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Colusa County library system expands digital services
COLUSA: Monday-Wednesday, 10 a.m.-5 p.m.; Thursday, 10 a.m.-8 p.m.
ARBUCKLE: Monday, 1-6 p.m.; Tuesday, 10 a.m.-3 p.m.; Wednesday, 1-7 p.m.
GRIMES: Tuesday and Thursday, 2-5:30 p.m., Wed, 1-7 p.m.
MAXWELL: Tuesday-Thursday, 12:30-6 p.m.
PRINCETON: Tuesday, 8 a.m.-1 p.m.; Wednesday, 8 a.m.-5 p.m.
STONYFORD: Wednesday, 1-6 p.m., Thursday, 3-7 p.m., Saturday, 10 a.m.-1:30 p.m.
WILLIAMS: Tuesday-Thursday, 12-6:30 p.m.
For more information, go to www.countyofcolusa .org/library.
A tour of the Colusa County Library used to mean a walk through the stacks to see the kind of fiction, nonfiction, reference materials and periodicals that were on hand.
Now, it is a virtual tour.
Members of the Colusa County Friends of the Library were guided on that tour Thursday night by county Librarian Wendy Burke, who told the group that digital service is part of the evolution of all libraries.
"It has come in two phases. About 10 years ago, there was a real emphasis on getting a website, and we would list other websites, especially places safe for kids to go. About five years ago, we were able to buy services from vendors," Burke said in an interview Thursday afternoon.
The seven-branch Colusa County library system offers nine digital services, which started with two job-related programs designed to help users find employment, help them with résumés, polish their interview skills and to complete basic educational needs such as getting a GED.
Now there are programs to download books, tutor services for students of all ages, reading programs parents can share with their youngest children, and one in which users can even learn any of nearly 20 la guages.
The Mango program is quickly growing in popularity, especially among the Hispanic population wanting to learn English.
The library is even working on a partnership with the Colusa County One Stop.
Burke, who was hired about three years ago and has 35 years experience as a librarian, said about 10 percent of the library's customer base use the digital services, primarily the job-related programs.
She said about 3 percent of all customers use the digital programs exclusively, and that number is growing rapidly.
"There is a portion of the population that wants a book in their hands, and there is a portion of the population that has not stepped in a library since getting out of school," Burke said.
However, because the library branches have wireless connections, they have become the home bases for more and more of the county's residents and their laptops and smartphones.
The key is to get those people to use the library's digital services.
Burke said the main library in Colusa actually became a kind of office for one businessman for awhile, though that is not one of several goals Burke has for the library.
Expanding digital service is at the top of that list.
However, those services come with a price.
Burke said the nine programs the library offers now costs about $30,000 a year. Only $600 of that comes out of the library's general fund.
The Friends paid the $2,500 license fee for a magazine service, and the rest is supported through a variety of public and private grants, Burke said.
The $2,500 is only a small part of the $19,000 the Friends raised for the library last year.
The library has a special digital library card for people who want to use those services — and it is easier to get than the regular library card since there is no risk that a customer will walk off with a book and never return it.
