Montgomery County Memorial Library System sees record-breaking summer involvement

MONTGOMERY COUNTY, Texas—This summer saw huge increases in library cardholders in Montgomery County.

With many new families moving to the area and hundreds of programs and free activities drawing crowds into the libraries, June saw double the number of new library cards issued over the previous month.

Just under 3,000 new library cards were issued in June, compared with 1,400 new cards issued in May, bringing the total number of library cardholders in the County to 285,377, or 52% of all County residents.

Large gains were seen in The Woodlands, whose two libraries issued 1,361 new cards, nearly as many new cards as the entire County issued the month before.

The library card boost wasn’t the only large increase for Montgomery County Memorial Library System.

This was another record-breaking year for Summer Reading participation across all age ranges.

Over 12,000 kids, teens, and adults pledged to read during the reading program from May 30-June 14th, a 10.5% increase over last year, which itself had seen over a 10% increase from the year before that.

Generous sponsors supported the local community’s reading program, by providing coupons and other incentives for the eager readers.

The grand prize for the Adult Summer Reading Program this year was a Samsung Digital Tablet, donated by Hoopla Digital, one of the library’s providers of streaming digital content to patrons.

Library customers already know that the library is more than a place to discover new reading material. With job seeking assistance and technical computer training, free Wi-Fi and meeting room access, plus programs featuring science, technology, engineering, arts, and math, the library is an unexpectedly modern place to find the pulse of the community.

The nationally-recognized George and Cynthia Woods Mitchell Library in The Woodlands is a designated Family Place Library™ and one of only 15 libraries nationally named as a finalist for the 2017 National Medal for Museum and Library Service.

The Mitchell Library was the only library in the state of Texas to receive this high honor. With a wealth of resources made available to all County residents, Montgomery County citizens have a lot to be proud of in their library system.