Kanawha County Public Library
Kanawha County Public Library is a county public library system based in Charleston (Kanawha County), West Virginia, serving a legal service area of 160,474 residents through 10 library buildings and one bookmobile. Among the 96 profiled systems in West Virginia, it leads on population served, total visits, operating spending and number of library buildings.
Against the median system of its size class, it records 79% more paid staff per resident and 64% more operating spending per resident.
Kanawha County against the 360 systems of its size class
Kanawha County, building by building
The 10 buildings cover 109,145 square feet in total, 0.68 square feet per resident against a median of 0.51 for the size class. The largest building is Kanawha County Public Library at 53,600 square feet; the smallest is Marmet at 429. The longest hours are at Kanawha County Public Library, 60 a week.
| Building | Type | Town | Hours a week | Floor area, sq ft |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Kanawha County Public Library | Central library | Charleston | 60 | 53,600 |
| Clendenin | Branch | Clendenin | 31 | 4,400 |
| Cross Lanes | Branch | Cross Lanes | 39 | 6,300 |
| Dunbar | Branch | Dunbar | 54 | 8,288 |
| Elk Valley | Branch | Elkview | 54 | 8,500 |
| Glasgow | Branch | Glasgow | 7.5 | 700 |
| Marmet | Branch | Marmet | 17 | 429 |
| Riverside Branch | Branch | Belle | 41 | 9,300 |
| Sissonville | Branch | Charleston | 39 | 6,700 |
| St. Albans | Branch | St. Albans | 50 | 10,928 |
| Kanawha County Bookmobile | Bookmobile | Belle | 38 |
Kanawha County in numbers, FY 2024
- Visits
- 291,826
- Physical checkouts
- 410,829
- Electronic checkouts
- 331,277
- …of e-books
- 164,410
- …of e-audio
- 130,533
- Registered users
- 58,781
- Program sessions
- 1,659
- Program attendance
- 36,761
- Print volumes
- 278,141
- Audio items (physical)
- 24,848
- Video items (physical)
- 41,567
- Public computers
- 92
- Public service hours, all outlets
- 20,878
- Paid staff (full-time equivalent)
- 98.5
- Operating spending
- $8.9 million
- …on books and other materials
- $707,802
- Overdue fines on print items
- not charged
Where Kanawha County gets its operating money
Operating revenue came to $9.5 million, or $59.12 per resident. The local-government share sits 12 percentage points above the combined share for the 96 profiled systems in West Virginia. Federal money made up 1.5% of the total.
- Local government
- State
- Federal
- Other (fines, fees, gifts, grants)
Kanawha County since FY 2019
Visits were 40% below the FY 2019 count of 485,962 (size-class median: −29%). Physical checkouts moved 28% down over the same span.
- Visits
- Physical checkouts
Who comes to Kanawha County programs
Programs for a general audience drew 44% of all program attendance, and sessions averaged 22 people each.
County libraries of similar size in other states
All six of these systems record more visits per resident than this one. The highest checkout rate in the group belongs to Yolo County Library in California.
| System | Based in | Residents | Visits per resident | Checkouts per resident | Spending per resident |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Williamson County Public Library | Franklin, TN | 161,569 | 1.88 | 5.02 | $22.06 |
| Dorchester County Library System | St. George, SC | 161,540 | 2.16 | 3.53 | $29.98 |
| Yolo County Library | Woodland, CA | 160,994 | 3.23 | 7.91 | $62.40 |
| Brunswick County Library | Southport, NC | 160,440 | 2.53 | 1.83 | $12.39 |
| Washington County Library System | Fayetteville, AR | 159,869 | 2.01 | 4.79 | $29.62 |
| Madera County Library | Madera, CA | 159,328 | 3.74 | 1.09 | $14.20 |
Nearest in size within West Virginia
- Martinsburg-Berkeley Co. Public Library · Martinsburg · 122,076 residents
- Morgantown Public Library · Morgantown · 105,822 residents
- Cabell County Public Library · Huntington · 94,350 residents
- Raleigh County Public Library · Beckley · 74,591 residents