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WB library patrons use 41% more than others
by Gregory R. Norfleet · News · October 24, 2014


You like to read a lot.


And watch movies, and listen to audiobooks, and otherwise take advantage of other offerings at West Branch Public Library.

According to data collected by WBPL, other small cities about the size of West Branch — give or take 300 residents — borrowed about 29,000 books, movies, games, music and more from their local library in the past year.

But West Branch residents? More than 43,100.

That’s about 14,100 more items checked out in a year’s time, some 41 percent more than similar cities.

In the past several years, WBPL’s overall circulation numbers remained relatively steady. In 2009, patrons checked out about 42,600 items. That rose to 45,600 in 2011 and fluctuated to about 43,100 items in 2014.

In an annual report compiled by WBPL, residents also like attending library programs exponentially more than similar towns: Other libraries counted some 2,000 attendees at their programs, WBPL counted almost 7,900, almost four times the average.

Compared to previous years, WBPL program attendance has increased. In 2008, more than 3,100 people attended programs, which kept increasing to almost 8,300 in 2013 before dropping to that 7,900 figure. During that time span, program attendance increased by nearly 155 percent.

“Programming attendance this year leveled off from years of constant and sizable growth,” Library Director Nick Shimmin wrote in his report. “The participation level remains stellar, especially for a community the size of West Branch. The attendance count for this year still rivals those of libraries serving communities several times larger.”

The North Eastern Iowa Bridge to Online Resource Sharing (NEIBORS) program offers electronic books — from text-only to audiobooks. In 2008, about 200 books were downloaded to laptops, smartphones and tablets by WBPL patrons using this system, which groups together e-collections from 94 libraries. That has increased by about 1,500 percent to nearly 3,000 items this past year, according to the report.

Last year, patrons downloaded about 1,900 items, which jumped by 53 percent in 2014.

“The use of electronic materials continues to be of interest to West Branch Library users,” read the report, which Shimmin presented to the City Council on Oct. 6. “Both an increase in the number of people who own electronic reader and tablet devices and in the number of books the library can provide to members have helped a steady rise in electronic book use.”

However, overall collection numbers have dropped since the 2008 recession. In 2009, the library had nearly 22,700 items. That dropped to as low as 19,300 in 2012 and then increased to nearly 20,100 in 2014. The drop from 2008 to 2014 is nearly 11.5 percent; the increase from 2012 is about 4.2 percent.

Computer use is also up. In 2008, patrons used computers about 3,000 times that year. That rose to almost 4,200 in 2010, following the recession, then dropped to about 3,200 in 2012. In 2013, usage rose again to almost 3,600, then jumped to almost 5,000 this past year, about 39 percent.

Groups signed up to use the community room 210 times in 2008, which dropped almost by half and further in the following three years. Then community-room usage shot up in 2012 with 233 groups using it that year. That increased to 271 in 2013 and 289 in 2014. In 2014, a community room was used about 79 percent of the calendar days.

While the library only has one “community room,” the staff cleared out a storage area and converted it into a smaller meeting room.

Shimmin said some groups use the community room for most of the day while others use it for an hour or two.

Yet while computer use and community-room use increased, actual, overall visits to the library has been in decline. In 2008, patrons visited the library a total of about 30,500 times. That topped out at 30,600 times in 2011, then dropped for two years before an uptick to not quite 26,800 visits in 2014. Visits in 2014 are down more than 12.1 percent from 2008, and down more than 12.4 percent since 2011.

“As in any industry, the current climate of change in libraries is fluid, so it is hard to say definitively where libraries will be in any number of years,” Shimmin wrote in the report. “When uses for electronic books jump, we try to provide more electronic books and work toward improving the service. When groups ask for more rooms in which to meet, we look toward providing more space and making those spaces more fit to hosting the groups’ types of uses.”

The WBPL report notes that the reason for the visits is not reflected in these numbers, but there are changing trends in why people visit the library.

“Sharp increases in use after school led to the over 30,000 in past years,” read the report. “Those rushes have decreased in frequency, leading to visits consisting more of families finding books to read and movies to watch, people looking to use the community room meeting space, and those visiting for programs.”