Durham County Library
Durham County Library is a county public library system based in Durham, North Carolina, serving a legal service area of 334,350 residents through seven library buildings and one bookmobile. Among the 108 profiled systems serving 250,000 to 499,999 residents, it records the ninth-largest gain in physical checkouts since FY 2019, but records the third-steepest decline in visits since FY 2019.
Among the 84 profiled systems in North Carolina, it ranks third for physical checkouts, third for operating spending, third for print volumes and third for electronic checkouts. Against the median system of its size class, it records 90% more program attendance per resident and 89% more physical checkouts per resident.
Durham County against the 122 systems of its size class
Durham County since FY 2019
Visits were 62% below the FY 2019 count of 1.3 million (size-class median: −30%). Physical checkouts moved 6% up over the same span.
- Visits
- Physical checkouts
Who comes to Durham County programs
Programs for a general audience drew 53% of all program attendance, and sessions averaged 22 people each.
Durham County in numbers, FY 2024
- Visits
- 500,257
- Physical checkouts
- 2,240,712
- …of children's materials
- 1,395,652
- Electronic checkouts
- 1,029,860
- …of e-books
- 545,321
- …of e-audio
- 371,176
- Registered users
- 251,072
- Program sessions
- 5,884
- Program attendance
- 126,659
- Print volumes
- 596,260
- Audio items (physical)
- 19,511
- Video items (physical)
- 52,934
- Public computers
- 208
- Public service hours, all outlets
- 17,503
- Paid staff (full-time equivalent)
- 136.7
- Operating spending
- $14 million
- …on books and other materials
- $1.9 million
- Overdue fines on print items
- not charged
Where Durham County gets its operating money
Operating revenue came to $14.2 million, or $42.51 per resident. The local-government share sits 8 percentage points above the combined share for the 84 profiled systems in North Carolina.
- Local government
- State
- Federal
- Other (fines, fees, gifts, grants)
Durham County, building by building
The six buildings cover 198,300 square feet in total, 0.59 square feet per resident against a median of 0.46 for the size class. The largest building is Durham County Main Library at 95,000 square feet; the smallest is Bragtown Branch Library at 1,000. The longest hours, 59 a week, are shared by five buildings.
| Building | Type | Town | Hours a week | Floor area, sq ft |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Durham County Main Library | Central library | Durham | 59 | 95,000 |
| Bragtown Branch Library | Branch | Durham | 40 | 1,000 |
| East Regional Branch Library | Branch | Durham | 59 | 25,000 |
| North Regional Library | Branch | Durham | 59 | 25,000 |
| South Regional Library | Branch | Durham | 59 | 27,300 |
| Southwest Regional Library | Branch | Durham | 59 | 25,000 |
| Durham County Bookmobile | Bookmobile | Durham | 5 |
County libraries of similar size in other states
Of these six systems, three 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Burlington County Library | Westampton, NJ | 363,983 | 1.76 | 2.82 | $34.45 |
| Horry County Memorial Library | Conway, SC | 351,029 | 1.22 | 2.46 | $18.39 |
| Anoka County Library | Blaine, MN | 349,759 | 1.69 | 5.40 | $30.80 |
| 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 |
| Clayton County Library System | Jonesboro, GA | 302,512 | 1.07 | 0.55 | $19.59 |
Nearest in size within North Carolina
- Cumberland County Public Library · Fayetteville · 337,970 residents
- Forsyth County Public Library · Winston-Salem · 392,839 residents
- Buncombe County Public Libraries · Asheville · 277,047 residents
- Union County Public Library · Monroe · 257,682 residents