May Bookstore Sales Up 2%

And an excuse to show off a cake.

Cake created by Svetha Hetzler,

Middleton's Head of Children's Services,

for a Book Bistro program

From Publishers Weekly, 7/15/2008

Bookstore sales rose again in May, albeit at a much more moderate clip than the surprising 8% rate posted in April. According to preliminary estimates from the U.S. Census Bureau, bookstore sales increased 2.6% in May, to $1.15 billion. Sales for the entire retail segment were up 2.5% in the month. For the first five months of the year bookstore sales were up 4.9%, to $6.60 billion. Sales for all of retail rose 3.5% in the period.

As a point of comparison, circulation at South Central Library System LINK libraries increased to 921, 804 in May 2008 compared to 874,753 in May 2007 -- an increase of 5.4%

Year-to-date LINK circulation tallies:
4,809,803 in 2008 (+3.7%)
4,629,167 in 2007 (+4.1% over 2006)

What I'm really interested to see, though, are summer reading program participation numbers. Anecdotally, it sounds as though records are being set at many libraries this summer, even those not serving cake! Middleton exceeded last year's record participation by children within the 3rd week of this year's program. The teen record fell last week.