Libraries Shelve Old Image

Libraries across the country are becoming active community centers. At the Bellingham Public Library the number of visitors, Internet users, website hits, and materials checked out, renewed and requested have risen each year since 2005. We have an average of 9000 visitors per month, 1000 Internet users per month, 4000 website hits PER DAY and we circulate over 10,000 items per month. Read our recently published 2006 Annual Report of the Library Director in PDF format at our website.

The Charlotte Observer in North Carolina reports:

• "The number of visits per year to U.S. public libraries increased 61 percent between 1994 and 2004, according to federal data.
• Circulation (items checked out) increased 28 percent over the decade.
• 99 percent of U.S. public libraries provide free public access to the Internet, compared with 25 percent 10 years ago."

Read the whole article >"Quiet? Libraries Shelve Old Image" (sent through >Library Link of the Day, June 12, 2007.)