Pikesville Branch Library Wins the Circulation Super Bowl

I’ve been checking out books from the Pikesville Branch Library since my family moved to Baltimore County when I was six years old. That was when my beloved Pikesville Memorial Library (as it was called when it was founded in 1946—hey, way before I was born) was basically one big room, housed on the first floor of a little building it shared with the Pikesville Health Center.

Fast-forward 50 years. A recent report shows that during the first six months of fiscal 2011, from July 1 to December 31, 2010, the Pikesville branch jumped to first place in circulation among Baltimore County Public Library’s 17 branches. That's an increase from its usual ranking of second or third place behind Towson and Cockeysville.

During that time, Pikesville's circulation numbered 710,288 items—a 26 percent increase over the same period last fiscal year, said Bob Hughes, spokesman for the Baltimore County Public Library system. "It is on target to surpass its own 12-month circulation record of 1,237,332, set in fiscal 2010," he said in an e-mail.

“I kind of wish I knew why,” says Allan McWilliams, Pikesville Branch Library’s manager since 2005. When pressed for an explanation, he says “We can go back as far as 2007, to the big expansion.” He is referring to the 3,500-square-foot addition, and $3.6 million renovation that affected both the library and the Pikesville Senior Center, that is located on the second floor of the building.

With that upgrade, the library added a children's activity area and story room, a larger browsing area; a magazine lounge for casual reading, and improved lighting. 

Of, course, it’s been a long time since the library was a one-room operation. In 1982, two years after I got married, the quaint building where I spent some of my childhood was demolished to make way for the Maryland State Police Crime Lab, and the old Pikesville Elementary School was demolished to make way for the current Pikesville Branch Library. That first phase of construction ushered in the modern age of book borrowing for Pikesville readers.

“Pikesville had always been in the top three,” observes McWilliams. But, he says, 2007 was a watershed year. “It’s gone steadily up since then.”

However, he says modestly, “it’s all one system—we don’t think of it as a competition. Cockeysville always had the highest, then Towson, and Pikesville was reliably in third. We were all really surprised in the first month [that the report came out], then it continued.” 

He searches for explanations. “We have a really library-loving community,” he said. “We have whole families checking out books.” It’s true. I can’t speak for other branches, but Pikesville is a true microcosm of reading society—teenagers researching homework, mothers surrounded by children checking out huge stacks of illustrated story books, husbands and wives here on an inexpensive date night, and white-haired seniors checking in before or after a class upstairs at the senior center. 

“We changed how reserves are put in, how people can use the collection," McWilliams said, noting that this was a Baltimore County Public Library system-wide change. “It shortened the waiting time, and customers have taken to the online use—that’s well-used. Then of course,” he muses, “the price is the same.” We both laugh. “It’s free.” 

“As our level of business has increased, our workload has increased—check-in, check-out, put books back on the cart. It helps to have staff that knows what they’re doing.” He pauses for a second to calculate. “Altogether we have around 70, between 20 and 30 full-time circulation and librarians. The rest are part-time." Volunteers, at least six, add a lot of value as well, he said.

And the Friends of Pikesville Library—about 10 main board members—puts on the fabulous Speaker Series, he said.

McWilliams is right about the staff. The library is highly efficient. I have never heard anyone complain about the staff’s competency or friendliness. Every computer carrel is full. The meeting room is in constant use. They are always innovating. No long lines. In fact, if given the chance, people love to rave about their favorite librarians. 

Shirley Rutko is one of them, but she has a hard time choosing her favorite. “I want you to know everyone is very nice,” says Shirley, who comes here with her son, Chuck, “but these two, she says, pointing at Ruth Brown and Martha Beninghove, “are very nice.” Then she spies Diane Frank, currently a part-time librarian who also serves as liaison to the highly-renowned Friends of the Pikesville Library Guest Speaker Series. “And this one is a star! She’s learned our taste in books.” She is clearly smitten with her friends at the library. 

Shirley and her son both share my memories of the old library. “I’ve been coming at least since I was 10-years-old,” says Chuck, a library regular who remembers, like I do, when talking books were called books-on-tape. Fortunately, Shirley has managed to adapt to the new technology. She says, “I make my chicken soup and listen to my books.” She used to come more often until she stopped driving,  but still, she says, “I come at least once a week. This is a vibrant library.”

Shirley and Chuck are part of the indefinable Pikesville Factor that accounts for the increased readership. “Pikesville is pretty well-known throughout the library system,” says McWilliams. “Part of our reputation is for book-recommending. Our librarians do a lot of word-of-mouth promoting and merchandising. We’re interested in more than just best-sellers. People will seek out literary types of fiction, what is called mid-list fiction. It’s a publisher’s term for a book that is not necessarily a best-seller but is well-reviewed. People pick up on it.” 

“It’s a lively situation here, where there is a lot of interest in what other people are reading,” McWilliams concludes. That is part of what makes the Pikesville branch such an interesting place, and what has elevated it to number one in circulation. After coming here for more than 50 years, I have to concur.

Systemwide, the Baltimore County Public Library's total circulation for fiscal 2010 was more than 10.09 million, and the Pikesville Branch was the second-highest at more than 1.23 million, Hughes said.

"As a system, BCPL traditionally has the highest total circulation of any public library system in the Baltimore Metropolitan Area," he wrote in an e-mail.

For more information, visit The Pikesville Branch Library website and click on Calendar of Events or call 410-887-1234.

EVENT: The next Friends of the Pikesville Library Guest Speaker Series event will take place at 1 p.m. Wednesday, Feb. 16, and will feature Michael Lisicky, Baltimore Symphony Orchestra oboist and author of “Hutzler’s:  Where Baltimore Shops.” 

The library is located at 1301 Reisterstown Road in Pikesville. Hours are 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. Mon. through Thurs.; 9 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Fri. and Sat., and from 1-5 p.m. Sun.

Ruth Goldstein is a freelance writer and a lifelong patron of the Pikesville Branch Library.