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Check it out: Renewed interest in libraries branches out to DVDs, Web, Wii
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By Elizabeth Libby Smoot -- esmoot@nvdaily.com
Kate Isom reviews the audio books at Shenandoah County Library in Edinburg in search of a biography to keep her entertained during an upcoming trip. She has been a library patron her entire life, but never more so than now.
Audio books, the retired Basye resident said, are "very expensive and when you're on a fixed income, you can't afford it."
At a time when funding for public libraries has taken a significant hit, the recession has led to a spike in usage at libraries that, in addition to books, offer shelves of DVDs, CDs, and audio books that would cost money to access elsewhere. With card registrations and computer use also on the rise, libraries across the Northern Shenandoah Valley are doing more with less.
"A lot of libraries have had to cut hours and staff and, at the same time, are having increasing needs from people who didn't traditionally come to the library," said Diane D. Cary, the children's librarian at Shenandoah County Library.
Each of the three local library systems -- Handley in Winchester, Samuels in Warren County, and Shenandoah County -- have had funding reduced over the past year, including an additional 5 percent cut in state funds in early September. But demand grows, with more patrons checking out books, videos, registering for library cards, accessing the Internet and viewing Web site resources.
Cary, who is working on a graduate degree in library and information science, said her classmates talk about having to function more and more like social workers. Staff members routinely help patrons fill out online food stamp applications, apply for Medicaid and search for employment.
"Librarians are very much a part of the job-hunting," experience, she said. "As the federal government is decreasing staff, they're sending people to the library."
Michael Glass moved to Winchester from Florida in January. Homeless and jobless, he spends his nights at the Salvation Army shelter. On a recent Monday morning, Glass waited outside on Handley Library's columned front porch for the building to open and to be one of the first to access the library's many computers. A few times a week, the soft-spoken 19-year-old sits down to search for job openings and fill out applications. On this day, he hunts for the phone number of Job Corps, waiting for good news.
Others have already found success. Cary recalls a woman who spent every day for four months on the Edinburg library's computers. She recently found a position. Jason Calenzo, of Winchester, found work at Lowe's after spending four months on a job search at Handley Library. His wife, Dianna, still visits the library three to four times a week to take advantage of the fast bandwidth to access her e-mail and sell items on eBay.
Robert L. Pasco, director of the Shenandoah County Library System, which has endured a $50,000 cut in funding over the past year, said even reasonably well-off residents are using the library's computers because they either don't have fast access at home or have eliminated the expense of having access at home.
"For the first time, we're kicking people off," the computers because of the wait, Pasco said. The library recently purchased a management system that tracks computer access and allows people to sign up online for computer time instead of asking staff. "We hadn't seen a need for that before, but our staff is busy enough that we think it's worth spending the money on," he said.
Local library use mirrors what's happening nationally. "Borrowing is up as people find ways to economize," said Trish Ridgeway, the director of the Handley Regional Library system for 17 years. The system -- with 53,900 cardholders -- includes the main library in downtown Winchester and branches in Clarke County and Stephens City. "This is the longest, steadiest growth we've had over the past few years."
Borrowing of books, tapes and CDs was up 7 percent through August, compared with this time last year -- a new Handley system record. New card registration is up 12 percent, and more people visited the three libraries in July than in any other month in the library's history, nearly reaching the 40,000 mark. Internet sessions are up 9 percent, also a new record. All this was achieved despite a slight reduction in the operating hours at the three buildings.
The downloading of audio books is one of the fastest growing segments of the library, due to improving technology and growing collections. Handley, which allows patrons to download to their computers, MP3 players and iPods from its Web site, experienced a 61 percent increase in downloaded audio books in August, compared with a year ago. Year-to-date numbers are up 54 percent.
Through a virtual cooperative with Culpeper Library -- one of the first library partnerships in the state -- patrons also can access a variety of databases, such as Ancestry.com, on the library's busy Web site.
The Shenandoah system, which operates the main library in Edinburg and community libraries in Basye, Fort Valley, Mt. Jackson, New Market and Strasburg, reports an 8 percent increase in circulation of materials in fiscal 2009 versus the year before, a 25 percent increase in computer use and 22 percent more visitors. A new library location in New Market caused some of the increase, Pasco said.
DVDs are the most circulated item at the library, with books on tape close behind, Pasco said. The average DVD circulates 14 times a year. The library also has 60 Wii video games that are rarely on the shelves long.
Samuels Public Library opened in a new location in June, which has added excitement and many new computers, but library use was on the rise even before the opening, said Mary "Nicki" Lynch, library director. The new building accommodates 40 computers, compared with 10 in the old building. As a result, use was up 61 percent this August over last year. Visitors are up 33 percent, and there are 155 percent more new card registrations.
Lynch worked in Loudoun County before becoming Samuels' director in June. She brought with her a PowerPoint presentation she created to help out-of-work residents learn how to write a resume, find job openings and access career sites. She revised it for Warren County residents to provide local resources available in their job search. "We are seeing people who have been laid off" coming to the library for help.
"Libraries are having to redefine themselves," said J. Michael Spory, president of the Samuels Library board of trustees. "It's more of a media center, a community center. We're trying to be more proactive and responsive."
At Handley, Ridgeway said they aren't relying on the economic situation to keep patrons rushing through the doors. There's a constant effort to publicize events and what the library has to offer.
"We work real hard to let people know what we have," she said. "We hope the habit [of visiting the library] will stick even when the economy gets better."
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