Director's Update May/June 2024

Director’s Report

May/June 2024

There’s a brief lull in the increasing busyness of our recent days, and I’m grateful to have a moment to share with you what has been, and will be happening at the Varnum this summer. 

Paul is moving books, chairs and boxes in preparation of the book sale and the space needed for the pop-up Make Music Day concert today, as well as the Jon Gailmor performance tomorrow, and the commencement of the Lit(erature) Lunch Bunch program on Monday, June 24th. Paul has given the Varnum over 85 hours this month. 

As listed below, you will see that we have had a second monthly reporting of over 1,000 visits to the Varnum. As well as 13 new user accounts made. Story Time (youngest users) and Coffee and Conversations (“retired” users) continue to be our strongest anchors in programming. 

We will be hosting 60+ youth from our community and the surrounding communities who are enrolled in the summer camps being held at the CCC. They will bring the children over in groups of 20 so they can have access to books (in-house use) during their summer. We will be working creatively to accommodate pop-up story hours for these youth. 

I will share with you that it has been a personal goal of mine as Director to make the Varnum an approved summer meal site for the community. Through strong community connections and coordination, we are finally here. Monday we will begin serving free, open-access lunches and breakfasts to all aged 18 and younger. I can tell you from personal experience how valuable and impactful this program is. Yes, it’s about reading through the summer, but it’s part of the larger picture of being a resource and meeting the needs of our community in whatever capacity we can. 

Additionally through the summer programming you will see: 

Our Amazing Butterflies! with Jerry Schneider

Tick Smart! with Lamoille County Health Department

S’mores STEM with Rachel Rose

Help Me Grow! with LCHD

The Wonderful World of Bats! with Jerry Schneider

CLiF Summer Readers Author Visit and Book Give-a-way

Energy Smart Home Audits 

and more to come…….

These are all in addition to lunches being served 5 days a week, two (scheduled) Story Times, Boundless Book Club, Adult Crafting, Scavenger Hunts, Coloring Club, Coffee and Conversations. 

Our weeks are increasingly full, and it takes the entire staff working as a team to make the library run at the capacity we’re seeing. Perhaps the schedule of events and programming look a little different from what has been done in decades past, but we are responding to, as well as creating new ways in which our community demonstrates needs and wants. We still offer our park passes, historic site passes, ECHO reduced-rate pass, Shelburne Farm and Museum reduced-rate pass, Read-and-Win Champlain Valley Fair ribbons etc. 

Thank you to Jen Bartlau for joining the Board, and for taking the important position as Secretary. I also want to thank Carol Plante, who helped find a professional musician to perform for us (Free!), and for being a strong support to the Varnum in so many capacities. 

If you have specific questions, please ask. I do my best to get through my emails, and I’m not always able to do so as quickly as I would like, but I will eventually respond!

Respectfully Submitted, 

Aurora River

Director's Update June/July 2024

 Dear Board Members,

I’m sure you feel this too, but summer is swiftly passing through. It feels like no time ago that we were working to figure out how summer programming would look, what our staffing needs were going to be, and who would be coming to the Varnum to indulge in all that we have to offer.  Quickly, I will try to catch you up to speed in what has been going on here:

It is with sadness that I share that Patty Edwards has “retired” from her position here at the Varnum, though she has agreed to stay on as a substitute when a need arises. She thanks the Varnum for the opportunity to share all the talent, humor and love she so willingly gives to those around her. And the Varnum thanks her.  We owe her a debt of gratitude for helping rebuild our programming, as well as helping to create strong community bonds which brought so much joy to kids and adults alike. She will be missed on the daily. 

 Alice, a rising senior at the College of the Atlantic, serendipitously joined our staff as our summer intern the first week of summer programming. She has brought with her a willingness to contribute, a cheerfulness in work and a creativity to help diversify some of our summer programming. She has also been instrumental in keeping our hours steady as we’ve juggled staff needing personal time, illnesses, and other incidentals of life. Her arrival seemed almost magical, to be honest. 

I would like to share some context on a few of the statistics listed below:

Coffee and Conversations continues to be our most attended adult program in spite of summer traveling.

StoryTime continues to grow so much, that space is becoming a challenge. I offer this program twice a week, and both sessions are quite full. 

Bees, Drawing and Stitching Hour are all programs brought and facilitated by Alice.

Camp Kids is what happens on Mondays; the children who attend the summer camp held at the CCC which come from Fairfax and Cambridge all are brought to the Varnum in groups so as to have access to books weekly which would otherwise not be available to them. Currently Fairfax’s library and community center are under renovation, so the Varnum has welcomed these young people in and it is something we look forward to each week. Many of these kiddos don’t get library time, and it’s been incredible to see them all come in, grab a book and a seat (and sometimes a staff member to read to them!) and dig into a story. We have invited them to join us next Monday for our Bats! program. We have received so much positivity from this collaboration it truly makes us all proud of our library. 

Summer Lunches are our collaboration with Lamoille North Supervisory Union and the USDA in which we are an open, non-congregate food site serving summer meals (breakfast and lunch) to all youth 18 and younger. Because of this program, we have been able to distribute hot meals, 5 days a week, to any and all who ask. We continually have logistical issues to deal with, but our team has really pulled through in making this program a success especially for its inaugural year. This program concludes on its 6th week, the first week of August.  

I am still working with CLIF to finalize our Summer Readers program to conclude our summer special programming. Look for that date in the first two weeks of August. 

As always, thank you for your support and allowing myself and this incredible team to keep working towards our best offerings as a community, public library.

Respectfully Submitted,

Aurora River

Library Director

Directors Update Feb 2023

I'd like to remind the Board to keep up with the improved communication regarding events and ideas for future planning- it's so important that when an idea is hatched, that it's shared in that stage with myself so I can be on the ground level of its development. We've done a much better job of that lately, and I'd like to see that continue :)

I would like to ask the Board to approve the fees to make myself a Notary of the Public- I think this is a service our community needs and it is an easy thing we can do. The initial application fee is $30; I'm still looking into if there are any additional fees and how much a stamp/embosser would cost. 

I would like to designate the Varnum as a Designated Warming Spot for future winters. When temperatures are dangerous, it's important to have places remain open to serve our most vulnerable and the Varnum will be publicized by certain social organizations as being one of these spots. It is a bit of communication work that has to happen, so it won't be until next year that we can advertise as such. 

I am in the midst of writing a SPARK grant which will fund a collaboration between all Lamoille County Libraries (except Waterville) to host a community art project at Field Days and then have a rotating display among the libraries. It is our hope that it will encourage greater crossover within our county and more opportunities to create programming together. 

The Seed library will officially open Saturday, March 11th. I have secured a couple hundred seed packs donated by High Mowing Seeds and the display will be set for then. 

Warmly,

Aurora River (she, her)

Library Director

Varnum Memorial Library

194 S Main Street

Jeffersonville, Vermont 05464

802.644.2117

aurorariver.varnum@gmail.com

Director's Update March 2023

As I was out sick for the March Board of Directors meeting, I wanted to communicate a few things you might like to be aware of in regards to the daily functions of the library. 

Programming continues to evolve and grow each month; the seed catalog is open and well-stocked and well visited! Coffee and Conversations on Thursdays has been consistently well attended and has spun off a Scrabble group which follows. Toddler Time, Adult Crafting, Crafternoon and a few tries at additional adult programs have kept us busy during open hours. The Gun Lock distribution program has been so successful that the Sheriff's office has to bring us more locks as they have all been distributed throughout the community. This is a win in my opinion! 

Staffing is steady with Diane, Patty, and Ashley helping to cover all open hours- Paul of course has worked consistently Tuesday-Friday and filled in as a Sub when needed. He is a rock for the Varnum.

This past month I was able to submit the Varnum's Annual Library Report which is requested by the State. It has been many years since the report has been filed, so the State was easy to please. The data was incomplete as it was the reporting period of fiscal year 2021, but we did the best we could with the records Paul and I could find. Again, much gratitude to Paul and Hope for helping track down pieces of information. 

There were a few grant opportunities that I applied for as well, most notably being a SPARK grant which I collaborated with the other Lamoille County Libraries on. This proposal, if approved, will allow the Varnum, Johnson Public, Lanpher Memorial, Morristown Centennial and Stowe Library to collaborate on a public art project at Lamoille County Field Days and then give each library funding for programming around our specified art project for the summer. The Varnum is the lead applicant on this so I have a lot of hope invested in this.  Additionally, I have submitted applications for the Winnie Bell Learned non-competitive grant which will fund a tent (I know we've talked a lot since last summer about this need!); CLiF Summer Readers grant which would fund an author visit and talk with free book distribution similar to what we had last summer; and the Summer Reading grant available through the State. I'm hopeful that some of these will help us to offer more dynamic programming as we re-grow into our community. 

We continue to look for and build connections with our community to be the resource we strive to be. We are in the process of building a program on bike maintenance with Bootleggers as well as developing a self-defense course with the Lamoille County Sheriff's office.  Both of these needs have been identified in the community and we are responding. April will also see the entire CES kindergarten class visit as they did last year and we are so excited!

I would mention that our Inter-Library Loan participation has dramatically increased; since January 2023 we have processed 136 ILL requests from our patrons, 60 of which were during the month of March. In 2022 there were 58 total ILL requests from Jan-March; with only 27 for March alone. I think this demonstrates the value of this service and the usefulness to the community. It pleases me to see these numbers and I hope it does the same for you. 

As always, please reach out directly to me with questions you might have- communication is highly valued and continues to be vital as we work towards the future. I appreciate all you do as Board Members, and I am grateful for the  untold hours of work and dedication you each give. It matters, and you are appreciated. 

Warmly,

Aurora River (she, her)

Library Director

Varnum Memorial Library

194 S Main Street

Jeffersonville, Vermont 05464

802.644.2117

aurorariver.varnum@gmail.com