librarysystems

Sacramento Public Library

Sacramento, CaliforniaMulti-jurisdictional libraryLarge cityFiscal year July 2023 to June 2024

Sacramento Public Library is a multi-jurisdictional public library system based in Sacramento, California, serving a legal service area of 1,490,915 residents through 28 library buildings and two bookmobiles. Among profiled systems serving 1 million or more residents, it ranks third-lowest for weekly open hours per outlet and fifth-lowest for paid staff per resident and records the fourth-steepest decline in visits since FY 2019.

Among profiled systems in California, it ranks third for public computers, fourth for population served, ninth for operating spending and tenth for total visits. Against the median system of its size class, it records only 44% of the program attendance per resident and 35% fewer visits per resident.

Compare with similar-size systemsSystems serving 1 million or more

Sacramento against the 35 systems of its size class

size-class median (50th percentile) · spine height = percentile within the class1.35Visitsper resident21st percentile2.84Checkoutsper resident50th percentile$38.30Spendingper resident39th percentile0.81Print volumesper resident36th percentile88.6Program visitsper 1,000 people19th percentile6.2Computersper 10,000 people59th percentile34.4Open hoursper outlet a week8th percentile2.0Staff (FTE)per 10,000 people13th percentile
Gold tick: size-class medianVisits per resident1.3521st pct.Checkouts per resident2.8450th pct.Spending per resident$38.3039th pct.Print volumes per resident0.8136th pct.Program visits per 1,000 people88.619th pct.Computers per 10,000 people6.259th pct.Open hours per outlet a week34.48th pct.Staff (FTE) per 10,000 people2.013th pct.

How the measures and percentiles are calculated

Sacramento, building by building

The 28 buildings cover 458,405 square feet in total, 0.31 square feet per resident against a median of 0.39 for the size class. The largest building is Sacramento Central Library at 160,000 square feet; the smallest is Isleton Branch Library at 1,700. The longest hours are at Del Paso Heights Library, 40.1 a week.

BuildingTypeTownHours a weekFloor area, sq ft
Sacramento Central LibraryCentral librarySacramento39.2160,000
Arcade LibraryBranchSacramento39.112,686
Arden-Dimick LibraryBranchSacramento38.811,901
Belle Cooledge LibraryBranchSacramento39.112,000
Carmichael LibraryBranchCarmichael39.220,690
Colonial Heights LibraryBranchSacramento3912,211
Courtland LibraryBranchCourtland242,325
Del Paso Heights LibraryBranchSacramento40.15,425
Elk Grove LibraryBranchElk Grove39.213,850
Ella K. McClatchy LibraryBranchSacramento–4,689
Fair Oaks LibraryBranchFair Oaks39.112,000
Franklin LibraryBranchElk Grove39.819,621
Isleton Branch LibraryBranchIsleton24.31,700
Marian O. Lawrence (Galt) LibraryBranchGalt39.54,225
Martin Luther King Jr. LibraryBranchSacramento38.915,078
McKinley LibraryBranchSacramento39.24,681
North Highlands-Antelope LibraryBranchAntelope39.212,890
North Natomas LibraryBranchSacramento39.122,648
North Sacramento/Hagginwood LibraryBranchSacramento39.14,000
Orangevale LibraryBranchOrangevale39.17,920
Pocket-GreenhavenBranchSacramento38.815,387
Rancho Cordova LibraryBranchSacramento39.212,500
Rio Linda LibraryBranchRio Linda397,778
South Natomas LibraryBranchSacramento39.213,615
Southgate LibraryBranchSacramento39.212,000
Sylvan Oaks LibraryBranchCitrus Heights38.812,500
Valley-Hi North Laguna LibraryBranchSacramento3920,505
Walnut Grove LibraryBranchWalnut Grove24.43,580
SojournerBookmobileSacramento8.3
WandererBookmobileSacramento8.6

A dash marks a value not reported for FY 2024.

Sacramento in numbers, FY 2024

Visits
2,010,888
Physical checkouts
4,229,550
…of children's materials
2,449,513
Electronic checkouts
4,424,815
…of e-books
2,076,395
…of e-audio
1,939,146
Registered users
858,125
Program sessions
4,436
Program attendance
132,049
Print volumes
1,213,619
Audio items (physical)
17,462
Video items (physical)
93,578
Public computers
923
Public service hours, all outlets
53,735
Paid staff (full-time equivalent)
295.0
Operating spending
$57.1 million
…on books and other materials
$8.5 million
Overdue fines on print items
not charged

Where Sacramento gets its operating money

Operating revenue came to $62.3 million, or $41.79 per resident. The local-government share is close to the combined share for the 170 profiled systems in California.

This system92%All profiled systems in California94%
This system92%All profiled systems in California94%
  • Local government
  • State
  • Federal
  • Other (fines, fees, gifts, grants)

Sacramento since FY 2019

Visits were 46% below the FY 2019 count of 3.7 million (size-class median: −34%). Physical checkouts moved 30% down over the same span.

FY 2019 = 100406080100FY 2019FY 2023FY 2024
FY 2019 = 100406080100FY 2019FY 2023FY 2024
  • Visits
  • Physical checkouts

Who comes to Sacramento programs

Programs for children up to age 11 drew 65% of all program attendance, and sessions averaged 30 people each.

Children 0–1186,115Young adults 12–188,584Adults 19+23,843General interest13,507
Children 0–1186,115Young adults 12–188,584Adults 19+23,843General interest13,507

Multi-jurisdictional libraries of similar size in other states

All six of these systems record more visits per resident than this one. The highest checkout rate in the group belongs to Fairfax County Public Library in Virginia.

SystemBased inResidentsVisits per residentCheckouts per residentSpending per resident
Fairfax County Public LibraryFairfax, VA1,169,4402.757.09$40.63
Jacksonville Public LibraryJacksonville, FL1,062,1452.093.61$38.07
Pinellas Public Library CooperativeClearwater, FL946,7762.503.55$41.77
Polk County Library CooperativeBartow, FL822,7691.892.18$18.08
Prince William Public LibrariesPrince William, VA525,4411.663.32$44.93
Great River Regional LibrarySt. Cloud, MN515,8552.194.53$19.03

Nearest in size within California

All profiled systems in California