librarysystems

Baltimore County Public Library

Towson, MarylandBaltimore CountyCounty librarySmall cityFiscal year July 2023 to June 2024

Baltimore County Public Library is a county public library system based in Towson (Baltimore County), Maryland, serving a legal service area of 849,316 residents through 19 library buildings and four bookmobiles. Among profiled systems in Maryland, it ranks first for operating spending, second for total visits, second for physical checkouts and second for electronic checkouts.

Among profiled systems serving 500,000 to 999,999 residents, it ranks tenth for physical checkouts per resident, but ranks tenth-lowest for the electronic share of checkouts. Against the median system of its size class, it records 38% more visits per resident and 33% more operating spending per resident.

Compare with similar-size systemsSystems serving 500,000 to 999,999

Baltimore County against the 61 systems of its size class

size-class median (50th percentile) · spine height = percentile within the class3.03Visitsper resident78th percentile8.09Checkoutsper resident84th percentile$63.59Spendingper resident66th percentile1.15Print volumesper resident48th percentile240Program visitsper 1,000 people63rd percentile5.4Computersper 10,000 people45th percentile47.5Open hoursper outlet a week56th percentile5.4Staff (FTE)per 10,000 people70th percentile
Gold tick: size-class medianVisits per resident3.0378th pct.Checkouts per resident8.0984th pct.Spending per resident$63.5966th pct.Print volumes per resident1.1548th pct.Program visits per 1,000 people24063rd pct.Computers per 10,000 people5.445th pct.Open hours per outlet a week47.556th pct.Staff (FTE) per 10,000 people5.470th pct.

How the measures and percentiles are calculated

Baltimore County in numbers, FY 2024

Visits
2,572,181
Physical checkouts
6,872,170
…of children's materials
1,467,083
Electronic checkouts
2,042,250
…of e-books
971,674
…of e-audio
711,469
Registered users
398,929
Program sessions
7,393
Program attendance
204,126
Print volumes
977,941
Audio items (physical)
77,918
Video items (physical)
104,433
Public computers
460
Public service hours, all outlets
56,863
Paid staff (full-time equivalent)
455.0
Operating spending
$54 million
…on books and other materials
$6.9 million
Overdue fines on print items
not charged

Where Baltimore County gets its operating money

Operating revenue came to $54 million, or $63.55 per resident. The local-government share sits 5 percentage points above the combined share for the 24 profiled systems in Maryland.

This system76%19%All profiled systems in Maryland71%17%
This system76%19%All profiled systems in Maryland71%17%
  • Local government
  • State
  • Federal
  • Other (fines, fees, gifts, grants)

County libraries of similar size in other states

None of these six systems records more visits per resident than this one. None of them matches this system's checkouts per resident.

SystemBased inResidentsVisits per residentCheckouts per residentSpending per resident
Metropolitan Library SystemOklahoma City, OK808,8662.316.45$59.93
Cobb County Public Library SystemMarietta, GA783,5361.802.30$24.43
Lee County Library SystemFort Myers, FL779,2211.833.48$47.86
Louisville Free Public LibraryLouisville, KY772,1442.292.87$31.25
Dekalb County Public LibraryDecatur, GA768,1342.082.44$38.11
Montgomery County Memorial Library SystemConroe, TX705,1261.123.44$16.91

Baltimore County since FY 2019

Visits were 37% below the FY 2019 count of 4.1 million (size-class median: −30%). Physical checkouts moved 18% down over the same span.

FY 2019 = 1005060708090100110FY 2019FY 2023FY 2024
FY 2019 = 1005060708090100110FY 2019FY 2023FY 2024
  • Visits
  • Physical checkouts

Who comes to Baltimore County programs

Programs for children up to age 11 drew 62% of all program attendance, and sessions averaged 28 people each.

Children 0–11127,505Young adults 12–1830,185Adults 19+46,436
Children 0–11127,505Young adults 12–1830,185Adults 19+46,436

Baltimore County, building by building

The 18 buildings cover 371,493 square feet in total, 0.44 square feet per resident against a median of 0.45 for the size class. The largest building is Owings Mills Branch at 54,333 square feet; the smallest is Loch Raven at 2,500. The longest hours, 62.2 a week, are shared by four buildings.

BuildingTypeTownHours a weekFloor area, sq ft
Arbutus BranchBranchBaltimore62.224,271
Cockeysville BranchBranchCockeysville61.725,713
Essex BranchBranchBaltimore59.920,000
Hereford BranchBranchMonkton59.415,000
Lansdowne BranchBranchBaltimore58.95,200
Loch RavenBranchTowson602,500
North Point Area BranchBranchBaltimore62.225,000
Owings Mills BranchBranchOwings Mills6254,333
Parkville-Carney BranchBranchBaltimore6013,000
Perry Hall BranchBranchBaltimore62.225,000
Pikesville BranchBranchBaltimore60.521,500
Randallstown Area BranchBranchRandallstown6029,000
Reisterstown BranchBranchReisterstown6014,000
Rosedale BranchBranchBaltimore60.120,000
Sollers PointBranchDundalk605,000
Towson BranchBranchTowson62.230,000
White Marsh BranchBranchBaltimore6015,000
Woodlawn BranchBranchBaltimore6026,976
Bookmobile-JuniorBookmobileDundalk9.3
Bookmobile-Read Rover (Yfe)BookmobileBaltimore4.3
Bookmobile-Read Rover (Yfe)BookmobileBaltimore6.4
Bookmobile-SeniorBookmobileDundalk2.7

Nearest in size within Maryland

All profiled systems in Maryland