Onondaga County Public Library
Onondaga County Public Library is a county public library system based in Syracuse (Onondaga County), New York, serving a legal service area of 476,516 residents through 11 library buildings. Among profiled systems serving 250,000 to 499,999 residents, it ranks first for the electronic share of checkouts, but ranks third-lowest for program attendance per resident and sixth-lowest for physical checkouts per resident.
Among the 754 profiled systems in New York, it ranks fifth for population served, eighth for operating spending and tenth for total visits. Against the median system of its size class, it records only 47% of the visits per resident and 41% fewer public computers per resident.
Onondaga County against the 122 systems of its size class
Onondaga County since FY 2019
Visits were 36% below the FY 2019 count of 773,664 (size-class median: −30%). Physical checkouts moved 37% down over the same span.
- Visits
- Physical checkouts
Who comes to Onondaga County programs
Programs for children up to age 11 drew 62% of all program attendance, and sessions averaged 12 people each.
Onondaga County in numbers, FY 2024
- Visits
- 496,611
- Physical checkouts
- 324,445
- …of children's materials
- 96,638
- Electronic checkouts
- 886,506
- …of e-books
- 404,094
- …of e-audio
- 362,960
- Registered users
- 73,731
- Program sessions
- 2,817
- Program attendance
- 33,780
- Print volumes
- 363,811
- Audio items (physical)
- 18,627
- Video items (physical)
- 39,505
- Public computers
- 172
- Public service hours, all outlets
- 24,937
- Paid staff (full-time equivalent)
- 100.2
- Operating spending
- $13.3 million
- …on books and other materials
- $935,825
- Overdue fines on print items
- not charged
Where Onondaga County gets its operating money
Operating revenue came to $13.2 million, or $27.73 per resident. The local-government share sits 5 percentage points above the combined share for the 754 profiled systems in New York.
- Local government
- State
- Federal
- Other (fines, fees, gifts, grants)
Onondaga County, building by building
The 11 buildings cover 199,369 square feet in total, 0.42 square feet per resident against a median of 0.46 for the size class. The largest building is Onondaga County Public Library at 115,458 square feet; the smallest is Southwest Community Center Library at 600. The longest hours are at Soule Branch Library, 53.8 a week.
| Building | Type | Town | Hours a week | Floor area, sq ft |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Onondaga County Public Library | Central library | Syracuse | 53.6 | 115,458 |
| Beauchamp Branch Library | Branch | Syracuse | 51.7 | 13,208 |
| Betts Branch Library | Branch | Syracuse | 53.3 | 10,287 |
| Hazard Branch Library | Branch | Syracuse | 46.9 | 14,810 |
| Mundy Branch Library | Branch | Syracuse | 49.2 | 7,271 |
| Northeast Community Center Library | Branch | Syracuse | 12.5 | 700 |
| Paine Branch Library | Branch | Syracuse | 50.5 | 5,852 |
| Petit Branch Library | Branch | Syracuse | 51 | 6,525 |
| Soule Branch Library | Branch | Syracuse | 53.8 | 14,629 |
| Southwest Community Center Library | Branch | Syracuse | 7 | 600 |
| White Branch Library | Branch | Syracuse | 50.1 | 10,029 |
County libraries of similar size in other states
Of these six systems, five record more visits per resident than this one. The highest checkout rate in the group belongs to Johnson County Library in Kansas.
| System | Based in | Residents | Visits per resident | Checkouts per resident | Spending per resident |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Knox County Public Library System | Knoxville, TN | 500,669 | 2.07 | 4.34 | $30.08 |
| Pinal County Library District | Florence, AZ | 483,944 | 0.11 | 0.44 | $5.69 |
| Johnson County Library | Overland Park, KS | 474,776 | 3.94 | 10.93 | $114.39 |
| East Baton Rouge Parish Library | Baton Rouge, LA | 453,022 | 3.88 | 3.16 | $100.46 |
| Dayton Metro Library | Dayton, OH | 452,238 | 4.40 | 6.51 | $83.51 |
| Osceola Library System | Kissimmee, FL | 450,989 | 1.52 | 1.79 | $18.18 |
Nearest in size within New York
- Buffalo and Erie County Public Library · Buffalo · 954,236 residents
- Yonkers Public Library · Yonkers · 211,569 residents
- Rochester Public Library · Rochester · 211,328 residents
- Broome County Public Library · Binghamton · 198,683 residents