Library to celebrate one millionth
DOWNTOWN SM While the identity of the supposed one-millionth person to waltz through the doors of the new main library might remain a mystery forever, that isn’t going to hinder plans for a celebration today to mark the landmark visit.
The Santa Monica Public Library opened its doors to the public on Jan. 7, 2006, and city and library officials are inviting the public out today for a six-hour long festival, rejoicing in the one millionth visitor moment, which City Librarian Greg Mullen believes occurred last week.
A counter at all the facility’s entrances automatically records and tabulates whenever a person walks in or out. Since visitors both enter and exit the library, the total tabulation is actually more than two million, Mullen said. The library has averaged more than four visitors a minute since opening its doors.
It is estimated that about 75 percent of library visitors either work, live or attend school in Santa Monica.
“I feel pretty confident we’re at that milestone and we’re trying to celebrate that,” Mullen said.
More than one million individual items have been checked out from the library since January 2006, averaging a little more than four individual checkouts per minute in the past 15 months.
Entitled “A Million More: Celebrating our Visitors,” the free event today will honor the milestone the new library achieved in just 15 months with family-friendly activities such as face-painting, crafts, games and prizes, and musical performances. One of the feature acts will be a performance of Japanese Taiko drummers.
It’s a celebration of all the loyal patrons and an opportunity to invite anyone who has not yet visited the new facility, Mullen said.
“To me, (the millionth visitor) says that we are well received by the community,” Mullen said. “That figure is a testament that they’re (the public) using this library.”
The library was crafted with visions that it would serve as a hub for community activities. Community events including lectures, movie screenings, book signings and storytelling sessions have proven a hit with the public. In February, an evening lecture by former UN Weapons Inspector Scott Ritter packed the library auditorium, forcing several latecomers to watch the talk through a television on the second floor.
“Our programming has increased exponentially since we opened the library,” said Edward Edwards, chairman of the Library Board. “Every day of the week, there is something to do at the library.”
Additional reasons to visit the new library are the Bookmark Cafe and the Friends of the Library Book Store, features that didn’t exist in the old library facility.
Located near the courtyard where the Bookmark Cafe sits, the bookstore raked in approximately $68,000 in sales of books donated from the Santa Monica Library and the public last year. All proceeds are used to fund library programs at all branches, said Rosita Mal, a bookstore volunteer.
The bookstore has benefited from the traffic to the main library.
“Some of us who work in the library as volunteers will encourage (visitors) if they can’t find the a book, to come into the bookstore,” Mal said. “Some don’t know we’re here and find out as they go into the library.”
Though the main library can thank the cafe, bookstore and expanded lecture series for adding traffic through the doors, many visitors still use the library for the purpose of checking out a book or as a place of study.
“We’re a very literate city,” Mullen said. The event will take place at the Main Library, 601 Santa Monica Blvd., from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. For more information, visit the library Web site at www.smpl.org.
Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on April 14, 2007. Read the original PDF.