by Christina Stoll, MLS

On Monday September 22, 2008, the Glenwood-Lynwood Public Library District (http://www.glpld.org) opened the doors of its new building.  The new library was the result of a successful referendum that passed a rate increase.  With the new building project complete the library staff look back at some of the major hurdles they overcame to open their doors.

The biggest challenge facing the library staff was moving from a one-room building of 3,800 square feet to a large space with over 19,000 feet. 

The old library housed 30,000 volumes with the new building having capacity for 70,000. The new building would look empty without the addition of new items, and the old building didn’t have the ability to accommodate the needs of the newer building. Prior to the move the library only had a part-time position dedicated to the ordering and processing of new materials and only had enough space to store up to 3 boxes of newly purchased books at a time.  The new library required thousands of new items to fill its shelves. 

Library Director, Kathy Parker, in discussion of her dilemma with several other Metropolitan Library System (MLS) library directors, they directed her to investigate an opening day collection.  In 2006, Kathy attended the American Library Association Conference where she had the opportunity to speak with representatives from Baker & Taylor (http://www.btol.com), the library’s current book and material vendor, about an opening day collection, which ended up being the perfect solution. 

Opening Day Collection

The opening day collection that the Glenwood-Lynwood Public Library District (GLPLD) purchased allowed them to select the new materials they wanted, oversaw all material processing, storage of the new items until delivery at the new library, and even supplied Baker & Taylor staff to assisted with the unpacking and shelving of the new materials.

The GLPLD staff started selecting materials in early 2008.  Based on criteria that Baker & Taylor took from GLPLD the library staff were able to select materials either missing from their current collection or they started to grow new collections for the new building.  In total, over 7,000 new books and audio visual materials were purchased with the opening day collection; the entire project costing $110,000.

Being a SWAN library, GLPLD notified the MLS staff early in the project and thus MLS staff were able to work with Baker & Taylor, so that when the new items appeared on the library’s shelves they were also in the library’s online catalog. Baker & Taylor was even able to use GLPLD’s own barcodes, stickers, and labels during their processing of the new materials, returning any leftovers to the library.

In early September 2008, the library’s current collection was moved over to the new building. Then a week later a truck with 9 pallets each 5 to 6 feet high pulled up in front of the new library building with their opening day collection.  The GLPLD staff along with Baker & Taylor representatives were able to get the new collection up-packed and on the shelving in less than a day and a half.

Library Director Kathy Parker states that the opening day collection “was invaluable to the library”, given the limited staffing and storage resources required to complete such a project.  She is considering using the service again to grow some of the weaker parts of the library’s collection, and she strongly recommends this service to any library with a similar need.

New Collection in a New Space

The new collection and new library building have had a huge positive reaction from its community.  Despite initial concern for the move of the library from one part of the community to another, the feedback of the new building has been overwhelmingly positive.  

In addition, the library has the positive numbers to show their impact.  Circulation statistics are 2.5 times higher than normal, including the library becoming a net lender for the first time in its history. The number of patrons inside the library has doubled since it opening.  Teenagers can be seen in the library after school, while adult patrons work on their laptops in the café or in the quiet reading room. These sights were almost impossible sight at the old building when these activities and patrons would have occupied the same space.

Questions about this article or the Glenwood-Lynwood Public Library District can be emailed to Kathy Parker, Library Director at parkerk@sslic.net.

Published January 7, 2009 in vol. 3, iss. 1 [View]