Alleghany library usage was down slightly in ‘03

Debbie Brewer cited two main factors that account for the variation — somewhat of a decline — in the use of the Alleghany County Public Library this year.

"The person who does quite a bit of our programs was in ill health from about March until June," said Brewer, the branch librarian. A second factor was somewhat of an increase in the use of the "Books N' Friends" bookstore in Sparta — which benefits the library by selling used library books. The library has had a circulation totalling 40,552 in the past 11 months, down from 49,623 in the 2001 fiscal year.

Program attendance also fell from 4,559 attending 295 programs in 2001 at the library to 2,341 attending 223 programs during the 2003 fiscal year. In the past 11 months, patrons' reference and direction questions answered by library staff totaled 30,680, and there were 113,880 incidents of in-library materials use by patrons. The door count was at its highest from June to October, during which time figures ranged from a high of 2,911 people in July to a low of 2,065 in August.

The circulation was at its highest during the early summer, with a figure of 4,339 circulated materials for June and the highest monthly circulation of 4,527 in July for that 11-month period.

However, Brewer said, despite these decreases, library officials and county commissioners have discussed the need — and possibility — of a new library in Alleghany County.

The reason? Space limitations. To illustrate the crowded conditions at the existing library, Brewer mentioned the audiocassette section, making note of both the lack of space on the shelves and the lack of space that could be used to put in new shelves. Placing materials in the meeting room has been suggested, but since that space is used rather often for meetings, library officials do not want to cramp that space either.

"We're running out of space," Brewer said of the current library.

Possibility of New Library

At their Dec. 15 meeting, the Alleghany County Board of Commissioners began discussions about meeting county facility needs.

An option for meeting such needs, discussed by county commissioner Patrick Woodie, would involve the use of the old Sara Lee building. Using this option, "You could literally consolidate every county building and have room for a new library," Woodie said at the time. This plan would also free up the current county office building, the old Cash and Carry and the library as buildings that could be sold at the discretion of the commissioners, if the consolidation took place in the old Sara Lee building.

Right now the library board is working on the planning part of the project, said Brewer. A study has been completed on the library's space needs.

Brewer said the board has looked at and considered different sites as possibilities for locating a new library, but a location has not yet been chosen.

"New materials are coming in, but we're running out of space to put them," Brewer said. "We need space."

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