District of Columbia Public Library
District of Columbia Public Library is a municipal public library system based in Washington (Dist of Columbia County), District of Columbia, serving a legal service area of 702,250 residents through 27 library buildings. Among profiled systems serving 500,000 to 999,999 residents, it ranks second for library floor space per resident, fourth for visits per resident and fourth for operating spending per resident and records the second-largest gain in physical checkouts since FY 2019.
Against the median system of its size class, it records 2.3 times the public computers per resident and 2.1 times the paid staff per resident.
District of Columbia against the 61 systems of its size class
District of Columbia since FY 2019
Visits were 12% below the FY 2019 count of 3.8 million (size-class median: −30%). Physical checkouts moved 17% up over the same span.
- Visits
- Physical checkouts
Who comes to the District of Columbia programs
Programs for children up to age 11 drew 42% of all program attendance, and sessions averaged 29 people each.
District of Columbia in numbers, FY 2024
- Visits
- 3,374,454
- Physical checkouts
- 3,836,880
- …of children's materials
- 2,132,281
- Electronic checkouts
- 2,799,947
- …of e-books
- 1,323,134
- …of e-audio
- 795,731
- Registered users
- 432,625
- Program sessions
- 9,240
- Program attendance
- 265,683
- Print volumes
- 1,095,180
- Audio items (physical)
- 19,568
- Video items (physical)
- 88,193
- Public computers
- 1,000
- Public service hours, all outlets
- 77,059
- Paid staff (full-time equivalent)
- 618.8
- Operating spending
- $85 million
- …on books and other materials
- $5.1 million
- Overdue fines on print items
- not charged
Where District of Columbia gets its operating money
Operating revenue came to $77.7 million, or $110.62 per resident. The local-government share sits 11 percentage points above the combined share for all profiled systems nationwide. Federal money made up 1.8% of the total.
- Local government
- State
- Federal
- Other (fines, fees, gifts, grants)
District of Columbia, building by building
The 27 buildings cover 905,418 square feet in total, 1.29 square feet per resident against a median of 0.45 for the size class. The largest building is Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Library at 440,000 square feet; the smallest is Arthur Capper Techexpress at 1,500. The longest hours are at Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Library, 64.3 a week.
| Building | Type | Town | Hours a week | Floor area, sq ft |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Library | Central library | Washington | 64.3 | 440,000 |
| Anacostia Neighborhood Library | Branch | Washington | 59.2 | 22,000 |
| Arthur Capper Techexpress | Branch | Washington | 37.2 | 1,500 |
| Bellevue (William O. Lockridge) Neighborhood Library | Branch | Washington | 56.3 | 22,000 |
| Benning (Dorothy I. Height) Neighborhood Library | Branch | Washington | 59.5 | 22,000 |
| Capitol View Neighborhood Library | Branch | Washington | 58.4 | 21,000 |
| Chevy Chase Neighborhood Library | Branch | Washington | 58.3 | 24,618 |
| Cleveland Park Neighborhood Library | Branch | Washington | 58.7 | 27,000 |
| Deanwood Neighborhood Library | Branch | Washington | 49.9 | 7,300 |
| Francis A. Gregory Neighborhood Library | Branch | Washington | 58.7 | 22,500 |
| Georgetown Neighborhood Library | Branch | Washington | 58.4 | 26,000 |
| Lamond-Riggs Neighborhood Library | Branch | Washington | 58.7 | 22,990 |
| Mount Pleasant Neighborhood Library | Branch | Washington | 59.3 | 22,500 |
| Northeast Neighborhood Library | Branch | Washington | 58.7 | 18,852 |
| Northwest One Neighborhood Library | Branch | Washington | 49.1 | 4,500 |
| Palisades Neighborhood Library | Branch | Washington | 58.7 | 19,979 |
| Parklands-Turner Neighborhood Library | Branch | Washington | 58.3 | 4,500 |
| Petworth Neighborhood Library | Branch | Washington | 59.4 | 20,145 |
| Rosedale Neighborhood Library | Branch | Washington | 49.8 | 5,000 |
| Shaw (Watha T. Daniel) Neighborhood Library | Branch | Washington | 58.5 | 22,000 |
| Shepherd Park (Juanita E. Thornton) Neighborhood Library | Branch | Washington | 58.5 | 22,200 |
| Southeast Neighborhood Library | Branch | Washington | 54.9 | 9,600 |
| Southwest Neighborhood Library | Branch | Washington | 59.3 | 22,032 |
| Takoma Park Neighborhood Library | Branch | Washington | 58.7 | 11,390 |
| Tenley-Friendship Neighborhood Library | Branch | Washington | 59.4 | 22,000 |
| West End Neighborhood Library | Branch | Washington | 58.7 | 21,000 |
| Woodridge Neighborhood Library | Branch | Washington | 59.4 | 20,812 |
Municipal libraries of similar size in other states
None of these six systems records more visits per resident than this one. The highest checkout rate in the group belongs to San Francisco Public Library in California.
| System | Based in | Residents | Visits per resident | Checkouts per resident | Spending per resident |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| San Francisco Public Library | San Francisco, CA | 843,071 | 4.72 | 8.94 | $199.24 |
| Seattle Public Library | Seattle, WA | 797,700 | 3.68 | 5.60 | $125.65 |
| Denver Public Library | Denver, CO | 715,636 | 3.57 | 5.86 | $127.68 |
| El Paso Public Library | El Paso, TX | 678,958 | 1.05 | 1.50 | $15.67 |
| Detroit Public Library | Detroit, MI | 639,111 | 0.54 | 0.27 | $48.30 |
| Milwaukee Public Library | Milwaukee, WI | 577,895 | 2.00 | 1.86 | $59.20 |