Library usage: Belmont is tops in the Commonwealth

Belmont residents want more library services than the current main library can provide, but there is no room to add library material, computers or programs. Our circulation and traffic statistics are among the highest in the Commonwealth for many categories.

Children's and Young Adult figures for 2004

• Children's Department circulation increased 12%
• The summer reading program had 780 children participating
• 6440 children participated in 168 programs through the year, including over 2000 at story times
• The Young Adult (YA) Band Bash had 250 attendees
• The YA summer reading program resulted in reports on 534 books by teens

General usage statistics for 2004

• The Reference staff helped 198 students with their National History Day assignments
• Overall circulation was 520,000, making Belmont the busiest of any town in our population group
• There were 250,000 visits to the library (about 1000 daily)
• Reference transactions increased 25%, ranking Belmont fourth in the Commonwealth
• Loans in to and out of the library increased 146% to 42,000

Read more about how the main library cannot meet our needs, or see the fact sheet (PDF file, 1.2MB, get Adobe Reader to read the PDF file)