Hernando County Library System
Hernando County Public Library is located in Hernando County, Florida, which is about an hour north of Tampa. This is a public library system with one central library located in Brooksville and four other branches in Brooksville and Spring Hill. There are no bookmobiles associated with this library system. As of 2013, the staff totaled 42 people, including 11 librarians and 31 other staff members, only ten of which were full-time employees. The Florida Library Association chose the Hernando system as its 2013 Library of the Year. This library system serves a legal population of 136,484 people. The annual number of library visits is 480,706. There are 49 Internet terminals for use by the general public. The annual service hours for all service outlets is 12,215.
Library Collection
As of 2013, the library collection included 199,091 print materials, 33,071 electronic books, 4,001 audio materials, 5,295 video materials, and 409 print subscriptions. An estimated 23,250 patrons were reported to have used an electronic resource per typical week. There were 181,054 annual reference transactions and 709,225 annual circulation transactions, out of which 103,289 of them were for children's materials.
As of 2014, the Hernando County Library System had 52 different e-resource database systems that patrons could access either at the library or at home while signed into their library account.[1]
Library History
According to this article, “History of the Hernando County Public Library System,” the Brooksville Woman’s Club is where the first library originated via a traveling library. The article reads: “The Extension Service helped to give access to the library by delivering books to distant parts of the county,” (Jasper & McCook, 2019, p. 1). It wasn't until after 1949 that the library purchased property for a library building.[2]
Branches
Locations:
Main Library (Brooksville): 238 Howell Avenue Brooksville, FL 34601
East Hernando Branch: 6457 Windmere Road Brooksville, FL 34602
West Hernando Branch: 6335 Blackbird Avenue Brooksville, FL 34613
Spring Hill Branch: 9220 Spring Hill Drive Spring Hill, FL 34608
Istachatta Library Station: 16246 Lingle Road Brooksville, FL 34601 (CLOSED)
Hours:
West Hernando & Main Branches
Monday - Friday: 10 am to 6 pm
East Hernando & Spring Hill Branches
Tuesday - Friday: 10 am to 6 pm
Saturday: 10 am to 5 pm
Services
Book Discussion Groups 2016:
- Classics Book Discussion
- Florida 503 Book Discussion
- History and Biography Book Discussion
- Non-Fiction Book Discussions
Socrates Café: A group of people and a facilitator gather and apply the Socratic method to questions that they have. Participants are not required to have read Socrates, however, they are asked to come with questions and be willing to seek the answers to the questions that they have.
Movies: Every first and third Tuesday of the month, the East Hernando branch shows and adult movie. Every second and fourth Thursday the Spring Hill branch shows and adult movie. Free popcorn is provided.
Family Movies: The East Hernando branch shows a family movie on the fourth Saturday of every month. Free popcorn is provided.
Story Time: Branches offer story times for age groups between baby and preschool. Weekly occurrences are as follows.
FLYP (Florida Library Youth Program): Every summer the library system offers fun and educational themed programs that tie together with books. Calendars are provided at the beginning of each summer and there is something for everybody at each branch.
Funding & Operating Revenue
| Amount | |
|---|---|
| Local Government Revenue | $32,767 |
| Florida Government Revenue | $148,974 |
| Federal Government Revenue | $0 |
| Total Income | $2,225,923 |
| Salaries | $1,183,710 |
| Total Staff Expenditure | $1,511,028 |
- These numbers are from 2013.
Library Damages
On July 6, 2013, a fire broke out at the East Hernando Library location. The fire was deemed suspicious due to the fact that some of the wicker furniture from inside the library had been piled up against the back porch door. Two weeks later the Hernando County Sheriff's Office and the Florida Division of State Fire Marshal received a confession from a suspect who had been previously reported to be on the scene at the time of the fire. The suspect had made his presence known at the scene of the fire by claiming he was going to school to become a volunteer fire fighter and was there to assist with putting out the fire – he also arrived in a fire suit and an oxygen tank strapped to his back. The smoke and water damage from this incident has been estimated at $500,000. This estimation includes $250,000 in damages to the building and another $250,000 to the books. Eighteen thousand books were damaged by either smoke or water during the incident.[3] The suspect accepted a plea deal with the following terms: 8 years in prison, pay back roughly $590,000 to Travelers Insurance and $25,000 to Hernando County.[4]
Awards
- Florida Library of the Year Award for 2013 [5]
References
- http://www.hcpl.lib.fl.us/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=63&Itemid=29
- Jasper, C. & McCook, Kathleen. (2019) “History of the Hernando County Public Library System”. Hernando Sun
- "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2014-04-07. Retrieved 2014-04-02.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
- http://www.tampabay.com/news/courts/criminal/teen-sentenced-to-eight-years-in-prison-for-setting-east-hernando-library/2169093
- "Archived copy" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2014-04-07. Retrieved 2014-04-02.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)