Mission Viejo Library’s Annual Statistics Tell the Story

Each year at the end of June, I report on the library’s annual use statistics. This year, it was exciting to see increases in just about every category of patron use, and, I’d like to share some of this excitement with you.

The Mission Viejo Library concluded Fiscal Year 2007-2008 with significant increases in patron use of the library. The library’s annual circulation was 833,488 items, compared to 738,456 items in Fiscal Year 2006-2007. This is an increase of over 11%, and especially important because the library’s collection contains just 170,000 items. At the end of June 2008, there were 144,492 registered borrowers and 72,075 reside in Mission Viejo. This means that 73% of all Mission Viejo residents have Mission Viejo Library cards. The national median is 57%. Both in-person and virtual visits (web site visits) totaled 732,674 increased in Fiscal Year 2007-2008, compared to 591,375 visits in Fiscal Year 2006-2007. Reference and information queries also increased. Library staff answered 158,168 questions in Fiscal Year 2007-2008, versus 151,896 inquiries in Fiscal Year 2006-2007. Program attendance for all library events also jumped to 12,876 from 11,893 in Fiscal Year 2006-2007. Volunteers also donated 20,490 hours of service in Fiscal Year 2007-2008. Expenditures per capita in Fiscal Year 2007-2008 were $27.65, compared to $23.97 in Fiscal Year 2006-2007. The national median is $34.13. From this vantage point, it appears that the residents of the City of Mission Viejo are receiving excellent value for their library dollar!

The “Gigantic Book Sale” is a Gigantic Success

The Friends of the Mission Viejo Library held a “Gigantic Book Sale” the last weekend in July and raised over $1,000. These gigantic book sales are popular with our patrons and this sale was no exception. The Friends priced books to “move” at 50 cents each, or, 3 for $1.00, so, it appears that over 3,000 books were purchased and taken home. One may ask, “where do all those books come from?” Well, most are donated by the public and some are withdrawn from the library’s collection. All items donated to the Friends are tax deductible and every effort is made to sell them, either in the book store or in a book sale. You may also see books placed on the “Free” cart in the library lobby. This is just another way that the Friends put books in the hands of the public. I am not sure when the Friends of the Mission Viejo Library will hold another “Gigantic Book Sale”, but when they do, I am sure that it will be as successful as this one was. Oh, and by the way, the money that the Friends collected will be used to purchase new books for the library.