| Library | What is your total circulation (all formats, all ages) for July 2008? | What was your total circulation for July 2007? | What was your gate count for the first six months of 2008? | What was your gate count for the first six months of 2007? | If you've seen an increase in activity, has that increase been across the board, or has it been focused on specific areas? | Any comments re. the increase in library usage related to economic downturn? |
| Arlington Heights Memorial Library | 231,418 | 209,872 | 397,029 | 402,909 | Interesting that Magazines and DVDs have a very large increase in use, considering recent theories about society's attention span diminishing and the computer age affecting our cognitions. Good article: http://www.theatlantic.com/doc/200807/google/
| Magazines increased 26% Children- 31.7% Adult.
DVDs increased 7.3% Children- 19.5% Adult.
Fiction increased 7.3% Children- 2.4% Adult.
The only decrease noted was in Adult Fiction-audiobooks. |
| Cary Area Public Library District | 34238 | 30932 | 170318 | 163231 | We have seen an increase since school ended with more families coming in to check out materials. We have seen a growth in usage of Tumblebooks and BookFlix which can be accessed from home. The most notable thing staff has noticed is that more dads are coming in with their children, especially on Mondays abd Fridays (long weekends/4 day work week?). | A new patron commented today as she filled out her application that she thought she should use the library to save some money, rather than purchasing books, DVDs, etc. |
| Crystal Lake Public Library | 91,260 | 84,227 | 169,735 | 140,580 | | In the 30+ years I've worked in public libraries, when economic times are hard, use of the public library increases. |
| Deerfield Public Library | 33026 | 24919 | | | Activity has increased across the board. | |
| Des Plaines Public Library | 101589 | 97240 | 232141 | 257403 | Card registration is up 3% after several (7) years of stagnant figures.
Attendance is down, for no apparent reason.
Use of online reference resources is up by 33% | |
| Dundee Township Public Library District | 29,015 | 25,280 | no idea; seems busier | no idea | While it's pretty much across the board, large print books are not circulating as well as previously. AV circ is typically up more than print items | I think we've been expecting it. However, part of this could be due to Summer Reading Club. We have been seeing an average of 10% increase in circ for the past several months over a year ago. |
| Ela Area Public Library District | 84661 | 77078 | | | | I didn't include the people counts because we purchased a new counter and we suspect that it is not very accurate. My numbers from first 6 mo. of this year will not reflect an increase. We are in the process of testing two new counters. |
| Evanston Public Library | 87,617 | 78,500 | 290,551 | 298,867 | | |
| Fremont Public Library District | 67,391 | 54,840 | 146,154 | 146,250 | | |
| Gail Borden Public Library District | 150,224 | 126,870 | 412,967 | 385,449 | Across the board. Program attendance is also up. | |
| Glencoe Public Library | 19928 | 18416 | na | na | Seems to be spread throughout collections | No - just an explanation that the gate counter was malfunctioning so there is no basis for comparison in questions 3 & 4. |
| Glenview Public Library | 81,209 | 77,328 | 169,064 | 173,836 | Glenview Library has seen increases in overall circulation of materials, usage of Library meeting room space, Library Internet use by adults, patron registration, both adult and youth reference/readers advisory questions answered and received, and finally, a huge jump in ILL activity. | Today's economy has certainly had a large impact on Library usage as evidenced above. In previous years the aging building and inadequate parking have made increasing usage an upward battle; however, in the past year or two, the poor economy has brought new faces to the Library. Coupled with efforts of Library staff to explore new avenues for PR, free Library meeting room space, new and creative programming for all ages, and targeted selection of materials in all formats, increases in Library usage have occurred as noted. |
| Grayslake Area Public Library District | 52,912 | 45,448 | na | na | | In my 29 years of librarianship, libraries have time after time seen significant increases in use during difficult economic times. |
| Highland Park Public Library | 64,509 | 58,700 | 193,255 | 188,133 | | Patrons are definitely buying fewer books due to the poor economic climate. |
| Huntley Area Public Library District | 59,460 | 48,724 | 142,900 | 136,562 | | |
| Lake Bluff Public Library | 9201 | 7801 | n/a | n/a | Lake Bluff has seen a 12% increase across the board in circulation. Also up is ILL, Internet use (both PACs and wireless), program attendance. | In Lake Bluff, we hear daily from grateful library users that we are an increased part of their lives as they strive to economize to meet higher gas and food prices. Several patrons mentioned having canceled the family Netflix membership or premium cable channels because they can come to the library for fine DVDs for all ages. We have increased our programs for adults, including a popular series on cultural aspects of Chicago and one on local businesses. |
| Lake Villa Public Library District | 104,442 | 93,449 | We don't have a gate counter | We don't have a gate counter | Our increase appears to be across the board. Areas with increases of 20% or more compared to last year in July include:
Adult Fiction
Graphic Novels
DVDs
Audiobooks on CD
CD ROM
E Audiobook (NetLibrary)
J Fiction
J Pre Primer
J Reader
J CD's
J Kits | We have an awesome Summer Reading program that increases every year. We have recently added Blu Ray discs and purchase copies of the Most Wanted DVD's.
We had many patrons return to the library during the writers strike last year when they complained about not having new TV shows to watch. I think some of them found out we had lots to offer.
I also think the usage has increased because of the economic downturn.
We checked out over one million items this past fiscal year. |
| Morton Grove Public Library | 31,490 | 28,858 | 90,831 | 74,7466 | Generally our circulation (YS, Adult and Combined) has climbed steadily since the beginning of 2006. This July's numbers are the highest ever with a 9% increase over July 2007 which was our last highest ever circulation month. Our year to date number is also up 2.1%
| Adult circulation is increasing at a much faster rate than YS which may indicate some economically driven behavior, but I really can not say. Actually most every metric we track is up over the last year. The exception being Reference questions. |
| Mount Prospect Public Library | 87,890 | 77,894 | 222151 | 219169 | Yes, across the board increases. June 2008 saw an 8% increase in circ over June 2007, July 2008 was our highest circulation month ever! 5% higher than June 2008 and 12% higher than July 2007.
Signups for our Youth Summer Reading program were up 14.5%
Teen Summer Reading program signups were up 26.5%. Participation also increased with 67% more teens completing three rounds of the program.
Adult Summer Reading program signups were up 27.5%.
Our June Create-A-Craft Program attracted over 200 people, normally we get about 80
| |
| Niles Public Library District | 115,996 | 93,609 | 218,320 | 215,128 | The primary increase has been in AV, but not exclusively. | |
| Park Ridge Public Library | 76367 | 67371 | 230380 | 220500 | | |
| Prospect Heights Public Library District | 16,888 | 16, 099 | 56,414.0 | 59,316 | It has been accross the board.
Since we were closed several extra days during the first six months due to renovations, we are up slightly all in all. | I think more people stayed home instead of taking driving vacations. We had a bigger signup for summer events. Not really huge though. |
| Round Lake Area Public Library District | 31,135 | 30,812 | 117,874 | 104,884 | From FY 06-07 to FY 07-08, we saw an overall increase in Circulation (circ and ILL) of 4%, a 14% increase in gatecount, a 7% increase in meeting room usage, and a slight increase in computer usage. Ironically, we had a decrease in reference questions. | |
| Schaumburg Township District Library | 229,208 | 211,410 | 626,991 | 596,142 | Across the board. | Historically, when there has been any kind of economic downturn, this library has always experienced an increase in business. |
| Skokie Public Library | 164,320 | 154,014 | 384,693 | 375,736 | Circ of DVD's is up and also Youth books (Adult books to a lesser degree). Definite interest in films, etc (inexpensive entertainment). Increase in summer reading participation (fewer on vacation?) | Good attendance at programs on jobhunting, etc. |
| Vernon Area Public Library District | 90,417 | 86,180 | | | Across the board. Program attendance is up including a record number of participants (974) in our Adult Summer Reading Club. | We think so. Computers are always busy with people in the midst of a job search. There seems to be more people in the library on weekdays, even so far in August, which is usually pretty quiet. |
| Warren-Newport Public Library District | 121,753 | 119,975 | 217,683 | 218,466 | We have noticed an increase in the number of people who are using the bookmobile this year including many first-time users. These people generally mention that they have found us because they do not want to drive any more than necessary. Many people use us particularly as a drop off point to return library materials. We bring back many more library items than we used to, and I know our slowing economy and high gas prices has something to do with it. | We are definitely hearing more stories from patrons about job loss, who are in need of materials and help with job searching. As this economic downturn seems to be affecting all sectors--blue collar, white collar, etc.--we have been helping many people who have not needed to conduct a job search for some time. Now, so many elements of the job search have changed, such as the requirement to apply online for jobs, as well as the need for an e-mail address. Generationally, this is second nature for many job seekers--but not necessarily for the job seekers of the baby boom era. We have already stepped up selection of job searching materials, and we'll be discussing the need for developing class curricula with our Curriculum Redesign team to possibly create some job-hunting classes for customers.
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| Wauconda Area Public Library District | 61,636 | 52,959 | 121,441 | 116739 | Across the board | |
| Winnetka-Northfield Public Library District | 34,653 | 31,122 | 125,897 | 120,850 | Across the board | |