In our recently concluded community survey, 83% of respondents said they used the library at least once in the past year. We also asked “Why haven’t you used any library services during the past year?” and 27% cited “I don’t have time/too busy.” We can assume that this applies to many who only used the library a few times in the past year, too.
“It’s our next big initiative.”
To help busy families, we’ve increased the number of licensed child care centers we visit. Our staff does story times and brings books for the children to check out. We thank the Daniel Boone Regional Library Foundation for raising the funds for us to purchase our Book Rover, a specialized van equipped with carts that we load with books which makes it easier to take our services out to new locations. Eventually, we want to visit even more child care centers and other community centers.
Some of the funds we could raise through a proposed levy increase in Callaway County would be dedicated to increasing these outreach services to child care centers, the aging and the homebound in Callaway County. The measure goes before voters on the April 2020 ballot. The library will host a public forum on Proposition L on Tuesday, March 3 at the Holts Summit Public Library.
According to Conroy, “We love it when people come to our library buildings, but some people can’t make it there due to lack of time or physical limitations. We’ve been providing bookmobile services and visiting homebound patrons for more than 60 years, and those services are becoming even more important. In the past few years, we’ve expanded our outreach efforts, but there is so much more we want to do. Many value the library’s services, and we want to make them more convenient and accessible to everyone living in Boone and Callaway Counties.”