Over 3,000 attend library programs last year

By Geoffrey Woehlk | January 23, 2024 |

FORUM FILE PHOTO
More than 3,000 attendees came to Maryville Public Library programs in 2023.

MARYVILLE, Mo. — Activities at the Maryville Public Library continue to be a hit, attracting more than 3,000 attendees during the last fiscal year, according to the library’s annual report.

Library Director Stephanie Patterson presented the library’s annual report to the Maryville City Council on Jan. 11.

Overall circulation was down slightly, 3.6 percent, during the library’s fiscal year, which ran from Oct. 1, 2022 to Sept. 30, 2023. Patterson attributed the slight drop to a sharp decline — 21.7 percent — in e-book and audiobook usage, which she said had spiked significantly during the pandemic. Taking out items like the e-books and audiobooks, the library’s in-house circulation rose 1.3 percent with slight growth in all collection areas.

MARYVILLE PUBLIC LIBRARY BY THE NUMBERS: 2023

47 free conference room rentals
53 notary acts performed
125 books delivered to homebound adults
529 free children’s books distributed during Downtown Trick-or-Treat
641 new library cards issued
1,977 material items added to library collection
2,427 uses of public PCs
3,401 attendees across all ages at library programs
3,443 active cardholders
8,304 printouts and copies made

Source: Maryville Public Library

Outside of books, the library’s activity programs continued to grow in 2023, attracting 3,401 participants of all ages across all activities — over 800 more than last year’s figure of 2,590.

Overall membership grew as well: the library issued 641 new library cards last year, bringing the number of active cardholders to 3,443.

As the library itself continues to age, Patterson said that more and more of the administrative and budgetary focus has gone to maintenance and capital projects. Last fiscal year, the library completed limestone façade repairs, utilizing a Façade Improvement Program grant from the city of Maryville, and has plans for more projects in 2024, including repairing and replacing components of the sidewalk outside the library and exterior handrails, the chimney which has been around since the building was constructed in 1912, a rooftop parapet and installing a ventilation system in the basement.

Other library goals for 2024 include completing a community survey to update book selection procedures, digitizing the local cemetery index and adding a point-of-sale payment option at the library desk.