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COEUR d’ALENE — Whether fueled by economic need or attracted by access to library Internet computers the use of public libraries is up across the country and the Coeur d’Alene Public Library is no exception.

Use statistics for the first seven months of the current fiscal year — Oct. 1, 2009, to the end of April 2010 — reflect figures that are up in nearly every category compared to a year ago.

The seven-month door count by the end of April was 147,606 people, up 19 percent compared to Oct. 1, 2008, to April 30, 2009, when 123,914 people entered the library. The door count is generated by electronic sensors at the entrance to the adult library area and the Seagraves Children’s Library on the lower level.

According to Library Director Bette Ammon, the increase in local library use is related to the same reasons library use is increasing in nearly every part of the United States.

For example, a recent study by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation said that nearly one-third of all Americans visited a library in 2009 to use a computer.

“Especially as a result of the changing economy we are seeing many patrons coming to the library to conduct job searches, to research jobless benefits and to apply for jobs using the computers,” Ammon said. “Almost all companies are using online job applications to fill even local positions.”

The counters don’t register people who are only using the libraries’ three meeting rooms. But those numbers are also up. The meeting rooms were reserved and used 523 times over the seven-month period, compared to 469 times for the earlier period or an increase of 12 percent.

In a related figure, 9,874 adults and children attended programs at the library compared to attendance of 6,735 for the same period last year, an increase of 47 percent.

Ammon noted that in hard economic times, people look to libraries for the free use of things they had previously paid for — books, music CDs, magazines, newspapers, DVDs and videos.

And while library use is up across the board, many communities have had reduced public spending for libraries as tax revenues declined.

“We have been more fortunate in Coeur d’Alene than in other communities,” Ammon said, “but even here we have had to cut back in response to the need for a tighter city budget.”

Other comparative figures in the report — first seven months of FY 2009-2010 compared to the same period in FY 2008-2009 — indicate:

• Items loaned through the Cooperative Information Network (CIN; North Idaho and eastern Washington libraries sharing library cards and circulation services): 6,878 compared to 4,746, up 45 percent.

• Items Borrowed Through CIN: 6,226 compared to 4,218, up 48 percent.

• Materials Circulated (items checked out): 108,810 compared to 98,549, up 10 percent.

• Overall Circulation (includes computer usage, reference questions and other types of services): 307,575 compared to 298,154, up 3 percent.

• Holds Filled (reservations placed on library items): 10,246 compared to 6.833, up 50 percent.

• Self-Check Items (patrons scanned items to check them out without staff assistance): 45,606 compared to 39,937, up 23 percent.