Grand County Library District’s Executive Director Polly Gallagher presented to the Granby Board of Trustees at its meeting on Tuesday, Feb. 27 at Town Hall. Her presentation covered the library district’s accomplishments in 2023 and the district’s plans for 2024.

Gallagher began the presentation by reminding the board of the library’s purpose of providing “boundless opportunities.” She then shared the district’s goals for 2024 that included providing diverse services, improving accessibility and continuing to provide essential community resources.

“We are working to be a community resource that supports the residents and visitors to our county,” Gallagher said.

She shared that the Grand County Library District had much to celebrate from 2023.

The library district received the Colorado Association of Libraries President’s Community Award for its Senior Lunch & Learn partnership. The program’s partnership includes Grand County Public Health and Mountain Family Center. The program is meant to assist seniors in combating isolation and engage with others while also providing a nutritious meal.

Gallagher explained that the program’s social aspect has been a big draw for participants.

By June 2023, lunch and learn had received a total of 486 registrations and by the end of the year it recorded around 990. However, Gallagher explained that the actual number of attendees by the end of the year is around 1,000 because some individuals also show up without registering online.

She recounted the story of an attendee who moved to Grand Lake in the spring of 2023 and attended his first Senior Lunch & Learn at the Juniper Library in Grand Lake. Since his first time attending, the man has participated in pretty much every lunch and learn throughout the county.

Another accomplishment for the library district in 2023 included paying off the building debt for the Granby Library and the Juniper Library, earlier than originally expected.

“It saves taxpayers $1.4 million in interest,” Gallagher said.

Since paying off the mortgages for the buildings, the library district has been able to expand staff hours, which has seen an increase in visitors and checkouts.

Gallagher also shared the libraries previously had to wait for processing on each of the library’s books before getting them back on the shelves.

“Our library has not been filled with people who have a master’s in library and information science,” Gallagher said.

However, this began to change.

Through training programs and other coursework, the district began to build up the skills in order to complete processing in-house for new materials or high-hold demand items.

The demand for digital items at libraries has increased significantly and the executive director said that staff is working to provide more digital resources to patrons. Library users have been checking more things out of the library’s digital collection using platforms like Hoopla.

In 2023, the library also provided a plethora of other resources including providing at-home radon tests, masks, COVID-19 tests and more.

In the presentation, Gallagher also said that the number of new card holders in 2023 almost reached 1,800. Program participation and library visitors were also on the rise from 2022.

In other business:

• The board accepted the 2021 International Building Codes ordinance with few amendments. There was a public hearing on this agenda item back at the Jan. 23 meeting before being continued. Ordinance Number 997 was approved with trustees Rebecca Quesada and Michael Mahoney voting against it.
• The board also discussed the possible approval of escrow agreements with Granby Ranch’s developer for grading permits related to the Meadows Phase II and “the Hill.” Staff was comfortable with the escrow agreements and it was passed unanimously.
• Approved an independent contractor agreement with Michael Baker International, Inc. for the design of park and open spaces in the downtown core, wayfinding signage and signage updates. No new developments were presented.