Alva Review-Courier -

The Alva Public Library expects to have a new air conditioning unit installed soon. Library Director Sandra Ott told the library board Monday the new unit could be installed this week, weather permitting. This roof unit is located on the back portico.

Present for the meeting were Chairman Patty Harkin and board members Lenny Reed, Marilyn Clyne, Lynn Wilt, Chris Eckhardt and April Ridgway. Taylor Dowling was absent. City Business Manager Steve Ford also attended.

Fall Programs

Fall programs launched this week at the library. On alternating Mondays, the library will have Lego Day and Discovery Day. Both are after school at 3:15 p.m. Lego Day offers a chance for kids to get together and build. Discovery Day is for a parent and younger kids (kindergarten and younger) to share in an activity. The next Discovery Day is Sept. 18 and the next Lego Day is Sept. 25.

Little Explorers will continue on Tuesday mornings at 10 a.m. Each Tuesday, the pre-school children accompanied by an adult will explore different themes with stories and activities. Tuesday afternoons are for Activity Day after school at 3:15 p.m. Activities will rotate with Sept. 19 for craft day and Sept. 26 for challenge day.

Older adults are encouraged to attend free exercise classes geared to balance and mobility. Lynn Wilt offers Tai Chi on Mondays and Wednesdays while Maureen Thomas will lead the SAIL (staying active in life) class on Tuesday and Thursday. The SAIL class is particularly helpful for those who have mobility issues with a lot of chair exercises.

To keep up with library activities, ask for a monthly calendar at the desk or check the library's Facebook page.

Meeting Rooms

Ott said some libraries in the state are being overwhelmed by requests for meeting rooms. This is driven by the proliferation of charter and alternate education schools. Teachers need a place to meet with students. Ott said the Alva library has been able to handle the demand fairly well although they've sometimes had three teachers at the same time.

Ott said these teacher-student meetings may take place in the genealogy room or in the conference room. If the downstairs auditorium is available, that can also be used. There also are a couple of other quiet areas in the library where they can meet. Ott just wanted to make the board aware of the way it is being handled. She said the library does not take reservations for these meetings. If the demand becomes heavier, Ott said she may need to ask the board to work with her on developing a formal policy or guidelines.

Tech Grant

The library received a tech grant of $5,000. The money will be used to purchase three new computers, one for staff and two for the public. The grant will also cover three new monitors, a printer for the staff downstairs and some extra ink for the printer.

Board members were surprised the money would stretch that far. Ott said Angela Courson researched for the best prices. The money has to be encumbered or spent by the end of September.

Board Election

After forgetting to put it on the agenda earlier, the board officer election was on Monday's list. Reed nominated Harkin to continue as chairman and Ott to continue as secretary. With no other nominations, Reed made a motion to close nominations and elect the two by acclamation. The motion was seconded and approved unanimously.

Statistics

Although August is usually quiet with few activities at the library, there were 40 new patrons signing up for library cards. Adult checkouts and e-book checkouts stayed about the same but YA and juvenile checkouts dropped a little.

The library is hosting tutoring four days a week after school. College students are available to tutor students through the Upward Bound program at NWOSU. Some of the students do tutoring at other locations. Ott said the students learn about the free tutoring at school and word of mouth.

Annual Report

Ott provides an annual report for the city council and library board. She gave board members an abbreviated copy. During the year, the library added 44,325 materials (books, audio books, videos, etc.). Circulation of library-owned materials totaled 22,369 for the year.

Downloadable materials available through the Oklahoma Virtual Library Consortium total 61,814 e-books and 24,011 audio books with Alva library patrons checking out and downloading 9,873 materials.

The average monthly checkout of library materials last fiscal year was 2,685.

The library has 3,923 registered adult borrowers, 1,246 registered juvenile borrowers, and 132 family library cards. A total of 273 people signed up for cards during the year.

During the year, the Alva library had 34 programs for children ages 0-5 with 606 participants. There were 73 programs for ages 6-11 with 976 participants. Programs for ages 12-18 totaled 11 with 142 involved, and there were 11 general or family programs with 135 participants. These numbers do not include the adult exercise classes like Tai Chi and SAIL.

Director's Report

Ott told the board her application was successful, and the library qualified for state aid this year. The dollar amount won't be known until later.

Last month Washington Early Childhood School, which is located across the street from the library, held a tornado drill. When students attempted to enter down the outdoor steps, it was found the drain at the bottom was blocked and needs to be cleaned out. Instead, the students entered through the regular doors and filed down the stairs inside to the basement level.

The Imagination Library will be coming to Alva next month, said Ott. Harkin will be the main coordinator of the database. Courson and Mandy Schoenhals are taking training. Schools will advertise the program during October parent-teacher conferences. Ott said they are going to sign up the Little Explorers first to familiarize themselves with the database.

Reed asked if the Ambassadors program will be starting up. Ott said that Amy Ryerson is identifying the needs for help, but it will start soon. The program takes applications from older students who are willing to volunteer their time to help prepare materials and assist with library programs.

Clyne asked why polishing the floors has turned them yellow. Ott said when the floors were stripped, they didn't have enough product. The floors are shiny and clean but look yellow. She said the process is difficult because the product that should go on the floors isn't made anymore. They are looking for ideas.