By Joe Ragusa
BLOOMINGTON – After eight years of growth at the Bloomington Public Library where circulation doubled, there has been a nine percent decline in the amount of items checked out at the library.
Library Adult Services Manager Carol Torrens told the Bloomington City Council Monday night that the growth plateaued when the items library’s collection stopped growing.
“You cannot continue to increase circulation if the size of your collection is about the same,” Torrens said. “If you look at the last four fiscal years, all of our circulation has been in relatively the same ballpark (of 1.5 million items).”
The number of visitors is down 10.8 percent from last year but programs at the library are growing. The number of programs grew 11 percent and the number of program attendees grew 48 percent.
“This is something that is very important for public libraries,”” Torrens said. “This is how public libraries are going to stay relevant in our society as things become more electronic.”
The number of children attending programs rose 63 percent and there were 12 percent more participants in this year’s summer reading program.
86 percent, or $4.5 million, of the Bloomington Public Library’s funding came from city of Bloomington Property Taxes.
Joe Ragusa can be reached at joe.ragusa@cumulus.com.
