GULF SHORES, Ala. — Things are looking up at the Thomas B. Norton Public Library in Gulf Shores.

The 2009 “Be Creative” campaign has brought many special programs to the library over the summer months, and library director Wendy Congiardo says the numbers just keep going up.

Speaking at the recent City Council meeting, Congiardo, now in her fifth year with the library, was excited about where things are going.

“I know that many times when department heads address the council they ask for money,” Congiardo said, “but I want to show the results of some of the money we have spent.”

The summer program kicked off with a picnic and talent show on June 3.

“We had a karaoke machine and some microphones, and we partnered with Winn Dixie who provided all of the food for the picnic. Everyone had a great time,” she said.

On June 9, the library hosted Charlie “The Noise Guy” Williams.

“He was kind of like that guy from the 80s that made all the funny noises in the Police Academy movies, only he was on a kids level,” Congiardo explained.

Drummer Mark Seymour was the feature for the week of June 17, followed by children’s book illustrator Michael P. White from Georgia, who did some illustrations while the participants looked on.

“He was fun. He did an illustration and showed the children how to do it, then we took their pictures along with his and made a bulletin board with it,” she said.

The focus of “Be Creative” was music, dance and art.

During the month of June, 106 children had participated in the four big programs that Congiardo highlighted, and the library gave out 73 certificates of completion.

When you include story time and the regular programming that the library offers, there were 14 programs offered throughout the month and total attendance for the entire month was more than 500.

“This is just a little taste of something that is a result of what we do,” she said.

Statistics show that in every category at the library there have been positive increases compared to the same time period in 2008.

“The only area where there wasn’t an increase is in items added because we haven’t bought as many books, and items deleted because we are saving more things,” Congiardo said.

“And we thought all we do at the library was read books,” Councilman Steve Jones said. “We have questions every now and then about what is going on at the library, and I think it is quite obvious that Wendy’s energy and enthusiasm has taken things to a new level over there.”

Jones said things don’t happen by themselves, and credited the staff of the library for the progress that has been made.

In the five years since Congiardo has overseen the library, the numbers have increased each year over the year before.