HomeMy WebLinkAbout1972
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Oarober 17, 1972
Members of the City Council
and the County Comnissionerst
The Library Board wishes to submit the following information
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to you as a short resume of the library's activities and advance-
ments during the past year.
We wetepme and encourage you to come to the library to look
around, to visit, or for additional information oonoerning this
rapart.
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~I 9inaerelyi
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Dr. David F. Spook
Chairman, Library Board
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Emily Fowler Public Library
Annual Report
October 1, 1971 » September 30, 1972
YEAR THREEI TOTAL CIRCULATION 123,510; sheer physical effort involved
in keeping these volumes shelved and in good order, SPECIAL ?Ro0RAM9, EXHIBITS.
7,025 BOOKS ADDED TO THE COLLECTION, 3,257 new patrons registered, BOOKS IN
HEAVY DEMAND KEPT OVERDUE; consequent frayed tempers of the staff. LETTERS IN
THE BOOK DROP SUCH AS=
TO WHOM IT MAY CONC M
It was only yesterday that I discovered that I have had amnesia for the
last month. Today I am making an attempt at re-diacovering who I am,
As you might well imagine it is turning out to be a difficult procasa;
piecing together bits and scrape of what now appears to me to be a
trag..o life. Could the real me have left three library books to mold
and mildew (to become overdew, as it were)? The more the mysteries of
my life unfold before my 'eyes and, as in some cases, behind my back the
greater my resolve to amand the old inadequacies, Were it not for my
i extreme age I would probably discard my former eelf.and start anaw,
Ii If I had that option open to me I would probably rename myself Brent,
Don't you think that's a nice name?
I am sneaking these books back by dark of night into your airoonditionsd
depository slot for I cannot boar to face you, 18 that silly of me?
Dearest Emily, forgive me for not having the money to pay the fines. May
I call you Emily? Yea, please call me Brent,
Yours,
Brent
So wont our year, and it has been qne of achievement. There is nothing
unusual or different about the Emily Fowler Public Library, What is unique
is that this is our library, in our County, in our City,, serving bur citizens,
Morever,`they reflect our joint effort, For what we have achieved has not been
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the result of any single Individual
Many individuals and groups who
believe i but oP
it, the value of libraries and learning,
For instenoe the Ariel Club sponsored the second series of book reviews
by club members, Printed
bookmarks distributed
date of the reviews at the library with time and
and publicity from our
capacity crowds 10041 newspapers resulted in near
,
The Denton County Haalth Planning Council presented three programs. on
current health problems, drugs, mental health and
alcoholism,
1 Groups and individuals were generous to loan examples of their ar
, J and interesting hobbies, Students of Mack Patty t work
their and of Pat 0inniuga brought
Paintings to exhibit,
The Weavers Guild diaplayed wall hangings, rugs,
garments and needlepoint,
The Business and Professional Womens club arranged
for an interesting display on "America,, Women", ,
During the "Week of
the Young Child" M
kindergurtena decorated work from Denton pre•suhools and
t our walls. Art students from Denton High School held
their annual show in April,
"Chioki" Morrie presented it one woman
show that included oil
pottery and sculpture. Mr, B. P. Brown displayed painting,
J keys. Mr. Raymond H, Lricson of Krum b his collection of telegraph
sought
currency, The North Texas State a collection of University rare coins and
Minh Glass and a dts la y Museum loaned a collection of Sand.
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p y of porcelain dolls. An exhibit on conservation and
I pollution was sent from the Sierra Club;
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l p Interest was expressed by donations totaling 06039.84. Gifts Of cash d>
~ not, of course, tell the entire story. There were man b
donated,. From these the li,brar y ooks and magazines
Y has been able
azinas and often found our: of to Pill in our back files of mag»
print books
copies of magazines and books were we needed for our collection„ bu
given to San plicate
ger and Lewisville,
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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 plan written by the 'Library
Board,
Planning for the future, the Library Board completed the paper work for the
Emily Fowlar 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 r.
obtaintall a federal grant of ton thousand (10,000) dollars this year) six thousand
(6,000) dollars to be spent in upgrading the book collection and four 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 1
special effort to reach the disadvantaged in both programs,
The first program is Early Childhood Enrichment, Since the now library
opened we have had a year-round program for pre-school children. As a Special
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project within this program our goals were to contact as many pre-school ehildr*n
in the County as possible. It was obvious from our regular' attendance that many
i pra•sohoolara could not come to the library because of working parents.
All of the nursery schools and kindergartens, both public, private, and
denominational in the Denton area were called and invited to attend, Filot point
kindergarten and the Tioga kindergarten were also contacted, Other schools read-
ing of the library's program in the newspaper, called it and requastsd an oppor-
tunity to participate,
li Two sessions were planned, The first was an explanation of how the child
avails nimaelf oflibrary services, Large repliers 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 thoso were explained to the child.
IL was emphasized that he could obtain "his very own" card through the
procedures at no cost to his parents, It was stressed that this was a community
servie'e open to all residents. Accompanying this brief talk a film was shown
and a tour of the library with emphasis on locating their materials in the child-
h _ renal (their very own) room was given.
Session 11 dealt with the care and handling of a book and other library
materials. Again they were shown a film in the story room which was gaily decor-
ated with mobile 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
the book list handed to the children, and coordinated with the film for Program 7
whioh was entitled "The Tittle Engine That Could".
k Through, this program children who had never before been inside a library
halve been introduced to the services offered him by his public library, All were
invited to the summer reading program and given literature explaining these
activities.
Color slides and ,a cassette tape explaining this program were made for,the
use of other librnri.oa,
' Tho second program for denior Citizens was initiated last year with deposit
book collections placed in eacls of the Denton Nursing Homes, This year, sorviee
was extended to pilot point, These are exchanged twenty books at a time every
two weeks, These books are chocked out on the library card assigned to each
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center and a card with the name of thA center is placed in the book pocket of
each book, Thorn is no oheck-out system within each nursing home collection,
Although we have lost some books we have gonerally had geod luck and will continue
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
painters" because the American Association of Retired Persons 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, Response from the nursing homes was good and J
the Directors have requested regular programs. The film program for the A,A,R,p, j
Art Group resulted in an invitation to speak to the A,A,R,P, General Club.
All the materials bought for Project Seven were used effectively, Film
i ahowi.nga totaled eighty-four (84) and wera viewed by two thousand, two hundred
and thirty-two (2,232) patrons,
The Emily Fowler Public Library feels that Project Seven has upgraded
both of our library programs, our plans are to continue other projects
within those programs.
Among the truly, extraordinary achievements of thn year must be mentioned
in technical processing, Eleven thousand (7,400) books were added to the
collection; many others reclassified, and one thousand, three hundred twelve
E (1,312) paperback books were processed in "opera time". The entire collection
was inventoried for count of titled and volumes. At the end of the year the
library has forty thousand, two hundred sixty-seven (40,267) volumes,
All of thiti activity may seem mere trivia to the uninitiated but the
competence with which it was done and the increase in productivity is to be
commendod,
Reference services continued to expand in ways that are rewarding to
all of us, A major event in our rafarenae section oeaured with the organi«
nation of our-Denton County collection. It was our purpose to gather and
organize these materials in a manner that woul d give efficient service to
the patron,
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Lives and careers of individuals having lived in or directly Influencing
the development: of the community are emphasized, The eollaetioi is composed
of pictures, clippings, manuscripts, pamphlets, hooks, scrapb ,-ks, microfilms, J
microfiche and newspapers,
The 1957 Centennial Uition of the Denton Record chroniaie was indexed.
Our plans are to index the end-of-the-year issue of each year and the back-to-
school issue of each year of tho Record-Chronrcle, A beginning was made with
the indexing of the 1971 issue and this will be continued going back to the 1957
issue. This will afford a reference to the high-spots of the years' news until
more detailed indexing can be done. Several old newspapers dated 1868, 1880,
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and 1898 were included in the indexing, as was The Handbook of Northern Texas,
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cemetery rolls, and manuscripts housed in locked cases. History and Reminiscences
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of Denton County by Ed N, Batas and 112 Years n ittle B1 Communit by J, M.
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Harris were also indexed and added to the master file, The latter book had no
index and the Bates book'o index was incomplete, All of the scrapbooks which I
had been compiled by various people were paged, indexed, and added to the maetor
file.
Several local historians wave contacted and an oral history collection has
been started, Several tepee have been made which has brought forth a wealth of
material, Our patrons are genuinely interested in the preservation of the county
history and ware most, cooperative.
That this is a worthwhile endeavor becomes even more evident. Growing
interest is evidenced in the high school students doing term papers on local
subjects, the wide eyes of the second gzaders touring the library at the pictures
of Denton's business anction in 1870, and in the request for personal names and
hi.otoricnl locations from the builders of the Flower Mound Town just south of
Denton, They plan to locate historic 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
the library personnel a strong fooling of accomplishment and a conviction of the
imporLanoe of a local history collection.
With our practice of sharing resources among the various libraries in the
Dallas-Ft. Worth area it is nor. surprising that interlibrary loan activity
continued at a brisk pace. The library continues to participate in several
cooperative enterpriaea, including the North Central Texas Film Co-op.
We have made progress this year but we feel that the library has not reached
its full potential. Our plans for next year will bring us closer to this goal,
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