By DAVID DUPONT
BG Independent News
It’s been another busy year at the Wood County District Public Library.
And that, said Library Director Michael Penrod, is a bit of a surprise.
The usual pattern, he told the library’s board of trustees Monday, is for library usage to decline when the economy is good, and increase in hard times.
Other libraries across the state have experienced that pattern, he said. He’s been told by his colleagues elsewhere: “It’s extremely quiet. No one shows up for story time.”
But, he said, “that’s not the case here.”
Penrod had the numbers to back it up.
In 2018 the use of the collection was up 8 percent from 2017. The library established an all-time record in 2012, and since then circulation has stayed at that level, or slightly exceeded it.
For 2018 total circulation of all materials, physical and digital, was up 8 percent to 744,134. That’s, he noted, up 68 percent from 2002. That was just at the time when ebooks were introduced. Penrod remembered being impressed with the numbers back then.
The online digital circulation continues to go up and ebooks continue grow in popularity with circulation up 22 percent from 2017.
Foot traffic at the Bowling Green library remains about 4,000 per week, which has been the case for the last seven years or so.
The library offered 1,605 programs in 2018 — 1,308 youth programs and 297 for adults. Participation in the youth programs held steady at 25,067 while participation in adult programs grew to 5,525, up 26 percent.
Penrod said he advises the librarians to offer fewer, high quality programs geared toward the interests of local patrons. What’s offered at the Wood County District Library, he said, is different from programs offered at Way Library in Perrysburg and in the Toledo Lucas County libraries, because the populations the libraries serve are different.
The number of card holders also increased 5 percent to 27,721, even after the library had purged 3,800 accounts.
That foot traffic does take a toll on the library facilities, noted Brian Paskvan, long-time president of the trustees. He asked Penrod to provide more precise foot traffic numbers, so the trustees could look ahead at what expenses they may face in the future.
Penrod said that the architect estimated the carpeting in the library would last 25 years. That was 16 years ago, and the library is now in the process of having it replaced.
That project will cost $23,000 instead of the original estimate of $85,000.
The work will be done this summer. The library will remain open throughout the project, he said.
Penrod also had good news on the state funding front. Gov. Mike DeWine’s budget calls for maintaining the Public Library Fund at 1.68 percent of the state general revenue, it was scheduled to drop to 1.66 percent. That, the governor estimates, will provide the state’s libraries with an additional $8.5 million.
In his budget blue book, DeWine called libraries “the cornerstone of Ohio’s communities” because of their role in workforce development and literacy efforts.
The state’s libraries would like to see the percentage restored to 2.22 percent, (http://bgindependentmedia.org/states-libraries-to-seek-restoration-of-funding-formula/) which was the original formula when the fund was established in 2007.
Still Penrod took the governor’s proposal and comments singling out the importance of libraries as a good sign.
An important development in Ohio libraries’ role in workforce development is the availability of lynda.com throughout the state, (http://bgindependentmedia.org/library-hooks-up-with-lynda-com-to-connect-job-seekers-with-skills-they-need/) including in the Wood County system. The service provides more than 6,800 courses and more than 200,000 of video tutorials on an array of subjects, with a heavy emphasis on technology and business.
Michele Raine, who directs adult services, said she’s done five sessions introducing Lynda.com to various groups.
Penrod also shared with the trustees the letter being sent out by the WCDPL Foundation announcing the change in its summer fundraiser.
The event, held for 10 years at Schedel Gardens, will take place at the Bowling Green library on July 18 from 5-8:30 p.m. The fundraiser, renamed Novel Night, had outgrown the space at the Schedel, Penrod said.
The event raised $140,000 in 2018, all of which is spent on materials.
