LAWTON – Besides its effect on businesses, schools, sports events, and interactions with friends and family, the coronavirus pandemic has had an impact on the Lawton Public Library, too.
As an illustration, books and other items borrowed from the main library downtown in Fiscal Year 2020 (July 1, 2019, through June 30, 2020) numbered 132,248. That was a decline of almost 28% from FY 2019.
Similarly, checkouts from the Kathleen Wyatt Nicholson branch library on Kingswood Road south of Cache Road slipped to 8,265, down 22.5% from FY ’19.
Conversely, electronic books continue to grow in popularity. Usage has increased by 48% in the last four years: from 31,438 in FY ’17 to 46,436 in FY ’20.
Customers who visited the main library in FY ’20 totaled 28,460, and customers at the branch library totaled 668. Both numbers were about average for attendance over the last four years.
According to Library Director Kristen Herr, the number of books, compact discs, DVDs and other physical items in the library collection total almost 127,000, but e-books, e-audio and e-video offerings have multiplied from 48,102 in FY ’17 to 860,570 in FY ’20, she said.
Usage of Overdrive e-books in the last six months of last year numbered 15,658, and circulation of Hoopla e-books in the last six months of 2020 numbered 1,064, compared to 1,340 in all 12 months of FY ’20.
Also in the last six months of 2020, Hoopla e-audio usage totaled 964 and Overdrive e-audio usage totaled 6,878, only 67 fewer than during the previous six months. Hoopla e-video checkouts numbered 336, Overdrive e-video 26, during the last half of 2020.
Customer usage of Fold3, a program that provides access to collections of original military records, plummeted to just 135 during the last six months of 2020 – one-tenth of the 1,357 uses during the first six months of last year.
Similarly, usage of Transparent, an online program for learning new languages, dropped by about half, to 47.
Use of Legal Forms slipped by about two-thirds, to 78 during the last half of last year. That program provides legal forms (real estate, estate planning, family law, landlord/tenant forms, business forms, affidavits, etc.) for consumers, businesses and attorneys.
EBSCO, too, registered a sharp decline: from an average of 2,905 users every six months in FY 2020 to just 696 users in the last six months of last year. EBSCO provides research databases, e-journals, magazine subscriptions, e-books and discovery service for public libraries, academic libraries, public libraries, corporations, schools and government.
Use of NewsBank during the last half of 2020 was about the same as during the first half of the year: 2,340. That is an online resource of information sources such as newspapers, blogs, newswires, videos, etc.
Ancestry, an online genealogy site brimming with details about births, marriages and deaths, attracted 3,624 users in the last six months of 2020.
Usage of Britannica, the online encyclopedia, skyrocketed. It was consulted 100 times in all of FY ’20, compared to 5,784 times in the last six months of last year.
Public use of library computers plunged by about one-third, from 30,702 in FY ’19 to 20,613 in FY ’20. That was due at least in part to the spread of the coronavirus, which resulted in closure of the library for two months last year.
In related matters, the library started curbside pickup and “ditched” late fees on overdue books.
The library offers online library card registration and renewal, and has approximately 36,000 active library cardholders, Ms. Herr said.
Library restrooms were renovated in FY 2020, the first of many virtual classes were hosted, and a new book drop was installed at the branch library, Ms. Herr noted.
Lawton Public Library was awarded a $500 disabilities grant that will be used to buy accessibility supplies, Ms. Herr said. In addition, the Lawton Community Foundation presented the library with $2,500 raised by Friends of the Library, she said.
The library sponsors citizenship classes and was awarded a $3,999 Citizenship Corner grant that will be used for citizenship resources and services “to assist people on the pathway toward citizenship,” Ms. Herr said.
Adult literacy classes also are offered by the library, and the Lawton City Council approved a $5,719 grant last August in support of that effort.
Also, a Story Walk will be installed in Elmer Thomas Park near the butterfly gardens, and plans for another are on hold until the Farmer’s Market is built, Ms. Herr said.
StoryWalk® is “an innovative and delightful way for children — and adults — to enjoy reading and the outdoors at the same time,” Ms. Herr said. Laminated pages from a children's book are attached to stakes that are installed along an outdoor path. “As you stroll down the trail, you're directed to the next page in the story.”