
Neveen: Thanks again for your time. I just like you to, in brief, tell me about, yourself and your role here in Champion Public Library.
Tricia: You’re welcome. Sure. My career started, , in libraries in about 2008. I’m at a smaller library here in the area, and did, at that time, a lot of the programming and marketing, and in a smaller library you wear many hats and you do a lot of different things and many roles. So, I was there for about five years. Then I worked at a non-profit and then briefly at the university here in town. And then, in 2018 or 19, now I can’t remember, I began here as the program and event librarian in the adult services department. That role oversees the adult programming like the general large programs such as our great author event where we bring in authors to talk about their books. And, then we also have big food truck rallies or outside events that we kind of have to plan the logistics of. So, a lot of that role is doing those types of things. And then the general weekly program that we’ll have. Then, shortly thereafter, I became the adult services manager, so overseeing the staff. About that time, we were somewhere around 12 to 16 staff, I wanna say. And then the pandemic hit obviously and managing through a pandemic which was a great learning and challenge. So then, last smer, our director retired. Brittany was promoted to the director position, and then that opened up the deputy director position, which I applied for and started in September or August right in there, so not quite a year yet.
Neveen: I read on the website that you offer several services for your patrons. But what really stopped me are two services; those for the seniors (including the book librarian service and the home delivery service). And another one which is the fine free policy. So, let’s start with the seniors services.
Tricia: We have a lot of very active seniors, again, being part of the university, there’s a lot of community members that want to continue education or continue learning and also having that social aspect too. So one of the programs we offer and that we’ve had for quite a few years is called our ‘Tuesdays at 10’, And that initially started out with doing a lot of research-based and informative lectures from university professors, maybe they were tied with engineering or other research-based type of education. And then it’s morphed a little bit over the years where we’ve done gardening, fitness, aging, you know, and healthy aging practices. We’ve had classes, basically community members that teach classes at other, other places, and then they’ll share their knowledge here and share their travels or their expertise in history. We’ve had a muse; members come in and talk. So it’s a variety of topics that we do. We see a lot of the same folks coming week to week. And I think they make it kind of a place to gather, learn, share knowledge, and get to know each other. And I think several have met that way. And then we get new people based on the topic; the topic sometimes attracts different people as well too.
So that’s one of our really popular programs that we offer. We see a lot of seniors attending our book clubs at the main library and then also at our Douglas Branch. So we have a lot of participation amongst seniors for that. We have crafts and we see a lot of participation with the craft program as well, both here and at Douglas. And we do outreach as well too, and work alongside with local organizations that provide services or resources, maybe a little bit further than what we would be able to provide here. And we have things such as financial workshops that offer how to prepare for retirement or how to prepare your estate, who gets what, preparation for will and those kinds of things that we bring experts on that to come in and talk about highlights of that.
Neveen: You mentioned before that you go to the seniors’ homes for reading or delivering books…
Tricia: We do, we have home delivery service which is also ran out of the adult services department. We also utilize volunteers for the delivery itself. We have a regular group of volunteers that come in right now. I believe we do delivery twice a month. We have an organization of who gets what and when, and the routes planned out. The folks that participate in home delivery may be home bound. Maybe they are unable to get the whole family to the libraries. Maybe they’re ill or have a physical disability, so we try to reduce the barriers of what their needs is. Sometimes people will choose to select their own materials and just place the holds in the request themselves from home, because that’s very convenient for them, or sometimes they’ll ask us do that for them. In the beginning, we have them fill out an information sheet. If they’d like us to help select, then we kind of gauge an interest level on what things they’re looking for, whether it’s audio books, whether it’s large print books, just regular print, maybe their wedding music CDs. So, we gauge their interests. We have genres that we ask them to kind of highlight.
Neveen: And you only deliver the books? There’s no someone dedicated for reading for them?
Tricia: We don’t have that. There’s a program, I believe it’s a national program talking books that have special devices that do the reading for them. I’d have to check more into that, but, we do a lot of audio books, quite frankly, because a lot of people enjoy audio books if they’re facing any reading challenges or visions.
Neveen: So, what about the ‘borrow a librarian’ service?
Tricia: The ‘borrow a librarian’ is basically a consultation with one of our staff members, whether it is on I just got a new phone, I wanna learn how to use it, I can’t set up my email, I need help with a library resource, I got an e-reader and I wanna be able to put Libby on here. It really varies. We really see a lot, around the holiday or gift giving time where we see a lot of people bringing in new devices they got, perhaps they need a little help getting it set up. We also offer a business career and tech focus where we have librarians with that expertise and or general baseline knowledge in those areas that anybody on staff would be able to help with that. They may do career help, perhaps they’ll help them with their rese and look at that and give them suggestions. Maybe they might wanna do a mock interview; they’ve got an interview coming up and they’re just feeling nervous. And so we’ll draft up questions and we’ll mock an interview and even bring in other staff to help kind of make that feel really it’s like an interview. And we’ve found that’s been really successful and alleviate some of that stress because I think that’s part of that process. And then, with their business services, people sometimes come and they, they’re maybe just got a crafting project or something that they have an interest in and they’re considering, well, ‘maybe I could take this a little further and make some money this way’, like a career services. And sometimes they’re wanting to take their skills and maybe open their own full business with a storefront. So it really varies on that. That’s a really always fast growing, and fast paced area that we see a lot with the businesses in town and, and entrepreneurship in general. And even with our studio, the teen lounge that we have every day after school, we have a lot of activities and crafts that they create; sometimes it’s jewelry making, etc., and even some of the young adults want to learn how to make money selling this kind of stuff? So, it trickles down to all ages that way too.
Neveen: What about the fine free policy? I know that you are fine free, but, aren’t you afraid that the books get lost or someone never gets the book back to the library?
Tricia: So it’s been pretty successful. We really have not had a problem with that. At a certain point, if someone keeps the book for a certain duration, then it actually does go to what we call setting that’s lost. So then, it does apply the cost of the replacing that book. So that usually is enough to nudge the customer, because they’ll get a notification and like, ‘oh, I need to get that book back’. And they bring it in and then, that (fine) just goes away. So, as long as the book or item is not returned, then that fee that is applied. If the book is considered lost because it’s been out so long. Okay. Then, then that goes away. So
Neveen: So if they exceed the circulation duration, at that point you just charge the fee…
Tricia: Correct. And, we have a very generous renewal policy, and it’s all automated. The only reason that would not happen is if someone else has requested the book and so then it wouldn’t be available for them to continue to renew. But it’s an automatic renewal. Most books are, I believe, four weeks checkout, and two weeks for our new items. And you can renew up to 10 times. So, it can be out for long time.
Neveen: Each time of renewal is four weeks?
Tricia: Yeah. Four weeks. Now that varies per item. So, some items don’t have that length of time, so, it does vary because we also have check out hotspots and iPads and things like that. So, those have a shorter timeframe that they’re checked out for, just because of the demand and circulation.
Neveen: I work at as a website and smart applications coordinator, so I’m very interested in the applications you use in the library. I searched on the website and found out that you’re using LinkedIn Learning Lib app, hoopla, kanopy and Gade For reference e-Books. So, these are for either reading eBooks or for streaming videos?
Tricia: That’s a combination of things. LinkedIn Learning is a platform that we’ve had for a couple of years. It was purchased by LinkedIn. It is used to be called Linda.com. It’s a training platform. That has been really popular because the content is really valuable, especially for anyone career-minded. If you’re wanting professional development, maybe you’re thinking about applying for jobs and you could have access to basics on Microsoft Word. It offers fundamental courses. And then it can go all the way up to like learning all the about HR And these can be hours and hours of content.
Neveen: And who provide the courses on such platform?
Tricia: That is LinkedIn. They have a whole bundle of tutorials that are really high in quality.
Neveen: So as a library, you only, create an account on LinkedIn Learning and the patron just accesses the application with the library card and then he have access to the whole courses. Do you have to pay any monthly or annual subscription fees?
Tricia: The library takes care of that subscription. So as a user, no. I believe. I’d have to check on that one. I’m not sure how that one’s configured. Sometimes it’s based on the number of users, some that utilize it. Like for some of the streaming services, that’s how they gauge. And then sometimes it’s based on the community size you serve. So it varies from each of the different databases or services.
Neveen: And they find it popular among the patrons? Back in my library, we have like the traditional classroom and we give courses and so on. But I was thinking of applying such application usage in our library.
Tricia: Yeah. It does. And the nice thing with that, the LinkedIn content, they’ve now got just audio content, like almost like a podcast learning focus. They have videos. They have variety, almost lecture type. So it’s a real variety, which I think is helpful and you can do short increments or longer ones as well. The kanopy is basically streaming movies and that is fantastic, it’s got great documentaries, foreign films, it’s just really got a nice robust.
Neveen: And again, the connection is provided by the platform?
Tricia: Correct. Some of these, you have to create a profile. And then that initial verification with your library card number, but once you’ve done that, then it, it knows who you are and just access it, access it through. And uh, the same with Hoopla, which is movies, TV series and also e-Books and audiobooks. So it is a variety of things that you can access through.
Neveen: Why do you have this duplication? Why don’t you use only one app?
Tricia: Well, because they all carry different collections. The Libby app does eBooks and audiobooks as well.. As for the Libby, you sometimes have to wait for the more popular materials, so you put in a request and you wait, their selection is lovely and we can curate some of that selection. So, we can go in and update the collection and purchase items to add to that collection that our customers would have access to. That’s not the case with hoopla. It’s a nice compliment to Libby because they carry a different type. They may carry a variety that’s a little bit different. There’s also no wait. So with Hoopla and Kanopy, if it’s on there, you can just watch it right then. So, that’s a nice too.
Neveen: Sure. Okay. I have two more questions. Do you have an IT team that maintains the website content and translations if you have different interfaces, the functions, the services, the testing process? Tell me more please about it.
Tricia: We do, we have a manager and then we have two full-time staff that support her on her team. Not only do they maintain the technology in the building, whether that’s staff computers, public facing computers, etc. All the things in the building, basically phone lines and all that. They manage the website and the updates of the Polaris catalog, and any kind of updating of any of the software. They maintain the software that runs our room reservation system. So any of those types of things that’s all kind of overseen by their team.
Neveen: Okay. Great. So, the last question: I’ve read that you have a studio expansion project with many services and devices and so on…
Tricia: Yes. We’re very excited about this. That is hopefully going to be done by this end of the summer, hopefully sooner. We just are waiting. That will have a gaming area and a maker area. We’ll have a glow forge, a 3D printer, cricket machines which can do a lot of craft creativity, a large format printer, a recording studio video recording with a green screen. Yeah, it’s gonna be a nice variety of things. We’ll have a computer lab down there that will have a mix of Mac and Dell, and training, instructor computers up on the wall that we can have teaching moments in that as well. Actually, we’re lucky enough to be across the street from a middle school. So every day during the school year, we see upwards of a hundred to 200 kids that come in and currently where we’ve been having what we call a teen lounge, which offers crafts and games and things to keep them occupied and busy after school. We are kind of at our max capacity, plus we have to set up and take down that room every day. It’s also a space that the public or other staff would like to use for maybe other programs, activities or meetings and things like that. So, by having the studio space open, we’ll be able to have that space dedicated for the teens after school every day. It’ll be for teens during the week and then we’ll probably have perhaps some events and programs down after teens would be in the evening. We’re hopeful that we’ll have it available for just open access perhaps maybe on the weekends or we’re still working out some of those things. But we’re hopeful that we’ll have that time for the community members to be able to access it as well because it’ll be a nice big space.
Neveen: Yes. I’m sure it’d be very interesting for them because we’ve seen this in Chicago Public Library. It’s very beautiful and it is very popular among teens.
Tricia: Yeah. I think the teens will really enjoy it and we’ve got a lot of creative teens and adults in this community, so I’m excited about the recording studio part. There’s a lot to learn, a lot of training going on now, but it is exciting. It’s always fun to bring something new and I think it will also give them, during the after-school time, their own space that they feel like home, like this is where they get to be. And we’ll still have the teen area that’s up on the main level that is dedicated to their collection or young adult teen collection. Then, there’s some computers that are in there as well. So, we’ll have both of those spaces in case it’s too much for someone to be down there if they need a quiet space.
Neveen: Yes, sure. Thank you so much. Thank you for your time and for your effort, and I wish you all the luck in this project and all your other projects.