

HILLSDALE – Staying current is a challenge for many libraries today.

Dreams of a community library in the city of Hillsdale came in 1879, when a group of women formed a library association, gathered a collection of 522 books and began to circulate literature among the people of Hillsdale.

“Library services, in one form or another, have now been offered for nearly 140 years,” Hillsdale Community Library Director Mary Hill said.

Today, the library is housed in a two million-dollar, state-of-the-art building with a collection of over 50,000 volumes. The library facility, built in 2003, includes dedicated space for children's programming, a young adults' area, expanded technology and a spacious community meeting room.

Hill said she is dedicated to continuing the dream of providing outstanding service for the Hillsdale area population of almost 12,000. Her biggest concern is how to keep up with the ever-changing needs of today's library patrons on a tight budget.

“Our biggest challenge is finances,” Hill said. “We're just not a well-funded library. I'm on the road trying to ask for money a lot. Recently, I went to Kiwanis and got $300 toward summer reading. I'm also writing a lot of grants.”

Like state-funded public libraries across the country, Hillsdale is competing for scarce resources while trying to expand and update service. Hill said today's library is constantly reinventing itself as community needs change.

The Hillsdale Community Library mission statement includes a pledge to “provide a welcoming environment to all, make the best technology available to serve the information needs of the community and encourage lifelong learning.”

With it's goal of “serving the informational, educational and recreational needs of the citizens of Hillsdale,” Hill said the library offers “an amazing array of programs, materials and services for patrons of all ages, always alert and adaptive to the needs of a changing community.

“Auto-Graphics VERSO helps Hillsdale fulfill their library mission statement daily,” Hill said, noting she attended the Public Library Association Convention in Philadelphia in March, where she was interviewed as part of their marketing campaign.

She reported that the library operates with a staff of seven, including herself and the children's specialist, Vicky Lee. Most recent statistics cite annual circulation of nearly 60,000 with 26,000 virtual visits to the library's website.

Circulation of children's material was 18,000, and 11,000 ebooks were accessed. The library hosted more than 200 events with 4,500 attendees for everything from knitting classes to book signings in 2017.

Auto-Graphics' library automation solution VERSO helps make it all possible on a tight budget, Hill said. The management system was integrated in August of 2014. Hill arrived in 2017.

“I am new to VERSO, but I am pleased with the help it provides,” Hill said. “I have worked with other vendors and deeply appreciate the one-on-one and attention Auto-Graphics provides. I feel I can always ask a question and get a prompt rely, which helps me do a better job.”

With nearly 40 years of experience in library service, Hill has worked with many library automation companies.

“VERSO has the same functionality and is actually a lot more user-friendly,” Hill said. “It is very intuitive and has a phenomenal price point.”

One of Hill's first projects when she came to Hillsdale was to redo the library Website, so it would be phone-friendly.

“I find that millennials don't have patience with anything they can't do on their phone,” she said, noting that she appreciates that her responsive VERSO solution provides a good mobile and website interface. “Library patrons can look things up from their devices easily.”

Hill is also looking into how Auto-Graphics could assist with the fundraising needs of the library, by be possibly using check-out receipts to create coupons or special offers.

“Maybe we could print a notice at the bottom of the receipt – like sign-ups for summer reading or notification of receiving a prize,” she said.

According to VERSO product manager Ted Koppel, VERSO offers several approaches to help solve funding concerns. A “sponsors” or “Friends of the Library” widget could be created with logos of sponsoring businesses in the widget and display that widget on the library splash page.

“Today's libraries are being asked, 'are you relevant in the 21st century?' and I think we are,” Hill said. “But, we have to adapt to the people who are coming up.”

One way of changing is to become community centers, she added.

“We need to offer programming, we need to be relevant,” Hill said. “People are not just going to read books or do homework here. We have the gamut of people coming through our doors … We offer things you traditionally think of with libraries like book clubs and other things you don't think of traditionally, like yoga classes. I love the fact that libraries attract more people than any other public institution … We are doing important and powerful work and changing the lives of many people.”

 
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