Spear Memorial Library

The Spear Memorial Library, located at 10 Cooleyville Rd. in Shutesbury, is a one-room building located in a rural community of approximately 1800 residents. The library has a paid staff of two; Mary Ann Antonellis is the Director and Sally Fairchild is Assistant Librarian. The library is also supported by a rotating group of volunteers. The library building has been in existence since the 19th century and has always been used as a library. Before the building was constructed, a cabinet containing books was transported around the town, by horse-drawn cart. We certainly have come a long way since then, with the outstanding service of our libraries and the WMRLS Delivery System.
Ms. Antonellis met Becky Marconi and I on an August morning, and along with a tour of the building, we learned about the eventual expansion plan for the library, as well as what areas she wanted to focus on for improvement. Two areas were to be addressed- weeding the collection and entering items into the CWMARS system. Library Friends provided boxes for me to place books in, and there was a plan to sell books at the next town fair, in September. I have completed the weeding process, with Mary Ann making the final decision on what to keep and what to remove. Another Circuit Rider named Patrick is steadily making progress with the items being entered into the CWMARS system.
Visiting and working alongside Mary Ann at the Spear Memorial Library was a very positive experience, and my work was augmented by an excellent organizational system for the current collection, which is supplemented by interloan. The library is a lively place whenever it is open and serves its' patrons quite well.

Carol Scheier
Circuit Rider

Peru Library

I began weeding at the Peru Library just a few weeks before their annual book sale. It was a good opportunity to go through the collection and remove some materials that could be sold to the community. My first day there we cleared out a room that had a combination of outdated books, donations that were not needed and various other odds and ends. Three of us worked on the room and the change was impressive after just one hour. Since then the Peru library director and volunteers have improved the space enormously and now holds a few computers, printers, the photocopy machine and includes a small table and seating for other work.

On a subsequent visit I went through the non-fiction, which as in other libraries, is not used very often. The exceptions being cooking and gardening books as well as field guides to the area. I was able to consolidate that section into one continuous shelving against the wall. That also created some space to move some books from the children's area which really needed more space. As in other libraries, the demand for VHS tapes is declining as more demand for DVD's increases. I was able to suggest removing about half of the tapes that had not been borrowed in years and was told that they sold well at the book sale.

My last visit was earlier this week and the changes that the staff made in re-arranging and consolidating certain areas was very impresive. The whole library now looks more organized with distinct browsing areas and a very welcoming open space around the couch and tables in the center of the room. Kimberly, who began as library directory at the beginning of July has made some quick and wonderful changes and I was glad to be able to help. It was a pleasure being there for the few visits that I made. Here are some before and after pictures which show the transformation.



Tyringham Free Public Library

My work began in June at this small Berkshires town that is conveniently located near Stockbridge, Lenox, Tanglewood and the Lee outlet stores.The road that leads into town is replete with beautiful postcard-quality scenery everywhere you look.

The library itself from the outside is pleasant enough but the real beauty begins when you walk inside. It is larger than I expected with one big central room and a smaller room where our work began. I have since learned that the two loft-balcony areas, each with their own staircase, can also be found in other area libraries. At the present they are for the most part unused as over time they have been turned into storage and holding areas. Some of my co-workers have started to make a dent in reclaiming that space.

On my first visit I worked with the library director and two other staff members on the smaller room which contains non-fiction as well as the Children's collection. Our aim was to clear out that space so that we could create room for expansion of crowded bookshelves. Immediately we found out that this would be a quicker though more labor intensive job since most of the books along the walls had unfortunately been attacked by mold and they were unsalvageable. We began by pulling those books and getting them ready for the recycling bins. That entailed cutting or tearing off the hard covers and taking the paper to the transfer station. The fact that so many books had to be discarded could have been sad except that we found many of them to be very old and outdated, not needed for the current collection and most had not circulated since the 1930's or even earlier! These books had just sat there for years and years and inherited by Mary, the current library director. Her pleasure in finally being able to tackle this area was very clear to me and we worked in total agreement.

We were able to find some books that were in decent shape and will add character to the collection and no doubt circulate since we can display them as books of local interest. That phase is now almost finished and the shelf space we have gained will make this room usable once again.

One of my favorite days there was when a volunteer came in to help pull the cards from the catalog. She has lived in Tyringham for many years and saw some Author/Title cards that she had handwritten when she was in her teens and worked at the library - she even found some cards that had her father's signature when he had borrowed certain books many years earlier.

At long Last

Work continued throughout the summer and we wrapped it all up on October 9th, that is until the opportunity to revisit when the shelves will have been de-molded and work on the floor is complete. Tyringham entailed an enormous amount of work but with the wonderful support of staff and volunteers, we managed to enjoy the process and are thrilled with the results.

Colrain, Griswold Library: Part 2

After thoroughly going through the Griswold's fiction and non-fiction sections the library's collection is well cleared. The removal of excess books alone made for a more open, less cluttered feel. Books no longer crowded onto the window sill, book cart or squeezed into end caps. Even these small changes to the way the books were arranged made for a big difference visually.

Now that the weeding process is complete the temptation is to either fill the extra space with more books or shove the books to the side with a bookend. In either case the extra space ends up as a missed opportunity. Instead of giving up on the additional shelf realestate, the Colrain director and I worked with the extra room and came up with a solution fit for the Griswold.

Not surprisingly bookstores offered a source for ways in which to better arrange books on the shelf. From a more retail perspective, I set up display books as I completed each section. In addition to moving books out of the collection, displays helped create a more inviting space. Intentionally, facing a book cover toward the patron peaks their curiosity and draws the patron into the section. Though libraries are not bookstores some retail methods are handy for libraries. For the Griswold setting displays took a few attempts before getting the arrangement just right.

I first attempted to work the display book in with the shelved books. Display books filled in where space presented itself. A row of books sat next to or on either side of the display piece. I attempted to place one or two displays per shelf from the waist up. Below waist falls out of line of sight and creates more work than its worth. Quickly I discovered that the books collapsed or ended up in some sort of disarray. Even with bookends the displays did not quite work. Also the amount of maintenance to maintain the display books out weighed the added value of presenting the books.

I decided to simplify the process and shifted books to clear whole shelves. Three or four random books sat on the cleared shelves. Again, the titles are presented at eye level. By dedicating whole shelves to the book displays I reduced the number of bookends and display wire frames used in the collection. Also, I placed the empty shelves catty-corner to one another to add effect.

The cost to maintain the set up in the picture is much lower than my previous efforts. In this case books may fall over but the book does not ruin the whole shelf. As books move into the display area the extra bookends can be used to maintain appearances. Though as long as the collection development policy of "shelve one book and remove one book" is applied the display shelves should last until a change is needed.

Displaying books is one creative way to take advantage of shelf space after weeding. At the Griswold in Colrain, the display shelves worked well for the space and added an extra aesthetic touch.

Circuit Rider
Adam Williams

Chesterfield Public Library

At the Chesterfield Public Library my participation in the weeding process began on April 2. Some weeding had taken place prior to my first day there as they were in the midst of converting their holdings to the online catalog. The point was to get me in there as quickly as possible so that I could start pulling books before they were entered and thereby save time, energy and space. Two major projects going on at the same time! Helpful hint: try to avoid that craziness if at all possible.
I worked on non-fiction focusing on keeping basic materials relevant to the area and getting rid of out-of-date materials especially in health and topical issues. Young Adult and Children's are together and there it was a matter of condition, interest, timeliness and doing away with duplicates. One of my final tasks is to go through boxes and boxes of donations and decide which ones to add to the collection. Everything else, along with the discards will go to the book sale in September. Anything still remaining at that point will be given to GotBooks.
Chesterfield library serves a rural community and is not too far from Williamsburg and Northampton. Cindy, the library director, does a very good job of maintaining her collection with, as in most libraries, limited time and resources. We agreed almost totally on what should be kept or discarded. Again I was surprised at how well she knew her user's reading interests and how personable her interactions were with them. I'm thinking that maybe I am finally adjusting to this immense difference of small vs. large city library way of doing things.
In a couple of more visits I will be finished and it is going to be hard not going there every week. But it's time to move on and help at Tyringham.

Grace Memorial Library

The Grace Hall Memorial Library has been weeded! The library director, Paula Long, wanted the collection weeded before they take on the process of conversion to an automated cataloging system. She is also great at coming up with displays and now has more room for that too! In the course of 4 visits to Grace Hall, more than 700 books were weeded. Those materials will go into their book sale in 'the little red schoolhouse' later this year. Paula did a great job of preparing library patrons before the weeding project was started but still had to field some questions. Patrons were surprised more than anything, but some were concerned with how materials were going to be replaced....especially non-fiction. With internet access available at the library, patrons were thinking 'digitally'! When I was just about ready to leave on my last day, Paula told me that she was really glad the project was finished and was thankful to have help! Library directors can easily become attached to their collections, and Paula was happy to have a Circuit Rider do the difficult part for her after we both decided on weeding criteria. It was a pleasure to spend some time at the Grace Memorial Library! It's a comfortable and friendly space with a dedicated Library Director and wonderful volunteers!

AJ Cole
Circuit Rider

The Windsor Free Public Library is located in the Berkshires with holdings numbering 5,453 and serving a community of 958 residents. The collection is available also to seasonal residents and visitors as well as having access to the WMRLS bookmobile. My first visit took place on March 21, 2008 when Becky (the project coordinator) and I met with the library director, Margaret and we talked about about what she needed from me and discussed the project. Then it was down to work with Margaret and I working as a team weeding the Fiction collection starting at Z since usually the beginning of the alphabet gets all the attention when any time for weeding pops up.
The fiction collection was in great condition and very current so we focused on making room and facing out some books so that they were more visible and attractive to browse through giving the shelves a more open and airy feeling. Going through each book, Margaret not only saw when it had last circulated but who took it out while making a mental note of what other books she could suggest to her users next time they came in. On that first visit we were fortunate to have a volunteer there who pulled Author/Title cards from the catalog, we boxed the books and put them aside until I could haul them to headquarters and into the Got Books container. A key factor is to complete the cycle of weeding, discarding, and boxing on each visit so that no loose ends remain and work piles up.
Now nearly two months later, the adult sections are completed and I have 2 or three more visits and we will be done. Both Margaret and I are very pleased with how the collection is more accessible and inviting.
If all that isn’t enough, Margaret is a retired librarian from NYC and we soon discovered that we both had worked at the same New York Public Library branch on 23rd Street, she in the 70’s and me just last year and here we were meeting up in Western MA.
UPDATE
Work was completed on June 2. Completed in the sense that the bulk weeding is complete and books are more visible and accessible. Of course weeding never ends but it should be easier now to manage the collection. One option is the "one book in, one book out" system of weeding which should help the ongoing process. Windsor library was my first exposure to a small, rural library and it was a pleasure working there. I hope to take some of what I learned there and share it with other libraries. I have added some after pictures to the slideshow below.

Susana Villar

Windsor & Chesterfield Libraries

Circuit Riders have been out riding and libraries are being visited on a regular basis with new ones being added to the mix. It has been two months since we met as a group for the first time and and now a method and rhythm is quickly developing. We were able to get together for a meeting yesterday to exchange experiences, impressions and get feedback so that each of us can do our best work. The general consensus is that we are as happy to be at the libraries as they are having us there.

I have a unique opportunity to be working in two libraries simultaneously - the Windsor Free Public Library and the Chesterfield Library with the focus being on weeding. A few things have stood out for me and hold true for both libraries.
First is how welcome I feel and how willing both director’s are to get this important and necessary task done. They are well aware that weeding a collection is vital, as anyone who works in a library knows, yet it is often neglected due to overwhelming other demands. In the long run it increases circulation and just as important, allows patrons to see books which may have been overlooked before in jam-packed shelves. Also in regards to non-fiction, the collection will be current in certain areas such as health, business, law and have depth in other areas like gardening, cooking, history, art, and community needs. Both have nice selection of local history documents and area guides which we are of course keeping and the focus there is how to make them more visible and attractive.
At both libraries the directors and I have become a team with sharing not only the physical work but just as important the intellectual process that takes place. We are each others second opinion. Decision making works smoothly and we are in agreement almost all the time. More than once each director has told me that having me there once a week has really helped them to set aside a block of hours when weeding is the sole priority. Weeding takes time and effort and cannot be rushed if a good job is to be done. Even so, we have accomplished so much at both Windsor and Chesterfield.

Colrain, Griswold Library: Part 1

For those of you unfamiliar with Colrain, the Griswold Memorial Library stands out as a unique structure. The architecture conveys "library" amongst the New England style town. Its impressive stone presence gives a visitor, like myself, a sense that the Griswold is an important pillar of the community. Colrain sits northwest of Greenfield, near the Vermont border. Just under 2,000 residents can take advantage of a fast internet connection and over 10,000 books, movies, etc.

I'm traveling to the Griswold, on a regular basis, to help with the upkeep of the library through the Thrive Grant. (see grant project page) Under the guidance of the Griswold Library director, my main task is to improve the collection of the library. As a Circuit Rider I will examine the collection and sift out non-circulating titles. Those books we find will either go to new homes at literacy advocacy organizations (such as Hands Across the Water) or go in the library's book sale. Ultimately, the process of renewing the collection is to provide space for the latest arrivals while at the same time maintaining an in-depth, robust collection.

During my first visit, I met with Betty (the Griswold director) early in the morning, before the library opened, to hash out our objectives. Becky, the coordinator of the Circuit Riders was also present to facilitate the first steps. Betty lead us into the building and introduced us to the Grsiwold Memorial Library. From where we entered, recent arrivals wrapped around the small foyer area, on deck for shelving. The foyer opened into a central area where the circulation desk sits. Mirroring the exterior design, dark-wood, Corinthian pillars wrap around the circulation area. Surprisingly, the Griswold has a domed ceiling with magnificent detail with a stained glass piece at the center.

Two rooms branched off from the central circulation room. One area housed an extensive children's and young adult section (among other subjects) and the other end mostly housed the adult fiction and non-fiction titles. A handful of computers are tucked in where ever space is available. Despite the lingering piles of books Betty runs a tight ship.

Becky got the ball rolling and we dived into the stacks. We first focused on adult fiction. Betty maintains an up-to-date collection of fiction and for that reason, required immediate attention. Many books laid atop the shelved books for lack of space. As we considered each book, Betty's energy and expertise provided for invaluable insight into the Griswold's collection, its patrons and how best to accommodate the community. We modified and added criteria as we progressed through the first part of the fiction shelves. For me, the process of review trained me about the Colrain Library and who are the readers. Even with the initial training I still rely on Betty's

Typical library strategies for updating a collection include criteria such as circulation statistics, condition, relevance, etc. Circulation statistics represents a good indication whether or not a book would serve another reader base better elsewhere. Condition is the other easy way to keep a collection renewed by either replacing a book in bad condition or removing it from the shelves. As with my first visit to the Griswold, each library modifies weeding standards to best fit their needs.

Over a few visits Betty and I made our way through the first section of fiction, authors A-E. Now many of the new arrivals will have a rightful place on the shelves. We also made enough room to place books on display as well, giving the section an open and browsable feel.

Before

After

With each additional visit I hope to improve the Griswold collection and make the environment even more inviting than before. More posts on the Griswold will follow as Betty and I make significant progress in each section. I will post what challenges we met, how we overcame them and any other anecdotes . Other Circuit Riders are also in the process of updating the collections of libraries similar to the Griswold. My story will change as well, as I move from one library in-need to the next.

What is a Blog?

Orientation day for the CR THRIVE program where we all got acquainted and began our first exciting day. We are all proud employees of

Job Posting: Public Library Circuit Riders

Public Library Circuit Riders. The Western Massachusetts Regional Library System, through the 2-year LSTA Together We Thrive grant, seeks highly motivated, experienced individuals to travel to small public libraries in Western Massachusetts to assist with a variety of tasks. Tasks may include weeding, cataloging, collection development, space planning, automation, resource sharing systems and marketing. Please indicate in which of these particular areas you have expertise. Some training will be provided.

These part-time (5-10 hours per week) positions could include evenings or weekends depending upon an individual library's needs. Requirements: Ability to work independently with a minimum of supervision; to communicate effectively in written and oral expression; to apply principles of library science to solve practical problems; and to work and communicate as part of a Circuit Rider team.

Experience: Proven knowledge of professional library methods, resources and practices; Computer skills; Demonstrated patience and flexibility; Some knowledge of and sensitivity to smaller communities, their governance and/or their libraries.

$15.00/hour + mileage, no benefits. Must have a valid Massachusetts Class D Motor Vehicle Operator's License and a vehicle and/or transportation to member libraries and other meeting commitments .

Applications received by February 1, 2008 will receive first consideration. Additional positions will become available throughout the grant period. Please submit cover letter, resume and references to: Becky Marconi, Thrive Project Coordinator, PO Box 609, South Deerfield, MA 01373.