ANNUAL REPORTANNAPOLIS VALLEY REGIONAL LIBRARY

April 1, 2017 - March 31, 2018

“The Annapolis Valley Regional Librarybuilds strong communities

through the sharing of placesfor collections and connections.”

TABLE OF CONTENTS

4..................Highlights

10..............At A Glance

12..........Branch Activity

13.....................Find Us

14...Note From The Ceo

16........Board Members

5

In October 2017, funding for the new

ANNAPOLIS ROYAL Library project was announced. Over

$670,000 was secured for the library and Maker

Space, hopefully opening in Fall of 2018.

A successful partnership was developed with the Municipality of Kings County Mobile Day Camps.

Each participant registered for a library card when signing up for day camp. The BOOKMOBILE

visited rotating sites, did storytimes, and loaned books to campers. This partnership resulted in 88 visits to the Bookmobile and 46 new memberships.

"Our town and community is better than ever thanks to the great warmth and kindness and

resources available at our fabulous

library!" -- patron, Annapolis

Royal

HIGHLIGHTS

4

In July, the BRIDGETOWN & Area Friends of the Library

invited everyone to the official opening of the beautiful new

DeVenney Room.  Refreshments were served and Premier Stephen McNeil took part in the unveiling and cake

cutting ceremony.

One of KINGSTONʼS most successful

programs has been

Kindermusik for preschoolers.  The four week sessions ran

four times from before

Christmas through the end of April.

The beautiful new KENTVILLE branch opened with great fanfare in November

2017. The staff are settling in and offering many programs in the new community room.

6

The highlight of the week for babies, toddlers and their caregivers in PORT WILLIAMS are our

storytimes on Friday mornings throughout the Fall, Winter and Spring.

The Friends of the HANTSPORT Public

Library hosted a New Yearʼs Day Levee at the

Isabel & Roy Jodrey Memorial Library. The

event was also an opportunity to showcase the Libraryʼs acquisition and display of five Alan

Creighton paintings which had recently been donated by the Sircom

family.

7

Art Wall: Every six weeks, MIDDLETON features a talented artist using a different medium from quilting, to felting to paints. There's is so much

talent in the valley and people enjoy visiting the library to see what's newly displayed!

The WOLFVILLE Memorial Library is

located in the old train station, and Artist

Veronica Post used the train tracks to exhibit

her Uncommon Common Art

installation: "Rocking Horse and Train", a giant wooden

rocking horse, which brought many visitors

to the library.

Over 80 people of all ages attended the BERWICKʼS Harry Potter 20th Anniversary Party, celebrating the 20th anniversary of the publication of Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone. We look forward to

making it more elaborate this year.

Phot

ogra

phed

by:

Sar

ah S

imps

on P

hoto

grap

hy

9

LAWRENCETOWNʼS popular Seed Library expanded to include Berwick Library for

seed distribution much to the delight of patrons.

"The programs offered at the library are awesome and we've enjoyed

going when we are able. Glad that we're able to participate in such an

awesome experience." parent, Berwick

8

WINDSOR continues to offer successful events such as Monthly Lunch & Learn Series, Third Thursday Socials, Escape

Rooms, Story Circles, and weekly games night in conjunction with Valley Games.

"We love the library programs available for our son all year round. He has attended many

of the summer programs including the math/reading tutorials, as well as being able to walk to programs from school in the after-

noons during the school year." parent, Middleton

Summerreaders

signed up:2,859

At least 29,520 hours read by kids & teens

Instagramfollowers:

585

Twitter followers@valleylibs: 1,360

@annavalley: 1,177

22,735

Holds filled:

142,985

Total programs offered:1,936

Program attendance:17,880

Items in

collection:

153,866Items in

collection:

151,446

Online visits288,359

10 11

Income: $2,603,883

Provincial 69%Municipal 24%

Board 7%

Expenses$2,612,379Staff 75%Other 15%

Library Materials 10%

Tutor.com#

of sessions: 339

avg. session length: 20 m

in.

Visits:252,629

622,009

Itemsborrowed:

PublicComputer Use (hours):39,315

DigitalCirculation:

37,859

Facebookfollowers:

1525

AT A GLANCE

NewUsers

3,591

Email Newslettersubscribers: 240

YouTube views:1628

BARA items handled:8,836

views:12,304

AVRL Blogs

12

Lawrencetown

BRANCH

AnnapolisRoyal

Berwick

Bridgetown

Hantsport

Administration

Kentville

Kingston

Port Williams

Windsor

Wolfville

Bookmobile

OnlineRenewals

OverdriveCirculation

ItemsBorrowed

ActiveMembers

Hours ofPublic

ComputerUse

Number ofProgramsOffered

ProgramAttendance

TOTAL

3,076.5

3,337.5

1,504

646

3,985

2,087

2,637

3,079

2,492.5

11,469

5,002

39,315.5

364

339

1,253

798

3,173

1,117

573

2,741

1,230

4,168

2,914

774

131

19,479

63

248

173

181

126

77

41

230

73

166

517

10

31

1,936

596

3,157

1,422

1,607

1,366

752

172

1,257

766

1,813

3,371

252

1,359

17,880

Middleton

BRANCH ACTIVITY

Zinio

36,534

62,086

21,420

12,352

75,894

34,455

10,878

68,387

18,612

57,454

83,068

36,697

3,149

9,164

54,000

36,303

1,556

622,009

1,529

2,283

890

643

4,424

1,738

514

1,999

602

3,775

3,606

604

131

22,735

InformationQuestionsAnswered

Borrow byMail

Facebook “f ” Logo CMYK /

Annapolis Royal BerwickBridgetownHantsportKentvilleKingstonLawrencetownMiddletonPort WilliamsWindsorWolfvilleBookmobile

285 St. George Street236 Commercial Street 38 Queen Street 10 Main Street 440 Main Street 671 Main Street 489 Main Street45 Gates Avenue 1045 Main Street 195 Albert Street 21 Elm Avenue236 Commercial St.

532-2226538-8060665-2758684-0103679-2544765-3631584-3044825-4835542-3005798-5424542-5760

1-866-922-0229

ANNAPOLIS VALLEY REGIONAL LIBRARY BRANCHES

Administrative Headquarters236 Commercial Street

PO Box 510Berwick, Nova Scotia

B0P 1E0

Tel: (902) 538-BOOKToll Free: 1-866-922-0229

Fax: (902) 665-4899Email: administration@valleylibrary.ca

www.valleylibrary.ca

AVRLibrary

@valleylibs

renewyourcuriosity.ca

valleystorytime.wordpress.com

FIND US

13

2017-2018 represents another year of facilities development, with the opening of the new Kentville Library in the former United Church. The residents of Kentville, Friends of the Kent-ville Library, and Kentville Mayor, Council and Town Staff are to be congratulated on an incredible fundraising effort, culmi-nating in the project winning the prestigious "This Place Matters" contest. And there are more new AVRL libraries on the horizon. The new Annapolis Royal Library/Innovation Lab, to be located in the former Annapolis Royal Regional Academy is well under-way, and construction will be completed in the Fall of 2018.

One of the highlights for the AVRL was hosting the Nova Scotia Library Association/Library Board Association of Nova Scotia annual joint conference in September at the Annapolis Basin Conference Centre in Cornwallis. As incoming President of the NSLA, it was extra special for me.

We have had an amazing year for special projects. Be Fit Kits 2.0, which focus on physical literacy (movement skills) are bags of equipment and books that children and families can borrow from the library. We wanted to provide an opportunity for people to learn fundamental skill movements together in a safe and comfortable environment, with hopes they could continue to be active together. The New Horizons Grant - Empowering Participation By All, is a project designed to provide the tools and training to enable seniors with a print disability to partici-pate in social programs offered in their community.

Finally, I want to state how grateful I am to the dedicated library staff, and Library Board. It is truly a pleasure to work with such amazing people. To our Municipal Partners and Friends Groups, thank you for your support. To the citizens of the Annapolis Valley, your continued support speaks volumes! Ann-Marie Mathieu, CEO

1514

We were pleased to enjoy another successful year in our library system. This could not have been accomplished without the guidance from our CEO, Ann-Marie Mathieu.This year, after long awaited renovations, we were able to open the Kentville Library. Thank you to the citizens and the Friends of the Library for making this become a reality for your town. Next, we expect to see the Annapolis Royal Library to open this year. Work continues with the citizens of Wolfville to determine the future of the library for their town. Although we did receive a small grant from the province, the core funding still has not been increased but our region continues to be supported by the local citizens who tirelessly raise money to support these expansions and new builds.We welcomed one new board member this year. We were pleased to have Megan Hodges, the representative from Kings County, join us. I would like to express my appreciation to all the board members, especially the Chairs of Committees that put in many hours on behalf of the boards business. Every board member has taken their responsibility seriously and has helped make our district a better place to work.AVRL was the host this year for the Annual NSLA/LBANS conference. It was one of the most successful conferences for several years and this was due in a great deal because we had such great employees, Charlotte Janes and Wendy Trimper, as co-chairs. Great job done!One of the highlights of the year was the publication of “Reading Nova Scotia-150 Books of Influence. This is a list of books that Nova Scotians believe have influenced their lives. We have shared copies of this publication with many of you, including politicians. I believe copies have found their way across the entire country.As with other years, I would like to say a special “Thanks” to Vice-Chair, Janet Ness for all her help and assistance throughout the year. Janet makes my job much more enjoyable.

Thank you for allowing me to be the Chair of this wonderful organization.Shirley Pineo, AVRL Board Chair

17

Municipality of Annapolis County: Alex MorrisonMunicipality of Kings County: Meg HodgesMunicipality of West Hants: Shirley Pineo – ChairAnnapolis Royal: Pat PowerTown of Berwick: Jane BustinTown of Kentville: Lynn PulsiferTown of Middleton: Jill CoxTown of Windsor: Shelley BibbyTown of Wolfville: Janet Ness – Vice ChairProvince of Nova Scotia: Lesley MacDonald – Treasurer

BOARD MEMBERS 2017-18

16

June 2018