Library director plans to improve operations, circulation

The big question hanging over the library is still where the new one will be built, but the library board got a crash course Thursday in their director's plans to improve operations.

Director Bob Pasicznyuk laid out a 16-month plan to build the libary's circulation and send more people into the shelves - now and when the collection moves into a new library over the next few years.

Pasicznyuk wants to increase circulation by 10 percent, so that 35 percent of the library's materials are checked out on a given day.

“If more of our collection is in the hands of people, we can have a larger collection, because we don't have to store it all,” he said.

Books that don't get checked out will be dropped from the collection, he said, and popular books will be marketed better. Cookbooks, home improvement books and other popular items will be displayed prominently, sometimes on outward-facing shelves, he said.

“Something has to earn its place on our shelf,” he said. “I know a lot of people get antsy when you talk about weeding a library, but I can tell you the most effective libraries do it constantly.”

He wants local groups to fill the libary's meeting rooms, wants to display public art on library walls and bring live music into the building.

When it comes to staffing, Pasicznyuk plans to move more library employees off service desks so they can create new programs, or greet people and help them find books. He set a goal of having 80 percent of checkouts handled at self-service stations, and 50 percent of fines paid at machines.

He wants to recruit more volunteers to help at the library, and plans to beef up the library's marketing efforts, particularly in telling patron's stories and keeping the public informed about the new library.

Pasicznyuk said nothing he proposes is radical, but Board Member Susie McDermott called it “fabulous stuff,” and the board approved the plan unanimously.