Community
Tipping the scales at over 94,000 transactions, library users at the Livingston-Park County Public Library and the Bookmobile checked out more items in 2025 than in any year since 2004.
“The Library’s annual circulation has been steadily increasing since 2016, with the exception of 2020, when we were closed for about two months due to the pandemic. Then, this last year, the public really hit the books, adding 12.5% to 2024’s figure,” said Library Director Mitch Grady.
Almost exactly 10% of Park County’s population checked out at least one item from either the Library or Bookmobile in 2025, as well. The Library serves Park County via the building in Livingston, supplemented by regular Bookmobile stops in Wilsall, Clyde Park, Emigrant, Gardiner, and Cooke City.
Grady is quick to note that the Library’s focus isn’t just checking out books, however. “During 2025 we started tracking much more statistics, such as the use of the meeting rooms, public computers, and staff assistance with finding and applying for jobs. From March until the end of the year, for example, 94 people received help printing job-related documents and applying for jobs online—things like that. And that number only includes people we helped one-on-one, not the people who were able to use the Library’s resources to secure employment and housing without any staff assistance,” he explained.
Grady attributes the rising circulation to several factors; increased availability of titles through the Library’s membership in a sharing group with 24 other Montana libraries; the skyrocketing popularity of digital formats; and the Library staff’s face-to-face involvement with Park County’s especially literate population.
“Our Library’s staff really deserves commendation for being able to match the right book or resource to the right person, every single time. I’m so happy and proud that the Library employs such an engaged and voracious bunch of readers. Myself, I read mostly comic books, auto repair manuals, and some boring non-fiction topics. So unless you’re into those things, when you’re trying to figure out what to read next, definitely talk to the Library staff, not to me,” Grady said.
Most Checked Out Books of 2025 (physical and digital items)
Adult Fiction Titles
- The Women by Kristin Hannah
- Three-Inch Teeth by CJ Box
- Battle Mountain by CJ Box
- Here One Moment by Liane Moriarty
- Demon Copperhead by Barbara Kingsolver
Adult Non-fiction Titles
- The Crazies: The Cattlemen, the Wind Prospector, and a War Out West by Amy Gamerman
- The Let Them Theory by Mel Robbins
- Dinner in One: Exceptional & Easy One-Pan Meals by Melissa Clark
- Nexus: A Brief History of Information Networks from the Stone Age to AI by Yuval Harari
- Age of Melt: What Glaciers, Ice Mummies, and Ancient Artifacts Teach Us about Climate, Culture, and a Future without Ice by Lisa Baril
Kids Fiction Titles
- Dog Man: Twenty Thousand Fleas under the Sea by Dav Pilkey
- Frozen: A Sister More Like Me by Barbara Jean Hicks
- Ellie’s Dragon by Bob Graham
- Pretty Perfect Kitty-Corn by Shannon Hale and LeUyen Pham
- Once Upon a Goat by Dan Richards
Kids Non-fiction Titles
- Lobster vs. Crab by Jerry Pallotta Why? Over 1,111 Answers to Everything by Crispin Boyer
- Polar Babies by Maya Meyers
- Jaguar vs. Skunk by Jerry Pallotta Electrician by Joanne Mattern
Magazines
- Cook’s Illustrated
- National Geographic Kids
- Scientific American
- Montana Outdoors
- National Geographic