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Annual Report Seminole Branch Library Fiscal Year 1970-1971
Connie Serina Branch Librarian January 14, 1972 ANNUAL REPORT - SEMINOLE BRANCH LIBRARY FISCAL YEAR 197 0 - 1971
I. DESCRIPTION OF AGENCY
Physical Location Seminole Branch is situated at the corner of Central and Osborne Avenues, directly across from the Hillsborough High School Annex (formerly Memorial Junior High). The area served by the Branch extends roughly from Sulphur Springs in the Northeast, along 22nd Street in the east, to College Hill in the Southwest across to Wellswood as far as Dale Mabry, and north to Waters Avenue. This somewhat overlaps the North Tampa Branch area in the northeast, and the Ybor area to the wes-cfr.ewe also get many patrons who are closer to Main but come to Seminole because of convenience.
Characteristics of Community The physical community served by this branch is chiefly residential, older, non-growing, and comprised mostly of lower middle to lower income bracket population. There is a rambling business district along Nebraska and Florida Avenues, chiefly small business, sandwich shops, some supermarkets, auto dealers and repair, etc. There is also a heavy business area along nearbv Hillsborough Avenue; however nearly all our area patrons are residents, not business people. We are fairlv near the newer low-income housing projects comprised to a large extent of Black and Spanish families. Residents immediately surrounding the Branch are mostly white (some are of Spanish or Italian extraction) and in the lower middle class economic group. The general educational level woul Community Contacts at Seminole have been limited almost exclu sively to private and nursery schools in the area, although many groups such as the PTA and the Office of Human Relations find our meeting room convenient. Efforts to contact specific community groups have been nil at Seminole in the past and I would like to investigate this in the coming vear. Obviouslv, programming aimed at the "general public" is doomed to failure (except perhaps for children's movies) and must be aimed toward specific groups. II. STAFF At present our book staff at Seminole includes: 1.) Librarian I - Branch Librarian . Supervises staff, initiates programming, oversees physical plant, is responsible,- for collection and ordering new materials!, does reference and circulation work at desk. 2.) Librarian I (as of Jan. 17) - Assistant to Branch Librarian and Film Librarian. Will work 2 0 hours with books and 2 0 hours with films. Will aid in v/ork on collection, display work, reference and circulation, and other to be assigned. 3.) Library Assistant I - Shelves, handles overdues procedure, handles periodicals, responsible for fine money, processes new books, works at circulation desk. 40 hour week. 4.) Librarv Assistant I - Shelves, handles lost in circulation, does mending, files catalog cards, counts Dennison copier money, works at circulation desk. 2 5 hour week. 5.) Library Aide - Shelves, inspects and shelves records, handles reserves, orders supplies, files shelf list and catalog cards, works at circulation desk. 40 hour week. Total assigned staff hours per week: 145 Recommended personnel structure - the same as above, except Library Aide could be an Assistant I. Other Assistant I's could be Assistant II's. III. STATISTICAL REPORT Annual Total - Monthly Public Service Statistics: Books 91,387 Recordings 3,342 Reproductions 402 Total Circulation All Materials 95,131 Reference Questions 515 Reserves 787 Film Programs: Number 54 Films 85 Audience 700 Storv Hours: Number 22 Audience 271 Puppet Shows: Number t 8 Audience 383 Special Programs: Number 13 Audience . 68 Class Visits and Tours: Number 38 Audience 1,269 Use of Meeting Room: (Non-Librarv Groups) Number 47 Audience 740 Staff Activities 0 Hours Seminole open to the"public: 55 per week IV. THE COLLECTION Number of Volumes Adult 12,160 Juvenile 9,880 Total 22,040 Number of Periodical Subscriptions 40 Number of Recordings 772 Number of Art Reproductions 154 Number of Films 393 Number of Pamphlets 160 S£MINOL£ 8RAWCH TOTAL tfotfmuf CtZtOuATioN^ iW- 7/ o o o o ':.- ^ o C5» oc> c*_. % ft £ t I s t 3 o o £ JAM-- m- \ f\r kmu MAf )0N£- ftef hu&t- 5£tT.- toT. vfov. Collection Strengths and Weaknesses Our adult collection is very strong in ^eligion, Sociology, History, Politics, Economics, and Education. We are holding our own in Adult Fiction, the Physical Sciences, Natural Sciences and Biology. Areas in demand and needing work include: ESP and the occult, anthropology, ecology, communism, occupations, art techniques, basic grammar and math books, drugs, how-to books on sports, motor repair books, and Spanish grammars, dictionaries, and poetry. Our Biography section is good basicallv but badly needs updating. We have a large demand for the Arco test manuals (Civil Service, Armed Forces, etc.) whic I think it would be a good idea to have available. I haven't been able to do that much work as vet with the Juvenile collection but it seems to be a fairlv good basic collection except for picture books, almost all of which are old and shabby. Juvenile fiction could use some weeding arid updating and replacing, although as I said it's pretty sound at present1. Juvenile non-fiction certainly needs attention to the areas that are most popular (and useful to school ehildren): math, grammar, biography, natural and physical sciences, geography, history and sports. Our Juvenile Reference section also- needs some work. Collection Building Emphasized in Past Year During my time here as Branch Librarian my main efforts have been directed toward filling the immediate and glaring lacks in non-fiction, replacing essential fiction titles, keeping up with the new books, attempting to build a good black-oriented section, and trving to replace and supple the basic books in demand by high school students. (This effort has been helped a great deal by paperback buying.) Except for replacing and ordering new picture books, I haven't done much work on the juvenile collection (I've been wa>iting for Carolyn Moore's help). Budget The budget has of course already been appropriated. I would have liked to have more than $3,000 for Seminole,,but I believe that with careful use of the money we can at least begin to fill in our more glaring needs. Seminole's circulation isn't really large enough to justifv extensive buying in all areas- we just need a good, basic collection, because we do get all kinds of patron demands. I appropriated 75% for adult and 25% for juvenile spending. I believe it may turn out that the adult percentage will be higher than th i s. Proposed Areas for Collection Building During the rest of the year I will continue to work on the inadequate non-fiction areas mentioned, fiction suitable for high school and junior high school students, books for Black and Spanish speaking patrons (or Spanish students). I hope for some help with the .juvenile collection but if it's unavailable, we'll do some work there also (particularly in the non-fiction anc with picture books.) I'm certain our new Librarian I, ^ane Rich, will be a big help in col lection building. V. PROGRAMMING AND PUBLICITY Programming initiated at Seminole has been almost exclusively limited to storv and film programs for nursery and private schools in the area, although occasionally another group (such as the Cerebral Palsy foundation) will request a film and/or story hour. I have attempted special film programs for teenagers, since we have so many but response was nil - perhaps because they were scheduled at night. I intend to try some special-interest film programs (such as black history films) after school. We have had regular Saturday films for children but 1 am dubious of their value as audiences are usually quite small. We haven't reallv had publicity for our programming except for posters as most of it is limited to specific groups. Perhaps some extensive publicity with neighborhood groups and/or schools could lead to more meaningful programs. Seminole as a community just doesn't respond to programming. I once had 25 mothers registered to bring their children to a film and story hour. Two children showed up. Programming initiated by other departments is limited to our occasional puppet shows, attended almost exclusively by neighborhood nurserv schools and kindergartens. The shows are well received, but I feel audiences aren't large enough, neighborhood response is not great enough and our meeting1 room not large enough to justify the "spectacular", fully staged presentation .1'd much prefer a smaller more demonstration-oriented type of show and the children would probably get more out of it. The stage and elaborate apparatus isn't necessary. With our new Librarian I and our security guard I hope to find more time to spend on publicity and programming, although I believe that this will alwavs be group - rather than community-oriented at Seminole if it's to exist at all. VI. PHYSICAL FACILITIES: PRESENT CONDITION; FUTURE NEEDS Building The building itself is in good shape, except for the flood lights in front which kids keep breaking just as soon as they are p-ixedi . Furniture Our furniture is adequate and in good shape. I would like to have a long table (doesn't matter how old it is) to go in the workroom to be used as work space for processing books, mending, posters, etc. Since.' Jim Tillman has moved his desk out, there's room for it. (I*'have requested this from Mrs. Coker. ) Equipment I have placed a request for a record player; our other equipment is adequate. Grounds Our biggest headache - our yard always looks like a litterbug convention has been held there. Although we've gotten a new outside trash container, litter', is still profuse and I've had a number of complaints from patrons on how awful it looks. The Parks Department is verv slow about cutting our grass as well. I wish something could be worked o t to have our yard cleaned up at least twice a week. Maintenance- Rotten service, as per above, from the Parks Department. We need our windows washed, inside and out, very badly, and need our whole carpet cleaned and spotted (cleaning service can't get this one hugh spot out.) Requests sent to Mrs. Coker. VII. SUMMARY STATEMENT Goals For the rest of this year I want trb concentrate on filling in the gaps in our collection (as outlined in the collection section) so that it will more adequately meet the needs of our various patron groups. As I have said, our collection doesn't have to be extensive in all areas, just basic and good. I would also like to work with special programming for neighborhood and perhaps school groups which is more relevant than it has oeen in the past. I'd like for groups in the community to become more aware of Seminole as. a resource. Another goal is simply to "keep things cool" here as far as our student discipline problem is concerned. We're stuck with the problem, of course, but with our security guard I believe we can keep things under control and make this a more comfortable place for staff and patrons. rrJst^-P Aug i. 4, 1971 \ r -^ J •\ iw 1970-71 ANNUAL REPORT - SEMINOLE BRANCH The Year's Activity Seminole's circulation has declined somewhat from 1969-7 0, as have the other city branches (except, perhaps, North Tampa). This, I believe, represents the general shift in population away from the city to the suburbs. Since the Seminole Heights neighborhood is not growing - no new building anywhere in the area - it is understandable that our decrease has been relatively sharp. Yet we do get people in the li brary asking for cards who say they've just moved to Tampa, so there must be some influx of new people, but this has not been enough to compensate for others leaving or dving or what have you. The bulk of our circulation consists of light fiction? the average reader is the middle-aged or older housewife with little education. Her tastes are simple; she doesn't read too much in the way or reviews (except for the Tampa Tribune - maybe) and usually doesn't show much interest in the current best sellers unless they are written by Vic toria Holt. Twice, during the week of May 10-15 and again during the week of July 12-17, we attempted to analyze just what cir culated most. We did this simply by checking off each book that went out on a list next to the regiscope. The results for May 10-17 (during the school year) are as follows: AduIt Fiction: 468 Juvenile Easv/Picture Adu11 Non -F i c tion: 291 Books: 230 ANCO: 75 Juvenile Fiction: 161 Paperbacks: 15S Juvenile Non-Fiction: 183 From 6:00 - 9:00 P.M., Monday, May 10 through Thursday, May 13 the breakdown was thus: Adu.lt Fiction and Non-Fiction: Monday 67 Tuesday 50 Wednesday 81 Thursday 54 Total nighttime circulation during week: 506 books, or approximately 33% of total circulation. After school let- out and the summer session began, during the week of July 12-17, circulation looked like this: ..Acult Fiction: 392 Juvenile Easv/Picture ; - ../•-. Non-Fiction: 243 Books: 227 MCOs 97 Juvenile Fiction: 162 Paperbacks: 187 Juvenile Non-Fiction: 190 Summer nights were not as busy as during the school year. Monday, July 12 through Thursday, July 15 evening circulations came out rather modestly: Adult Fiction and Non-Fiction: Monday 45 Tuesday 45 Wednesday 48 Thursday 15 Total nighttime book circulation: 363 or approx imately 24% of total circulation. Looking for some statistical support for what I suspected about the particular kinds of fiction and non-fiction that go, I looked over the transaction microfilms for a period in May. From a sequence of 126 successive adult fiction cir culations, I found that about 35% were mystery/adventure novels, about 21% romances and gothics, 16% historical and historical/adventure (including war stories), 13% best-seller (ANCO), 7% classics, and 9% other types of fiction (including science-fiction and westerns). Perhaps a mere 126 trans actions are not representative, but the percentages seem to verify v/hat casual observation already suggested. Non-ficiton is less predictable than fiction; out of a sequence of 110 non-fiction transactions (62 juvenile, 48 adult), I found the following destribution of subject matter* 153.8 - 1 . 590*s - 1. 808.83 - 3 289.5 - 1 *590's- 5 *811 - 1 301's - 2 621's - 3 813.5 - 1 320's - 2 *62i's- 1 823.9 - 1 341.6 - 3 *629.4- 2 910.4 - 1 *333 - 1 641's - 1 *910's - 1 *394's- 2 649.1 - 2 *914"s *- 2 *398's- 12 *655 - 1 . 917's - 1 *500 - 1 658's - 2 *917's - 2 523 •1 *770*s- 1 *918' s - 1 550's - 1 780's - 1 B, 920 - 5 *550's- 4 *780's- 1 *B,*920- 5 *568*s- 2 790's - 4 *929.9 - 2 570's - 1 *793*s- 1 *940's - 4 *574 - 1 *808's- 2 *951.9 - 1 580's - 1 808.5 - 2 970's - 7 *580's- 5 808.7 - 1 *970,s - 3 As can be readily seen, non-fiction circulation follows no definite pattern, but is quite widely scattered, both in juvenile and adult collections. Any high concentrations of a particular call number is probably due to a school assignment (high school for the adult collection, junior high or upper grade school for the juvenile books). The only exception to this is the juvenile folklore and fairy tales (*S98) which circulate like picture books, mainly in large batches to teachers and parents. To summarize Seminole's circulation, it can be said that we are not as seasonal as some other units, like Main, partially because of summer school being held directly " across the street at Memorial Junior High and because school business isn't as important as the light reading business here anyway. But with the combination of the two types of readers, it is necessary to have a well-rounded collection. Collection building and replacement this year has been spotty, however, partly because of my own inexperience in the field Building of book selection and lack of knowledge of either light fiction authors or juvenile authors. I've had to rely ••upon the occasional counsel of other branch librarians and my own staff for many of my decisions in ordering. Their advice has been very helpful this year. During the course of the year, it became clear that the wisest and simplest pattern for ordering at Seminole would be simply to order by author*and by subject matter. Due to lack of reviewing sources (except Kirkus and Time Magazine), it v/as difficult to find out about or keep up with individual new titles. As mentioned earlier, this has been no great handicap here since our patrons don't read reviews either. Since February, the only books that have been in continuous demand have been QB VII, The New Centurions, Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Sex, Islands in the Stream, and various titles by Agatha Christie, Victoria Holt, and maybe Dorothy Eden or Phyllis Whitney. We only take some forty reserves per month on the average. One of my main sources for ordering, both non-fiction and fiction, has been the selection of new books for Main which I go over each week in the Branch Librarian's room. I canjusually pick up the best sellers this way, even though they're a little late, but between that and the ANCO service, most patrons seem to be content - at least they don't often push for new titles. .. The biggest boon, and most surprising for me, since I've been at Seminole, has been the overwhelming response to the gift paperbacks that we constantly receive from patrons. These are all light;mysteries, science-fiction, and the inimitable Harlequin and Candlelight Romances. They can't stay on the shelf long enough to collect dust. Through paperback donations we've been able to maintain a fairly sizable- circulation without any expenditure from the book budget - a good opportunity for any branch. In addition to the copious donations, I purchased some-'.hundred-«6d • this year was the order of a couple dozen additional titles in large print from Ulverscroft. This order has not yet come through, but consists of light, popular fiction and should go over well, given the number of older people that use the branch. Record- Recordings are a questionable item in the TPL system right ings now, but I ordered Seminole's full $1000 allotment this year. The records have just arrived and have not yet begun cir culating? v/e have not, as I write, received the full order. The emphasis in this record order was on jazz and blues as well as pop, because at the time I ordered them, I was in terested in cultivating more of a youthful and black cli entele, even though the risks, in terms of loss and damage, to this kind of order are fairly great. It will remain for the next branch librarian at Seminole to judge the wisdom of this sort of purchase for next year. We could definitely use more classical recordings (these circulate well, even among the young and black, I have since discovered) and children's records. In order to minimize loss, we have been somewhat more cautious this year about letting kids borrow records. We usually have them read the rules regarding the borrowing of recordings and then give them a little lecture about responsibility for damage etc. I'm not sure if it's worked, since the popular titles that we added to the col lection in 1970 had already disappeared by the time we started the seriousness routine. We haven't lost many clas sical or spoken records lately, at least not so far as I've noticed. Since we concentrate mostly on teen-agers, however, the adults could still be getting away with murder. Period- Use of periodicals is another questionmark at Seminole. For icals details, see the rundown of Periodicals at Seminole, Dated May 5, 1971 (copy attached). Binding has been continued mainly because it is the status quo, and because I didn't want to jeopardize the snsaQ.1 amount of research facilities that we presently have. This is another decision that the new branch librarian here will have to make for herself in the coming year. Juvenile Concerning the Juvenile collection, most of our readers are Collec- in the upper grades and junior high - roughly ages nine to tion fourteen. This means that non-fiction circulates more than fiction or picture books among the reading group (school reports as well as ordinary childhood curiosity). Picture books, however, circulate well among parents and teachers, as do fairytales and folklore (pages 2-3). Juvenile fiction circulates only to girls; the automobile, sports, and adven ture stories generally collect dust on the shelves. Our collection building in the juvenile area this year has been mainly limited to expanding the more popular non-fiction subject matter and replacement of picture books. The strange thing about the juvenile collection here is that it circulates much better than one would expect with the poor reception of children's programming. rograms None of the children's programs at Seminole have been suc cessful. The first program of the year, a puppet show in March, attracted only 25 children (slightly more than half capacity for our conference room). All told, the Magic Maze Summer Reading Program only netted about thirty, and enthu siasm (if there ever was any) died out quickly - we ended the program early. The puppet show which ended the program on July 23 did slightly better than the first one, about 35 children but none of those who attended had participated in the Magic Maze. As I called out names for the kids to pick up their reading records, they all just filed past me out the door without even listening. We also* attempted an older story hour for summer. More than a dozen public and private schools were notified just a few days before they let the kids out for the summer. Not one child showed up for the first two weeks. We then switched to the idea of a picture book story hour and called several neighborhood kindergartens and day nurseries. Two of them consented to bring some children in to the branch? this lasted for two weeks, then Tampa Church of God had to quit coming because of Bible study or something, and Wellswood Kindergarten's children became unmanageable for our storyteller (Caroleigh Gioia), so that program alsoidied. We have another picture book story hour for the month of August with another neigh borhood kindergarten. ,1ms Most successful of all our summer programs has been the film series. This program has been known to attract as many as fifty children of varying ages for one showing. Even film previews by staff members attracted as much of an audience during the school year as some of our organized, pre-announced, summer activities. Apparently kids are more interested in movies than in books. In addition to films, another large audience activity, both during the regular school year and during the summer schools, has been the class visit. The role of a public library branch as a classroom or supervised study hall, however, is questionable. This is exactly what has happened this summer, particularly, with one teacher bringing all three of her classes into the library on two days of,i each week, booking the conference room and films from 9:00 A.M. to 2:40 P.M. on each of those days. I doubt if we will' allow, this to happen again. Aside from film previews and some regular class visits, the conference room is seldom used, However, during the school year, a couple of PTA organizations met here once a month but I can only recall one other organization that used our conference room for a meeting in the six months I have been here. At one point, I was thinking about the idea of having an adult reading club or book discussion group meeting here regularly, but never pursued the idea. (I talked to one regular patron whom I thought might be interested but got a negative response). Perhaps the new branch librarian might want to tackle this one. Library Twice, I conducted library tours for youngsters from Seminole Tours Presbyterian School. The first group waa1 fourth graders.and they were beautiful - eager to learn, attentive, and very anxious to get library cards and check out books after they learned how and where to find what they wanted. The second group was first graders and a bit too young for any meaningful instruction in how to use the library - I just showed them the picture books and the copier then let them loose to giggle at the nude paintings in the rear or whatever they wanted to do. That's about the extent of our programming for the year at Seminole. Inven- Miscellaneous items of interest during the year included tory taking an inventory of all branch furnishings and equipment — a monstrous task here, because, in the two years since the last inventory, the AV Department has moved to Seminole with all new furniture and equipment. At any rate, a complete new list was made for reference when the next inventory comes up. Cleaning The American Building Maintenance Co. operates as our cleaning Service service- they have somewhat improved the quality and quantity of their service over the last few months. These improvements seem to result from a new team of workers who started a few months ago and have seemed somewhat more concientous than the earlier. However, lately again, we haven't seen much Repair evidence of their presence. Repair service on the regiscope Service is poor and the old machine's days are numbered. Pete Eingar, the regiscope repairman, lives in the nighborhood which might mean we would get better service than some of the more remote branches but it hasn't shown. The Dennison copier service is much better, at least it's regular, and we don't have too much trouble with that machine compared with "-the regiscope. Building As for the building and grounds, it is becoming a problem and to get the Parks Department out here to take care of the Grounds grounds - I had to call their office downtown on one occasion. We were having problems for a while with students and other non-patrons filling up our parking lot but this was solved by the acquisition of a pair of"library parking only" A- frames. At least our air conditioning has continued working throughout the summer to date, albeit notitoo efficiently at times. We had a probelm with the water cooler and frayed carpeting early in the year, but these were fixed in due course. :aff One of the greatest assets at this branch has been the ser vice of two staff members who have been here long enough, doing a variety of jobs, so that they are pretty capable of breaking in new branch librarians, of which there is a fairly high turnover rate. Since I have been at Seminole, the "book side" (as we call the staff not included in the AV dept.) has operated with three full-time bodies and one part- time (25 hours) body during the school year and four full- time bodies in the summer. This has been sufficient to cover the public service needs of 43 hours of business per week. We keep the same hours in the summer as during the rest of the year. At present, the four staff members of the "book side" are: 1 library aide (Bookmobile Driver) - full-time clerical and circulation work 2 library assistant I's - full-time clerical, shelving, and circulation/reference work 1 branch librarian - Librarian I For a more detailed description of the various jobs at Sem inole, see the attached sheet ("Jobs at Seminole"). The personnel structure as it now exists, with slight modifi cations (all three clerical positions could be Library Assistants I or II), is adequate for any forseeable sit uation at this branch? unless business should declinei.and personnel cuts become expedient, I would recommend contin uation of the present structure. i II. Areas of Greatest Need for the Year Ahead In terms of materials in the collection, there are three groups in the communitv that could conceivably be brought into the library in much greater numbers with some new kinds of .aek materials. One of these groups is the middle or lower- .milies middle income black family. There are housing projects to the east of us which will probably be bringing more families into the area in the future. As mentioned above, the black teen-agers already come in after school ( as do all the other kids after school), but we ought to work on the other members of the family. As far as records go, Soul, Jazz and Tamla/ Motown-style pop should have appeal. As far as books go, I'm not sure what would appeal to the adults - perhaps nothing different than the light reading that appeals to the present white majority in the same economic category. Of course, the students go for all the black studies materials, so popular now, but I haven't as yet seen either adults or younger children swallowing it in such large doses. >anish Secondly, there is the Spanish-speaking group. I think that .nguage a Spanish language collection would be well received here, both fiction and non-fiction, translations as well as Spanish and Latin American authors. The reason I didn't initiate such 3 •a development this year was because I couldn't decide where to put it, if it was to be separate from the rest of the collection, or what to order. If the new branch librarian has a background in Spanish literature, perhaps such a pro gram could get off the ground next year. 2ducationThird of the new potential patronage we might be able to People cultivate is the education clientele - teachers, counsellors, etc. They already constitute the largest percentage of film patrons and materials, either printed or recored. Education students from both USF and HCC are also included in this group. In partial fulfillment of thesis demand, the next record order (if there is one) might include more spoken and children's recordings. Subject Particular subject areas for non-fiction reading that could ireas be expanded in the coming year include juvenile mathematics, needing sports and games (especially magic tricks), and snakes? and uore adult antiques, astrology, dieting, diseases, gardening, and :overage religion - and we ought to get something on salt-water aquar iums. There is also^ a continuing demand for a big, reference Auto Repair Manual (Chilton or Motor), but this is supposedly on standing order starting in 1972. Beyond these items, and thepossibility of bringing in the three new types of patrons described above, I can think of no other aspirations, in terms of materials, for next year. What's more, I believe that these could be accomplished without an increase in the udget total budget for the agency. All that would be needed would be a redistribution of book buying and record buying. The 1970-71 budget slice for Seminole would be entirely adequate for 1971-72, with perhaps slightly less of the book fund alotted to juvenile (maybe 15% instead of 20%). The record budget and continuations fund need not be changed. There is reallv very little non-expendable material in the present collection - its direction could easily be changed at the discretion of the new branch librarian. ranges 1971-72 may see some- major changes in the physical plant at Seminole. Due to a need for greater work space for the film nysicai department, there will be a separate Audio-Visual workroom ^ciI-:. built in the near future. When this transpires, the present ties work area will be utilized only by the book side, roughly doubling our present space. Although we may lose a small amount of shelving in the process, we can shift the collection easily into a more compact space, by moving bound periodicals to new shelving in the expanded work area. The attempt to separate the two departments which occupy this building has even gone so far as to talk whimsically of a film department and parking lot in a different place from the book department's facility. This must be way off into the future, and I don't . see that it is needed at this point. As for equipment, the only urgent need is a fourth record browser for the new records Unless it is possible to withdraw nearly as many old records as we are adding in new ones, we may be cramped in the three present cabinets. This, of course, will not be noticed until the new records are out on display and begin to circulate. Unless some equipment fails in the coming year, the physical plant at Seminole v/ill probably be adequate as is, with the exception of the items mentioned above. The role of the Seminole Branch Library in the community is not likely to change a great deal in the forseeable future. In the distant future, it may be possible to construct a new branch in the Wellswood area and a storefront in East Gate. But until then, the branch-type business here will continue to hold fairly steady, dropping off slightly as people move away or die, but still irreplaceable in the community. This location is the most convenient for many library users (between 7000 and 8000 per month as noted above) who come from an area stretching from Sulphur Springs in the Northeast along, roughly, 22nd Street on the Eastern boundary to College Hill in the Southeast across to Wellswood as far as Dale Mabry and probably north to Waters Avenue. As men tioned earlier, this user group is perhaps less demanding than at other branches in terms of subject matter requests and best-sellers, but these people do like to read and they keep coming back for more of the same kind of reading that they enjoy so much. My role as branch librarian here over the last six months has been both a challenge, insofar as I have had to gauge and supply these interests, and a rewarding experience, insofar as I feel I have been reasonably suc cessful in managing the branch and supplying the needs of the community as well as I could with what resources were available. I hope the next branch librarian will find Seminole equally rewarding. 51 i i J 5 3^ AT S£.M/MO£.£ /n\ Adds (new books) >*< stamping books marking Agency Receiving Report statistics Adds (gift books) typing pockets and glueing them in statistics (hard-bound only) Withdrawals (lost in circ.) pulling shelf list card pulling cat. cards statistics With dray/a Is (damaged etc. ) pulling shelf list card pulling cat. cards stamping book and removing, pocket statistics Filing new cat, cards Overdues j crossing off T-slips on Transaction sheet typing overdue list periodically ^S searching for overdue transaction numbers on microfilm ^^^ typing notices for overdues Reserves typing reserve list once a week with revisions filing reserve requests in order watching reserve list and pulling books when they come in notifying patrons who have reserves when the books arrive (by phone of by mail) sending back reserves to main after one month . Shelving Records cleaning returned records inspecting for damage shelving Counting Money >••• 1 :-• PERIODIC^3 *T — the /i • . purely £or W^Jga**. **° . ,t Seminold ^ P^ * school •* ln8t ^gazin** *«f• *»*- juniioorr wd^g*h **ff fr6endfr*endss.. x x studenstudentt s 8 ig f grousox ^ f "o wait *«/^ers. *** * *<£\ounuu d vol- _ largest gi• - scnool to « sual reader . es. f ful for — ^n action -f^/ror ^£^0 ~ SJ SS - <*•* ! urr.es or ISsl^—^ r tacX iss bundles s iest use a 3 this P^! -; tw *«*»£L£- ivlng ^^°*, E^, ^^iS, selves or -n oericdrcal- consUSS^^fTr^Nationai ^2^-^— X £ Tn^^- ! Yese ^ga^nes ^ 8 and some ° iodicals. ffi «"~Z£ Si *• Sson'o ^ina «*£ £/at •J*^',^ the ^randlaoK'nave X^» ^ign school s ly /g^ine, SS 1 Life ana _ o* * * in£ormatron can PaESBt^|-^L-^than ,ee*. XH* ^rffi ^S^lt present we ^j^T* »"•£. ^Tt-K «t SSS^^i^^-^ss. Kt £,„ and HSS^^tT^Tf our years s/S3»V" " o.~» « —-a ssr «««%r , ^inde^y yeuo not too acu*• s and D . VJe "pace gfssjsr^s^js are s ^t:^luiue - w7xeS2 a3 ve o* *«*£•%.*** W-?£2~»* «^decrease any .ntend plan to x * tJ- avarr d £or 19 the £ew ^2£^ r-^m the ^ iSuire- EisHS^SSSSi' and H5S^ Jf ^are should A *, -2- Pr-vchology Tod.ay has been requested by many patrons: teachers, HCC students, and various professional types. Today's Education, although not specifically requested by title, could well fill some of the more general requests for education periodicals which come from the growing number of teachers that use the film library and book collection together. Dual film/book patrons are a phenomena not previously noticed at Seminole, but who are beginning to show themselves lately. We intend to discontinue our subscriptions to American Home, Business. Week, Child Life, Highlights for Children, Jack and Jill, Medsi Airplane News, Model Railroader, Plays for Young People, Science >Tsws, and the dust-collecting Tax Guide. From what I was able"!?observe as well as the consensus of the staff, these are least used periodicals here. To summarize, the periodical situation at Seminole is one of brousing but little reference. The users vary in age, education, gender, and race but the largest single group is the flock from Mem orial Junior High School. We have tried to lieep the- numbers of ttles constant for 1972. Hopefully, the cost will also be comparable. Respectfully submitted by Bill Sundwick; May 5, 1971 •>•»...,»,.., *i ••*.-.• "..•» ^ ,.