Gate/People Counters

[Savitri Santhiran]

Hello ABOS community! 

How do you count the number of visitors on your mobile libraries and bookmobiles? Do you have a manual system with clickers? Do you have a digital system? We have a digital gate counter (Traf-Sys) that has broken within a year. It's also inaccurate because it counts multiple bodies passing through the two sensors as one body leading to lower numbers. We're looking for something tough that counts accurately for our mobile library truck. I appreciate your input!

Savitri Santhiran
Mobile Library Manager
She/Her
Saint Paul Public Library
461 Dale St. North,
Saint Paul MN 55103
651-266-7452
www.sppl.org | e-news
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[Brittany Adams]

We use handheld clickers and then write down the count at the end of the stop. At the end of the month we upload each stop’s count into spreadsheet so we can see how our visitor count changes over time.

Brittany A.

Pronouns: she/her

Library Technical Assistant

Circulation and Outreach Services

Bloomington Public Library

309-590-6112

On Nov 6, 2025, at 11:14 AM, Savitri Santhiran <savitri....@ci.stpaul.mn.us> wrote:



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[Adriana Blancarte-Hayward]

We also use clickers. The team fills out a Google Form at the end of each day of service.

Thank you,

~ Adriana

Adriana Blancarte-Hayward, MLIS

she / her / ella

Associate Director, Outreach Services and Engagement

Reading & Engagement

The New York Public Library

Stephen A. Schwarzman Building

476 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10018

212.592.7555 | x27555

nypl.org

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[Lynde McCaleb]

For our bigger bookmobile stops (schools/events), we have an automatic counter on each of the doors. We have the kids go in one door and out the other, then we take the average of them for our door count. It isn’t super accurate, because it is so sensitive, but with the average of the two doors, it helps some. We then fill out a Formstack form at the end of stop, to track it. The form includes a spot to say if we cancelled the stop and a space for notes about anything that might impact our door count for that stop (for example, if we are at a school and the first and second grade is on a field trip).

 

For our lobby stops and less busy bookmobile stops, we keep a tally/count on paper or in our heads, then fill out a form at the end of the stop.

 

At the end of the month, we collect the stats from the forms, which we use to evaluate our stops.

 

Lynde

 

Lynde McCaleb

Outreach Librarian

High Plains Library District

Outreach Services

2650 W. 29^th Street, Greeley, CO  80631

1-970-302-3068

lmcc...@highplains.us

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