
Photo by Neal Embry.
Lisa Hicks, an employee with the Vestavia Hills Library in the Forest, shelves books in the children’s department.
While the Vestavia Hills Library in the Forest saw the number of library card holders slightly decrease from fiscal 2018 to fiscal 2019, the number of items circulated both in-house and electronically for the library experienced major increases.
In-house circulation, meaning all books checked out of the physical library on U.S. 31, rose from 216,754 books in 2018 to 251,425 items in 2019, an increase of 16 percent. Other physical materials checked out, including DVDs and Blu-Rays, rose from 115,812 to 137,228, an increase of 18.5 percent.
Library Director Taneisha Tucker said the library keeps tabs on the number of items placed on hold to determine what is most popular. The library primarily serves as a preschooler’s door to learning, as well as a place for adults to check out popular materials, she said. Each year, the library spends about 12 percent of its annual budget to purchase items, ranging from books to movies to newspapers and more, she said.
An even bigger increase came with e-libraries, including Libby and Hoopla, where patrons can check out books on their digital devices. The library saw an increase from 61,936 books checked out online in 2018 to 86,151 checked out in 2019, an increase of 39 percent.
Tucker said because she drives constantly, she uses Libby and Hoopla daily to listen to audiobooks, as well as checking out books to read.
Even older patrons are learning to adapt to new ways of receiving materials and are using the e-libraries, Tucker said.
However, children and teenagers are, perhaps surprisingly, still checking out physical books, she said.
“Parents want them [children] to enjoy the simpler things,” Tucker said.
Parents and children reading physical books together creates lasting memories, which parents want to provide for their kids, Tucker said.
Teenagers, who are growing up in an ever-increasingly digital age, surprisingly come into the library and shun the computers and electronic devices, she said. They frequently come in the afternoons and ask to check out a book to read.
The library’s total cardholder population dropped from 16,171 in 2018 to 15,867 in 2019, a 1.9 percent decrease. With Vestavia’s population hovering around 35,000 residents, that means just less than half of the city’s residents own a library card. Of those cardholders, 13,045 are adults, ages 19 and above.
While the library’s number of programs offered decreased from 1,187 in 2018 to 925 in 2019, attendance increased from 21,961 in 2018 to 24,426 in 2019.
Total library visits decreased slightly, moving from 425,933 visits in 2018 to 404,853 visits in 2019, but Tucker said the library still sees plenty of visits from residents.
“We have regulars who come in every morning to read the paper, see how their investments are doing,” Tucker said.
During college finals, students will flock to the library to study, both individually and together, and readers of all ages can be found in the library’s halls.
Technology has helped the library advance as well, Tucker said. It now offers classes and a 3D printer area in the Makerspace lab, as well as offering patrons the chance to checkout mobile hotspots and take them with them, allowing them to have internet access wherever they go.
The remote library in Liberty Park is now open as well. Patrons can reserve books and pick them up at Liberty Pharmacy in Liberty Park, keeping residents in that area from having to drive to the U.S. 31 location.