Annual Report

Town Meeting Report (May 2010)

Despite reductions in state and local aid, Pelham Library has continued to give excellent service to the Pelham community, using only 1% of the total town budget:

• Pelham Library was awarded 4 Stars by Library Journal last year on measures of service and circulation. That ranks us in the top 3% of all public libraries nationally, thanks to all the readers in Pelham.
• Over 50 town residents volunteer their time at the library! Their reshelving, cataloging and interlibrary loan work frees the staff to develop and maintain additional library services.
• The Community and History Rooms host over 200 meetings a year, ranging from the Planning Board and Historical Society to writing groups and the Energy Committee. 
• The library continues to host the After-School program, concerts, the Summer Reading Program and the weekly Story Hour. We are a successful community center.

This past year, talks by local authors included the history of slavery in local communities, and American culture before Columbus. We put on well-attended workshops on fly fishing, growing mushrooms on logs, pastel painting and yoga, as well as a wine tasting and a summer evening outdoor film screening of The Lorax. Concerts put on by Gail and Paul Berube, with funding from the Pelham Cultural Council and the Friends of the Library, were appreciated as always.

Library Director Adam Novitt’s fourth Saturday of the Month Teas drew large crowds for a different theme each month. In October, for example, we sipped tea Pakistan-style and watched Indian dance. In December, we were entertained by sword dancers, and bell ringers. 

Grant money paid for a wide-screen TV in the Community Room which has been used both to show movies at Senior Lunches and by the After-School Program to do virtual bowling and tennis video games with a Nintendo Wii.

A State budget cut in library support had two major impacts on Pelham: it meant the end of the sixty-year old Bookmobile program that visited small libraries with new books and tapes, and the 2012 closure of the Western Massachusetts library center in Whately. We will now have to travel to the Worcester area for staff workshops and library support.

Minimizing the impact of budget cuts has been a major part of our work:

• In February, we hosted the region’s library Legislative Breakfast for the region. It was a big crowd and a good show. All our representatives attended and promised their best efforts in the budget discussions to come.

• Potential Pelham School budget cuts would have led to fewer new children’s books being bought. The Trustees put out an appeal for children’s books that was generously supported (Thank You!) and we are happy to see some new books bought with this money already on display.

We are working on upgrading our circulation software which is now old and unsupported. We hope to move to a statewide web-based system which will allow patrons to request books online.

Alberta Booth stepped down this year after many many years as Trustee. The remaining Trustees and staff stand in awe of her years of energetic, committed and thoughtful service. She is a hard act to follow.

The Trustees are doing all they can to ensure that despite the continuing economic troubles, library services are maintained. We invite people in town to join us in volunteering some time or donating to help keep Pelham’s library running.

Respectfully submitted,
Jonathan Woodbridge, Trustee Chair