The Value of the Library

Librarians love numbers. It's one way we measure how well we do what you pay us to do. I would like to tell you a little about circulation numbers. To a librarian one circulation equals one check out of one item. Total circulation in our library last year was 86,236. In 1963 total circulation for the whole year was 3,581. That's an increase of more than 2,400%. Who says no one reads any more!

Of those 86,236 items checked out, about 65,000 were books and 8,000 were video checkouts. The remainder was items ranging from books on compact disk to children's puppets to a cake pan shaped like Sesame Street's Big Bird. If people went out to buy 65,000 books at an average of $18 per book, the cost would be $1,170,000. If one were to rent 8,000 videos at $2.50 each the cost would be $20,000.

We have six computers for patron use. Four have internet access. Those computers were used 175 times in December alone. The library pays the internet service provider each month so that the patron can access the World Wide Web at no charge.

The library has subscriptions to more than 50 magazines. We subscribe to three daily newspapers and the Humboldt Independent. In addition to current issues of the Independent we have microfilmed issues back to the 1890's.

Your tax dollars have already paid for library services. Think of it as a million dollar gift certificate. Come on in, get a library card and expand your horizons @your library.