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Corona Public Library reports 67,373 physical items; children’s books and graphic novels drive circulation
Summary
Library staff told trustees the system holds 67,373 physical items, with youth collections making up two-thirds of holdings and children’s materials accounting for 77% of circulation; graphic novels, early readers and world-language collections showed strong demand.
Library staff told the Corona Public Library Board of Trustees that the system holds 67,373 physical items and that youth collections — children’s and teen materials — account for roughly two-thirds of those holdings.
"We have a total of 67,373 physical items currently in our collections across adults, teens, children's and the heritage room," Denise, the children’s librarian, said during a collections presentation. She reported 41,313 children's books and 3,593 teen books in the collections.
Denise said total circulation for the library in the most recent year was 295,231 checkouts; the children's collection accounted for about 77% of that total, and the combined youth collections represented more than 81% of circulation.
The children's librarian described rapid growth in several areas: a 13% increase in early readers (about 400 new titles), the addition of 500 picture-book titles over the past year, and targeted purchases of 156 new STEM nonfiction titles to support maker programming. Graphic novels and manga continue to be high-turnover items; the librarian said those genres are among the most-checked-out children's materials.
The library maintains four world-language youth collections; the Spanish collection is the largest with more than 2,000 titles and has been curated in part to support Corona-Norco Unified School District (CNUSD) dual-language immersion programs. The small Mandarin collection and a Korean collection also exist; the Arabic collection was cited as the second-highest performing world-language collection with just under 1,000 circulations in the last year.
Staff said they have integrated Accelerated Reader (AR) levels into catalog records to help students and teachers find grade-appropriate titles, and they plan to expand shelf space for graphic novels and manga, update signage and explore a possible board-book area expansion to meet demand.
"Graphic novels continue to be our highest performing collection in the children's room," the children's librarian said. She added that library IQ has recommended a major increase in board books, though staff said space constraints prevent buying the full recommended quantity.
Trustees thanked staff for the data and said the circulation numbers showed strong community use of youth services and collections.
