Lincoln Library Sees Users Surge, Reflecting System Trend

STAFF PHOTO DAVID GOTTSCHALK Cynthia Ortiz, 15, studies food science from her Lincoln High School class Thursday at the Lincoln Public Library.
STAFF PHOTO DAVID GOTTSCHALK Cynthia Ortiz, 15, studies food science from her Lincoln High School class Thursday at the Lincoln Public Library.

The Lincoln Public Library's seven-month hiatus is over and community interest has surged, library officials said last week.

Almost 200 people have joined the library since it opened two weeks ago, a significant chunk of the town's 2,300 people. The library had been closed since August for expansion and renovation that more than doubled its floor space.

AT A GLANCE

Washington County Library System

• Elkins, 352 N. Center St.

• Farmington, 241 Rheas Mill Road

• Greenland, City Complex, 8 Ross St.

• Lincoln, 107 W. Bean St.

• Prairie Grove, 123 Neal St.

• Springdale, 405 S. Pleasant St.

• West Fork, 198 Main St.

• Winslow, 351 S. Highway 71

• System Office, Fayetteville, 1080 W. Clydesdale Drive

Source: Staff Report

"We're seeing people we've never seen before," director Dianna Payne said Thursday. "It's been fast-paced but good. It's exciting."

The library is one of nine libraries in Washington County linked by the Washington County Library System.

The public system uses its $2 million budget to share resources, support Farmington, Elkins and other small cities in the area.

The library's renovation had been in the works for at least five years. Beforehand, books crammed every inch of shelf and the library's hundreds of patrons practically had to step over each other, librarians said.

The library has new life with 10,000 square feet, wireless Internet and other improvements that cost about $1 million, Payne said.

"Now we have space for people to hang out, so they are," she said. "We've hit the ground running."

The library captures a trend affecting the entire system: Despite falling numbers of books and movies checked out, membership and use of the libraries keeps going up, as does use of e-books and other technology.

"We're going through a transition in what the library is used for," Jill Maddox, president of the system's board and Prairie Grove librarian, said at the board's quarterly meeting Thursday.

Director Glenda Audrain told the board 2013's circulation, with about 1 million checkouts, was down slightly from 2012. But the system's members have been growing by about 500 each month to last week's roughly 55,000 registered members.

"There's still more people using the libraries," Audrain said, adding she's putting more money toward downloadable books.

Farmington's library also completed an expansion in January, after several weeks of closure.

"We've had a lot of moving," Audrain said. On the Lincoln expansion she added: "I understand it's quite beautiful, and they should be proud."

More expansions could be on the way. West Fork and Prairie Grove could soon need more space, Audrain said.

Joan Bachman, West Fork librarian, agreed space was running short, but the library has no definite plans. The town's active Friends of the Library group took over an old church building near the library, she added, and successfully raises money with Mother's Day flower sales, book sales and other programs.

NW News on 03/31/2014

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