BY MATT MACKINDER
Clarkston News Editor

Over the winter, the Clarkston Independence District Library started a new program called “Meet Your eLibrary,” an initiative to utilize the extensive eResources available through the library.
The local David W. Elliott Memorial Foundation provided a $5,000 grant to the Friends of the Clarkston Independence Library to help support this project.
Every month, a new available eLibrary service is featured, with usage across the board up substantially.
In addition, there is a drawing every month for an iPad for someone who has used the eLibrary services.
Last week, the library reached a milestone, passing its 300th registration for the Meet Your eLibrary program.
The number of OverDrive checkouts for January through March 2022 is up 12 percent over the same time frame last year. In fact, January and March 2022 are the library’s two highest usage months yet.
“That 12 percent is sizable for such a well-established and highly-used product that (short of a global pandemic) is generally very steady,” said David Silberman, business and marketing librarian at CIDL. “Our usage is comparable to Waterford, even though our community is about half the size.
“Our Battle of the Books was completely done through Hoopla last year, so the stats for January-March 2021 were extremely high to start with. With that in mind, the first three months of this year have seen as many new users as the previous seven months combined.”
In February 2022, the number of Kanopy users was up 76 percent and the number of videos played was up 69 percent from February 2021. In March 2022 alone, the library had the same number of new CreativeBug users as it did for the previous seven months combined.
“It was far and away the month with our heaviest usage since we began offering CreativeBug in October 2020,” said Silberman. “The amount of time patrons spent viewing videos in March was almost equal to the total combined time from October 2020 to February 2022.”
For more information on the eLibrary, visit cidlibrary.org as well as the library’s social media pages.

PHOTO: Kaylyn Lopiccola and her children recently won an iPad for using the “Meet Your eLibrary” program at the CIDL. Photo provided by David Silberman