Lincoln City Libraries
Lincoln City Libraries is a municipal public library system based in Lincoln (Lancaster County), Nebraska, serving a legal service area of 326,716 residents through eight library buildings and one bookmobile. Among profiled systems in Nebraska, it ranks first for program attendance, first for print volumes, second for population served and second for total visits, but ranks third-lowest for paid staff per resident.
Against the median system of its size class, it records 77% more physical checkouts per resident and 61% more print volumes per resident.
Lincoln City against the 122 systems of its size class
Lincoln City since FY 2019
Visits were 24% below the FY 2019 count of 1.1 million (size-class median: −30%). Physical checkouts moved 21% down over the same span.
- Visits
- Physical checkouts
Who comes to Lincoln City programs
Programs for children up to age 11 drew 76% of all program attendance, and sessions averaged 25 people each.
Lincoln City in numbers, FY 2024
- Visits
- 822,109
- Physical checkouts
- 2,050,398
- …of children's materials
- 1,229,277
- Electronic checkouts
- 939,176
- …of e-books
- 402,483
- …of e-audio
- 524,943
- Registered users
- 220,231
- Program sessions
- 3,587
- Program attendance
- 87,987
- Print volumes
- 649,820
- Audio items (physical)
- 41,280
- Video items (physical)
- 64,989
- Public computers
- 157
- Public service hours, all outlets
- 24,972
- Paid staff (full-time equivalent)
- 106.8
- Operating spending
- $12.2 million
- …on books and other materials
- $1.9 million
- Overdue fines on print items
- not charged
Where Lincoln City gets its operating money
Operating revenue came to $13.1 million, or $40.06 per resident. The local-government share is close to the combined share for the 221 profiled systems in Nebraska. No federal operating revenue was reported.
- Local government
- State
- Federal
- Other (fines, fees, gifts, grants)
Lincoln City, building by building
The eight buildings cover 184,600 square feet in total, 0.57 square feet per resident against a median of 0.46 for the size class. The largest building is Bennett Martin Public Library at 64,000 square feet; the smallest is Dan A Williams Branch Library at 2,500. The longest hours, 63.8 a week, are shared by five buildings.
| Building | Type | Town | Hours a week | Floor area, sq ft |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bennett Martin Public Library | Central library | Lincoln | 62 | 64,000 |
| Bess Dodson Walt Branch | Branch | Lincoln | 63.8 | 31,800 |
| Bethany Branch Library | Branch | Lincoln | 48 | 3,800 |
| Charles H. Gere Branch Library | Branch | Lincoln | 63.8 | 33,000 |
| Dan A Williams Branch Library | Branch | Lincoln | 31 | 2,500 |
| Loren Corey Eiseley Branch | Branch | Lincoln | 63.8 | 33,600 |
| South Branch Library | Branch | Lincoln | 63.8 | 4,900 |
| Victor E. Anderson Branch Library | Branch | Lincoln | 63.8 | 11,000 |
| Lincoln City Libraries | Bookmobile | Lincoln | 20 |
Municipal libraries of similar size in other states
Of these six systems, one 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Anaheim Public Library | Anaheim, CA | 340,160 | 1.78 | 2.40 | $46.94 |
| Rutherford County Library System | Murfreesboro, TN | 327,503 | 1.74 | 4.18 | $11.64 |
| Riverside Public Library | Riverside, CA | 316,690 | 1.44 | 2.20 | $25.58 |
| Corpus Christi Public Libraries | Corpus Christi, TX | 316,595 | 1.68 | 2.32 | $20.21 |
| Newark Public Library | Newark, NJ | 311,549 | 0.86 | 0.21 | $45.03 |
| Saint Paul Public Library | Saint Paul, MN | 310,997 | 4.09 | 5.86 | $72.47 |
Nearest in size within Nebraska
- Omaha Public Library · Omaha · 571,013 residents
- Bellevue Public Library · Bellevue · 63,922 residents
- Grand Island Public Library · Grand Island · 52,622 residents
- Kearney Public Library · Kearney · 34,362 residents