Tuesday, April 19th was the date of both the Town of Cable and the Town of Namakagon Annual meetings. As the Forest Lodge Library is a Joint Library of these Towns, Director Lendved appears at each meeting to offer an Annual Library Report.
Should you be interested in reading it, the text of the report is copied below:
Annual Report to Towns/04192022
The Forest Lodge Library has endeavored to continue to offer essential and effective service to its patrons…through the pandemic and the seemingly never ending winter. We have worked to maintain a safe environment for patrons, with our masking policy amending to conform with CDC, State and County guidelines. Our current policy is “masks recommended” and we continue to offer complimentary disposable masks…and curbside pick-up for those who prefer it.
Our circulation continues to rebuild, with 2021 circulation being up 2.75% from the prior year. Our number of registered users also continues to grow, up 6% from the prior year. Significant increases are seen in use of our digital offerings. Ebook checkouts are up 14% and e-audiobook checkouts up 20%. The number of people visiting our library increased by 43%, which makes sense since we were able to keep our doors open! While we saw a 21% decrease in the number of people using our public access computers, we saw a 241% increase in wireless internet use! These days, most people arrive with their own devices in hand. Just the same, we do maintain three up-to-date public access computer stations. They will see heavier use during summer months.
We have a couple of new available services that we’re excited to share with our patrons. One is Kanopy, a streaming service that offers over 30,000 movies, documentaries and TV series as well as access to over 7000 of the Great Courses. There’s also access to a Kanopy Kids collection. This service is only available to Cable and Namakagon patrons, not to all patrons in the Northern Waters Library Network. Subscription is by individual library and all you’ll need is a library card! And, yes, home internet access. Although, if you lack that, you could enjoy the service using one of our public access computers! If you don’t already have a library card, we hope you’ll see this is a great reason to get one! You can read more about Kanopy on our website, forestlodgelibrary.org.
The other new service we have to offer is wireless printing, via a company called Princh. This enables anyone, patrons or not, to print directly from their own phone or laptop. While payment can still be made in cash at the circulation desk, Princh also allows people to pay by credit card. It would even be possible to order a print job from home…and pick it up curbside! Here, too, you are encouraged to read more about this service on our website.
Because of the pandemic, we were unable to celebrate our 95th anniversary in 2020…so, we had a 95+1 celebration in 2021! On August 15th, a Sunday, we celebrated with a day of music and activities and a visit from a Thai food truck. Northwoods mystery writer Jeff Nania was on hand to talk about his work and donated his profits from the day’s booksales to the library. (If you haven’t read Jeff Nania…his mysteries take place in the Spider Lake/Hayward area. Very readable…and fun…because you’ll recognize many of the locations and probably some of the characters!) Thanks to all who came out to celebrate with us!
A few other things that happened in the last year:
- We reviewed and renewed our Joint Library Agreement with the Towns of Cable and Namakagon.
- The garage building on the Book House property was removed. The roof on the building was failing and we didn’t want to test it through another winter. Thanks to Mark Rasmussen who accomplished the removal and to the Town of Namakagon for allowing us to deposit the remains at the transfer site!
- The Katie Flowers Endowment, on behalf of the library, was the recipient of $472.79 from a SAVE TO GIVE energy saving challenge offered by Focus on Energy/Xcel Energy. Seven Bayfield County non-profits participated in the challenge, most in the Washburn/Bayfield area. Bayfield County Xcel customers were asked to log in and complete some energy saving activities…for which they got points and we got $
- The Katie Flowers Endowment was able to have the Book House open for book sales most Saturdays as well as on the 4th of July and during Fall Fest.
Speaking of the Book House…we stopped taking material donations late last fall, which provided an opportunity to weed through the books and materials that were there and to remove non-current items, many of which had lingered for years. The Katie Flowers Endowment plans to offer book sales this summer, for those dates when volunteers can be scheduled AND we plan to start taking material donations again at the end of this month. Please visit our website for information on when and where to drop items off…as well as what you can and cannot donate.
We offer our thanks to departing Board member Kathy Bergin and welcome new Board Trustee Jan Berlin.
We offer our best wishes to Jennie Hancock, who worked at the library for a few months and recently moved out of town. We offer our regrets, sincere thanks and very best wishes to Jayme Morey, who was here for many years. Jayme accepted a position with the Chequamegon Humane Society, and, since working with animals is where her heart is, we are very happy for her. We’re also happy that she plans to continue as the Forest Lodge Library’s housekeeper!
Yes, we are still working on our Capital Campaign. We are technically still in the “quiet phase” but hope to hear, within the next month, what the response to a significant grant request will be. We updated our marketing materials, a project that was accomplished in June of 2021. Through the summer months and into the autumn our campaign volunteers reached out to a number of individuals who we thought might be interested in this exciting project which, we think, will be such an important asset and resource for our communities and which will enable us to offer important services to our patrons and to those who visit and spend time here. The Katie Flowers Endowment, who is holding donated funds on behalf of the library and the project, reported an increase of $142, 242 between March of 2021 and March of 2022. Additional Naming Opportunities have been spoken for since our last report: The Hans Rasmussen Family/North Entry Foyer/Vestibule, Phil & Kathy Rasmussen & The Lakewoods Resort/Donor Recognition Wall, Jan & Irv Berlin/Young Adult Booth Seating Area and the families of Jan Geimer and Mary Hinze/Book Drop. There are remaining Naming Opportunities. We’d also like to offer our thanks to those serving on our Capital Campaign Committee: Laurie St Aubin Whelihan, Janis Pribyl, both Board Trustees and Scott McKinney, Zach Larson, David Popelka and Linda Parker. We also thank all the volunteers who’ve assisted with direct fundraising solicitations, particularly Gary Crandall, Kathy Rasmussen and Ron Bergin. And…of course, everyone’s efforts are much appreciated. We will keep you posted.
This just in! The Forest Lodge Library is going to be featured on a Wisconsin Life episode on Wisconsin Public Radio! We’ll certainly let you know when it’ll air…stay tuned!
As always, we thank our communities for their strong support and our patrons for their appreciation of our work. If you are not already, may this be the year you get a card, which, yes, you CAN do that online, as well, and become a library patron! THANKS
