MORGANTOWN — Sarah Palfrey became the director of the Morgantown Public Library System in April of 2017.
She’s been pretty busy ever since.
During a recent report to Morgantown City Council, Palfrey said the library system is growing at a pace beyond that of its peers despite all of its facilities being at capacity and in need of attention.
While “growing” is a relative term, Palfrey provided specifics, explaining that the annual rate at which library cards are distributed is up 98%.
“It almost looks fake, but it’s not. I promise you,” she said of the gaudy statistic. “It’s very exciting. We all said ‘Nobody is going to believe that.’ Nothing goes up 98%.”
She said the system routinely handed out about 1,200 cards annually. That number jumped to around 1,800 in 2017 and topped the 2,500 mark in 2018.
The system is also way up in terms of circulation — about 21% over the last five years.
“That is not normal. There’s huge growth in digital things, but we’re seeing growth even in our children’s materials and at our branches as well,” Palfrey said. “There are a great number of library systems really struggling with maintaining circulation, but we continue to see growth.”
But it’s through programming that the library has earned its reputation, she explained, pointing out that more than 14,000 people of all ages took part in some 600 programs during the 2018-’19 fiscal year.
According to Palfrey, none of those programs has had the impact of the recently implemented teen and youth Dungeons and Dragons groups.
She said the response to the table top role playing game brought back to the fore by the Netflix hit Stranger Things has been overwhelming — both from the kids and their parents.
“We’ve never had a response from the parents like we have from the kids who’ve participated. I’ve gotten more emails and phone calls and full-blown ‘This has changed their life and it’s all they’ll talk about’ type messages than I’ve ever gotten before,” Palfrey said.
Deputy Mayor Rachel Fetty explained that her teenage son is among those D&D crusaders.
“They love it so much. I don’t even know. The D&D is a huge part of our lives,” Fetty said, adding “You’ve done a wonder in my house with my kid and I know that’s really true for a lot of families.”
But while the number of programs offered and library cards distributed continue to climb, space is fixed and the library system is in need of serious infrastructure upgrades.
“Everything we do, staffing, programming, collection, is all defined by the space we have available and we continue to look for ways to better appropriate space within our buildings,” Palfrey said.
Along with the main Morgantown branch and neighboring Aull Center, on Spruce Street, the library system also includes the Arnettsville, Cheat Area, Clay-Battelle and Clinton District branches.
The library systems’s fiscal year 2020 budget is just under $1.9 million, with $797,718 coming from the city of Morgantown specifically for the main branch and Aull Center. Another $490,000 comes from the county-wide library levy passed in 2016. The state provides another $490,000 through the West Virginia Library Commission, according to information provided by Palfrey.
She said there is a push to increase lagging state support for libraries, with the end goal being more wide-eyed tots with a new library card and teens finding a place in a D&D group.
“They’re building communities and it’s a great honor as the library to be a part of that,” Palfrey said of her young patrons. “That’s the part where I get to say I love my job.”
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