The Meaford Public Library was an extremely busy place in 2007 and the coming year should be no different.
The library continues to grow its service and the community continues to react. More and more books and materials are being borrowed from the facility. Computers at the facility are constantly in use. The addition of the wireless internet feature has been very popular with computer users in town.
The children’s department continues to be very busy.
All of this adds up to a very active and fast paced facility.
In 2007 the Meaford Public Library lent out more than 70,000 items.
“It seems that 70,000 items a year will be our magic number every year. We’re hoping to aim for 72,000 in 2008. Keep in mind that this total includes interlibrary loans books too. This is a very busy little library,” said Library CEO Rita Orr.
The Library, Orr said, has focused on updating its collection in recent years. The improved collection has led to a greater variety of books and materials which has helped push up lending numbers.
“We are working towards following the strategic plan and one item is our collection development; by enhancing our collection and to meet growing needs for the library users. We have increased our teen books by 25 per cent during 2007 and our large print books have increased by 10 per cent and we will be ordering new books in 2008,” said Orr.
The Inter-Library Loan program has seen its growth explode in the past year. The program is provincewide. If a book is unavailable at your local library you can make a request through your library to get that book in from another library. The popularity of the program has been expanding each year since it was introduced.
In 2007 the Meaford Public Library received 1,624 requests for books from other libraries. It was able to fill 1,149 of those requests. Meaford Library patrons also had 1,081 books come into the Library from other facilities as part of the program.
“This program is really important. I was aiming for 1,000 this year,” said Orr, pointing out that the library lent out 900 books last year through the Inter Library loan program.
“We’re getting more requests and we’re filling ever more. This shows our collection has been enhanced to meet the needs of our library patrons. The number of requests we receive shows out library is up-to-date. Having an up-to-date collection is a priority we try and stay on top of with lots of research,” she said.
Activity continues to increase at the Library. Its collection continues to grow. The Library is on the forefront of offering new services to the population. With services and usage expanding the Library Board has been wrestling with the issue of the building for several years.
The physical problems with the building have been well documented in recent weeks. However, there are other issues that come to the forefront as the facility continues to get busier. One of those issues is how to most efficiently use the space available in the current building.
To address space issues new shelving units have been ordered for the Library. From January 14-19, the Library will close to allow for installation of the new shelves.
“These are really important. The new shelves will give us more room for books and we can enhance the collection. We’ll have a whole different floor plan,” said Orr. “It’s exciting. It will be a new look for our library,” she said.
Orr said overall 2007 turned out to be a very successful year for the library, its staff and its Board.
“A teen book club was introduced in January 2007 and has been a great success and has continued in 2008. We developed a baby program and had 2 author readings and developed our own book club. We had 6,535 people using our computers, 643 people using the wireless service and we had approximately 31,826 visitors come into the library during 2007. Our number-one aim for the library is to continue to advocate this little treasure,” she said.
