Sign up for a new library card and it could help expand the library.
Nichols Library in Kingston is competing against more than 100 other libraries in the state — including Danville and Londonderry — to sign up the highest percentage of new members before Oct. 31. With three $25,000 prizes on the line, every library is finding ways to recruit new cardholders. But Kingston's hits right in the pocketbook.
For libraries in Kingston and Danville, that $25,000 represents about 16 percent of their annual budgets.
"Well, our big plan in '08 and '09 is to go for an extension of our building again," library director Andy Richmond said. "We just missed the votes we needed this year, We're aiming again for it and that money would channel right toward the expansion."
A banner is being produced to hang across the library entrance and entice new people to come in, he said. The library also gave out bags of books to residents who signed up for a card during Kingston Days. They're pushing the expansion as much as possible, and this is a great way to help get it passed this year, Richmond said.
The money will be awarded to the three libraries, museums or historical societies that reach the highest percentage of new patrons, based on the town's population, in a year, according to state librarian Michael York. The prize money was donated by Robert Finlay, a New Hampshire businessman and philanthropist.
"He felt libraries were under-appreciated and wanted to stimulate some interest," York said.
At Leach Library in Londonderry, membership is up more than 10 percent since January, according to librarian Sally Nelson.
Staff members and trustees have a new incentive to drive up the last couple of months — they're offering a secret raffle prize at the end of September for new cardholders, Nelson said.
In addition to reporting their membership statistics, the state library also will ask libraries to share what they did to attract new patrons, York said. The best and most innovative ideas will then be shared with the state's 234 public libraries, he said.
"There is a library in every community," York said. "Not anyone else can make that claim — not McDonald's or Wal-Mart. Libraries aren't going away."
In fact, many are growing.
Dorothy Billbrough, director of Colby Library in Danville, is yearning for the $25,000 to buy more books. Circulation is up 15 percent since the library joined the challenge, and she would like more materials to offer new and old members.
"Certainly more books," Billbrough said. "That's what we need the most."
