[Genealib] Declining use of collection

[Beth Oljace]

Actually, we've had increasing numbers of people until this year, but this 
is partly because:

a)  We have a small meeting room in our department.  Most of the meetings 
are not local history or genealogy related

b)  We also have 6 public internet stations.  They are not dedicated to 
genealogy only and the computer-use hunger is so great in the building that 
people wander in to use them all the time.

This year, for the first time, we will probably have declining visitation.  
This is not the whole story.

What's increased:

Email reference requests, by 200-300%
Program attendance--I occasionally screw this one up, but our programs in 
the past few years have been well-attended.
Volunteers

What's decreased:

Attendance at our classes
Foot traffic

Beth E. Oljace
Indiana Room Librarian
Anderson PUblic Library
 


-----Original Message-----
From: "Mary Van Orsdol" <MvanO at ci.carlsbad.ca.us>
To: <genealib at mailman.acomp.usf.edu>
Date: Wed, 06 Dec 2006 15:42:11 -0800
Subject: [Genealib] Declining use of collection


Over the past 5 years, we have seen a decline in the number of researchers 
who come in to use the Carlsbad City (CA) Library Genealogy Collection. I 
would like to know if other genealogy departments have seen declines in 
usage. And, I would like to know about programs, publicity, or other efforts 
taken to increase usage.
 
Thank you.
 
Mary Van Orsdol
Genealogy Librarian
Carlsbad City Library
1250 Carlsbad Village Drive
Carlsbad, CA 92008
(760) 434-2930
mvano at ci.carlsbad.ca.us
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