Families check out library in hard times

SANDPOINT - Tanya Munson held her toddler by one hand as she clasped a bagful of books in the other. She stood on one side of a room that was crawling with little ones, all happily bounding around with hand puppets and plush toys as their parents gathered jackets, gloves, scarves and boots into piles and prepared to leave.

Munson discovered this gathering - a weekly program called "Book Babies" - when she stopped into the Sandpoint branch of the East Bonner County Library last week to check out a book to read on vacation. She had planned to buy the title until her husband suggested they save the money and go to the library instead.

Now, she said, the family has a line on no-cost reading materials and a free place to keep their daughter entertained on Friday mornings.

Attendance at these morning sessions has grown over the past few months, getting larger as the economy struggles, according to Suzanne Davis, youth services librarian.

"Actually, all of our programs have gotten bigger," she said. "It's probably related to the economy. People are out of work and they need someplace to go during the day with their kids."

The number of children attending sessions like Book Babies and Tales for Twos and Threes, which follows it on Fridays, has doubled. So, too has the turnout for pre-school story time on Wednesday mornings, which now attracts about 30 children - twice the number seen only a couple of months ago.

With storytelling at an end for her daughter's age group, Jodie Newsom moved into the children's area for another one of the youngster's favorite activities - playing learning games on the library computers.

"Nowadays, with the fact that it's free and there are so many great services, we use the library a lot," she said, helping her daughter, Genevieve, start a game as older brother, Robert, worked alongside them. "We try to come every Friday for story time and I've been seeing a whole new group of young moms coming in all the time.

"I feel there's going to be even more need for things like this as the economy gets worse."

According to Wayne Gunter, director for the East Bonner County Library District, which includes the Sandpoint and Clark Fork branches, as well as a Bookmobile serving several rural communities in the county, the new faces at the library are just the latest wave in a trend that has gone on for more than a decade.

"This library has always been heavily used - it's the sixth or seventh most-used public library in Idaho, out of 140 public libraries statewide," he said. "What's happening now is that, in hard times, people are continuing to use it."

In recent months, "customer" growth was up more than 2,000 people for the period between October 2008 and the beginning of this year. For fiscal 2008, which ended in September, the district had an increase of about 38,000 items checked out, compared with the same period a year earlier.

One of the most noticeable climbs in library use has come in the use of computers, which increased more than 30 percent as 82,600 passes were issued in the most recent fiscal year.

Whether saving money on Internet fees or scraping pennies by checking out books, movies and music CDs, patrons agree that the library has become more visible as family budgets become more stretched.

"It's the right price for people," the director said.

In Bonners Ferry, the Boundary County District Library has turned into a center for family activities, according to director Sandy Ashworth.

"We like it when that happens, because we're a people place," she said. "If you're watching every dollar, you're going to cut out every unnecessary expense and that has caused people to start doing more things at home and spending more time with their families.

"People we haven't seen before are starting to use the library," Ashworth added. "Families come in and spend an hour - or two or three - in our children's area, reading the books and playing games together."

In Bonners Ferry, where mill layoffs and a slowing job market have challenged the local economy, the increase in library circulation has been especially dramatic, with 27,000 more books and movies checked out in fiscal 2008 than the prior-year period.

"We're one entity that can still give something away to you - instead of taking it away," said Ashworth.

Katie Crill, director for the West Bonner Library District, said last year brought a 20 percent increase in both patron visits and items checked out at branches in Priest River and Blanchard, compared with 2007. In keeping with other library branches in the area, those numbers have jumped even higher coming into 2009.

"In the last month, we've had a 50 percent increase in attendance," the director estimated. "The worse things get, the more we're used. And we're pretty much filled to the max these days."

Priest River and surrounding communities have been particularly hard hit by mill closures, which keeps the library's computers busy for job searches, resume writing and on-line employment applications.

"I see where corners are being cut," Crill said. "We're checking out more movies and people are letting go of their Internet and using our computers more."

The biggest increase, though, has been in an area that both delights and surprises the library director. Families are now bringing in their children for library cards and, at the end of their visits, they are packing out stacks of books to read together at home.

"We're seeing a fat increase in computer use, but we also have a lot more books going out the door than before," Crill said. "The increase in my book circulation has been higher than the growth in computer use. That's encouraging. It's nice to know people still love to read."