Web Link
"Library Use Climbs Again
(11/7/07) Palo Alto libraries are more popular than ever. In the recent 2006-2007 fiscal year, over 1.4 million items were checked out from the four open branches, up approximately 11% from the prior year.
With the Children's Library closed throughout the fiscal year, the other branches in North Palo Alto saw considerable increases in circulation and visits. The Downtown Library rose the most: 8% more visitors and 35% more items checked out. The Main Library had 5% more visitors and checked out 29% more items, while the College Terrace branch saw 8% more visitors and 20% higher circulation. Least affected was the Mitchell Park branch, with just 2% more visits and 15% higher circulation. Overall visits were down by 3%, due no doubt to having one fewer library open.
Technology continues to impact the library. Remote catalog searches rose 27% to approximately 1.3 million, or almost one per item checked out. Patrons placed about 209,000 holds, up 15% from the year before. Online database logins climbed 24%, while Internet sessions in the library increased by 4%. Higher Internet usage may explain the 6% drop in reference and where-do-I-find questions from patrons to about 116,000 annually.
The library added over 22,000 items during 2006-07 to its collection. After weeding older materials out, the collection grew by about 4% to about 271,000 books, DVDs, CDs, and other items as of June 2007. The Mitchell Park and Main libraries saw their collections grow 5% and 3% respectively, while the collections at the smaller branches shrank slightly. DVDs, CDs, and other media items represented about 27% of the year's acquisitions.
During the year, the library hosted 580 programs, up 3% from the year before, with 52 attendees each on average. The number of people volunteering in the libraries rose by 61% to 180, while the total hours they volunteered held steady at about 5,900. "