Saturday, October 15, 2011

Cherie Sanderson: The Boulder Junction Public Library plays an important role in the quality of life in our community


Library director addresses the current and future needs of the Boulder Junction Library. Letter to the editor from Cherie Sanderson, Director, Boulder Junction Public Library.  (Lakeland Times, 10/14/2011)

Excerpt:   Our circulation statistics show that 8,092 physical books have been checked out to our patrons from January 2011 through September 2011. In contrast, only 44 ebooks have been checked out to our patrons from January 2011 through September 2011. If you look at the statistics for all 29 libraries in the Northern Waters Library System (of which Boulder Junction Public Library is a member), total ebook checkouts for 2010 was 553 and ebook checkouts for January through May of 2011 is already 764.

The conclusion I draw from these statistics is that overall ebook usage is increasing; however, ebook usage at the Boulder Junction Public Library is seeing slower growth. At the Sept. 29 town meeting Ms. Mabie referred to in her letter to the editor, I asked the attendees to raise their hands if they owned an e-reader. About five to eight people raised their hand out of about 100 in attendance. I then asked how many in the audience would rather read an ebook than a physical book and roughly 10 raised their hands. Since this meeting was a random sampling of Boulder Junction residents, this means that only 8-10 percent of Boulder Junction residents are currently embracing the ebook trend
.

In response to To build or  not to be, that is the question in Boulder Junction.

Excerpt: Concerning space in the library, I explained the new technologies with electronic books and the future of them. I also gave examples how the Library of Congress is willing to help local libraries set up ideas so that space can be saved and how new ideas can be implemented.

Would like to know what these examples are.

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