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Englewood library reports surge in visitors, supply bottlenecks and plans for space study
Summary
Library leaders told the Englewood City board that daily visits have risen to roughly 200, straining staff and slowing acquisitions after a major vendor bankruptcy; staff outlined hires, a planned RFP for a $8,000–$15,000 space study and new outreach and sponsorship efforts.
Englewood City Library staff told the board at its March meeting that visitor numbers have jumped sharply — to more than 200 patrons per day — and that the system is strained by staffing limits and recent supply-chain disruptions.
"We continued with our trend of doubling the school visitors... If you do the math, it's over 200 visitors per day to the library," said the library director (Rachel Feuhl), who presented monthly statistics and program updates. She said patrons displaced by closures at several Denver branches are coming to Englewood, increasing demand for cards, programs and meeting-room reservations.
The director described a procurement problem that is slowing acquisitions. "Our main bookseller went bankrupt last year," she said, identifying Baker & Taylor as the vendor that folded. The library has shifted to Ingram, a smaller vendor she said is not set up to handle the higher volume the system now needs; that has left staff to complete labeling, cataloging and other processing steps previously outsourced.
Staff said digital acquisitions also suffered when the collections supervisor left; to address that, the library will add a collection development librarian next week who will handle purchasing for physical and digital collections. The board heard that the library currently operates about 19 full-time-equivalent positions and that roughly 82% of the library budget is devoted to staffing.
The board was also presented with a draft plan for a library space study. Feuhl said consultations with peer libraries put the likely vendor cost at about $8,000 to $15,000 and that the library would gather most baseline data in-house to limit vendor expenses. "My plan would be to do a lot of the kind of collection of data, and then working with the vendor, we would just be doing the data analysis and recommendations from them," she said. Staff outlined a next step of publishing an RFP to solicit proposals from architects or design firms.
Other operational changes described to the board include appointment-based tech-assist for complex one-on-one needs while continuing to meet basic tech questions on the spot, and a plan to hire a small number of part-time temporary staff to help with a summer-reading program that grew about 23% last year.
Feuhl asked board members to help recruit business sponsors for the library’s programs and distributed flyers tied to Freedom of Information and sponsorship outreach. She also highlighted a peer-reviewed database, Points of View, as a research resource for students and patrons.
Procedurally, the board approved last month’s minutes by voice vote with ayes recorded and no opposition. The board wrapped the session at approximately 6:34 p.m.; staff said the library will proceed with drafting an RFP for the space study and onboarding the new collections hire in the coming weeks.
The library director and staff provided several follow-up items for the board: the RFP timeline and scope, vendor options to improve acquisition workflows, and updated training materials for board members. The next meeting was not scheduled during the discussion.
