Local library use is on the rise
Jane Wilkinson, left, a library technician at the Kalispell Public Library helps Ruby Nutter, right, and Janiece Nutter, center, of Evergreen with their checkout on Friday.
Rishara Finsel of Kalispell, right, a public services librarian helps train Mary Quimby of Columbia Falls on Friday in Kalispell. Quimby will be working at the Columbia Falls Library Branch when she completes her training. All staff are trained at the main library in various aspects of library service.
Judy DeCock of Kalispell peruses the audio book selection at the Kalispell Public Library on Friday. DeCock is preparing for a trip to New Mexico, she said an audio book helps the miles fly by.
The Flathead County Library and its four branch libraries are busier than they've ever been, and the numbers tell the story.
Total circulation - materials checked out and renewed - is up 46 percent systemwide over the past five years.
Checkouts of DVDs have increased 700 percent during that time. During fiscal year 2010, which ended June 30, the library checked out 118,403 DVDs.
Users wait their turn to use library computers; last year 170,000 log-ins were recorded.
"Part of it is the recession," Library Director Kim Crowley acknowledged about the steady upswing in library activity. "But more than anything we've made a concerted effort to make our libraries more welcoming and more comfortable."
At the main library in Kalispell, the furniture has been rearranged, new shelving has been put in place and more display areas now promote library materials. In the past year, the Bigfork branch library was painted, upgraded and "looks like a totally different place," she said.
Crowley shared a new five-year history of circulation statistics with the county commissioners on Wednesday that showed the biggest individual increase in total circulation (53 percent) has been at the main library.
At the branches, Columbia Falls circulation has increased 47 percent in five years; Marion is up 50 percent; Whitefish circulation has increased 26 percent and Bigfork is up 21 percent.
All totaled, 602,212 items were checked out and renewed systemwide, with the lion's share of activity at the main library, with 400,053 items in circulation.
A rising interest in DVDs is one of the reasons the number of checkouts has increased, Crowley said. When she began work as director 6 1/2 years ago, the library had only a handful of DVDs.
"Now we have a big collection," she said.
In 2005, 81 percent of the checkouts were print materials and 19 percent were non-print items, including audio books, music CDs, DVDs and VHS tapes. Today, about 70 percent of the checkouts are print materials and 30 percent are non-print materials.
The library is "systematically weeding" VHS tapes because interest in those is waning, Crowley said. The Bigfork branch recently sent back all of its VHS tapes, saying no one wants to check them out anymore.
Computers stationed at every library in the county continue to be a drawing card. This year, the library is upgrading its network infrastructure so it can quantify use from wireless users who stop by to work on their laptop computers.
The library system has 23 computers at the main library, 14 in Whitefish, 11 in Columbia Falls and four in Bigfork. Space allotted for computer stations is essentially maxed out at all branches.
The Marion branch, located at the Marion School library, has 18 computers used largely by students. Those are funded differently because they're at a school and aren't figured into the systemwide library system, Crowley said.
"Building traffic also has increased," she added, with more users dropping in to use their laptops or read local newspapers.
Features editor Lynnette Hintze may be reached at 758-4421 or by e-mail at lhintze@dailyinterlake.com.