Like Shooting yourself in the Foot!
By Michele, Children's Librarian

I often have the comment from parents that we need more programming at the library. I heartily agree, however, we have challenges at the library that make this difficult, which most parents and other patrons don't know about.

First, let's take a look back to 1999 to when I started at the library. At that time we had two programs for children. Story time was held on Tuesdays at 10:30 for six weeks. It was followed by a 4 week session of a Toddler Time program. These rotated and were held three times during the year. Also, we held 1 session of Story Time during the summer on Tuesdays. In 1999 the limits on how many patrons we allowed into a session was ten.

In 2000 we added an additional Wednesday class and upped the allowed attendance to 12 for regular Story times and began allowing parents to come to classes. During this time we also added new features to our programs. Treats and music became common and we bought things like our ever popular parachute. Story time grew in popularity so much, that by fall of 2002 we had added an additional Story time program on Tuesdays at 12:00 . In 2002 we also added our Free Reading Time program on Wednesdays at 12:00, this additional program did not require registration and anyone could come, this helped ease our waiting lists and allowed older/younger children and home school children to participate. Finally, in Fall of 2006, we added a Thursday class to Story Time.

In 2007 we still use the 6 weeks for Story Time followed by 4 Weeks of Mommy & Me (Toddler Time) equalling 30 weeks a year. People ask us why we do not have continuous sessions of programming. Here's why. As you may well know we live in a small building and share one large room for programming. Adults, teens, children's and public/non-profit activities take turns in this space . We also have the annual Friends of the Library book sale in this space each August/September just before and during Peach Days. When we have National Traveling Exhibits, like the Abraham Lincoln exhibit (Fall 2006), we also use this same space. As you can see we have many people and only one space.

Another challenge that our library faces when it comes to more programming for children is that our Children's Staff is not full-time. In 2000 the hours of both the Children's Librarian and the Young Adult/Teen Librarian were 24 per week. In 2006 that was bumped up to 28 per week, and in 2007 the Teen Librarian will bump up to 32 hours per week. Budgeting issues will not allow more hours for the Children's Librarian this year.

As you can see we have increased the programming for children as the demand rose in the past. We would like to always be so responsive. However, our library continues to grow, and as time goes by becomes more and more popular, therefore our librarians also spend additional time in duties other than programming. Collection development, purchasing, processing, and cataloging take many hours. We recently have had problems with rowdy teens in the library and had to spend more staff time on controlling the behavior of those in the library and on the Internet.

We have looked into other options for programming and are planning to use a new concept this summer, having multiple sessions running on the same day at the same time. One session will be for kids 6 and over and one session will remain for those ages 3 to 5. We hope by adding extra sessions and staff we can include more children who want to participate.In the future we may use volunteer storytellers or include other ideas to continue to try and meet the demands.

It is a little like shooting yourself in the foot, the better the programs the more popular they become and the more people want to attend. The more people attend the more programs are needed and the more hours I have to spend on getting ready and holding programs. As a mom once said to me, "My kids think you are like, a rock star!" It's nice to be popular but it comes at a cost.

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