2020 Annual Report of the Sewickley Public Library

WHAT’S INSIDE

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ABOUT THE LIBRARY

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MESSAGE FROM THE DIRECTOR

As a library director, part of my responsibility is to anticipate potential challenges to library operations. Admittedly, a global pandemic was never anywhere on my list of concerns. This year turned our world upside down and forced us to look at things differently in order to continue serving the Quaker Valley community in the best way possible while keeping staff and patrons safe. It was an unimaginable challenge that I am proud to say our staff met with unmatched enthusiasm and positivity.

Perhaps the greatest innovator of our time, Thomas Edison, once said that the certain way to succeed is always to try one more time.

This year our librarians always seemed to have the proverbial lightbulb illuminate over their heads with one more idea to serve our patrons and bring library services and programming to them in new and innovative ways. Their resilience helped our library to shine as a bright light in a dark time, bringing hope, joy and renewed energy to our community. I am grateful for their dedication and talent.

In the pages of this year’s annual report, you will find stories of their resilience and innovation as a celebration of the power of optimism when the challenges we faced seemed insurmountable.

There is always a way forward, if you try just one more time.

Libraries provide the resources for patrons to do just that every day of every year; to come and find the inspiration, the resources, and the community connection to find a way forward. Thank you to our donors and funders who gave us the resources we needed to shine a little light in 2020.

CAROLYN A. TOTH

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CIRCULATION DEPARTMENT The Circulation Department is one of the busiest places in the library.

Patrons may recognize them as the hands-on staff members who checkin and check-out materials; however, they are also the behind the scenes crew who perform the essential functions of the library: pulling requested items, processing and sorting materials delivered from other libraries, registering new patrons, and shelving items.

Staff quickly adapted to find a new normal when they were finally able to return to the library. The Circulation Department undertook the massive task of checking-in and shelving the thousands of items returned during the shutdown. They also became an essential part of our curbside pickup services when staff were filling over Fortunately, we already introduced 60 requests per day. When they an Automatic Renewal System in weren’t pulling items for checkout, early 2020 to enhance customer circulation staff were hard at work service. Little did we know how completing essential collection Thousands of materials pass through valuable this system to automatically maintenance tasks like book repair, circulation staff’s hands annually and renew overdue items would become shelf organizing, and locating this year was no exception, though this year in reducing overdue fines misplaced items. While we missed the process looked a lot different. and extending check out times for having patrons in the building, it was With the health and safety of library patrons. In other instances, we an unexpected gift to have time to staff and patrons at the forefront of manually extended due dates and devote undivided attention to the every decision due to the pandemic, increased our fine forgiveness efforts library’s collection. staff developed a new work-flow. to ease the burden on patrons.

Methods included: implementing a

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research-recommended four-day quarantine for all returned items, reorganizing library spaces to accommodate item storage during quarantine, and establishing a system to keep track of when items were returned and when they were safe to handle.

2020 YEAR IN REVIEW TOTAL CARDHOLDERS

NEW PATRONS IN 2020

EBOOK CHECKOUTS VISUAL MEDIA STREAMING ITEMS CHECKED OUT

4,198

BOOKS

VISUAL MEDIA

COMMUNITIES THE LIBRARY SERVES

AUDIO BOOKS

MUSIC

2,276 MAGAZINES

OTHER

REFERENCE QUESTIONS ANSWERED

CURBSIDE REQUESTS FILLED

SEWICKLEY LIBRARY USERS’ 2020 COST SAVINGS

TO-GO KITS DISTRIBUTED 5

CHILDREN’S DEPARTMENT

The heart of the Children’s Department are storytimes where we are able to make the words on a page come to life with songs and movement. When the library closed in March, our biggest objective was to find a way to bring storytimes to our community members at home.

We went to work fast to create pre -recorded storytimes that could be shared on YouTube and viewed at any time, day or night. These virtual sessions offered library users flexibility to accommodate their families’ ever-changing schedules. Staff produced well over 100 storytimes this year and viewers watched over 800 hours of stories and songs!

When spring arrived, we moved storytimes outside with our own version of the national StoryWalk program in cooperation with local partners: the Allegheny Land Trust, Audubon Greenway, Fern Hollow Nature Center, Mary Roberts Rinehart Nature Park, and Ohio Township Nature Center. Families enjoyed walks along the trails while stopping to read pages from a featured book that changed every few weeks.

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WQED’s Education Department liked what we did so much that they asked us to film a special StoryWalk storytime to promote their new Age of Nature documentary in August.

Summer Reading went virtual through the Beanstack app that allowed children and families to keep track of their summer reading goals. Our 85 youngest participants who registered for the Read-To-Me program read a total of 1,754 books with a parent or caregiver; 276 independent Imagination Readers logged 3,345 hours of reading.

As we turned our thoughts to the new school year, we registered 175 children for new library cards to ensure they had access to online resources when learning virtually. We even featured special Hello Kindergarten storytimes for children entering kindergarten and read by Quaker Valley kindergarten teacher Andrea Croft.

Thanks to a grant from the G. Whitney Snyder Charitable Foundation, we launched 1,000 Books Before Kindergarten in

September for children from birth through age five. This program aims to give children the confidence necessary to become a strong readers when they are read to from an early age. The goal is to have read 1,000 books to children before they start kindergarten. We were able to offer new incentives for our youngest readers this year with special virtual storytimes, crafts and takeaway kits for children and their families.

With so much time spent in front of a computer with online learning, we wanted to provide some unplugged, hands-on creative craft-to-go kits for

children to explore their sensory side. We offered painted pumpkins in October, wreath making kits in December (featuring our partner Susan Craig from the Village Garden Club) and provided more than 375 holiday themed crafts to fill the absence of Light-Up Night.

Thank you to all our community partners and parents who helped us to provide enriching resources and learning opportunities for the children of the Quaker Valley area in new and creative ways.

Thank you so much for the preschool and babies & books videos on YouTube. ...We are so thankful to have something that helps us to still feel connected to the library.

Erin C. Library Patron

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TEEN DEPARTMENT Whether the library was closed or open, whether our students were attending school for in-person learning or strictly virtual, the SPL Teen Department created ways to reach our patrons.

Before the closure happened, we welcomed 64 teams of students to the annual Teen Battle of the Books in February. The program brought together students from Quaker Valley, Moon, Cornell, Sewickley Academy, St. James, Sewickley Community Montessori, Pine Richland, North Allegheny, Eden Academy, Ellis School, Seneca Valley, Bethlehem-Center, Montour, McKeesport, Avonworth, and more to participate in a trivia-style contest all about books.

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Through the ever-popular Make a Blind Date with a Book program in February, we gave away 800 books to area students in grades 6-12 who completed surveys indicating their reading interests. This included a book to every student at Ambridge Area Junior High, plus more than 250 books to Quaker Valley Middle School, and even more books to students at Sewickley Academy, Sewickley Montessori, Nazareth Prep & Marshall Middle School.

Not even the pandemic could stop Teen Summer Reading! This year’s onlinebased reading program tailored easily to the need for remote access and social distancing, and despite the lack of in-

school outreach to promote the program, nearly 200 students entering grades 6-12 registered for TSR 2020.

Takeout and a monthly subscription Surprise Box aimed at giving teens something new to read and watch every month.

Coupled with the online reading challenge, summer programs took a remote bent as well. Offerings included a Mystery-to-Go project, which challenged teens to solve mind-bending puzzles for a chance to win prizes and Take & Make Mondays, where teen patrons could drop by the library’s curbside pick-up table to pick up that week’s maker project. This program proved to be so popular that not only did the Teen Department continue it past the summer, but it inspired similar programs from the Children’s and Adult Departments!

The Teen Department adapted one of our more popular in-person programs during the summer by offering Tasty @ Home, a weekly at-home cooking demonstration with culinary selections geared toward teen tastes. Participants followed along with Miss Emily as she whipped up mouth-watering meals and treats.

My nieces opened their first Surprise Box yesterday and LOVED it...you knocked it out of the park - thank you!

Ann D. Library Patron

Despite the challenges, the Teen Department is here to remind our students that no matter what happens and how far apart we must be, the library is still a place for teens.

We continued to build on the idea of giveaway projects with a family game night kit called Tabletop

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ADULT DEPARTMENT Thank you for everything you do for me and my family...we love our library!

Katie C. Library Patron

The Adult Department experienced a whirlwind of changes this year. We celebrated with long-time department head, Lynne Schneider, as she announced her semi-retirement after over 30 years with the Sewickley Public Library. We are fortunate to have her stay on as a part-time librarian within the Adult Department. Additionally, we welcomed librarian, Dustin Shilling, as the new Head of Adult Services.

Dustin stepped into his new role at an opportune time. His technology experience enabled the department to skillfully adapt our systems to allow staff to work remotely when the building was closed. Library staff were able to answer reference questions from their homes by phone, email, and a new live online chat service Monday-Saturday. Staff

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responded to hundreds of questions that would have otherwise gone unanswered.

The summer months this year kept the Adult Department staff busy. When staff were able to return to the library, we began offering curbside pickup services.

We adapted our normal channels of library delivery and rolled out an online request and scheduling system. At its peak staff were filling around 60 requests a day, including hundreds of books, movies, and more.

In addition to reference services, staff developed virtual programs to meet social distancing guidelines while offering meaningful content using platforms like Zoom and YouTube to reach our patrons at home. This new method of meeting provided even better information sharing

for programs like “Let’s Talk About Murder” which often references slideshows or websites during discussions.

In June the reference staff partnered with Tim Merrill, a docent with the Pittsburgh History and Landmarks Foundation, to create a virtual walking tour of Sewickley history. The tour traced the streets of Sewickley and focused on several historically significant buildings in the Village. The program was published on YouTube and has had over 700 views.

Library staff also developed new programs like Cooking at Home, Tech Wednesdays, virtual book reviews, and the Summer Trivia Challenge. One of the most popular additions to the programming line-up this year was the DIY Craft for Adults kits. These take-

home kits included supplies and instructions for participants to make their own crafts – like felt leaf garland and wood slice ornaments – in the comfort of the own homes.

Since the pandemic dominated most of 2020, it is very easy to forget that we actually offered in-person programs at the beginning of the year. Most notably, the library once again hosted the World Affairs Council of Pittsburgh in February. Experts from the United States Army and Air Force visited the library to discuss the topic "Tackling Global Threats: Challenges Facing National Security." The well-received program addressed issues including national security, national service, and the future of warfare in space.

eAudiobooks were checked out more than in any previous year. Our patrons enjoyed entertaining and educational streaming content through Hoopla and the newly added service, Kanopy. The shutdown didn’t slow down research as remote access to Ancestry Library and our Sewickley Herald archives allowed residents to do local history and genealogy searches from home.

Whether the building is open or closed, library staff are dedicated to providing the best possible library services and resources.

Our online resources saw a spike in usage in 2020. eBooks and

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MESSAGE FROM THE BOARD

As an anesthesiologist, I am used to unanticipated challenges in patient care; adjustments inevitably need to be made to ensure the best outcome. So when two months into my new role as library board president we had to react to the challenges of the pandemic, I was no stranger to pivoting to a new plan.

When the first phase of the crisis calmed and we had a new pandemic operation plan in place to keep our staff and patrons safe, we turned our thoughts to recovery; and what I know to be true about recovery is that patients who have support from their social network recover faster and better than those who go it alone. The library’s ability to thrive once again would depend upon the support of our friends and neighbors.

On behalf of the board of directors, let me say thank you first to the donors listed in these pages who continued to fund library operations through a challenging economic time, not only individuals and foundations but the Quaker Valley School District Board of Directors. This local public funding is the foundation upon which we build our operating budget. Your generosity is our success.

We also appreciated support from Sewickley Borough Council and the Historical Review Commission in helping us to meet requirements for a Keystone grant application to potentially fund a new library roof and HVAC system; from Allegheny County leaders who returned CARES funding back to libraries that had been unavoidably cut when the Allegheny Regional Asset District suffered extreme revenue losses; and from our Friends of the Library who continued their hard work on our behalf. We felt the rallying support of our community.

The very definition of resilience is to recover quickly from difficult conditions, and any recovery is most successful with support and care from those closest to you. The library board is grateful for the support we have received, and we look forward to the renewal of library services and programming as we put this global crisis behind us. We exist to serve our community and look forward to the days when you can all join us here at your library – a place of books and ideas, but mostly of people.

JOEL SWANSON, MD

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FINANCIAL OVERVIEW •

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INCOME

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EXPENSES

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FRIENDS OF THE LIBRARY

Thank you for doing the pop up sales!

I was able to pick up some great reads!

Mary Ann Library Patron

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2020 was a year of change and that was certainly the case for the Friends. While we were determined to meet our goal of providing support for the library’s talented and dedicated staff and their many services and programs, we needed to find creative solutions for our typical in-person fundraising events.

In the absence of Savoring Sewickley, we wanted to find a way to replicate this fundraiser while also helping our struggling culinary community – without whom Savoring would not be possible. Our solution was a digital raffle with prizes assembled from gift cards and merchandise purchased from our restaurant partners resulting in $2,100 in ticket sales.

pandemic was high, so we are especially grateful to our loyal donors who faithfully gifted more than $24,000.

With special events at the heart of much of our fundraising, this year has been challenging; but we look forward to a time when we are able to gather as Friends of the Library in person once again. And we will savor To replace our book sales, we those moments just a bit more experimented with outdoor pop- The one thing that didn’t need a the next time they come around. up sales on the library’s front new approach was our direct sidewalk that brought in $1,300 mail campaign. However, it was and many enthusiastic inquiries launched in May when about when the next one would uncertainty about the lasting occur. economic impact of the

THANK YOU

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2020 DONORS

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2020 DONORS

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2020 DONORS

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2020 DONORS

LIBRARY AWARDED FOR SUCCESS IN PUBLIC SERVICE Every public library is a star to the community it serves. When your library is officially designated a starawarded library, it is the icing on the cake, so to speak. Each year, Library Journal (LJ) – the oldest and most respected professional library publication – reviews data on libraries across the country, spotlighting the best of the best across America. The Sewickley Public Library is fortunate to join in the rankings for 2020 as an American Star Library.

The LJ’s national designation is awarded to U.S. public libraries for their success in public library service.

The ratings are determined by measuring areas of library usage, including: physical circulation, circulation of electronic materials, library visits, program attendance,

public internet computer use, Wi-Fi session use and – new to the 2020 rankings – use of online databases.

Over 5,600+ libraries qualified to be rated this year. Sewickley Public Library is one of only 262 libraries nationwide and one of only 7 libraries in Pennsylvania to achieve the designation.

We attribute this success to our strong commitment to excellent customer service. Our library patrons and community are at the forefront of everything we do. We are grateful to serve the greater Quaker Valley region and are committed to continuing to provide materials and services that help our friends and neighbors thrive.

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