Library presents “Storywalk” idea to Colby board

The Colby city council received the annual report from the Colby Community Library, or CCL, this past Tuesday at their regular monthly meeting. In the report, library director Vicky Calmes supplied data regarding the circulation of materials as well as on the programs offered by the library, spoke to a request to Clark County for increased funding for all county libraries and presented a project called StoryWalk for consideration.

In the numbers presented by Calmes at the board meeting, the CCL stood far and away from their peers in terms of overall circulation in 2022. The Colby library lent out 63,218 physical materials over the course of the year, which was over double the number of materials that were checked out from the next closest Clark county library in Neillsville, which reported 26,790. Calmes reported that the CCL was responsible for 29.4% of all items checked out in the county, which includes nine other public libraries.

In addition to the physical items borrowed, the library also checked out 4,064 digital items, reported 6,057 library visits, of which over half utilized the public computers or Wi-Fi and offered 195 community programs that include book clubs, story times, craft projects, the summer reading program and various volunteer projects.

Calmes also spoke to an effort by the Clark County libraries to receive more funding from the county government. While libraries are primarily funded by the municipalities, the county also provides funding, with the thought that residents of townships are also allowed to utilize the public services.

The state of Wisconsin requires the counties to fund libraries 70 percent of their cost per circulation, which takes the overall operating costs of the library and divides it by the total number of physical materials checked out over the course of a year. Clark County sits slightly above the 70 percent mark at the moment, at 75 percent, though at the most recent county board meeting they requested a 100 percent reimbursement, as the board was reportedly looking at dropping back down to 70 percent.

They also noted that the system itself has flaws, as the “per circulation” model fails to take into account the other services that a library may offer and also requires libraries to budget based on two year old circulation data that may not accurately reflect the current situation. At the Colby board meeting, Calmes noted that the CCL potentially stands to benefit the most from the increase in funding, given their high circulation numbers. The libraries’ next step is to speak to the county’s finance committee.

The final topic Calmes touched upon was a potential StoryWalk grant that the library was offered.

StoryWalk is a project that would put pages of a storybook on signs similar to informational plaques one might find at a zoo or nature preserve that are then placed incrementally along a trail, pathway or park, which then gives kids and families an additional activity to do while on a walk or hike. These stories would then be switched out every few months so that a new story would be available to read and encourage repeat trips.

The idea behind the project is to promote both physical activity and literacy at the same time and to engage people that may not be as interested in one or the other. The grant was stated to be $4,000 to construct and install the signs.

The largest potential problem with the project that was recognized by both the board and Calmes was that there was no obvious location for the signs to be placed. Several of the local parks were suggested, though it was noted that if there was not much space in any of the parks and so the walking/hiking portion of the project likely would not be as impactful. The only trail that was mentioned as a potential candidate is located in the school forest, which would need the permission of the school district to use.

Calmes said that she would speak to the school and see if there was interest and then bring back the findings to the city council.