Princeton Public Library
Princeton Public Library is a multi-jurisdictional public library based in Princeton (Mercer County), New Jersey, serving a legal service area of 30,681 residents from a single building. Among profiled systems serving 25,000 to 49,999 residents, it ranks first for program attendance per resident, second for visits per resident, fourth for public computers per resident and eighth for operating spending per resident.
Among profiled systems in New Jersey, it ranks third for weekly open hours per outlet and sixth for total visits. Against the median system of its size class, it records 3.3 times the paid staff per resident and 3.0 times the physical checkouts per resident.
Princeton against the 964 systems of its size class
Princeton since FY 2019
Visits were 8% below the FY 2019 count of 750,219 (size-class median: −28%). Physical checkouts moved 16% down over the same span.
- Visits
- Physical checkouts
Who comes to Princeton programs
Programs for adults drew 61% of all program attendance, and sessions averaged 57 people each.
Princeton in numbers, FY 2024
- Visits
- 688,713
- Physical checkouts
- 364,059
- …of children's materials
- 204,153
- Electronic checkouts
- 225,420
- …of e-books
- 80,411
- …of e-audio
- 71,444
- Registered users
- 25,364
- Program sessions
- 2,025
- Program attendance
- 115,972
- Print volumes
- 118,162
- Audio items (physical)
- 5,279
- Video items (physical)
- 11,995
- Public computers
- 107
- Public service hours, all outlets
- 3,744
- Paid staff (full-time equivalent)
- 47.7
- Operating spending
- $6.3 million
- …on books and other materials
- $451,841
- Overdue fines on print items
- charged
Where Princeton gets its operating money
Operating revenue came to $6.3 million, or $204.84 per resident. The local-government share sits 20 percentage points below the combined share for the 262 profiled systems in New Jersey. No federal operating revenue was reported.
- Local government
- State
- Federal
- Other (fines, fees, gifts, grants)
The Princeton building
The single building covers 61,000 square feet, 1.99 square feet per resident against a median of 0.74 for the size class. It is open 72 hours a week.
| Building | Type | Town | Hours a week | Floor area, sq ft |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Princeton Public Library | Central library | Princeton | 72 | 61,000 |
Multi-jurisdictional 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ward County Public Library | Minot, ND | 31,351 | 0.77 | 1.93 | $15.30 |
| East Mississippi Regional Library | Quitman, MS | 31,241 | 1.18 | 1.30 | $14.44 |
| Heritage Public Library | New Kent, VA | 30,260 | 1.05 | 1.25 | $17.19 |
| Audubon Regional Library | Clinton, LA | 29,969 | 0.68 | 0.91 | $25.59 |
| Kemper-Newton Regional Library | Union, MS | 29,603 | 1.01 | 0.72 | $9.90 |
| Everett Roehl Marshfield Public Library | Marshfield, WI | 29,035 | 3.45 | 7.78 | $59.37 |
Nearest in size within New Jersey
- Westfield Memorial Library · Westfield · 31,032 residents
- Nutley Free Public Library · Nutley · 30,143 residents
- Ruth L. Rockwood Memorial Library · Livingston · 31,330 residents
- Long Branch Free Public Library · Long Branch · 31,667 residents