Plano Public Library System
Plano Public Library System is a municipal public library system based in Plano (Collin County), Texas, serving a legal service area of 290,190 residents through five library buildings. Among profiled systems serving 250,000 to 499,999 residents, it ranks second for visits per resident, third for weekly open hours per outlet and sixth for local government's share of operating revenue and records the largest gain in visits since FY 2019.
Among the 503 profiled systems in Texas, it ranks fifth for total visits, seventh for operating spending and eighth for physical checkouts. Against the median system of its size class, it records 2.4 times the physical checkouts per resident and 89% more program attendance per resident.
Plano against the 122 systems of its size class
Plano since FY 2019
Visits were 18% above the FY 2019 count of 1.5 million (size-class median: −30%). Physical checkouts moved 25% down over the same span.
- Visits
- Physical checkouts
Who comes to Plano programs
Programs for children up to age 11 drew 69% of all program attendance, and sessions averaged 32 people each.
Plano in numbers, FY 2024
- Visits
- 1,730,461
- Physical checkouts
- 2,490,867
- …of children's materials
- 1,477,045
- Electronic checkouts
- 1,215,546
- …of e-books
- 505,616
- …of e-audio
- 321,851
- Registered users
- 227,272
- Program sessions
- 3,454
- Program attendance
- 109,399
- Print volumes
- 439,032
- Audio items (physical)
- 7,288
- Video items (physical)
- 45,053
- Public computers
- 195
- Public service hours, all outlets
- 17,246
- Paid staff (full-time equivalent)
- 155.0
- Operating spending
- $15.7 million
- …on books and other materials
- $2 million
- Overdue fines on print items
- not charged
Where Plano gets its operating money
Operating revenue came to $15.7 million, or $54.00 per resident. The local-government share sits 3 percentage points above the combined share for the 503 profiled systems in Texas.
- Local government
- State
- Federal
- Other (fines, fees, gifts, grants)
Plano, building by building
The five buildings cover 195,554 square feet in total, 0.67 square feet per resident against a median of 0.46 for the size class. The largest building is Plano Public Library System at 60,871 square feet; the smallest is Christopher A Parr Library at 30,000. The longest hours, 66.5 a week, are shared by two buildings.
| Building | Type | Town | Hours a week | Floor area, sq ft |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Plano Public Library System | Central library | Plano | 66.1 | 60,871 |
| Christopher A Parr Library | Branch | Plano | 66.5 | 30,000 |
| Gladys Harrington Library | Branch | Plano | 66.1 | 34,203 |
| Ler Schimelpfenig Library | Branch | Plano | 66.4 | 30,000 |
| Maribelle M Davis Library | Branch | Plano | 66.5 | 40,480 |
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Des Moines Public Library | Des Moines, IA | 221,659 | 4.01 | 3.83 | $51.54 |
| Yonkers Public Library | Yonkers, NY | 211,569 | 3.33 | 1.89 | $54.04 |
| Rochester Public Library | Rochester, NY | 211,328 | 3.99 | 3.62 | $94.91 |
| Salt Lake City Public Library System | Salt Lake City, UT | 209,593 | 5.12 | 8.35 | $118.24 |
| Moreno Valley Public Library | Moreno Valley, CA | 207,146 | 1.23 | 1.18 | $16.12 |
| Worcester Public Library | Worcester, MA | 205,319 | 2.15 | 3.15 | $38.77 |
Nearest in size within Texas
- Lubbock Public Library · Lubbock · 299,167 residents
- Corpus Christi Public Libraries · Corpus Christi · 316,595 residents
- Brownsville Public Library · Brownsville · 259,714 residents
- Laredo Public Library · Laredo · 257,602 residents