Bismarck Veterans Memorial Public Library
Bismarck Veterans Memorial Public Library is a city-county public library system based in Bismarck (Burleigh County), North Dakota, serving a legal service area of 98,458 residents from a single building and one bookmobile. Among the 69 profiled systems in North Dakota, it ranks second for population served, second for total visits, second for physical checkouts and second for operating spending.
Against the median system of its size class, it records 27% fewer public computers per resident and 25% more physical checkouts per resident.
Bismarck Veterans Memorial against the 559 systems of its size class
Bismarck Veterans Memorial, building by building
The single building covers 70,000 square feet, 0.71 square feet per resident against a median of 0.62 for the size class. It is open 71 hours a week.
| Building | Type | Town | Hours a week | Floor area, sq ft |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bismarck Veterans Memorial Public Library | Central library | Bismarck | 71 | 70,000 |
| Bismarck Veterans Memorial Public Library Bookmobile | Bookmobile | Bismarck | 18.2 |
Bismarck Veterans Memorial in numbers, FY 2024
- Visits
- 259,702
- Physical checkouts
- 420,161
- …of children's materials
- 144,664
- Electronic checkouts
- 188,106
- …of e-books
- 69,325
- …of e-audio
- 97,724
- Registered users
- 47,419
- Program sessions
- 674
- Program attendance
- 24,642
- Print volumes
- 170,955
- Audio items (physical)
- 9,263
- Video items (physical)
- 9,886
- Public computers
- 41
- Public service hours, all outlets
- 4,382
- Paid staff (full-time equivalent)
- 31.0
- Operating spending
- $3.3 million
- …on books and other materials
- $327,441
- Overdue fines on print items
- not charged
Where Bismarck Veterans Memorial gets its operating money
Operating revenue came to $4 million, or $40.77 per resident. The local-government share sits 4 percentage points below the combined share for the 69 profiled systems in North Dakota. No federal operating revenue was reported.
- Local government
- State
- Federal
- Other (fines, fees, gifts, grants)
Bismarck Veterans Memorial since FY 2019
Visits were 27% below the FY 2019 count of 354,025 (size-class median: −29%). Physical checkouts moved 9% down over the same span.
- Visits
- Physical checkouts
Who comes to Bismarck Veterans Memorial programs
Programs for a general audience drew 56% of all program attendance, and sessions averaged 37 people each.
City-county libraries of similar size in other states
Of these six systems, four record more visits per resident than this one. The highest checkout rate in the group belongs to Corvallis-Benton County Public Library in Oregon.
| System | Based in | Residents | Visits per resident | Checkouts per resident | Spending per resident |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Carver County Library System | Chaska, MN | 113,332 | 2.76 | 9.28 | $43.64 |
| Madison County Library System | Canton, MS | 112,511 | 1.96 | 2.07 | $21.99 |
| Goleta & Santa Ynez Valley Libraries | Goleta, CA | 109,750 | 2.66 | 4.59 | $22.56 |
| Lincoln County Public Library | Lincolnton, NC | 94,819 | 2.72 | 1.98 | $26.84 |
| Victoria Public Library | Victoria, TX | 91,664 | 1.69 | 3.41 | $25.05 |
| Corvallis-Benton County Public Library | Corvallis, OR | 89,514 | 4.49 | 13.32 | $96.60 |
Nearest in size within North Dakota
- Fargo Public Library · Fargo · 125,990 residents
- Grand Forks Public Library · Grand Forks · 73,170 residents
- Minot Public Library · Minot · 48,377 residents
- West Fargo Public Library · West Fargo · 40,601 residents