With the help of a community survey and focus groups conducted by Fact Finders, Inc., we asked you how you use, and what you want from your library. We learned that:

• 80% of you have a library card and have used the library this year
• 91% of you gave the library a good to excellent rating
• 68% of you come to the library to borrow books
• 32% of you use the computers and/or come to programs
• 34% of you want the library to own more books, music or electronic media
• 20% of you want us to offer more children and teen activities
• 15% of you want us to have more computers
• 11% of you would like increased study/meeting space

With this information in mind, the Board of Trustees unanimously agreed to continue to offer the materials, programs, and services that our community expects. The proposed 2010/2011 budget reflects this commitment.

We will continue to look for all possible grant and funding opportunities. This past year we successfully added more than $151,000 in grant funds to our community-supported budget. These supplemental funds helped us make the final payment, at the end of the current fiscal year, on the adjacent land purchased in 2005. This property gives us options for possible expansion.

With the development of Glassworks Village behind the Library, we anticipate serving an additional 300 households. Furthermore, we hope that the street and sidewalk work that’s part of Glassworks Village will solve some of the traffic difficulties our customers have experienced. (The major problem expressed by focus group participants was difficulty in negotiating the traffic at the intersection of Western Avenue and Mercy Care Lane.)

We have tried to “walk a fiscal tightrope,” balancing both current fiscal realities and sustaining our excellence in resources and services. Thanks to near-zero inflation, our materials and office operations budgets are static. Our energy savings and green initiatives (skylight shutters, ceiling fans, and the new solar panels) are paying off with decreases in the cost of running our physical plant.

There are two areas where we are asking for funding increases: staffing and future planning. We are using funds from our fiscal reserve to cover the contracted increases in staff salaries and benefits. We need $125,000 added to our Programs and Planning line in order to move forward with planning for possibly expanding the library to meet the needs of our growing community. This money will pay design architects for a schematic design which is needed to 1) accurately predict future funding needs, 2) receive permits and approvals from the New York State Education Department, and 3) apply for grant funding for future projects and construction.

Here is what we hope to accomplish in the coming year with the proposed budget:

• Complete a schematic design for an expanded library
• Create an additional meeting room/local history center from existing space (grant funded)
• Offer a Senior Health Fair in the fall (grant funded)
• Replace/repair sewer lines and main parking lot surface (partially grant funded)
• Increase opportunities for families to take advantage free events
• Continue to offer more new books, music, videos, and computers
• Increase the type of programs/services offered 24/7 through our website
• Increase our cooperative activities with the preschool, elementary, secondary, and home-school communities

Full details of the Fact Finders survey are available online, or in paper copy at the Library. The budget for 2010/2011 is available by clicking here

If you have comments about the budget, or our programs and services, please email board@guilpl.org or director@guilpl.org, or come to the Public Hearing on the Final Approved Budget on May 13, at 7 pm, in the Library’s Normanskill Room.

Sincerely,

Board of Trustees: Brian Hartson, President • Douglas A. Morrissey, Vice President • Diane Rosenbaum, Secretary • Carroll Valachovic, Treasurer • Michael J. Borges • Dr. Vishnu Chaturvedi • Robert H. Feller • Michael Fox • Barbara Fraterrigo • Robert E. Ganz

Library Director: Barbara Nichols Randall

To view approved 2010/2011 Budget, please click here.

To see the final vote tallies, including results of voting for Board Candidates, click here.

Last update: Wednesday, May 19, 2010