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Wallingford Public Library
Wallingford borrows approximately 130 Large Print books per quarter. David Andrews says some of the books circulate as much
as 7 times in a 3-month period. They are extremely popular to a devoted group of borrowers. Despite having their own collection,
Wallingford PL could never afford to provide the selection that this group of borrowers depends on. David also says he sometimes
purchases new LP titles for Wallingford based on how Service Center titles circulate.
Durham Public Library
Pat White says they use a Book Prop each of about 40 weeks per year. During the week, the Book Prop borrowed is used in 6
different story hours reaching between 15 and 25 children per story hour. Pat makes sure each child plays a part in the telling
of the story. Durham has made some of their own Book Props because they can't afford to buy them, but parents and children
alike know how much better are the ones she borrows from the Service Centers. Pat says parents often ask her where she gets
the Props.
Granby Public Library
Robin Bennett, ILL Coordinator, borrows a Bifocal Remembering Kit each month for an employee of Granby convalescent homes.
The kits provide a "wonderful resource" for programming use at the convalescent homes.
Simsbury Public Library
As Jan Madrak from the Simsbury Public Library left the service center last Friday she said "I don't know what I'd do without
you." Jan had just borrowed over 150 easy readers for her America's Reading Corps program, which pairs over 30 volunteers
with second and third graders to work one on one on their reading skills over the summer. According to Jan, Simsbury's grassroots
program (based on a national model) couldn't exist without the resources she gets from the service center. Simsbury also
uses the service center audio and young adult collection to transform their branch in the Tariffville section from a school
library into a public library in the summer.
New Britain Public Library
Pat Holloway from New Britain stopped in one day last week to look for information on library board development. After the
ACLB leadership conference last fall her board decided that it needed to look at developing future board members as possibly
restructuring the way that they do business now. Pat was able to look for things in our professional book collection, vertical
file and talk with staff about the issues involved in board development. She finds the service center professional resources
valuable particularly in the areas of long-range planning and job descriptions. The fact that we are making those resources
increasingly available on our web page makes them more accessible to her. The opportunity to talk with DLD professionals
who have developed, organized and used the collection adds to their value for our customers.
East Hartford Public Library
Barbara Wilkie, Children's Librarian, just discovered the Service Centers as a resource for meeting the summer demand at her
library and borrowed hundreds of J and YA paperbacks, and a selection of easy readers. "This is the first summer that we've
borrowed materials and I'm so glad that we did… It was especially useful that we were able to use your barcodes to put [the
materials] into our system." Barbara has heavily weeded her collection this year, and needed new materials, to meet children's
summer reading needs. In past summers, she borrowed from the schools but it didn't work well because "they wanted their books
back by mid-August" and [the Service Centers] do not have the same constraints, so kids can borrow them into September."
Barbara also has "a big community of emergent readers and… [Service Center] materials helped a lot."
Woodbridge Public Library
Judy Rabin, Children's Librarian, has been a major user of the new Service Center collection of Book Discussion books. These
sets include twelve copies of one title. Book Discussion programs are a major component of the Children's Room Programming
at Woodbridge, and Judy has suggested titles that were purchased for the collection, used at her library and then passed on
to other libraries. "I want you to know how wonderful it is to be able to have access to these sets of books. My Winn Dixie
program was last wed night…We had a great time, I let the kids help me make Dump Punch, they ate all the egg salad and pickles
I put out, we talked about mothers, moving, dogs, and other things on the kids' minds and we made paper bag luminaries. [Fever
1793] has arrived, and the copies are going out… I'm trying to figure out how to turn the meeting room into a coffeehouse...talk
to you soon. thanks again."
West Hartford Public Schools
Jerilyn Van Leer, Coordinator of Library Media Services for the West Hartford Public Schools picked up copies of "Connecticut
Children's Book Authors & Illustrators" and "Why Should You Read to An Infant" at a CEMA Conference. She contacted Linda Williams
asking "Are these documents available on the State Library web site? I would like to share this information with my staff
and use it with the candidates in the Advanced Alternative Program for Teachers to Become Library Media Specialists." When
informed that the Authors & Illustrators list was indeed on the website, Van Leer replied, "This will be extremely helpful!"
Van Leer has also written about the Children's Books Awards Lists available on the Children and Youth Services site. "I think
the award books page is a great service and just added the link to our webliography for our advanced alternative program for
teachers to become library media specialists. Thanks!"
Booth & Dimock Memorial Library
Booth & Dimock in Coventry runs a very successful outreach program for the elderly residents of the town's senior housing
complex. The library outreach program began 20 years ago, entirely based on Service Center collections of large print materials.
Director, Sharon Pacholski says "while Booth & Dimock's large print has grown over the years, we still rely heavily on WLSC's
large print collection. We circulate about 60 large print books per month at [the elderly housing complex] alone. We also
borrow about 40 large print books per month to circulate from the Library. An important segment of our population would be
deprived without the materials at the Willimantic Library Service Center."
Cornwall Public Library
Virginia Potter says her library has no real budget for this material, despite heavy demand by commuters, artists, and the
elderly. Cornwall borrows about 120 talking books per quarter. Titles often circulate four or five times during the three-month
borrowing period. Virginia says that Cornwall would have no good solution for providing this service on its own. By visiting
the Service Centers, Cornwall Library staff pick titles they know their patrons will enjoy.
Aldrich Library, Plainfield
Kathleen Hart, director, says, "I use your collection to find out what books I should order. If they go out then I buy them.
It saves me buying something no one will want. I borrow book props to lend to the childcare centers. They love to use them,
but they are so expensive we could never afford to purchase them. Summer reading list copies! Why would we want to have 5
copies of "All quiet on the Western Front" when I only need them once a year? I can't afford more than one copy and I don't
have room for more than one either. I borrow an assortment of music CD's, I have no idea what is popular. I can see what
goes out and feel my way. It's the same with the CD ROMS. When I had Sim City here it went out like crazy. Then I bought
a copy. I'm the volunteer librarian for the Plainfield Catholic School. I borrow bags of paperbacks, 300-400 a year so that
the students have pleasure reading in the library. It's so important. And again, then I can buy the books that circulate.
The materials budget at Aldrich this year is $5,500.00. It's terrible! That's why I need your collections so desperately.
(Note: Aldrich Library borrowed 1,733 items, roughly $60,655.00 worth of materials in FY 2001).
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