Ottawa Public Library reports over 80 per cent decrease in new memberships growth rate in 2020

Last year was a tough year for businesses and entities everywhere in the city, including the Ottawa Public Library, as it saw a big hit in the number of new cardholders.

With its adoption of the Performance Measure Framework in May 2013, the Ottawa Public Library Board will hear on Tuesday that the library saw a new membership cardholder growth rate decrease of almost 82 per cent compared to the same time in 2019.

On top of that, OPL also reports a 12 per cent decrease in 12-month active cardholders.

The drop, the board will hear Tuesday, is largely because of the number of closed branches, the unavailability of in-person activities, reduced opening hours and access to computers and limited services due to the pandemic.

The library also explains that the current OPL online registration system only issues temporary library cards — permanent cards must be obtained in person.

However, because of the reduced availability of open branches and limited hours, these added obstacles have had an impact on library go-ers when wanting to access in-person card membership services — not to mention the restriction of gathering limits, reduced staffing levels and loss of meeting room spaces as well.

Besides the pandemic, OPL recognizes that the changes are also impacted by the number of resources available online.

But it hasn’t been all doom and gloom for OPL — growth has been seen in other areas, particularly with online services.

“In 2020, OPL witnessed a significant increase in the usage of online resources and, notably, online French language resources,” OPL says in its report, to be released at Tuesday's board meeting. “French e-audio more than doubled and French e-Book usage increased 63 per cent. Overall, most online resources saw double digit growth with a 44 per cent (more than 8,000) increase in the number of cardholders accessing OPL databases.

The increased usage of online resources, OPL adds, was supported through the creation of temporary cards and one-on-one tutorials that provide help with accessing online resources.

Temporary cards have also seen an increase of 25 per cent, which means the increased use of online resources has translated into a 35 per cent spike in the economic benefit.

As a result, more than $61 million in direct benefit is estimated to have been created for more than 214,000 active cardholders, OPL reports.

These results come just as OPL continues to plan its “super library” in partnership with Library and Archives Canada, which is set to open in 2024.

The $192.9 million joint facility will be located in LeBreton Flats, and include features such as a maker space, a café, recording studio and restaurant, among others.