Iowa City Public Library
Iowa City Public Library is a municipal public library system based in Iowa City (Johnson County), Iowa, serving a legal service area of 89,912 residents from a single building and one bookmobile. Among profiled systems in Iowa, it ranks first for physical checkouts, second for total visits, third for operating spending and third for program attendance.
By population served it is the fourth-largest of the 475 profiled systems in Iowa. Against the median system of its size class, it records 2.8 times the physical checkouts per resident and 2.7 times the visits per resident.
Iowa City against the 559 systems of its size class
Iowa City since FY 2019
Visits were 22% below the FY 2019 count of 692,561 (size-class median: −29%). Physical checkouts moved 21% down over the same span.
- Visits
- Physical checkouts
Who comes to Iowa City programs
Programs for children up to age 11 drew 48% of all program attendance, and sessions averaged 35 people each.
Iowa City in numbers, FY 2024
- Visits
- 543,468
- Physical checkouts
- 863,766
- …of children's materials
- 360,407
- Registered users
- 41,171
- Program sessions
- 1,592
- Program attendance
- 54,966
- Print volumes
- 164,553
- Audio items (physical)
- 15,605
- Video items (physical)
- 18,483
- Public computers
- 90
- Public service hours, all outlets
- 4,291
- Paid staff (full-time equivalent)
- 63.7
- Operating spending
- $7.2 million
- …on books and other materials
- $723,877
- Overdue fines on print items
- not charged
Where Iowa City gets its operating money
Operating revenue came to $7.3 million, or $81.57 per resident. The local-government share sits 3 percentage points above the combined share for the 475 profiled systems in Iowa. No federal operating revenue was reported.
- Local government
- State
- Federal
- Other (fines, fees, gifts, grants)
Iowa City, building by building
The single building covers 81,276 square feet, 0.90 square feet per resident against a median of 0.62 for the size class. It is open 64.9 hours a week.
| Building | Type | Town | Hours a week | Floor area, sq ft |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Iowa City Public Library | Central library | Iowa City | 64.9 | 81,276 |
| Icpl Bookmobile | Bookmobile | Iowa City | 18.7 |
Municipal libraries of similar size in other states
None of these six systems records more visits per resident than this one. None of them matches this system's checkouts per resident.
| System | Based in | Residents | Visits per resident | Checkouts per resident | Spending per resident |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Clifton Public Library | Clifton, NJ | 90,296 | 1.74 | 4.08 | $44.51 |
| Lawton Public Library | Lawton, OK | 90,245 | 1.41 | 1.81 | $16.03 |
| Lehi City Public Library | Lehi, UT | 90,227 | 2.30 | 5.75 | $19.21 |
| Cheektowaga Public Library | Cheektowaga, NY | 89,877 | 1.65 | 4.27 | $14.45 |
| Hemet Public Library | Hemet, CA | 89,663 | 0.90 | 1.31 | $16.80 |
| Waukegan Public Library | Waukegan, IL | 89,321 | 1.60 | 1.50 | $52.60 |
Nearest in size within Iowa
- Sioux City Public Library · Sioux City · 85,797 residents
- Davenport Public Library · Davenport · 101,724 residents
- Council Bluffs Public Library · Council Bluffs · 79,080 residents
- Ankeny Kirkendall Public Library · Ankeny · 76,078 residents