librarysystems

San Diego County Library

San Diego, CaliforniaCounty libraryLarge cityFiscal year July 2023 to June 2024

San Diego County Library is a county public library system based in San Diego, California, serving a legal service area of 1,111,527 residents through 33 library buildings. Of all 6,239 systems profiled nationwide, it ranks ninth for electronic checkouts.

Among profiled systems serving 1 million or more residents, it ranks fourth for program attendance per resident, fifth for operating spending per resident and seventh for physical checkouts per resident, but ranks eighth-lowest for weekly open hours per outlet and records the fifth-steepest decline in visits since FY 2019. Among the 170 profiled systems in California, it ranks fifth for physical checkouts, fifth for operating spending, sixth for number of library buildings and seventh for population served.

Compare with similar-size systemsSystems serving 1 million or more

San Diego County against the 35 systems of its size class

size-class median (50th percentile) · spine height = percentile within the class2.50Visitsper resident70th percentile5.26Checkoutsper resident81st percentile$61.63Spendingper resident87th percentile0.86Print volumesper resident39th percentile353Program visitsper 1,000 people90th percentile5.5Computersper 10,000 people44th percentile42.2Open hoursper outlet a week25th percentile2.9Staff (FTE)per 10,000 people41st percentile
Gold tick: size-class medianVisits per resident2.5070th pct.Checkouts per resident5.2681st pct.Spending per resident$61.6387th pct.Print volumes per resident0.8639th pct.Program visits per 1,000 people35390th pct.Computers per 10,000 people5.544th pct.Open hours per outlet a week42.225th pct.Staff (FTE) per 10,000 people2.941st pct.

How the measures and percentiles are calculated

San Diego County since FY 2019

Visits were 45% below the FY 2019 count of 5.1 million (size-class median: −34%). Physical checkouts moved 38% down over the same span.

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

Who comes to San Diego County programs

Programs for children up to age 11 drew 49% of all program attendance, and sessions averaged 27 people each.

Children 0–11192,779Young adults 12–1812,598Adults 19+136,004General interest51,383
Children 0–11192,779Young adults 12–1812,598Adults 19+136,004General interest51,383

San Diego County in numbers, FY 2024

Visits
2,784,359
Physical checkouts
5,851,825
…of children's materials
3,337,941
Electronic checkouts
5,522,744
…of e-books
2,637,207
…of e-audio
2,349,855
Registered users
510,406
Program sessions
14,374
Program attendance
392,764
Print volumes
958,129
Audio items (physical)
34,350
Video items (physical)
234,435
Public computers
609
Public service hours, all outlets
72,384
Paid staff (full-time equivalent)
325.0
Operating spending
$68.5 million
…on books and other materials
$7.1 million
Overdue fines on print items
not charged

Where San Diego County gets its operating money

Operating revenue came to $66 million, or $59.34 per resident. The local-government share is close to the combined share for the 170 profiled systems in California. Federal money made up 2.4% of the total.

This system96%All profiled systems in California94%
This system96%All profiled systems in California94%
  • Local government
  • State
  • Federal
  • Other (fines, fees, gifts, grants)

San Diego County, building by building

The 33 buildings cover 396,845 square feet in total, 0.36 square feet per resident against a median of 0.39 for the size class. The largest building is Vista Library at 30,394 square feet; the smallest is Crest Library at 1,583. The longest hours, 51 a week, are shared by six buildings.

BuildingTypeTownHours a weekFloor area, sq ft
4s RanchBranchSan Diego457,214
Alpine LibraryBranchAlpine3712,681
Bonita-Sunnyside LibraryBranchBonita4513,092
Borrego Springs LibraryBranchBorrego Springs3714,700
Campo-Morena Village LibraryBranchCampo372,490
Cardiff LibraryBranchCardiff376,884
Casa de Oro LibraryBranchSpring Valley386,308
Crest LibraryBranchEl Cajon371,583
Del Mar LibraryBranchDel Mar375,485
Descanso LibraryBranchDescanso373,000
El Cajon LibraryBranchEl Cajon5130,166
Encinitas LibraryBranchEncinitas5126,798
Fallbrook LibraryBranchFallbrook4519,151
Fletcher Hills LibraryBranchEl Cajon372,356
Imperial Beach LibraryBranchImperial Beach4514,830
Jacumba LibraryBranchJacumba372,400
Julian LibraryBranchJulian3812,826
LA Mesa LibraryBranchLA Mesa5111,108
Lakeside LibraryBranchLakeside4515,931
Lemon Grove LibraryBranchLemon Grove4516,600
Lincoln Acres LibraryBranchNational City374,027
Pine Valley LibraryBranchPine Valley38.52,526
Potrero LibraryBranchPotrero372,500
Poway LibraryBranchPoway5120,000
Ramona LibraryBranchRamona4520,894
Rancho San Diego LibraryBranchEl Cajon4519,544
Rancho Santa Fe LibraryBranchRancho Santa Fe488,241
San Marcos LibraryBranchSan Marcos5115,394
Santee LibraryBranchSantee459,300
Solana Beach LibraryBranchSolana Beach3810,700
Spring Valley LibraryBranchSpring Valley3813,654
Valley Center LibraryBranchValley Center3714,068
Vista LibraryBranchVista5130,394

County libraries 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 Metropolitan Library System in Oklahoma.

SystemBased inResidentsVisits per residentCheckouts per residentSpending per resident
Metropolitan Library SystemOklahoma City, OK808,8662.316.45$59.93
Cobb County Public Library SystemMarietta, GA783,5361.802.30$24.43
Lee County Library SystemFort Myers, FL779,2211.833.48$47.86
Louisville Free Public LibraryLouisville, KY772,1442.292.87$31.25
Dekalb County Public LibraryDecatur, GA768,1342.082.44$38.11
Montgomery County Memorial Library SystemConroe, TX705,1261.123.44$16.91

Nearest in size within California

All profiled systems in California