The Windsor Public Library has a surplus from 2018, but officials admit they are facing some challenges.

At a board meeting on Tuesday, members learned the organization finished 2018 with a surplus of nearly $220,000 thanks to savings achieved in the $18.5-million budget.

CEO Kitty Pope says that money will go into reserves.

The library board also reviewed year end stats at Tuesday's meeting, and saw more than 250,000 people visited the Central Branch in 2018.

Nearly 500 different programs were offered at that branch, and the most popular was the Zoo2You program during March Break, but attendance was down 36 per cent compared to 2017.

There was also a 21 per cent decrease in the circulation of physical materials at the branch, like hardcover books, but e-book circulation jumped 11 per cent.

The 2018 annual report also showed a 28 per cent jump in documented security incidents, but  councillor Rino Bortolin believes that has more to do with people reporting what they see.

“We actually went out and got security to be in the building so what you're seeing is more diligent reaction to some of the incidents,” says Bortolin, a member of the library board. “So a lot of those could be loitering or those types of incidents.”

Still, the annual report says there was an eight per cent drop in the gate count at the Central Branch, and officials say “we see a challenging picture emerging for library services in the downtown core.”