Madison Public Library
Madison Public Library is a municipal public library system based in Madison (Dane County), Wisconsin, serving a legal service area of 304,881 residents through nine library buildings. Among profiled systems in Wisconsin, it leads on total visits, physical checkouts, program attendance and electronic checkouts.
Among the 122 profiled systems serving 250,000 to 499,999 residents, it ranks eighth for visits per resident. Against the median system of its size class, it records 2.0 times the operating spending per resident and 2.0 times the physical checkouts per resident.
Madison against the 122 systems of its size class
Madison since FY 2019
Visits were 22% below the FY 2019 count of 1.8 million (size-class median: −30%). Physical checkouts moved 27% down over the same span.
- Visits
- Physical checkouts
Who comes to Madison programs
Programs for children up to age 11 drew 39% of all program attendance, and sessions averaged 21 people each.
Madison in numbers, FY 2024
- Visits
- 1,371,269
- Physical checkouts
- 2,170,905
- …of children's materials
- 830,089
- Electronic checkouts
- 970,244
- …of e-books
- 314,867
- …of e-audio
- 352,302
- Registered users
- 153,032
- Program sessions
- 4,462
- Program attendance
- 91,888
- Print volumes
- 596,641
- Audio items (physical)
- 62,377
- Video items (physical)
- 81,771
- Public computers
- 168
- Public service hours, all outlets
- 27,548
- Paid staff (full-time equivalent)
- 179.6
- Operating spending
- $22.4 million
- …on books and other materials
- $1.3 million
- Overdue fines on print items
- not charged
Where Madison gets its operating money
Operating revenue came to $24.7 million, or $81.16 per resident. The local-government share is close to the combined share for the 358 profiled systems in Wisconsin.
- Local government
- State
- Federal
- Other (fines, fees, gifts, grants)
Madison, building by building
The nine buildings cover 214,840 square feet in total, 0.70 square feet per resident against a median of 0.46 for the size class. The largest building is Madison Public Library at 120,000 square feet; the smallest is Monroe Street Library at 2,300. The longest hours, 68 a week, are shared by two buildings.
| Building | Type | Town | Hours a week | Floor area, sq ft |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Madison Public Library | Central library | Madison | 67.9 | 120,000 |
| Alicia Ashman Library | Branch | Madison | 48 | 11,829 |
| Goodman South Madison Library | Branch | Madison | 60.9 | 12,010 |
| Hawthorne Library | Branch | Madison | 58 | 10,060 |
| Lakeview Library | Branch | Madison | 60.9 | 9,355 |
| Meadowridge Library | Branch | Madison | 58 | 9,246 |
| Monroe Street Library | Branch | Madison | 40 | 2,300 |
| Pinney Library | Branch | Madison | 68 | 20,000 |
| Sequoya Library | Branch | Madison | 68 | 20,040 |
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 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 |
| Santa Ana Public Library | Santa Ana, CA | 310,797 | 0.36 | 0.52 | $25.96 |
| Lubbock Public Library | Lubbock, TX | 299,167 | 1.15 | 1.86 | $13.85 |
Nearest in size within Wisconsin
- Brown County Library · Green Bay · 273,297 residents
- Milwaukee Public Library · Milwaukee · 577,895 residents
- Kenosha Public Library · Kenosha · 138,088 residents
- Racine Public Library · Racine · 137,874 residents