Brawley Public Library
Brawley Public Library is a municipal public library system based in Brawley (Imperial County), California, serving a legal service area of 28,345 residents through two library buildings. Among profiled systems serving 25,000 to 49,999 residents, it ranks third-lowest for weekly open hours per outlet and records the second-steepest decline in visits since FY 2019.
Among the 170 profiled systems in California, it ranks last for program attendance per resident, second-lowest for visits per resident and second-lowest for physical checkouts per resident. Against the median system of its size class, it records only 37% of the paid staff per resident and only 38% of the operating spending per resident.
Brawley against the 964 systems of its size class
Brawley since FY 2019
Visits were 83% below the FY 2019 count of 58,755 (size-class median: −28%).
- Visits
- Physical checkouts
Who comes to Brawley programs
Programs for children up to age 11 drew 100% of all program attendance, and sessions averaged 1 people each.
Brawley in numbers, FY 2024
- Visits
- 9,818
- Physical checkouts
- 6,165
- …of children's materials
- 3,397
- Electronic checkouts
- 1,678
- …of e-books
- 775
- …of e-audio
- 359
- Registered users
- 2,399
- Program sessions
- 312
- Program attendance
- 280
- Print volumes
- 45,976
- Audio items (physical)
- 2,459
- Video items (physical)
- 425
- Public computers
- 13
- Public service hours, all outlets
- 1,305
- Paid staff (full-time equivalent)
- 4.9
- Operating spending
- $457,031
- …on books and other materials
- $26,887
- Overdue fines on print items
- charged
Where Brawley gets its operating money
Operating revenue came to $502,832, or $17.74 per resident. The local-government share sits 3 percentage points below the combined share for the 170 profiled systems in California. No federal operating revenue was reported.
- Local government
- State
- Federal
- Other (fines, fees, gifts, grants)
Brawley, building by building
The two buildings cover 9,250 square feet in total, 0.33 square feet per resident against a median of 0.74 for the size class. The largest building is Brawley Public Library at 8,000 square feet; the smallest is Del Rio Branch at 1,250. The longest hours are at Brawley Public Library, 20.2 a week.
| Building | Type | Town | Hours a week | Floor area, sq ft |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Brawley Public Library | Central library | Brawley | 20.2 | 8,000 |
| Del Rio Branch | Branch | Brawley | 5.9 | 1,250 |
Municipal libraries of similar size in other states
All six of these systems record more visits per resident than this one. The highest checkout rate in the group belongs to Milton Public Library in Massachusetts.
| System | Based in | Residents | Visits per resident | Checkouts per resident | Spending per resident |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Agawam Public Library | Agawam, MA | 28,393 | 3.22 | 5.04 | $51.49 |
| Milton Public Library | Milton, MA | 28,364 | 6.12 | 8.61 | $69.55 |
| Hermiston Public Library | Hermiston, OR | 28,359 | 1.32 | 1.76 | $31.40 |
| Bergenfield Free Public Library | Bergenfield, NJ | 28,321 | 4.37 | 6.33 | $58.79 |
| Bell/Whittington Public Library | Portland, TX | 28,286 | 1.26 | 1.41 | $25.65 |
| Eagle Pass Public Library | Eagle Pass, TX | 28,282 | 1.26 | 0.55 | $28.68 |
Nearest in size within California
- Monterey Public Library · Monterey · 27,106 residents
- South Pasadena Public Library · South Pasadena · 26,270 residents
- Benicia Public Library · Benicia · 26,033 residents
- Paso Robles City Library · Paso Robles · 30,907 residents