Department of Community Services
Department of Community Services is a county public library system based in New Castle, Delaware, serving a legal service area of 449,061 residents through 10 library buildings. Among the 21 profiled systems in Delaware, it leads on population served, total visits, physical checkouts and operating spending, but ranks third-lowest for the electronic share of checkouts.
Against the median system of its size class, it records 55% more public computers per resident and 40% more physical checkouts per resident.
Department of Community against the 122 systems of its size class
Department of Community, building by building
The 10 buildings cover 247,100 square feet in total, 0.55 square feet per resident against a median of 0.46 for the size class. The largest building is Route 9 Library at 43,000 square feet; the smallest is Elsmere Public Library at 7,000. The longest hours are at Bear Public Library, 48.8 a week.
| Building | Type | Town | Hours a week | Floor area, sq ft |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Appoquinimink Community Library | Branch | Middletown | – | 25,000 |
| Bear Public Library | Branch | Bear | 48.8 | 25,000 |
| Brandywine Hundred Library | Branch | Wilmington | 47.4 | 40,000 |
| Claymont Public Library | Branch | Claymont | 48.1 | 17,500 |
| Elsmere Public Library | Branch | Elsmere | 26.7 | 7,000 |
| Hockessin Public Library | Branch | Hockessin | 46.7 | 23,000 |
| Kirkwood Highway Public Library | Branch | Wilmington | 48.7 | 22,500 |
| Newark Free Library | Branch | Newark | 48.4 | 26,500 |
| Route 9 Library | Branch | New Castle | 48.3 | 43,000 |
| Woodlawn Library | Branch | Wilmington | 41.6 | 17,600 |
A dash marks a value not reported for FY 2024.
Department of Community in numbers, FY 2024
- Visits
- 1,272,263
- Physical checkouts
- 2,231,620
- …of children's materials
- 1,061,301
- Electronic checkouts
- 511,517
- …of e-books
- 256,890
- …of e-audio
- 241,965
- Registered users
- 148,877
- Program sessions
- 7,449
- Program attendance
- 112,881
- Print volumes
- 648,641
- Audio items (physical)
- 52,991
- Video items (physical)
- 71,665
- Public computers
- 428
- Paid staff (full-time equivalent)
- 149.2
- Operating spending
- $20.6 million
- …on books and other materials
- $1.5 million
- Overdue fines on print items
- charged
Where Department of Community gets its operating money
Operating revenue came to $18.1 million, or $40.40 per resident. The local-government share sits 4 percentage points above the combined share for the 21 profiled systems in Delaware. Federal money made up 5.1% of the total.
- Local government
- State
- Federal
- Other (fines, fees, gifts, grants)
Department of Community since FY 2019
Visits were 32% below the FY 2019 count of 1.9 million (size-class median: −30%). Physical checkouts moved 25% down over the same span.
- Visits
- Physical checkouts
Who comes to Department of Community programs
Programs for children up to age 11 drew 59% of all program attendance, and sessions averaged 15 people each.
County libraries of similar size in other states
Of these six systems, four record more visits per resident than this one. The highest checkout rate in the group belongs to Dakota County Library in Minnesota.
| System | Based in | Residents | Visits per resident | Checkouts per resident | Spending per resident |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| East Baton Rouge Parish Library | Baton Rouge, LA | 453,022 | 3.88 | 3.16 | $100.46 |
| Dayton Metro Library | Dayton, OH | 452,238 | 4.40 | 6.51 | $83.51 |
| Osceola Library System | Kissimmee, FL | 450,989 | 1.52 | 1.79 | $18.18 |
| Dakota County Library | Eagan, MN | 449,658 | 3.52 | 9.39 | $38.46 |
| Seminole County Public Library System | Casselberry, FL | 445,870 | 2.64 | 3.01 | $19.63 |
| Toledo-Lucas County Public Library | Toledo, OH | 428,505 | 4.73 | 7.25 | $104.07 |
Nearest in size within Delaware
- Sussex County Dept. of Libraries · Georgetown · 71,278 residents
- Dover Public Library · Dover · 62,955 residents
- Kent County Public Library · Dover · 61,418 residents
- Wilmington Institute Library · Wilmington · 54,227 residents