Westerville, Ohio - When you think about libraries, the first thing that comes to mind is probably books. But did you know that math is an essential tool that the library uses every day? That's the concept behind the newest episode of Season 2 of How It's Math - a nationally distributed public television series produced by Doodles & Digits - giving students a behind-the-scenes look at how math and data are used to manage digital ebooks here at the Westerville Public Library.

"Librarians use data to track how many people are waiting, how often books are borrowed, and how much money they have to spend. Using math, libraries create budgets to decide which digital books to buy, how many licenses they can afford, and how to make the best choice for their community," explains Caroline Farkas, Founder and Producer of Doodles & Digits: How It's Math.

Designed for students in grades 3–5, How It's Math combines real workplace experiences with engaging educational content to inspire curiosity, career exploration, and confidence in mathematics. Through partnerships with businesses and organizations across the country, the series helps answer one of students' most common questions: "When will I ever use math?"

Watch the library's segment on YouTube, or watch the full episode on the PBS website.

In this episode, viewers go behind the scenes at the Westerville Public Library to discover how librarians use charts, estimation, large numbers, and money while helping patrons access the ebooks they want to read. By connecting classroom math to authentic careers, the series helps students see how the skills they are learning today prepare them for tomorrow's opportunities.

The show's founder and producer, Caroline Farkas, is a former 4th grade math teacher who initially pursued art as a career before switching to elementary education. She worked at Worthington Schools in 2020, but eventually left to raise her sons and launch her YouTube channel. She currently lives in Westerville and visits the library often with her kids. Learn more about her career in this 2024 article in Westerville Magazine.

"I use math in a lot of different ways," shares Becky O'Neil, Collection Development Librarian at the Westerville Public Library.

Becky has the job of buying books, ebooks, audiobooks and more for kids and teens in the Westerville community. During the episode, she describes some of the tools she uses - from bar graphs to hold ratios - to help her decide which titles to buy and how many copies of each to buy. These tools "helps us have the exact library collection that people want," she explains.

When asked how to not be afraid of math, Becky encouraged students to think of math as a tool just like any other tool. "You don’t have to be a math expert to use these tools."

Ever wonder how librarians use bar graphs to find the right balance between ebooks and digital audiobooks? Becky helps to demystify bar graphs for viewers. And she explains how she uses formulas to determine the hold ratio for an ebook, to make sure the library has enough copies of popular titles. For example, if the library has 95 holds on an ebook title and owns 6 copies, the hold ratio is 95/6 = 15.8 holds per copy. If the current desired ratio for ebooks is 5:1 (5 holds per copy), then we would want to purchase 13 additional copies.

Pro tip: You can see this Libby dashboard in real time here.

Division is another important math tool in her work. She uses division to determine how much money she has available to spend each month on new ebooks. For example, if she has $70,000 to spend on ebooks for the year, she divides that number by 12 (the number of months in a year), to find out that she has $5,833 to spend each month. This helps her make sure she's saving enough money to buy new ebooks regularly throughout the year.

Local author Debbie Rigaud is also featured in an episode.

Want to dig further into math used every day? Watch this segment featuring local children's author Debbie Rigaud that shows how authors use math like word counts and deadlines to tell amazing stories. "Authors don't just use imagination, they use math, too!" says Farkas.