A Message to our Donors...
Dear friends,
It’s so good to see you again! What a joy it has been to see so many smiling faces back at the library, and how encouraging it is to reflect on how far we’ve come together in the last two years.
2021 was a year of rebuilding, renewing, refining, reinvesting and rejoicing—thanks to you!
You helped us rebuild program attendance and not only meet, but exceed pre-pandemic levels by 45%! In 2019 our program attendance was 12,748, and in 2021 it was 18,500. This increase is due to a full in-person and virtual events calendar that made programming accessible to more people than ever.
You helped us renew important relationships by simply walking through our doors. While we are thrilled to offer so many remote services, there’s nothing quite like seeing or talking to our friends and neighbors in person! We also renewed 800 library cards in 2021, a 32% increase from 2019.
During 2020, you inspired us to try new things. Your recommendations and guidance helped us refine our services, ensuring that we offer what you need the most. As we regained the ability to operate normally, we asked ourselves and you (through surveys) which of these new services did we all want to make permanent? And which existing services should we tweak to better serve you in a post-pandemic landscape? Your responses led us to important operational, programming and budgetary decisions that make us better able to engage, enrich and empower our community in 2022 and beyond.
You brought our virtual and print library to life again! Between 2019 and 2021, patrons just like you rediscovered our three most popular online categories (LinkedIn Learning, eBooks, and eAudio Books) and usage increased by an average of 45%! And while an increase in the usage of virtual resources may not come as a surprise, we also saw an increase in physical circulation in several categories. Our new adult fiction circulation was up by 83% (!), young adult circulation increased by 28%, and circulation of periodicals was up 34%. Paying attention to these trends, we reinvested accordingly to expand capacity in these popular areas for you to enjoy in the future.
And finally, we rejoiced because of YOU. Thanks to your generosity on Giving Tuesday 2021, we were able to subscribe to a new service called hoopla. Hoopla is an online resource that offers patrons free online access to movies, TV shows, online courses, music, eBooks and eAudio Books. Many of you have been requesting hoopla for years. For those of you haven’t heard of hoopla, we encourage you to explore this delightful new service today! Hoopla requires a yearly fee and we hope to be able to continue it going forward, but we’ll check the stats before the end of the year to make sure the usage is worth your investment.
We look forward to seeing you at the library and celebrating another GREAT year!
Charlie and Jessica
Charles W. Roraback, Past President
Jessica Gueniat, Director
It’s so good to see you again! What a joy it has been to see so many smiling faces back at the library, and how encouraging it is to reflect on how far we’ve come together in the last two years.
2021 was a year of rebuilding, renewing, refining, reinvesting and rejoicing—thanks to you!
You helped us rebuild program attendance and not only meet, but exceed pre-pandemic levels by 45%! In 2019 our program attendance was 12,748, and in 2021 it was 18,500. This increase is due to a full in-person and virtual events calendar that made programming accessible to more people than ever.
You helped us renew important relationships by simply walking through our doors. While we are thrilled to offer so many remote services, there’s nothing quite like seeing or talking to our friends and neighbors in person! We also renewed 800 library cards in 2021, a 32% increase from 2019.
During 2020, you inspired us to try new things. Your recommendations and guidance helped us refine our services, ensuring that we offer what you need the most. As we regained the ability to operate normally, we asked ourselves and you (through surveys) which of these new services did we all want to make permanent? And which existing services should we tweak to better serve you in a post-pandemic landscape? Your responses led us to important operational, programming and budgetary decisions that make us better able to engage, enrich and empower our community in 2022 and beyond.
You brought our virtual and print library to life again! Between 2019 and 2021, patrons just like you rediscovered our three most popular online categories (LinkedIn Learning, eBooks, and eAudio Books) and usage increased by an average of 45%! And while an increase in the usage of virtual resources may not come as a surprise, we also saw an increase in physical circulation in several categories. Our new adult fiction circulation was up by 83% (!), young adult circulation increased by 28%, and circulation of periodicals was up 34%. Paying attention to these trends, we reinvested accordingly to expand capacity in these popular areas for you to enjoy in the future.
And finally, we rejoiced because of YOU. Thanks to your generosity on Giving Tuesday 2021, we were able to subscribe to a new service called hoopla. Hoopla is an online resource that offers patrons free online access to movies, TV shows, online courses, music, eBooks and eAudio Books. Many of you have been requesting hoopla for years. For those of you haven’t heard of hoopla, we encourage you to explore this delightful new service today! Hoopla requires a yearly fee and we hope to be able to continue it going forward, but we’ll check the stats before the end of the year to make sure the usage is worth your investment.
We look forward to seeing you at the library and celebrating another GREAT year!
Charlie and Jessica
Charles W. Roraback, Past President
Jessica Gueniat, Director