Week 6 - Looking out to the commmunity

Community Survey
A marketing class at Elmhurst College, taught by Amy Clugg, will be conducting a survey on the library’s behalf as part of their class work this semester. Sarah Caltvedt visited the class on Tuesday evening, February 26, to share with them some background on the library, the process we are going through, and what we would hope to learn from a survey. The class will draw up a list of objectives, target audiences, and a draft survey that they will then review with us before moving forward.

“Community Voice” Focus Group
We are working to develop a guest list for participation in a community focus group meeting. This meeting will take place on April 9th, from 1:30 – 3 p.m. and be facilitated by Maureen Sullivan. So that participants can feel free to speak openly, library staff will not attend. Invitations will be sent out in about two weeks.

Library Patterns of Use
At previous meetings the Committee looked at Elmhurst demographic statistics and other background information on the community. At this meeting we focused on the library, examining circulation and card holder statistics for the past five years. In the past five years the library has seen a 35.16% growth in circulation and an 18.76% growth in number of card holders. A ranking of SWAN Consortium libraries by number of items checked out has Elmhurst at the top, followed by Downers Grove, Indian Prairie, Oak Lawn, and Woodridge. We also looked at some statistics from the Public Library Annual Report that compared Elmhurst to other libraries in a variety of ways.

What do these statistics tell us about the future of the library? Has circulation gone up because we have made the library easier to use? We have added bags patrons can check out to carry materials; improved the accessibility of the catalog; permitted patrons to place their own holds and renewals; provided a drive-up window, etc. These are good questions to ponder as we move forward.