librarysystems

Metropolitan Library System

Oklahoma City, OklahomaCounty libraryLarge cityFiscal year July 2023 to June 2024

Metropolitan Library System is a county public library system based in Oklahoma City (Oklahoma County), Oklahoma, serving a legal service area of 808,866 residents through 19 library buildings. Among profiled systems in Oklahoma, it leads on population served, total visits, operating spending and electronic checkouts, but ranks second-lowest for print volumes per resident.

Among profiled systems serving 500,000 to 999,999 residents, it ranks third for weekly open hours per outlet and sixth for paid staff per resident and records the largest gain in physical checkouts since FY 2019. Against the median system of its size class, it records 67% more physical checkouts per resident and 54% more program attendance per resident.

Compare with similar-size systemsSystems serving 500,000 to 999,999

Metropolitan against the 61 systems of its size class

size-class median (50th percentile) · spine height = percentile within the class2.31Visitsper resident55th percentile6.45Checkoutsper resident80th percentile$59.93Spendingper resident63rd percentile1.00Print volumesper resident39th percentile282Program visitsper 1,000 people68th percentile4.9Computersper 10,000 people39th percentile63.9Open hoursper outlet a week95th percentile7.9Staff (FTE)per 10,000 people91st percentile
Gold tick: size-class medianVisits per resident2.3155th pct.Checkouts per resident6.4580th pct.Spending per resident$59.9363rd pct.Print volumes per resident1.0039th pct.Program visits per 1,000 people28268th pct.Computers per 10,000 people4.939th pct.Open hours per outlet a week63.995th pct.Staff (FTE) per 10,000 people7.991st pct.

How the measures and percentiles are calculated

Metropolitan, building by building

The 19 buildings cover 348,321 square feet in total, 0.43 square feet per resident against a median of 0.45 for the size class. The largest building is Ronald J Norick Downtown Library at 79,500 square feet; the smallest is Wright Library at 812. The longest hours, 70 a week, are shared by 14 buildings.

BuildingTypeTownHours a weekFloor area, sq ft
Ronald J Norick Downtown LibraryCentral libraryOklahoma City7079,500
Almonte LibraryBranchOklahoma City7012,500
Belle Isle LibraryBranchOklahoma City7018,848
Bethany LibraryBranchBethany7023,000
Capitol Hill LibraryBranchOklahoma City7017,000
Choctaw LibraryBranchChoctaw709,000
Del City LibraryBranchDel City7016,000
Edmond LibraryBranchEdmond7028,167
Harrah LibraryBranchHarrah51.51,800
Jones LibraryBranchJones51.53,000
Luther LibraryBranchLuther51.51,800
Midwest City LibraryBranchMidwest City7036,200
Nicoma Park LibraryBranchNicoma Park402,568
Northwest LibraryBranchOklahoma City7035,153
Ralph Ellison LibraryBranchOklahoma City7016,620
Southern Oaks LibraryBranchOklahoma City7020,164
The Village LibraryBranchThe Village7014,044
Warr Acres LibraryBranchWarr Acres7012,145
Wright LibraryBranchOklahoma City40812

Metropolitan in numbers, FY 2024

Visits
1,871,627
Physical checkouts
5,219,195
…of children's materials
2,852,270
Electronic checkouts
4,069,279
…of e-books
1,783,287
…of e-audio
1,954,010
Registered users
420,711
Program sessions
9,588
Program attendance
228,112
Print volumes
811,789
Audio items (physical)
75,517
Video items (physical)
108,841
Public computers
397
Public service hours, all outlets
63,160
Paid staff (full-time equivalent)
637.3
Operating spending
$48.5 million
…on books and other materials
$7.8 million
Overdue fines on print items
not charged

Where Metropolitan gets its operating money

Operating revenue came to $51.8 million, or $64.02 per resident. The local-government share is close to the combined share for the 117 profiled systems in Oklahoma. No federal operating revenue was reported.

This system94%All profiled systems in Oklahoma91%
This system94%All profiled systems in Oklahoma91%
  • Local government
  • State
  • Federal
  • Other (fines, fees, gifts, grants)

Metropolitan since FY 2019

Visits were 33% below the FY 2019 count of 2.8 million (size-class median: −30%). Physical checkouts moved 18% up over the same span.

FY 2019 = 1006080100120FY 2019FY 2023FY 2024
FY 2019 = 1006080100120FY 2019FY 2023FY 2024
  • Visits
  • Physical checkouts

Who comes to Metropolitan programs

Programs for children up to age 11 drew 64% of all program attendance, and sessions averaged 24 people each.

Children 0–11144,970Young adults 12–1827,421Adults 19+30,682General interest25,039
Children 0–11144,970Young adults 12–1827,421Adults 19+30,682General interest25,039

County libraries of similar size in other states

Of these six systems, two record more visits per resident than this one. The highest checkout rate in the group belongs to Cincinnati and Hamilton County Public Library in Ohio.

SystemBased inResidentsVisits per residentCheckouts per residentSpending per resident
Baltimore County Public LibraryTowson, MD849,3163.038.09$63.59
Cincinnati and Hamilton County Public LibraryCincinnati, OH830,6394.9315.34$87.83
Cobb County Public Library SystemMarietta, GA783,5361.802.30$24.43
Lee County Library SystemFort Myers, FL779,2211.833.48$47.86
Louisville Free Public LibraryLouisville, KY772,1442.292.87$31.25
Dekalb County Public LibraryDecatur, GA768,1342.082.44$38.11

Nearest in size within Oklahoma

All profiled systems in Oklahoma