03-24-2026 Commissioners [8:10-13:12]

So everything, white river north is almost 34,000, 15,000 of those people have library cards. We had 1,000 new physical library cards last year, 700 digital. So 1,700 new memberships last year alone. We had 12,000 reference questions answered. 40% of those were instructional, which means it's not just, oh, the books are over here, or this is this way. You have to, you know, we're setting down, we're teaching people how to do things. We're teaching them how to use tech. We're teaching them how to fill out job applications. As a matter of fact, most of the time, when we get people who come in and they're brand new to the community, the library is the first public place they visit to see what the community is and what is out there. We have had 5,000 people use our computers last year, and then 17,500 people use our internet. We've also provided 400 free tax appointments through the VITA program, our program with VITA, which is a federal program with local volunteers, is one of the highest performing in the state. So we're very proud of that as well. Last year, we also did 87 children and team programs. We did 98 adult programs, and 63 all ages programs. That's inside the library. We also have, I would consider it, and no one's ever taken a poll, but I would say that it's the best outreach program in the state, because of just the sheer numbers, where the only library that does outreach the way we do it, we have two outreach educators who go into all of the K-5 classrooms once per month. To the tune of 721 programs a year, that is outside of the library. So overall, we've done over 1,000 programs. We've had over 21,000 in attendance in 2025. When people sit and they think, well, you've got a building that's 125 years old. The library model is just books. Are people using books anymore? What does the library bring to the community? Well, we bring programs to 21,000 people. We bring 71,000 people into our library every year. So another thing that we do that other libraries don't is that we have a directed focus on civics. And some of you have probably seen me kind of hassling and hustling to get you all involved in our civics camp. We are the only library in the state that does that. We do a localized version of Boy State and Girl State that is called Camp Influence. I also want to invite, if anybody is interested, we're doing it this year. We're also doing one that's directed at the founding. So Camp Influence 1776, just a small plug. We've also done some adult civics programs where we've had in the hot seat, which is our local take on the famous internet show Hotlands. I invite local elected officials kind of on my quote unquote show. And we eat hot wings and they get hotter for each wing. And the questions get hotter as they go along too. It's a way for people to sit and watch the veneer fade. And we can talk about local government. We had Bob Klein, Sam Arp, and Tim Sledon. We talked about criminal court for a very first one. So we're going to start firing those back up again to pun intended. We also do success skills career programs. We think the county for being a part of our touch of truck program. That is something that we didn't do here in Bedford until the library spearheaded it in our parking lot a couple years ago. And then with the partnership with the city, we were able to move that on to city property and through your help, we are able to get a lot of county vehicles as well to bring in so kids can look at them. They can touch them last year at that program. We had 830 people show up for that. So we're very blessed to have a library that does that much work in the community. We also have our summer discovery festival every year, which you've helped with too by allowing the sheriff's department to bring some, I believe the last time they brought a canine unit in. And we're really excited about that. We have over 800 people show up for that every year. So I left you with some photos and some testimonies. Feel free to look those over. I just wanted to give you an update on where we are. And how much the Bedford library is doing for the community. So thank you so much. And if you want to take part in anything, let me know. Thank you very much. I just want to add, I've been involved in several of these programs and the average of the library does. And I've never been disappointed the public seems to be extremely involved in intertwining with what the library program does.