Fargo Public Library
Fargo Public Library is a municipal public library system based in Fargo (Cass County), North Dakota, serving a legal service area of 125,990 residents through three library buildings. Among the 69 profiled systems in North Dakota, it leads on population served, total visits, physical checkouts and operating spending.
Against the median system of its size class, it records 83% more physical checkouts per resident and 73% more visits per resident.
Fargo against the 360 systems of its size class
Fargo, building by building
The three buildings cover 76,424 square feet in total, 0.61 square feet per resident against a median of 0.51 for the size class. The largest building is Fargo Public Library at 57,950 square feet; the smallest is Northport Library at 4,000. The longest hours are at Fargo Public Library, 63.6 a week.
| Building | Type | Town | Hours a week | Floor area, sq ft |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fargo Public Library | Central library | Fargo | 63.6 | 57,950 |
| Dr. James W Carlson Library | Branch | Fargo | 59.6 | 14,474 |
| Northport Library | Branch | Fargo | 52 | 4,000 |
Fargo in numbers, FY 2024
- Visits
- 445,264
- Physical checkouts
- 704,036
- …of children's materials
- 288,807
- Electronic checkouts
- 344,390
- …of e-books
- 128,042
- …of e-audio
- 171,989
- Registered users
- 44,881
- Program sessions
- 998
- Program attendance
- 32,949
- Print volumes
- 218,698
- Audio items (physical)
- 14,157
- Video items (physical)
- 20,452
- Public computers
- 80
- Public service hours, all outlets
- 9,002
- Paid staff (full-time equivalent)
- 53.0
- Operating spending
- $5.5 million
- …on books and other materials
- $782,766
- Overdue fines on print items
- not charged
Where Fargo gets its operating money
Operating revenue came to $5.7 million, or $44.97 per resident. The local-government share sits 10 percentage points above the combined share for the 69 profiled systems in North Dakota. No federal operating revenue was reported.
- Local government
- State
- Federal
- Other (fines, fees, gifts, grants)
Fargo since FY 2019
Visits were 9% below the FY 2019 count of 491,941 (size-class median: −29%). Physical checkouts moved 21% down over the same span.
- Visits
- Physical checkouts
Who comes to Fargo programs
Programs for a general audience drew 44% of all program attendance, and sessions averaged 33 people each.
Municipal 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 Berkeley Public Library in California.
| System | Based in | Residents | Visits per resident | Checkouts per resident | Spending per resident |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Abilene Public Library | Abilene, TX | 129,043 | 2.84 | 2.35 | $25.04 |
| Berkeley Public Library | Berkeley, CA | 125,327 | 5.57 | 11.41 | $189.09 |
| Mandel Public Library of West Palm Beach | West Palm Beach, FL | 125,319 | 1.93 | 2.47 | $43.80 |
| Schertz Public Library | Schertz, TX | 124,507 | 1.79 | 2.49 | $11.65 |
| Simi Valley Public Library | Simi Valley, CA | 124,029 | 1.25 | 2.66 | $23.48 |
| Thousand Oaks Library | Thousand Oaks, CA | 122,643 | 3.78 | 6.33 | $78.28 |
Nearest in size within North Dakota
- Bismarck Veterans Memorial Public Library · Bismarck · 98,458 residents
- Grand Forks Public Library · Grand Forks · 73,170 residents
- Minot Public Library · Minot · 48,377 residents
- West Fargo Public Library · West Fargo · 40,601 residents