Board sends new library media plan to workshop after data-driven presentation

Miss Altamore presented the Hartford Union High School District's proposed library media plan and asked the board to move the multi-year plan forward for formal approval. The plan, aligned with the Wisconsin DPI Future Ready framework, reflects more than a year of data collection and outreach to staff, students and community partners.

Altamore reported that as of March 3 the library catalog contained 12,186 items across print, audio, visual and digital formats; the library circulated 3,725 items year-to-date, added 1,374 print titles, and weeded 2,403 print items to improve collection relevance and age. She said the foreign-language collection has increased by 53% since the 2023'24 school year. Altamore also described reduced Sora (audiobook/ebook) usage because the district's library and course systems do not communicate, which currently prevents parent notification for Sora checkouts; she proposed an opt-in approach at registration so families can choose to receive those notifications.

Altamore outlined priorities for expanding makerspace capacity (3D printers, Glowforge, Cricut machines) and increasing academic and career-readiness resources (test-prep materials and college/career resources), and said she worked closely with elective departments to make the makerspace useful across curricula. Board members praised the depth of the work and asked for more time to review numbers and policy connections. The board voted to place the library plan on a near-future workshop agenda for further discussion and to allow time for members (and the public) to review supporting data.

Next steps: the plan will be presented at a workshop with additional supporting materials and links requested by board members; the district will prepare any DPI submission materials after workshop review.