WILTON — Jennifer Scott, director of Wilton Free Public Library, told the Board of Selectpersons Tuesday, Feb. 4, staff had removed several outdated selections of adult nonfiction from the stacks.

“We finished a major deacquisition project,” Scott said. “Essentially, every book has a life span. If it was written in 1942 and it is about autism, it is probably not relevant anymore. There is an argument to be made that it is more harmful to have it on the shelf. We went through and looked at circulation records and relevancy and did some major weeding.”

Her report also included an overview of several library events, fundraisers and projects which took place during July through December. Programs included a children’s summer reading program, teen game nights, Polar Express pajama storytime, a Halloween costume dance and a donation match challenge.

“We received an anonymous donation of $500 dollars from a gentleman who told us if we could raise $500, I will match it,” she said. “So, we did. One of the things that was great about this is the donations didn’t come in big chunks. It was people giving us $3, $4, and $5 at a time. That’s a lot of small but mighty donations.”

Staff also visited Western Maine Play Museum which opened last summer.

“They essentially share the same mission statement we do,” she said. “Obviously, we have different ways of going about that. We talked about how we could be mutually beneficial to each other and cross-promote stuff. The library ended up buying a pass so people with library memberships could check out the pass and attend programs at the museum for free.”

Looking ahead, Scott said the staff was working on fundraisers, the upcoming budget, the annual report to Maine State Library and replacing the public access computers.

“They are 10-plus years old,” she said. “In the life of a public access computer, that is very old.”

Selectperson Tiffany Maiuri said she was impressed with the quality of programming at the library.

“Every time I’ve gone down there, there is always something exciting going on,” she said. “As a grandparent, I always use the library to see what events are coming up. You really continue to raise the bar.”

The library is located at 6 Goodspeed St. It is open Tuesday and Friday 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.; Wednesday noon to 7 p.m.; Thursday 10 a.m. to 7 p.m.; and Saturday 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. For more information, call 645-4831.

 

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