Library reports record weekday use in March, board discusses data and acquisition planning

The Director told the board that March saw unusually high foot traffic, saying, "March, we had over 5,000 people in the building," the first non-summer month to reach that level, and reported roughly 16,800 items checked out in March tied to the Bookopoly program.

Board members asked whether the increase is driven by physical checkouts, ebooks, programs or in-person events. The Director said both digital and physical circulation have increased compared with last year and that staff would need to dig into the data to isolate causes and inform acquisitions budgeting.

Members also questioned the new people counter and whether it provides demographic details; the Director said the counter returns counts only, and that patron classes in the registration system (city adult/teen/child, county classes and subscription types) can support limited breakdowns but that birthdays and finer demographic attributes are not required fields.

Board members suggested using the available data to forecast program and acquisition budgets and to include the new digital sign and data fields in the next community survey to better understand why patrons are visiting more often.