Parking--Good news

As Summer Reading concludes many customers are breathing a sigh of relief since parking will be more readily available. Some numbers to consider: on Saturday June 2, 2007 (Summer Reading Kickoff) there were 2252 customers who exited our building; during July there were 15 days of the 25 we were open that had more than 1200 customers. Where did you park? Were you able to get one of our 16 existing parking spaces? Did you park on the street? Did you ride your bicycle or skateboard? Did you walk? Did you park in the auxiliary parking across the street? We’re so glad you battled parking to visit us and spend some time here!

Even though the parking situation seems grim, there is good news. The new building proposal includes a parking garage that will be adjacent to the building and will have lots of parking spaces! It is our goal to have these spaces free of charge for our customers.

Spaces for Teens

Teens are excited and so are we! Nampa Public Library’s teen group, T.A.L.K., is off to a great start and they have already contributed many ideas for new programming and the new building. In some of the community forums teen spaces were discussed and include cool things like display areas, comfy seating and places to visit.

Here are some pictures I took at the Salt Lake Public Library that made me think of the spaces we’ll have for our teens.

Fresh Ideas!

Three NPL librarians attended the 2007 conference of the American Library Association, and each brought back ideas for a new building as well as ideas for improved services. They returned with books. They brought back flyers and brochures about library furnishings and equipment. They made contacts with vendors. They took notes at programs about library services and facilities.

A few quotes about library buildings from their reports:
· Browsing activities should be seen from the street – seeing other people looking at books draws other people into the library.
· A library is important as ‘people space,’ similar in some ways to a bookstore.
· Images showed children’s spaces featuring lots of curves and flow, and one showed an outdoor garden for children.
· Signage and graphics were extremely important to give people a feeling of empowerment.
· Clear clutter and improve basic cleanliness, which is very important to customers.
· A café or coffee shop connects people to the library.

Wifi at the Library?

You bet! Wifi technology is planned for the new library building and it should be robust and accessible in all of the planned nooks and comfy seating. Imagine being able to read your email from anywhere in the library with your own computer. Not only will you have access to all of your own materials but it will free up the public internet computers for more people. Of course, we plan to have even more public internet access computers in the new space—it will be a great place to work and explore!

Even better--Nampa Public Library started a pilot Wireless Internet program in our current building. Several of our customers have already found the new service useful. So when you see someone using the internet on a laptop—they are probably using wifi!

To learn more about wifi click here .

Shhh! We want QUIET!

Library enthusiasts at public forums and other discussions see-sawed on the question of quiet spaces versus reasonably noisy spaces. The conclusion was always that Nampa needs both, and our new library should have room for both kinds of library environment. People should be comfortable using normal ‘inside’ voices in high traffic areas and children’s or teen areas, and those who want a very quiet place should be able to enjoy a quiet reading/study lounge – without cell phones. Requests for quiet areas came from the teen focus group as well as the general ones! If you prefer a very quiet environment in which to read and study, look forward to a glass enclosed area with a view! The building program calls for a quiet reading room, with six lounge chairs and 12 individual study tables. Preliminary sketches have a gas fireplace in the reading room.

Karen Ganske

Unsung heroes helped lay foundation for a new library

Longtime Library Board members Ed Schiller and Laurene Stanford were honored Thursday night at Nampa’s premier downtown block party. They helped envision the new library and worked hard toward its creation. On behalf of the existing Library Board of Trustees, Mayor Tom Dale presented engraved bookends that express appreciation for their service.
“Their contributions have helped make the Nampa Public Library a vibrant cultural hub of the city,” Dale said before the event.
The Downtown Nampa Nights features live music, hot food and beverages every Thursday night, a festive venue for briefly recognizing community accomplishments.
Schiller, who served on the Library Board from 1988 to 2006, is secretary for the Downtown Nampa Association and can be seen serving up beer or hot dogs at the back of the crowd and in front of his law office. The presentation was a surprise.
Schiller served 18 years on the board that oversaw dramatic improvements at the Library including establishing the online catalogue, public computers, courier service to other libraries, the strategic plan, committee for a new library and the electronic system for self-checkout.
Stanford served on the board from 1997 to 2007 and was a leader in the early stages of preparing for a new building. She was instrumental in improving communication between the library and local schools, developing evaluations for the library director and strategic planning. She is still an active volunteer.
The Library Board decided recently to honor both former members for their outstanding contributions.
Library Director Karen Ganske said both “served with great distinction, offering countless hours to the library and never failing to support its mission.”
“Ed served a partial term plus three five-year terms,” said Ganske, which is “unprecedented in modern times.”

Teens contribute to library plans & services!

Our community teens are fabulous! They help run the summer reading program by volunteering their time and labor to various programs. Our teens take the time to tell us what is on their minds by submitting purchase requests and asking questions.

While at a preconference for the American library Association Conference in Washington DC today I found that again and again our teens are valuable resources who help move our services forward and keep us up-to-date. Our teens can help lead the way to the new world of technology.

So what are we doing for our teens? We want to provide more opportunities for teens to make a difference in the library. Our first Teen group started a few weeks ago and will have its second meeting next week on June 26th at 4PM. Our teens will help determine (and provide) programs for teens. Our teens will help create/conceptualize the new Teen Space at the new library. Our teens rock and it will be great to help create a space and programming for them in our new building!