Michelle Andersen, Director of the Atlantic Public Library presented an Annual Report to the City Council, Wednesday evening. Andersen said statistics from FY 2017-18, dating to back before she took over as Director, until the present time, show there were over four-thousand active member accounts. She said also there were nearly 25,400 annual visits. They also have accounts specified as “Not Atlantic” patrons – meaning they serve Marne and Wiota, as well as “Open Access” members.

There were more than 63,000 physical items checked-out, which is about the same as usual. Use of the digital library has been up, though.  That includes everything you would expect to find at the library, but online: books, audio books, magazines, and about the same amount of use as their other digital resources. Andersen said there is a trend away from less public computer usage at the library, to more Wi-Fi connections on personal devices. She said also, they just closed the library-hosted “Picture Atlantic” digital photo contest as a further celebration of the City’s Sesquicentennial. There were over 100 pictures submitted. The winners will be announced Nov. 2^nd.

Financially speaking, Andersen said 86% of their revenues came from the City of Atlantic, with others coming from donations, State and County contracts. Last year, the County contributed a little more than $14,000, and this year is expected to be increased to $16,000. Expenses are primarily used for staff and circulation.