Pam Harrison, library director, briefed the Apache Junction Library Board of Trustees on May 8 about the library’s summer programs, several facility upgrades and a conceptual design for a new reading garden.

The report matters because planned closures and renovations will affect public hours and programming during the summer reading season, and the garden project will shape the library’s outdoor programming and public use if it proceeds to construction.

Harrison said program attendance and outreach remain strong despite a malfunctioning gate-count device that left April’s patron-visit numbers undercounted. “Our programs were still really strong, still doing about a 120, programs inside the library and 70 plus outside the library for our outreach,” she said. The library’s flute festival accounted for unusually high March attendance; festival organizers estimated the crowd at about 1,200 people, Harrison said.

Staff members Megan Carbiner, Stephanie Opplinger and Megan Sparks presented material the library team recently delivered to the Arizona Library Association. Harrison said their webinar drew 133 registrations and that the recording is available online.

Harrison described recurring public events and outreach: a bookmark contest with more than 40 submissions this year; LibraryCon, which drew about 500 attendees; and a preschool egg hunt that had roughly 250 participants. She outlined sponsors for the summer reading prize program, naming Sonic, Texas Roadhouse, Panda Express, Raising Cane’s and Culver’s.

Summer reading will run from May 24 to July 12 and will use the Beanstack app for tracking, Harrison said. She also listed kickoff events: a family “Color Your Summer” party the weekend after the board meeting and a first-ever adults-and-teens kickoff at the Page Artists Gallery Studio, 300 West Apache Trail, Suite 106A, from 5 to 7 p.m.

The library will host two “Coffee with a Cop” events — June 11 and Nov. 12 from 9 to 10 a.m. — arranged with Reyna from the Apache Junction Police Department, Harrison said.

Harrison described several facility projects. The library will be closed all day Friday, May 16, and Saturday, May 17, while crews perform a service-entrance (SES) electrical upgrade; she said the library’s electrical system is about 40 years old and the work is necessary to avoid prolonged outages. The main fire alarm panel replacement is scheduled to begin the following week and should not affect opening hours, she said. A lighting upgrade to the Goldfields Room and the Opal program room is planned to reduce dark spots in those areas. Harrison noted that bathroom renovations are already complete.

On planning and community input, Harrison said the library collected about 450 patron surveys and conducted a staff survey to inform a strategic plan expected to begin July 1. The board was told about a series of focus groups for teens, adults, parents of school-age children, community partners and residents 50 and older. She also announced an open house with the library’s architects “next Tuesday from 5 to 7” to review a conceptual design for a proposed reading garden that Harrison described as “slated to be 5,000 square feet” with areas for programming and gardening; she said construction documents and further meetings would follow and that the library hopes the project could reach construction in 2026 if funding and approvals align.

Harrison said the library will post the garden design online and issue a survey for people who cannot attend the in-person open house. She thanked the public works department for coordinating the facility work and encouraged the community to take part in focus groups and the upcoming design review.

Harrison closed by noting that some equipment failures have distorted reported counts for April visits; the gate counter is now fixed but the board will rely on recorded numbers for that month rather than an extrapolated total.

The board did not take formal action on the items in the director’s report; the matters described are informational and will return for future decisions as needed.