“At our little library here in Stanley we average 85 checkouts a day,” Library Board Treasurer Jim Ericksen told the Stanley Common Council at its August 3 meeting. Not mentioned by Ericksen but a worthwhile point is that the currently 119-year-old and several thousand square foot “little library” located at 154 E. Fourth Avenue in Stanley is free to the wider community, insofar as taxpayer-supported institutions can claim this—and that was what the library board had come in part to report on, along with COVID-19 related adjustments.

“We’re here tonight. It isn’t really to approve or disapprove the budget,” Ericksen said in contrast to the item listing on the night’s meeting agenda, appearing beside Library Director Elizabeth Miniatt. “It’s just kind of an update and to give you an update on some of the numbers,” he said. “Especially for the new members on the Council.” Ericksen then pointed out the additional presence of library board president Cathy Ryba and board member Anne Diers at the Fire Hall, looking on from the sidelines. Ericksen reported that September would be Miniatt’s one-year anniversary at the library director post. “It’s nice to have a steady hand at the wheel,” he said. Before long, it was into pie charts.

“We’re doing a comparison of ’19 to ’20,” Ericksen said. “Obviously we’re down a little bit, like half,” he said, then sharing that checkouts and renewals together equaled the library’s total circulation, from 17,000 “at this time” the year previous to just 9,000 for the same period as of August 3 this year. New patrons and items remained the same, Ericksen said, while the wi-fi statistics were up slightly, in the 14,000 hit range. Library wifi hits are part of the usage statistics that are kept by the library.

“The wireless sessions; that’s something that I want you to really pay attention when you’re traveling around town, to drive by the library,” he said. “And you’ll see a lot of people out in front of the library utilizing our wi-fi.” Meanwhile between 2019 and 2020, the checkouts by age had stayed relatively steady, while digital checkouts had increased. On Thursdays there was a slight dip in checkout statistics, while on Fridays local library checkouts were up slightly from the average to 110, and on Saturdays they were down. As potential explanation for this fact, the library is open just two hours on Saturdays from 10 a.m. to 12 p.m. or 1/4 of the time as other days.

“The question I get asked a lot is ‘does anybody use the library anymore?’” Ericksen said, answering this question in the affirmative, “It’s still utilized.” Saying that the library board did appreciate the support and help it had received from the City. Ericksen then turned things over to Library Director Elizabeth Miniatt, who gave the Common Council an update refresher as to how library funding worked.

“So we get most of our funding from Stanley, but the largest chunk other than that—our municipal appropriation— is from the different counties that our library materials circulate,” Miniatt told the council. Miniatt went on to say that this county funding was determined from numbers two years previous. “So our funding that we got in 2020 was from our 2018 numbers,” she said, then touching on the calculation basis for determining these.

“To ascertain what we’re going to get from our different counties, we take our total expenditures divided by our total circulation and that’s called our ‘cost per circ,’” she said, directing council members attention to the sheet detailing county funding, where the “cost per circ” for 2019 was from 2017 numbers and came out to $3.79. “And then our cost per circ for 2020…that really, really dropped because of a funding cut that went into effect,” she said. The library director then said she was predicting a final circulation number for 2020 of 20,000, based on the present trend.

“And it’s kind of an optimistic one,” she clarified to the council of the circulation estimate for 2020, saying that 2022 was most likely when county funding would take “a serious hit” on account of the present poor numbers compared to the previous year. “The cost per circulation is higher, as you can see—it’s $6.30—but it’s fewer circulations that we can charge that for,” she told the council. Alderman Kent Barby asked Miniatt if there was anything from the State for what they planned to do on the reduced county funding. Miniatt said there had been talk at IFLIS as the federated library structure that the local library belongs too.

“I would hope the State would do something,” Barby said as he noted that other libraries were in the same situation as the one at Stanley, subject to a common funding pool. “If the State doesn’t do anything on those circs you’re going to see a big hole open up in the library— what do you predict the deficiencies going to be in 2022?” he asked Miniatt.

“Well, depending on our circulation I am predicting a drop of $10,000 to $8,000 in our county appropriation,” she answered. “I’m not sure what it’s actually going to be like,” she said of the uncertain future. Barby said it was important for the city to have an idea of what the future might hold for budgetary matters.

In additional library updates Monday, it was revealed that although the Council had previously voted to make Miniatt a fulltime employee as of this April, the library director was still working part-time as the local book repository made use of “skeleton hours” and other measures meant to adjust to the current pandemic reality, already having lived through the 1918 flu pandemic, among others. Also reported at the Monday meeting was that employees were self-monitoring in terms of temperatures, but that patrons did not have their temperature taken on entering the library. It was reported that an average of 10-15 people picked up materials each day, while five to ten logged computer sessions.

Only those members of the public signing up for computer use currently enter the library building, with hard copy materials placed outside at curbside.

Alderman Mark Fitzsimmons had a question for the library board on hand to bear witness. “Is there—have you seen that there’s any funds available…to recoup expenses related to COVID?” he asked. Miniatt didn’t have a definite answer, but was hopeful.

“Right, that has been discussed among libraries too,” she said, “Different municipalities have been getting funding for COVID expenses, and libraries have also been a part of that, because that’s also our expenses for COVID.”

“Yes, exactly,” Fitzsimmons agreed.

“We are saving money in that I did not go full-time yet,” Miniatt said. “I am still part-time.” A dramatic decrease in energy and seasonal expenses was also reported. Local library cardholders and patrons can make an appointment to pick up reserved checkout materials or use the computer by calling the D. R. Moon Memorial Library at 715-644-2004 during regular business hours or by traveling to www.stanleylibrary.org.

Photos by Joseph Back.