librarysystems

Central Mississippi Regional Library

Brandon, MississippiRankin CountyMulti-jurisdictional libraryLarge suburbFiscal year October 2023 to September 2024

Central Mississippi Regional Library is a multi-jurisdictional public library system based in Brandon (Rankin County), Mississippi, serving a legal service area of 227,738 residents through 20 library buildings. Among profiled systems in Mississippi, it leads on number of library buildings, program attendance, print volumes and electronic checkouts.

By population served it is the second-largest of the 53 profiled systems in Mississippi. Against the median system of its size class, it records only 31% of the operating spending per resident and 3.1 times the program attendance per resident.

Compare with similar-size systemsSystems serving 100,000 to 249,999

Central Mississippi Regional against the 360 systems of its size class

size-class median (50th percentile) · spine height = percentile within the class1.70Visitsper resident35th percentile1.72Checkoutsper resident20th percentile$10.53Spendingper resident3rd percentile2.34Print volumesper resident90th percentile704Program visitsper 1,000 people95th percentile7.9Computersper 10,000 people71st percentile35.3Open hoursper outlet a week21st percentile2.6Staff (FTE)per 10,000 people35th percentile
Gold tick: size-class medianVisits per resident1.7035th pct.Checkouts per resident1.7220th pct.Spending per resident$10.533rd pct.Print volumes per resident2.3490th pct.Program visits per 1,000 people70495th pct.Computers per 10,000 people7.971st pct.Open hours per outlet a week35.321st pct.Staff (FTE) per 10,000 people2.635th pct.

How the measures and percentiles are calculated

Central Mississippi Regional, building by building

The 20 buildings cover 125,348 square feet in total, 0.55 square feet per resident against a median of 0.51 for the size class. The largest building is G. Chastaine Flynt Memorial Library at 22,295 square feet; the smallest is Harrisville Public Library at 960. The longest hours, 59 a week, are shared by three buildings.

BuildingTypeTownHours a weekFloor area, sq ft
Pearl Public LibraryCentral libraryPearl5919,975
Brandon Public LibraryBranchBrandon5914,624
Evon A. Ford LibraryBranchTaylorsville42.53,953
Florence Public LibraryBranchFlorence41.55,377
Floyd J. Robinson Memorial LibraryBranchRaleigh42.52,789
Forest Public LibraryBranchForest45.514,120
G. Chastaine Flynt Memorial LibraryBranchFlowood5922,295
Harrisville Public LibraryBranchHarrisville12960
Lake Public LibraryBranchLake201,164
Magee Public LibraryBranchMagee4910,091
Mendenhall Public LibraryBranchMendenhall463,435
Morton Public LibraryBranchMorton37.55,095
Northwest Point Reservoir LibraryBranchBrandon401,517
Pelahatchie Public LibraryBranchPelahatchie26.53,377
Polkville Public LibraryBranchPolkville121,517
Puckett Public LibraryBranchPuckett202,475
R. T. Prince Memorial LibraryBranchMize92,091
Richland Public LibraryBranchRichland506,840
Sandhill Public LibraryBranchSandhill282,680
Sebastopol Public LibraryBranchSebastopol14973

Central Mississippi Regional in numbers, FY 2024

Visits
387,635
Physical checkouts
391,489
…of children's materials
161,967
Electronic checkouts
204,376
…of e-books
37,678
…of e-audio
161,967
Registered users
181,918
Program sessions
6,724
Program attendance
160,416
Print volumes
533,041
Audio items (physical)
14,771
Video items (physical)
64,852
Public computers
179
Public service hours, all outlets
36,722
Paid staff (full-time equivalent)
59.4
Operating spending
$2.4 million
…on books and other materials
$292,477
Overdue fines on print items
charged

Where Central Mississippi Regional gets its operating money

Operating revenue came to $3.7 million, or $16.16 per resident. The local-government share is close to the combined share for the 53 profiled systems in Mississippi.

This system81%14%All profiled systems in Mississippi79%13%
This system81%14%All profiled systems in Mississippi79%
  • Local government
  • State
  • Federal
  • Other (fines, fees, gifts, grants)

Central Mississippi Regional since FY 2019

Visits were 34% below the FY 2019 count of 585,457 (size-class median: −29%). Physical checkouts moved 34% down over the same span.

FY 2019 = 10060708090100110FY 2019FY 2023FY 2024
FY 2019 = 10060708090100110FY 2019FY 2023FY 2024
  • Visits
  • Physical checkouts

Who comes to Central Mississippi Regional programs

Programs for children up to age 11 drew 46% of all program attendance, and sessions averaged 24 people each.

Children 0–1173,679Young adults 12–188,178Adults 19+46,559General interest32,000
Children 0–1173,679Young adults 12–188,178Adults 19+46,559General interest32,000

Multi-jurisdictional libraries of similar size in other states

Of these six systems, three record more visits per resident than this one. The highest checkout rate in the group belongs to Chattahoochee Valley Libraries in Georgia.

SystemBased inResidentsVisits per residentCheckouts per residentSpending per resident
Tuscaloosa Public LibraryTuscaloosa, AL236,7803.452.17$18.07
Eastern Oklahoma Library SystemMuskogee, OK236,0862.141.99$25.27
Abbe Regional Library SystemAiken, SC228,3650.831.33$6.23
Montgomery City-County Public LibraryMontgomery, AL226,3611.631.64$27.97
Chattahoochee Valley LibrariesColumbus, GA223,7822.173.31$38.22
Northwest Regional Library SystemPanama City, FL216,6571.232.09$16.70

Nearest in size within Mississippi

All profiled systems in Mississippi