Tooele Transcript Bulletin – News in Tooele, Utah
image The Grantsville City Library has grown its collection of items from 26,000 to 34,739 in the nine months it has been open.

January 28, 2014
Grantsville’s new library seeing lots of use

The Grantsville City Library has come a long way in its first nine months, its director reported to the Grantsville City Council Wednesday.

Grantsville City LIbrary Director John Ingersoll said the library’s collection had blossomed from an initial stake of 26,000 items purchased from the defunct Tooele County Bookmobile Library, to 34,739 items.

Since the library first started issuing cards on last March, more than 1,700 had been assigned to patrons, who collectively check out about 3,600 items a month, Ingersoll said. Tuesday through Friday, about 80 people visit the library, with about 25 coming on Saturday, he said. The facility’s summer reading program last year had 60 to 80 children participating per week.

In addition, the library’s conference rooms have been officially used about 550 times from March 29 to Dec. 31, he said, both by patrons and Utah State University extension classes. That estimate did not count unofficial gatherings in empty rooms by patrons or study groups.

Volunteers had logged in 1,900 hours from April, when it opened, through mid-December, Ingersoll said, and a “Food for Fines” program in November collected almost 1,000 items for the Tooele County Food Bank donated by patrons in exchange of fine forgiveness.

Ingersoll said besides the library’s official duties, staff assisted visitors in less orthodox ways, like proctoring practice tests for students, or proofreading applications for people applying for jobs on one of the library’s computers.

“We’re trying to be a full-service library and we’re on track to do it,” he said.

The building, too, has done all right for itself since opening. In November, the Utah chapter of the American Institute of Architects selected the Grantsville City Library for a 2013 Merit Award, said Kevin Blalock of Blalock and Partners, the architectural firm that designed the library.

“It’s a pretty cool honor for us, and for the library and for the city,” he said.

Lisa Christensen

Staff Writer at Tooele Transcript Bulletin
Lisa covers primarily crime and courts, military affairs, Stansbury Park government and transportation issues. She is a graduate of Utah State University, where she double-majored in journalism and music, and Grantsville High School.

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