2020 a year of growth for Regina Public Library

“Change” was the watchword for most people and businesses in 2020, but for the Regina Public Library, it wasn’t necessarily a bad thing.

The pandemic shut the library doors in the spring so it had to shift and move into offering more robust remote services.

“Early in the year, we made a lot of adjustments, kind of redid some of our annual planning, and were able to continue to offer services. Even before we were opening our doors, we were able to offer curbside (material pickup) for example,” explained Jeff Barber, the library director and CEO at Regina Public Library.

Electronic offerings in particular “took off,” according to Barber, as people either had to, or were encouraged, to stay home.

Those offerings require a library card, so between April and November of last year, the library responded to more than 4,000 requests for new or updated library cards. In that same time, use of library ebooks increased 127 per cent from the previous year, use of eaudiobooks increased 76 per cent, and use of movie and TV streaming services went up 118 per cent.

The library made a push on expanding what it could offer; the budget was moved around and money for digital resources was increased by 15 per cent. Barber said the library increased its ebook library by many thousands of titles.

People were looking around for more to do when they had to stay inside, but Barber expects many of the new users who came to the library in the pandemic will continue to use the library even after things get back to normal.

“But then word of mouth as well has helped us a lot in terms of people who didn’t know (those resources) were there before, and now that (users) do know that they’re there, they’re being used,” said Barber.

Barber said the pandemic has given the library an opportunity to explore things, but there are needs it has been able to meet that aren’t specific to the pandemic. He pointed to conversation groups for English as an Additional Language programming which moved online.

“The online environment is super well-suited to that, and we’ve had comments from participants about how much easier it is to participate in a group for an hour without necessarily having to travel to a library location, without necessarily having to find childcare if they have young children,” said Barber.

Such changes could very well continue past when the pandemic is over, according to Barber. He said the library doors are open now, but branches are still offering curbside pickup for materials.

“It’s a convenience that people have really appreciated,” said Barber.

Barber said library officials are looking forward to continuing some of what they’re doing now into the future.