I attended the Joint Library Board meeting last night. Well, things were pretty quiet at the Library. Sorry, I could not resist.

I got to meet Jenny Stoltz, the new Library Director. Jenny appears to be a very knowledgeable and capable person and I am sure she will be a wonderful Director. I look forward to working with her in the future. It was time to say goodbye to Alice Sedgwick, the Interim Director, as well. Alice has been holding the place together for the last 10 weeks and has done a fine job. I am sure we all appreciate her hard work. Alice, although you were not here very long, you will be missed.

I have only two things that may be of interest. First off, the Village Municipal Court had requested to use the Library's Community Room for intake court for 9 dates during the Village Hall construction. However, there was concern for the safety of the patrons and that request was denied. Tammy LaBorde, who is interim liaison until after the April elections, stated that the City Council Chambers, were City Municipal Court is held, are available on the requested dates and she suggested that the Village contact the City for accommodations.

I have always thought that the interior of the Library was very nice, very comfortable. Well, as it turns out, the Library was submitted in a state contest of the American Society of Interior Designers. I am happy to report that it won a Silver award in that competition! My congratulations to all that help with that design.

One last thing. I read an article published by the WCFLS about Library usage in the age of the Internet. Many people expect Library usage to go down in the Internet age, but in fact it has had the opposite effect. Over the last 15 years, Library borrowing has risen 53.4%. The Monthly status report on the library shows that in January of 2007, the circulation was close to 27,000, a number typically reserved for the mid summer months. I would also like to note that with Inter Library Loans, we sent out more books than we called in, indicating to me that our collection is in high demand. This all goes to show how important, and useful, the Library is to the community.