In this Economy, Library Use Goes Up a Lot

It's a well known fact among librarians that library use goes up a lot during economic downturns. People just need our free resources even more when budgets get tight.

In Cumberland County, library use goes up each year, but evidence of even higher use than expected was seen during the second quarter of this year (April-June 2008):

• 388,321 people visited Cumberland County's public libraries in April through June. That's an increase of 20% from last year.
  
• The number of items borrowed increased at all libraries 3%. The Simpson Public Library in Mechanicsburg had the biggest increase--10%--and our most rural library, John Graham in Newville, had the next largest--9%.
• Computer use at all libraries increased 17%.

As we begin working on our library budgets for next year, we'll know that you need us even more. Now we'll just have to figure out a way to make the dollars go even further.