Chula Vista Public Library
Chula Vista Public Library is a municipal public library system based in Chula Vista (San Diego County), California, serving a legal service area of 278,247 residents through three library buildings. Among profiled systems serving 250,000 to 499,999 residents, it ranks last for the electronic share of checkouts, second-lowest for operating spending per resident and second-lowest for program attendance per resident.
By population served it is the 25th-largest of the 170 profiled systems in California. Against the median system of its size class, it records only 15% of the paid staff per resident and only 24% of the visits per resident.
Chula Vista against the 122 systems of its size class
Who comes to Chula Vista programs
Programs for children up to age 11 drew 73% of all program attendance, and sessions averaged 22 people each.
Nearest in size within California
- San Mateo County Libraries · San Mateo · 273,370 residents
- Santa Ana Public Library · Santa Ana · 310,797 residents
- San Luis Obispo City-County Library · San Luis Obispo · 247,562 residents
- Riverside Public Library · Riverside · 316,690 residents
Chula Vista in numbers, FY 2024
- Visits
- 149,521
- Physical checkouts
- 438,522
- …of children's materials
- 108,251
- Electronic checkouts
- 13,046
- …of e-books
- 6,752
- …of e-audio
- 3,512
- Registered users
- 162,596
- Program sessions
- 830
- Program attendance
- 18,233
- Print volumes
- 178,459
- Audio items (physical)
- 8,249
- Video items (physical)
- 15,257
- Public computers
- 121
- Paid staff (full-time equivalent)
- 13.4
- Operating spending
- $3.1 million
- …on books and other materials
- $186,689
- Overdue fines on print items
- not charged
Where Chula Vista gets its operating money
Operating revenue came to $3.6 million, or $13.04 per resident. The local-government share sits 5 percentage points above the combined share for the 170 profiled systems in California. No federal operating revenue was reported.
- Local government
- State
- Federal
- Other (fines, fees, gifts, grants)
Chula Vista, building by building
The three buildings cover 97,412 square feet in total, 0.35 square feet per resident against a median of 0.46 for the size class. The largest building is Civic Center Branch at 55,000 square feet; the smallest is Otay Ranch Library at 5,412.
| Building | Type | Town | Hours a week | Floor area, sq ft |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Civic Center Branch | Central library | Chula Vista | – | 55,000 |
| Otay Ranch Library | Branch | Chula Vista | – | 5,412 |
| South Chula Vista Library | Branch | Chula Vista | – | 37,000 |
A dash marks a value not reported for FY 2024.
Municipal 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 Salt Lake City Public Library System in Utah.
| System | Based in | Residents | Visits per resident | Checkouts per resident | Spending per resident |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Yonkers Public Library | Yonkers, NY | 211,569 | 3.33 | 1.89 | $54.04 |
| Rochester Public Library | Rochester, NY | 211,328 | 3.99 | 3.62 | $94.91 |
| Salt Lake City Public Library System | Salt Lake City, UT | 209,593 | 5.12 | 8.35 | $118.24 |
| Worcester Public Library | Worcester, MA | 205,319 | 2.15 | 3.15 | $38.77 |
| Santa Rosa County Library System | Milton, FL | 203,517 | 1.02 | 1.95 | $14.99 |
| Peoria Public Library System | Peoria, AZ | 203,065 | 1.82 | 5.07 | $27.40 |