Oak Park Public Library
Oak Park Public Library is a municipal public library system based in Oak Park (Cook County), Illinois, serving a legal service area of 54,583 residents through three library buildings. Among profiled systems serving 50,000 to 99,999 residents, it ranks third for operating spending per resident, third for library floor space per resident, fourth for public computers per resident and fourth for paid staff per resident.
Among the 617 profiled systems in Illinois, it ranks seventh for physical checkouts and ninth for operating spending. Against the median system of its size class, it records 5.6 times the physical checkouts per resident and 3.0 times the visits per resident.
Oak Park against the 559 systems of its size class
Oak Park in numbers, FY 2024
- Visits
- 371,003
- Physical checkouts
- 1,042,246
- Registered users
- 48,117
- Program sessions
- 1,773
- Program attendance
- 38,400
- Print volumes
- 195,041
- Audio items (physical)
- 11,839
- Video items (physical)
- 34,450
- Public computers
- 151
- Public service hours, all outlets
- 8,917
- Paid staff (full-time equivalent)
- 100.3
- Operating spending
- $11.1 million
- …on books and other materials
- $1.1 million
- Overdue fines on print items
- not charged
Where Oak Park gets its operating money
Operating revenue came to $13.8 million, or $253.39 per resident. The local-government share sits 4 percentage points above the combined share for the 617 profiled systems in Illinois. No federal operating revenue was reported.
- Local government
- State
- Federal
- Other (fines, fees, gifts, grants)
Municipal 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.
| System | Based in | Residents | Visits per resident | Checkouts per resident | Spending per resident |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Chicopee Public Library | Chicopee, MA | 54,980 | 2.36 | 4.62 | $36.84 |
| Longview Public Library | Longview, WA | 54,893 | 1.85 | 4.52 | $38.89 |
| Wayne Public Library | Wayne, NJ | 54,838 | 3.60 | 5.44 | $69.20 |
| Plainfield Free Public Library | Plainfield, NJ | 54,586 | 2.24 | 0.53 | $53.53 |
| San Juan Memorial Library | San Juan, TX | 54,488 | 0.40 | 0.20 | $5.94 |
| North Shelby Library | Birmingham, AL | 54,151 | 1.82 | 4.71 | $27.03 |
Oak Park since FY 2019
Visits were 45% below the FY 2019 count of 679,642 (size-class median: −29%). Physical checkouts moved 28% down over the same span.
- Visits
- Physical checkouts
Who comes to Oak Park programs
Programs for children up to age 11 drew 56% of all program attendance, and sessions averaged 22 people each.
Oak Park, building by building
The three buildings cover 114,330 square feet in total, 2.09 square feet per resident against a median of 0.62 for the size class. The largest building is Oak Park Public Library at 104,000 square feet; the smallest is Dole Branch Library at 2,698. The longest hours are at Oak Park Public Library, 67.6 a week.
| Building | Type | Town | Hours a week | Floor area, sq ft |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Oak Park Public Library | Central library | Oak Park | 67.6 | 104,000 |
| Dole Branch Library | Branch | Oak Park | 51.8 | 2,698 |
| Maze Branch Library | Branch | Oak Park | 54 | 7,632 |
Nearest in size within Illinois
- Wheaton Public Library · Wheaton · 53,970 residents
- Saint Charles Public Library District · Saint Charles · 55,889 residents
- Tinley Park Public Library · Tinley Park · 55,971 residents
- Normal Public Library · Normal · 52,736 residents