LAKE COUNTY >> Circulation for the Lake County Library system decreased by 5.5 percent, in part due to a lack of funding the library said in its annual report to the Board of Supervisors.
For the last seven years, the budget for purchasing new materials has decreased, County Librarian Christopher Veach said. According to a chart listed in its report, the library’s materials budget has decreased by $200,000 over the time period and that correlates with the steady drop in physical book checkout.
“Historically, as spending on library materials increase, library circulation also increases,” Veach said in the report. “Most of the materials used at the public library are the newest materials, and as materials get older they are less and less likely to be relevant to the community.”
A primary reason for that drop, he said, was due to the passage of the California Library Services Act of 2011, which eliminated state funding of public libraries. The only money coming from Sacramento is through a reimbursement program that covers a book’s cost when it is loaned to another library.
Now, Lake County’s libraries, with branches in Lakeport, Upper Lake, Middletown, and Clearlake, are funded by a dedicated property tax. However, The Valley Fire has put that cash flow in danger as the county auditor-controller estimated property tax loss at $2 million.
“I’m very concerned about that,” Veach said.
Yet, activity with digital books and audiobooks actually increased, despite the lack of funding for different formats for fiction and nonfiction titles. In fact, the library reported a 22 percent increase in downloads of electronic media through its portal.
Another dramatic increase was seen in the participation and the amount of programs offered. The report said the library system doubled the quantity of its educational offerings to 454.
The most popular ones were in health, cooking, and history. In terms of demographics, however, children had the largest jump, especially in the Storytime program where attendance increased by 87 percent.
