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Library cards don’t cost $4 a gallon.

Southwest Floridians struggling to make ends meet are driving to area libraries. They’re filling their intellectual tanks and keeping their children entertained on the cheap.

As Tara Andalman, 38, stepped out of her mini-van on Monday afternoon outside the branch library in Bonita Springs, cars were doing circles around her.

More than a dozen library patrons were coming or going every 15 minutes as Andalman unloaded four children, all in elementary school. Two of the kids were hers, the others friends. Clearly, it was time for distractions.

After cutting movie rentals from the family budget earlier this year, Andalman said she has had no problem finding free alternatives.

“The library has pretty much all the movies, books and audio tapes we need,” Andalman said, adding that camps have also been cut from the budget. “Next it could be cable.”

The situation in Bonita isn’t much different than in Collier County, spokeswoman Camden Smith said. At libraries across the county, the majority of the items checked out are DVDs.

“Several of our library branches have reported customers checking out DVDs have stated that they just can’t afford to rent,” Smith said, adding that she herself spent $15 over the weekend on rentals. “That’s an astronomical cost for them on a monthly basis ... the libraries are saving them money.”

In Lee County, library officials are estimating about 600,000 more items will be checked out this year than last, a 17.5 percent increase.

“That’s huge,” Executive Director Sheldon Kaye said. “Well, last year we were up about 13 percent. The year before? About 10. Normally, if a library were up about 5 or 6 percent, that would be very good. So these figures are fairly unprecedented.”

The increase in circulation has come at a time when difficulties in the real estate and construction industries have forced many area families to pack up and leave the state for work elsewhere. The Lee County School District lost about 2,100 students during the course of the last school year, which it attributed to the economy-fueled exodus.

But it’s not just those struggling to survive who are trying to save money.

“No matter how much money you’re making right now, everyone’s concerned with the economy,” Smith said.

Andalman’s husband is in construction, but he works on commercial structures, an area of the industry that has kept moving despite the recession. She said her job as a pre-school teacher is secure, but said increases in bills, insurance and taxes have all made things more difficult.

Sixteen-year Bonita resident Barbara Couch, 49, is looking for work.

“I guess economically we’re all trying to save money,” Couch said.

As she approached the Bonita branch, Couch had a half-dozen movies in her hand — “Oceans 13” and “Indian” were among the titles.

“It’s never been that packed off-season,” Couch said of the library’s business. “The library’s one of those free things in life.”

Despite the increase in library traffic, Kaye said the libraries are keeping up with demand. Lee County’s libraries recently had self-checkout machines installed.

“One of the other things that coincided with this increase in use, we have quite a number of positions open,” Kaye said. So our staff is stretched pretty thinly. Even though we are experiencing an increase in use, those machines are helping us keep up.”

Bonita resident Fred Hand, 80, also noted an increase in activity. Being retired didn’t keep him from hauling out a shopping-bag full of books from the Bonita branch, just like he always has.

Even for Hand, though, the economy has had an effect. The books may be free, he said, but the problem is getting there.

“You don’t want to drive with the gas prices,” Hand said. “So you read more.”

[Via - NaplesNews.Com]

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