librarysystems

Pierce County Library System

Tacoma, WashingtonPierce CountyLibrary districtLarge suburbFiscal year January 2024 to December 2024

Pierce County Library System is a library district based in Tacoma (Pierce County), Washington, serving a legal service area of 665,760 residents through 19 library buildings. Among profiled systems serving 500,000 to 999,999 residents, it ranks second-lowest for library floor space per resident and ninth-lowest for program attendance per resident and records the seventh-steepest decline in physical checkouts since FY 2019.

Among the 57 profiled systems in Washington, it ranks fourth for population served, fourth for total visits, fourth for operating spending and fifth for physical checkouts, but ranks second-lowest for print volumes per resident. Against the median system of its size class, it records 36% more operating spending per resident.

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

Pierce County against the 61 systems of its size class

size-class median (50th percentile) · spine height = percentile within the class2.15Visitsper resident47th percentile3.86Checkoutsper resident50th percentile$65.13Spendingper resident70th percentile0.74Print volumesper resident16th percentile128Program visitsper 1,000 people14th percentile6.1Computersper 10,000 people48th percentile47.0Open hoursper outlet a week53rd percentile4.6Staff (FTE)per 10,000 people63rd percentile
Gold tick: size-class medianVisits per resident2.1547th pct.Checkouts per resident3.8650th pct.Spending per resident$65.1370th pct.Print volumes per resident0.7416th pct.Program visits per 1,000 people12814th pct.Computers per 10,000 people6.148th pct.Open hours per outlet a week47.053rd pct.Staff (FTE) per 10,000 people4.663rd pct.

How the measures and percentiles are calculated

Pierce County, building by building

The 19 buildings cover 143,352 square feet in total, 0.22 square feet per resident against a median of 0.45 for the size class. The largest building is South Hill Library at 20,100 square feet; the smallest is Anderson Island Library at 422. The longest hours are at South Hill Library, 61.8 a week.

BuildingTypeTownHours a weekFloor area, sq ft
Anderson Island LibraryBranchAnderson Island3422
Bonney Lake LibraryBranchBonney Lake52.36,480
Buckley LibraryBranchBuckley47.54,100
Dupont LibraryBranchDupont47.93,610
Eatonville LibraryBranchEatonville484,100
Fife LibraryBranchFife47.86,100
Gig Harbor LibraryBranchGig Harbor61.715,500
Graham LibraryBranchGraham52.57,152
Interim Lakewood BranchBranchLakewood47.47,700
Key Center LibraryBranchLakebay47.94,066
Milton/Edgewood LibraryBranchMilton486,583
Orting LibraryBranchOrting482,700
Parkland/Spanaway LibraryBranchTacoma60.715,576
South Hill LibraryBranchPuyallup61.820,100
Steilacoom LibraryBranchSteilacoom47.84,039
Summit LibraryBranchTacoma52.77,424
Sumner LibraryBranchSumner5210,600
Tillicum LibraryBranchLakewood39.42,100
University Place LibraryBranchUniversity Place60.715,000

Pierce County in numbers, FY 2024

Visits
1,428,085
Physical checkouts
2,569,689
…of children's materials
1,225,129
Registered users
336,412
Program sessions
3,292
Program attendance
85,325
Print volumes
493,718
Audio items (physical)
34,485
Video items (physical)
85,870
Public computers
408
Public service hours, all outlets
46,441
Paid staff (full-time equivalent)
303.3
Operating spending
$43.4 million
…on books and other materials
$4.3 million
Overdue fines on print items
not charged

Where Pierce County gets its operating money

Operating revenue came to $46.9 million, or $70.46 per resident. The local-government share sits 4 percentage points above the combined share for the 56 profiled systems in Washington.

This system97%All profiled systems in Washington94%
This system97%All profiled systems in Washington94%
  • Local government
  • State
  • Federal
  • Other (fines, fees, gifts, grants)

Pierce County since FY 2019

Visits were 32% below the FY 2019 count of 2.1 million (size-class median: −30%). Physical checkouts moved 42% down over the same span.

FY 2019 = 1005060708090100110FY 2019FY 2023FY 2024
FY 2019 = 1005060708090100110FY 2019FY 2023FY 2024
  • Visits
  • Physical checkouts

Who comes to Pierce County programs

Programs for children up to age 11 drew 75% of all program attendance, and sessions averaged 26 people each.

Children 0–1164,019Young adults 12–185,293Adults 19+7,230General interest8,783
Children 0–1164,019Young adults 12–185,293Adults 19+7,230General interest8,783

Library districts of similar size in other states

Of these six systems, three record more visits per resident than this one. The highest checkout rate in the group belongs to Springfield-Greene County Library District in Missouri.

SystemBased inResidentsVisits per residentCheckouts per residentSpending per resident
Henderson District Public LibrariesHenderson, NV341,9801.543.75$25.55
Genesee District LibraryFlint, MI334,6452.061.87$27.33
High Plains Library DistrictGreeley, CO315,7354.235.40$92.01
City of St. Louis Municipal Library DistrictSt. Louis, MO301,5783.485.01$104.81
Springfield-Greene County Library DistrictSpringfield, MO298,9153.996.77$51.49
North Las Vegas Library DistrictNorth Las Vegas, NV282,4960.941.24$12.66

Nearest in size within Washington

All profiled systems in Washington