Although South Pasadena
Public Library celebrated its centennial
in 1995, 2006 nonetheless marks the 100th
anniversary of a groundbreaking year for
the institution. It was in 1906 that the
Carnegie Corporation provided a $10,000
construction grant for a new library on
the corner of Diamond Avenue and Center
Street (now El Centro) with City-provided
land. Previously,
the Library was first established elsewhere
on Center Street. In 1930 the Library began
occupying its current location and expanded
upon it in 1982, reaching its current configuration.
From its very inception, the Library has
been a work in progress while enhancing
and expanding its services to the community.
Even by its high standards, 2006 has been
a banner year, among so many others. The
Library’s many achievements and positive
performance indicators during the past
year are not only a credit to the staff’s
fine efforts, but also to the outstanding
level of enthusiastic support demonstrated
by more than 150 volunteers, the City Council,
fellow City departments, many community
organizations and businesses, the public-at-large,
and, of course, the Friends of the South
Pasadena Library, Inc. and the Board of
Trustees.
This past year the Library has presented
an ever-expanding array of services to
over 39,000 active cardholders, an annual
increase of more than 2,500 over last year.
Remarkably, the cardholder total includes
more than 5,700 children under the age
of 15. More than 2,000 local young
people also participated in the Summer
Reading Program that included older teens
as well. This was the third straight
year that the enrollment topped that threshold. The
year’s more than 320 children’s
programs have attracted more than 17,500
to regularly-held storytimes, craft programs,
music appreciation sessions, book discussion
groups, journalism workshops, and a ‘Grandparents
and Books’ read-aloud’ series.
Recently, a well-attended Teen Paperback
Exchange program was conducted and only
one leftover book remained at the conclusion.
Earlier in the year a second computer was
added to the Teen area, as was the case
for the main reading room.
The Library has continued to offer 7-day
per week public service hours, including
3 nights, totaling more than 2,900 per
year. All the while the annual circulation
of materials –or the number of books,
magazines, CDs, DVDs and other media that
have been checked out— has climbed
and now exceeds 350,000, a high water mark.
This figure represents a better than 2
% increase over the previous year. This
past year has also seen the answering of
more than 63,000 reference questions, ranging
from in-depth research inquiries to quick
book title recommendations, to inquirers
of a multitude of backgrounds. The volume
of questions increased more than 7,000
over last year.
By their prolific usage, local residents
express their approval of library services
and resources in a big way. In a more direct
manner they also resoundingly approved
the Library Special Tax for another 6 years.
Besides its legions of devoted users, the
Library also greatly benefits from The
Friends of the South Pasadena Library,
an independent, all volunteer non-profit
group that can boast more than 700 dues-paying
members. The Friends highly-successful
bookstore is an everyday operation too.
They also conduct special sales and fundraisers
including the well-established Restoration
Concert series. The Friends’ longstanding
Book Endowment Fund enables the collection
to offer many otherwise unaffordable reference
and art volumes.
The Library Board of Trustees continued
to provide strong administrative guidance
including the authorization of several
key policy developments, including a Code
of Conduct for patrons, an Internet/ WI-FI
Acceptable Use Policy, and refined the
requirements for a library card. A Board
Sub-Committee is currently revisiting the
Video Materials Selection Policy. On a
broader scale the Board authorized the Library
Strategic Plan 2006-2009 that will
guide the allocation of resources and the
concomitant provision of resources in the
next few years. The Strategic Plan consists
of a new Mission Statement, along with
broad goals and precise, measurable performance
objectives.
The Library also redesigned its website
while adding software and hardware upgrades
to its integrated online circulation system.
Now the public can join online book clubs,
read full-text e-books in the public domain,
view bestseller and recommended reading
lists. It also enables young students to
gain live online access to homework help
from skilled tutors. TumbleBooks, an interactive
children’s picture book program,
is available to charm beginning and reluctant
readers. ProQuest’s online, full-text Los
Angeles Times now complements the
other practical, powerful databases that
can be freely connected to by cardholders
from home or office for general and specialized
magazine articles, newspapers articles
from around Los Angeles County and beyond,
and authoritative health information from
medical journals. The website’s
structure is more cohesive and streamlined
than ever, while purveying more relevant,
easy-to-find information about the Library
and its many projects and services.
Many popular public programs were made
available due to the strong partnerships
forged with community organizations. These
included an Arbor Day celebration with
the Natural Resources Commission and South
Pasadena Beautiful, the ‘Be Kind
to Animals Week’ art contest with
the Animal Commission, the ‘Turn
Off The TV Week’ promotion with the
South Pasadena Unified School District,
the ‘Barks and Books’ children’s
reading program with the Pasadena Humane
Society, and introductory Internet classes
for seniors with Community Services. The
South Pasadena Chinese-American Club granted
the library funds to purchase two sets
of the Muzzy Language Program in Chinese.
The Library also collaborated with the
South Pasadena Chamber of Commerce, utilizing
a grant from the State Library, to launch
a business information lab for home-based
entrepreneurs. The ‘Small Businesses
in a Box’ program, utilizing another
State Library grant worked in conjunction
with the South Pasadena Chamber of Commerce
and the Small Business Development Center
from Mt. San Antonio College. With a grant
from Amigos Library Services, a localized
Home History Research Guide was developed
for inquisitive homeowners.
The Library hired several key personnel,
including a new City Librarian, a Senior
Adult Services Librarian, a former intern
as a Reference Librarian, and a Local History
Librarian. An inventory of American Legion
materials at the War Memorial Building
was completed and 200 local history photos
were scanned along with the finalization
of corresponding cataloging guidelines.
A new index database to historical business
addresses in South Pasadena was created.
Many significant, yet rare and fragile
South Pasadena historical documents were
digitally preserved as well.
Capital improvement projects included
the replacement of tile in the entryway
of the Library with new ADA compliant,
slip resistant, wear resistant tiles, the
purchase of new entrance doors to the library,
the replacement of a 5-ton HVAC unit, and
the repair of a 15 ton HVAC unit.
Even though it’s almost time to
close the book on a successful 2006, the
Board of Trustees is confident that many
important, exciting chapters for the South
Pasadena Public Library lie ahead.
Annual report 2008
Annual report 2007
Annual Report 2006 |
