Kent District Library
Kent District Library is a library district based in Comstock Park (Kent County), Michigan, serving a legal service area of 439,194 residents through 20 library buildings and one bookmobile. Among profiled systems in Michigan, it leads on total visits, physical checkouts, operating spending and program attendance.
Among profiled systems serving 250,000 to 499,999 residents, it ranks third for physical checkouts per resident, fourth for visits per resident and seventh for program attendance per resident. Against the median system of its size class, it records 97% more operating spending per resident and 83% more paid staff per resident.
Kent against the 122 systems of its size class
Kent since FY 2019
Visits were 16% below the FY 2019 count of 2.7 million (size-class median: −30%). Physical checkouts moved 24% down over the same span.
- Visits
- Physical checkouts
Who comes to Kent programs
Programs for children up to age 11 drew 75% of all program attendance, and sessions averaged 31 people each.
Kent in numbers, FY 2024
- Visits
- 2,276,639
- Physical checkouts
- 5,181,372
- …of children's materials
- 2,742,737
- Electronic checkouts
- 2,420,617
- …of e-books
- 964,189
- …of e-audio
- 1,288,545
- Registered users
- 132,795
- Program sessions
- 9,516
- Program attendance
- 295,470
- Print volumes
- 589,381
- Audio items (physical)
- 41,708
- Video items (physical)
- 69,916
- Public computers
- 268
- Public service hours, all outlets
- 49,638
- Paid staff (full-time equivalent)
- 252.2
- Operating spending
- $31 million
- …on books and other materials
- $4.6 million
- Overdue fines on print items
- not charged
Where Kent gets its operating money
Operating revenue came to $30.6 million, or $69.72 per resident. The local-government share is close to the combined share for the 367 profiled systems in Michigan. No federal operating revenue was reported.
- Local government
- State
- Federal
- Other (fines, fees, gifts, grants)
Kent, building by building
The 20 buildings cover 333,390 square feet in total, 0.76 square feet per resident against a median of 0.46 for the size class. The largest building is Wyoming Branch at 48,950 square feet; the smallest is Spencer Township Branch at 2,000. The longest hours are at Grandville Branch Library, 58.6 a week.
| Building | Type | Town | Hours a week | Floor area, sq ft |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Alpine Township Branch | Branch | Comstock Park | 38.3 | 4,862 |
| Alto Branch Library | Branch | Alto | 37.3 | 5,795 |
| Amy Van Andel Library | Branch | Ada | 45.7 | 25,786 |
| Byron Township Branch Library | Branch | Byron Center | 52.4 | 13,600 |
| Caledonia Branch Library | Branch | Caledonia | 46.6 | 15,464 |
| Cascade Township Branch | Branch | Grand Rapids | 58.5 | 30,400 |
| Comstock Park Branch Library | Branch | Comstock Park | 43.4 | 4,095 |
| East Grand Rapids Branch Library | Branch | East Grand Rapids | 58.3 | 26,950 |
| Englehardt Branch/Lowell | Branch | Lowell | 44.7 | 8,771 |
| Gaines Township Library/Cutlerville | Branch | Grand Rapids | 51.9 | 10,400 |
| Grandville Branch Library | Branch | Grandville | 58.6 | 26,535 |
| Kelloggsville Branch Library | Branch | Grand Rapids | 16.8 | 6,500 |
| Kentwood Branch | Branch | Kentwood | 58.5 | 45,489 |
| Krause Memorial Branch/Rockford | Branch | Rockford | 52.3 | 9,500 |
| Nelson Township/ Sand Lake Branch Library | Branch | Sand Lake | 40.1 | 8,736 |
| Plainfield Branch | Branch | Grand Rapids | 58 | 26,420 |
| Spencer Township Branch | Branch | Gowen | 37.5 | 2,000 |
| Tyrone Township Branch/Kent City | Branch | Kent City | 34.4 | 4,239 |
| Walker Branch | Branch | Walker | 54.8 | 8,898 |
| Wyoming Branch | Branch | Wyoming | 58.5 | 48,950 |
| Kent District Library Bookmobile | Bookmobile | Comstock Park | 8 |
Library districts 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fort Vancouver Regional Library District | Vancouver, WA | 552,118 | 2.48 | 5.96 | $49.54 |
| Rangeview Library District | Thornton, CO | 406,718 | 1.84 | 1.59 | $51.73 |
| Saint Charles City-County Library District | St. Peters, MO | 405,262 | 3.02 | 11.03 | $50.18 |
| Allen County Public Library | Fort Wayne, IN | 385,410 | 4.44 | 8.37 | $95.43 |
| Douglas County Libraries | Castle Rock, CO | 383,911 | 3.65 | 9.77 | $87.76 |
| Henderson District Public Libraries | Henderson, NV | 341,980 | 1.54 | 3.75 | $25.55 |
Nearest in size within Michigan
- Genesee District Library · Flint · 334,645 residents
- Detroit Public Library · Detroit · 639,111 residents
- Capital Area District Library · Lansing · 244,451 residents
- Grand Rapids Public Library · Grand Rapids · 198,917 residents