Library staff at the Irene Ingle Memorial Library will begin participating in a series of webinars intended to evaluate ways to improve service for local patrons.
The online meetings, known as the Edge Initiative, are part of a push to promoting best technology practices among the staffs and facilities at 20 libraries across Alaska, said library director Kay Jabusch.
“Some of the things you do well, you want to do more of that,” she said.
The Initiative involves a questionnaire about how technology is used at the library, Jabusch said.
A slew of library grant funding and program applications are in the works as the library gears up for its annual summer reading program. In addition to the Edge Initiative, which is new this year, the library received a $400 grant from the Wrangell Early Childhood Coalition.
Last year’s grant money was used to purchase cardboard books which aren’t easily damaged by grasping little hands or upset juice cups, Jabusch said.
“This year, we went up to the next step,” she said. “There are very limited words on the page, and they’re small enough for young children to participate.”
The goal of the new books is to extend participating in the summer reading program to children who might struggle or give up with more advanced reading material and allows younger children to participate in the program jointly with their parents, Jabusch said.
“It gets them in the habit of reading,” she said.
The library has also applied for E-Rate funding for the 2014-15 period. The program effectively subsidizes the high cost of internet and other telecommunications packages in rural areas. In combination with the Online With Libraries program, the cost of the library’s internet services to the city is drastically reduced, according to figures provided by borough manager Jeff Jabusch.
A fourth grant is for $6,600 from the Alaska State Libraries to purchase additional books and an online program used to borrow books from other public libraries. The program is relatively popular in Wrangell, Jabusch said. That grant application is for a pot of previously established funds, Jabusch said.
“We probably borrow 350 to 400 items per year,” she said.
The program is designed to allow access to larger libraries in bigger cities. Many of those libraries don’t lend to individuals, Jabusch said. Instead, the library lends the books to the Wrangell library, which in turn lends it to a patron, Jabusch said.
“I’m not sure how they would borrow books from other libraries without the program,” she said.
Books loaned in this fashion can be loaned between two and four weeks, Jabusch said.
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