Clayton County Library System
Clayton County Library System is a county public library system based in Jonesboro (Clayton County), Georgia, serving a legal service area of 302,512 residents through six library buildings. Among profiled systems in Georgia, it ranks first for weekly open hours per outlet and eighth for population served, but ranks last for physical checkouts per resident.
Against the median system of its size class, it records only 48% of the visits per resident and 45% less operating spending per resident.
Clayton County against the 122 systems of its size class
Clayton County, building by building
The six buildings cover 108,862 square feet in total, 0.36 square feet per resident against a median of 0.46 for the size class. The largest building is Clayton County Headquarters Library at 32,926 square feet; the smallest is Morrow Branch Library at 11,892. The longest hours are at Clayton County Headquarters Library, 61.8 a week.
| Building | Type | Town | Hours a week | Floor area, sq ft |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Clayton County Headquarters Library | Central library | Jonesboro | 61.8 | 32,926 |
| Forest Park Branch Library | Branch | Forest Park | 56.8 | 16,477 |
| Lovejoy Branch Library | Branch | Hampton | 56.9 | 12,124 |
| Morrow Branch Library | Branch | Morrow | 56.8 | 11,892 |
| Northwest Branch | Branch | Riverdale | 57.3 | 23,500 |
| Riverdale Branch Library | Branch | Riverdale | 57.2 | 11,943 |
Clayton County in numbers, FY 2024
- Visits
- 323,943
- Physical checkouts
- 167,510
- …of children's materials
- 91,059
- Electronic checkouts
- 61,614
- …of e-books
- 18,810
- …of e-audio
- 31,135
- Registered users
- 129,591
- Program sessions
- 3,111
- Program attendance
- 54,605
- Print volumes
- 357,774
- Audio items (physical)
- 11,359
- Video items (physical)
- 17,247
- Public computers
- 230
- Public service hours, all outlets
- 18,039
- Paid staff (full-time equivalent)
- 88.9
- Operating spending
- $5.9 million
- …on books and other materials
- $582,452
- Overdue fines on print items
- charged
Where Clayton County gets its operating money
Operating revenue came to $7.5 million, or $24.82 per resident. The local-government share sits 7 percentage points below the combined share for the 60 profiled systems in Georgia. No federal operating revenue was reported.
- Local government
- State
- Federal
- Other (fines, fees, gifts, grants)
Clayton County since FY 2019
Visits were 48% below the FY 2019 count of 627,407 (size-class median: −30%). Physical checkouts moved 36% down over the same span.
- Visits
- Physical checkouts
Who comes to Clayton County programs
Programs for children up to age 11 drew 41% of all program attendance, and sessions averaged 18 people each.
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 Lexington Public Library in Kentucky.
| System | Based in | Residents | Visits per resident | Checkouts per resident | Spending per resident |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Camden County Library | Voorhees, NJ | 324,221 | 1.45 | 1.73 | $33.51 |
| Lexington Public Library | Lexington, KY | 320,154 | 3.12 | 10.71 | $54.12 |
| LeRoy Collins Leon County Public Library System | Tallahassee, FL | 300,806 | 1.97 | 3.02 | $21.22 |
| Lexington County Public Library System | Lexington, SC | 293,991 | 2.14 | 4.12 | $33.22 |
| Anchorage Public Library | Anchorage, AK | 289,653 | 1.84 | 2.99 | $46.96 |
| York County Library System | Rock Hill, SC | 282,090 | 1.51 | 3.52 | $32.11 |
Nearest in size within Georgia
- Flint River Regional Library System · Griffin · 295,143 residents
- Forsyth County Public Library · Cumming · 279,366 residents
- Middle Georgia Regional Library System · Macon · 270,784 residents
- Henry County Library System · McDonough · 257,669 residents