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Thomas Balch Library reports 3,200 visits in January, previews exhibits and staffing changes
Summary
Library Director Laura Christians reported about 3,200 visits in January, upcoming exhibits and programs, ongoing staff training, and progress toward filling a cataloging and reference librarian position and seasonal intern slots.
Laura Christians, the Thomas Balch Library director, told the commission that the library recorded about 3,200 visits in January despite a snow closure.
"We still had about 3,200 people through the library," Christians said, noting a higher-than-usual number of research visitors and school groups drawn by a traveling exhibit and student artwork displays.
The library will host new exhibits in February, including a Mercer Room case exhibit produced by the Black History Committee and the Witherhin and Peabody Heritage Area Association about a Black loyalist in the American Revolution. Christians said the exhibit is illustrated with paintings by local artist Portrait Evans and that many schoolchildren saw the traveling Heritage Farm Museum display earlier in the month.
Christians outlined programs planned for February and March. On February 22 the library will host a free textile conservation program brought in with funding shared with the Loudoun Museum; Christians described it as a practical session for residents on preserving family textiles. She also previewed a "Love Your Library" memory-sharing activity planned for February and said recordings of recent programs are available on the library's YouTube channel.
On staffing, Christians said the library completed a second round of interviews this week for a cataloging and reference librarian and hopes to extend an offer soon. She also reported two interns this spring—a Patrick Henry University undergraduate and a Shenandoah University senior working on a thesis—and said summer internship applications are high enough that the library expects to be selective.
Christians described recent staff development efforts: an archival basics class for staff who work with collections, a hands-on preservation workshop at a staff meeting, and a peer visit to George Mason University's Special Collections Research Center to observe processing practices. The director said those visits produced ideas for space use and processing workflows.
The director also discussed ongoing collaborations with George Mason University on the Mason Ledgers project, in which students transcribe and research ledger entries from Loudoun County families dating from roughly the 1780s through the 1820s.
Commission members responded with welcome remarks to newly attending members, thanked staff for outreach to schools, and discussed next steps for tours and university collaborations.
