Fayetteville Public Library
Fayetteville Public Library is a municipal public library system based in Fayetteville (Washington County), Arkansas, serving a legal service area of 93,949 residents from a single building and one bookmobile. Among profiled systems in Arkansas, it ranks first for operating spending per resident, first for paid staff per resident, first for library floor space per resident and second for physical checkouts.
By population served it is the seventh-largest of the 47 profiled systems in Arkansas. Against the median system of its size class, it records 2.6 times the program attendance per resident and 2.6 times the physical checkouts per resident.
Fayetteville against the 559 systems of its size class
Fayetteville in numbers, FY 2024
- Visits
- 400,054
- Physical checkouts
- 837,445
- …of children's materials
- 402,945
- Electronic checkouts
- 305,960
- …of e-books
- 136,247
- …of e-audio
- 148,208
- Registered users
- 90,084
- Program sessions
- 2,410
- Program attendance
- 70,970
- Print volumes
- 243,354
- Audio items (physical)
- 10,013
- Video items (physical)
- 19,126
- Public computers
- 105
- Paid staff (full-time equivalent)
- 111.0
- Operating spending
- $14.6 million
- …on books and other materials
- $622,781
- Overdue fines on print items
- charged
Where Fayetteville gets its operating money
Operating revenue came to $14.1 million, or $150.46 per resident. The local-government share sits 9 percentage points below the combined share for the 47 profiled systems in Arkansas. Federal money made up 1.2% of the total.
- Local government
- State
- Federal
- Other (fines, fees, gifts, grants)
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 Hoover Public Library in Alabama.
| System | Based in | Residents | Visits per resident | Checkouts per resident | Spending per resident |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| San Marcos Public Library | San Marcos, TX | 94,642 | 2.59 | 3.13 | $24.41 |
| Fall River Public Library | Fall River, MA | 93,682 | 1.22 | 1.23 | $21.81 |
| Temple Public Library | Temple, TX | 93,095 | 1.91 | 4.24 | $24.95 |
| Santa Monica Public Library | Santa Monica, CA | 92,912 | 3.34 | 7.35 | $120.89 |
| Nashua Public Library | Nashua, NH | 92,515 | 1.96 | 2.95 | $38.81 |
| Hoover Public Library | Hoover, AL | 92,435 | 4.12 | 10.16 | $96.80 |
Fayetteville since FY 2019
Visits were 25% below the FY 2019 count of 535,836 (size-class median: −29%). Physical checkouts moved 20% down over the same span.
- Visits
- Physical checkouts
Who comes to Fayetteville programs
Programs for children up to age 11 drew 64% of all program attendance, and sessions averaged 29 people each.
Fayetteville, building by building
The single building covers 170,500 square feet, 1.81 square feet per resident against a median of 0.62 for the size class. It is open 62.2 hours a week.
| Building | Type | Town | Hours a week | Floor area, sq ft |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fayetteville Public Library | Central library | Fayetteville | 62.2 | 170,500 |
| Fayetteville Public Library Bookmobile | Bookmobile | Fayetteville | – |
A dash marks a value not reported for FY 2024.
Nearest in size within Arkansas
- Fort Smith Public Library · Fort Smith · 89,142 residents
- Garland County Library · Hot Springs · 100,180 residents
- Arkansas River Valley Regional Library · Dardanelle · 87,100 residents
- White River Regional Library · Mountain View · 80,973 residents