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Library reports jump in programs and new outreach tools; staff describe partnerships and service model
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Summary
The director and program coordinator reported 217 programs with 3,235 attendees in March, strong uptake of the new children's e-book platform 'Lote for Kids', growth in language and music resources, expansion of Blu-ray collections to branches, and outreach work including QR-code sign-up for student library cards.
At its April 15 meeting the Monroe County Public Library received a monthly report from Director Greer and a programming update from Dana Duffy, program coordinator, detailing increased program activity, new digital resources and expanded outreach.
Greer opened the director's report by correcting the top-line program numbers for March 2026: "we had 217 programs last month with 3,235 attendees," she said. She highlighted that the library introduced a new children's e-book platform, Lote for Kids, in January and that the system recorded 238 story views in March; by contrast Greer said total story views for all of last year were 258. She attributed a near-doubling in Mango Languages usage compared with March 2025 at least in part to the temporary absence (July) and later restoration (February) of Rosetta Stone in the Indiana State Library’s Inspire suite, a change she said was related to funding and vendor renewal decisions.
Greer also discussed other resource trends: Freegal (music streaming) has shown a sudden increase in use, and the library has begun piloting Blu-ray collections downtown with plans to expand browsing copies to several branches after tracking holds via a new circulation analytics tool, LibraryIQ. Greer acknowledged an inconsistency in reported record-streaming figures in the transcript (a previously reported record of 14,412 streams appears higher than a number she mentioned as 14,043) and said staff are reviewing those statistics.
Dana Duffy described switching to a new programming platform, Communico, which has changed how program statistics are recorded and requires staff interpretation for year-to-year comparisons. Duffy explained her role coordinating systemwide partner programs and outreach events — examples included tabling at Indiana University events (First Thursdays), a two-day 'Lotus Blossoms' activity at Fairview School to promote summer reading, and partnerships with Health Net, Tandem (Birthing Center), WonderLab and WildCare for health and science programming. She emphasized that library partnerships are nonpartisan and that partnerships differ from simple room reservations.
On student outreach, Duffy described a QR-code sticker campaign for quick library-card sign-up: "It takes about 3 minutes for them to get their library card," she said, though she noted that students who live outside county boundaries sometimes require a different card type ('plaque' card) that many students decline.
Josh Wolf, director of public services, closed the presentations with an explanation of his managerial role overseeing public services managers (children's, teen, adult services, branch managers, outreach, collection development and circulation), supporting systemwide projects (for example, circulating Adobe licenses), and keeping regular frontline shifts to stay connected to patrons and staff. He described MCPL as operating between a small and a large library and said staff often "tinker" with new approaches to test what works.
What this means Library leaders described rising usage of some digital services and continuing experimentation in collections and outreach. Staff said they are reviewing platform-driven reporting differences and specific record counts to reconcile apparent inconsistencies before publishing finalized statistics.
