Manchester City Library
Manchester City Library is a municipal public library system based in Manchester (Hillsborough), New Hampshire, serving a legal service area of 116,161 residents through two library buildings. Among the 194 profiled systems in New Hampshire, it ranks first for population served, second for operating spending, second for print volumes and fourth for total visits, but ranks second-lowest for public computers per resident and third-lowest for print volumes per resident.
Against the median system of its size class, it records only 44% of the program attendance per resident and 38% fewer physical checkouts per resident.
Manchester City against the 360 systems of its size class
Manchester City, building by building
The two buildings cover 49,300 square feet in total, 0.42 square feet per resident against a median of 0.51 for the size class. The largest building is Manchester City Library at 41,300 square feet; the smallest is West Side Community Library at 8,000. The longest hours are at Manchester City Library, 50.3 a week.
| Building | Type | Town | Hours a week | Floor area, sq ft |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Manchester City Library | Central library | Manchester | 50.3 | 41,300 |
| West Side Community Library | Branch | Manchester | 18.8 | 8,000 |
Manchester City in numbers, FY 2024
- Visits
- 148,269
- Physical checkouts
- 221,323
- …of children's materials
- 85,625
- Electronic checkouts
- 77,965
- …of e-books
- 24,036
- …of e-audio
- 39,771
- Registered users
- 58,193
- Program sessions
- 496
- Program attendance
- 11,559
- Print volumes
- 121,566
- Audio items (physical)
- 8,773
- Video items (physical)
- 6,493
- Public computers
- 16
- Public service hours, all outlets
- 3,591
- Paid staff (full-time equivalent)
- 35.4
- Operating spending
- $3.5 million
- …on books and other materials
- $109,175
- Overdue fines on print items
- charged
Where Manchester City gets its operating money
Operating revenue came to $2.5 million, or $21.28 per resident. The local-government share is close to the combined share for the 186 profiled systems in New Hampshire. No federal operating revenue was reported.
- Local government
- State
- Federal
- Other (fines, fees, gifts, grants)
Manchester City since FY 2019
Visits were 53% below the FY 2019 count of 317,362 (size-class median: −29%). Physical checkouts moved 19% down over the same span.
- Visits
- Physical checkouts
Who comes to Manchester City programs
Programs for children up to age 11 drew 68% of all program attendance, and sessions averaged 23 people each.
Municipal 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 Nampa Public in Idaho.
| System | Based in | Residents | Visits per resident | Checkouts per resident | Spending per resident |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Richardson Public Library | Richardson, TX | 117,435 | 1.98 | 5.98 | $36.17 |
| High Point Public Library | High Point, NC | 117,206 | 1.78 | 4.90 | $47.70 |
| Westminster Public Library | Westminster, CO | 115,739 | 3.30 | 3.06 | $44.75 |
| Nampa Public | Nampa, ID | 115,008 | 2.19 | 6.56 | $24.07 |
| Silas Bronson Library | Waterbury, CT | 114,990 | 1.32 | 0.95 | $22.32 |
| Everett Public Library | Everett, WA | 114,800 | 2.53 | 4.27 | $49.72 |
Nearest in size within New Hampshire
- Nashua Public Library · Nashua · 92,515 residents
- Concord Public Library · Concord · 44,111 residents
- Derry Public Library · Derry · 34,627 residents
- Taylor Library · East Derry · 34,627 residents