Despite untimely closures the Wareham Free Library circulated more items and received more patrons than last year.

The library tracks patronage through the fiscal year and in October and November of 2023 closed due to repairs from a water main break. Although operations had to be moved to the Spinney Library location, the public still borrowed more than 108,000 items, topping the previous year, according to Wareham Free Library Director Patrick Marshall.

“That is up slightly and when you think about how we lost two months worth of time, it's impressive,” Marshall said.

Patronage was not the only number to increase. Library goers borrow more eBook and electronic audio and video materials every year and took home more than 24,000 electronic items this year, over double what attendees borrowed in 2019.

Marshall said electronic materials are expensive which is why the Wareham Library Foundation has set a $20,000 funding goal for electronic materials next year.

Marshall said the library can generally only “rent” eBooks from publishers on a per year basis and sometimes ownership is limited to the amount of times an item is checked out. On top of expensive access practices, Marshall said publishers charge on average “well over” $70 for eBooks.

“What you and I would buy on Amazon for a download for maybe 20 bucks, is much more for us.” Marshall said. “The last Stephen King audio book for us was $115 per copy.”

With funds from the Friends of the Wareham Free Library, library staff hosted 109 children's programs and 93 adult programs last year, a substantial increase from years past.

Marshall remembered the months of July and August when librarians worked to put on around 70 programs for Wareham residents.

“There's kind of a ceiling with the number of programs we can do but we don’t plan on slowing down at all,” Marshall said.

Almost 1,300 hundred adults came for concerts, educational opportunities and cultural events over the past year with concerts seeing the most attendees.

More than 3,600 children enjoyed events from the library, ranging from story time to arts and crafts.

“The programs have definitely taken off and people are responding well,” Marshall said,