WP library shows marked uptick in services

VALUABLE SERVICE

We work to provide a valuable service to the entire community from babies and preschoolers who attend our storytimes, to our oldest citizens.”

Dara Sanders, WP Public Library director

WEST POINT – The West Point library saw a substantial uptick in activity over the past fiscal year, including a 68% increase in computer usage.
West Point Library Director Dara Sanders presented her annual report to the West Point City Council in a short monthly meeting Monday night.
Dara said checkouts, including e-book checkouts and audio books, were at 12,966 for the year with about 2,300 of those coming as electronic book downloads through the library. That represented an increase of 23%.
“That continues to rise each year,” Sanders said. “That generally is rising year after year because more people are using that format for some of those things.”
Actual visits to the library were up 17% with 14,597 users coming through the doors with 55% of those being West Point residents. 38% are from rural areas including St. Paul, Houghton or rural Lee County, and 7% from open access which is all other users not included in the other two categories.
Sanders said the free Wi-Fi and computer access have been a big hit since the pandemic overwhelmed the country. She said the library has four mobile wifi hotspots that can be checked out for a week at a time. They can extend that by a week, if there isn’t a waiting list, but then the equipment must be returned.
“We had a lot of kids find us again. Sometimes they come in waves, but they found us again and they like to play on the computer, and they took advantage of that over the summer,” Sanders said.
Library programs were up about 8% with 302 programs serving 3,181 attendees. One of the most popular was a Mega Foam Blaster Cannon that was set up in the park on the square for kids this summer.
The summer theme was “Find Your Voice”. Including the foam blaster, the library also brought in Sheltered Reality, which is a drum corp, Mikayla Oz, a magician, the storywalk around the square, and a library BINGO treasure hunt.
Sanders said the library passed a Tier 3 accreditation this year, which is the highest status in the state, and is now accredited through June 30 of 2026.
An honor was bestowed on long-time board member Carl J. Johnston by naming the Genealogy Room after him. Brian Schmitz of Schmitz Funeral Home donated the plaque for the new room.
Sanders said library staff continues to work to keep the collection robust and relevant. She said that will be ongoing to weed out inventory that’s not being used frequently.
“We work to provide a valuable service to the entire community from babies and preschoolers who attend our storytimes, to our oldest citizens,” Sanders said.
Last week during the senior Crafternoon, she said the group had three ladies over the age of 90. She said staff is also working hard to fill technology gaps for residents who don’t have it or don’t know how to use it.
“Now when you are applying for jobs, it’s all online. You have to know how to get your resume uploaded onto that computer and uploaded to that job site. We’ve been helping people with that. I think we do a good service with that,” she said.