Director's Page

Welcome to the Director’s Page.
Here you will find periodic messages from the Library’s Director, Laverne Mann.

CHPL is among New Jersey’s Busiest Libraries
Cherry Hill Public Library: 565,487 visitors

The CHPL is one of the state’s largest municipal libraries at 72,000 square feet. It has 30,187 total registered borrowers (28,785 resident and 1,402 nonresident) and 381,260 books in circulation.
In the state, there are 234 municipal libraries, 45 association libraries, 14 county libraries, and five joint libraries.

Click here for the full article.

Cherry Hill Public Library
Director’s Report
July 22, 2020

Library Building opened to public – started Monday, July 13 10 a.m. – 4 p.m. after 17 weeks closed!

        Adding a night: Wednesday 7/22 10 a.m. – 8 p.m. and a Saturday 7/25 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. 

        Phased reopen plan: 50 people maximum, 30 minute limits for patrons

Contactless pickup began  June 22 – July 14: we have completed 1190 contactless pickup appointments.

Book drops opened May 15- quarantine materials 3 days, reshelving items

As of 7/15/20 we currently have 10,663 items checked out

GRANTS:  New Jersey Council for the Humanities awarded  $5000 for Operating Budget
(Costs for PPE, cleaning supplies, plexiglass, revenue loss)
Grow with Google  awarded $2000 to support virtual computer classes

CHPL was selected by the American Library Association (ALA) and the Women’s Suffrage Centennial Commission (WSCC) to receive a suffrage youth book sets to libraries across the country.  This generous donation celebrates the 100th anniversary of the ratification of the 19th amendment and highlights the importance of libraries as hubs of civic education and engagement.

Youth Services - 6/8/20 - 7/10/20

Coming up!

Some YS staff have returned to work in the building with the remaining department staff scheduled to return in August. We are staffing the Youth Services desk, providing check-out upstairs, reader’s advisory services and computer assistance. We are also shelving all books that come out of quarantine and assisting circulation by pulling holds for Non-Contact Pickup from the Youth Services collections. We spend an hour in the morning and after closing making sure that the department is disinfected by cleaning computers, tabletops, carts and any other high touch surfaces.

We are also in full swing with our Summer Reading programs and our librarians are offering many live online Zoom programs and Teen Meetups in addition to our weekly on-demand story times. We have started a weekly Make and Take bags in the library for children and teens, and have provided the videos to complete those projects on our website or on the library’s Creativebug subscription.  We spend time with patrons on the phone to help log their reading into our Read Squared software and have already started distributing weekly prizes for Teens. The children’s End of Summer prize baskets are on display behind the Youth Services Desk.

Cherry Hill Public Library
Director’s Report
June 10, 2020

Library building closed since March 15 - Executive Order No. 104 (2020) 

• Book drops opened May 15- quarantine materials 3 days, reshelving items
  • 16,164 items checked out. We have been checking in 500 items a week on average
  • 160 temporary cards made since March closing 
• Preparing contactless pickup plans- May be week of  June 15, 2020
• Governor Murphy- Libraries Stage 2 of opening – “sometime after July 6th”
  • Phased reopening plan 

​​*NJLA Innovative Program Award winner – CHPL Beth Cackowski for Young Entrepreneurs program

Created a Video for CHPL 5th graders Move Up on behalf of the library
Working on FY21 Budget

Adult Services

May was: Mental Health Awareness Month AND Asian Pacific American Heritage Month

Each staff member highlighted a different self care technique (yoga, embroidery, playing music, etc.) and shared photos and information to celebrate in May for mental health awareness. We significantly expanded our existing Mental Health Resource Guide - https://chplnj.org/mentalhealth and shared information on related topics via social media throughout May. Staff created booklists and virtual displays shared on social media and as rotators on our online catalog of digital books: "Mental Health Reads" and "Asian/Pacific American Heritage Month."

Adult Story Time

Staff are selecting and recording read-aloud short stories for "Adult Story Time" - a new story will be shared every Friday evening at 6 p.m., June 26 - Aug 7. The first Adult Story Time film we shared in March currently has 180+ views, so we are eager to continue.

Collection Development

Staff have worked collaboratively to expand our digital offerings through OverDrive. In additional to the usual quality titles and bestsellers, we have responded to the needs of our community by adding mental health and self-care titles, books on grief, caregiving, LGBTQ+ titles for Pride Month (June), books by and about black Americans as well as anti-racism titles in the wake of protests following the murder of George Floyd.

Adult Programs (Virtual)

All ESL classes continue to meet online and will do so for the foreseeable future.

Learn Python with Coursera - 7-week course total = 35

Alene Brennan Health Series:

Upcoming Events:

Cherry Hill Public Library
Director’s Report
January 2020

Congrats to Dr. Joseph Meloche for Outstanding Administrator of the Year from the
NJ Association of School Librarians (NJASL)

Cherry Hill Public Library
Director’s Report
September 2019

Town Council Proclamation for English as a Second Language tutors and librarian coordinator Elby Wang

Laverne Mann, Library Director
Director’s Message
The Cherry Hill Public Library is called ‘The Heart of Town’ and we truly want to live up to this standard.

We have created five strategic visions to broaden and enhance the quality of service we provide to patrons. These goals and tactics came out of a year of analysis, discussions, and community surveys.

The Cherry Hill Public Library wants to address the fast pace of change in society and technology. We want the community to use the library for reasons they told us were extremely important: for school reasons, entertainment, a quiet place to work or read, or to use the library computers and wifi.

To reflect the diversity of users in Cherry Hill we continue to evaluate our services, collections and programs. In the Cherry Hill schools, 30% of students are Asian, African American, Hispanic or other racial/ethnic heritage. More than 50 native languages are spoken by students and their families. More than 1700 students are bilingual, and more than 160 students receive ESL services.

Our surveys have found the community extremely satisfied with the staff courtesy and competence. The librarians and library staff are committed to rethinking collections and addressing societal and technological shifts. You will see us building more partnerships and on outreach in Cherry Hill.

The Cherry Hill Public Library has a bright future worth funding, and you belong at the library!