Grand Forks Public Library
Grand Forks Public Library is a city-county public library based in Grand Forks, North Dakota, serving a legal service area of 73,170 residents from a single building. Among profiled systems in North Dakota, it ranks first for weekly open hours per outlet, second for program attendance, third for population served and third for total visits.
Against the median system of its size class, it records 55% more physical checkouts per resident and 39% more program attendance per resident.
Grand Forks against the 559 systems of its size class
The Grand Forks building
The single building covers 37,415 square feet, 0.51 square feet per resident against a median of 0.62 for the size class. It is open 68 hours a week.
| Building | Type | Town | Hours a week | Floor area, sq ft |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Grand Forks Public Library | Central library | Grand Forks | 68 | 37,415 |
Grand Forks in numbers, FY 2024
- Visits
- 153,852
- Physical checkouts
- 386,835
- …of children's materials
- 204,381
- Electronic checkouts
- 157,252
- …of e-books
- 57,691
- …of e-audio
- 83,414
- Registered users
- 20,746
- Program sessions
- 973
- Program attendance
- 29,398
- Print volumes
- 108,640
- Audio items (physical)
- 9,240
- Video items (physical)
- 10,590
- Public computers
- 41
- Public service hours, all outlets
- 3,536
- Paid staff (full-time equivalent)
- 24.6
- Operating spending
- $3.1 million
- …on books and other materials
- $305,862
- Overdue fines on print items
- not charged
Where Grand Forks gets its operating money
Operating revenue came to $3.3 million, or $44.78 per resident. The local-government share is close to 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)
Grand Forks since FY 2019
Visits were 21% below the FY 2019 count of 194,076 (size-class median: −29%). Physical checkouts moved 3% up over the same span.
- Visits
- Physical checkouts
Who comes to Grand Forks programs
Programs for children up to age 11 drew 57% of all program attendance, and sessions averaged 30 people each.
City-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 Broomfield/Eisenhower Public Library in Colorado.
| System | Based in | Residents | Visits per resident | Checkouts per resident | Spending per resident |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| The Library of Hattiesburg, Petal & Forrest C | Hattiesburg, MS | 78,208 | 1.38 | 3.08 | $30.00 |
| Broomfield/Eisenhower Public Library | Broomfield, CO | 76,853 | 2.98 | 7.42 | $39.87 |
| Lewis and Clark Library | Helena, MT | 70,973 | 3.36 | 4.06 | $58.68 |
| Meridian-Lauderdale County Public Library | Meridian, MS | 70,527 | 0.60 | 0.42 | $17.01 |
| Greeneville-Greene County Public Library | Greeneville, TN | 70,033 | 0.25 | 0.95 | $6.44 |
| Laurel-Jones County Library System, Inc. | Laurel, MS | 66,250 | 1.12 | 1.11 | $16.52 |
Nearest in size within North Dakota
- Bismarck Veterans Memorial Public Library · Bismarck · 98,458 residents
- Minot Public Library · Minot · 48,377 residents
- Fargo Public Library · Fargo · 125,990 residents
- West Fargo Public Library · West Fargo · 40,601 residents