Official: Demand for library service high after branch closures

After a pandemic-related shutdown and a burst pipe in Libby, circulation went down across the county’s library branches, but officials say demand for the agency’s services remains high.

Alyssa Ramirez, county library director, said circulation fell roughly 20 percent so far this year. But that includes the library branches closing doors for most of March, all of April and a portion May, she said.

The reopening took longer in Libby, where a pipe burst flooded the building with about four inches of water in mid-May. The mishap dampened plans to reopen the building as COVID-19 restrictions were eased.

Simultaneously, use of the library’s digital collection increased by about 20 percent, Ramirez told the Lincoln County Board of Commissioners during a Sept. 30 update on the library system. Visits have gradually increased as well, she said.

“We’re seeing a lot more people coming in, a lot more people are coming in and checking [materials] out,” Ramirez said. “We’re not quite back to normal, but I don’t think anyone is at this point.”

Visitation also fell by about 16 percent, which Ramirez also attributed to the pandemic. County Commissioner Mark Peck (D-1) expressed surprise that the decline was not worse.

“I would have thought it was higher than that — just with the amount of time you were shut down,” he said.

Ramirez said that a temporary pop up library set up inside the county courthouse building while workers repaired water damage in Libby helped buoy the numbers.

“A lot of people came in, including this kind of crusty old man who came in and said, ‘I didn’t realize how much I relied upon you,’” she said.

Social distancing requirements have put a crimp on returning to normalcy, Ramirez told the commissioners. In Eureka, space constraints have become apparent, she said.

But in Troy, recent renovations came just in time.

“We did that [renovation work] before covid hit and, man, that’s really helped us there,” Ramirez said.

As library staff members adjust to life under the pandemic restrictions, they plan to expand services. Ramirez hoped to focus on reaching younger children and provide support to mothers struggling with remote learning or homeschooling.

Library employees also have worked to engage residents on social media, she said.

Ramirez also broke down the county library system’s $448,073 operating budget, of which $416,596 comes from county coffers. A Steele-Reese grant accounts for another $20,000 and the system received $11,477 in state aid this year, a first in several budget cycles, Ramirez said.

Of that, the overwhelming majority goes toward personnel costs. About 71.9 percent of the budget is dedicated to the staff, which has shrunk in recent years, Ramirez said.

“I know people look at our budget and say, ‘You have $400,000. That’s a whole bunch of money,’” she told the board. “When you subtract all the personnel costs, which only seem to increase every year, this upcoming year we have less than $95,000 to keep all three branches running.”

The next highest expenditure is utilities and insurance costs, which comprise about 6.3 percent of the budget together. Maintenance and supplies account for 6.1 percent. The remodeling of the Troy Branch ate up 4.5 percent of the library’s budget, according to documents provided by Ramirez.