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Highland City Library reports record circulation, new grants and expanded services
Summary
The Highland City Library reported record activity for 2025: 6,300 active cardholders, over 200,000 total items circulated, expansion through the Beehive consortium and a $10,000 competitive grant for senior programming; library leaders urged the council to help sustain digital subscriptions expected to rise sharply in future years.
The Highland City Library presented its annual report to the Highland City Council on Dec. 2, highlighting strong usage growth, new grants and program expansions.
Amy Britton, chair of the library board, said the library now has more than 6,300 active cardholders — more than 60% of Highland households — and the system recorded over 200,000 circulations last year, including nearly 100,000 digital loans through the Libby platform. "We have more than 80,000 ebooks and 50,000 audiobooks available through the Beehive Library Consortium," Britton said, noting that consortium access has greatly expanded resident options.
The board and new library director Karen Liu said the library received a $6,000 grant from the Library Foundation for discovery kits and a $4,700 state library grant. Liu also detailed a competitive $10,000 grant that funded a pilot "senior social club hub" and stressed the need to plan for the rising cost of digital subscriptions: staff told the council the Libby partnership support would likely grow from roughly $1,800 per year to approximately $11,000 when federal grant support lapses.
Councilmembers thanked the board and staff for volunteer outreach, programming (more than 200 children and teen programs and more than 200 programs overall), and new services supporting entrepreneurship and all‑abilities programming. The council encouraged coordination on fundraising and agreed to examine options for sustained funding of subscription services and interagency partnerships.
What happens next: Library staff will continue fundraising and explore partnerships to cover projected increases in digital subscription costs. The board requested continued council support for coordination among city events, the Friends of the Library and local businesses.
