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Goodhue County libraries report rising visits and program attendance but warn of funding and staffing pressures
Summary
County library directors reported increased visits, more programs and higher computer use in 2024 but said rising personnel and book costs and limited budgets are constraining services; directors praised a state funding adjustment that reduced local fees but asked for additional county support.
Goodhue County library directors told the county committee of the whole that library visits, program offerings and in‑library computer use rose in 2024, even as directors urged the county for more funding to address personnel and material‑cost pressures.
The year‑end report, delivered by Michelle Adi, director at Kenyon, and other local directors, said the county recorded 246,720 patron visits in 2024 — about a 5% increase from 2023 — and offered roughly 200 more programs than the prior year (an increase the presenters characterized as about 13%). Total program attendance for 2024 was 28,553. Adi also reported total items circulated across the county of 445,740, which the presenters said included approximately 50,000 digital circulations.
Why it matters: directors said libraries are increasingly serving as community hubs for digital access, job and benefits assistance, and basic transactions — services that are often unavailable elsewhere in smaller towns. "Libraries are community space," Adi…
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