Meet the Director

I am delighted to welcome you to the Orange County Library System. The District's diverse population of more than 1.3 million is served by the Main Library and 14 Branches. I think you will find our library to be quite innovative. We believe in experimentation and innovation, constantly striving to find ways to provide you with lifelong learning opportunities. The Library has Wi-Fi access to the Internet at all 15 locations for all of our cardholders.

We are in the process of implementing our strategic plan. There is a link to it at the left. The goals of the plan are to develop OCLS as the gold standard for public libraries; to ensure continuous innovation; to maximize the public's return on investment; to optimize communication; and to empower staff to achieve their potential.

Due to the impact of property tax reform and the declining asset value of properties in Orange County, our budget will be 11% less for the 2009-2010 Fiscal Year. We have had to curtail requests and delivery of DVD's. We have not budgeted raises for staff and we are reducing hours at the Main Library by closing at 8:00 p.m. instead of 9:00 p.m. None of these choices were easy to make and we recognize that each is a dissapointment to our community. But we will live within our budget and provide the highest level of service we can, given our reduced resources.

We are experiencing a wonderful upsurge in usage.  Since January 2002, the number of new/active users has increased 86 percent.  In the last year alone, circulation increased 13.4 percent.  We offer a wonderful variety of informational and entertaining programs for the public at all our facilities.  You can check out our online calendar of events to see the upcoming programs. We will be happy to e-mail our "Books and Beyond" Newsletter to you so you can stay informed about the many Library activities, programs, and services. We can also e-mail you notices about your checked out items that are due in the coming week, so you can better manage your account.

Our Mac Labs at the Main Library and at Alafaya, Edgewater and West Oaks offer a wide variety of Mac classes like iWeb, Garageband, iPhoto and iMovie.  Our classroom training program provides hands-on experience in a wide variety of software applications.  Podcasting, Quick Books, Google Earth, How to Type, Digital Photography, Photoshop, Windows Media Player Jukebox, and Movie Maker 2 software, as well as the full Microsoft XP office Suite, given in English and en Español are just some of our offerings.  These classes are free to cardholders, but because of their popularity, a reservation must be made to secure a seat.  Watch for more classes on our Web Site each month or sign up for our "Technology @ OCLS" Newsletter or an RSS feed to keep you informed about new technology available through OCLS.

We are leading the way in online historical perservation and innovation with the launch of the Orlando Memory site. You can visit this site, register and begin uploading your favorite Orlando memories in many formats, including photos, video, audio, websites, and text.

We now offer virtual experiences to assist you with your questions including OLIVE, our On Line Interactive Virtual Experience, and Orange Chat, a virtual service that allows real time assistance with your queries. Our staff can put you in touch with best sellers and other compelling books through special lists of titles for your particular interests. They will gladly explain how you can reserve materials and access your library account online. You can download digital audio books from our website through your Microsoft Media Player or Media Console for Mac. You can even get a "free taste" of books through our Online Book Club service to help you decide if you would like to read the entire book. If you are a member of a book club, you can now check out multiple copies of books for your club. The Book Bundles are delivered to your closest branch. We also have tips on starting and running your book club.

On our Web site we have a number of streaming videos available to you, including 23 tutoring videos for e-learning Math and Algebra, 9 SAT preparation videos and 12 English as Second language videos. You can see and use these videos online, just by clicking on the title you want to view. There are also a number of promotional on-line videos that give you a virtual taste of some recent events held at our facilities. We also have some online versions of our classes in Excel I, Word I and Powerpoint in English and Spanish and Publisher I as well. We are committed to putting more of our classes online because we hear from you that you want access to our services at all hours. Our catalog lists more than 1.5 million items in the many formats that we offer, including DVDs and downloadables. We hope you take the time to visit one of our branches near where you work or live to "check us out." Staff will be most pleased to see you and help you. If you have questions, concerns or suggestions, please do not hesitate to Share a Comment with us.

Mary Anne Hodel
Library Director/CEO