Santa Fe Public Library
Santa Fe Public Library is a municipal public library system based in Santa Fe, New Mexico, serving a legal service area of 87,505 residents through three library buildings. Among profiled systems in New Mexico, it ranks second for total visits, second for physical checkouts, second for operating spending and second for program attendance.
By population served it is the fourth-largest of the 91 profiled systems in New Mexico. Against the median system of its size class, it records 2.3 times the visits per resident and 76% more physical checkouts per resident.
Santa Fe against the 559 systems of its size class
Who comes to Santa Fe programs
Programs for children up to age 11 drew 40% of all program attendance, and sessions averaged 28 people each.
Nearest in size within New Mexico
- Rio Rancho Public Library · Rio Rancho · 104,046 residents
- Thomas Branigan Memorial Library · Las Cruces · 111,385 residents
- Roswell Public Library · Roswell · 48,422 residents
- Farmington Public Library · Farmington · 46,624 residents
Santa Fe in numbers, FY 2024
- Visits
- 458,860
- Physical checkouts
- 526,079
- …of children's materials
- 93,896
- Electronic checkouts
- 309,328
- …of e-books
- 79,114
- …of e-audio
- 148,246
- Registered users
- 72,819
- Program sessions
- 1,286
- Program attendance
- 35,410
- Print volumes
- 214,319
- Audio items (physical)
- 9,964
- Video items (physical)
- 20,317
- Public computers
- 31
- Public service hours, all outlets
- 8,424
- Paid staff (full-time equivalent)
- 54.0
- Operating spending
- $5.6 million
- …on books and other materials
- $677,438
- Overdue fines on print items
- not charged
Where Santa Fe gets its operating money
Operating revenue came to $5.9 million, or $66.86 per resident. The local-government share sits 7 percentage points above the combined share for the 91 profiled systems in New Mexico. No federal operating revenue was reported.
- Local government
- State
- Federal
- Other (fines, fees, gifts, grants)
Santa Fe, building by building
The three buildings cover 72,522 square feet in total, 0.83 square feet per resident against a median of 0.62 for the size class. The largest building is Santa Fe Public Library at 35,929 square feet; the smallest is Oliver la Farge Library at 11,593. The longest hours, 54 a week, are shared by three buildings.
| Building | Type | Town | Hours a week | Floor area, sq ft |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Santa Fe Public Library | Central library | Santa Fe | 54 | 35,929 |
| Oliver la Farge Library | Branch | Santa Fe | 54 | 11,593 |
| Southside Branch | Branch | Santa Fe | 54 | 25,000 |
Municipal 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 Newton Free Library in Massachusetts.
| System | Based in | Residents | Visits per resident | Checkouts per resident | Spending per resident |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Folsom Public Library | Folsom, CA | 88,023 | 2.26 | 4.70 | $23.68 |
| Lawrence Public Library | Lawrence, MA | 87,954 | 0.79 | 0.33 | $19.97 |
| Whittier Public Library | Whittier, CA | 87,527 | 1.89 | 1.96 | $47.24 |
| Newton Free Library | Newton, MA | 87,381 | 5.11 | 14.09 | $71.60 |
| Troy Public Library | Troy, MI | 87,294 | 3.94 | 8.33 | $60.06 |
| San Leandro Public Library | San Leandro, CA | 87,098 | 3.33 | 4.36 | $95.05 |