The Canton Public Library is committed to transparency in all of its operations. This dashboard is intended to provide our community with a snapshot of the library’s 2015 financials, usage, and collections. Thanks to the financial diligence of the library board and staff, in 2015 we paid off our bond debt, transferred the management of our endowment fund to the Canton Community Foundation, and made an additional one-time payment to our pension plan to ensure adequate future funding.
These efforts to carefully manage your tax dollars means that in addition to retiring our debt and investing for our future, we are also able to invest in the library building as it approaches 30 years of age. In response to patron and staff feedback, in 2015 we updated the lobby area with major renovations to the public restrooms, main lobby, and new Social Space, which offers seating and convenient vending of hot drinks, cold drinks, and snacks. In the east end of the library, we updated the carpet and added twelve more study carrels with power to the southeast corner, along with new chairs in that area.
As we move forward in 2016 and beyond, we will continue our diligence in balancing financial constraints with the excellence that our community demands. We are proud to connect the Canton community and we appreciate your patronage and support.
Finance
The library's total revenue for 2015 was $5,413,221. The majority of revenue comes from property taxes. The library received $5,046,123 in property taxes.
The library had $8,246,353 in expenditures.
Last year $29,491 was added to the Endowment Fund, bringing the total balance to $356,033.
Employees, including part time, full time, substitutes, and interns, worked a total of 114,824 hours. Volunteers contributed 3,648 hours of volunteer work to the library.
The library employed a total of 98 people. 53 total volunteers offered their time to work at the library.
Library Usage
We welcomed 487,095 visitors through our doors.
There were 77,462 total library card holders. Of those, 80% were Canton Public Library Card holders.
Patrons checked out a total of 1,411,415 items and checked out over 42,151 eBooks. 29% of the items checked out were DVDs, 32% were children's books, and 20% were adult books.
The library has over 354,802 items in the collection. 64% of materials at the library are print materials. 14% of the items at the library are DVDs. The library has 46,697 electronic materials, including 11,376 eBooks.
Programs and Outreach
The library held a total of 1,115 programs, with 29,065 people in attendance. Of those programs, 578 were children's programs, and 68 programs were a part of Connect Your Summer.
The library meeting rooms were used outside of library-sponsored programs 106 times over the course of the year.