librarysystems

Montgomery County Public Libraries

Rockville, MarylandMontgomery CountyCounty librarySmall cityFiscal year July 2023 to June 2024

Montgomery County Public Libraries is a county public library system based in Rockville (Montgomery County), Maryland, serving a legal service area of 1,054,827 residents through 22 library buildings. Among the 24 profiled systems in Maryland, it leads on population served, total visits, physical checkouts and program attendance, but ranks last for paid staff per resident.

Among profiled systems serving 1 million or more residents, it ranks second for weekly open hours per outlet, fourth for visits per resident and fifth for physical checkouts per resident and records the seventh-smallest decline in visits since FY 2019. Against the median system of its size class, it records 57% more print volumes per resident and 28% more program attendance per resident.

Compare with similar-size systemsSystems serving 1 million or more

Montgomery County against the 35 systems of its size class

size-class median (50th percentile) · spine height = percentile within the class3.36Visitsper resident90th percentile6.90Checkoutsper resident87th percentile$44.50Spendingper resident59th percentile1.49Print volumesper resident79th percentile257Program visitsper 1,000 people66th percentile6.3Computersper 10,000 people61st percentile58.1Open hoursper outlet a week95th percentile3.7Staff (FTE)per 10,000 people70th percentile
Gold tick: size-class medianVisits per resident3.3690th pct.Checkouts per resident6.9087th pct.Spending per resident$44.5059th pct.Print volumes per resident1.4979th pct.Program visits per 1,000 people25766th pct.Computers per 10,000 people6.361st pct.Open hours per outlet a week58.195th pct.Staff (FTE) per 10,000 people3.770th pct.

How the measures and percentiles are calculated

Montgomery County, building by building

The 22 buildings cover 572,719 square feet in total, 0.54 square feet per resident against a median of 0.39 for the size class. The largest building is Brigadier General Charles E McGee (Sliver Spring) Branch at 90,000 square feet; the smallest is Noyes Library for Young Children at 925. The longest hours are at Aspen Hill Branch, 62.2 a week.

BuildingTypeTownHours a weekFloor area, sq ft
Aspen Hill BranchBranchRockville62.216,100
Brigadier General Charles E McGee (Sliver Spring) BranchBranchSilver Spring60.790,000
Chevy Chase BranchBranchChevy Chase59.813,656
Connie Morella(Bethesda) BranchBranchBethesda61.225,980
Damascus BranchBranchDamascus61.616,400
Davis BranchBranchBethesda61.325,750
Gaithersburg BranchBranchGaithersburg61.862,525
Germantown BranchBranchGermantown61.944,193
Kensington Park BranchBranchKensington61.316,000
Little Falls BranchBranchBethesda61.411,500
Long BranchBranchSilver Spring60.721,000
Maggie Nightingale BranchBranchPoolesville466,250
Marilyn J Praisner BranchBranchBurtonsville61.117,500
Montgomery County Correctional FacilityBranchBoyds38.62,000
Noyes Library for Young ChildrenBranchKensington30.6925
Olney BranchBranchOlney6122,574
Potomac BranchBranchPotomac61.316,000
Quince Orchard BranchBranchGaithersburg60.917,991
Rockville Memorial BranchBranchRockville61.581,275
Twinbrook BranchBranchRockville61.516,895
Wheaton LibraryBranchWheaton61.232,000
White Oak BranchBranchSilver Spring61.316,205

Montgomery County in numbers, FY 2024

Visits
3,542,047
Physical checkouts
7,281,960
…of children's materials
4,543,646
Electronic checkouts
3,673,794
…of e-books
1,683,097
…of e-audio
1,402,660
Registered users
648,147
Program sessions
9,860
Program attendance
270,850
Print volumes
1,567,255
Audio items (physical)
43,319
Video items (physical)
92,858
Public computers
667
Public service hours, all outlets
66,496
Paid staff (full-time equivalent)
393.0
Operating spending
$46.9 million
…on books and other materials
$7.6 million
Overdue fines on print items
not charged

Where Montgomery County gets its operating money

Operating revenue came to $45.4 million, or $43.01 per resident. The local-government share sits 19 percentage points above the combined share for the 24 profiled systems in Maryland.

This system90%All profiled systems in Maryland71%17%
This system90%All profiled systems in Maryland71%17%
  • Local government
  • State
  • Federal
  • Other (fines, fees, gifts, grants)

Montgomery County since FY 2019

Visits were 25% below the FY 2019 count of 4.7 million (size-class median: −34%). Physical checkouts moved 22% down over the same span.

FY 2019 = 10060708090100110FY 2019FY 2023FY 2024
FY 2019 = 10060708090100110FY 2019FY 2023FY 2024
  • Visits
  • Physical checkouts

Who comes to Montgomery County programs

Programs for children up to age 11 drew 48% of all program attendance, and sessions averaged 27 people each.

Children 0–11130,295Young adults 12–1821,398Adults 19+50,209General interest68,948
Children 0–11130,295Young adults 12–1821,398Adults 19+50,209General interest68,948

County 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.

SystemBased inResidentsVisits per residentCheckouts per residentSpending per resident
San Diego County LibrarySan Diego, CA1,111,5272.505.26$61.63
Fulton County Library SystemAtlanta, GA1,094,6932.132.10$27.24
Contra Costa County LibraryMartinez, CA1,033,8912.374.66$42.65
Palm Beach County Library SystemWest Palm Beach, FL1,007,1702.585.63$58.14
Fresno County Public LibraryFresno, CA993,9761.121.86$35.58
Gwinnett County Public Library SystemLawrenceville, GA992,7052.062.73$25.88

Nearest in size within Maryland

All profiled systems in Maryland