The Fergus Falls Daily Journal

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Library makes Tumble Books available online

Published 6:54am Wednesday, July 7, 2010

The Friends of Fergus Falls Public Library have funded a new on-line service for children, “Tumble Books.” Accessible from home via our web site www.fergusfalls.lib.mn.us, the 250-plus picture books for children are narrated in English, 100 of those in other languages including French and Italian. The generous gift from the Friends will pay to make the service available for two years. The Friends pay for these special projects of theirs with fundraisers such as the annual used book sale coming up September 16th – 18th and the “Festival of Wreaths” in November.

Ten people waiting in line for the opening of Fergus Falls Public Library this Thursday morning summarizes our summer, busy from opening until closing. Here are some statistics.

The Library registered 180 new customers during the month of June, up from the 169 issued in May. The tally of new Library card holders since the first of the year is 591. So with a year-end count of 19,349 registered users in 2009, the new total is 19,940, an amazing total for a community the size of ours. The number of cardholders increased by 15% in 2009 as compared to the previous year, and it appears there will be a similar increase this year.

On Wednesday of this week the “people counter” in our front entry recorded 816 visitors, a very respectable number for our 10-hour day. During 2009 we recorded 149,249 visitors and with 77,308 visitors during the last six months we are well on our way to equaling or beating that record this year.

Circulation of materials for June was 21,776, up by 7,742 from the same month last year. In 2009 the total of books, magazines, audio books, video programs, and framed art prints checked out was 250,135. The count of Internet users last year was 22,767, but that tally cannot grow much because the service is operating at full capacity.

Fergus Falls Public Library has nine programs for children this summer and all are at capacity. Roughly 350 youngsters participate during the average week, attending three pre-school story hours, two afternoon programs, the Book Bunch reading group for teens, two “Extra Reading at the Library” sessions, and chess lessons . Roughly 650 children participate in some aspect of our services for school children. Our program attendance was up 14.5 % in 2009 over the previous year, and that percentage is certain to be higher at the end of this year. Public Library services provided to the children of our community seem limited only by the space we have. Do these numbers explain why we sometimes look a little tired toward the end of the day?

Fergus Falls Public Library is open from 9:30 AM until 7:30 PM Monday through Thursday, 9:30 AM until 5:30 PM Friday, and from 9:00 AM until 1:00 PM. The Library is located at 205 East Hampden Avenue, just across the street from the Lake Region medical campus and NP Park. Telephone 739 – 9387 or see web site www.fergusfalls.lib.mn.us for further information on Public Library facilities and services.