HomeMy WebLinkAbout1971 - 1972
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October 17, 1972
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Members of the city council
and the County Commissioneret
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h The Library Board wisher to submit the following information
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to you as a short resume of the library's activities and advance*
menu during the past year.
We welcome and encourage you to come to the library to look
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I around, to visit, or for additional information.concerning this
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Sincerely,
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Ur6 David F, Speck
S Chairmn, Library board
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Emily IroVler Public Library
Annual Report
October 1, 1971 - September 3O, 1972
YEAR THREE! TOTAL CIRCULATION 123,510j shear physical effort involved
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1 in keeping these volumes shelved and in good order, SPECIAL PROORAM3, EXHIBITS,
70025 BOOKS ADDED TO THE COLLECTION, 30257 new patrons registered, aOOKS IN
HEAVY DEMAND KEPT OVERDUE; consequent frayed tempers of the staff, 'LETTERS IN
I THE BOOK DROP SUCH ASs
l TO WHOM IT MAY OONOERNi
It wag only yesterday that I discoliered that I have had
last month. Today ;I am making an attempt at re- amnesia for the
discovering who I am,
As you might well .lmngine it is turning out to be a difficult process= `
piecing together bits and scraps'ot what now appears to ma to be a
z tragic life, Uould the real me have left three library books to mold
f z and mildew (to baodme ovardew, as it were)? The more the s of
my life unfold before my eyes and, as in some oases, behind myeback the
greater my resolve to amend the old inadequacies, Were it not for my
extramo age I would probably discard my former self.and start anew,
If I had that option open to me I would probably rename myself Brent*
Don't you think that's a nice name?
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I aw sneaking these books back by dark of night into your aieconditioned
depository slot for I cannot bear to face you, Is that silly of me?
Dearest Emily, forgive me for not having the money to fey the fineN, May
I call you Emily? X'es, please tall me Brent,
' Yours,
Brent
So went our year, and it has been one of achievement, 'there is nothing
unusual or different about the Emily Powlr.r Public Library. What is unique
is that this is our library, in our County' in our City, serving our citizens,
Morever, they reflect our joint effort. Pvr what we have achieved has not been
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the result of any single individual but Of many individuals and groups who
believe in the value of libraries and learning,
For instance, the Ariel club sponsored the second series of book reviews
by club members. Printed bookmarks distributed at the library with time and
date of the reviews and publicity from our local newspapers resulted in near
capacity crowds.
The Denton County Health Planning Council presented three programs on
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current health problems, drugs, mental health and alcoholism,
Croups and individuals ware generous to loan examples of their art work
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I and interesting hobbies, Students of Mack Petty and of pat Ginning# brought
j their paintings to exhibiL, The Weavers Guild displayed wail hangings, rugs,
garments and needlepoint, The Business and Professional Womens Club arranged
for an interesting display on "American women",
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" During the "Week of the Young Child" work from Denton pre-schools and
kindergartens dhoorated our walls, Art
students from Denton High School held
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their annual show in April,
"Chiaki" Morris presented a one women show that included oil painting,
pottery and sculpture. 'Mr, B, P. Brown displayed his collection of telegraph
keys, Mr, Raymond H. Ericson of Krum brought
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collection o
f rare o
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in
s and
currency,_ The North Texas State University Museum loaned a collection of Sand-
wich Class and a display of porcelain dolls, An exhibit on conservation and
pollution Was sent from the Sierra Club,
Interest was expressed by donations totaling $6,39,84. Gifts of cash do
not, of course, tell the entire story, 'There were many books and magazines
donated, From theso the library has been able to fill in our back files of mag-
azines and often found out of print books we needed for our collection,. Duplicate
copies of magazines and books were given to Sanger and Lawi.svilie.
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Our City and County administrators have encouraged library development by
a consistant increase of budgeted funds, The Denton County Commissioners Court
and the Denton City Council approved the five-year pzan written by the Library
Board.
j Planning for the future, the library Board completed the paper work for the
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Emily Fowler Memorial Foundation, In time this Foundation will provide funds for
special materials for the library,
The Texas State Library Field Services Division assisted the library in
obtaining a federal grant of ton thousand (10,000) dollars this year; six thousand '
1 (6,000) dollars to be spent In upgrading the book collection and foul thousand
? (4,000) dollars for our special projects. Our special project objectives were
to strengthen two programs presently in operation
by the library and to make a
special effort to reach the disadvantaged in both programs.
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The first program is Early Childhood Enrichment, Sinna the new library
opened we have had a year-round program for pre-school children, As a speoial
project within this program our goals were to contact as many PYe school ohildr,an
in the County as possible, It was obvious from our regular attendance that many"
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pre-schoolers could not come to the library because of working parents.
All of the nu ~
rsery schools and kindergartens, both publi.o, private, and
denominational in the Denton area were called and invited to attend. Pilot Point
kindergarten and the Tioga kindergarten were also contacted. `Other schools read-
ing of the library's program in the newspaper, called in and requested an oppor-
tunity to participate, a'
Two sessions were piannod. The first was an explanation of how the child
avails himself of library services, Large replicas of the applicants card, library
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card, and the book pocket with both book card and date due card were shown and
the purpose of these were explained to the child,
It was emphasized that he could obtain "hie very own" card through the
procedures at no cost to his parents, It was stressed that this was a community
servieo open to all residents. Accompanying this brief talk a film was',shown
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and a tour of the library with emphasis on locating their materials in the child-
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II f revs' (their very own) room was given.
j ! Session XX dealt with the care and handling of a book and other library
materials, Again they were uhown a film in the story room which was gaily decor-
ated with mobils and a brightly painted train loaded with toys, flowers, and
books. This train was the theme used on the bulletin display and the front of
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the book list handed to the children, and coordinated with the film for program Y
which was entitled "The Little Engine That Could",
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Through this program children who had never before been inside a library
have been introduced to the services offered him by his public library, All were
invited to the summer reading program and gl.ven literature explaining these
activities,
Color slides and a cassette tape explaining this program were made for,the
use of 'other libraries,
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The second program for Senior Citizens was initiated last year with deposit ;
book collections placed in each of the Denton Nursing Homes, This year, service
was extended to Pilot Point. These are exchanged twenty books at a time every
two weeks. These books are checked our on the library card assigned to each
center and a card with the nave of the center is placed in the book pocket of
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each book. There is no ohock-out system within each nursing home collection,
Although we have lost some books we have generally had good luck and will aonhiuue
with this system,
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The project within this program was to have film programs that could be
used in the library and at the nursing homes, The subject chosen was "American
Paintera" because the American Association of Retired Persona Art Group meets
in the library from time to time. Films were shown at all the nursing homes
and to the A.A.R.P. Art Group, Rosponae from the nursing homes was good and
the Directors have requested regular programs, The film program for the A,A,R,P.
Art Group resulted in an invitation to speak to the A.A,P„P, General Club.
All the materials bought for Project Seven were used effectively, Film
E # showings totaled eighty-four (84) and were viewed by two thousand, two hundred
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and thirty-two (2,232) patrons.
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The gmily Fowler Public Library feels that Project Seven has upgraded j
both of our library programs. Our plane are to continue other
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within these programs, i
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Among the truly extraordinary achievements of the year must be mentioned
in technical processing, Seven thousand (7,000) books were added to the
collection{ Many others reclassified, and one thousand, three hundred twelve '
(1,312) paperback books were processed in "spare time", The entire collection
was inventoried for count of titles and volumes. At the end of the year the
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library has forty thousand, two 'hundred sixty-eaven (40,267) volunmo#
All of this activity may seem more trivia to the uninitiated bitt the
competence with which it was done avid the increase in, productivity is to be
commanded
Reference servicos continued to expand in ways that are rewarding to j
all of us. A major event in our reference seetiou oaeured with the ovgani-
zation of our Denton county collection, it was our purpose to gather and
organize these materials in a manner that would give efficient service to
the patron,
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Lives and careers or, individuals having lived in or directly influencing
the development of the community are emphasized. The collection is composed
of pictures, clippings, manuscripts, pamphlets, bootie, scrapbooks, microfilms,
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microfiche and newspapers,
The 1957 Centennial Edition of the Denton Record Chronicle was indexed,
our plane are to index the end-of»tho-year issue of each year and the back»to-
school issue of 'each year of the Record-Chronicle, A beginning was made with
the indexing of the 1971 issue and this will be continued going baek to the 1957
issun. This will afford a reference to the high-spots of the years' news until
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more detailed indexing can be done. Several old newspapers dated 1868, 18800
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and 1898 were included in the indexing, as was The Handbook of Northern Texaco
cemetery rolls, and manuscripts housed in looked oases, Historv and Rem{niseences `
of Denton County, by Ed F, Hatay and .112 Years in Little Elm Community„ by, J, M,
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Harris were also indexed and added to the master file, The latter book had no
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index and the Hates book's index was incomplete. All of the scrapbooks which'
had been compiled by various people were paged, indexed, and added to the tnastor,
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Several lnrral historians worm contacted and an oral history collection has
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been started, several, tapes. have been made which has brought forth a wealth of '
t material, Our patrons are genuinely interested in the preservation of the county
history and were most cooperative.
That this is a worthwhile endeavor becomes even more evident, 0rowing
interest is evidenced in the high school students doing term papers on local
subjects, the wide eyes of the second graders touting the library at the pictures
of Denton's buoin,~ss section in 1876, and in the request for personal names and '
historical' locations from the builders of the Plower Mound Town just mouth of
Denton, They plan to locate hi.etorio buildings and spots so that the town may
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be planned around them and they may be preserved, Experiences of this sort gives
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the library personnel a strong feeling of accomplishment and a conviction of the
I importance of a local history collection,
j With our practice of sharing resources among the various libraries in the
balsas-Pt, Worth area it is not surprising that interlibrary loan activity
continued at a brisk pace, The library continues to participate in several
cooperative enturpr+ses, including the North Central Tex
i as Vi1m Coop, ;
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We have rdada progress this year but we feel that the library has not reached
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its full potential, our plans for next, year will bring us closer to this goal,
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