Cedar Rapids Public Library
Cedar Rapids Public Library is a municipal public library system based in Cedar Rapids (Linn County), Iowa, serving a legal service area of 145,309 residents through two library buildings. Among profiled systems in Iowa, it ranks first for public computers, second for population served, second for operating spending and third for total visits, but ranks last for print volumes per resident.
Against the median system of its size class, it records 68% more operating spending per resident and 57% more program attendance per resident.
Cedar Rapids against the 360 systems of its size class
Cedar Rapids, building by building
The two buildings cover 119,000 square feet in total, 0.82 square feet per resident against a median of 0.51 for the size class. The largest building is Cedar Rapids Public Library at 94,000 square feet; the smallest is Ladd Library at 25,000. The longest hours, 64 a week, are shared by two buildings.
| Building | Type | Town | Hours a week | Floor area, sq ft |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cedar Rapids Public Library | Central library | Cedar Rapids | 64 | 94,000 |
| Ladd Library | Branch | Cedar Rapids | 64 | 25,000 |
Cedar Rapids in numbers, FY 2024
- Visits
- 442,863
- Physical checkouts
- 450,724
- …of children's materials
- 174,487
- Registered users
- 55,736
- Program sessions
- 1,866
- Program attendance
- 51,289
- Print volumes
- 154,855
- Audio items (physical)
- 12,267
- Video items (physical)
- 13,182
- Public computers
- 122
- Public service hours, all outlets
- 6,656
- Paid staff (full-time equivalent)
- 68.0
- Operating spending
- $8.3 million
- …on books and other materials
- $687,490
- Overdue fines on print items
- not charged
Where Cedar Rapids gets its operating money
Operating revenue came to $8.3 million, or $56.97 per resident. The local-government share is close to the combined share for the 475 profiled systems in Iowa. No federal operating revenue was reported.
- Local government
- State
- Federal
- Other (fines, fees, gifts, grants)
Cedar Rapids since FY 2019
Visits were 29% below the FY 2019 count of 623,901 (size-class median: −29%). Physical checkouts moved 41% down over the same span.
- Visits
- Physical checkouts
Who comes to Cedar Rapids programs
Programs for a general audience drew 38% of all program attendance, and sessions averaged 27 people each.
Municipal libraries of similar size in other states
Of these six systems, two record more visits per resident than this one. The highest checkout rate in the group belongs to Beaverton City Library in Oregon.
| System | Based in | Residents | Visits per resident | Checkouts per resident | Spending per resident |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Beaverton City Library | Beaverton, OR | 148,075 | 3.47 | 13.09 | $78.14 |
| Bridgeport Public Library | Bridgeport, CT | 148,028 | 1.49 | 0.99 | $57.86 |
| Olathe Public Library | Olathe, KS | 147,461 | 4.15 | 8.47 | $59.79 |
| Mesquite Public Library | Mesquite, TX | 147,317 | 1.13 | 1.33 | $20.13 |
| Pasadena Public Library | Pasadena, TX | 146,716 | 0.90 | 2.50 | $21.84 |
| Torrance Public Library | Torrance, CA | 142,910 | 2.29 | 5.23 | $43.99 |
Nearest in size within Iowa
- Davenport Public Library · Davenport · 101,724 residents
- Des Moines Public Library · Des Moines · 221,659 residents
- Iowa City Public Library · Iowa City · 89,912 residents
- Sioux City Public Library · Sioux City · 85,797 residents