5 trustees elected at Hoag Library; Weller remains president

Photo by Tom Rivers: Elizabeth Haibach, a librarian at Hoag Library, speaks during Monday night’s annual meeting at the library. She shared some testimonials from library users and highlighted upcoming events, including “Oceans of Possibilities,” a summer reading program with an outdoor tent.

Library looks forward to busy year in 2022

ALBION – Five trustees to the Hoag Library were elected on Monday, and the board then re-elected Linda Weller as president.

There were five candidates for five positions on the board. The vote totals include: Mary Covell, 34; Rachel Hicks, 30; Linda Weller, 26; Jim Babcock, 26; and Kevin Doherty, 21. (Covell and Hicks are new to the board.)

The top three vote-getters will have four-year terms and the two others will have three-year terms. Babcock and Weller were tied and Babcock agreed to take the three-year term with Weller getting four years.

Weller was then elected by the board to continue as president with Covell as board vice president, Dawn Squicciarini as secretary and Rachel Hicks as treasurer.

The election results were announced during the library’s annual meeting on Monday.

The library hasn’t caught up to its circulation levels from before the Covid-19 pandemic.

Circulation in 2021 totaled 46,270 with 28,927 books, 11,025 non-books, 3,663 digital items through Hoopla and 2,655 digital items through the Libby/OverDrive.

The circulation is down about half from the 90,000 that was typical in the years before the Covid pandemic.

In 2021, there were also 112 homebound deliveries, and 89 items through library-to-go where the books and materials were in the front area of the library instead of inside the main part of the building. Some patrons are concerned about Covid-19 and don’t feel comfortable inside the main part of the library.

Hoag also loaned 4,695 items through the Nioga inter-library loan program and borrowed 6,274 items from other libraries.

Hoag staff – Mike Magnuson and Elizabeth Haibach – also notarized 292 documents in 2021. Hoag has been offering that service for about two years and the library’s hours on evenings and Saturdays have been helpful to residents who need papers notarized.

The library last year added a new book vending machine, electric charging stations for automobiles, a restored Civil War flag, story walks at the school and Mount Albion Cemetery, a collection of music books donated by George and Marie Follett, and replaced some indoor lights with LED bulbs.

Hoag Library also paid off a $1.69 million mortgage from 2012. That will reduce what the library will be seeking from taxpayers in the May 17 budget vote by 10.3 percent, a drop from $724,260 in 2021-22 to $648,964 in 2022-23.

The library in 2022 is looking forward to an expanded children’s garden, a partnership with Orleans/Nagara BOCES for high school equivalency classes, a new website and new computers, and also the summer reading program which will have a theme of “Oceans of Possibilities.”