I have been following your Community Report Card editorials with much interest over the past two weeks and I accept your challenge to weigh-in on this issue, particularly the Creativity Index section. Specifically you asked, Is the library checking out more books or fewer? This key question goes right to the heart of the Marysville Community and its interest in education and life-long learning. And Im happy to report that the answer is an enthusiastic yes. Marysville is reading more.
And I have the statistics to back that up. Marysville residents checked out 736,564 books, magazines and media in 2006. This figure is up 3 percent from 2005 and is a whopping 36 percent increase from 2000. You might be surprised to know that our Marysville teens are avid readers and checked out more than 49,000 teen fiction and nonfiction books in 2006. This figure, along with the 200,000 books that were checked out by children, should give you hope for the future. Marysville is raising a future community of readers. Our library has something for all ages and thanks to the generous support of the Marysville Globe our breadth of materials has increased even more.
And thats just the start. Over 71 percent of Marysville residents hold a Sno-Isle library card and 1,000 people per day walk through the library doors. Many more people use our Web site, www.sno-isle.org to order books, do research with our databases, watch an animated talking picture book or get homework help. We even provide access to a real, live reference librarian when we are closed through the Internet and our 24/7 live chat virtual reference service.
Music, movies, art, literature and culture galore can be found in our library programs. Hundreds of people each month attend a variety of events including baby, toddler and preschool storytimes. The Teen Advisory Group plans fun activities with high interest, not to mention pizza and prizes. And adults attend book discussion groups, get help with Internet searching, chat with authors and illustrators, or learn about WWII from library programs.
So I hope you will reconsider your C+ grade for the Creativity Index of Marysville. The 46,000 library card holders in the greater Marysville-Tulalip community know that the Marysville Library is an A+ gem in the heart of the city.
Maggie Buckholz, Managing Librarian
Sno-Isle Libraries, Marysville Branch
Marysville