East Baton Rouge Parish Library
East Baton Rouge Parish Library is a county public library system based in Baton Rouge (East Baton Rouge Parish), Louisiana, serving a legal service area of 453,022 residents through 14 library buildings and three bookmobiles. Among the 67 profiled systems in Louisiana, it leads on population served, total visits, physical checkouts and operating spending.
Among profiled systems serving 250,000 to 499,999 residents, it ranks sixth for paid staff per resident, eighth for print volumes per resident, tenth for operating spending per resident and tenth for library floor space per resident. Against the median system of its size class, it records 2.3 times the public computers per resident and 78% more program attendance per resident.
East Baton Rouge Parish against the 122 systems of its size class
East Baton Rouge Parish, building by building
The 14 buildings cover 427,230 square feet in total, 0.94 square feet per resident against a median of 0.46 for the size class. The largest building is East Baton Rouge Parish Library at 129,000 square feet; the smallest is Pride-Chaneyville Branch at 11,127. The longest hours are at East Baton Rouge Parish Library, 73 a week.
| Building | Type | Town | Hours a week | Floor area, sq ft |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| East Baton Rouge Parish Library | Central library | Baton Rouge | 73 | 129,000 |
| Baker Branch | Branch | Baker | 66 | 18,592 |
| Bluebonnet Regional Branch | Branch | Baton Rouge | 70 | 37,600 |
| Carver Branch | Branch | Baton Rouge | 66 | 11,817 |
| Central Branch | Branch | Central | 66 | 18,263 |
| Delmont Gardens Branch | Branch | Baton Rouge | 66 | 19,267 |
| Eden Park Branch | Branch | Baton Rouge | 66 | 14,026 |
| Fairwood Branch | Branch | Baton Rouge | 66 | 15,800 |
| Greenwell Springs Road Regional Branch Library | Branch | Baton Rouge | 70 | 32,644 |
| Jones Creek Regional Branch | Branch | Baton Rouge | 70 | 34,750 |
| Pride-Chaneyville Branch | Branch | Pride | 66 | 11,127 |
| River Center (Centroplex) Branch | Branch | Baton Rouge | 66 | 48,490 |
| Scotlandville Branch | Branch | Baton Rouge | 66 | 17,985 |
| Zachary Branch | Branch | Zachary | 70 | 17,869 |
| East Baton Rouge Parish Library Bookmobile #1 | Bookmobile | Baton Rouge | 48 | |
| East Baton Rouge Parish Library Bookmobile #2 | Bookmobile | Baton Rouge | 2.7 | |
| East Baton Rouge Parish Library Bookmobile #3 | Bookmobile | Baton Rouge | 2.7 |
East Baton Rouge Parish in numbers, FY 2024
- Visits
- 1,758,026
- Physical checkouts
- 1,432,110
- …of children's materials
- 579,417
- Electronic checkouts
- 1,365,778
- …of e-books
- 672,884
- …of e-audio
- 571,810
- Registered users
- 310,879
- Program sessions
- 6,464
- Program attendance
- 161,105
- Print volumes
- 1,239,657
- Audio items (physical)
- 53,458
- Video items (physical)
- 225,698
- Public computers
- 637
- Public service hours, all outlets
- 49,908
- Paid staff (full-time equivalent)
- 419.0
- Operating spending
- $45.5 million
- …on books and other materials
- $5.9 million
- Overdue fines on print items
- charged
Where East Baton Rouge Parish gets its operating money
Operating revenue came to $46.6 million, or $102.93 per resident. The local-government share is close to the combined share for the 67 profiled systems in Louisiana. No federal operating revenue was reported.
- Local government
- State
- Federal
- Other (fines, fees, gifts, grants)
East Baton Rouge Parish since FY 2019
Visits were 31% below the FY 2019 count of 2.6 million (size-class median: −30%). Physical checkouts moved 34% down over the same span.
- Visits
- Physical checkouts
Who comes to East Baton Rouge Parish programs
Programs for children up to age 11 drew 46% of all program attendance, and sessions averaged 25 people each.
County libraries of similar size in other states
Of these six systems, two record more visits per resident than this one. The highest checkout rate in the group belongs to Johnson County Library in Kansas.
| System | Based in | Residents | Visits per resident | Checkouts per resident | Spending per resident |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Johnson County Library | Overland Park, KS | 474,776 | 3.94 | 10.93 | $114.39 |
| 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 |
| Department of Community Services | New Castle, DE | 449,061 | 2.83 | 4.97 | $45.96 |
| Seminole County Public Library System | Casselberry, FL | 445,870 | 2.64 | 3.01 | $19.63 |
Nearest in size within Louisiana
- Jefferson Parish Library · Metairie · 427,253 residents
- New Orleans Public Library · New Orleans · 362,701 residents
- St. Tammany Parish Library · Covington · 277,615 residents
- Lafayette Public Library · Lafayette · 254,241 residents