- East Brunswick Public Library

A nnual
R eport
2006
East Brunswick
Public Library
East Brunswick
New Jersey
WHAT KIND OF YEAR
HAS IT BEEN?
To paraphrase the old TV news tagline, What kind of year has it been?
For the information center of East Brunswick and the population it serves,
2006 was a very good year indeed. The Library was named Best Public Library
in Central New Jersey in the Home News Tribune’s Readers Choice Awards
for the ninth consecutive year, every year since the award was created.
Service remains The Library’s watchword. Better services, a fuller range
of services—and delivered when and the way you, our customers, want them,
both in-person and electronically.
And did you ever want them! Total uses of Library materials, in the
building and from remote locations, topped the two million mark for the first
time ever, up nearly ten percent from last year’s record use. Electronic use
alone zoomed up by an astounding 76.8 percent!
A Personal Message from Carol Nersinger, Director
East Brunswick Public Library
2 Jean Walling Civic Center, East Brunswick, NJ 08816
732-390-6950 • www.ebpl.org
YOUR LIBRARY AND YOU:
Two thousand six was an amazing year for me. Arriving as
the newly appointed director of the East Brunswick Public Library,
I wasn’t really sure what to expect. Let me tell you, I was floored!
This is one of the most dynamic libraries with which I have ever
been privileged to be associated. As a township resident, you
deserve high marks for the outstanding support you have continued to show for this remarkable institution. Even given a forwardthinking Board of Trustees, a wonderful Friends group, generous
donors and superlative staff, great libraries don’t happen by
themselves and cannot thrive without the full backing of a
community that consistently uses and values their library.
Increasing use of Library services by all ages and groups indicates
that you are indeed getting full value for your tax dollars here.
Congratulations to everyone on a record-setting year!
Did you know your Library recently made history? As of January
of 2007, the East Brunswick Public Library became the first public
library in New Jersey to be open evening hours on Fridays, Saturdays
and Sundays. The new schedule means that The Library is open
every night of the week until 9 p.m. to serve your needs. And wait
until you see what’s in store for the coming year.
But as for 2006, it was a year filled with improvements in
virtually every aspect of Library services.
Information, Front and Center: A more visibly placed Information desk
greeted visitors as they walked in the door. Mobile outreach made its bow,
with librarians sporting two-way radios and headsets to communicate with
customer service representatives on the floor directing customers and answering their questions.
One Line = Less Waiting: During 2006 the Media and Circulation
departments merged, simplifying and streamlining the checkout process
with more efficient and quicker transactions for customers on a single line
at the Circulation desk.
Check It Out: In November The Library checked out its 23 millionth item
since opening in 1967. Contributing to that figure were new collections,
prominently displayed near the Circulation desk, that you borrowed in
droves, including so-called “chick-lit,” cookbooks, and titles on sprucing
up the home.
Getting with the Programs: Youth and The Library—still perfect together. Despite the many diversions available, children still flocked to hundreds
of Library programs in 2006. And who says libraries don’t figure into teens’
busy schedules? Young adult attendance at Library programs rose a whopping 278 percent, from 529 in 2005 to 2,002—a figure likely to skyrocket
with the coming Teen Space.
Their elders partook of opportunities to learn and be entertained, too.
Adult program attendance increased to 3,978, bettering last year’s figure by
51.7 percent. With more and more innovative programs appealing to every
taste scheduled for 2007, that figure, too, has nowhere to go but up.
In Step with Tech: In February, The Library became a Wi-Fi hotspot.
Library customers began bringing their laptops and other wireless devices
to use the wireless network.
Customers who signed up were able to receive email notifications from
The Library rather than wait for regular post office delivery.
Listen NJ enabled downloading of audio books. Access and download
hundreds of popular fiction and nonfiction titles with your Library card!
Audiobook downloads are compatible with most MP3 players, Pocket
PCs, laptops and Windows PCs. Many titles may also be burned to CD.
Automatic return means no late fees, ever!
TV or Not TV? Definitely, TV! The community wanted more TV on DVD,
and The Library responded. The Library began offering more copies of new
television programs as well as feature films to meet the growing demand.
EBTV, your municipal cable access station seen on Comcast’s Channel 3
and located within The Library, marked its 30th anniversary, with nearly
5,000 shows produced. EBTV is the only government-affiliated station in
the state to produce a weekly TV news magazine, the award-winning This
Week in East Brunswick.
We Can Go On Meeting Like This: The Library’s meeting rooms were
used 1,739 times—that’s an average of about five uses every day The
Library was open.
You Could Hear a Pin Drop: A new, glass-enclosed Quiet Study room
debuted to praise for its size and light, airy feel.
Going Places: Passport processing and passport photo hours zoomed from
22 to 62 per week, an increase of 152 percent. Service until 9 p.m. Mondays-Thursdays meant that returning commuters could still have a leisurely
dinner with plenty of time afterwards to drop by the Administration Office.
H ighlights
Our Generous Donors: 2006
Afternoon Hadassah Book Study Group:
Sylvia Blum, Roslyn Cooper,
Roberta Fachler, Judith Gerstein,
Gloria Gitlitz, Trudy Hankin,
Hazel Hundert, Bobbi Lesser,
Esther Sabin, Phyllis Schneider,
Sandy Schwartz, Sylvia Stone,
Blanche Weinberg
Norma Albin
Alvarez Family
Bader Family
Battaglia Family
Brenda Berger
The Book Club
Ricky Boyarsky
Richard & Joan Brand
Bonnie Brill
Marian Bruno
Beverly Budd
Marilyn & Robert Burke
Sandra & Leonard Busch
Judith L. Caccavale
Amy Chang
Marty & Maxine Chodroff
Anita Cohen
Lorraine DeAngelis
East Brunswick Boys JV and Varsity
Basketball Teams
East Brunswick Friends of The Library
East Brunswick Library Board Members
East Brunswick Staff Association
East Brunswick United Church of Christ
East Brunswick Woman’s Club
E.B.W.C. Literary Group
Ellen’s Book Club and Friends:
Darlene, Frankie, Rose, Sharon,
Lynn, Peggy and Diane
Roberta Entner
Eveleth Family
Linda, Irvin & Wendy Feins
Susan & Phil Fischer
Amy Fisher
Flieder Family
Friends of the Chagnon Family
Friends of Rollie Davis
Friends in the Transition Department
of High Road School
Sandra Fyler
Gaitman Family
Stella Gatarz & Family
Gianaras Family
Gloria & Gerald Gitlitz
Ann Grice
Shreya & Shayan Gupta
Stephanie Harris
Ellen & Robert Heitner
Ellen & Joe Henkin
Bea Hess
Martha Jane Hess
Bill & Sally Hettler
Karen Horlick
Pat & Ken Irons
Howard & Phyllis Javorsky
Luci, Michael & Erin Jengo-Quirk
Miriam & Craig Kane
Barrie & Glen Kassan
Maxine & Ken Kaufman & Family
Dr. & Mrs. Elliott Kessler & Family
Elisabeth & Donald King
Sandra & Donald Klein
Suzanne Klein
Rosemarie & Allen Kobezak
Rhoda & Steve Konigsberg
Lenore & Allen Kulek
Trish & Frank LaDuca
Maureen Lawlor & Family
Lettieri Family
Linda & Roy Levi
Carol & Robert Levine
Laurie, Abby & Adam Levitt
Laura Lipinski
Lucretia Lipper
Bernice & Joe Manheim
Jeff & Cheryl McBride
McNicoll Family
Mark Miraglia
Jean Miraglia
Joan Mitzner
Marvin & Jill Moskowitz
Colleen Murphy
Bernadette Napp
Noppenberger Family
O’Sullivan Family
Martin & Penny Parker
Karen Parry
Meri Pearl
Marcia & Bruce Peter
Marty & Denise Pine
Hilda Polansky
Barbara Preville
Swarna Rachabattuni
Mr. & Mrs. Pravic C. Raval
Betty & Jay Reba
Alan & Lynn Saperstein
Lynn Saperstein Book Club
Louise & Edwin Saul
Margaret G. Schmidt
Leslie & Paul Schoen
Stan & Jackie Schutzbank
Seidler Family
Helen & Robert Shillito
Hari Silber
Lana & Neal Silberberg
Gloria & Seymour Silverstein
Claire & Irving Sinai
Barbara & Paul Singer
Ethan Singer
Ilene & Bill Slater
Barbara & Ken Slawinski
Carl & Kathy Smith
Lois Solomon
Ellen & Larry Stein
Helen Stokes
Sharon, Steve, Matt & Dan Sullivan
Theresa Sweeney
Tara Association
Annette & Josh Verona
Neala & Allan Vogel
Jerry & Rhoda Wagman
Arleen Weiss
Paul-Gabriel Wiener
Arthur & Linda Willner
Susan Wolf
Carole & Scott Yablonowitz
Young at Heart Doll Club
Zar-Taub Family
2006 MATCHING GIFT PROGRAM
DONORS: EBPL/FL MEMBERS
Robert Bramson
Elizabeth M. Buckley
Gary G. Chicchi
Stephen G. Clark
James Crehan
Anne Dombrowski
Marilyn Ernst
Raymond F. Geigerich
Alan Getz
Gary M. Gorran
William L. Henckler
Ludwig L. Hupp
Ernestine Ilcken
David L. Julis
Leonard L. Kaplan
Michael A. Kaufman
Elisabeth King
Richard Leitman
Gunter M. Lewin
Arthur L. Lifshey
John R. Marvel
Mary L. Nartowicz
Myron T. Noar
John M. Nolan
Robert F. Pierce
Kenneth Portera
Carol Runyon
Rita Ryer
Edwin Saul
Louise Saul
Olga Seltzer
Vincent Serrao
Thomas H. Shelley
Judith G. Smith
Kathryn L. Starzer-Farrell
Karen Sullivan
Yatin B. Thakore
Paul Thorne
Jacques L. Wachtel
Lin Yan
Richard Zielinski
2006 MATCHING
COMPANY DONORS:
American Express Company
Aventis
Colgate-Palmolive Company
ExxonMobil Foundation
J. P. Morgan Chase Foundation
Johnson & Johnson Family of
Companies
Merck Partnership for Giving
Mitsubishi Trust & Banking
Corporation (U.S.A.)
The Mitsui USA Foundation
Mutual of America
National Starch & Chemical
Foundation
Pfizer Foundation
The Robert Wood Foundation
SAP
Telcordia Technologies
The UPS Foundation
Income and Expenditure by Percent
INCOME
Township Appropriation
Other
Revenue
Friends
EXPENDITURES
Personnel
Materials
Other
Building
Income
Township appropriation
Revenue
Friends of The Library
Other
80
14
0.4
5.6
Expenditures
Personnel
Materials
Building
Other
62
12
0.3
23
Library Administration and Managers
Carol Nersinger, Director
MaryEllen Firestone, Assistant Director
Carol Phillips, Youth Services
Cindy O’Connor, EBTV
Dianne Hall, Information Technology
Karen Parry, Information Services
Kathy Bowden, Circulation
Kathy Smith, Adult Services
Frank Day, Maintenance
Patricia Irons, Administrative Services
Cram Sessions help teens
prepare for exams
Library Board of Trustees
Gail Dysleski, President
Elaine Lee Kessler, Vice President
Stanley Fischer, Treasurer
(Dr.) Arthur Lewin, Secretary
Paul J. Endler, Jr., Alt. Mayor, Libraries of Middlesex Representative
Patricia LaDuca, Alt. Superintendent of Schools
Ann Montanaro
Angus Kress Gillespie
Bertram E. Busch, Library Attorney
Roni Deitz, Student Representative
Mayor and Township Council
William Neary, Mayor
Nancy J. Pinkin, President
Edward Luster
David Stahl
Catherine Diem
Donald Klemp, Vice President
Stuffed animals
create a friendly
atmosphere in
Youth Services
Friends of The Library
Eileen Barron, President
Willette Seibel, Vice President: Book Sale
Roberta Stone & Anita Varshney,
Vice Presidents: Membership
Lena Fullem, Corresponding Secretary
Irene Senick & Barbara Butler, Financial Secretaries
Carol Adelman, Recording Secretary
Robin Rushfield, Treasurer
Children
“Read to a
Dog”
A Parting Message from the Director
Now that The Library is open until 9 p.m. every night, be sure to check out the greatly expanded array of
program listings in the newsletter Inform and on www.ebpl.org, “News and Events.”
Watch for The Library’s big 40th Birthday Party, May 1-6, with live music, ‘60s dancing, movies, cartoons, coffee
bar, food, antique cars, family games, prizes and surprises.
Be sure to drop by The Library’s new café, Tables of Content.
Teens are cordially invited to try out the new Teen Space, designed by and for teens.
In closing, on behalf of the Library Board of Trustees, our thanks go to you, our customers; the Friends of The
Library; and our many generous donors for a great year!