Since 1914 Library has seen many changes

The Sidney Public Library has undergone many changes since the first library was introduced to Sidney in 1914 and the library continues to keep getting better and better, said Doris Jensen the librarys director.

According to Jensen the first library was built in the summer of 1914 and was in the building that now houses the Cheyenne County Chamber of Commerce.

The library was funded by a gracias grant from the Carnegie Foundation.

In 1965 the current 7,900 square foot library building was built.

A bookmobile service was also started in 1962, and services and stops in 19 communities during a period of two weeks, said Jensen, who was a previous bookmobile driver.

She said that Cheyenne County provides approximately $98,000 a year to help with the bookmobile’s operation costs.

Jensen, who has been director for eight years and working with the library for 23, said that as of this year 6,150 of the approximate 9,998 residents of Sidney have library cards. The library holds 52,420 items to checkout and subscribes to 13 newspapers and 87 magazines.

In 2012, 11,509 items were added to the library and an approximate 91,294 items were circulated. The library had 63,444 visitors in 2012, and 9,739 of them used the Internet during their visit.

The library has wireless Internet and 17 computers that are Internet accessible.

A total of 3,737 people attended the children’s programs, young adult programs and adult reading programs in 2012.

Grant money in the amount of $3,000 was also provided to the library over the past three years, making it possible for staff to remodel and make the public restrooms handicap accessible.

Current library board members are Jim Jones, president, Kelly Dible, vice president, Libby Soucie, treasurer, Michelle Onstott and Vickie Ryder.

The library staff consists of five full-time and eight part-time members – three of which have been with the library for over 20 years.

In March the library upgraded to a new automation system that other libraries around the area have switched to.

“We went into an association with the Nebraska Panhandle Library Consortium. There are 16 libraries in the panhandle that are using this automation program,” she said.

Though Jensen said that no automation program is perfect, the newly adopted program seems to be doing well.

Jensen, one of the long-time staffers, has done all that she can to make sure that the best library services possible are available to the community.

She has worked hard at applying for programs that could help the library; one in particular was the Broadband Technology Opportunities Program (BTOP) grant award.

The Sidney Public Library was among 147 libraries across Nebraska to receive the award in 2010, according to Jensen.

The award is a three-year project running from August 1, 2010 to July 31, 2013 that gives the chosen libraries funds over that period of time.

The amount given to the Nebraska Library Commission to distribute to the 147 libraries was $3,668,189. The U.S. Department of Commerce provided $2,416,403 to the grant fund for Nebraska’s public computer center project called Library Broadband Builds Nebraska Communities, according to information from the Nebraska Library Commission. The remaining $1,251,786 was donated by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.

According to the commission the purpose of BTOP is to “expand broadband capacity, upgrade public computing resources in libraries, and advance access to employment, learning, health information, and E-Government services (through these services).”

To qualify the library for this award Jensen had to keep up-to-date records of the library’s status and report the figures to the commission.

“We have to report every month how many people were on our computers and how much training we had accomplished,” Jensen said.

As of Tuesday the Sidney Public Library had received $11,238.76 worth of new equipment through the award program. Also, an additional three computers costing a total of $2,703 were to be delivered to the library later this week.

Jensen said that among items delivered within the three-year span included office chairs, six computers, two laptops, an ADA station, a printer and a scanner.

“An ADA station is for people who can’t type for example. You can speak it and the station types it for you. If you have bad eye sight it can also magnify things,” Jensen said.

The library director said that new technology acquired could also be used to take pictures off of a phone or camera by reading its memory cards.

Jensen said that she hopes to incorporate one new computer into the library every week for the next couple weeks and hopes to have them all in use by Feb. 15.

The two laptops have already been implemented and Jensen is curious as to how they haven’t attracted as much attention as the computers.

“I feel that it was a very wonderful gift that the libraries were able to receive this much equipment and that so many libraries could take advantage of this.

“There were libraries out there that didn’t even have Internet and they have been able to do so through this,” Jensen said. “It has helped upgrade our computers. We wouldn’t have no way been able to upgrade six computers in the three-year period; we would probably only have been upgrading to three.”

Not only will new computers be introduced to the library but also Jensen said that the library will be upgrading to faster internet.

“We will be also upgrading to 55 mbps this summer with a fiber optics system from the Nebraska Link. It’s so much faster than the wavelengths or old dial-up. Right now we are about 25 mbps,” she said.

If being awarded BTOP grant funds wasn’t enough, Jensen also applied for and received funds from a program called E-Rate.

According to the director this program provides a discount to libraries through the government.

“E-rate is a Telecommunications Act of 1996. Telecommunication providers are ordered to supply their services to schools and libraries at a discounted rate after they apply for the rate,” Jensen said.

“I feel it is worth it to apply; the money is out there,” she said.

According to Jensen a library can score either an essential, enhanced or excellent rate.

As long as Jensen has been director the Sidney Public Library has scored nothing but a rate of excellent, she said.

The E-Rate accreditation program occurs every three years and libraries are rated on what they have accomplished over the three-year period, how they have improved and what they would like to improve on, Jensen said.

She said that she files paperwork to the commission by the first of July and usually sees state aid funds a couple months later.

Jensen said that there is no stipulation as to what library officials spend the money on for the library.

“The guidelines for accreditation serve as a tool for measuring and encouraging growth and development of library and information services offered in Nebraska public libraries,” Jensen said.

Jensen said that she hopes to apply for E-Rate continuously and if BTOP is available again she also hopes to satisfy that program’s requirements a second time.

“I’d like to keep improving the library and stay under budget and provide services for the people of the community,” Jensen said.