Business is booming at Park Rapids Area Library, especially Internet use.
Marian Ridge, Kitchigami Regional Library system director, presented the 2009 operating budget to the Park Rapids City Council. The request is in the city's draft budget at this point.
Internet use has increased dramatically, Ridge said.
In 2007, 25,000 people used the library to access the Internet. So far in 2008, almost 24,000 people have used the library to access the Internet.
"We're looking at a 25-30 percent increase," she said.
ADVERTISEMENT
People have waited one and a half to two hours to use the Internet at the Park Rapids Area Library, Ridge said.
The library would like to have more computer access in the future to meet the growing need.
One increase for the 2009 budget is in personnel, to add some part time help.
"The children's program in Park Rapids is so successful that they've needed to double their story time," Ridge said.
Park Rapids is not the largest branch in the Kitchigami Regional Library system, but it has the most active summer library program, she said. This summer, more than 500 kids were registered and more than 90 teens.
"It is a tremendously successful program," she said.
Another part of the increase is that Kitchigami has established a group health insurance plan.
Other library resources have seen high use, especially the databases. Some of the databases include Auto Repair Reference Center, HeritageQuest and Novelist.
ADVERTISEMENT
Becky Walpole, Park Rapids branch manager said something new at the library is online renewal. People can enter an account number online and click to renew, without stopping at the library.
"Park Rapids is such a terrific library," Ridge said. "Given two years in a row of road construction that has made it difficult to get to the library, I think it's a real triumph" that circulation has stayed steady.
