Huntsville-Madison County Public Library
Huntsville-Madison County Public Library is a multi-jurisdictional public library system based in Huntsville (Madison County), Alabama, serving a legal service area of 403,565 residents through 10 library buildings and one bookmobile. Among profiled systems in Alabama, it leads on population served, total visits, physical checkouts and program attendance.
Among profiled systems serving 250,000 to 499,999 residents, it records the second-largest gain in visits since FY 2019 and the fifth-largest gain in physical checkouts since FY 2019, but ranks fifth-lowest for the electronic share of checkouts. Against the median system of its size class, it records 78% more physical checkouts per resident and 44% less operating spending per resident.
Huntsville-Madison County against the 122 systems of its size class
Huntsville-Madison County, building by building
The 10 buildings cover 217,781 square feet in total, 0.54 square feet per resident against a median of 0.46 for the size class. The largest building is Huntsville-Madison County Public Library at 123,000 square feet; the smallest is Huntsville Public-Cavalry Hills Branch at 2,600. The longest hours, 60.6 a week, are shared by two buildings.
| Building | Type | Town | Hours a week | Floor area, sq ft |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Huntsville-Madison County Public Library | Central library | Huntsville | 60.4 | 123,000 |
| Gurley Public Library | Branch | Gurley | 36 | 3,000 |
| Huntsville Public-Cavalry Hills Branch | Branch | Huntsville | 36.6 | 2,600 |
| Huntsville Public-Madison Branch Library | Branch | Madison | 53.1 | 25,000 |
| Huntsville Public-Monrovia Branch Library | Branch | Huntsville | 53.1 | 5,000 |
| Huntsville Public-New Hope Public Library | Branch | New Hope | 36 | 3,420 |
| Huntsville Public-Tillman Hill Branch | Branch | Hazel Green | 36.6 | 5,000 |
| Huntsville Public-Triana Branch | Branch | Madison | 36.8 | 3,738 |
| North Huntsville Public Library | Branch | Huntsville | 60.6 | 19,023 |
| South Huntsville Public Library | Branch | Huntsville | 60.6 | 28,000 |
| Huntsville-Madison County Public Library Bookmobile | Bookmobile | Huntsville | 1.2 |
Huntsville-Madison County in numbers, FY 2024
- Visits
- 1,312,402
- Physical checkouts
- 2,539,541
- …of children's materials
- 1,508,178
- Electronic checkouts
- 447,924
- …of e-books
- 148,642
- …of e-audio
- 263,436
- Registered users
- 138,266
- Program sessions
- 5,176
- Program attendance
- 109,755
- Print volumes
- 325,749
- Audio items (physical)
- 19,668
- Video items (physical)
- 66,389
- Public computers
- 165
- Public service hours, all outlets
- 24,491
- Paid staff (full-time equivalent)
- 115.3
- Operating spending
- $8.2 million
- …on books and other materials
- $1.1 million
- Overdue fines on print items
- not charged
Where Huntsville-Madison County gets its operating money
Operating revenue came to $8.7 million, or $21.67 per resident. The local-government share sits 5 percentage points below the combined share for the 213 profiled systems in Alabama.
- Local government
- State
- Federal
- Other (fines, fees, gifts, grants)
Huntsville-Madison County since FY 2019
Visits were 7% above the FY 2019 count of 1.2 million (size-class median: −30%). Physical checkouts moved 14% up over the same span.
- Visits
- Physical checkouts
Who comes to Huntsville-Madison County programs
Programs for children up to age 11 drew 75% of all program attendance, and sessions averaged 21 people each.
Multi-jurisdictional libraries of similar size in other states
Of these six systems, one records more visits per resident than this one. The highest checkout rate in the group belongs to Santa Clara County Library in California.
| System | Based in | Residents | Visits per resident | Checkouts per resident | Spending per resident |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Santa Clara County Library | Campbell, CA | 456,355 | 5.40 | 17.73 | $147.69 |
| Live Oak Public Libraries | Savannah, GA | 450,821 | 1.41 | 1.72 | $25.90 |
| Pioneer Library System | Norman, OK | 422,056 | 2.37 | 3.77 | $54.96 |
| Solano County Library | Fairfield, CA | 420,393 | 1.83 | 3.56 | $60.66 |
| PAL Public Library Cooperative | Bronson, FL | 416,905 | 2.35 | 4.82 | $53.39 |
| Sequoyah Regional Library System | Canton, GA | 361,084 | 1.14 | 2.36 | $15.73 |
Nearest in size within Alabama
- Mobile Public Library · Mobile · 371,984 residents
- Tuscaloosa Public Library · Tuscaloosa · 236,780 residents
- Montgomery City-County Public Library · Montgomery · 226,361 residents
- Birmingham Public Library · Birmingham · 196,910 residents