Buffalo and Erie County Public Library
Buffalo and Erie County Public Library is a county public library system based in Buffalo (Erie County), New York, serving a legal service area of 954,236 residents through nine library buildings and three bookmobiles. Among profiled systems serving 500,000 to 999,999 residents, it ranks first for the electronic share of checkouts and tenth for print volumes per resident and records the fourth-smallest decline in visits since FY 2019, but ranks second-lowest for program attendance per resident and records the third-steepest decline in physical checkouts since FY 2019.
Among the 754 profiled systems in New York, it ranks fourth for population served, fourth for physical checkouts, fourth for operating spending and seventh for total visits. Against the median system of its size class, it records only 27% of the physical checkouts per resident and only 33% of the visits per resident.
Buffalo and Erie County against the 61 systems of its size class
Buffalo and Erie County since FY 2019
Visits were 7% below the FY 2019 count of 750,700 (size-class median: −30%). Physical checkouts moved 54% down over the same span.
- Visits
- Physical checkouts
Who comes to Buffalo and Erie County programs
Programs for a general audience drew 58% of all program attendance, and sessions averaged 29 people each.
Buffalo and Erie County in numbers, FY 2024
- Visits
- 695,381
- Physical checkouts
- 1,009,077
- …of children's materials
- 204,768
- Electronic checkouts
- 2,210,451
- …of e-books
- 1,064,883
- …of e-audio
- 843,835
- Registered users
- 116,018
- Program sessions
- 2,060
- Program attendance
- 59,487
- Print volumes
- 1,930,526
- Audio items (physical)
- 90,027
- Video items (physical)
- 92,725
- Public computers
- 369
- Public service hours, all outlets
- 19,651
- Paid staff (full-time equivalent)
- 195.6
- Operating spending
- $32.8 million
- …on books and other materials
- $983,924
- Overdue fines on print items
- not charged
Where Buffalo and Erie County gets its operating money
Operating revenue came to $35.6 million, or $37.27 per resident. The local-government share sits 4 percentage points above the combined share for the 754 profiled systems in New York. No federal operating revenue was reported.
- Local government
- State
- Federal
- Other (fines, fees, gifts, grants)
Buffalo and Erie County, building by building
The nine buildings cover 477,570 square feet in total, 0.50 square feet per resident against a median of 0.45 for the size class. The largest building is Buffalo & Erie County Public Library System at 403,000 square feet; the smallest is East Clinton Branch Library at 4,215. The longest hours are at Buffalo & Erie County Public Library System, 60.6 a week.
| Building | Type | Town | Hours a week | Floor area, sq ft |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Buffalo & Erie County Public Library System | Central library | Buffalo | 60.6 | 403,000 |
| East Clinton Branch Library | Branch | Buffalo | 29.9 | 4,215 |
| Elaine M. Panty Branch Library | Branch | Buffalo | 38.1 | 7,205 |
| Frank E. Merriweather, Jr. Library | Branch | Buffalo | 49.2 | 20,000 |
| Isaías González-Soto Branch Library | Branch | Buffalo | 36.8 | 11,279 |
| J. P. Dudley Branch Library | Branch | Buffalo | 37.9 | 6,090 |
| James L. Crane Branch Library | Branch | Buffalo | 45.7 | 8,840 |
| Leroy R. Coles, Jr. Branch Library | Branch | Buffalo | 38.2 | 11,279 |
| North Park Branch Library | Branch | Buffalo | 41.6 | 5,662 |
| Bookmobile | Bookmobile | Buffalo | 7.5 | |
| Bookmobile | Bookmobile | Buffalo | 6.1 | |
| Bookmobile | Bookmobile | Buffalo | 15.2 |
County 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 Columbus Metropolitan Library in Ohio.
| System | Based in | Residents | Visits per resident | Checkouts per resident | Spending per resident |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Palm Beach County Library System | West Palm Beach, FL | 1,007,170 | 2.58 | 5.63 | $58.14 |
| Fresno County Public Library | Fresno, CA | 993,976 | 1.12 | 1.86 | $35.58 |
| Gwinnett County Public Library System | Lawrenceville, GA | 992,705 | 2.06 | 2.73 | $25.88 |
| Columbus Metropolitan Library | Columbus, OH | 971,930 | 5.63 | 9.76 | $85.18 |
| Prince George's County Memorial Library System | Largo, MD | 955,306 | 1.42 | 1.80 | $41.80 |
| Salt Lake County Library | West Jordan, UT | 926,667 | 3.04 | 9.72 | $55.74 |
Nearest in size within New York
- Onondaga County Public Library · Syracuse · 476,516 residents
- Queens Borough Public Library · Jamaica · 2,405,464 residents
- Brooklyn Public Library · Brooklyn · 2,736,074 residents
- New York Public Library · New York · 3,662,652 residents