Fewer people are walking through the doors of Windsor Public Library branches this year, but overall customer use continues to grow.
A new report going before the library board Tuesday show gate counts are down four per cent year-to-date, along with a four per cent drop in physical checkouts. But the library’s digital customer use index has climbed 15 per cent, helping push total customer interactions up nine per cent overall.
Board chair Mark McKenzie says the library has been putting more resources into reaching people outside its physical branches.
“Definitely some good showings with our digital and with our website, and honestly, it’s because it’s something that the board has been talking about for the past few years now, is saying let’s have some dedicated employees just for our digital branch,” McKenzie said.
The report shows website and social media use is up 23 per cent year-to-date, while eResources accounted for 59 per cent of August circulation.
Some neighbourhood branches are also seeing significantly more foot traffic. Fontainebleau’s gate count is up 44 per cent year-to-date, while Seminole is up 15 per cent.
McKenzie says Seminole has maintained a strong connection with residents despite historically seeing fewer visitors.
“It’s one of those branches that the neighbourhood really loves. It’s you know our least attended branch, but they do offer some really unique things like a seed library there and some other cool things. So it’s nice to see the numbers at Seminole go up,” he said.
McKenzie is also predicting an improvement in physical attendance following the Central Branch move.
“We’ve seen a huge increase in numbers there already compared to the previous branch which was the Paul Martin building. So I think that’s also going to increase numbers by a large amount. It’s just more accessible and it’s a nicer space and it’s closer to a lot of people already, right? It’s closer to a lot of those homes around the Glengarry area,” McKenzie said.
The figures before the board only run through August, meaning they do not yet capture the new Central location, which opened in September.
A separate report says the new Central Branch recorded 1,955 visits over 10 days between Sept. 24 and Oct. 4.