In addition to introducing the new head librarian, Kathryn Foley, to council, Carol Byler, chair of the Nan Boothby Memorial Library Board, divulged the 2011 numbers, which show the increasing usage of the facility.
Many of the statistics show a steady rise from the previous year.
Some of the highlights include:
• An increase of 13.5 per cent of total items in the libraries collection, which is now 46,371.
• Items circulated amounted to 150,325, an increase of 6.4 per cent.
• Those with membership cards rose 7.4 per cent to 7,271.
• Walk-ins totaled 82,500, up 5.3 per cent.
• Participants in the library’s various programs went up 48 per cent, with 6,190 taking part.
Byler underscored some of the key operation updates to council as well; a new three-year agreement with the Canadian Union of Public Employees, partnerships with the Cochrane Arts Club, FCSS and Humane Society and implementation of the Marigold system being three examples.
Coun. Ross Watson voiced some concern with the size of the library in the face of a rapidly growing community.
Byler’s reply implied there should be no worry over the actual size of the facility, but included the suggestion to re-visit their storing and filing system to maximize their use of space.
