Librarian's Report to Friends July 2026
BRANCH MANAGER'S REPORT
Thank you for providing cookies, free books, and water to folks who attended Ridgefield Community Library’s 5th birthday at Overlook Park on July 10. People appreciated both.
Staff estimated they made 150 buttons, including 20 for one boy whose mother sent a photo of him wearing all of them and grinning hugely. I enjoyed seeing the line dancers on stage and audience members dancing with them. And seeing the Stitchery ladies basically mobbed by children and parents.
The Branch manager wanted to note two things. First, I’ve always gauged success in tween and teen programming by whether participants volunteer. While there was a tween volunteer from the Tuesday RPG program what makes me happy is to have volunteers from both Stitchery and Adult Line Dancing. Thank you, Christle, for the idea.
A second thing to note, and it may or may not relate to the first item, is that I’m seeing active adults coming to both Adult Line Dancing and Gentle Strength and Stretch while there are some of the same people at the Fiber Arts Social Circle and Adult Line Dancing. That tells me the library is doing a good job serving this population.
In July 2026 11,597 items circulated. In July 2025 11,007 items circulated. This is an increase of 5.36%.
For the year at the end of June 2026 63,524 items circulated. By the end of June 2025 61,653 items had circulated. That's an increase of 3.03%.
Ridgefield staff started bringing the Tetris Stacker to the YMCA’s Picnic in the Park along with promoting library programs and resources June 29. Picnic in the Park takes place every Monday, Wednesday and Friday until August 14.
July 1 programming staff presented a collaborative pirate storytime, each person reading a book, and all of us singing in full pirate costume to an audience of 83.
June 23 and July 13 several employees of the Cowlitz Tribe joined staff for family storytime, bringing craft supplies and promoting a program they are offering. I introduced the idea of a collaborative storytime featuring one of their employees and a couple of library staff members in September.
July 8 a staff person from the Ridgefield Wildlife Refuge and a member of the Refuge’s Friends group observed Family Storytime and invited programming staff to collaborate on a series of Thursday storytimes at the new Community Nature Center until they feel comfortable doing this themselves. At this point Ridgefield staff will go the Refuge July 23, August 6, and August 20.
Staff are preparing for a large audience for the Reptile Man at the Farmers’ Market on July 18. The rest of our Summer Reading performances are at the Farmers’ Market through August 15.
