Library reaches 1M check outs

Audrey Wilson, Maricopa resident and regular library patron, was checking out a stack of children’s books with her two daughters Monday when she made the Maricopa Public Library’s 1 millionth check out.

Traditional library silence was temporarily reprieved when Wilson was presented with a Dr. Seuss gift basket, donated by the Friends of the Library, balloons and general fanfare.

Maricopa Mayor Christian Price was on hand to personally shake Wilson’s hand.

Joan Garrett, chairwoman of Friends of the Library, said Wilson’s two daughters were “absolutely in awe of everything that was going on.”

Garrett described Wilson, who has checked out nearly 400 items since taking out her library card in 2008, as “indicative of the library’s typical user.”

However, when it came to the library, Garrett said she wishes it were bigger.

“I think, for the size of Maricopa, the library does not meet the community’s needs,” Garrett said.

Library Manager Joe Gunter said the countdown began when he was “playing with the statistics” and noticed on Jan. 1 of this year that the library was only 241,880 check-outs short of a million.

“I just stumbled upon it by accident,” Gunter said.

Gunter said the number of check-outs has shown how much library use has grown.

In 2007, there were 61,000 check outs for the entire year.