<p>Parents and children visited Bargersville Town Hall Monday for monthly story time.</p><p>The Johnson County Public Library started the program in January due to a growing demand for it. Bargersville is the largest community in Johnson County without a library branch, and for nearly a year, the Johnson County Public Library has been trying to figure out how to bring its services to the county’s fastest growing community.</p><p>Bargersville is in the county library system’s coverage area. Library officials collected responses both online and on paper from September through January to a survey that asked what services residents would like to see from its local library system. Bargersville is an 11-minute drive from the Trafalgar library branch.</p>[sc:text-divider text-divider-title="Story continues below gallery" ]Click here to purchase photos from this gallery<p>After collecting responses from 187 people, 180 of whom were Bargersville residents, the Johnson County Public Library determined people would most like a nearby location to check out and return items they borrow from the library. They also wanted programs for children, to be able to pick up items on hold, programs for adults, Wi-Fi access and programs for teenagers — in that order. Of the folks who took the survey, 84% used library services, Trafalgar Branch Manager Todd Jones said in an email.</p><p>Even though library officials have no plans to build a fifth branch in Bargersville, the Johnson County Public Library wants to address any shortage of service it might have, he said.</p><p>“While we are not in the position to put a fifth branch in Bargersville at this time, we do think that we’ve come up with a solution that will address several of these desired services,” Jones said.</p><p>“A 24-hour library kiosk at Town Hall is something that we are looking at that would provide a one-stop shop where library users could check out and return materials, place items on hold and pick them up, search for and download e-books, e-audiobooks and other digital content, and have access to free Wi-Fi.”</p><p>In addition to monthly story times at Town Hall, the Johnson County Public Library holds its StoryWalk program at Windisch Park. During the walks, various pages of a book are places along a path, with the reader following the story while they walk. For adults, the library holds Stout Stories, book discussions at Taxman Brewery and Mallow Run Winery. The library is looking at additional ways to get Bargersville teenagers and adults some of the library services they want, he said.</p><p>The Johnson County Public Library worked closely with Bargersville Town Manager Julie Young to get the story time program at Town Hall up and running, Jones said.</p><p>Young had several meetings with library officials to help find a way to plug some of those service gaps in Bargersville, Young said.</p><p>“It’s important because that type of service and programming was not being provided as being readily accessible for residents,” Young said. “Being able to partner with the library and get that started was important for us.”</p><p>The survey itself asked respondents if they live or work in Bargersville, if they use the Johnson County Public Library, what services they’d like to see in Bargersville and where they’d like to see those services, Jones said.</p><p>Getting story time implemented in Bargersville was one of the library’s primary goals, he said.</p><p>“Children’s programming is a prime motivator for library use because parents are highly motivated to expose their children to books and ideas,” Jones said. “Research shows that the more books children are exposed to in life, the greater their chance at success …</p><p>Often, adult patrons who have fallen out of the habit of using the library find themselves returning when they have children.”</p>
