Wicomico Co. Public Library patron saves millions of dollars by borrowing books

WICOMICO COUNTY, Md. – They say a picture is worth a thousand words. And, as one local educator is proving, a library card can be worth a million bucks—or four!

Super User

Taylor Luck works with children in TidalHealth Peninsula Regional’s pre-k childcare program. And, she’s been a bookworm for as long as she can remember. Luck recalls fond childhood memories of bringing home bags full of books from her hometown library in Frederick, Maryland.

“It’s an escape, you know?” Luck said. “You kind of get in your own little world, and it’s like living a bunch of different lives while sitting in one place.”

Luck is what library officials affectionately call a “super user.” She says she checks out as many as 30 books a week from the Wicomico County Public Library, to read to the children she works with. Those books are essential to activities that Luck leads the kids through daily.

A Library Card Worth Millions

Luck says the curriculum focuses a lot on literacy. Every week, Luck selects different children’s books based on whatever the learning theme is at the time; everything from social-emotional lessons to pirates, to dinosaurs.

“Most of the time, when they leave [our program], they’re actually starting to read and do sight words,” Luck said. “They really enjoy looking through and seeing the new [books] every week.”

So, it’s no surprise that Luck saves a lot of money by using her local library. However, when Luck and her coworkers realized just how much she had saved, it was cause for celebration. As of Tuesday, Luck has saved $3,989,912.91 since starting borrowing from the library in the summer of 2021.

“My receipts look like a CVS receipt. I never even thought to look at the bottom. So, when I just got the small one, she’s like ‘You know this says you’ve saved $4 million,” I was like, ‘What are you talking about?!'” Luck said with a laugh. “We just kind of went crazy in the room. We were so excited to know that we had done that much good for our kids, and helping the local library out.”

“You can just be with your community,”

And while library director Seth Hershberger says that figure may be up there, the facility serves countless patrons every day.

Hershberger says the library provides invaluable information and tools, like affordable housing resources, connections to food pantries and local shelters, and job help. It’s the knowledge that someone may need to change their life.

“It’s just a place where you can come and spend time, and there’s no expectation that you spend money. You can just be with your community,” Hershberger said.

An Invaluable Resource

The library, which lends out tens of thousands of items every month, according to Hershberger, can bring borrowers places they’ve never been before.

“For a typical book, you’re going to pay at least $20, sometimes $30. Having access to books is a really important part of being a democracy because it means that anybody can learn and grow, and have as much knowledge as anybody else about a topic that interests them,” Hershberger said. “Libraries are really about enriching the quality of life for everybody in the community.”

It’s safe to say that Luck probably knows better than most people just how true that is. And, she has this message for parents:

“Reading is the number one thing that I could recommend you do with your kids. It helps with building self-confidence, self-esteem, it helps them work through their emotions,” Luck said. “Utilize that library card! Clearly, they will let you take out a lot of books at a time.”

For more information about the Wicomico County Public Library, click here.

*Following the broadcast of this story, questions arose surrounding the accuracy of the numbers reported in Ms. Luck’s case. WMDT reached out to the Library who released this statement:

“In response to questions raised, the library acknowledges that we lack the historical data to verify the reported figure.  Because of the high cost of children’s picture books and other items in our collection such as tablets and wi-fi- hotspots, we calculate that it is possible for a single person, in the span of time Ms. Luck has been a regular user, to save millions by using the library, especially if they are borrowing for a classroom or a large family as in Ms. Luck’s case. But in this particular case, we have been advised by the agency that manages our lending software that the reported figure has probably been inflated due to a cataloging error in the database, although we note they could not locate the error.

Unlike corporate book sellers and online providers, your tax-funded public library purposefully does not track or retain records of our patrons’ reading choices out of respect for their privacy. ” – Seth Hershberger, Executive Director