Saint Louis County Library
Saint Louis County Library is a library district based in St. Louis, Missouri, serving a legal service area of 863,407 residents through 20 library buildings and nine bookmobiles. Among the 149 profiled systems in Missouri, it leads on population served, total visits, physical checkouts and program attendance.
Among the 61 profiled systems serving 500,000 to 999,999 residents, it ranks sixth for visits per resident, sixth for program attendance per resident, eighth for physical checkouts per resident and tenth for public computers per resident. Against the median system of its size class, it records 48% more operating spending per resident and 48% more paid staff per resident.
Saint Louis County against the 61 systems of its size class
Saint Louis County, building by building
The 19 buildings cover 384,636 square feet in total, 0.45 square feet per resident against a median of 0.45 for the size class. The largest building is Florissant Valley Branch at 38,168 square feet; the smallest is Parkview Branch at 15,500. The longest hours, 68 a week, are shared by three buildings.
| Building | Type | Town | Hours a week | Floor area, sq ft |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bridgeton Trails Branch | Branch | Bridgeton | 64 | 17,500 |
| Cliff Cave Branch | Branch | St. Louis | 64 | 18,940 |
| Daniel Boone Branch | Branch | Ellisville | 68 | 33,960 |
| Eureka Hills Branch | Branch | Eureka | 64 | 15,555 |
| Florissant Valley Branch | Branch | Florissant | 68 | 38,168 |
| Grand Glaize Branch | Branch | Manchester | 64 | 20,185 |
| Grant's View Branch | Branch | St. Louis | 68 | 37,000 |
| Jamestown Bluffs Branch | Branch | Florissant | 64 | 16,500 |
| Lewis & Clark Branch | Branch | St. Louis | 64 | 16,000 |
| Meramec Valley Branch | Branch | Fenton | 64 | 18,366 |
| Mid-County Branch | Branch | Clayton | 64 | 16,099 |
| Natural Bridge Branch | Branch | St. Louis | 64 | 15,900 |
| Oak Bend Branch | Branch | St. Louis | 64 | 16,668 |
| Parkview Branch | Branch | St. Louis | 64 | 15,500 |
| Prairie Commons Branch | Branch | Hazelwood | 64 | 16,995 |
| Rock Road Branch | Branch | St. Ann | 64 | 15,500 |
| Samuel C. Sachs Branch | Branch | Chesterfield | 64 | 16,800 |
| Thornhill Branch | Branch | St. Louis | 64 | 19,500 |
| Weber Road Branch | Branch | St. Louis | 64 | 19,500 |
| Preschool Outreach | Bookmobile | St. Louis | 16 | |
| School Bookmobile-11 | Bookmobile | St. Louis | 37.1 | |
| School Bookmobile-12 | Bookmobile | St. Louis | 37.1 | |
| School Bookmobile-13 | Bookmobile | St. Louis | 37.1 | |
| School Bookmobile-14 | Bookmobile | St. Louis | 37.1 | |
| Senior Full Size Van-3 | Bookmobile | St. Louis | 21 | |
| Senior Van-4 | Bookmobile | St. Louis | 27 | |
| Senior Van-6 | Bookmobile | St. Louis | 26.5 | |
| Sweet Reads Van 39 | Bookmobile | St. Louis | 30 |
Saint Louis County in numbers, FY 2024
- Visits
- 3,524,230
- Physical checkouts
- 7,190,019
- …of children's materials
- 3,614,516
- Electronic checkouts
- 3,296,437
- …of e-books
- 1,244,838
- …of e-audio
- 1,777,537
- Registered users
- 818,923
- Program sessions
- 16,259
- Program attendance
- 386,744
- Print volumes
- 1,066,874
- Audio items (physical)
- 84,742
- Video items (physical)
- 190,247
- Public computers
- 831
- Public service hours, all outlets
- 75,195
- Paid staff (full-time equivalent)
- 525.9
- Operating spending
- $61.2 million
- …on books and other materials
- $7.8 million
- Overdue fines on print items
- not charged
Who comes to Saint Louis County programs
Programs for children up to age 11 drew 58% of all program attendance, and sessions averaged 24 people each.
Saint Louis County since FY 2019
Visits were 31% below the FY 2019 count of 5.1 million (size-class median: −30%). Physical checkouts moved 41% down over the same span.
- Visits
- Physical checkouts
Nearest in size within Missouri
- Mid-Continent Public Library · Independence · 840,292 residents
- Saint Charles City-County Library District · St. Peters · 405,262 residents
- City of St. Louis Municipal Library District · St. Louis · 301,578 residents
- Springfield-Greene County Library District · Springfield · 298,915 residents
Library districts of similar size in other states
None of these six systems records more visits per resident than this one. The highest checkout rate in the group belongs to Multnomah County Library in Oregon.
| System | Based in | Residents | Visits per resident | Checkouts per resident | Spending per resident |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Indianapolis Public Library | Indianapolis, IN | 963,251 | 2.47 | 5.73 | $62.55 |
| Sno-Isle Libraries | Marysville, WA | 819,554 | 2.99 | 6.94 | $74.67 |
| Multnomah County Library | Portland, OR | 802,464 | 2.19 | 12.35 | $121.00 |
| Pikes Peak Library District | Colorado Springs, CO | 678,684 | 2.81 | 5.34 | $48.53 |
| Pierce County Library System | Tacoma, WA | 665,760 | 2.15 | 3.86 | $65.13 |
| Fort Vancouver Regional Library District | Vancouver, WA | 552,118 | 2.48 | 5.96 | $49.54 |