Maricopa County Library District
Maricopa County Library District is a library district based in Sun Lakes (Maricopa County), Arizona, serving a legal service area of 4,726,247 residents through 18 library buildings. Of all 8,561 systems profiled nationwide, it ranks first for population served.
Among the 35 profiled systems serving 1 million or more residents, it ranks last for physical checkouts per resident, last for operating spending per resident and last for print volumes per resident. Among profiled systems in Arizona, it ranks second for physical checkouts, second for number of library buildings, second for electronic checkouts and third for total visits.
Maricopa County against the 35 systems of its size class
Maricopa County, building by building
The largest building is Southeast Regional Library at 49,966 square feet; the smallest is Aguila Branch Library at 2,496. The longest hours are at Goodyear Branch Library, 64 a week.
| Building | Type | Town | Hours a week | Floor area, sq ft |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Aguila Branch Library | Branch | Aguila | 47 | 2,496 |
| Asante Branch Library | Branch | Surprise | – | – |
| Ed Robson Branch Library | Branch | Sun Lakes | 48 | 9,487 |
| El Mirage Branch Library | Branch | El Mirage | 50 | 2,614 |
| Fairway Branch Library | Branch | Sun City | 48 | 4,365 |
| Fountain Hills Branch Library | Branch | Fountain Hills | 60 | 17,844 |
| Gila Bend Branch Library | Branch | Gila Bend | 48 | 9,909 |
| Goodyear Branch Library | Branch | Goodyear | 64 | 10,363 |
| Guadalupe Branch Library | Branch | Guadalupe | 40 | 3,454 |
| Hollyhock Branch Library | Branch | Surprise | – | – |
| Litchfield Park Branch Library | Branch | Litchfield Park | 51 | 6,883 |
| North Valley Regional Library | Branch | Anthem | 37 | 21,740 |
| Northwest Regional Library | Branch | Surprise | – | 19,785 |
| Perry Branch Library | Branch | Gilbert | 48 | 19,289 |
| Queen Creek Branch Library | Branch | Queen Creek | 60 | 19,166 |
| Southeast Regional Library | Branch | Gilbert | 62 | 49,966 |
| Sun City Branch Library | Branch | Sun City | 50 | 13,444 |
| White Tank Branch Library | Branch | Waddell | 48 | 23,945 |
A dash marks a value not reported for FY 2024.
Maricopa County in numbers, FY 2024
- Visits
- 1,693,770
- Physical checkouts
- 3,460,248
- Electronic checkouts
- 2,447,586
- …of e-books
- 1,112,722
- …of e-audio
- 968,296
- Registered users
- 144,452
- Program sessions
- 4,407
- Program attendance
- 98,257
- Print volumes
- 436,713
- Audio items (physical)
- 27,016
- Video items (physical)
- 117,832
- Public computers
- 413
- Paid staff (full-time equivalent)
- 296.9
- Operating spending
- $35.5 million
- …on books and other materials
- $13.9 million
- Overdue fines on print items
- not charged
Where Maricopa County gets its operating money
Operating revenue came to $37 million, or $7.83 per resident. The local-government share sits 5 percentage points below the combined share for the 53 profiled systems in Arizona. Federal money made up 1.3% of the total.
- Local government
- State
- Federal
- Other (fines, fees, gifts, grants)
Maricopa County since FY 2019
Visits were 40% below the FY 2019 count of 2.8 million (size-class median: −34%). Physical checkouts moved 54% down over the same span.
- Visits
- Physical checkouts
Who comes to Maricopa County programs
Programs for children up to age 11 drew 78% of all program attendance, and sessions averaged 22 people each.
Closest in size nationwide
All six of these systems record more visits per resident than this one. The highest checkout rate in the group belongs to Chicago Public Library in Illinois.
| System | Based in | Residents | Visits per resident | Checkouts per resident | Spending per resident |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Los Angeles Public Library | Los Angeles, CA | 3,814,318 | 1.51 | 2.01 | $59.09 |
| New York Public Library | New York, NY | 3,662,652 | 3.37 | 2.75 | $100.15 |
| LA County Library | Downey, CA | 3,248,285 | 1.70 | 1.70 | $60.09 |
| Chicago Public Library | Chicago, IL | 2,746,388 | 1.77 | 3.86 | $46.01 |
| Brooklyn Public Library | Brooklyn, NY | 2,736,074 | 2.19 | 2.05 | $58.15 |
| Miami-Dade Public Library System | Miami, FL | 2,406,299 | 1.52 | 1.24 | $38.92 |
Nearest in size within Arizona
- Phoenix Public Library · Phoenix · 1,697,696 residents
- Pima County Public Library · Tucson · 1,086,634 residents
- Mesa Public Library · Mesa · 524,892 residents
- Pinal County Library District · Florence · 483,944 residents