Press enter after choosing selection

New Branch Part of Smart Strategy By District Library

New Branch Part of Smart Strategy By District Library image
Parent Issue
Day
22
Month
February
Year
2004
Copyright
Copyright Protected
Rights Held By
Donated by the Ann Arbor News. © The Ann Arbor News.
OCR Text

MARY MORGAN

The Ann Arbor News

New branch part of smart strategy by district library

A focus on patron convenience pays off

Both operate branches, but other than that, libraries and banks might not seem to have much in common. Yet this week I found myself thinking about how they both represent a trend that’s somehow reassuring to me.

Not so long ago, nearly every profession and industry faced predictions that the Internet would flip their worlds upside down.

Bankers invested millions in online services, thinking they could simultaneously cut back on branch offices and staff without losing customers. They were wrong.

While the Internet certainly is a dominant force in the financial sector, companies have realized it’s not a replacement for the human touch. As Poornima Gupta reports today, there’s a branch building frenzy in the local banking scene, mirroring a nationwide trend. As banks vie for customers, they’re finding that weekend banking hours, free checking and more personalized service are ways to get your business.

Likewise, libraries are delivering more services via the Internet, but recognize that patrons want physical locations, too. We’re not, it appears, turning into a nation of e-book downloaders - at least, not yet.

That’s visible most dramatically in the stunning success of the Ann Arbor District Library’s new Mallets Creek branch, which opened late last year.

Designed by Luckenbach/Ziegelman Architects of Ann Arbor, the branch on East Eisenhower Parkway combines traditional library design - the familiar book-lined shelves - with gathering places where you can eat and drink and be a little rowdy, glass-walled tutoring rooms, tables with flanks of computers wired to the Internet - even a fireplace.

In a city that already has a high penetration rate of users - about 67 percent of residents have a library card - the library has issued 500 new cards attributed to the new branch, says Josie Parker, the system’s director. The branch also helped boost the system’s circulation to a record high in January - typically a slow month.

It’s a grand payoff for a risky $4.6 million bet. Though market research recommended expansion, in times of economic uncertainty there would have been little worse than the echoing walls of an underused building.

The library has plans for more, similar branches, Parker says. One in Pittsfield Township - near the Ice Cube and Arbor Hospice - is in the planning stages, and library executives keep their eye out for potential real estate they could buy for additional sites. (Board member and real estate chief Ed Surovell is an asset in that search.)

The demand for convenience among time-crunched patrons is driving the library’s efforts, Parker says. And branch location is not keyed to where they live, but to their travel patterns, according to the library’s market research. Someone might be less inclined to use a library within three blocks of their home, Parker says, but would be more willing to stop by a library located on their route home from work.

That kind of understanding of its customer base is serving the library well, and so far its expansion is progressing while keeping expenses under control: The library recorded a $1.5 million surplus in fiscal 2003.

Not a bad way to do business.

News Business Editor Mary Morgan writes on local business issues.