Forsyth County Public Library
Forsyth County Public Library is a county public library system based in Cumming (Forsyth County), Georgia, serving a legal service area of 279,366 residents through four library buildings and one bookmobile. Among profiled systems in Georgia, it ranks first for visits per resident, first for physical checkouts per resident, third for physical checkouts and third for weekly open hours per outlet, but ranks third-lowest for public computers per resident.
Among the 109 profiled systems serving 250,000 to 499,999 residents, it ranks ninth-lowest for the electronic share of checkouts. Against the median system of its size class, it records 70% more program attendance per resident.
Forsyth County against the 122 systems of its size class
Who comes to Forsyth County programs
Programs for children up to age 11 drew 83% of all program attendance, and sessions averaged 44 people each.
Nearest in size within Georgia
- Middle Georgia Regional Library System · Macon · 270,784 residents
- Flint River Regional Library System · Griffin · 295,143 residents
- Clayton County Library System · Jonesboro · 302,512 residents
- Henry County Library System · McDonough · 257,669 residents
Forsyth County in numbers, FY 2024
- Visits
- 763,912
- Physical checkouts
- 2,291,323
- …of children's materials
- 1,632,591
- Electronic checkouts
- 514,439
- …of e-books
- 244,634
- …of e-audio
- 195,703
- Registered users
- 95,724
- Program sessions
- 2,161
- Program attendance
- 94,913
- Print volumes
- 355,912
- Audio items (physical)
- 11,886
- Video items (physical)
- 9,316
- Public computers
- 133
- Public service hours, all outlets
- 13,719
- Paid staff (full-time equivalent)
- 90.8
- Operating spending
- $9.5 million
- …on books and other materials
- $1.1 million
- Overdue fines on print items
- charged
Where Forsyth County gets its operating money
Operating revenue came to $9.6 million, or $34.29 per resident. The local-government share sits 9 percentage points above the combined share for the 60 profiled systems in Georgia. No federal operating revenue was reported.
- Local government
- State
- Federal
- Other (fines, fees, gifts, grants)
Forsyth County, building by building
The four buildings cover 128,763 square feet in total, 0.46 square feet per resident against a median of 0.46 for the size class. The largest building is Forsyth County Public Library at 41,500 square feet; the smallest is Hampton Park Library at 23,500. The longest hours, 64.5 a week, are shared by two buildings.
| Building | Type | Town | Hours a week | Floor area, sq ft |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Forsyth County Public Library | Central library | Cumming | 64.5 | 41,500 |
| Hampton Park Library | Branch | Cumming | 64.5 | 23,500 |
| Post Road Library | Branch | Cumming | 64.3 | 24,580 |
| Sharon Forks Library | Branch | Cumming | 64.3 | 39,183 |
| Forsyth County Bookmobile | Bookmobile | Cumming | 6.5 |
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 San Mateo County Libraries in California.
| System | Based in | Residents | Visits per resident | Checkouts per resident | Spending per resident |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Frederick County Public Libraries | Frederick, MD | 279,835 | 3.66 | 8.32 | $69.33 |
| St. Tammany Parish Library | Covington, LA | 277,615 | 2.18 | 2.30 | $40.32 |
| Buncombe County Public Libraries | Asheville, NC | 277,047 | 2.67 | 4.43 | $28.99 |
| San Mateo County Libraries | San Mateo, CA | 273,370 | 6.20 | 8.78 | $159.85 |
| Brown County Library | Green Bay, WI | 273,297 | 2.31 | 4.70 | $26.67 |
| Weber County Library System | Roy, UT | 271,926 | 3.98 | 4.87 | $50.95 |