Budget Bite

As I have alluded to before, I find budget preparation time to be a particularly unpleasant exercise.  This year, like most everywhere in the world, HPL will be facing a poor budget outlook.  Despite what your particular tax statement might have said, property valuations are down overall.  Our budget is based primarily on property taxes collected within the city limits of Hutchinson.  As that base shrinks and the values lower, we have to cut back like everyone else.

This year too, we face unprecedented costs for a variety of things.  For example, last August we began a little experiment we hoped would save on our electric bill.  We began leaving the majority of the building's lights off until right before opening to the public, about 5 hours less light bulb use per week.  We were happily surprised to see a drop on average of 160 kilowatt hours per day.  At the same time, though, commercial electric rates rose enough to entirely offset any monetary savings.

Here's a link to wake you back up after that not-so-exciting example.  The link leads to our newly redesigned downloadable book site.  Please let me know what you think!

So, back to the budget.  Unfortunately for us, the timing of this budget shrinkage is about as poor as it could be.  We have been looking forward to some great changes in our space and some continued changes to our services.  Now, some projects will undoubtedly have to be shelved and others scaled back.  The question is, how do we keep our momentum and avoid lapsing into stagnation?  We will truly test our ability to perform as a staff team this year, pitching in and helping each other out.  Perhaps a gut-check is what we need to find out where we are on the cope-with-adversity scale, although honestly, I could probably get by without knowing that.  I am confident in the greatness of the people who work here and their creativity and flexibility.  I hope that they will trust me to help lead the library through some tough times and work with me to come up with ways to make some, at least, of our vision for the library come to into being regardless.

Midsummer Round-up

I know, it is not technically "midsummer", but in our library world we're just past half-way with our summer programming.  As an "evil administrator" type, I have mixed feelings about summer.  I look forward to it with a combination of excitement and dread with a little envy mixed in.  I always get very excited at the prospect of a new Summer Reading Program, and this year's theme was ready-made for fun.  So far, kids have painted a mural, decorated an art car, created "altered art", made puppets, made experimental films and of course, heard lots of stories and checked out books!  By the way, if you did not make it to the parade on the fourth of July, here's one of the great things you missed.

The "dread" part of summer for me is that it means budget time.  We prepare our next-year's budget the summer before, essentially making a guess as to what the world will be charging for things 12-18 months into the future.  The process this year is especially "dreadful" in that the future of the economy is so murky.  I will say though that HPL has an excellent staff and an excellent board and together we will make it work with whatever is available.

Envy...I did mention that one earlier, didn't I?  That is a simple one to explain.  I always loved summer break as a child.  It was a Memorial Day-to-Labor Day fun-fest complete with staying up late and sleeping late (the former I still sometimes do but the latter, sadly, is a thing of the past).  I also envy the staff of the Children's Department because they get to do all the fun stuff at this time of year! 

Finally, a pitch.  Please check out our newly-revamped "Downloadable Books" link at the top of our website.  A group of staff members, our "Promoting OverDrive" team, put a lot of time and effort into the new downloadable book site and are working to advertise the service through many methods.

I hope everyone finds some rest and relaxation this summer and I hope at least some relax using the services of the Hutchinson Public Library!

Rolling Art

It is nearly time for the 26th Annual Patriots Parade. This year, HPL will have an entry created for fun, whimsy, and to support our Summer Reading Program for children. I hope there is a great turn-out this year, and not just for selfish reasons. It is always nice to see folks from all walks of life participating in something. Here's a little sneak-peek of our entry.

The best part about this project is that children who came to the Summer Celebration added tons of fantastic art work to it; then members of our staff, all of whom are creative, but some of whom are especially talented, added their work.  It turned out to be quite a collaboration!