BOOKMARK

Sellwood and Woodstock Library use skyrockets

By Merry Mackinnon

The Bee, Mar 4, 2009, Updated Oct 30, 2009

In the Sellwood Branch Library’s back room, stacks of books in bins wait to be sorted and returned to the shelves. The branch’s Administrator, Sharon Bart, and the other library staff are working hard to deal with recent increased use of library materials – which library employees attribute to the downturn in the economy.

Merry MacKinnon / THE BEE

ADVERTISEMENTS

All over the country, library use is reported soaring — and the Multnomah County Library system, including the Sellwood and Woodstock branch libraries, are certainly no exception.

At the Sellwood Library, S.E. 13th at Bidwell Street, demand for library materials began climbing almost a year ago — and then leaped exponentially starting last fall, reports Sellwood Branch Library Administrator Sharon Bart.

“This is a national phenomenon,” Bart says. “Library use is up all over.”

Staff at the Sellwood Library regularly note the upsurge, she adds. “We discuss this when the branch leaders meet each month,” she says. “Fortunately, our materials budget has been pretty healthy.”

Library staff explain this surge as a byproduct of the downturn in the economy: People are buying fewer books, renting fewer DVDs, and apparently also are deciding to forego Internet service at home in favor of free Wi-Fi at the library.

“It’s a money-saver,” Bart says. “DVDs are flying off the shelves.”

In one sign of increased demand, Sellwood Library staff recently expanded shelf space to accommodate more “holds”, the shared Multnomah County Library service whereby patrons order materials — usually books — online, and then pick them up at their local branch. “Our building is fairly small, so we do a lot of sharing through ‘holds’,” Bart explains.

Another indicator of increased use are the stacks and stacks of bins containing returned books, crowding the space in the library’s backroom.

1 | 2 Next Page >>