Have you ever wondered how many books were in the Aurora Public Library’s collection? Or, checked out a book and wondered how many times the item you had in your hand had circulated? Well folks, let me offer a snapshot of what happened at the Aurora Public Library (APL) in 2019.
In 2019, we had a total of 579,934 visits among our three branches. These visits included stopping by to pick up a book, or being one of the 114,870 who attended a program. Among the 4,465 total programs offered were book discussions, a toy swap and even the annual Holiday Open House at West Branch. In addition, we went out into the community to be host to our own programs such as Stories at the Zoo, and attended programs in the community such as school fairs. During our outings, we helped 28,196 of you whether it was on our Bookmobile or at a program.
How many items did we have in 2019? Our collection size was 524,008 items from books, to movies, and even hotspots. From this collection, 56,807 were new titles! Now how many times did these items circulate? It was 1,378,475 times! Some titles are more popular than others, and you might be wondering what items circulated the most…. Which brings me to our fan favorites. The top adult fiction book was the Great Alone by Kristin Hannah with 67 circulations. The top teen fiction was Scythe by Neal Shusterman with 59 circulations. Last but not least, the top youth fiction book was Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Hard Luck by Jeff Kinney with a total of 159 circulations!
How about our digital items? We had 102,077 total items within our e-circulation whether it was finding an ebook through Hoopla or a magazine through RBDigital. In addition, there were 19,913 data sessions where people used resources ranging from homework help with Brainfuseto learning a new language with Pronunciator. There were 1,095,295 internet sessions used by customers in the living room of West Branch, computer lab at Eola Road Branch or the atrium at Santori Library.
All year we made sure to help you and answer all 119,888 of your questions. That’s more than 300 questions a day! All this work would not have been possible without the 112 staff members (full time equivalence) in 2019! Of these staff members, we welcomed 22 new hires and said congratulations to six who retired.
Thank you for keeping your Library vibrant and an essential part of the community.
Miriam Meza-Gotto is communications manager for Aurora Public Library.