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Cottage Grove Library reports higher program attendance, reevaluates Glen Grove schedule
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Summary
Library staff reported higher attendance at recent programs, detailed ongoing and upcoming events, and said Glen Grove programming may need scheduling changes because the high-school bus drop-off is after planned start times.
Library staff reported rising program participation and outlined ongoing and planned activities at the Cottage Grove Library during the board's hybrid meeting at Village Hall and online.
Monica, a library staff member responsible for programming, said August's programs included a strong showing at community events such as Community Night Out and a concert-in-the-park booth tied to a Taylor Swift–themed community event. Monica said story times at Bakken Park are averaging 25 to 45 attendees each week and that STEAM sessions featuring Legos were especially well received. "Legos never fail," Monica said.
Staff reported that for August the board packet lists 13 programs; a numeric attendance figure in the transcript for that month was not clear. For September, staff reported five programs so far with 66 attendees. Staff also noted steady weekly story-time attendance and that STEAM (science, technology, engineering, art and math) programs, run with sponsorship from the Friends of the Library, drew strong engagement.
Monica said the Glen Grove partnership has had modest pickup and that staff are reconsidering times and days because the high-school bus does not drop off until about 4:15 p.m., which makes an earlier, all-inclusive homework-and-check-in model difficult. Staff plan to meet with Glen Grove staff to explore later start times and different days.
Other programming notes included a planned Pathfinder role-playing club (replacing a Dungeons & Dragons group) starting at the end of the month with a volunteer leader, a cookbook club beginning in October, and a move of the Distillery-hosted program nights to Wednesdays to avoid local trivia-night conflicts. Staff also said they plan to place a sandwich-board sign with the library programming logo at outreach sites to increase visibility.
The board acknowledged the programming report and asked questions; no formal board action was taken on programming at this meeting. The board also discussed the annual all-community read: staff said the proposed author appears to be Wisconsin-based, reactions in early checks of community interest and reviews were mixed, and documentation of prior planning for the fall read was not available to the new staff lead. Board members indicated they would continue planning and revisit the selection and outreach strategy.
