SHEBOYGAN, WI (WHBL) - When one thinks of a library, one may typically thinks of books and reading. According to Garrett Erickson, director of Sheboygan’s Mead Public Library, that isn’t what the actual numbers show.
He says how he sees success for a library is how busy a library is with foot traffic. He can find that out with a gate count done at the doors. “That’s remained fairly steady the last few years, really static actually. It’s still over 300,000 people a year come to visit us. It’s a tremendous number, a hundred per hour, when you look at it.”
However, Erickson says that is only part of the story. Looking at other numbers for the library, the reason people are coming has changed in recent years. “Book circulation has gone down over those years while other things have gone up. Programming has gone up.”
One area of growth is the library’s wireless service. Erickson says that can be credited to the change in how schools use technology in education. “When you think about all the children and the teens that are getting iPads or Google Chromebooks, a lot of families in Sheboygan can’t afford the internet access at home, so they come down to the library to use the internet access. So those numbers have gone through the roof.” Erickson also adds programs that are offered by the library, with a great deal of assistance by the Mead Public Library Foundation for funding, or using a space there to meet keep people coming.
Overall, Erickson says the role of a library is changing as technology and other factors have an impact on how people read, and the Mead Public Library says they have changed to keep up. “Things that aren’t necessarily book related that people come to the library for; I guess the bottom line is our numbers continue to stay very strong. It’s just that the reason people are coming is changing over time. I think people come to the library for a lot of programming now, really to connect to others.”
The library, along with the Mead Public Library Foundation, were recent guests on "A Closer Look". That show can be found here.