Monday, January 06, 2014
December @ the Library
Chambers County Library System - December report
Total circulation:
225,035
Total database logons:
11,073
Program attendance:
14,479
Public computer logons:
24,713
Wireless logons:
4,523
Walk-in traffic:
140,555
One of the most
popular questions asked by the public seems to always be, “Are people still
checking out print books?”. The answer
is always a resounding “YES!”. Our
eBook/audiobook circulation continues to rise each month, and so does our print
circulation. In 2013, print circulation
went up 5% from 2012. Overdrive, our
free audiobook/eBook downloadable service, had a 27% increase over last year’s
numbers. We’ve held several programs to
get the public more familiar with Overdrive, so stay tuned for the next one, or
just stop or call the library for help.
Our program
attendance was also up from 2012, and our overall circulation continues to
climb. I could not be more proud of this
library system, the staff, and our wonderful public who continue to see the
library as the best use of taxpayer’s money.
We try our best
to provide the best possible electronic content for our public, and one of our
database resources that we provide (for free) to the public is called
TexShare. TexShare provides exclusive
databases in areas of science, health, business, history and literature. Plus homework help for students elementary
through college. The cost for Chambers
County is $576, but broken down by vendor and without help from the state
library, it would cost us $59,031. A
huge savings to the county, and a wonderful resource for the public.
Some highlights of 2013
include:
·
Our highest circulation ever for the annual
Summer Reading Program – 36,702!
·
Library received grant towards the
purchase of 2 Early Literacy Station computers
·
Library received grant to digitize The
Age newspapers
·
Assistant County Librarian, Annie Vass
joined the team
·
Over $2,500 made in Friends of the
library book sales
·
City of Mont Belvieu bond passes to
help fund new library for the West Side
·
Library System partners with United
Way to offer after school tutoring
Children’s programs in December mean
Christmas, and along with singing, stories, and crafts, jolly old St. Nick
showed up a couple of times as well. Our programs are geared for the elementary
school-aged crowd, while our weekly story hours focus on preschoolers. The kids
had a great time this year. Kudos to all of our children’s programming people
for their work in planning the programs.
The Friends of the Chambers County Library
System held their annual December book sale at Anahuac and Mont Belvieu. Just over $1,200 was raised with the profits
going to ongoing library programs. The
book sale offers books, movies, and magazines for less than $1 each. Not a bad profit for a few days’ work!
We also received a nice surprise from our
friends at the Anahuac National Wildlife Refuge. A donation was made to purchase books for the
library on ecology, estuaries, marshes and related topics. The library appreciates the continued support
from the refuge.
And finally, throughout the year we keep
statistics on the number of books checked out, walk-in traffic, program counts,
database usage, and much more. It’s all
part of our efforts to maintain standards as they are set by the Texas State
Library. The standards include
requirements in administration, collection, facility, finance, marketing,
personnel, service, and technology. The
purpose of these standards is to promote quality library service, raise
expectations of library clientele, and provide some official documentation to
Commissioners’ court and potential funders who support the library. Chambers County has always exceeded the
minimum required standards and we hope our service to the public is
representative of that.
Until next month!
Winnie teens enjoy their field trip to see Catching Fire
County Librarian, Valerie Jensen accepts a donation from incoming Friends of the Anahuac Refuge Treasurer, Rose Bolt
Mont Belvieu staff pose with Santa at the after school Christmas party
