Okanagan Regional Library – 2012 Grants Report

March 25, 2013

Stephanie Hall, Executive Director, Okanagan Regional Library

Highlights

The Okanagan Regional Library’s mission is to enrich the lives of, and empower people by providing equitable access to library resources.

Through the regional structure, the library ensures equitable access for patrons in remote rural areas, first nations, and urbanized residents. This unique partnership is based on collaboration and goodwill, and grants received from the province help to cement the relationships. Provincial investments help support resource sharing among the partners and detract from the idea that each library could ‘do it better alone’.

In 2012, financial constraints led to a protracted labour conflict, which had a direct impact on patron service throughout the region, from our smallest centres to our flagship Kelowna branch. Disruption of service was ongoing and unpredictable. Overall, circulation of physical materials for the year was down by 3.27%. Electronic borrowing (including circulation of ebooks, music downloads, TumbleBooks, and electronic magazine circulation through Zinio) increased by 204% during the period, reflecting increased offerings, as well as improved popularity, and un-disrupted access. Overall, taking circulation of both physical and electronic items into account, public use of the service remained about even with the prior year, with an overall 0.23% increase in circulation.

Summer reading club attendance increased by 14%, to just under 9,000 session participants, and this is a an important success, as it has been shown again and again in the research literature that summer reading programs help reduce summer learning loss in school age children and help increase reader enjoyment, which is the foundation of successful reader engagement.

Progress on Strategic Goals

The board identified both strategic directions and strategic priorities in the 2012-15 Strategic Plan. The plan has been included as a supplement, and a summary of progress is included at the end of this document as Appendix A. A summary of highlights is included here.

In terms of strategic priorities, highlights included the recruitment of a new Executive Director upon the retirement of long term CEO Lesley Dieno, the design and implementation of a technology training plan for front-line staff based on increasing customer demand, the completion of the Vernon branch, negotiations on the Summerland branch, planning for the revitalization of the Kelowna branch, and the implementation of Halogen HR software to improve performance management.

Major additional upcoming work includes research and selection of a new ILS for improved patron service, branch construction in Summerland, the revision of the facilities guidelines, and the development of a new rural services model. The ORL will pursue an organizational review in 2013, likely using an external reviewer for increased objectivity. This is an element of accountability that board trustees are familiar with from the local government context. The new Executive Director will conduct a series of interviews with local government CAOs to determine best practice for conducting such a review, and to learn what matters most to local government in working with and understanding the Regional Library.

Community Engagement

Our library encourages ongoing community feedback through the use of customer comment forms, comment fields on our website "Contact Us" page, distribution of program evaluation forms, and interactive "Recommendation to Purchase" forms linked to our website and catalogue. More recently, the library has begun to receive customer feedback through our social media, such as our facebook page.The library uses customer feedback to tailor programs, build customer – driven collections and address growing concerns. In addition, the current strategic plan was based on over 1,000 customer interviews from around the region.

The library offered a variety of programs, including a slightly increased number of adult programs, with total attendance of 92,326 people. Every week, 32,800 people pass through the doors of a public library in our region, to engage with literature and culture. The ORL offers one on one reference assistance, along with group help sessions. The Kelowna branch has a partnership with a local genealogical society for in depth genealogical reference help to patrons. The library fosters the activity of community groups through the provision of meeting space. In addition to regular private tutoring and other casual in-branch meetings, 776 formal meetings of outside groups took place in our facilities. 448 of these meetings were held in the Kelowna branch, with 137 held in the Vernon branch. This figure should continue to climb with the addition of attractive new meeting rooms in the Vernon and Westbank branches.

Resource Sharing and Partnerships

In addition to the 3.2 million physical items shared within its borders, the ORL supports external resource sharing through ILL and Onecard participation. The ORL shares physical space with other organizations in some areas, provides reciprocal programming and promotion in some cases, and embraces formal partnerships in others. The library also provided support to formal educational institutions through the proctoring of 556 exams.

The library continued to explore community partnerships in 2012, particularly in our larger branches where there is more space in which to host joint activities. The Kelowna and Vernon branches partnered with the local Arts Council and Art Gallery to provide public exhibition space. The Kelowna branch cooperated with UBCO to bring author readings and other presentations to the downtown Kelowna core. The Salmon Arm branch works closely with the Literacy Alliance of the Shuswap Society to offer a whole host of literacy-based activities.

Literacy-based partnerships are common in our smaller branches, such as in Revelstoke where the local library is an important partner in the “Screen Smart” program. In Summerland, staff work with a local community group to deliver books to the homebound, while in Oliver the public library has established a cooperative relationship with the local First Nations school.

In 2012, our major partnership was the siting of the Kelowna & District Genealogical Society within the Kelowna branch Reference Department. This two-year pilot project is scheduled for evaluation in the spring of 2013. It is hoped that this trial program will serve as a model for other shared-space projects.

Equitable Access

An important component of equitable access is having access to trained staff. Libraries and Literacy supported this in 2012 by providing access to Community Librarian Training, training that targets staff in remote and rural communities, where undertaking a formal library degree or diploma program may not be realistic. This support was greatly appreciated. In 2013, the ORL will work with Libraries and Literacy on the evolution of this program.

In 2012, the ORL continued its commitment to serving a diverse population through a variety of programs and collections. Over the year, alternative format materials were circulated as shown in the table below. Circulation of alternative format materials includes a service element, whereby staff assist patrons of varying ages and backgrounds, some with print or physical disabilities, to select and borrow materials. As noted, the ORL has recently instituted a 1-800 help line for ebook assistance.

Large Print / 63,958
Non-English / 16,917
Electronic materials / 116,902
Audiovisual materials / 652,309

The library made both branch PCs and wifi available to patrons, with 57,250 wifi sessions and 163,620 PC sessions.

Supporting literacy and early reading

Libraries play a key role in reader development, fostering reader enjoyment and early literacy. In 2012, the ORL engaged with the 0-6 and school age population in a number of ways.

As noted above, Summer Reading Club attendance increased by 14%, to 8,998 session participants, and this is a an important success, as it has been shown again and again in the research literature that summer reading programs help reduce summer learning loss in school age children and help increase reader enjoyment, which is the foundation of successful reader engagement.

939,809 juvenile books were circulated over the year, ranging from baby books to teen literature. This volume of reading and engagement supplements formal education in the school system at a minimal cost and levels the playing field for children who can’t afford to buy all the books they read. TumbleBook usage has almost quadrupled over the prior year, with over 21,000 circulations of the online, interactive children’s books. The ORL fosters a close relationship with schools, and staff engaged with over 30,000 children in the course of class visits to the library and library staff visits to classes. 52,801 people attended a children’s program in the library. Programs offered by the ORL typically promote early literacy, numeracy, parenting, reader enjoyment, and other similar skillsets.

In the fall of 2012, plans were made for the spring use of our 2012-13 Library Literacy Grant. $6,000 was committed to an author tour by Sigmund Brouwer, an author whose work is geared towards reluctant readers, particularly boys. This tour will be followed by a spring staff development workshop on promoting library materials to boys, especially reluctant readers. The remaining portion of the grant was used to host the first ever ‘Okanagan Reads’ campaign. The campaign featured George Bowering’s novel Shoot!, a gritty historical western set in the interior of B.C. George was raised in Oliver and is the Okanagan’s most prominent literary son. This program has just completed, so evaluation and statistical reporting will form part of the 2013 report.

APPENDIX A – ORL strategic planning update

The board identified both strategic directions and strategic priorities in the 2012-15 Strategic Plan.

In terms of strategic priorities, here is the progress to March 2013:

Strategic priority / Completed / Next Steps
Foundation Statements /
  • Statements have been revised and revisions adopted

Staff planning /
  • Executive Director recruited.
  • Priority training was determined in 2011 – determining that technology training was the number one need for the majority of staff. Since then a number of in house training sessions have been provided, primarily facilitated by the Area Librarians, in the areas of e-book and mobile devices, mobile apps, online data bases, etc. The Board has funded an additional $10,000 in our staff development budget to offset the costs associated with technology training.
  • ORL staff were registered in 283 training sessions during 2012, an increase of 18 % over the previous year (which in itself was an increase from the prior year).
  • Halogen was implemented and staff are now working with it. Additional training may be required.
/
  • A formal training and development plan is in the draft stages for 2013 as we continue to place emphasis on seeking out opportunities for all staffing levels.
  • A long term staffing plan is identified as a goal for 2013.

Public Access & Convenience /
  • Determine access measures
  • Deliver access report (staff)
  • Board decision
  • Implementation targeted for2013/14

Digital and Technology Literacy /
  • Deliver report (Executive Director)
  • Board decision
  • Implementation targeted for 2013/14

Financial Planning /
  • Additional meeting added (October, 2013) to allow for additional budget discussion
/
  • Fund development report to be delivered in May, 2013
  • Board Decision on fund development report recommendations
  • Determine if there are any additional or revised communications the board would like through the budget cycle
  • Communications campaign around finance
  • For 2013/14, develop a multi-year strategic financial plan that outlines taxation implications

Rural Service Model /
  • Committee formed
  • Report in draft stage, awaiting new Executive Director
/
  • Deliver report to board at May, 2013 meeting
  • Board decision
  • Create implementation plan / begin implementation 2013/14

Facilities Policy /
  • Committee formed
  • Revised guidelines in draft stage, awaiting new Executive Director
/
  • Deliver revised guidelines to board at May, 2013 meeting
  • Board decision on whether to adopt

So, it is evident that while major progress has been achieved, there are certain large pieces that have been awaiting the arrival of a new Executive Director.

In addition to the Strategic Priorities, there are seven Strategic Directions. These fall under the following broad headings: collections, customer service & communications, facilities, funding & partnerships, governance, organizational development, and technology. Major additional work not discussed above included: the completion of the Vernon branch, negotiations on the Summerland branch, planned revitalization of the Kelowna branch, the implementation of Halogen software. Major additional upcoming work includes research and selection of a new ILS, and branch construction in Summerland.