While conducting a survey online and in libraries for three weeks, Dr. Daniel Barron said he also interviewed approximately 66 people from the community for his findings.

Survey participants were entered in a contest to win $50, he said. Out of the 620 respondents total from four libraries in three counties, Moss Memorial contributed 398 responses, Barron said, more than the others combined.

"We had an excellent response rate," he said.

The finances for the survey came from the state library, Barron told those at the meeting.

"It's not coming from your pockets... Hopefully that gives it a significant amount of objectivity."

Barron said that it was important to determine weather a new library was a want or a need. Using statistics from the survey, he sought to provide an answer.

"Seventy-five percent of those people who use the library say they use it at least once a month," he said. "But... 50 percent of the users come weekly or more than once a week. That's significant."

According to the statistics, approximately 25 percent of visitors to the library are teens or pre-teen. Barron said he was very pleased with those results.

"We've really, really got to reach those kids because that's the next generation of either library users or library down-the-tubers," he said.

About 65 percent of library users are female, the reasearch found.

"One major reason [for that] is that the library is primarily open during the day and females have a tendency to be able to get there," he said. "That's just the way it works."

Twenty percent of survey respondents said that rarely used the library, mainly because of the poor parking situation. A combined 56 percent expressed a lack of interest in reading and the selection of books offered.

Parking at the library had the lowest satisfaction rate in the survey at just 39 percent while the helpfulness and friendliness of librarians ranked highest.

About 86 percent of library users said they would "definitely recommend" Moss Memorial Library to a new friend in town.

Results showed that most people use the library for independent learning and school research and homework. Another result showed that of those interested in learning about a topic, genealogy researched proved especially popular.

Barron said that he was impressed with the amount of positive feedback the survey garnered.

"This was the survey," he added. "My interviews with people were even more glowing."

E-mail Harrison at hkeely@ smokymountainsentinel.com.