Carroll County Public Library
Carroll County Public Library is a county public library system based in New Windsor (Carroll County), Maryland, serving a legal service area of 173,873 residents through eight library buildings and three bookmobiles. Among profiled systems in Maryland, it ranks first for physical checkouts per resident, second for program attendance per resident and third for paid staff per resident, but ranks last for the electronic share of checkouts.
By population served it is the ninth-largest of the 24 profiled systems in Maryland. Against the median system of its size class, it records 2.2 times the operating spending per resident and 99% more visits per resident.
Carroll County against the 360 systems of its size class
Carroll County since FY 2019
Visits were 24% below the FY 2019 count of 923,681 (size-class median: −29%). Physical checkouts moved 20% down over the same span.
- Visits
- Physical checkouts
Who comes to Carroll County programs
Programs for children up to age 11 drew 67% of all program attendance, and sessions averaged 25 people each.
Carroll County in numbers, FY 2024
- Visits
- 704,582
- Physical checkouts
- 2,662,982
- …of children's materials
- 1,062,328
- Electronic checkouts
- 457,405
- …of e-books
- 168,599
- …of e-audio
- 199,909
- Registered users
- 96,485
- Program sessions
- 5,844
- Program attendance
- 145,111
- Print volumes
- 343,106
- Audio items (physical)
- 35,566
- Video items (physical)
- 42,867
- Public computers
- 113
- Public service hours, all outlets
- 21,476
- Paid staff (full-time equivalent)
- 149.3
- Operating spending
- $12.9 million
- …on books and other materials
- $1.6 million
- Overdue fines on print items
- not charged
Where Carroll County gets its operating money
Operating revenue came to $14.4 million, or $82.96 per resident. The local-government share sits 7 percentage points above the combined share for the 24 profiled systems in Maryland. Federal money made up 1.7% of the total.
- Local government
- State
- Federal
- Other (fines, fees, gifts, grants)
Carroll County, building by building
The largest building is Eldersburg Branch at 23,000 square feet; the smallest is Exploration Commons at 50 East at 13,618. The longest hours, 56.6 a week, are shared by five buildings.
| Building | Type | Town | Hours a week | Floor area, sq ft |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Detention Center Library | Branch | Westminster | – | – |
| Eldersburg Branch | Branch | Eldersburg | 56.1 | 23,000 |
| Exploration Commons at 50 East | Branch | Westminster | 56.6 | 13,618 |
| Finksburg Branch | Branch | Finksburg | 56.4 | 13,805 |
| Mount Airy Branch | Branch | Mount Airy | 56.6 | 16,431 |
| North Carroll Branch | Branch | Hampstead | 56.6 | 16,262 |
| Taneytown Branch | Branch | Taneytown | 56.6 | 14,283 |
| Westminster Branch | Branch | Westminster | 56.6 | 22,921 |
| Outreach Mobile Services | Bookmobile | Westminster | 2 | |
| Storytime Express 1 | Bookmobile | Westminster | 7.8 | |
| Storytime Express 2 | Bookmobile | Westminster | 7.8 |
A dash marks a value not reported for FY 2024.
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.
| System | Based in | Residents | Visits per resident | Checkouts per resident | Spending per resident |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Midland County Public Library | Midland, TX | 177,108 | 1.07 | 1.43 | $20.04 |
| Alamance County Public Libraries | Burlington, NC | 176,429 | 1.70 | 2.06 | $20.50 |
| Houston County Public Library | Perry, GA | 174,694 | 0.98 | 2.16 | $12.09 |
| Indian River County Library | Vero Beach, FL | 171,029 | 1.84 | 3.67 | $26.41 |
| Sheppard Memorial Library | Greenville, NC | 170,353 | 1.43 | 2.14 | $15.21 |
| Davidson County Public Library System | Lexington, NC | 169,229 | 1.83 | 1.96 | $28.12 |
Nearest in size within Maryland
- Charles County Public Library · LA Plata · 168,698 residents
- Washington County Free Library · Hagerstown · 154,937 residents
- Harford County Public Library · Belcamp · 262,977 residents
- St. Mary's County Library · Leonardtown · 114,468 residents