The Olds Municipal Library is reflecting on another year of savings for residents, with the equivalent of $3.5 million in services being accessed through the library in 2024 alone.
During a recent report to Town Council, Library Manager Lesley Moody shared several statistics regarding last year’s service levels. Within her report, Moody points to the 98,000 items that were circulated through the library’s shelves, representing significant savings to the community members who utilize the check-out service.
“If you had to buy 98,000 items, at $25 a piece, sometimes more, you’re spending a lot of money,” she says. “At the bottom of our receipts we have a little- ‘how much did you save today,’ and I think last week we saw someone who since they’ve joined the library, have saved $37,000, so I love to see those numbers.”
More than just books
It’s not just books either. Moody says library usage almost always goes up during periods of economic hardship, with parents and individuals alike looking for free spaces to spend time.
“It’s actually very much the case whenever you see an economic downturn, you see use in libraries go up,” she says. “Part of that is because obviously people can’t afford to go out and buy a book, or maybe they can’t afford their internet anymore so they have to cancel their internet.”
She adds that the library’s free youth programs have also seen some growth, largely due to parents looking for safe, fun, and free spaces to send their kids after school.
“All of our youth programs are free so just having a place for your child to go after school while they’re waiting for you after work, rather than having to pay for child care, and they’re also learning something at the same time,” she says. “It’s a space where you can come and there’s no expectation of paying money, so you can go with your toddler and just sit and read or visit one of our play spaces, and you don’t have to pay a fee.”
The value
Moody maintains that every time a resident visits the library, checks out a book, or participates in one of its services, they are saving money, so the value of the facility really lies in its usage.
“Everything you do at the library, every book you check out, every e-book that you download, every program you attend, every time you use a computer, those are all things that you didn’t have to pay for,” she says. “Everything has a value- we do research every year, update it, make sure that it’s current with the inflationary costs of things, and then we take our stats and we times that by the number of uses and that’s what gives us our number, so $3.5 million is what we saved our community last year.”
According to Moody, in addition to the growth of services last year, the Olds Municipal Library received 42,000 visitors through the doors in 2024 alone.
