is 400. Do I get the tiniest library award!! Hope to learn some interesting things on this site.

Connie, Linda, and Michele! Welcome, welcome! We're so glad you found us and that the word is getting out. Enjoy WJ and we hope to see you back soon.

What Chris and Chrystie said - welcome!

Load times can be a real problem for dialup users. Web designers increasingly ignore the needs of the dialup audience. They assume that everyone has tons of bandwidth and the 56k modem crowd really suffers as a result of this mindset. This is the first time I have heard this complaint about WebJunction. I have not had the opportunity to try the site out myself on a dialup connection and I think I will have to do that now. I have never been very happy with the software we use for these forums because as the threads get longer the load times increase even with a broadband connection. I have long begged for a feature that would allow us to see only the new posts since our last visit. I assume that cable and/or DSL is not available to your library?

Hello!

My name is Jean Gaskill and I'm from a small rural library in central Michigan. WebJunction is a wonderful assest! I find myself spending more & more time here.

JG

Jessica and Mary Beth, as you can see - you are not alone! Many small & rural area librarians are frequent WJ visitors, and have now become a regular part of our community here. We're glad you found us and we look forward to hearing more about your interests, problems, and solutions in your library. Welcome! Welcome!

Hi everybody. My name is Elmira Freeman and I run the small rural community Library at the South Rim of the famous Grand Canyon. I started January 2, 2003 and had to face a mess. Records in cataloging and patron's database were incorrect, facility was nothing but filfy, users got used to not return materials in time due to no-fines policy. Now with the team effort we reached the point were our users call us "A real professional library". That means that we provide excellent customer service, find answers on all reference questions, created quiet environment for people to read while in the library, maintain friendly connection to our users, etc. This is all sounds great, but there were a lot of issues behind it. Considering I didn't know anything about running the Library, when I started. So, if you do have a question, please e-mail it to [url mailto:gccl518@yahoo.com ]gccl518@yahoo.com[/url], and I will be more than happy to share our experience on how to turn things around. Thank you.

Perhaps we should start a "small/rural library horror stories" thread? ;)

Smaller libraries tend to have more problems during staffing changes simply because the library's been run by one person (maybe two). It often gets treated like a personal kingdom as well.

I know I dealt with a lot of "It's always been done that way" answers when I was asking questions about things that I felt were wasting our time.

Hi, my name is Rosa and I am the only librarian also, and you are right it is hard! I have been here 7 years and the director for 6 years. Until a year ago I worked the 2 night shifts and ran a daycare from my home while 3 other ladies worked the rest of the library's hours. Last October the City Council decided that they wanted just one librarian, so here I am. I love it! But I have also had to deal with hearing "so and so always just renewed my books automatically" or "I never had to pay fines before" but the pros outway the cons by far!

Possibly for some that is true, however one of the past librarians refused to turn on the computers because she was not comfortable with them. She was older and needed some encouragement to retire. The other 2 worked only 3-4 hours per week and have found part-time jobs with more hours. They still come in and hang out in the library and have "coffee" with me so it's not an uncomfortable situation at all. Speaking of coffee, I would like to open a small coffee bar in the library but am concerned. Most libraries in our area forbid food and drink in the library so am I asking for trouble? Will it be more mess than it's worth?? Maybe I could just offer it once a week?- Tuesday night "books and beans"? I would welcome any feedback. Thanks

Marion, you will find a warm community here at WJ, for "venting" and for inspiration - both! Thanks for joining us.

How long have you been in your library? All 3 years?

HI, I'm Lisa, I just took over the position of Library Director, in the Fort Atkinson Public Library in Iowa, The actuall town it is in is only 350 people but I serve a few neighboring towns and the rural community around here. I'm new to the whole working for money in a library thing so it has been a change. I'm just hoping that I won't mess up too much lol. I am looking forward to learning as much as I can... and hope to talk to you all..

hello! we're glad you found WJ again. it's also nice of you to revive the small library thread. what are you working on lately? and what's the link to your cooperative forum space? We'd love to take a look!

Hey there, I started your Bibliotherapy topic (as new) in the Library Services area, as Betha suggested. You'll find it here.

Thank you kind Lady & Sir...Heavens ya'll respond quickly...

Does anyone happen to know the answer to that Polaris community question I put forward in the Introduce yourself thread? How many Polaris Database users are active members here?

Ah Hah...I see it has become its own thread - Thank you!

Welcome to WebJunction Lisa. We certainly like to talk here so you should have no trouble finding conversation! Do you have a library staff or are you the library staff?

My name is Mary Ann and I am the director and only employee of a town library serving about 1500 people. We have not had a trained librarian for over 20 years (including me) so I am trying to catch up and stay afloat. I will be looking for any advice applicable to my situation.

Hello! My name is Donna and I work in the beautiful north Georgia mountains (yes Virginia, there ARE mountains in Georgia) in a small, but rapidly growing area. We have four libraries and a bookmobile serving a three county region. I'm not a computer technician, I am the assistant director, but I guess technology falls into that "other duties as assigned" category. And in a small library we all know we do whatever is needed anyway. That's why I'm thrilled to learn of this great resource! I do not have time to learn everything, so it's great to find a place we can share our problems and solutions without each of us having to try to learn it all. So thanks in advance for sharing.

Is your library anywhere near Helen, GA? Or Sautee? Or Cleveland? On 85? 365? 441 or 197?

Cheers,
Avena

Hi gang...it's been awhile since I've posted anything. I've really enjoyed reading this thread. I think that's what intrigues me most about the work of rural library staff: so many expectations placed upon you, with so little time and money. The stories that come out of that unbalanced equation are often quite inspiring and sometimes downright funny.

Anyway, I wanted to introduce myself. I'm Jim Malzewski, and I'm working on WebJunction's very new Rural Library Sustainability Program. There will be lots of info forthcoming on this particular program, but the overall goal is to present workshops in all 50 states over the next few years. The workshops will focus on unique challenges facing rural and small libraries. Of course, all of the material and everything that 's shared at these workshops or generated out of these workshops will be shared on WJ.

Well, that's it for now. Just wanted to throw my hat in the ring, if you will, and say hello. I look forward to sharing more with you all down the road.

Hi, I am Vicki. I am the Library Director/Librarian of the Castle Rock Public Library in Castle Rock, Washington (the entrance to Mt. St. Helens). I've been a member of Web Junction pretty much from the beginning but I haven't posted to the forums before. My job is part-time so I usually don't have the time to spend reading and posting. I have decided to take the plunge because I want to be more involved in the library community. This seemed one of the cheapest and least time consuming ways to do that.


Message was edited by: vickiselander

Vicki, my college boyfriend - believe it or not - grew up in Castle Rock, WA!! I have been there many times. Do you by chance know Mike Jones? BTW: welcome. Now you're on the inside!

So, maddog, Vicki, and everyone else-- A question for you: If you had a day to attend a workshop for rural library staff, and that workshop was designed to help you get skills and information that will assist you in sustaining the technology in your library, what topics would you like to see covered? What would be of most benefit to you? What would be a waste of time....

Let me know what you think.

Have a great Tuesday, everyone!!

Mike JOnes must have graduated in 87 or so. But I *doubt* very seriously that you're older than most of us. We have a pretty nice little mix here...

Again, welcome!

maddog, malzewski and chrystiehill, Thanks for the welcomes.
Actually, there has not been much of an increase in library activity with the tourism from The Mountain (as the locals call it). There were a few reporters, when things started "heating up" again, but tourism is just starting the usual seasonal increase now. Tourists often come in here to check their e-mail.

There are two real Castle Rocks, our town and one in Colorado. Sometimes tourists think either that the Stephen King books were written about us or that the movie "Stand By Me" was filmed here. Neither of which is true, of course. The books take place in Maine and the movie was filmed in Oregon.

In answer to the conference question- ("Where do I start?" she mused.) I would like more nuts and bolts stuff about both hardware and software troubleshooting. I could use an update on current technology: raids, flash drives, scanners, etc. Also a major issue is *security*. What is safe to let patrons do on our computers and what isn't? Are these the kinds of topics you meant? To those of use with, essentially, no money, keeping the technology we have functioning well as long as possible is a major aspect of sustainability. (was this post too long???)


Message was edited by: vickiselander

Malzewski,
Another thing that I think would be fun and useful in a workshop is a session that focuses on "what are our patrons up to?" or "what's new?" I hear a lot of librarians (rural and not) say that they can't keep up with all of the technology being used by their patrons. One small example is online chat. I have seen websites that give parents a dictionary for understanding online chat abbreviations (like IMHO and LOL). What else is new? iPods. Blogs. Friendster. Flickr. Etc...
Just some thoughts
Brenda

Here in Castle Rock, Washington, we have a Burger King and a Subway at the edge of town but mostly we could have been the site for "Stand by Me". (Tiny town struggling to survive.)

Hi chance - thanks for joining us! Welcome, welcome.

I am curious about what sort of policies you have concerning instant messages and chat rooms. I work at several rural libraries and their policy on this is all over the map. One library does not allow it at all, another one allows it to such an extent that the computers get really messed up constantly by kids installing and reinstalling every IM service there is. How do you view chat and instant messages from a policy aspect and how do you view it from a security/system integrity aspect?

Brenda:
Yes, I agree that e-mail has become an important service provided by libraries. We get quite a few tourists here in Castle Rock, Washington, to see Mt. St. Helens. Many of them stop in to check their e-mail. Sometimes they are even from other countries.

Vicki

What happened to malzewski?

Thanks for the concern, Harry. Yep, I'm here.

Yeah, great news on the hiring front. We've hired Michelle Huber to build the curriculum and assist with the community around the Rural/Small Library Sustainability Program that we'll be launching soon.

Keep those curriculum ideas coming in...

It's always either timing or location, isn't it?

Yes, there are definitely a lot of patrons interested in web based emails at all the libraries I work at and I think this is a valuable service to provide. It is the IM software that causes lots of grief though, especially in those non Gates granted libraries that do not have security fixtures such as Centurian Guard. The constant installing and reinstalling of the various IM software apps by children can really wreak havoc on those systems, especially those older systems...

Hey Laura, it's great to see you introducing yourself around the site. I'd love to hear more about the work that you do in your library. I think you may be the first librarian of your kind to join us!

How do you think it's different working in the type of library setting you are in now? Besides, no public access computing...?

Right now, we do not have any Internet Messenger programs on any of our computers, including staff computers. They are just too riddled with security problems. However, I don't have a problem with web-based messenger services. Some of my patrons now use Yahoo Webmessenger. It seems to work okay for them.

Hello, Laura. Welcome to our thread.

Vicki

Hi, Paula! Welcome.

Welcome, Michael...I'm looking forward to hearing about some of those "oh so sweet" successes...

Hi Abby-

Sounds like your going to be very busy person. in your new job and I wish you good luck. In answer to your appeal for help with getting a better salary, you might want to look at the Vermont Library Associations report published a couple of years ago entitled,
"Library Compensation: a how-to guide for Vermont Libraries" Lots of practical information, including strategies to help you get the salary you deserve. Go to:

http://www.vermontlibraries.org/publications.html and click on "Increasing Library Compensation" item to access the file. Glad you joined the discussion group.

Michael

Hello, all!

My name is Dan Collins. I am the recently hired Community Librarian/Director for the Mayer Public Library, in Mayer, Arizona.

Our Webpage, such as it is

I am new to this position, though I have some experience working as a voluteer in rural libraries, along with management experience, and computer training and experience. So far it has been a fabulous experience! I am getting paid to do something I would do for free!

I lived in Mayer for about two years. I've lived in the county for over 15 years. Mayer is a small, ex-mining town, with a population of about 1,500. It was established in 1882, and has the distinction of having the only hill with it's own smokestack.

Nancy, welcome! It's great to have you joining us and thanks for your great intro. How did you hear about WJ?

Nancy, welcome....As I read your brief bio I couldn't help but think how happy you'll be in the upcoming months as we add more and more resources for rural library staff to WebJunction. New Mexico is one of eight states that will be participating in the Rural Library Sustainability Project this year. This means that you'll not only see additional content on WebJunction, but you'll also more than likely be able to attend a workshop put on by your State Library specifically for Rural Librarians. More information will be forthcoming, so stay tuned....

welcome to WebJunction from Patagonia. it's great to have you joining us.

you might be interested in this recent library of the month article about a small town library that quickly became a big suburban library ~ things do change fast.

Ha ha. You're funny. I like you. Welcome!

Hey Paula, nice to see you joining us. That funding issue is heavy on everyone's minds, it seems. Check out our Fundraising & Advocacy discussions for some cool ideas that have worked for other libaries - some of them super easy to implement. Again, welcome!

Hello dscrawford, it is great to have you join the discussions! I look forward to hearing more from you. It sounds like we work for similarly sized libraries. Is your library feeling the budget squeeze the way ours is? This time of year, with town meetings coming up, we find we really have to beg for every penny...

I visited the Santa Fe area a few years ago. Beautiful! Have you ever met Julia Roberts? (I have a huge soft spot for her!!)

Hi!

I'm a relatively new library director in a small town of 250 people in IA, starting in November of 2005. I'm enjoying my job of helping people select reading material and ordering books that they like yet trying to "stretch" their taste in reading by ordering some bestsellers that they may not choose on their own. We've also formed two reading groups, one afternoon and one evening. So far, we're gaining members and interest with the books we're discussing. Thank goodness for libraries with multiples of the same title on a website!

Hello everyone,
My name is Elizabeth Tackett, I am the director of the Buffalo Creek Memorial Library. We are the first "instant library in the nation". Our library was founded in 1973 and was named in honor of the 125 individuals who lost their lives in the 1972 Buffalo Creek Flood. We are located in Man, WV, a small town in the southern coalfields. We are a small rural library with a service population of 11,525. I have been the director since February 2005 and I am very excited about
the Rural Library Sustainability Project since attending the conference held April5, 2006 at Stonewall Jackson Resort. I am in the process of setting the ground work for my projects and I am interested in sharing ideas with everyone.

I am the Branch Manager of the Lumpkin Public Library in Lumpkin Ga. I am the one room library that you read about in books or see in the old movies. I have been on the job here for 16 months, and find that I am continually learning.
I am the only full time employee at my library, I do have two part time employees.
I am part of a larger regional library system. But for the most part my library, and patrons are different than those in "the city". Is anyone else part of a larger system? How does that work for all of you?

Hi Ian,

I am originally from Oregon. I lived in Spokane before I moved here to Georgia in 1998. I can envision the panhandle of Idaho nicely. I miss the pine trees.

Our policies and procedures are the same as set by the main library system. My patrons can request items from the city branches and a transit brings them out to me twice a week. With this set up my patrons have access to a large collection that I really have no room for.

We just did a purging of material that had not checked out in three years so that we could open up some space on the shelves that were becoming very over crowded. I was amazed at what an undertaking that turned out to be for as small as the library is.

If anyone would like to see a picture of my cute little library please feel free to visit here

http://www.thecolumbuslibrary.org/about/lumpkin.html

Up until March I was a faded green with falling in front. The county graciously had workers come and give us a much needed face lift.

Hi Leta

Nice and it is cute.
I am in a temporary building, double wide, used to be 2 classrooms. We converted it and I am pretty happy with the outcome. The FOL just put in a little garden on the weekend. Can't wait to get a sign for the Library!!
The town has an Art Guild and they arranged it to have a person displaying their art for a couple of months at a time. It is great as the art changes all the time, but at times I have to put up with some that are not really .....
I was originally from Malaysia, moved to New Zealand and lived there for 28 years before coming here. This place is still new to me (5 yrs now). I will post some pics later. By the way my name is Lan.

Hi, here are the pics that I promised. Well, what do you think? I do enjoy reading all the messages. Presently, I am looking forward to my NZ friend cum ex-supervisor's visit in June. She is going to be visiting the Boise U library before coming to me, then to the ALA conf. I will mention the WJ member reception to her.

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library_1.JPG (98.7k)    library-non_fiction.JPG (117.5k)    library-fiction3.JPG (138.7k)

Hello. My name is Cheryl Volosin from the Ruidoso Public Library. I work in the Children's Department and have been the Youth Services Supervisor here for this last year. We are busy preparing for our Summer Reading Program. I just thought I would share about some of the fun things we have planned for June. We will have a K-9 unit from the police department coming on June 6th, a magician, Jamie O'Hare, on June 7th, and a pajama party from 6 p.m. until 10 p.m. on Friday, June 9th. We also have movies planned for every Wednesday afternoon and some presentations about bears and dinosaurs, crafts following the presentations, and puppet shows.

We are currently working on making a space for our teens in the library. We are looking for any suggestions on programs and ideas for involving our teens. We would like to know what other libraries are doing.

This is my first posting on Web Junction. So I am looking forward to hearing from some of you. Thanks! Cheryl Volosin

Hola! My name is Sally Rue-Nava,I have been with The Ruidoso Public Library for about 1 year as a Assistant Children's Librarian.
I want to tell you about our Preschool story time that meets each Thursday of the month from 10:30 A.M.-11:15 A.M.,we are focusing on bears and bunnies.

June 3rd---Summer Reading Program Registration
June 8th---Puppet show by Amy Duncan.Craft will be making a bear board book.
June 15th---We will be reading favorite rabbit stories. Will be making boo-hoo bunnies as our craft.
June 22nd---Will be reading more favorite bedtime stories.We will decorate a canvas book bag with a picture of your bedtime storie.
June 29th---Preschol Pajama Party:Bring your sleeping bags,a teddy bear,and a camera We'll be camping out in the classroom.
We just wanted to share what we do with our Reading Summer Program.

My name is Sue and I am the sole librarian/paid employee of Bridge Academy Public Library in Dresden, ME. I am very new as I started in March and have not worked in a library setting since my college days (almost 12 years ago!) I am really enjoying being here and the challenges of operating a small town library, but it is hard to keep up sometimes I must admit!
I do have a question for all of you...I have asked a few local librarians but would like as many opinions as possible. We recently received a large donation of DVDs, some of which are R rated. Our current setup places our adult and kid movies side by side. What do you have for a policy on kids checking out R rated movies?

I look forward to chatting with all of you and thanks for any input you have for my question!
Sue

Welcome Sue and Kelly.

I thought this issue about dvd policy was interesting enough to post over in the Children's Services forum, so [url /forums/thread.jspa?threadID=4167&tstart=0 ]there it is[/url]. There must be others who have encountered this same issue.

Thanks for your prompt reply, Kelly!