I Suck At Being A Library Trustee

I had my first official meeting today as library trustee. Too bad I suck at being a library trustee.

I thought the meeting was very productive and very enlightening. After all, I am still new to the seedy underworld of town politics. The meeting started off with the customary signing of invoices for services that the library needs to pay.

From there, the topic of discussion centered around the library and how to continually provide quality services that the residents want with the limited resources available. To say it's a difficult task is an understatement.

A recent survey was conducted by the library to get feedback from residents on recommendations to improve the library. One of the more obvious recommendations was a new bigger building. The population of Norwell has more than doubled since the building was first created. And with the larger population, that means more resources... and less physical space.

Sadly, moving the library or constructing a new building for the library is not an option for the town. I am afraid I do not know the particulars about that issue, since I am still new to the office. If you were to ask me, I think the expectations of providing quality services to a population that has doubled while remaining in the same dated confined space is a little unrealistic. It's times like that where I wish Doctor Who's telephone booth can be replicated.

For those who do not know Doctor Who, he is a time traveler who travels in what is called a TARDIS, which resembles a telephone booth. The interior of the TARDIS is immensely larger than the exterior. Hence, the reference.

Anyway, the library building itself was not up for discussion tonight. The main discussion was about offering Sunday hours to patrons which was one of the more popular recommendations from the survey. If only things were easy. With Sunday hours come the discussion of premium pay (also known as time and a half), which then eats into the existing budget. So a solution will need to determine how to incorporate that, if that is decided upon.

There were other topics that came up as well. For an enviro-nut like myself, I am finding that town government really does waste a lot. I refer to the paper waste, of course. Pages upon pages are stored everywhere in town hall... and the library. To me, it's surprising that more places do not go paperless. But that's just me.

All in all, it was a very good meeting in my opinion. Hopefully I can make a change.