Santa Clara County Library
Santa Clara County Library is a multi-jurisdictional public library system based in Campbell (Santa Clara County), California, serving a legal service area of 456,355 residents through eight library buildings and two bookmobiles. Among the 170 profiled systems in California, it ranks first for physical checkouts, sixth for operating spending and eighth for total visits.
Among the 122 profiled systems serving 250,000 to 499,999 residents, it ranks first for physical checkouts per resident, third for visits per resident, fourth for operating spending per resident and fifth for print volumes per resident. Against the median system of its size class, it records 2.9 times the program attendance per resident and 2.4 times the paid staff per resident.
Santa Clara County against the 122 systems of its size class
Santa Clara County since FY 2019
Visits were 26% below the FY 2019 count of 3.3 million (size-class median: −30%). Physical checkouts moved 8% down over the same span.
- Visits
- Physical checkouts
Who comes to Santa Clara County programs
Programs for children up to age 11 drew 58% of all program attendance, and sessions averaged 43 people each.
Santa Clara County in numbers, FY 2024
- Visits
- 2,464,907
- Physical checkouts
- 8,091,351
- …of children's materials
- 5,202,041
- Electronic checkouts
- 3,591,548
- …of e-books
- 1,601,315
- …of e-audio
- 1,497,791
- Registered users
- 391,393
- Program sessions
- 6,070
- Program attendance
- 261,910
- Print volumes
- 1,482,282
- Audio items (physical)
- 108,282
- Video items (physical)
- 217,086
- Public computers
- 234
- Public service hours, all outlets
- 25,649
- Paid staff (full-time equivalent)
- 346.8
- Operating spending
- $67.4 million
- …on books and other materials
- $10.3 million
- Overdue fines on print items
- not charged
Where Santa Clara County gets its operating money
Operating revenue came to $80.4 million, or $176.22 per resident. The local-government share is close to the combined share for the 170 profiled systems in California.
- Local government
- State
- Federal
- Other (fines, fees, gifts, grants)
Santa Clara County, building by building
The eight buildings cover 308,350 square feet in total, 0.68 square feet per resident against a median of 0.46 for the size class. The largest building is Milpitas Library at 60,000 square feet; the smallest is Woodland Library at 4,600. The longest hours are at Cupertino Library, 68.6 a week.
| Building | Type | Town | Hours a week | Floor area, sq ft |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Campbell Library | Branch | Campbell | 57.5 | 24,000 |
| Cupertino Library | Branch | Cupertino | 68.6 | 59,600 |
| Gilroy Library | Branch | Gilroy | 49.8 | 53,000 |
| Los Altos Library | Branch | Los Altos | 67.5 | 28,050 |
| Milpitas Library | Branch | Milpitas | 67.9 | 60,000 |
| Morgan Hill Library | Branch | Morgan Hill | 52.7 | 30,600 |
| Saratoga Library | Branch | Saratoga | 59.1 | 48,500 |
| Woodland Library | Branch | Los Altos | 54.1 | 4,600 |
| Santa Clara County Bookmobile Four | Bookmobile | Campbell | 3.3 | |
| Santa Clara County Bookmobile One | Bookmobile | Campbell | 13.3 |
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sequoyah Regional Library System | Canton, GA | 361,084 | 1.14 | 2.36 | $15.73 |
| Central Rappahannock Regional Library | Fredericksburg, VA | 347,033 | 3.20 | 6.58 | $38.94 |
| Central Arkansas Library System | Little Rock, AR | 344,553 | 3.53 | 3.46 | $79.19 |
| First Regional Library | Hernando, MS | 321,878 | 1.81 | 2.49 | $16.89 |
| Okaloosa County Public Library Cooperative | Niceville, FL | 311,554 | 1.26 | 1.80 | $17.83 |
| Flint River Regional Library System | Griffin, GA | 295,143 | 1.84 | 2.96 | $20.48 |
Nearest in size within California
- Long Beach Public Library · Long Beach · 458,813 residents
- Oakland Public Library · Oakland · 449,189 residents
- Sonoma County Library · Rohnert Park · 478,152 residents
- Solano County Library · Fairfield · 420,393 residents