Fontana Regional Library Inc

What it reported doing in 2024

Fontana regional library program service statement 2024 the fontana regional library system (frl) is located in the rural mountains of western North Carolina, we serve jackson, macon, and swain counties, as well as people from neighboring areas including the qualla boundary, home to the eastern band of the cherokee indians. The six frl libraries provide free access to books, periodicals, audiovisual materials both in physical and electronic forms, programs for all ages, information, notary services, computers, internet access, and wi-fi. To serve the stem education needs of the community frl offers telescopes, robotics, and sewing machings. Frl has a portable planetarium available for use at schools, festivals, and science programming events. The library provides free public internet computers and free wi-fi access to the public in all our buildings. The computers were used 14,107 times; the public used their own wi-fi devices on the library network 293,629 times. The library provides information resources both in the buildings and online to all persons without discrimination. In the past year, the library lent over 463,299 items, including books, music, video, telescopes, backpacks, games, and equipment; or over 4.73 items per capita in the communities. 108,335 of these were electronic resources available online through the website with a valid library card. There were 315,026 visits to the library during the year, 239,378 visits to the library's website, and the staff answered over 63,084 reference questions for the public. The library provides the community with safe, comfortable places to gather and share information and ideas. The library presented 2,238 free programs and classes to the public, attended by over 37,236 people. This year, library meeting rooms were used for 7,159 nonlibrary meetings, attended by 28,180 people. Frl offered outreach programming for those people that could not make it to the library. There were 169 programs with 2,577 attendees at outreach programming. The library had communicative, cooperative, or collaborative partnerships with over 131 local area groups and agencies including schools, department on aging, senior services, health departments, southwestern community college, western carolina university, circles of jackson, the southwestern commission, aarp, and unidxs to provide service and information to the public. Frl's mission is "to provide the public of jackson, macon, and swain counties with excellent service and convenient access to resources for their educational, informational, and recerational needs." our statistics show that usage of library resources is evolving, and the library remains a vital part of the community.

Financial Efficiency

• Mission deployment rate: 78.5%; rating input score 79
• Program expense ratio: 84.3%; rating input score 84
• Fundraising efficiency: Limited

Transparency & Controls

• Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 63rd percentile among comparable filings
• Pay-setting controls: Limited
• Foreign activity oversight: Limited
• Grant itemization coverage: Limited
• Major donor itemization: Yes; rating input score 100
• Related-party transparency: Limited

Accountability

• Independent voting board: 100%; rating input score 100; 63rd percentile among comparable filings
• Governance controls: 7 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 88
  • Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
  • Whistleblower policy: Fail
  • Document-retention policy: Pass
  • CEO compensation review process: NotApplicable
  • Other executive compensation review process: Pass
  • Form 990 shared with the board: Pass
  • Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
  • Audit committee oversight: Pass
  • Independent financial-statement audit: Pass

Sustainability

• Operating margin: 6.3%; rating input score 54; 54th percentile among comparable filings
• Total-asset coverage ratio: 1.32; rating input score 47; 47th percentile among comparable filings
• Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.33; rating input score 32; 32nd percentile among comparable filings
• Officer compensation ratio: 4.3%; rating input score 59; 59th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

• Program expense growth: 1.2% per year; rating input score 100; 18th percentile among comparable filings
• Revenue growth: 2.6% per year; rating input score 100; 24th percentile among comparable filings
• Asset growth: 4.2% per year; rating input score 100; 30th percentile among comparable filings