Brigham Library Serves 177,002 and circulates 254,126

Last year, The Brigham City Library served 177,002 and circulated 254,126 items. Ten years after some experts predicted the demise of the nation's system of libraries as a result of the Internet explosion, the most current national data on library use shows that the exact opposite has happened.

Data released today by the American Library Association (ALA) indicates that the number of visits to public libraries in the United States increased 61 percent between 1994 and 2004. According to the 2007 State of America's Libraries report, 1.8 billion visitors checked out more than 2 billion items from U.S. libraries in fiscal year 2004.

"Far from hurting American libraries, the Internet has actually helped to spur more people to use their local libraries because it has increased our hunger for knowledge and information," said Loriene Roy, president-elect of the American Library Association. According the ALA report, virtually every library in the United States - 99 percent - provides free public computer access to the Internet, a four-fold increase in the percentage of libraries providing such free access over the last decade.

Even as libraries continue to evolve their services in response to changing needs and technologies, the report shows that people continue to go to their public library to read or check out a book in record numbers. Overall circulation at public libraries in the U.S. rose by 28 percent during the decade, partly driven by significant growth in circulation of children's materials, which grew by 44 percent. Attendance in library programs for children was also up 42 percent for this same period. .