Gail Borden hits 2 million circulation mark for year
It took the Gail Borden Library District more than a century to hit its 1 million circulation mark in one year, but only eight to double that number.
By 2 p.m. Thursday, 2 million items had been checked out during the current fiscal year, which still has almost two weeks to go. That's an average of 15 items per library card holder.
Kate Burlette, the district's director of library experiences, attributed this growth to a new library building, ongoing exhibitions, an expanding collection and the library card campaign in the U-46 school district.
In fall 2008, Elgin Area School District U-46 José Torres challenged all 41,000 students as well as staff members to get a library card. Schools where all students have a card qualify for a chance to win a pizza party and receive $250 worth of books. That October, the library registered more than 2,700 new library cards, a 70-percent increase from the previous October, according to the district's website.
U-46 spokesman Tony Sanders said that starting in fall 2009, elementary schools in his district were required to add a library card to the school supply list.
To meet with increasing demand, Gail Borden added a MediaBank to its Rakow Branch library. The 24-hour DVD and video game dispensing unit features 2,671 items for free checkout, Burlette said.
Miguel Guerrero, 9, and his dad were at the library Thursday afternoon checking out video games when it was announced over the public address system that the library had marked its 2 millionth checkout of the year.
Miguel, a student at Washington Elementary School, said he comes to the library with his dad every week. His favorite book is "Diary of a Wimpy Kid."
His father, Julio Acevedo, said he has been frequenting the library since his school days. Now he asks Miguel to read half an hour every day.
"He is just out of school. This can keep his memories fresh," Acevedo said.
The Gail Borden Library District has a collection of 478,811 items including books, microfilms and online resources. About 88 of all residents in the district have a library card.