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Port Royal opening drew big crowd as Beaufort County libraries report rising digital use
Summary
The Beaufort County Library Board heard that the Port Royal Library ribbon-cutting drew hundreds, summer-reading participation doubled, and digital borrowing — especially on Hoopla — has risen sharply, officials said. The director also announced delivery of pickup lockers pending final configuration.
The Beaufort County Library Board on Tuesday heard a report from the library director highlighting a lively Port Royal Library opening and steady growth in digital and in-person library use.
The director said the new Port Royal branch held a ribbon-cutting event that attracted "over 300 people on the lawn," and noted local and regional coverage of the opening. "The love and the support for libraries and this library in particular was palpable," the director said, adding that the widow of the library’s namesake joined the ribbon cutting.
On collections, the director told the board the system has seen a notable shift to digital borrowing. She said the library added about 161,000 e-books to Hoopla in the last year and that Hoopla’s available collection is "knocking on the door of 1,000,000 items." The director reported a 7.8% year-over-year increase in digital circulation and said overall print circulation has remained roughly steady despite a software transition that introduced some reporting anomalies.
The board also heard results from summer programming: 2,188 participants completed 30 days of reading this year, compared with 1,044 the prior year; the system hosted 393 programs over six weeks with 8,321 attendees. The director said the library’s USDA-funded summer lunch program served about 2,700 children under 17 who otherwise might have lacked a meal while school was out.
On service innovations, the director said pickup lockers arrived on Aug. 14 and are in "final phases of being configured," with a minor technical issue to resolve before public use. "They will also be wrapped with a library brand and logo," she added.
The board approved routine minutes by voice vote and moved next to a finance briefing. No funding decisions were made at this meeting; board members were given updates and timelines for forthcoming capital projects and budget hearings.
