LYNNFIELD — Library Director Abigail Porter is asking the town to approve a $974,171 operating budget for fiscal year 2024.
Porter said the proposal represents an overall increase of 1.5 percent over last year’s budget. The budget also includes a $4,000 capital request to digitize architect Charles Wills’ photography collection.
Board member and chair Phil Crawford and board members Joe Connell and Dick Dalton praised Porter’s presentation and also indicated they thought the effort to digitize the collection was “great.”
“I think it’s fantastic to have the Charles Wills collection; he is an icon in this town,” said Crawford. “Anybody that buys a house and finds out it’s a Wills-built, you know you’re getting a beautiful home.”
The calculation of the budget was partly driven by two requirements imposed by the Massachusetts Board of Library Commissioners (MBLC) in order to remain certified. The first is the municipal budget requirement (MAR) which requires budgets be set based on the average of the last three years’ budgets plus 2.5 percent, while the material appropriation requirement (MER) must be 16 percent of the operating budget.
Porter said the budget includes “a few small increases,” including a 2 percent bump up in MER, which she said is per Assistant Finance Director and Town Accountant Julie MCarthy’s recommendation as contract negotiations are still underway. Also factored in is a 2 percent increase to meet supply issues due to inflation.
The Wills collection consists of three volumes that include approximately 600 photos of 388 Lynnfield Wills-designed homes, notes on the building process, and costs.
Porter said the collection is extremely valuable but could be easily damaged in its current state, adding that Wills “was the first builder to see the potential of Lynnfield and lived in four different houses.”
Porter said the library plans to work with the Northeast Document Conservation Center or a similar company.
The capital request submission noted that the purpose of the project would be to “preserve these photographs for indefinite use and because the library is not climate-controlled and has occasional water leaks, making the collection in danger of being easily damaged.”
“Damage to this collection would be a great loss to Lynnfield history and, while we take every precaution we can […] the physical photos are inherently fragile and easily damaged or destroyed. Digitalization would enable people around the world to access these photographs from home.”
Porter highlighted the library’s FY22 and FY23 accomplishments and pointed out that the library filled four vacant full-time staff positions as well as two part-time positions.
“I am very happy to say that we are fully staffed for the first time in several years,” Porter said.
Overall, program participation increased with more than 7,000 people attending events. The library also expanded its Library of Things and community partnerships and outreach. Porter said the storytime program in partnership with Tower Day School has been “a lot of fun.”
Last year, 89,753 people visited the library, an increase of about 30,000 over the prior year. Check out items also increased substantially with physical items increasing by 10,000 to 81,616 and digital items checked out doubling to 33,446. The reference department fielded and answered nearly 9,000 questions.
The summer reading program also had a spike in activity with nearly 2,400 books borrowed.
“I had to order almost double the amount of ice cream from the prior year and we still ran out because we had 175 people join us,” Porter said.
Program attendance also skyrocketed to 7,003, an increase of 6,000.
All staff members have been trained how to be dementia-friendly. Porter said she plans to continue that effort this year.
Finally, the library is on target to roll out a new website in April 2023.
