Here is a look at our year in review for 2024, and what a year it has been!
This year has brought a few changes to our staff. We said good-bye to Barbara Nagle. After 25 years at our front desk, she is taking a well-deserved retirement, though you might still see her occasionally as a pinch-hit librarian. Kristina Young left our children’s room. She made a positive impact in the short time she was here. In April, Joan Carbone joined our Children’s staff and Edmund Lowe joined us as our Head Cataloguer. Lastly, in November we welcomed Coda Letourneau to fill Barbara’s very large shoes.
There were a few changes around the building. Matt Rittenhouse planted a beautiful Hawthorne tree near the library entrance in memory of his mom, former librarian, Elaine Rittenhouse. We held a lovely commemoration ceremony in September to install a plaque.
In October, our Social Media and Digital Literacy Librarian, Stephanie Rinehart-Joseph was named Librarian of the Month by Bywater Solutions. Bywater provides the software for our updated catalog and Stephanie is one of the reasons that transition was so seamless.
You may have noticed our new book drop, which replaced our old leaky one. Thanks to the Friends of the Library of Windham (FLOW) and many individual donors for making that possible. Also, big thanks to the Town of Windham’s General Services department for taking the time to install it for us.
We are in the middle of a restoration, renovation, and update to our Carl Heidenblad History room. This multi-year project will be funded with grant money and the first of those grants was awarded this year by the State of NH’s Mooseplate program. We also received a small grant from Bywater Solutions and another from the Windham’s Lions Club. With these grants, we were able to replace the chairs in the meeting room, and now have funds to begin the preservation of some of our unique holdings.
In October, our GMILCS consortium grew with the addition of Londonderry’s Leach Library. I think it is fair to say, that we are excited that they are now part of our consortium.
Lastly, we added a new collection to our library: Tonie boxes. They provide a fun, creative, and interactive way for kids to discover more about their favorite characters or topics.
It has been a very busy year. Our circulation numbers remain steady, but traffic to the building and program attendance are on track to be up by more than 10%. This is an indication of how central to our community the library is. As my sixth year as Library Director draws to a close, I continue to be so grateful for the support that this community shows our library.
It is a pleasure working with this great staff, Board of Trustees, Friends of the Library volunteers, and the countless other volunteers that give of their time to make the library a wonderful community asset.
We all look forward to serving our entire community in 2025!
Sylvie Brikiatis,
Library Director
