Philbrick-James Library - Announcements

Public Hearing & Trustee Meeting, Monday May 5th, 2025 at 7:00pm

NOTICE OF PUBLIC HEARING

Philbrick-James Library

Board of Trustees

The Board of Trustees of the Philbrick-James Library will hold a public hearing in accordance with RSA 202-A:4-c: III (a) on Monday, May 5th, 2025 at 7:00pm.

This hearing shall be held for the purpose of accepting public input regarding the acceptance of an Association of Rural and Small Libraries Sustainable & Resilient Libraries grant in the amount of $15,000.00. The purpose of the grant is to support library facility accessibility improvements & sustainable community resilience.

The hearing shall be held upstairs at the Philbrick-James Library, 4 Church Street, Deerfield, NH 03037, immediately prior to the regular monthly Board of Trustee meeting.

Posted: 4.28.25

There will be a regular monthly meeting of the Library Board of Trustees on:

Monday, May 5th, 2025 at 7:00pm

This meeting is open to the public and will be held at:

The Philbrick-James Library

4 Church Street

Deerfield, NH

03037

Recent Reduction in Hours at PJL

On April 14th, 2025, the Philbrick-James Library Board of Trustees made the decision to support a staffing plan presented by the Library Director that temporarily reduces the library’s hours of operation on Fridays. Since 2021, PJL has been open to the public 41 hours a week. With the recent reduction of 4 hours on Friday, PJL is now open to the public 37 hours a week, including two evenings. This decision was made with the explicit intention to revisit the decision during our budget formation process for 2026.

This intentional move, based on building usage and program data, is designed to:

concentrate and shift regular staff hours to maintain adequate staffing levels in the library
reduce temporary, seasonal staff hours that support PJL’s summer reading program
reduce building operating costs (heating/cooling/electricity)

This action was made to prevent overextending the default library operating budget for 2025.

Library staff currently includes two full-time staff members, two part-time staff members, and two per-diem substitutes.

If you have any questions or concerns regarding this decision, you are encouraged to contact Anne Meyers, Library Director, director@philbrickjameslibrary.org or Christina Eagen, Board of Trustees Chair, chair@philbrickjameslibrary.org. Members of the public are also welcome to attend monthly trustee meetings, to drop in at the library to speak with staff, or to call 603-463-7187. Feedback is welcome.

Thank you,

Anne Meyers

Philbrick-James Library

Deerfield, NH

Executive Order Reducing the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) and Its Impact on Deerfield, New Hampshire Library Users

A message from the The Philbrick-James Library Board of Trustees:

As your elected library trustees, it is our obligation to advocate for our library and library services as well as keep the community informed of all potential impacts to those services. Therefore, we are writing in response to the recent Executive Order issued by the President.

The Executive Order and IMLS

On March 14, 2025, President Trump issued an Executive Order calling for the reduction and elimination of functions of the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS). IMLS is an independent federal agency that supports libraries in all 50 states and U.S. territories. The New Hampshire State Library uses these federal funds to provide vital library services across the state.

What does this mean for The Philbrick-James Library and the Deerfield community?

At this time the full impact of the executive order is unknown; however, the federal funding, if not available, will dramatically affect the following library services that we provide to our community:

NH Downloadable Books services and the Libby App - These are our eBook, eAudio and digital magazine platforms.
Interlibrary Loan (ILL) Services - This service allows our library to borrow and lend materials with other libraries throughout the state using van drivers and administrative staff.

In small rural communities such as Deerfield, these services vastly expand the amount of materials and books we can offer our community and allow access to so much more than what is within our four walls.

To give you some insight on how vital and utilized these services are to Deerfield, in 2024, because of Interlibrary Loan Services, the Philbrick-James Library was able to loan out 1,010 items to other libraries and we borrowed 1,237 items from other libraries! In addition, in 2024 our patrons borrowed 7,908 titles through NH Downloadable Books and the Libby App! We are proud of Deerfield’s love of reading and engagement with these services.

Additional state services at risk if the federal funding is not available include Technology Services Librarian and Talking Book Services for the Blind and Physically Handicapped.

How can you help?

Libraries and library services are essential to Deerfield, and your voice can help protect these resources.

If you object to the elimination of these funds we highly encourage you to contact your federal legislators (links below) expressing why IMLS and the funds provided, support essential library services for the Deerfield community and state of New Hampshire.

Jeanne Shaheen- https://shaheen.senate.gov Maggie Hassan- https://hassan.senate.gov

Maggie Goodlander- https://goodlander.house.gov Chris Pappas- https://pappas.house.gov

Finally, as your elected trustees, we will continue to serve the Deerfield community with the utmost care and dedication and as we learn more, we will share more. Please do not hesitate to reach out to us if you have any questions or concerns. As always, we thank you for your support of our beloved Philbrick-James Library!

The Philbrick James Library Board of Trustees

Approved by the Library Trustees on April 14. 2025

We are pleased to announce that the Philbrick-James Library has been awarded a $20,000 grant from Libraries Transforming Communities: Accessible Small and Rural Communities, an initiative of the American Library Association (ALA) in collaboration with the Association for Rural & Small Libraries (ARSL).

For more information about this initiative, see HERE.

Stay tuned as we plan for our community conversation!

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