Monroe County Public Library receives 3-star rating

There are thousands of public libraries all over the country, but Monroe County is among the few that can say they have a star library.

The Monroe County Public Library received a three-star rating from the Library Journal’s new index, which ranks public libraries from around the country based on data from 2006. According to the Library Journal Index of Public Library Service, the top libraries received a five-, four- or three-star rating.

Margaret Harter, the community relations coordinator for the Monroe County Public Library, said not all the libraries received a star rank. Out of 7,115 libraries ranked, Harter said only 256 received a star rating. This put the Monroe County Public Library in the top portion of the rankings.

“It is very gratifying to be in the top 3.6 percent of the libraries,” Harter said.

However, she said no ranking could tell the library what the community does not already tell them. Bara Swinson, circulation department manager for the Monroe County Public Library, said she had similar feelings.

“The rating is like receiving a compliment,” Swinson said. “We work for our patrons, not the rating.”

Harter said the ranking’s data was focused on service. She said the four main parts were number of visitors, circulation, program attendance and public Internet computer use. The improvements the circulation desk has made in the past years have really helped to make it extremely efficient, Swinson said.

A few years ago, it could take up to two days for items to be put back on the shelf, Swinson said. Now it only takes two hours at the most for items to be put back.
Circulation has gone up 10 percent with the addition of self-checkout counters, Swinson said.

Swinson said she thinks the library has always had a concept of what the people want.

“We have cleaned house,” Swinson said, “We are doing small things that will hopefully add up.”

Aubrey Dunnuck, circulation materials coordinator, said she thinks the addition of express checkout and keeping up with the changing technology helped with the efficiency. Dunnuck said things can get very stressful working at the circulation desk, but it is good to know they are doing a good job.

Harter said the library could not have achieved the star rating without the staff. Everyone is creative and always looking for new ways to improve the library, she said.

“In my opinion,” Harter said, “we have a five-star staff.”