Comment on Why joining the local library is the best thing you can do in 2026
Peppycito@sh.itjust.works 2 days agoThey count those. My wife is a librarian and they track all sorts of metrics. Circulation of books is a big one but they count visitors too.
Korhaka@sopuli.xyz 2 days ago
So is that just number of times someone walks in then? The article said under a third use one but visitor count wouldn’t tell you the difference of 100 people visiting once or 1 person visiting 100 times.
Peppycito@sh.itjust.works 2 days ago
Yes. Everyone who walks in the door, even to use the bathroom. “The bathroom is an important library resource” she says. Everytime a person connects to wifi it gets noted regardless if you’re in the building or not. If you pick up a book and put it down it gets counted as used/not checked out. She says some libraries track who borrows a pen. Librarians really like managing information.
A good way to help your library is the next time you’re there check out a bunch of books even if you don’t read them. You can even just but them in the return bin on the way out. All this data makes its way back to the politicians who decide on the budget and higher library use and circulation helps them maintain their funding.