Why do we need a new Library now?
The current library is not adequate to meet all of the needs of the Town of Los Gatos. Built when the Los Gatos population was half of what it is today, the building isn't large enough to house all of the wonderful programs the library has to offer.
Over the past several years, library use has continued to increase. Take a look at some of the statistics that show exactly what an important resource this town jewel is.
On a typical day at Los Gatos Public Library:
- 600 people visit the library.
- 1,100 books, periodicals and media are checked-out. Of the 1,100 items checked-out, 490 are by children.
- Approximately 1,100 books are checked-in and shelved.
- A Pre-School Storytime is attended by about 50 children and.adults in the morning.
- Approximately 20 children attend programs such as Homework Together, the Knitting Club, a Spanish Storyhour, Books Together (adults reading to children), or the Children's Book Club in the afternoon.
- 68 reference questions are answered.
- 5 local history questions are answered, several historic photographs digitized, and metadata developed and entered into a database.
- 5-10 adults attend a book discussion group or other program.
- 80 people log-on to the Internet. Many need help with technology.
- 50 books are cataloged and another 50 are processed to receive labels, bar codes, and RFID tags for security purposes. Some hardback books receive plastic covers.
- The library's IT person manages and trouble-shoots 44 public and staff computers, multiple printers, 3 self-check machines, 5 servers, 1 firewall, 3 switches, and 1 backup system.
- 25 new books or media will be ordered electronically, and another 25 items received.
Services Available and Delivered at Los Gatos Public Library:
LGPL
- has more than 19,000 registered users.
- has 40,500 books and media, almost all available for check-out.
- circulated more than 400,000 items in 2008. Of those, 165,000 were children's items.
- has a circulation per capita of 12.43 items. Children's circulation per capita was 27.9 items.
- visits in 2008 numbered approximately 198,000, about 6.73 per capita.
- offered 307 library programs in 2008. Of those 307 programs, 243 were children's programs, including story hours
- offers 10,000 electronic books and 40 licensed databases, which give access to thousands of newspaper, periodical, encyclopedia, and other informational articles.
- answered 24,000 reference questions in-house in 2008. About 500 questions from the local area or anywhere in the country were answered virtually. According to our surveys, 99.9% of our customers rated reference assistance by staff as good or excellent.
- has 14 Internet computers used by the public, allowing more than 23,000 Internet sessions per year.
- subscribes to 312 print periodicals
- spends $5.96 per capita on library materials overall, and $1.70 cents per child.
- had about 8,400 people (children with a parent or guardian) who attended the children's programs at the library.According to our surveys, 960/0 of the parents or guardians attending our children's programs strongly agreed that the program enhanced their child's development. About 800 adults attended 64 adult programs (including book club meetings).
- has experienced a noticeable increase of circulation at the library with hard economic times. (Jan/Feb 2008). During each of the last six months of 2008, circulation increased by an average of 18.66% over the same month in 2007.
