By Katie Zuidema
Kent District Library
The Kent District Library 2020 Annual Report tells the story of a year of drastic change and major accomplishments. The annual report is available for download at kdl.org/AnnualReport, and highlights numerous community needs that were met during unprecedented times, including:
- In response to having to cancel all in-person events, 1,402 live-streamed events were created to bring the library into homes and viewed 471,809 times.
- While branches were closed to in-person visits, curbside service delivered 432,582 items for 125,024 pickups.
- Though the circulation of physical materials decreased, the circulation of digital materials increased by 31%, to 1.7 million items.
- 800 new Mobile WiFi Hotspots were added to the collection to meet the needs of at-home students and workers, and were checked out 2,888 times.
- On January 24, 2020, the Men of Color Read initiative was launched in Kent County. Over 25 men met at the Martin Luther King Leadership Academy to read to small groups of children. The pandemic put a pause on in-school visits, but MOCR is continuing with a live-streamed program.
- Talking Book & Braille Center circulation increased by 38%.
“Last year certainly brought its challenges, but we never allowed those challenges to stop us from serving our communities – our impact continued,” said Executive Director Lance Werner. “Our branches were closed for a time, but the library never closed.”
For more detailed information, including a breakdown of statistics by branch and municipality, check out the 2020 Impact Report at kdl.org/ImpactReport.
Kent District Library is pleased to launch a 2021-2023 Strategic Plan. The plan will guide KDL’s purpose to further all people by highlighting three strategic focuses: 1.) Equity, Diversity and Inclusion 2.) Engagement and Service and 3.) Sustainability. Details of the new strategic plan can be viewed at kdl.org/strategic-plan.
