Public libraries are shining stars during a tough economy

This past summer, NPR polled its listeners of “All Things Considered,” asking how their daily lives had changed since the economic downturn. Many responded by saying they were using their public libraries more — and true to form, public libraries across the country are reporting a recent surge in circulation.

While it is difficult for us to determine the direct impact here locally as our circulation has been climbing since we opened the new library in 2005, there is no doubt that we are making a difference in people’s lives.

More folks are coming in for computer classes like Microsoft Word and Excel, many of whom are laid-off airline employees looking to learn new job skills.

We also remain committed to distance education, especially during this time when so many are being forced to change careers. We proctor, on average, 15-20 exams every month for colleges and universities across the U.S. Many libraries have dropped this service due to staff shortages, and although it does sometimes burden our staff, we believe the service to be absolutely vital to the community.

Many people are tightening their belts, canceling their newspaper and magazine subscriptions, their premium cable channels, and entertainment budgets in order to save money.

At the library, we have patrons waiting at the door at 9 a.m. to be the first to read the newspaper. We are putting a significant amount of our materials budget into beefing up our DVD collection this year because of its high usage — 90 percent of the non-print collection comes in and goes right back out the same day.

I told my husband we didn’t need Netflix anymore. We have everything we needed right here at the library.

We issued hundreds of new library cards this month alone. A lot of folks came in with the sole purpose of registering to vote — did you know that we are an official voter registration site?

This is my third presidential election while working for Peachtree City, and I’ve never seen anything like it.

We made three trips to the post office on the last day to register for the upcoming election. (Shout out to Nancy Jurchenko, our in-house voter registration coordinator.) Yours truly was at the library until 11:30 p.m. that night processing applications.

But here’s the best part. While they may have initially come to the library to register to vote, we were given the opportunity to show off everything we had to offer: Books (of course), audiobooks, music CDs, DVDs, Internet access, newspapers, magazines, etc.

It amazed me how many people would ask, “All of this is free?”

Well, sort of — you pay for it with your tax dollars. So take advantage of it!

I challenge people who don’t consider themselves to be “readers” to tell me a little bit about themselves and their interests, and I promise I can find something for them.

I’m also pleased to announce that next month our library will be joining a consortium of 20 other Georgia libraries called Georgia Download Destination, which will offer downloadable audiobooks for our patrons.

We are also seeing a good many expired users come back to re-activate their cards. To these people, I give an enthusiastic, “Welcome back!” Whether long-term patron, new member, or returned customer, the staff at Peachtree City Library remains dedicated to meet your educational and entertainment needs. If you haven’t already, give us a try. We have something for everyone.

[Jill Prouty, M.S.L.S., is the administrator of the Peachtree City Library, 201 Willowbend Rd., Peachtree City, Ga. The library’s online address is www.peachtree-city.org/library.]