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As a subscriber you can listen to articles at work, in the car, or while you work out. Subscribe NowThe struggling economy is sending more people to libraries to check out books and DVDs for free and avoid costly rentals or purchases, library officials say.
Last year, the number of items checked out at the Kokomo-Howard County Public Library rose 6 percent, boosting its annual borrowing to more than 1.1 million items for the first time.
Library officials say the public is borrowing more books and DVDs and also using the library’s Internet service as a way to hold down their entertainment costs in hard times.
“Whenever there is a downturn in the economy, library usage increases,” said Charles Joray, director of the Kokomo-Howard County Public Library. “When their incomes go down, they come to the library to check out DVDs for free.”
The first two months of 2009 has seen a slight increase in usage of the library, with circulation rising to 174,385 items, compared with 173,227 for the same period in 2008, he said.
The Tipton Library is also experiencing an increase in borrowing, and it’s responding to that by adding several computers to better deal with the increased demand, said Renda Hurst, the library’s assistant director.
Hurst said the library staff has noticed that people who had been previous users but had large fines are now paying the fines so they can have more access to library services.
“As a cost-saving measure, people are coming to the library for Internet access and to get DVDs and movies,” she said.
But even as library use rises, libraries face the prospect of declining funding due to the property-tax caps that Indiana lawmakers passed last year as part of a tax-restructuring plan.
Joray said the Kokomo-Howard County Public Library is anticipating revenue to fall between $50,000 and $100,000 in 2010. He said this year’s revenue declined by $55,000 because of unpaid property taxes.
“One of the challenges we face in the next year or two is the caps on property taxes,” he said. “Our operating budget will be going down while the demand for our services will increase.”
Joray said the library board has appointed a budget committee to look at the 2009 and 2010 budgets. He said the hope is not to cut services to the public.
But the decline in tax revenues has already had an impact on the Anderson public library system, which closed the Lapel branch library on Saturday.
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