Times may be bad for the nation's economy, but there's at least one business that's thriving: libraries.
Patrons fill up the computer area of the Lancaster Public Library on North Duke Street.
Instead of buying books, renting movies and subscribing to magazines, more people are turning to libraries to borrow what they would otherwise spend to get.
"Everything is skyrocketing," said Susan L. Hauer, system administrator for the Lancaster Public Library. "People are rediscovering the library as a wonderful place to go to save money."
The Lancaster Public Library, 125 N. Duke St., has seen a 15 percent increase in patronage from January to June as compared with last year during the same months. It saw between 1,500 and 1,700 people walk through its doors on a typical July day, up from 1,000 per day last July.
Libraries around the county are reporting similar upswings. Milanof-Schock Library in Mount Joy saw its patron count rise 17 percent in the month of June, and the Manheim Township Public Library reported a 107 percent increase over last year.
Circulation has increased by about 15 percent at Ephrata Public Library, 20 percent at Manheim Community Library and Milanof-Schock, and about 30 pecent at Manheim Township.
Locally, readers are choosing to borrow and return books and movies instead of buying them for keeps.
Liza Stover, a city resident, comes to the library often for books, but with the high price of everything these days, her family is also checking out movies.
This morning she was at the Duke Street library with her two children, Hugh, 7, and Elise, 5.
Last week, Hugh checked out "Beethoven Lives Upstairs," and Elise check out a DVD of a Hannah Montana TV episode.
"You can get three DVDs a week per library card," Stover said.
It's a great deal, she said.
Danielle McGee, a child-care worker from the daycare center, Over the Rainbow, on Manor Avenue, said the center used to buy books to coincide with their weekly themes.
But now they come to the library.
This week's theme is "Community Helpers," so she was there looking, with kids in tow, for books on bugs.
Kailany Whedbee, 16, of Lancaster city, says it doesn't make any sense to spend money on books.
"Just come here," she said. Today, she had four books on a table that she's thinking about checking out.
She said she and her mom, also, check out movies from the library to save money.
Standing next to her today was Mercedes Pabon, 10.
"Free is my favorite word," Mercedes said. Come to the library, she said, "you don't have to pay for it."
That sentiment seems to be shared by others this summer.
The Manheim Community Library's summer reading program has increased by 21 percent, and Ephrata's program has grown from 122 participants in June 2007 to 501 this June.
Hauer said the popularity of the museum pass system, which allows library visitors to sign up for a free visit to participating county museums, has been through the roof.
"At one point, we had 104 people waiting to get a hold of a pass," she said.
Mary Ann Heltshe-Steinhauer, community relations coordinator for the Library System of Lancaster County, said patrons are discovering that services they thought they had to pay for, such as borrowing DVDs and magazines and using the Internet, are free at libraries.
"When they come here, it's an 'A-ha!' moment," Heltshe-Steinhauer said. "Economic issues have driven them here, and they realize that maybe the library they knew years before is totally changed and offering more things."
Public-access computers have been a significant contributor to rising library patronage. The Lancaster Public Library's online database received 189,691 hits in 2007. But in the first six months of 2008, the database had already logged 184,000 hits.
Bob McCarthy at the Columbia Public Library said computers were installed at the library two years ago, and they've boosted patronage 35 to 40 percent from last year.
"There's one and a half computers per 1,000 people in the area, and they're still waiting in lines," McCarthy said.
Library observers say the spike in library use doesn't appear to be attributable to a specific age group. Young adult circulation has more than doubled from May to July at the Lancaster library, and Clare Makibbin, community relations director at Milanof-Schock, said that trend is becoming common.
"We're hitting a whole new target market," Makibbin said. "Certainly the families have always come in, but it's teenagers who are coming in and older, single adults as well."
Not to be understated in all this is the rise in gasoline prices. Although prices have dropped lately, the prospect of paying $3.70 per gallon for a vacation or day trip has gotten Lancaster countians looking for ways to spend the day closer to home.
And with offers of free Internet service, DVD lending and, of course, book borrowing, libraries are proving to be a hotbed for family activity.
"Sometimes need is the greatest teacher," Hauer said, "and in this situation, I think the libraries are showing that."
(Staff writer Robyn Meadows contributed to this report.)
(157)
