Some ups and downs for the Windsor Public Library in 2025.
The 2025 Statistics Report was presented to the library board on Tuesday afternoon, showcasing many successes throughout the year, as well as some hiccups.
While the library welcomed 13,000 new members in 2025, with a total of 78,300 active cards, the library recorded 10,000 less active cards than 2024.
In-house usage of items within all library branches was at 153,900 items - a seven per cent decrease over 2024.
Public Service options such as program attendance, outreach programs, and school visits were down 11.5 per cent. The board attributed this to the new hours throughout 2025, which reduced opportunities to deliver in-branch programs and to accommodate school visits.
Despite some hiccups, physical circulation of materials increased system-wide by 4.2 per cent in 2025, with Forest Glade, Bridgeview, and Chisholm reporting the strongest gains.
Overall gate counts increased by 3.3 per cent from 2024, with nearly 510,000 people visiting all branches last year.
Mark McKenzie, ward 4 councillor and chair of the library board, says it's great to see how many people are visiting the library.
"It also helps that we've changed our gate counters as well, so we're getting more accurate numbers now. So, we had some older gate count machinery and technology there, so we changed those out in 2025, and so that's reflecting the numbers as well because we're actually getting proper readings now."
He says even those the Central Branch had a dip in attendance, it accounted for largest share of public computer use, making up 36 per cent of all users.
"We actually added some more computers at the Central Branch because so many people use them, and a few of the other branches we've added some more computers as well. It is interesting to see. Downtown has always been the busier one when it comes to the internet usage, and I think it's just because you have people who maybe are going to print things there, do some research."
McKenzie says it's normal to see dips and increases to program attendance.
"We always say 'okay, what's doing well, what maybe used to do well and now its kind of died off a little bit'. That's normal, we see that every year, some programs will be really busy for a couple of years, and then maybe the fad wears off a little bit, right? So, I'm not too concerned about that."
There are 10 Windsor Public Library branches.
All 10 branches operate during the same hours. They are open Sunday, Tuesday, Thursday, Friday, and Saturday's from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.
The branches are open on Monday and Wednesday from 12 p.m. to 8 p.m.