People who work with me soon realize I enjoy numbers, data, and facts (though I am kept very busy as the manager of a large and active library system I am still a librarian at heart).

I'm guessing you did not know that last fiscal year more people visited the San Jose libraries (the 18 branches and the joint use King Library) than attended the home games of the SF Giants, the Oakland As, the Sharks, the Raiders, and the 49ers combined? Their attendance was 5.9 million, the libraries had 7.6 million visitors.

Last year the King Library and five of the 18 branches each checked out or renewed over 1 million items. All told, just under 15 million items were checked out or renewed. San Jose's libraries are among the most heavily used large city libraries in the U.S.

Of course, underlying these huge numbers are the stories of hundreds of thousands of people whose lives are made easier and better by using library resources and by receiving assistance from library staff. From time to time, I'll share some of those stories through this blog.