Page 12
The INDEPENDENT, January 7, 2010
Washington County library system celebrates 10 million checkouts
On Friday, December 11th
Washington County readers
achieved a milestone in the
Washington County Coopera-
tive Library Services (WCCLS)
thirty-three year history - they
reached their 10 millionth
check-out in a single calendar
year. Judy Stuebe, a patron of
the Hillsboro Main Library, was
the lucky WCCLS customer to
put the count over the top to
reach the record for the Coop-
erative’s fourteen member li-
braries. Stuebe is a life-long
resident of Hillsboro and fre-
quent library user. She even re-
members attending summer
reading programs as a child at
the old Hillsboro (Carnegie) Li-
brary on Lincoln Street in
downtown Hillsboro. After rais-
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ing four children to be library
users – she is now instilling a
love of reading in her four
young granddaughters.
Eva Calcagno, Cooperative
Library Services Director,
notes, “10,000,000 checkouts
is an incredible milestone, but
it’s just one of many indicators
of increased community use of
libraries. Circulation, visitors,
program attendance have all
increased at double-digit rates
over the last five years.”
The fourteen WCCLS mem-
ber libraries have experienced
a whopping 43% increase in
circulation over the past five
years, increasing over 16% in
the last year alone. The pas-
sage of a WCCLS local option
levy in 2006 allowed libraries to
restore
previously-reduced
open hours, rebuild book budg-
ets and add library programs
for children and adults, con-
tributing to the surge in library
use. One of the best values the
cooperative offers residents is
access to nearly 1.5 million
items in the countywide collec-
tion. This means no matter
whether you live in Sherwood
or Banks or points in between
and need a book that your local
library does not currently have
on hand – WCCLS will deliver a
copy from another member li-
brary to your local library for
easy pick-up.
Mike Smith, director of the
Hillsboro Public Libraries
knows that residents demon-
strate every day with their feet
that they understand the
tremendous value of having
such a diverse library system
available to them here in Wash-
ington County. Last fiscal year
WCCLS member libraries
greeted nearly 3.9 million visi-
tors and are on track to beat
that record again. Families, in
particular, understand that bor-
rowing books, CDs and movies
from the library helps them get
by during these tough econom-
ic times. With the downturn in
the economy, WCCLS libraries
have expanded services to
support job-seekers through
materials, electronic resources
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in 2009 still to go, WCCLS pro-
jected that the number of
check-outs and renewals would
surpass 10.5 million by the end
of year! Please join WCCLS in
saluting Ms. Stuebe and the
other 280,000+ Washington
County library patrons for con-
tinuing to make reading and li-
braries an important part of
their lives. Libraries save you
time, save you money and help
you prepare for the future.
The Washington County Co-
operative Library Services
(WCCLS), includes Banks Pub-
lic Library, Beaverton City Li-
brary, Cedar Mill Community Li-
brary, Cedar Mill Community Li-
brary @ Bethany, Cornelius
Public Library, Forest Grove
City Library, Garden Home
Community Library, Hillsboro
Public Libraries (Main and
Shute Park), North Plains Pub-
lic Library, Sherwood Public Li-
brary, Tigard Public Library, Tu-
alatin Public Library, and West
Slope Community Library.
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Families, like the Stuebe’s,
also enjoy the benefit of the as-
sistance that libraries provide in
helping prepare their children
and grandchildren to become
ready readers. Attendance at li-
brary programs for children has
increased 56% over five years,
and last year 174,475 children
participated in library spon-
sored programs. The WCCLS
summer reading program con-
tinues to experience double
digit increases in participation –
reaching 24,783 youth and
teens in the 2009 summer pro-
gram.
In 2008, patrons checked
out or renewed just over 9 mil-
lion items. And with two weeks
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