Libraries see disconnect between use and popularity

People’s opinion of public libraries is as high as ever, but that isn’t translating into library visits and usage.

Annual reports from the Mississippi Library Commission show that library circulation per capita — that is, the number of library materials being circulated per person in a library’s given patron population — declined over five years. 

State libraries saw about a 43% decline in materials being checked out from the library between 2018 and 2022, the latest year for which figures are available, with a slight rebound from the 2020 pandemic period.

Mississippi’s numbers mirror a national trend. Physical library visits have been decreasing for years, dropping sharply because of the pandemic. Today, more people are visiting than during the pandemic, but still not as many as before 2020.

At the same time, public opinion of libraries remains high. A 2024 survey from YouGov  found that 85% of respondents had a favorable opinion of public libraries, 47% said they should get more funding, and 53% said public libraries were very important to the community. A 2023 report from the American Library Association found that 54% of Gen Z and Millennials had visited a library in the past year.

Beth Alford reads a story to her 2-year-old grandaughter Alice Claire Alford at the G. Chastaine Flynt Memorial Library in Flowood, Tuesday, Sept. 17, 2024. Credit: Vickie D. King/Mississippi Today

“It’s wide open for libraries to be a true community hub,” said Kristina Kelly, public relations coordinator for the Mississippi Library Commission.

Kelly believes one reason some people don’t visit libraries is because they don’t know what services are offered. 

Libraries offer a wide variety of services and resources. “We do address problems that patrons have that go beyond reference, beyond literacy,” said David Muse, branch manager of the G. Chastaine Flynt Memorial Library.

And Mississippi’s literacy rate ranks among the lowest in the nation.

Much of the recent media attention on libraries is on book bans. The American Library Association found that censorship in public libraries increased by 92% in 2023. State law in Mississippi prohibits public and school libraries from working with digital content vendors that offer “sexually oriented materials.”

Parents and grandparents play and read to children at the G. Chastaine Flynt Memorial Library in Flowood, Tuesday, Sept. 17, 2024. Credit: Vickie D. King/Mississippi Today

Mississippi’s libraries have other issues that keep people away. For example, several libraries in the Jackson/Hinds system are in disrepair due to lack of funding and years of neglect. Three libraries are closed, and one of them, the main Eudora Welty Library, is set to be demolished and turned into a greenspace. 

“The state should evaluate creative ways to support library infrastructure so that the physical spaces remain open, whether that is putting more authority into the hands of the library systems themselves, increasing state-level funding, or even creative solutions like establishing revolving loan funds for library facilities or opening other similar government programs to library systems,” said Peyton Smith, board chairman of the Jackson/Hinds library system 

Libraries allow patrons to access a variety of materials from DVDs to plant seeds. For many people it’s the only way they can access the internet. BroadbandNow ranks Mississippi 45th in internet coverage, speed, and availability. 

People can use apps like OverDrive, Hoopla, and more to browse ebooks, videos, and music through their local library. Libraries also offer programming for all ages. 

Verna Myers, a 77-year-old retired teacher, has been going to the library for over 70 years. She reads to the children every Wednesday. “You can get everything here – DVDs, CDs, movies, books. You can get a lot of material that we could not get.”

Angel Walton, 22, says library programs expanded her horizons. “The library introduced me to so many different activities that I didn’t know people from Mississippi could have the opportunity [to do],” she said.

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