Annual reports tell library story

Every organization has a fiscal year. And at the end of every fiscal year, most organizations produce an annual report.

An annual report serves several purposes. One is to summarize in "snapshot" form the activities of the organization during the previous year. Another is to communicate to and inform customers or stakeholders of those activities so they can see how much they're getting in return for their investment. A third is to encourage those not involved with the organization to become partners and participants.

Your Library is no different from other organizations. We just completed fiscal year 2002, and we would like to share with you a few highlights from this year's annual report, which will soon be in the hands of city, county and state officials, members of the Library Board, Friends of the Library Board and Library Foundation Board, library staff, and interested library users.

• 2% of the library's income is received from the state of Iowa. 3% is received from contracts with Pottawattamie County and the cities of Neola, Treynor, Underwood, Crescent and McClelland. 3% comes from fines and fees. 3% comes from grants. And 78% of library revenues come from residents of the city of Council Bluffs.
• 20% of the library's expenditures go toward supplies and services. Nearly 50% of the library's budget is devoted to personnel and related expenses. Spending for books and materials amounts to only 7% of the library's total expenditures.
• For the first time, the annual circulation of books and other library materials topped the 400,000 mark. Youth materials accounted for 30% of the library's total circulation, adult fiction and large print 28%, adult non-fiction 22% and audio-visual formats 16%.
• Total annual circulation of books and materials in 1999 was 351,154; in 2000, 391,735; in 2001, 394,936; in 2002, 408,080.
• The 2002 circulation figure represents an increase of 3% over 2001, at a time when many libraries are seeing a no-growth trend.
• Your library loaned 2,149 items to other libraries and received 1,938 from other libraries in return.
• Twenty new Flannelboard kits and nine new Story Boxes were developed by Youth Services Department staff, and eight Story Boxes were revised or replaced.
• The number of books and other materials offered by Your Library surpassed 154,000 items during fiscal year 2002.
• A selection of the most popular items checked out by library users in 2001-2002 included John Adams by David McCullough, Skipping Christmas by John Grisham, the CD soundtrack of Moulin Rouge, The Cat Who Went Up the Creek by Lilian Jackson Braun, and titles from the New Adventures of Mary-Kate and Ashley series.
• Youth Services Department summer and after school outreach programs drew 6,299 attendees, a 69% increase over fiscal year 2001.
• 100 books were distributed to un-served families in cooperation with the Council Bluffs JayCees and Lutheran Social Services, and over 400 books were distributed to children in need through the federal Reading is Fundamental program.
• 2,951 items were delivered by Adult Services Department volunteers to library patrons who could not come to the library, through the homebound delivery program.
• The library's computer lab and internet lab facilities served 37,575 people in 2001-02.
• 31,825 reference questions were responded to by Reference Services Department staff, an increase of 1% over the previous year.
• Library users had seven online information databases to choose from. 20,829 information searches were initiated from those databases and 12,302 articles/records were retrieved.
• 853 Youth Services Department programs attracted more than 20,000 children.
• The monthly Council Bluffs History series drew more than 700 people.
• More than 256,000 users came through the doors of the library during 2001-2002.
• Over 102,000 items were checked out by patrons using Your Library's self-checkout equipment.
• 9,622 holds were filled in fiscal year 2002, a 31% increase over the previous year.
• Sunday hours reflected an average attendance of 338 persons, with an average of 788 items checked out each 4-hour Sunday.
• Three different musical series were held on Sunday afternoons during fiscal year 2002 -- one featuring professional musicians organized by the Reference Services Department, one featuring local amateur musicians hosted by the Adult Services Department, and one in which children participated, arranged by the Youth Services Department.

Those are about all the facts and figures I have room to share with you today. Please let me know if you would like a complete copy of the library's annual report and we'll see that you get one.

Thank you for meaning more to us than just a statistic!