DOBSON —Surry County residents are getting their money’s worth out of the county’s libraries, John Hedrick, director of the Northwest Regional Library System, told the Surry County Board of Commissioners Monday night.

Hedrick was on hand to present an update on library usage to the county board during its regular meeting in Dobson.

He said that county residents are heavy users of the resource.

“Your libraries are heavily used, and are a major part of the Northwest Regional Library System,” he said.

Hedrick’s brief update included usage numbers of the regional system, which includes Alleghany, Stokes, Surry and Yadkin counties.

With a population of 170,635, the regional system has nearly 90,000 cardholders.

Surry County’s population accounts for 43 percent, or 73,673 cardholders, in the regional system.

Cardholders checked out more than 550,000 materials last year, with 225,107 of those materials being checked out of Surry County libraries.

Out of 445,498 visits to libraries in the four counties, 200,617 of those visits occurred in Surry County.

And visitors aren’t just checking out a book or a DVD, Hedrick’s said.

“Internet use in Surry County was 81,546 last year, which accounts for about 45 percent of the total use in the region,” he said.

Hedrick said additional programming is constantly under consideration, and noted that the use of e-books is rising throughout the region.

“It’s a great privilege for us to be able to serve the citizens of Surry County, and we greatly appreciate your support,” he said.

Reach Keith Strange at kstrange@civitasmedia.com or 719-1929.