100 Market Street, Denton, MD 21629
Consolidated Annual Report
2005 – 2006
Caroline County Public Library Hours FY 2005-2006
CENTRAL LIBRARY
100 Market Street
Denton, MD 21629
Monday and Friday 10:00AM-8:00PM
Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, and Saturday 10:00AM-5:30PM
Telephones: Voice 410-479-1343; TDD 410-479-2468; FAX 410-479-1443
FEDERALSBURG BRANCH
123 Morris Avenue
Federalsburg, MD 21632
Monday and Tuesday12:00PM - 8:00PM
Thursday, Friday and Saturday 10:00AM-5:30PM
Telephones: Voice 410-754-8397; FAX 410-754-3058
Rose Donoway, Branch Manager email: rdonoway@caro.lib.md.us
NORTH COUNTY BRANCH
Greensboro Community Center, Cedar Lane, PO Box 336
Greensboro, Maryland 21639
Tuesday 10:00AM-5:30PM
Wednesday & Thursday 3:00PM-8:00PM
Friday 10:00AM-5:30PM
Saturday 10:00AM-3:00PM
Telephones: Voice 410-482-2173; FAX 410-482-2634
Richard O. Smith, Branch Manager email: rsmith@caro.lib.md.us
BOOKMOBILE STOPS
Tuesday:
Hillsboro 2:00PM-2:45PM
Railroad Avenue Ridgely 3:00PM-5:00PM
Wednesday:
Holy Child Chapel Bethlehem 12:00PM-12:30PM
Main Street Choptank 12:45PM-1:15PM
Preston 1:30PM-4:00PM
Jonestown Park 4:05PM-4:35PM
Thursday:
Main Street Marydel 10:00AM-11:00AM
Caroline Acres Henderson 11:15AM-12:15PM
Goldsboro Store Goldsboro 12:30PM-1:00PM
TELEPHONE: Mobile 443-786-1966
Central Office - 410-479-1343, ext 179
Board of Library Trustees for Caroline County
Members FY2006
David R. Jones, EdD, President
210 Sharp Road, Denton, MD 21629. 410-479-1214. Cell: 410 310-4571
Email: jones410@hotmail.com Filled unexpired term of Dr. William Ecker from 1/1/98
expiring 12/31/2002. Appointed 9-26-00. First term 1/1/03 and expires 12/31/07.
Maureen T. Herzberg, Vice President
522 Bernard Avenue, Greensboro, MD 21639. 410-482-8948
Email: mherzberg@verizon.net. First term 1/1/02 and expires 12/31/06. Turned in letter of
resignation at Feb 21, 2006 meeting. Relocated to California.
Kathleen H. Carmean, Secretary
11673 Downes Station Rd., Ridgely, MD 21660. 410-634-2176. Email:
kcgarden@dmv.com. First term 1/1/2000 and expires 12/31/2004. Second term 1/1/2005 and
expires 12/31/2009.
Larry C. Porter, Treasurer
208 S. 1st Street, Denton, MD 21629. Bus address: 410 Market St., Denton, MD
21629. 410-479-3380 (W)410-479-3655. Cell phone: 410-714-1128.
Email: larryporter98@yahoo.com. Filled unexpired term of Dr. Carol Baker from 1/1/98,
expiring 12/31/2002. Appointed 1/4/00. First term 1/1/03 and expiring 12/31/07.
Abigail W. McNinch
100 Ellerslie Court , Denton, MD 21629. 410-479-9565. Email: mcninch4@msn.com
Began December 2, 2003 to fill Karen A. Beck’s first term 1/1/01 and expires 12/31/05.
First term 1/1/06 and expiring 12/ 31/2010.
Alice S. Morgan
615 Liberty Road, Federalsburg, MD 21632. 410-754-8714. Email: spret@intercom.net
First term 1/1/04 and expires 12/31/08.
Cora B. Pinckens
3443 Laurel Grove Road, Federalsburg, MD 21632. 410-754-8849. no email.
Began July 27, 2004 to fill unexpired first term of Shirley DeShields 1/1/01 and expires
12/31/05. First term 1/1/06 and expiring 12/ 31/2010.
CAROLINE COUNTY PUBLIC LIBRARY EMPLOYEES - FY 2006
FULL TIME
George A. Sands, Jr. -- Administrator. 1975
Deborah (Debby) A. Bennett -- Assistant Administrator. 1983
Sandra (Sandy) R. Rosenfield – Librarian II, Digital and Technical Services Manager. 1982
Jeri L. Cain – Librarian II. Reference and Information Services Manager and Mobile Services Manager.
2002
Ann Marie Reinecke – Librarian II, Circulation Services Manager. 1994
Richard O. Smith -- Library Associate II, North County Branch Manager 1985
Rose Donoway -- Library Associate II, Federalsburg Branch Manager 2000
Florence de Nagy -- Library Associate II, Reference Department, Adult Programs Specialist. 1985
Jane D. Terebey -- Library Associate I, Reference Department, Information Specialist. 1996 (part-time
1994-96)
Jennifer Blunt -- Library Associate I, Reference Department, Community Information Specialist. 2001
Rebecca (Becky) Turner -- Library Associate I, Central, Federalsburg Branch. 2001
Amanda McNatt Courie -- Library Associate I, Circulation, Children's Dept. 2005
( part-time 2002-05)
Simee Acree -- Library Assistant II, Circulation, Interlibrary Loan. 1981
Marilou H. Russ -- Library Assistant III, Children’s Services Program Coordinator. 1981
Sheron M. Butler -- Library Page, Central Library, Shelving. 1980
Christina (Chris) H. Dorset – Office Manager, Computers. 1978
Margaret (Maggie) Petrick -- Library Assistant II, Technical Services and Sec/Bookkeeping Depts . 1998
(part-time 1993-7/1998)
Tina Woods -- Library Assistant II, Book Van, Circulation. July 1999. (part-time 1998-99)
Kristin Jarrell -- Library Assistant II, Circulation, Children’s Dept. Resigned 11-15-05.
Michelle (Tabitha) Sebly, Library Assistant I, Circulation 7/25/05 Anne Brown, Library Assistant I, Circulation 8/1/05 -. Resigned 10-14-05.
Amanda Watson, Library Assistant I, Circulation, Childrens Dept. 8/1/05 –
Michelle Neuwiller, Library Assistant I, Circulation 1/5/06 Jessica Nhem, Library Assistant I, Circulation 1/9/06 PART TIME
Henry States – Janitor, Public Works employee
Katherine Dickson – Librarian I, Reference
Connie Fletcher -- Library Assistant I, Circulation
Marilyn (Mally) Huddleston -- Library Assistant I, Circulation
Lynn Fuchs, Library Assistant I, Circulation 3/14/05 –
Eileen Markey, Library Assistant I, Circulation 1/17/06 Peggy Malasky, Library Assistant I, Circulation 1/20/06 –
Elizabeth (Betty) Chance -- Library Assistant I, Circulation. Resigned 11-1-05.
Mary Robbins - Library Assistant I, Circulation. Resigned July 16, 2005.
ADMINISTRATIVE OVERVIEW
The 2006 fiscal year was highlighted by technology efforts, and capital projects.
The major accomplishments and issues are as follows:
Trustees
 Maureen Herzberg resigned from the Board February 2006 to relocate to California.
Administration
 The library received its 501(c)(3) designation from the IRS.
 Personnel Manual now called the Staff Handbook revised and approved by Board Jan 2006
 Two state legislative bills to provide capital funding for libraries and improve the retirement
system passed
Physical Plant
 Painting and repair work at the Federalsburg Branch began in January and continue.
 The Central Library workroom and bookkeeping area were reorganized .

The library is still working with Maryland Rural Development Corporation to resolve a stubborn
roof leak in the North County Branch
.
Technology
 The library continues to work with ESRL tech staff and B.I.G. staff to improve point-to-point
wireless network among its branches
 The library completed a redesign of its web site and assigned it a shorter more memorable url –
www.carolib.org
 The library is completing the upgrade of its computer room servers.
 The library is adding an online meeting room booking package and implementing an online audio
book program
 Functionality issues with the library’s computer and print management programs were examined
and improved.
 A video projector and projection screen were installed in the Central Library large meeting room
 The telephone system was replaced with one that integrates voicemail and inter-branch intercom.
 Acquired new staff computers/tablets.
Strategic Plan
 We just completed our third year and it is time to meet with our consultant to review and prepare
our next Strategic Plan.
 We are trying to write our reports to better reflect the Strategic Plan and how well we are meeting
it. The Annual Report is twofold – the complete reports by department (for staff) and a
consolidated Annual Report written to reflect how well we met our Strategic Plan.
Grants
 The library again received Federal E-Rate/universal service funds to help underwrite
telecommunications costs.
 The Library received a Gates Foundation grant of $24,000, a Regional Library grant of $40,650
for staff continuing education, programming, reference tools and service enhancements, and a
state grant of up to $5,500 for continuing education.
 The Library handled a $60,000 grant for audio book purchases for a Maryland library consortium
of which we are a member, and that the library is participating in a grant project to heighten
library visibility via OCLC’s Worldcat program, making library holdings more readily accessible
to Web users.
Personnel
Due to one retirement (Pat Reinhardt) at the end of last fiscal year and some resignations early in the fiscal
year(Betty Chance and Mary Robbins, both part-time and Kristin Jarrell, full-time); the library hired three
new full time library assistants Amanda Watson, Michelle (Tabbi) Sebly, Ann Brown (only worked August
to October) July and August. Michelle Neuwiller, Jessica Nehm were hired full time in January. Peggy
Malasky and Eileen Markey were hired part time in January. Sandy Rosenfield continued to have to take a
number of days leave and work unusual hours because of continued serious illnesses of both parents.
Becky Turner continues to work on her MLS degree through Drexel University.
Friends
The Friends of the Caroline County Public Library continue to support the library through funding
additional projects and promoting the library.
Programming highlights
 Numerous library programs were planned and executed in all branches.
 “Friday Nite” programs at the Library extending over several months were well received.
 The library continues its strong partnership with many other agencies in order to offer such
programs as the Performing Arts Series (formerly called Carnival in Caroline) with the Caroline
County Council of the Arts, special story times and puppet shows, along with Basic Internet
training for parents for the Evenstart program with the Caroline County Public Schools; and
offering the Central library as the library for the Wesleyan school, having students K-6 visit on a
weekly basis to use computers and check out materials.
 Book-Talking in the Middle Schools for Young Adults and special Mystery Nights at the Library
continued for the second year and continue to be a big success.
Annual Report based on the Strategic Plan
Vision: The Caroline County Public Library empowers customers to use information and ideas to
enrich their lives.
This is the third year of our Three Year Strategic Plan
Mission I: Provide services and resources that the community needs today and
tomorrow.
Goal A: Develop services and resources in response to emerging demographic changes
Objective 1: By June 30, 2005, 300 adult job seekers will receive library services that meet their needs.
Not met, but growing
Reference Questions
Reference Question Statistics are up from FY05, but there is sure to be some duplication with the current
method of gathering these statistics.
Financial/Employment category – broader scope – 152 questions – 19 answered completely, 152 referrals
Word searches:
Career specific- 45 questions – 20 answered completely, 18 referrals (FY05 15 total questions)
Job- 66 questions – 31 answered completely, 15 referrals (FY05 total 17)
Resume- 38 questions – 29 answered completely, 2 referrals (FY05 total 13
Employment/unemployment – 37 questions – 15 answered completely, 19 referrals (FY05 total 10)
Job Interview- 4 questions – 3 completely – no referrals (FY05 no questions)
Programs
Jeri Cain is having Florence deNagy work on new adult programs, which hopefully will assist us with this
goal if we continue it as written.
Objective 2: By June 30, 2005, 70% of adults aged 55+ will receive library services that meet their
needs and interests.
We haven’t figured out how to track this yet. However, Census 2000 figures - 65 years and over = 4,031.
70% of this set is 2822.
Six programs that either target or attract this group are the following:
 AARP tax assistance – designed for older people and low income, attendance is not broken out by
age or economic situation. We estimate 75% are 55+. We had 258 total participants.
o Estimate 194 were 55+.
 Tax forms were again available at all three branch locations. The reference form total of tax forms
requests tallied (a low number) was: 307, of which 263 were completely answered.
o If we use the same 75% estimate, we served 230 55+.
 Basic computer classes during the day at all three branches reaches the over 55 group.
Central 4 per month - 48 sessions (12 class, 36 one-on-one) 75 served
Branches 1 session per month -12 sessions at EACH branch offered - 36 served at EACH branch.
Total served – 147 55+
Free Blood pressure screenings also continue to be available at the Central Library monthly.
75 served.
 Book discussion group in Denton mainly serving people 55 and over, as is the daytime book
discussion group in Federalsburg.
o Rosie’s Riveters: 12 programs in FDBG at 12 per program = 144.
o Books Plus: monthly book discussions from August - April attendance for this year was .
Discussion attendance for this year was 153, a 78% increase over last year.
Total book discussion 297. Estimated 80% over 55. 238 estimated total 55+
 Friday Nites, though intended for families attract a large percentage of 55+ adults. 611 total
attendance, an increase of 67% over last year. A conservative estimate of 50% would be .
Total estimated 55+ attendees: 306.
Total estimated 55+ served by these six programs: 1190
Objective 3: By June 30, 2006, 200 residents with English as a second language will receive library
services that meet their needs and interests.
Already meeting this goal in FY05 but will be ongoing.
The largest non-English speaking group in Caroline County is Spanish speaking, so many of our resources
and services in this area have been targeted thus. This population is most prevalent in the northern part of
our county. Latinos from Guatemala and Mexico make up the majority of our Spanish speaking residents.
Web page and other library literature - There are some links for Latinos on our new web page and our basic
library information is now also available in Spanish, expanded to include our Welcome Brochure, which is
also available in print. We plan to continue to expand Spanish language coverage on our web page and
other informational/promotional materials.
Even Start partnership –
The Children’s Department completed their fourth year of our Storytime partnership with Even Start (work
with Spanish speaking parents of elementary and lower aged children).
Number of programs 36 (many were canceled)
Number of people served 438
The Reference and Information Services Department continued its basic computer training for Even Start
adults.
Number of programs - 4 (many were canceled)
Number of people served - 28
This program was not refunded and ended at the end of the fiscal year. Clients will be moved over
to the Denton Early Head Start program.
Library programs:
 Annual Latino Night at the Central Library again this year.
Number of attendees: 100
 Immigration Issues using Spanish speaking presenter who is an expert on the subject in June at
NCB
Number of attendees: 47
Registered 9 new library cards that same night.
Collections
Each branch maintains small book and video collections, mostly bilingual English-Spanish K-4
reading level for children and their parents. The largest collection in our North County Branch.
 New board books and picture books ordered, both Spanish and bilingual.
 Magazine subscriptions, both juvenile and adult, have been started.
 A small collection of Spanish-language movies have also been ordered, catalogued, and shelved.
 Movies and magazines are housed at the NCB location. The Spanish collection at NCB has seen
high circulation, especially with the influx of new materials.
Total Spanish language items added FY06: 152
J Spanish books circulated: Adult Spanish books circulated: Total:
J Spanish books circulated: 37 Adult Spanish books circulated: 35 (low estimates.
Doesn’t include video/dvd, magazines)
Goal B: Enhance and strengthen services and resources that support lifelong learners.
Objective 1: By June 30, 2004, 70% of preschool children will receive library services to help
them enter school ready to learn.
Programs
It's hard to determine the number of discrete individuals ages 0-5 that benefited from library services. We
provide storytimes and other reading readiness programs at all three branches.
Materials
The number of parents, day care providers, and teachers who borrow materials to use with groups of young
children make the coverage area even bigger. There are likely many children who never enter the library
who are nevertheless benefiting from our services.
We feel we have partially met this goal. We will continue to review this objective to see how we might be
able to track and measure it more accurately. Our program and circulation numbers are up in FY06.
 Latest census figures show that 70% of the age 0-5 population is 1,290.
 Program Stats for FY2006 show that we offered 281 programs for that age group (FY05 was 268)
 Program Attendance was 7443 (FY05 was 6,776). This number also includes parents and often are
the same people attending multiple programs.
Programs increased 4% and attendance increased 10%.
 Circulation of Easy books (up 24%) and Easy book/cassette combinations was 24,208 – up 23%.
(Fy05 was 19,533).
 Circulation of J videos (entertainment and subject) and J DVD's was 15765 – up 5% (fy05 was
14,920 ).
 SEE also Even Start numbers.
Objective 2: By June 30, 2006, 800 teens will use library resources and services designed for their age
group.
Met this goal and are working to increase it.
 Booktalking at both middle schools – 1400 children attended
 Murder Mystery Night programs at both Federalsburg and NCB – 30 total participants with 15
volunteers.
 Third year of Summer Reading game for Teens – 68 teens participated.
 Young Adult Fiction and Non Fiction combined circulation increased 25% this year.
A Teen page was created for the new library web site.
 Jeri attends regional committee meetings that review electronic databases and continues to
promote these to schools
 Live Homework Help is back again through ESRL funding
 YA materials collection increased by 596 items.
 Web page and electronic databases – we still feel not enough use is being made of these resources
by teens.
o Jeri and Ann attended back to school nights at Colonel Middle and High Schools,
preparing more than 50 library cards for students and promoting our electronic databases;
Jane promote Live Homework Help to school administrators.
Objective 3: By June 30, 2005, 75% of adults will report that they have successfully used library
resources and services to support their educational goals.
Have not met this objective yet.
Goal C: Expand opportunities for cultural enrichment and leisure time activities
Objective 1: By June 30, 2004, attendance at library-sponsored and supported cultural
programs will increase by 10%.
Goal met in both areas each year of the Strategic Plan. Again, we have not separated statistics for cultural
and educational programs. Many of our programs might be considered both educational and cultural.
Adult Programs increased 2% and attendance increased 33% in FY06. Some specific programs had
huge increases.
 Online bookclubs (see separate statistics) continue to be added in with adult statistics.
 We continue to do a lot of partnering of cultural programs with the Caroline County Council of
Arts, both in programming and promotions.
 Other programs listed throughout this report.
Objective 2: By June 30, 2004, 99% of library users will find the material they need to support
their cultural and leisure time activities.
We don’t know if we met this objective or not. We were unspecific as to areas to target and methods to
evaluate.
 Overall adult circulation decreased slightly (2.4%) when compared to last year’s totals.

Notable areas of increase are interlibrary loan, large print materials, with increases of 20.5%.
E-books were also notable with an increase of 165%. Vertical file, greatly under utilized since the
advent of the Internet, also increased dramatically from last year (174%).
 Adult fiction and non-fiction circ increased by 5.3% and 6.4% respectively.
 DVD circulation continues to rise as VHS decreases. DVD increase by 12%. Entertainment VHS
decreased by 36%.
 Overall Juvenile circulation increased by 20%.
 Juvenile fiction increased by 29%. Juvenile non-fiction and easy books increased by 25%.
Juvenile audio materials saw a decrease of 20%. Increases in print materials can be attributed to
Wesleyan School visits.
 Juvenile DVD use increased as more titles were added to the collection. Increases were 134%.
Juvenile entertainment VHS decreased by 12%, while subject VHS increased 35%.
 YA circulation increased as well with nonfiction increases of 103%, and fiction increases of 53%.
 Serving library customers through Interlibrary Loan: Fill rates for items Caroline County borrows
was 67%. The fill rate for materials we lent was 84%.
 Registered Public Library borrowers for Fy06 = 18,807 (FY05 = 16,815).
 Added 11% more new borrowers over FY05
Objective 3: By June 30, 2005, 90% of library users will find the technologies they need to support their
cultural and leisure time activities.
We are in the process of several projects. We will have to figure out what and how we can measure these
services.
Public Computers
 Reference staff with assistance from the Computer Dept and others, maintains and monitors the 9
computers for public use in the “adult” area and 4 in the Homework Center. The Lab computers
(11) are available for booking or for individual use by appointment and to provide “overflow”
from the public area.
 The regional PC and print management project (SAM) is completed. Bugs in the system are still
being ironed out.
 Increase in usage over last year – 47%
Computer Lab:
 Computer Lab and Children’s room used by Wesleyan Christian School students.
 Computer lab used for demonstrations and trainings by library staff, Caroline County DSS, Girl
Scouts, AskUsNow! Software training, Grolier databases training by vendor.
 Computer lab used for demonstrations and trainings by library staff, ESRL, Recreation and Parks.
Ease of moving from one Maryland county library to another
 In April 2004, Maryland libraries rolled out a Statewide Library Card. The part of the project
allowing staff to easily download the basic customer information from another Maryland Public
Library’s integrated library system is partially working.
Wireless capability
 The Eastern Shore Regional library Systems staff set up all three branches for wireless capability
for our customers. It is working very well for Central. The unresolved issues with the point-topoint wireless at both branches are affecting the wireless access for customers. They continue to
resolve these issues. We will not heavily promote this until it is working well at all locations.
Mission II: Make it easy for people to use the library’s services and resources.
Goal A: Expand virtual services that are easy and convenient for customers.
Objective 1: By June 30, 2005, 50% of library users will find information that they need on the library’s
web site.
. Not met due to not being able to measure/assess whether or not they have done so. We are still
working on our new library web site and we need to improve our usage tracking. Also we need to run
some surveys to ensure that customers actually found the information that they need.
New Electronic databases - ESRL has added Gale Opposing Viewpoints and Tutor.com’s Live Homework
Help.
 Live Homework Help Nov – June statistics for Caroline 54 sessions. We think this number is low.
We were not given May’s count and know that some of our county sessions were included in
ESRL’s numbers. ESRL staff are working to remedy this problem.
FirstSearch from OCLC and Open Worldcat has been made available by DLDS. Goal is to improve access
to Maryland librarys’ web sites by using the “find in a library” feature through Google and Yahoo search
engines.
Webfeat federated searching product has recently been subscribed by ESRL for all the Eastern Shore public
libraries. We are still putting it in place here at Caroline.
The library web page has been totally re-done. Some work needs to be done yet to continue to try to make
it more useful to customers.
E-books and audio-books
 Caroline County is a member of Maryland’s Digital eLibrary Consortium featuring Overdrive
eBooks and NetLibrary.
 We provide downloadable audio books via two platforms to PCs or removable devices like MP3
players. The titles can be found in our catalog or by searching either product’s website.
 Circulation increase of 165% in this format over last year.
Help people access local information through Digital projects:
Historic Postcards – Sonny Callahan Collection. Currently at 571 scanned postcards. In FY06 17 more
cards were scanned, re-formatted, archived according to state guidelines, and posted as additions to the
online collection.
Town Ordinances for Goldsboro, Henderson and Marydel - added updates
Objective 2: By June 30, 2006, 35% of library users will access the library’s resources remotely.
We need to figure out how to measure our success.
Our progress so far:
New remote access to a service: Working with a few other Maryland Public libraries to subscribe to
E*vanced software for a virtual meeting room booking, summer reading game sign-up and E-Notify
program. We brought it up for staff early summer 2006 and will have it up and running for customers
in Fall of FY06.
Continue to improve access to our resources available virtually
 We continue to teach classes on basics of searching our electronic catalog, web site and the
Internet
 A new Library web page with new, easier to remember URL has been created. It is a work in
progress.
 We continue to market our virtual services and resources through PSAs, articles to Caroline
Review and Times Record. A marketing team has been formed to create a more aggressive
market plan for the Library web page. A draft is approved and they hope to enact the plan FY07.
 Bookmarks on the webpage are updated regularly. Publicity and current information is submitted
for posting when appropriate.
 Reference Staff and Branch Managers send Sandy Rosenfield items to post to promote special
events, like Arts Council events, and now a link to their new page, or time-sensitive information,
like the web link to the IRS’ tax forms web page during tax season.
 Bookmarks instructing how to access the library’s web page and its electronic databases are made
available and kept up to date.
Statewide AskUsNow! Virtual Reference – One of two libraries on the Eastern Shore to participate,
Debby, Ann, Sandy, Jeri, Becky and Jennifer monitor the service 5 hours per week. Jeri attends
meetings as the library’s liaison and coaches the monitoring staff. New software was employed in
March. We have performed 553 virtual reference transactions for this fiscal year.
Objective 3: By June 30, 2005, 500 library users will participate in virtual events sponsored by the
library.
We can say that we met this by the below numbers, but hope to offer more virtual events/programs in the
future.
Online Book Club
The only virtual event/program we’ve provided to-date is our Online Book Club.
We offer 8 clubs (8 different genres) and noted 5097 (FY05 2733) members (total number of monthly
member counts, so duplication will occur) who accessed this service 101,940 (FY05 54580) times.
Goal B: Increase the level of customer service by studying and adapting the best practices of excellent
organizations and businesses.
Objective 1: By June 30, 2006, 100% of library users will rate their customer service experience as
excellent.
We haven’t worked on this yet.
Objective 2: By June 30, 2005, 100% of library staff will practice at least 3 new customer service
behaviors based on criteria of excellence.
We are close to 100%.
 Reference, Circulation and both branches have conducted coaching on Reference and Customer
Service behaviors.
 All but one staff was able to attend a staff in-service day on Good Customer Service/Good
Communications Skills in 2005.
 Enrolled two more library associates to attend the statewide LATI training in FY07.
Objective 3: By June 30, 2005, the incidence of customer concerns based on policies and procedures
will decrease by 75%, as based on staff observations.
Not met. Haven’t figured out how to record these observations.
Mission III: Provide an environment and experiences that draw people in and keep them coming
back.
Goal A: Enhance the attractiveness and usability of physical library facilities.
Objective 1: By June 30, 2005, the number of directional questions and customer errors will decrease by
25% because of improved building usability features.
Not met because we haven’t figured how to measure this. However, the following was done:
 Circulation staff asks customers if they found everything they were looking for as they are
checking out or exiting the building.
 Staff are coached to be approachable and helpful.
 Shelf reading is scheduled frequently to keep shelves in order. With Schedule 3W, Ann will be
able to track the number of hours spent doing this task.
 Still hope to make the Teen Zone areas more attractive using signage and furniture.
 Brochures are handed out at registration and staff explains services, locations, basic borrowing
rules to new borrowers. Staff offer help at that time if customer is looking for something specific.
 Continue to work on displays and signage about upcoming programs.
 Improving Federalsburg exterior and entrance doors replaced.
Objective 2: During each year of the plan, staff will report at least a 25% increase in use and
functionality of a specific targeted area of the library.
Met this goal in several areas. Here are just a few:
Teen Zone
 Still a relatively new service, circulation of YA materials increased 25% this year over last.
Juvenile Collection
 Overall Juvenile circulation increased by 20%. Wesleyan school visits definitely helped here.
Juvenile fiction increased by 29%. Juvenile non-fiction and easy books increased by 25%.
Public Computer use
 Increase in usage over last year – 47%
 DVDs –
 We saw a 12% increase in FY06, which has slowed down somewhat from the past 2 years. We’ve
now had DVDs for a few years and have built up a nice collection. However, we still limit
customers to 2 DVDs per checkout. Even with the limit of 2 per checkout, DVD circulation was
higher than VHS (which allows 6 per checkout). We will raise the limit to 3 beginning July 1,
2006.
Electronic Books/Downloadable Audio Books
 Circulation increase of 165% in this format over last year.
Objective 3: By June 30, 2005, 80% of staff will report they are comfortable with building security
features and practices.
Partially met. We need to continue training and providing information, plus survey the staff on their
comfort level.
 We have reviewed opening and closing procedures at all three branches, training new people and
continue to rotate so a number of staff feel competent.
 Plans for staff First Aid and CPR training set for FY07
 Plans to review Elevator and Fire/Burglar alarm use set for FY07
 Plans to review Incident reporting, Bomb threats and Drills for FY07
 Continue to plan staff schedules to ensure balance and that there is almost always a department
head working all open hours were made.
 Reviewing issues with County’s outsourced cleaning service.
Goal B: Enhance the attractiveness and usability of virtual library facilities.
Objective 1: By June 30, 2005, 50% of library customers will be able to use self-service features of the
library’s automation system
Not met. We need to figure out what and how to measure this.
 Marina direct use by customers – should be able to count this next year.
 Online renewals and reserves by customers – also no way for us to count.
Objective 2: By June 30, 2006, use of the library’s web page to access library and community services
will increase by 50%.
We need to set up strategies and evaluation tools.
We are currently creating a new library web page. We are also working on creating access to online
booking of our meeting rooms. We need to look at whether or not we need to improve metadata, and that
our statistical software can give us meaningful statistics. We also need to set up a means to survey staff
and customers.
My Family Needs (www.myfamilyneeds.info)
– reported used by staff 293 times to answer reference questions.
for FY 05 (don’t have 06 figures yet)
 40,989 - total hits to database (including all clicks on links, etc. within the site)
 6,417 - total hits to front page of MFN (doesn't include clicking thru from there)
(FY04 statistics: 147,663 - total number of hits to database (including all clicks on links, etc. within the
site) 6,051- total number of hits to just front page of MFN (doesn't include clicking thru from there). This
included a lot of training sessions, which raised the numbers).
Most viewed categories in 05:
1.) Clubs and organizations
2.) Volunteer organizations
3.) Low income housing
4.) Youth programs
5.) Family services
We can’t determine access by staff versus the public.
Goal C: Strengthen the ability of staff to provide excellent service.
Objective 1: By June 30, 2006, 100% of staff will meet the basic computer competencies according to
their job descriptions
Making progress. We are probably still at about 75%, but it will always be ongoing as technologies
continue to change.
As of FY05 Reference staff have expected computer competencies listed in their job descriptions. Jeri Cain
reviewed these competencies with all reference staff members and made sure they could perform them.
Branch managers have the competencies listed in their job descriptions and Jeri has begun the process of
reviewing and testing them. Circ staff were initially polled and training and coaching has been done on a
one-on-one by need basis. More testing and training is needed. By pairing staff at circ to compliment
skills, someone is able to assist customers with the combined skills of staff at public service points
Objective 2: By June 30, 2005, 100% of staff will report they have had the opportunity to receive the
training they need to do their jobs.
Staff has attended a variety of training. All have at least attended one training session either in-house or
outside in FY06. The support for training is very strong here. Staff can request training from their
supervisor or from the Assistant Administrator.
Training highlights for FY06:
Staff meetings, quarterly coaching, Caroline County Human Services Council Board, Annual Programming
showcase, MLA annual conference, VIGOR, ESRL, Virtual Reference Liaison meetings and software
training, Transitional Partners for the Mid-Shore Council on Family Violence, Regional Local Management
Board, Caroline County Council of the Arts, LATI Advisory Committee, Marina Users Group, Eastern
Shore Consortium of Health Information Providers (ESCHIP), NETg e-learning, Reciprocal Borrowing,
Schedule 3W, SAM training and consultation, Podium Speaking skills, Maryland Digital eLibrary
Consortium meetings and training, Time Management workshop, Statewide Circulation Supervisor’s
meeting, Networking workshop, Beyond Basic Reference, OCLC First Search and Open World Cat,
Booktalks, Boys Read, Cataloging Continuations, CLES, Contribute/Dreamweaver/Fireworks training,
Customer Service Excellence, Dept Head Meetings, Electronic Resources, Even Start, Every Child Ready
to Read, MAILL, Overdrive, Overviews – Technical Services and YA Dept., Partnership CHEC Child
Care Center, Questionpoint, Reaching Out, School Readiness, Sirsi, SLRC Tour, Staff Coaching, Tick
Tock, Tutor.com, Storytime/Puppet training, Storytime Workshop, Blind & Physcially Handicapped
Library presentation of services for children, Storytime Workshop Part II, FISH! Philosophy Workshop.
PLA Conference, Web page marketing.
We still need to do a survey to get feedback from staff to assess how we are doing.
Objective 3: By June 30, 2006, 100% of staff will receive the training they need to provide excellent
customer service.
On-going but made good progress in FY05:
 Staff in-service Day April 15, 2005– all but one staff was able to attend. Haven’t made this an
annual event
 9th house discontinued.
 On-going coaching from Reference, Circulation and Branch Managers.
 Sent many staff to a variety of training and programs listed above.
Mission IV: Be more visible in the community.
Goal A: Enhance the effectiveness of current partnerships and look for opportunities to establish new,
relevant partnerships.
Objective 1: By June 30, 2006, 10 partner agencies will recognize library services that could be
valuable to their clients.
We need to look at how we will measure this. However, SEE the following:
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Human Services Council asked us to have a staff member on their board, have staff members on
their Ready for School committee and submit a grant for MyFamilyNeeds in FY06
Even Start asked us to be a partner all four years of their grant
Caroline County Council of Arts has in their bylaws that there will be a non-voting member on
their board from the library and continue to coordinate programs together. They also provide
funds for the library’s Friday Nites series
The Benedictine School sends us a certificate of appreciation annually
Objective 2: During each year of the plan, the library and its partner agencies will collaborate on at
least one project to meet a community need.
Objective more than met. Areas addressed this year include the following:
Partnership with Even Start – Finished our forth year. This is a family literacy program with a targeted
audience of Latino parents of pre-school and elementary school children. The purpose of the Even Start
Family Literacy Program is to help break the cycle of poverty and illiteracy by improving the educational
opportunities of the nation’s low-income families by integrating early childhood education, adult literacy or
adult basic education, and parenting education into a unified family literacy program. The program ceased
at the end of the fiscal year due to discontinued funding.
The Family Support Center in Denton (Early Head Start) sent clients to the library for special storytimes,
and to attend the regular storytimes open to the public.
Head Start in Greensboro, whose building adjoins the North County Branch Library, attended storytimes
arranged expressly for them throughout the school year.
Head Start and the Judy Center in Federalsburg sometimes brought children to the Federalsburg Branch’s
storytimes and puppet shows. Amanda C arranged for these visits to become more regular.
Chesapeake Child Care Resource Center grant project - A partnership formed in June 2005 to begin a one
year project in FY06, Chesapeake Child Care Resource Center received a one year grant through the
Caroline County Human Services Council (Local Management Board) to house program resources and kits
for Caroline County Child Care Providers at the Caroline County Public Library. They provided the kits,
which Mally Huddleston cataloged. Marilou rearranged an area in the Homework Center to house them.
Marilou and Amanda C. presented a program on how to conduct a storytime at one of their workshops for
child day care providers.
Partnerships with Human Services Council – This Local Management Board’s purpose is to continually
assess the needs and identify gaps in services to children, youth and families; to develop and enhance
communication between agencies and organizations that serve families and children; to plan, coordinate,
and evaluate programs and services that benefit children and families; to secure, distribute, and monitor
public/private funding for the benefit of children and families; to provide information to the public on the
status of services for children and families.
Board membership - In order that the library be a player with the agencies represented on this board, it is
important that the library have a representative there. Debby Bennett continues to be on their board,
accepting the position of Secretary for FY06.
Boys and Girls Club Committee - The other is the need for after school activities for our youth, especially
At Risk youth. The HSC has decided to spearhead the creation of Boys and Girls clubs in Federalsburg and
Denton and other municipalities if desired. Debby as staff member on the HSC board continues as Chair of
this ongoing project until it ceased in April.
School Readiness Committee - The Human Services Council is developing a School Readiness Committee
to review and help facilitate more coordination of pre-school readiness programs, including serving the
Hispanic families in Caroline County. All agencies serving preschool aged children and their families have
been invited to join this committee. The first meeting was held on June 14. Library representatives will be
Marilou and Amanda C, along with Richard Smith, North County Branch Manager, who’s branch serves
Greensboro Head Start and the largest part of the Latino population in the county.
Partnership with Caroline Council of Arts – The mission of the Caroline County Council of Arts is to
provide access to quality arts performances, to facilitate and maintain the arts, and to encourage community
appreciation, support and participation in a broad spectrum of artistic pursuits. We jointly worked on
increasing the community’s awareness of our joint cultural programs to increase attendance, through
sending out fliers with both Arts Council and Library programs. Florence deNagy, who is the library’s
liaison (non-voting member) continues to book performers and act as host for CCCA’s Winter-Spring
series, now called Performing Arts Series (PAS). The library continues to share costs and Florence’s time
to work on this. Attendance for these events totaled 335. Debby Bennett was on several committees,
including the new Art Exhibits committee. She coordinated the creation of an Art Exhibits policy for
CCCA and the Library and saw that it was approved by both bodies. Library staff will work with CCCA to
organize and promote Arts Exhibits in the library’s Central Library meeting rooms and hallway. Improved
lighting and hanging apparati were ordered and installed for this endeavor.
A partnership with Dale Mumford, Circuit Rider for the town governments of Marydel, Henderson and
Goldsboro. – A partnership in its fifth year–Sandy and other staff continued to convert and upload those
town’s ordinances and updates to the Library web page as Dale sent them to her. These towns currently are
unable to have their own web sites and have limited town office hours, so the library gives them the means
to provide information to their citizens remotely. This can be challenging as the condition of documents is
often messy when received.
Partnership with the Caroline County Public Schools - Provide support and training to Public Schools –
automated circulation system, cataloging and resources helpful to students and teachers. Ann Reinecke,
Chris Dorset and Sandy Rosenfield act as our liaisons with the Caroline County Public Schools, who share
our automated circulation system. Marilou Russ, Amanda Courie and Amanda Watson conducted
booktalks in the elementary schools and partner with media specialists. Kristin and Becky conducted
booktalks in the two middle schools, partnering with those media specialists. Jeri and Ann attended back
to school nights at Colonel Middle and High Schools, preparing more than 50 library cards for students;
Jane promote Live Homework Help to administrators; Denton Elementary School: Jeri attended Career Day
and spoke to 225 students about being a librarian and working in the library. Additionally:
 North Caroline High School: Drama club members participated in Teen mystery night program.
 Rutgers University: Jeri worked with a Professor who is conducting research for an international
project to organize a focus group of 12-18 year old non-users of virtual reference services in a
rural area.
Partnership Denton Wesleyan School –
 Jeri and Ann attended back to school night and prepared library cards for about 50 students.
 Elementary students were bused to the library three days each week to check out books
contributing to a 25% increase in Juvenile materials circulation this year.
Caroline County Health Department: the Great American Smokeout event was held Tuesday evening,
November 22nd. Jane took a display and offered participants an anti-smoking pencil and anti-smoking
bookmarks. There were about 30 people in attendance.
Caroline Economic Development Corporation and local governments partnership- The Reference Dept.
staff continues to compile packets of information to send out to prospective newcomers to the county and to
school children who request information on Caroline County for reports. We work with the Caroline
Economic Development Corporation and local governments to have them forward these requests for
information to us to respond to.
Objective 3: By June 30, 2004, 50% of library staff will represent the library to relevant partner
agencies
Strategies were to encourage staff to join community boards, have staff represent the library at meetings in
their area of expertise, increase networking and attend partner events, do displays, etc.
Staff met this goal. In FY06 we had 21.4 FTE staff. Many staff are active on the local community and
library level and others are also active on a regional or statewide level. Included are Library Assistants,
Library Associates and Librarians. This is by no means, a complete list. Staff are involved in more
community groups than are mentioned here.
Community
Jennifer Blunt, as our Community Information liaison continues to make contacts by email, phone, mail
and in person to agencies regarding MFN (Community Information).
Debby Bennett serves on the Human Services Council Board (serves Children and their Families). She is
currently Chair of a Caroline County Boys and Girls Club Committee begun by the HSC. This committee
worked to bring Boys and Girls Clubs to the County. It ceased in April due to lack of financial and
community support.
Debby Bennett is also the past President of the Caroline County Council of Arts and currently its Secretary.
She finished her second term June 30. Florence deNagy acts as the library’s ex-officio member of this
board. Marilou Russ was asked to join beginning July 1, 2006. The CCCA and library collaborate on
many cultural programs.
Jeri Cain is on the Board of the Caroline County Habitat for Humanity.
George Sands is on the Board of the Caroline Nursing and Rehab Center.
Jane Terebey is a volunteer for Character Counts.
Library – local
Other:
Both Debby Bennett and Jeri Cain act as staff liaisons for the Friends of the Caroline County Public
Library.
Tina and other enter the BookVan in community parades, National Night Out, Career Day at Denton
School, and other community functions.
Library – regional and statewide
The Children’s department staff belong to CLES (Childrens Librarians of the Eastern Shore), a group that
plans summer reading and other regional programming together.
Sandy Rosenfield sits on the statewide eVision Technology Conference planning committee and represents
our library on the statewide Public Library Marketing Committee.
Jeri Cain is the library’s staff liaison for the AskUsNow! Statewide virtual reference service. Jeri and four
other staff give 5 hours a week to work the virtual reference desk.
Jane Terebey is a member of VIGOR, Maryland Library Association’s (MLA) Volunteer Interest Group.
This group develops workshops and shares information on enhancing volunteer work in Maryland’s public
libraries. This group has been inactive this year.
Debby is a member of MLA’s Professional Development Committee.
George Sands serves on the following regional and statewide boards:
Maryland Library Partnership; Chair, State Library Resource Center (SLRC) Services Committee;
Maryland Library Association Legislative Panel; SLRC Oversight Commission; President, Eastern Shore
Regional Library Board;, Maryland Library Leadership Institute Mentor and numerous regional and
statewide committees.
Overall Comments on this year’s process
We will be meeting early this fiscal year to evaluate the last Strategic Plan and write a new plan. With that,
we will revise our reporting formats to better track and reflect our plan’s progress. Department heads still
turn in lengthy reports that are very useful to staff, but are too detailed perhaps for the Library Board. We
will continue to see if we can create one annual report that directly reflects the Strategic Plan and picks up
what needs to be documented for each department.