librarysystems

North Central Regional Library

Wenatchee, WashingtonChelan CountyLibrary districtSmall cityFiscal year January 2024 to December 2024

North Central Regional Library is a library district based in Wenatchee (Chelan County), Washington, serving a legal service area of 280,865 residents through 30 library buildings and one bookmobile. Among the 57 profiled systems in Washington, it ranks second for number of library buildings, eighth for population served, ninth for total visits and ninth for operating spending.

Among profiled systems serving 250,000 to 499,999 residents, it ranks fifth-lowest for weekly open hours per outlet and records the third-steepest decline in physical checkouts since FY 2019. Against the median system of its size class, it records 63% more operating spending per resident and 27% fewer physical checkouts per resident.

Compare with similar-size systemsSystems serving 250,000 to 499,999

North Central Regional against the 122 systems of its size class

size-class median (50th percentile) · spine height = percentile within the class2.33Visitsper resident53rd percentile2.60Checkoutsper resident32nd percentile$58.44Spendingper resident75th percentile1.33Print volumesper resident60th percentile194Program visitsper 1,000 people46th percentile7.2Computersper 10,000 people63rd percentile32.7Open hoursper outlet a week4th percentile4.1Staff (FTE)per 10,000 people60th percentile
Gold tick: size-class medianVisits per resident2.3353rd pct.Checkouts per resident2.6032nd pct.Spending per resident$58.4475th pct.Print volumes per resident1.3360th pct.Program visits per 1,000 people19446th pct.Computers per 10,000 people7.263rd pct.Open hours per outlet a week32.74th pct.Staff (FTE) per 10,000 people4.160th pct.

How the measures and percentiles are calculated

North Central Regional, building by building

The 30 buildings cover 109,351 square feet in total, 0.39 square feet per resident against a median of 0.46 for the size class. The largest building is Wenatchee Public Library at 24,800 square feet; the smallest is Entiat Public Library at 820. The longest hours are at Wenatchee Public Library, 51 a week.

BuildingTypeTownHours a weekFloor area, sq ft
Wenatchee Public LibraryCentral libraryWenatchee5124,800
Brewster Public LibraryBranchBrewster321,350
Bridgeport Public LibraryBranchBridgeport321,260
Cashmere Public LibraryBranchCashmere44.83,400
Chelan Public LibraryBranchChelan426,077
Coulee City Public LibraryBranchCoulee City29.51,800
Curlew Public LibraryBranchCurlew271,200
East Wenatchee Public LibraryBranchEast Wenatchee30850
Entiat Public LibraryBranchEntiat23820
Ephrata Public LibraryBranchEphrata425,199
George Public LibraryBranchGeorge36.11,728
Grand Coulee Public LibraryBranchGrand Coulee26.82,100
Leavenworth Public LibraryBranchLeavenworth343,500
Manson Public LibraryBranchManson291,368
Mattawa Public LibraryBranchMattawa211,530
Moses Lake Public LibraryBranchMoses Lake4711,819
Okanogan Public LibraryBranchOkanogan282,676
Omak Public LibraryBranchOmak424,825
Oroville Public LibraryBranchOroville312,466
Pateros Public LibraryBranchPateros28950
Peshastin Public LibraryBranchPeshastin27.91,200
Quincy Public LibraryBranchQuincy44.69,087
Republic Public LibraryBranchRepublic45.92,776
Royal City Public LibraryBranchRoyal City281,500
Soap Lake Public LibraryBranchSoap Lake292,176
Tonasket Public LibraryBranchTonasket38.51,975
Twisp Public LibraryBranchTwisp311,083
Warden Public LibraryBranchWarden29.71,536
Waterville Public LibraryBranchWaterville302,300
Winthrop Public LibraryBranchWinthrop376,000
BookmobileBookmobileWenatchee13

North Central Regional in numbers, FY 2024

Visits
654,442
Physical checkouts
730,205
…of children's materials
321,816
Electronic checkouts
561,204
…of e-books
209,839
…of e-audio
278,778
Registered users
55,314
Program sessions
4,003
Program attendance
54,350
Print volumes
373,208
Audio items (physical)
12,874
Video items (physical)
65,026
Public computers
201
Public service hours, all outlets
52,776
Paid staff (full-time equivalent)
115.2
Operating spending
$16.4 million
…on books and other materials
$1.8 million
Overdue fines on print items
not charged

Where North Central Regional gets its operating money

Operating revenue came to $16.1 million, or $57.49 per resident. The local-government share is close to the combined share for the 56 profiled systems in Washington.

This system96%All profiled systems in Washington94%
This system96%All profiled systems in Washington94%
  • Local government
  • State
  • Federal
  • Other (fines, fees, gifts, grants)

North Central Regional since FY 2019

Visits were 43% below the FY 2019 count of 1.1 million (size-class median: −30%). Physical checkouts moved 55% down over the same span.

FY 2019 = 10030507090110FY 2019FY 2023FY 2024
FY 2019 = 10030507090110FY 2019FY 2023FY 2024
  • Visits
  • Physical checkouts

Who comes to North Central Regional programs

Programs for children up to age 11 drew 72% of all program attendance, and sessions averaged 14 people each.

Children 0–1138,871Young adults 12–183,166Adults 19+10,497General interest1,816
Children 0–1138,871Young adults 12–183,166Adults 19+10,497General interest1,816

Library districts 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 Meridian District in Idaho.

SystemBased inResidentsVisits per residentCheckouts per residentSpending per resident
Mesa County Public Library DistrictGrand Junction, CO159,6374.516.03$50.93
Porter County Public Library SystemValparaiso, IN152,5802.875.06$43.74
Gail Borden Public Library DistrictElgin, IL149,9074.265.66$114.78
Scenic Regional LibraryUnion, MO147,7302.493.11$28.64
Meridian DistrictMeridian, ID147,4063.158.12$51.70
Warren County Public LibraryBowling Green, KY142,2292.734.69$28.50

Nearest in size within Washington

All profiled systems in Washington