2000 Annual Report Page 14

The St. Lucie County Library System is part of the Administration Services of the County. It consists of 6 locations and a bookmobile to serve the residents.

The Library System added 30+ new computers and training to the various Library sites through the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation grant, FloriNet grant, an anonymous donor and general operating funds. These computers have provided a wonderful opportunity for library patrons.

As a member of the Central Florida Library Cooperative we have had free supervisory and computer classes offered at our Morningside Branch Technology Lab for Library staff from St. Lucie, Indian River and Brevard Counties. We began offering basic computer usage classes at the Lakewood Park Branch, Hurston Branch, Morningside and Ft. Pierce Branch Libraries.

The library's were used by AARP and VITA volunteers to offer free tax assistance during the months of February, March and April. This year they also set up computers to allow for electronic filing. As soon as the tax volunteers were finished the Census Bureau began using the meeting rooms for training classes for the census takers.

The Ft. Pierce Branch Reference staff

The new Fort Pierce Branch Library on Melody Lane.

Susan Kilmer
Library Director

completed another edition of Bookmarks - Guide to the Internet and by the end of the fiscal year they had the St. Lucie County Almanac ready for proofing and printing.

Our Library website has been provided through a private donation to the Friends of the Library and can be found at: www.st-lucie.lib.fl.us. Dr. Edward Werner, Assistant Library Director has been updating and adding new links to the website, including new web pages for our Children's Department, Learn to Read of St. Lucie County, Inc., the Friends of the Library, Morningside Branch Library Technology Lab and one for the Zora Neale Hurston Dust Track Heritage Trail project.

The concept of "libraries without walls" continues to grow with a new service we began offering in June 2000. We now have an Online Book Club which offers a five minute read five days per week with a new title at the beginning of each week. The service began with nonfiction books and has now progressed to fiction books. There are prospects of a Teen Online Book Club.

A reporter for the Palm Beach Post published a list in November of the "Best Places to Visit" on the Treasure Coast and the Ft. Pierce Branch Library was the only St. Lucie County building on the list!

Yearly Summary:

Total Library Visitors: 537,410
Total Items Circulated: 720,966
Reference Department Inquiries: 181,474
Children’s Programs: 841
Attendance: 27,285
Total Volunteer Hours: 7,910