West Bend Community Memorial Library

WBCML Annual Report for 2003:

2003 was another excellent year for our library and our patrons.  We had increases in our statistics for circulation, program attendance, online catalog connections, number of registered borrowers, reference questions answered, total of readers who successfully completed the Summer Reading Program, amount of times that our meeting rooms were used by members of the community, and the number of facilities and residents served by our Outreach Services Program. 

WACCOOL Consortium - In 2003, WACCOOL truly became Washington County Consortia of Online Libraries with the addition of Kewaskum Public Library.  The five public libraries in Washington County are now combined, providing access for more than 98,000 registered borrowers to nearly 500,000 holdings by searching just one database.  Total circulation for all five libraries for 2003 was 1,109,119.  6,969 new cards were issued at the five libraries during the year. 
Each of the five WACCOOL libraries retains autonomy as to daily operation, local budgeting, library boards and staffing.  Washington County through it's Washington County Library Services Board, provides funding to the WACCOOL libraries for service to those county residents who do not live within Villages of Germantown, Kewaskum and Slinger or Cities of Hartford or West Bend.  West Bend Library serves as the central site for WACCOOL, housing the jointly owned equipment, maintaining all hardware and software for all consortia members, providing support every hour each library is open. 
A report of remote requests is run several times each day at each library.  In 2003, circulation staff located 40,761 items to be delivered to another WACCOOL library, using the Mid-Wisconsin Federated Library System daily van system.  The TIGER (Technical Integration to Gain Enhancement of Resources) interlibrary loan project involving all 27 Mid-Wisconsin libraries, resulted in the lending and borrowing of 3069 items for WACCOOL in 2003.

MWFLS System Resource Library - The Library's resource library contract with the Mid-Wisconsin Federated Library System is renewed yearly.  The payment, amounting to $37,500 per year, again reflect that library systems throughout Wisconsin received no increase in the state's biennial budget.  The money still assisted us in the payment of salaries and fringe benefits ($22,500) and the acquisition of reference and non-fiction materials ($15,000).  Our reference staff responded to 45 resource-library of reference requests during 2003 (down from 96 in 2002) which was average of 3.75 per month (down from an average of 8 per month).  This decrease reflects the increased ability of all libraries within the System to use the Internet to answer their patron's reference queries. 

Technology - The library again expanded its collection of PC's by adding two new Dell Pentium computers during 2003.  The patron access Internet terminals increased from nine to ten, while the number of word processors remained at four.  There are five CD-ROM stations with educational games and software in the children's and young adult department.  The library's total number of PC's increased from 55 to 57.  The library web site (www.hnet.net/~wbcml) received more than 270,000 hits last year, averaging more than 22,000 per month.

Outreach Services - Our Outreach Program continues its expansion each year.  Circulation increased 15% on average for each community (West Bend, Hartford, Germantown, and Slinger).  Currently, visits are made weekly, biweekly, or monthly to 32 facilities throughout Washington County.  the number of homebound participants, that is those who must be visited in their home or apartment and have materials selected for them, increased 5% over 2002.  In addition to providing routine library services, the Outreach Librarian assists in programming support for activity therapy departments, develops book club and music club programs for assisted living facilities, and on-site tutorials for facilities with Internet access.  The Outreach staff consists of a full-time librarian, 16 hours of paraprofessional assistance per week, and two volunteers who work a total of 10 hours per month.  In 2003, additional revenue included two gifts of $300.00 each and $3,300 of the Adele Collins memorial.  there is $2,700 of the Collins memorial remaining for 2004.  70% of this Librarian's salary and benefits are paid for by the combination of Washington County, the City of Hartford, and the Village of Germantown.

Children's Services and Programs - During 2003, there were 131 regular story times (100 morning and 31 evening programs) with an attendance of 5,299 (children and adults).  Additionally, there were 11 special story times for visiting preschools, Head Start and day care facilities.  These were attended by more than 230 participants.  Some of the most well received and well attended events of the year, those monthly special entertainment programs that are sponsored by Kiwanis plus other special family programs (22 in all), were attended by more than 2,900 people.  Our librarians gave tours to various scouting groups, children who are schooled at home and other youth organizations.  Our Children's Librarian held 3 intergenerational book discussions attended by a total of 51 Silverbrook students and senior citizens.  The Librarian visited the library in Germantown to do a Crafts Day with children for the Summer Reading program there (assisting about 75 children).  The Summer Reading Program, "Laugh It Up @ Your Library," had 1544 registered participants (344 preschool, 868 grades 1-5, 332 grades 6-12)  23 student and adult volunteers helped with this program.  More than 15,000 hours of reading were reported.  There were 5 drop-in craft sessions during the summer reading program with 260 participants.  In addition, several staff members represented the library at the Celebrate Families Day at the Washington County Fair Park.  Lastly, the Milwaukee Bucks sponsored Reading Challenge had 250 participants. 

Adult Programs - During the year, the library hosted 24 programs for adults.  More than 500 people attended these sessions.  In addition, there were 12 different meetings of book discussion groups that had 144 participants. 

Circulation Statistics - In 2003, from a patron base of 45,721 registered borrowers, the library circulated 555,531 items which, compared to 551,438 items for 2002, represented an increase of 0.74% over the previous year.  That means our patrons each averaged 12.15 items checked out per year.  This is the third consecutive year that we exceeded the half-million mark.  Our circulation to County residents totaled 239,227 items compared to 240,510 for 2002, a decrease of 0.53%.  In terms of checked-out items that we are reimbursed for by Washington County (219,418), the library accounted for 55.2% of that total for 2003.  That's compared to 235,123 for 2002 (or 56.2%).  The decrease reflects the change in how the County structured its payments for County residents without a library.  Formerly, we were compensated for circulation to any County residents who did not have a card from our library.  In total, of the 1,109,119 items circulated by all five of the libraries in Washington County (up from 1,073,008 in 2002), we accounted for 50.08% of that final number.

Staff - At this time we have 31 people who are employed by the library one less than in 2002.  We anticipate there will be several retirements within 2004. 

Michael Tyree, Library Director
January 30, 2004