Chester County Library shares end of year report

The Chester County Library recently released their end of year report covering July 1, 2021 through June 30, 2022. This report demonstrates the importance of our county’s local library, how the library is used and in what capacity, how funds were spent, what grants were obtained, and how our local library compares to others in the region.
For a quick overview, the Chester County Library saw over 53,000 individuals visit the library. These visits led to the checkout of materials, the use of public wifi or computers, technology help from librarians, attendance of free library programs, use of scanning/faxing/copying/printing capabilities within the library, general questions asked and answered by library staff, and librarians pointing patrons in the right direction for reputable resources to apply for jobs, disability, WIC, learn new skills, learn about newly diagnosed medical conditions and more. The Chester County Library offered 123 programs this year as compared to 64 programs the previous year. This year, the programs had a total attendance of 2,186 individuals! Items available for checkout range from books, DVDs, audiobooks, STEAM kits, learning kits and cake pans with our library seeing 32,392 checkouts of these items. For those that use Libby, a resource that offers e-books and audiobooks for free on phones, tablets or computers, the library saw 19,924 separate checkouts through the Libby app.
The State of TN libraries are broken up into regions. The Chester County Library is part of the Hatchie River Region which includes a total of 17 libraries. Some of the libraries in our region include libraries like the Jackson Madison County Library, Hardin County Public Library (Savannah), Elma Ross Public Library (Brownsville), Somerville-Fayette County Library, Tipton County Library, and Everett Horn Public Library (Lexington)- just to name a few. In the end of year report, a chart can be found that demonstrates how our local library compares to other libraries in the region for a variety of services. For the number of hotspots (a device that offers internet access at your home) lent to patrons of the library, our library continuously ranks number one for the region. When looking at the number of physical materials that are checked out from our library (books, DVDs, learning kits, STEAM kits, audiobooks) the Chester County Library regularly ranks third-fourth in the region. Computer usage averages seventh in the regional system and the total number of programs averages seventh in the region. When one sits down and looks at the population that these other libraries serve and the volume our small town library is serving, the Chester County Library library has grown and is performing at an astonishing rate.
Other items addressed in the Chester County Library end of year report include the total amount of grants received during the reporting period ($33,569), the number of students that have participated in the partnership that the library has with the school system (463) in an effort to increase literacy across our county in our children, and information about some of the services the library offers. Library director Savannah Gilbert stated, “This report really offers an opportunity for the members of the community to see how our library is used. This report offers numerical value but also charts that are quite impactful when you see the progression to the improvements we have made and grown in various aspects. In 2019 (before COVID), our foot traffic to the library was 26,000; in 2021 it was approximately 35,000; this year we had over 53,000 visits. I am so proud of the growth of our library and all that we have accomplished in just a short amount of time.”
You can visit the Chester County Library in person at 1012 East Main Street, Henderson TN. Their business hours are from 9:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday-Wednesday and Friday, noon – 7 p.m. Thursday, and from 9:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. Saturday. The library has a very in depth and resourceful website that you can visit at chestercountylibrary.net. Do not forget to follow them on Facebook or Instagram for up to date information on programs, book sales, and resources that the library has to offer. The full report is available on their website by visiting chestercountylibrary.net, selecting the About Us/ Staff and Board menu option, and scrolling down until you see End of Year Reports.