librarysystems

Columbus Metropolitan Library

Columbus, OhioFranklin CountyCounty libraryLarge cityFiscal year January 2024 to December 2024

Columbus Metropolitan Library is a county public library system based in Columbus (Franklin County), Ohio, serving a legal service area of 971,930 residents through 23 library buildings and one bookmobile. Of all 8,561 systems profiled nationwide, it ranks sixth for total visits and seventh for physical checkouts.

Among profiled systems in Ohio, it leads on population served, operating spending and program attendance and ranks first for local government's share of operating revenue. Among profiled systems serving 500,000 to 999,999 residents, it ranks second for visits per resident, fifth for physical checkouts per resident and fifth for weekly open hours per outlet and records the second-smallest decline in visits since FY 2019.

Compare with similar-size systemsSystems serving 500,000 to 999,999

Columbus Metropolitan against the 61 systems of its size class

size-class median (50th percentile) · spine height = percentile within the class5.63Visitsper resident98th percentile9.76Checkoutsper resident93rd percentile$85.18Spendingper resident84th percentile1.68Print volumesper resident76th percentile445Program visitsper 1,000 people88th percentile8.9Computersper 10,000 people75th percentile63.2Open hoursper outlet a week92nd percentile7.1Staff (FTE)per 10,000 people86th percentile
Gold tick: size-class medianVisits per resident5.6398th pct.Checkouts per resident9.7693rd pct.Spending per resident$85.1884th pct.Print volumes per resident1.6876th pct.Program visits per 1,000 people44588th pct.Computers per 10,000 people8.975th pct.Open hours per outlet a week63.292nd pct.Staff (FTE) per 10,000 people7.186th pct.

How the measures and percentiles are calculated

Columbus Metropolitan since FY 2019

Visits were 1% below the FY 2019 count of 5.5 million (size-class median: −30%). Physical checkouts moved 26% down over the same span.

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

Who comes to Columbus Metropolitan programs

Programs for children up to age 11 drew 60% of all program attendance, and sessions averaged 30 people each.

Children 0–11261,210Young adults 12–1822,351Adults 19+42,065General interest106,931
Children 0–11261,210Young adults 12–1822,351Adults 19+42,065General interest106,931

Columbus Metropolitan in numbers, FY 2024

Visits
5,472,220
Physical checkouts
9,487,502
…of children's materials
4,931,121
Electronic checkouts
4,307,097
…of e-books
1,785,281
…of e-audio
1,972,340
Registered users
658,580
Program sessions
14,611
Program attendance
432,557
Print volumes
1,636,558
Audio items (physical)
39,771
Video items (physical)
47,282
Public computers
863
Public service hours, all outlets
78,829
Paid staff (full-time equivalent)
691.0
Operating spending
$82.8 million
…on books and other materials
$8.1 million
Overdue fines on print items
not charged

Where Columbus Metropolitan gets its operating money

Operating revenue came to $126 million, or $129.70 per resident. The local-government share sits 24 percentage points above the combined share for the 248 profiled systems in Ohio. No federal operating revenue was reported.

This system71%22%All profiled systems in Ohio48%43%
This system71%22%All profiled systems in Ohio48%43%
  • Local government
  • State
  • Federal
  • Other (fines, fees, gifts, grants)

Columbus Metropolitan, building by building

The 23 buildings cover 758,065 square feet in total, 0.78 square feet per resident against a median of 0.45 for the size class. The largest building is Columbus Metropolitan Library at 255,400 square feet; the smallest is Marion Franklin at 4,000. The longest hours, 70 a week, are shared by 11 buildings.

BuildingTypeTownHours a weekFloor area, sq ft
Columbus Metropolitan LibraryCentral libraryColumbus70255,400
Barnett Branch LibraryBranchColumbus6212,325
Canal Winchester Branch LibraryBranchCanal Winchester625,000
Driving Park Branch LibraryBranchColumbus6615,000
Dublin Branch LibraryBranchDublin7041,000
Franklinton Branch LibraryBranchColumbus667,540
Gahanna BranchBranchGahanna7036,400
Hilliard Branch LibraryBranchHilliard7063,000
Hilltop Branch LibraryBranchColumbus7032,000
Karl Road Branch LibraryBranchColumbus7040,000
Linden Branch LibraryBranchColumbus6212,701
Marion FranklinBranchColumbus244,000
Martin Luther King Branch LibraryBranchColumbus6618,000
New Albany BranchBranchNew Albany7021,053
Northern Lights Branch LibraryBranchColumbus6626,100
Northside Branch LibraryBranchColumbus6624,900
Parsons Branch LibraryBranchColumbus6619,000
Reynoldsburg Branch LibraryBranchReynoldsburg7039,200
Shepard Branch LibraryBranchColumbus6610,000
South High Branch LibraryBranchColumbus6611,577
Southeast Branch LibraryBranchGroveport7021,140
Whetstone Branch LibraryBranchColumbus7022,729
Whitehall Branch LibraryBranchWhitehall7020,000
Columbus Metropolitan LibraryBookmobileColumbus8.3

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.

SystemBased inResidentsVisits per residentCheckouts per residentSpending per resident
Palm Beach County Library SystemWest Palm Beach, FL1,007,1702.585.63$58.14
Fresno County Public LibraryFresno, CA993,9761.121.86$35.58
Gwinnett County Public Library SystemLawrenceville, GA992,7052.062.73$25.88
Prince George's County Memorial Library SystemLargo, MD955,3061.421.80$41.80
Buffalo and Erie County Public LibraryBuffalo, NY954,2360.731.06$34.33
Salt Lake County LibraryWest Jordan, UT926,6673.049.72$55.74

Nearest in size within Ohio

All profiled systems in Ohio