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Behind the red brick walls of the Willow Glen Library on Minnesota Avenue, there is a hustle and bustle like never before. People are busy attending book clubs, taking computer classes and participating in programs. Children are flocking to listen to their favorite books during storytelling time on Friday mornings.
Like many libraries across the country, the Willow Glen Library has gotten busier in the past several years.
According to the 2002 Hennen's American Public Library Ratings, which measures different aspects of the nation's public libraries, total operating spending, materials spending and circulation has grown annually since 1999 across the country.
During Willow Glen Library's last fiscal year—from July 2001 through June 2002—circulation was up 15 percent from the previous year. And circulation has increased 50 percent over a five-year period, says senior librarian Maurice Stevenson. Last month 34,987 people walked through the library doors.
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Photograph by Jacqueline Ramseyer
Reading Fun: Not everyone wants to read a long novel. Jeffrey Gerard, 12, enjoys his leisure time with a comic book at the Willow Glen Library.
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This phenomenon may be attributed to many factors, including a slow economy, more children reaching the age where they need to use the library, the availability of free Internet access, and new collections of audio tapes, videotapes and DVDs.
"There is a tendency to see more library use when the economy is sagging a bit," says Stevenson, who has worked at the Willow Glen branch for nine years. "People also rediscover the library because they are working on their résumés. The most popular material checked out are DVDs and videos."
Built in 1949 as a firehouse and library, the 5,330-square-foot Willow Glen Library became strictly a library in 1957, when voters approved building a new firehouse on Cherry Avenue.
As the second smallest out of the 17 San José Public Library branches, this branch will be expanding within the next seven years to accommodate more patrons. A $212 million bond measure passed two years ago will allow for the construction of new branches or renovations of existing branches in the San José Public Library system over the next 10 years.
The Willow Glen branch will expand to two stories and 13,000 square feet by 2009.
The library serves patrons from a wide variety of age groups and ethnicities, Stevenson says. But the library carries 90 percent English language books because the Biblioteca Latinoamericana, located nearby at 921 S. First St., carries predominantly Spanish books.
Some Willow Glen residents request different language books from the headquarters of the San José Public Library, the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Main Library, located at 180 W. San Carlos St.
Sophie Woo orders French children's books from the main library and picks them up at the Willow Glen branch for her 2-year-old son, Maxin, who is learning both English and French.
Laurel Lefler, who goes to the Willow Glen Library with her two young daughters, has limited free time for herself so she only checks out children's books.
"I like animal books," says her daughter Julianne, 3.
Every Friday morning approximately 70 preschool children and mothers fill the children's book section for story time.
For the past six years, children's librarian Kathy Boyd has read books, sung songs and done "finger plays" like "Itsy Bitsy Spider" with preschoolers.
"There has been a considerable increase in use of the children's section each year," Boyd says. "There are lots of babies being born. Fortunately, people in this neighborhood read books to their kids at early ages. Even infants held by their mothers watch the story time."
The Willow Glen community's active readers have also benefited through the library's participation in National Children's Book Week, which is the week before Thanksgiving. This year the 83rd annual book week will be celebrated by schools, libraries and booksellers across the nation.
Last summer the Willow Glen Library also had a program that encouraged children's reading. It held a children's reading program, awarding prizes for every three hours of reading for a maximum of 15 hours. Around 500 children participated, Boyd says.
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Photograph by Jacqueline Ramseyer
Well-Worn: The Willow Glen Library's extensive collection of children's books is heavily circulated at the branch. The picture book section is in constant use.
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Seniors also make up a large component of library patrons, Stevenson says. Many take advantage of a program called "Seniors on the Net," in which staff and volunteers tutor seniors on how to use computers and the Internet. The Willow Glen branch also has the largest collection of large-print books in the San José Public Library system.
For the past two years, librarian June Hayashi has led a book club at the library. She started the club because the numerous book clubs throughout Willow Glen had established members. Her club consists of new residents, who choose a variety of fiction books for the club and meet monthly at Willow Glen Coffee Roasting Company.
"It is great because everyone expresses their opinion," Hayashi says. "There is a wide range of ages and backgrounds."
There are 555,544 people with San José Public Library cards. The cards allow them to borrow materials, use the Internet at the library and access online resources from their home computer. Cardholders may access databases at the library or from home on topics such as art, health, medicine and biographies.
"For me, the Internet is the biggest revolution in the 30 years I have worked in libraries," Stevenson says. "If someone needed a special resource in the 1970s I'd have to refer them to the main library, but now the computer takes care of almost everything."
Timothy Coughlin, 68, who visits many library branches, says that Willow Glen has a good mystery and nonfiction selection.
Hayashi says she enjoys working at this branch because it is "nice and small and cozy. I have lived in the neighborhood for five years, so it is close to my heart."
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Photograph by Jacqueline Ramseyer