Index

Director’s Report…………………………………………………………………………………………3

An Average Day in the Greendale Public Library……………………………………………………….4

Circulation………………………………………………………………………………………………..5

Library Visits…………………………………………………………………………………………….7

Electronic Resources……………………………………………………………………………………..7

Reference…………………………………………………………………………………………………8

The Collection………………………………………………………………………………………...…9

Budget………………………………………………………………………………………………….12

Library Board………………………………………………………………………………………….14

Staffing………………………………………………………………………………………………..15

The Greendale Public Library Foundation, Inc……………………………………………………….16

Volunteers…………………………………………………………………………………………….16

Community Involvement…………………………………………………………………………….17

Major Accomplishments in the Year……..………………………………………………………….19

DIRECTOR’S REPORT

Each day the Library staff is challenged to provide a high level of service to a public who, with increasing regularity, tells us they are no longer willing to pay for government-provided services. Taxes are too high, we hear on a daily basis at the Library.

Reduced budgets have brought about changes in the services available to the public. Without staff to do the work, our Library installed a voice mail system to answer our telephones. For the upcoming year, we are going to utilize a telephone notification system for calling our holds. Our preference is to use a person to do this work because we believe in direct contact with our customers and the quality level of interaction this provides.

But we do not have enough staff to accomplish these daily tasks.

On the County level, the lack of funding for reciprocal borrowing payments brought about by reduced municipal budgets means we are losing members of our Milwaukee County Federated Library System. While the residents of the communities who leave cannot use our resources, our Greendale residents will not have access to the rich and unique collections of each library that leaves our system.

Maintaining services on a shrinking budget is a challenge faced by all government entities, but a service organization like ours struggles with the desire to provide a level of service for which we no longer have the funds to support.

However, lest we forget, the Library did receive a new roof, new telephones, new locks, new cash register, and an automated Internet booking program in 2004. For these upgrades we are grateful to the residents.

The staff of the Greendale Public Library is committed to providing the best service it can and it is our hope that every resident will take advantage of the opportunities provided by a free and accessible public library.

Sincerely,

Gary Warren Niebuhr

Library Director

AN AVERAGE DAY IN THE GREENDALE PUBLIC LIBRARY

Number of Days Open to the Public = 338

Average Number of Customers per Day = 461

Average Number of Items Circulated per Day = 680

Average Number of In Person Reference Questions Answered per Day = 34

Average Number of Telephone Reference Questions Answered per Day = 15

Average Number of Reserves Entered per Day by Staff= 22

Average Number of Directional Questions Answered per Day = 21

Average Number of Electronic Resource Users per Day = 54

Cost Per Day = $1,220.77

Per Circulation Cost = $1.97

CIRCULATION

For the seventh time in its history, the Library circulated over 200,000 items, and 2004 was the fourth best circulation year in the history of our Library. In comparison to 2003, the Library’s circulation was down 1,670 items, or 5 items per day.

CIRCULATION

Month	AnnualDif	Differen	2004	2003	2002	2001	2000

January	-457	-457	18,840	19,297	20915	19096	17,741
February	-1,027	-570	17,818	18,388	19010	18232	18,117
March	-494	533	20,079	19,546	21,330	20,350	18,773
April	-1,260	-766	17,703	18,469	20031	17772	17,060
May	-1,919	-659	16,540	17,199	18465	18399	16593
June	-1,064	855	22,126	21,271	22325	23542	20,789
July	-458	606	24,177	23,571	24008	24450	21,093
August	-501	-43	18,243	18,286	20725	22078	18,259
September	-1,275	-774	17,028	17,802	18393	17644	15,618
October	-2,363	-1,088	17,214	18,302	18140	20110	17209
November	-2,434	-71	16,938	17,009	16789	18113	16010
December	-3,146	-712	14,506	15,218	14312	14665	12743
Remote Circs	-1,670	1,476	8,627	7,151	4833	0	0
			229,839	231,509	239,276	234,451	210,005

Here are our annual circulation totals in rank order.

Year	Annual Circulation	All-time rank
	4,863,988
2002	239,276	1
2001	234,451	2
2003	231,509	3
2004	229,839	4
2000	210,005	5
1999	206,279	6
1992	202,728	7
1998	199,098	8
1993	193,868	9
1997	193,485	10
1991	189,397	11
1995	183,950	12
1994	183,321	13
1996	176,047	14
1990	149,476	15
1985	135,835	16
1989	134,629	17
1986	131,991	18
1987	131,401	19
1988	129,564	20
1984	128,935	21
1983	127,332	22
1982	125,625	23
1981	124,032	24
1979	121,539	25
1978	121,539	26
1980	120,886	27
1977	109,660	28
1976	86,494	29
1975	73,862	30
1974	37,935	31

Month	Total Circulation

January	2002 = 20,915
February	2002 = 19,010
March	2002 = 21,330
April	2002 = 20,031
May	2002=18,465
June	2001 = 23,542
July	2001 = 24,450
August	2001 = 22,078
September	2002 = 18,393
October	2001 = 20,110
November	2001 = 18,113
December	1990 = 20,176