Annual Report for 2015

LIBRARY COMMITTEE: Co-Chairs – Carol Van Why and BJ Zander; Members – Mary Abbe Hintz, Joanne Kendall, Mary Lynn Kittelson, Gretchen Kreuter, Jenny Rajput, Agnes Tan, Robert Tapp, Katie Weiblen, Catherine Wengler, and Barbara Woshinsky.

The purpose of the committee is:

• To manage the 1666 Coffman Library.
• To add to the collection through purchases and gifts.
• To promote the use of the library via a page on the Coffman website, newsletter articles, e-News posts and bulletin board posters.

The Library Committee meets at least bi-monthly and more frequently as needed.  Members contribute 1666 Coffman News articles on a rotating basis.  Items are posted in the e-News to advertise new books and other timely news.  Bulletin board displays are refreshed to remind residents to stop in and browse the collection.
Books are added each year, either as gifts from residents or as purchases paid for from one of the library’s budgets. To keep the collection fresh, less popular books are regularly weeded from the collection.  These are offered for sale via our Book Cart sales.  Proceeds are returned to the treasury and used to purchase more books or supplies.  Unsold books are offered to the AAUW and the St Paul Public Library for their book sales.  Others are used to support the Little Free Library in neighboring Grove Park.
Once again anonymous financial gifts from 4 residents boosted the total library budget by nearly $550 allowing the Committee to purchase more new books than in any previous year.   For the second year Catherine Wengler coordinated an exhibit of new books following August’s Book Night.  Residents were able to check out books at the event and take home a copy of the companion booklist.
Read Aloud made its debut in early 2015.  Coordinated by BJ Zander, Read Aloud is library story hour for residents.   Over the course of 7 winter Mondays, 5 readers read portions of Ian Frazier’s Great Plains to assembled residents.
166SIX PICKS is a Library Committee initiative designed to encourage residents to explore more of the Library’s collection than just the newest books.  Favorite reads representing all genres and subject areas were identified and marked with neon yellow spine labels.  A poster at the Library’s entrance, eNews mentions and an article in the 1666 Coffman News promoted the initiative’s fall debut.
With technical assistance from Mike O’Connor, Robert Tapp continues to maintain the Library’s page on the 1666 Coffman website.