Brown County Library
Brown County Library is a county public library system based in Green Bay (Brown County), Wisconsin, serving a legal service area of 273,297 residents through nine library buildings and one bookmobile. Among the 358 profiled systems in Wisconsin, it ranks second for physical checkouts, third for population served, third for total visits and third for public computers.
Against the median system of its size class, it records 26% fewer public computers per resident and 26% less operating spending per resident.
Brown County against the 122 systems of its size class
Brown County since FY 2019
Visits were 31% below the FY 2019 count of 915,996 (size-class median: −30%). Physical checkouts moved 23% down over the same span.
- Visits
- Physical checkouts
Who comes to Brown County programs
Programs for children up to age 11 drew 74% of all program attendance, and sessions averaged 38 people each.
Brown County in numbers, FY 2024
- Visits
- 632,512
- Physical checkouts
- 1,285,644
- …of children's materials
- 713,257
- Electronic checkouts
- 484,053
- …of e-books
- 197,652
- …of e-audio
- 236,286
- Registered users
- 78,136
- Program sessions
- 1,397
- Program attendance
- 53,211
- Print volumes
- 344,698
- Audio items (physical)
- 21,633
- Video items (physical)
- 32,869
- Public computers
- 124
- Public service hours, all outlets
- 19,968
- Paid staff (full-time equivalent)
- 81.7
- Operating spending
- $7.3 million
- …on books and other materials
- $606,686
- Overdue fines on print items
- charged
Where Brown County gets its operating money
Operating revenue came to $7.4 million, or $26.91 per resident. The local-government share sits 9 percentage points above the combined share for the 358 profiled systems in Wisconsin. No federal operating revenue was reported.
- Local government
- State
- Federal
- Other (fines, fees, gifts, grants)
Brown County, building by building
The nine buildings cover 174,720 square feet in total, 0.64 square feet per resident against a median of 0.46 for the size class. The largest building is Brown County Library at 90,000 square feet; the smallest is Wrightstown Branch at 3,060. The longest hours are at Brown County Library, 59 a week.
| Building | Type | Town | Hours a week | Floor area, sq ft |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Brown County Library | Central library | Green Bay | 59 | 90,000 |
| Ashwaubenon Branch | Branch | Green Bay | 53 | 8,000 |
| Denmark Branch | Branch | Denmark | 5 | 5,000 |
| East Branch | Branch | Green Bay | 55 | 16,400 |
| Kress Family Branch | Branch | De Pere | 55 | 20,350 |
| Pulaski Branch | Branch | Pulaski | 32 | 3,600 |
| Southwest Branch | Branch | Green Bay | 32 | 4,710 |
| Weyers-Hilliard Branch | Branch | Green Bay | 55 | 23,600 |
| Wrightstown Branch | Branch | Wrightstown | 23 | 3,060 |
| Brown County Library Bookmobile/Outreach Services | Bookmobile | Green Bay | 15 |
County libraries of similar size in other states
Of these six systems, five record more visits per resident than this one. The highest checkout rate in the group belongs to San Mateo County Libraries in California.
| System | Based in | Residents | Visits per resident | Checkouts per resident | Spending per resident |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Frederick County Public Libraries | Frederick, MD | 279,835 | 3.66 | 8.32 | $69.33 |
| Forsyth County Public Library | Cumming, GA | 279,366 | 2.73 | 8.20 | $34.06 |
| St. Tammany Parish Library | Covington, LA | 277,615 | 2.18 | 2.30 | $40.32 |
| Buncombe County Public Libraries | Asheville, NC | 277,047 | 2.67 | 4.43 | $28.99 |
| San Mateo County Libraries | San Mateo, CA | 273,370 | 6.20 | 8.78 | $159.85 |
| Weber County Library System | Roy, UT | 271,926 | 3.98 | 4.87 | $50.95 |
Nearest in size within Wisconsin
- Madison Public Library · Madison · 304,881 residents
- Kenosha Public Library · Kenosha · 138,088 residents
- Racine Public Library · Racine · 137,874 residents
- Marathon County Public Library · Wausau · 135,308 residents