Roswell Public Library

Director of Administrative Services: Juan Fuentes Library Director: Enid Costley

In 2019, the Roswell Public Library asked groups and individuals three questions. • What are your aspirations for Roswell? • What challenges does Roswell face? • What needs to change to reach our aspirations?

The responses served as a guide for current and future Library services. Our areas of focus are: • Build a Community of Learners • Engage People in the Community • Provide Points of Learning • Encourage Reading for Pleasure • Create a Mobile Library • Support Initiatives of the City of Roswell

Build a Community of Learners Funds from the Roswell Library Foundation allowed us to transform our programs. The weekly programs for young children were designed to promote school readiness. • Mother Goose on the Loose is offered on Mondays for children under 2 years old (attended by 542 children and adults). • Preschool Program is offered on Wednesdays for children 3-5 years old (attended by 1,032 children and adults). • Programs for older children, teens and adults are designed help people to be successful in work and life by promoting at least one of the Search Institute’s 40 Developmental Assets. • Wednesday After-School programs and STREAM Saturdays (attended by 1,056 children) focus on Science, Technology, Engineering and Math as well as reading. • Special family programs offered during summer and school breaks (attended by 1,668 children and adults). • Teen programs on life skills were offered in the evening (attended by 176 teens). • Cultural and Humanities programs of interest to adults were offered evenings and weekends (attended by 241 adults). Engage People in the Community Engaging people includes programs, but also providing easy accessible places to meet. • A policy change allowed the Library to offer the use of the meeting room to the community at no charge. The use of the meeting room has increased by both the City of Roswell and the public. In 2019, 2,607 attended programs in the Bondurant Room that were not organized by library staff. • We created a small meeting room in the southeast corner of the library that will also function as a local history room.

Provide Points of Learning Points of Learning is access to the internet and to our collection. • We replaced our worn and broken computers using General Obligation Bond funds offered through the New Mexico State Library. • We created a technology library card as an alternative of our standard library card. The technology library card only provides access to public computers, purchased databases, and online books and audio collections. • We added a standalone computer loaded with educational games in both Spanish and English for children to use in the Library. • In August, we increased the hours the library is open from 64 to 66 hours. Library hours are 9 am to 8 pm Monday – Thursday, 9am to 6pm Friday and Saturday, and 2 to 6 p.m. on Sunday. This change offers more evening hours for the public. • Library staff responded to 18,122 informational questions, of which 1,924 were directional.

Encourage Reading for Pleasure Reading for pleasure includes seasonal reading programs and easy access to the books and the collection. • We began offering an online reading program in 2019. 438 readers logged 3,783 books and 314,397 pages were read during the summer. The online program awarded badges and prizes for reading and attending programs. We changed the focus of the program from toys to school supplies. • With funds from the Roswell Library Foundation, we hosted three book giveaways and put new books in the hands and homes of children. The events were: Spring Break Puppet Program, Summer Food Program, and a December Yuletide Festival. • We created one fiction collection by interfiling the mystery collection, science fiction collection, and western collection in with the general fiction collection so that our customers can more easily find their favorite authors. • We checked out 147,586 books, audio books, movies, magazines, and music. • We encouraged reading by removing the service fee for requests for items we do not have and stream-lined the procedure for filling the requests. To do this, we re-allotted funds and are now using New Mexico State Library Grants in Aid to cover postage and the supply costs.

Create a Mobile Library Currently, Library outreach is limited to schools and daycare centers. We have completed planning to create a mobile library service in 2020. Support Initiatives of the City of Roswell The Library has collaborated with several events: Chaves County Health Expo Day of the Dead

Fall Festival Main Street Roswell First Fridays NEA Big Reads Roswell Roswell Complete Count Census Committee STEM & Art Festival UFO Festival 73