2013 Annual Report

 

The Year in Numbers

 

The Library is the HEART of the Community.

The number of library visitors seeking books, jobs, magazines, computers, storytimes, family programs, eBooks, research tools and more was higher than ever this year.

 

 

Visitors

 

1.3 million Library users visited 729,283 times in person and 643,443 via the website.

3,787 visitor passes were issued to non-cardholders/out-of-town visitors

801 community meetings were held at The Library, with 13,891 attending

 

 

Borrowing

10,722 new cards were issued and there were 119,609 library cardholders

 

Millions of books! (and other items) borrowed

Library users borrowed items more than 1.2 million times

494,077 children’s items

744,753 adult items

 

Top 3

Adult Print:

 

Juvenile Print:

 

Adult Music:

 

Juvenile Music:

 

Adult DVD:

 

Juvenile DVD:

 

 

Service Hours

16,962 open library hours for the community

227 volunteers donated 8,204 hours of their time to The Library

 

Programs

44,060 people were reached through library programs

27,232 of them were children

That’s 75 kids for every day of the year

 

Highest attendance:

East Shore Area Library

William H. & Marion C. Alexander Family Library

 

Children enjoyed a variety of educational and fun programs, special performances, and activities at the 2013 Summer Reading Club Fun Festival:

 

Outreach

13,038 children, who might not have been able to come to the library otherwise, were reached through Outreach programs.

There were 2,478 outreach visits—equivalent to 47 visits for every week of the year.

 

The Library Electric

994,251 public computing sessions. That is equivalent to 113 sessions for every hour of the year

2,573,304 database searches

149 public computers available

411,605 items downloaded

 

DCLS.org – The Library Website

The following were the most-viewed pages on The Library’s website in 2013:

• dcls.org homepage
• eBooks
• East Shore Area Library
• Locations
• Research
• Search the Catalog
• Events & Programs
• Services
• Kids
• Renew & Return Materials

 

 

You Asked…We Answered

92,072 questions were asked of library staff

 

Top 15 areas of inquiry were:

• History
  Science
  Medical issues
  Literary criticism
  Position papers on social issues
  Consumer Reports/product information
  Author biographies
  Schools, scholarships, financial aid
  Reference USA
  Starting a business
  Nursing home and assisted living facilities
  Legal issues
  Psychology
  Genealogy and obituariesMiscellaneous
  Miscellaneous

 

 

Fan Mail!

(Notes from library users)

 

I Love The Library Because …

“They help with my tech challenges and they’re the best deal in town!” — Terrie

“The library is a place of amazing resources of all sorts of people, places and things that enable us to be forever learners!” — Mrs. Roshaye “Treasy” Johnson

“You can get cool animal books.” — Maison Ferroe

 

 

Friends

The Library loves its Friends

416 Friends of the Library members

6 Friends of the Library Groups