Fall River Public Library

Fall River, Massachusetts

ANNUAL REPORT

July 1, 2006 - June 30, 2007

prepared by

Keith Stavely

Library Administrator

ANNUAL REPORT OF THE

FALL RIVER PUBLIC LIBRARY

FALL RIVER, MASSACHUSETTS

REPORT FOR THE YEAR

BEGINNING JULY 1, 2006

AND ENDING JUNE 30, 2007

BOARD OF LIBRARY TRUSTEES

Mrs. Marilyn Roderick, Chairperson

Mrs. Theresa Esposito, Vice-Chairperson

Mr. Antonio DiBenedetto

Mrs. Martha Howarth

Mrs. Maria Igrejas Matos

Mr. Tony Rodrigues

LIBRARY DIRECTORY

Main Library

104 North Main Street

Phone: 508-324-2700

Fax: 508-324-2707; 508-324-2706

Monday - Thursday 9:00 a.m. - 9:00 p.m.

Friday - Saturday 9:00 a.m. - 5:00 p.m.

(Closed Sat., June – August)

South Branch Library

1310 South Main street

Phone/Fax: 508-324-2708

Monday, Tuesday, Thursday 9:00 a.m. - 5:00 p.m.

Wednesday 11:00 a.m. - 7:00 p.m.

Friday - Saturday 9:00 a.m. - 4:30 p.m.

(Closed Sat., June - August)

East End Branch Library

1386 Pleasant Street

Phone/Fax: 508-324-2709

Monday - Wednesday 9:00 a.m. - 5:00 p.m.

Thursday 12:30 p.m. - 8:00 p.m.

Friday - Saturday 9:00 a.m. - 4:30 p.m.

(Closed Sat., June - August)

LIBRARY STAFF

Administration

Library Administrator Keith Stavely

Assistant Administrator Paula Costa Cullen

for Public Services

Assistant Administrator Vacant

for Technology

Administrative Secretary Liane Verville

Reference Services

Supervisor Kathryn Kulpa

Assistant Supervisor Vacant

Assistants Daniel Lelievre

Mui Kathryn Pong

Daniel Sheahan

Part-Time Librarian Joel Marks

Pages Vacant

Vacant

Vacant

Adult Services

Supervisor Jocelyn Tavares

Assistant Supervisors Cheryl Modzelewski

Vacant

Assistants Eleanor Carrolton

David Moquin

Kimberly Silva

Vacant

Part-Time Assistant Conor Murray

Pages Elizabeth Medeiros

Hans Henrikson

Sarah Oliveira

Vacant

Children’s Services

Supervisor David Mello

Assistant Supervisor Vacant

Assistant Sandra Guimar

Part-Time Librarian Mary Margaret Kelly

Part-Time Assistant Joyce Pinsonnault

Pages Ashley Cabral

Vacant

Technical Services

Supervisor Laurel DeStefano

Assistants Vacant

Vacant

South Branch

Supervisor Elizabeth Washburn

Assistants Debra Baptista

Vacant

Page Vacant

East End Branch

Supervisor Vacant

Assistant Marguerite Martin

Part-Time Assistant Ann Marie Medeiros

Page Vacant

Senior Aides Margaret Dion

Eleanor Bartleson

Lorraine Urso

Custodians Jeffrey Lavoie

Tom Davenport

Volunteers Dorothy Deschenes

Marcella Jean

Sharon Meade

THE YEAR IN REVIEW

Staff and Trustees

In the summer, Kathryn Kulpa began working as Supervisor of Reference Services and Jocelyn Tavares as Supervisor of Adult Services. In January, Gabrielle Reed resigned as East End Branch Supervisor. She was replaced in February by Matthew Lawton, who until then had worked in a Library Assistant position in the Main Library Adult Services Section. Lawton’s replacement in this position was Kimberly Silva, until then a page in the Reference Services Section. The February resignation of Heidi Garcia from the part-time position in Adult Services created a vacancy which was filled by Conor Murray. Matthew Lawton, a young man in his 20s, unexpectedly passed away in April, to the great sadness of the staff. At year’s end, the East End Branch Supervisor position remained vacant.

Two particularly noteworthy changes to the Library Board of Trustees were the resignations of Ronald Bettencourt, a Board member since 1996, and Irving Zangwill, Board Chairperson since 1996. Zangwill accepted an appointment from Governor Mitt Romney to the Massachusetts Board of Library Commissioners. Marilyn Roderick was elected as the new Chairperson.

Physical Plant

Two improvements to the Main Library’s exterior were set in motion this year, and one of these was brought to completion. The one not yet completed is a landscaping project for the Main Street lawn, funded by the Fall River Office of Economic Development. By the end of the year, design proposals for the project had been presented by students from Bristol Agricultural High School, under the supervision of their teacher, Dan Brodeur. It is hoped that an affordable plan can be developed in time to begin ground preparation and planting in the autumn of 2007.

The project that was completed was an outdoor performance area on the Elm Street lawn, generously provided by the Fall River Rotary Club, in cooperation with Collins Construction, Century Paving, Quality Concrete, Conlon Electric, and Regal Floor Covering. Rotary Club President Jo Ann Bentley, an architect, was the moving and driving force behind the project. The area consists of three granite benches and a concrete stage raised slightly above the lawn surface. The stage is decorated with hand-painted inlaid ceramic tiles, most of which were painted by children at tile decorating workshops held in the spring. The remainder were painted by staff members. At year’s end, construction was complete, and all was ready for use during the outdoor programs to be offered during the summer of 2007.

Considerable progress was made with the historically valuable material on the attic/skylight level of the building discussed in the reports of the past three years. With the additional shelving mentioned last year, it became possible to unpack the remaining material, and this had been almost completed at year’s end. Along with a few additional items relating to the history of Fall River, Bristol County, Massachusetts, and New England, the material consisted primarily of many of the books that formed the Library’s collection during the nineteenth century. Shelving space was insufficient to accommodate all these books. In consultation with Assistant Administrator Paula Cullen and other staff members, I decided to try to keep everything with a publication date of 1861 or earlier—in other words, everthing that was likely to have formed part of the Library’s collection at the time that it became a public library. At year’s end, it appeared that there would be just enough room to do this.

Project REFRESH

This project to restore and display the Library’s collection of paintings received generous gifts from Nancy Fell and, yet again, from the Rodgers Family Foundation. The funds were put to use in restoring additional paintings. Decisions were made regarding the restoration of all remaining paintings. Identification labels were mounted for all paintings on the Main floor and the Upper level promenade.

Mr. Russell Burke, mentioned in last year’s report, arranged for high quality photographs to be taken of the most important paintings in the collection. Some of these photographs will be included in his forthcoming book, The Encyclopedia of American Still Life Painting. Mr. Burke kindly presented the Library with copies of all the photographs. He was the featured speaker at the Friends of the Library Annual Meeting in January, explaining to an overflow audience how the Library’s Fall River School still lifes fit into the larger context of American still life painting as a whole.

From Mr. Burke and also from the Boston Public Library Fine Arts Reference Department, additional information was obtained about some of the paintings in the collection. This information will make the booklet about the collection more useful to the public.

Ongoing Services and Activities

The staff of the Library continued to cope creatively with the challenge of maintaining a high level of service with diminished resources. Every month, Adult Services developed an array of thoughtful and engaging book displays, encouraging use of parts of the collection that might otherwise be neglected. Reference Services Supervisor Kathryn Kulpa redesigned the Library’s website, making it more user-friendly. The one-person (Laurel DeStefano) Technical Services Section was remarkably productive in making materials available to the public as quickly as possible. Internet access for patrons with their own portable computers, through COMCAST, became fully operational.

Children’s Services continued its tradition of imaginative and energetic programming, of hosting visits from many school and other groups, and of providing outreach visits to many schools and other agencies. The summer reading program (this year with a Reading Safari theme) received once again a generous infusion of support from Slades Bank, under its education initiative, T.E.A.C.H. (Targeting Education and Children) that focuses on pilot programs and capital campaigns that positively impact the educational experience of public schoolchildren in grades K-12. In the spring, Slades indicated its interest in continuing to support the summer reading program for another year. Other highlights of the year in Children’s Services were Spook Night in October and Puppets on Parade in April, funded in part by the Fall River Cultural Council.

Funds for purchasing new books and audio-visual materials remained, like those for staffing, at a reduced level. Assistant Administrator Paula Cullen nevertheless did a fine job of coordinating the acquisitions process, so that the community continued to be provided with a diverse selection of the best new books, videos, DVDs, CDs, and other items. In January, the Library was one of four public libraries in Massachusetts that received grants from Shaws Supermarkets and Coca Cola for the acquisition of materials relating to African-American history. The Library’s selection as a recipient of this grant was facilitated by the office of Governor Deval Patrick.

Friends of the Library

The Friends of the Library continued its indispensable support, making frequent and effective use of the meeting room for its program offerings for adults, and facilitating a great variety of projects and programs such as Project REFRESH. The Friends Annual Book Sale netted the usual handsome sum for the Library’s benefit. A delegation from the Friends accompanied Assistant Administrator Paula Cullen to Boston in April to talk about library funding needs with area state legislators.

The Friends program offerings for the year included: a presentation on “Lizzie Borden in Popular Culture” by Stephanie Koorey; author appearances by Joseph Roderick, Robert Gadbois, and E. Jane Sullivan; a visit to the Library by C-Span’s Book TV Bus; the Music of the Sphere Concert Series (organized by Assistant Administrator Cullen and funded by the Fall River Cultural Council); a concert by the New Bedford Harbor Sea Chantey Chorus; and, as previously mentioned, Russell Burke’s talk at the Annual Meeting on American and Fall River still life painting, delivered to a standing-room only audience.

Library Foundation

During 2006, the Second Century Campaign, to provide the Library with supplementary resources, brought in $16,260, from 167 contributors. This represented a proportion of positive responses approaching 25%, which is unusually high for a direct mail campaign and indicates how much the Fall River community appreciates the Library. The Library certainly appreciates the community’s generosity.

The Campaign was resumed in the spring of 2007 and by the end of June, over $7,500 in new contributions had been received. The Foundation decided to allocate slightly over 60% of all contributions to investment, with the remainder to be spent on particularly pressing needs identified by the library staff. An investment account was established with Citizens~Union Savings Bank, which generously agreed to waive management fees until the account reached a certain minimum level.

In the summer, Citizens~Union had already generously agreed to fund the combination thank you reception for contributors and program event to attract new contributors mentioned in last year’s report, which was to feature Nathaniel Philbrick, National Book Award winner and author of the 2006 bestseller Mayflower: A Story of Courage, Community, and War. This event was held as planned in November and was a huge success. Philbrick’s talk on Mayflower was followed by a sumptuous reception, with food provided by Nancy-JoAnne Catering, beverages provided by Cardoza’s Wine & Spirits, copies of Mayflower to purchase and sign provided by Baker Books Fall River, and lovely harp music provided by Judith Mitchell. The event was attended and thoroughly enjoyed by a capacity crowd of Second Century Campaign donors.

In the spring, the Campaign received two pieces of extremely good news. Nationally-syndicated political columnist E. J. Dionne, one of Fall River’s most distinguished native sons, agreed to be the featured speaker at this year’s thank you program and party. And Citizens~Union agreed to fund the event once again.

VISITS AND OUTREACH

Visits to the Library

Adams House Retirement Home

Boys and Girls Club

Community Connections Assisted Living

Community Development Preschool

Daisy Scouts Troop 1233

Doran School

Early Head Start

Fall River Historical Society

Heritage Heights Preschool

Home Base Headstart Preschool

Lincoln School

N. B. Borden School

Ninth Street Day Nursery

Sts. Peter and Paul School

SER Jobs for Progress

Southeast Alternative Learning

Spencer Borden School

Talbot Middle School

Tansey School

Tiger Scouts Pack 50

UMass./Dartmouth: History 104

WIC Healthy Families

Women’s Literacy Guild of Mattapoisett

YMCA Alternative Learning Center

Outreach by the Library

Adams House Retirement Home

Bayview Assisted Living Center

Boys and Girls Club

Carroll School

Coughlin School

Doran School

Durfee High School

Fall River Children’s Film Festival

Healey School

Holy Name School

Holy Trinity School

King Philip Preschool

Kuss Middle School

Macy’s Swansea Mall

Ninth Street Day Nursery

Sts. Peter and Paul School

Spencer Borden School

Stories in the Park

Talbot Middle School

Tansey School

WIC Family Day

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

The Library wishes to thank the following individuals, groups, and institutions for their contributions during this past year—of time, effort, money, knowledge, skill, and every other imaginable kind of resource and asset.

Pat Abdallah

David Adamides

Nicole Almeida

Michael Arruda

Nancy Arruda

Sheila Ashcroft

Baker Books Fall River

Arthur Balthazar

Jo Ann Bentley

Lynn Berube

Helen-Marie Booth

Hillary Borba

Bristol Community College

Bristol County Agricultural High School

Dan Brodeur

Russell Burke

Buttonwood Park Zoo

Ashley Cabral

Cardoza’s Wine & Spirits

John C. Carey, Jr.

Cat Country 98.1

Citizens~Union Savings Bank

Coca Cola, Inc.

Rhonda Coppinger

Shontal Coppinger

Christine Costa

Paula Costa Cullen

Debby Daner and Family

Katelyn Davis

Maeghan Denis

Dorothy Deschenes

Atty. Elizabeth Doherty

Miana Dombek

Abraham Ehrenhaus

Shawn Elliot

Theresa Esposito

Fall River Children’s Film Festival

Fall River Fire Department

Fall River Rotary Club

Fall River Street Tree Planting Program

Fall River Veterans’ Memorial Auditorium

Faxon Animal Shelter

Nancy C. Fell

Dylan Thomas Ferreira

Kathy Fitzgerald

Tom Flynn

Forever Paws

Dr. Irving Fradkin

Angie Gastall

Grace Gerling

Burney Gifford

Sandra Guimar

Councilor Raymond E. Hague

Vickie Hathaway

Martha Howarth

Harrison Ingham

Harry Ingham

David Jennings

Laurel Jonas

Lafayette Durfee House

Robert Lecomte

Daniel LeLievre

Richard Lemay

Phyllis Lepage

Benjamin S. Little

Andrew Lizak

McDonald’s Corporation

John P. McMahon

Victoria Mathieson

Eleanor Mayo

John Mayo

Barbara Medeiros

Tony Medeiros

David Mello

Steven Mello

Atty. John R. Mitchell

Jorgelina Moreire

Nancy-JoAnne Catering

Old Country Buffet

Sarah Oliveira

JoAnne O’Neill

Joyce Pinsonnault

Police Athletic League of Fall River

Kathryn Pong

John L. Pontes

Quaker Fabric Corporation

Robert Ranahan

Ricardo Rebello

Maria Rego

Nina Riveira

Riverside Art

Ann Rockett-Sperling

Marilyn Roderick

Rodgers Family Foundation

Courtney-Lynn Ross

Matt St. Pierre

Andrew Schofield, Jr.

Shaw’s Supermarkets

Daniel Sheahan

Maribeth Shuman

Philip T. Silvia, Jr.

Slades Bank

Susan Smith

Gloria Soares

Sarah Soares

Stillpoint Comics

Mary K. Talbot

Joseph Tavares

Patricia Taylor

Edmond Trudelle

Al Turgeon

United States Post Office, Fall River

Verizon Foundation

Haile Verville

Taylor Verville

Weston Woods

Chris Whitten

Marion Wilner

Myron Wilner

Richard Wolfson

Karin Wood

Maryanne Wordell

Irving H. Zangwill

STATISTICS

% comparisons are with FY2006.

Circulation

Main Library South Branch East Branch

Adult 79,998 (+15%) 17,078 (+11%) 12,778 (+7%)

Child 45,346 (-10%) 6,614 (+22%) 5,155 (-20%)

Totals 125,344 (+5%) 23,692 (+14%) 17,933 (-2%)

System Total 166,969 (+5%)

Other

Reference Transactions 24,839 (-10%)

Programs

Children’s 210

Adult 40

Total 250 (-5%)

Program Attendance

Children’s 7,980

Adult 833

Total 8,813 (+3%)

Internet Use

Reference 10,074

Adult 19,995

Children’s 4,372

South 6,439

East 6,842

Total 47,722 (-5%)