Smyrna Public Library
Smyrna Public Library is a municipal public library based in Smyrna (Kent County), Delaware, serving a legal service area of 39,824 residents from a single building. Among the 21 profiled systems in Delaware, it ranks last for visits per resident, last for operating spending per resident and last for print volumes per resident.
By population served it is the sixth-largest of the 21 profiled systems in Delaware. Against the median system of its size class, it records only 27% of the program attendance per resident and only 31% of the paid staff per resident.
Smyrna against the 964 systems of its size class
Who comes to Smyrna programs
Programs for children up to age 11 drew 61% of all program attendance, and sessions averaged 16 people each.
Nearest in size within Delaware
- Wilmington Institute Library · Wilmington · 54,227 residents
- Milford Public Library · Milford · 27,683 residents
- Lewes Public Library · Lewes · 26,989 residents
- Corbit-Calloway Memorial Library · Odessa · 26,290 residents
Smyrna in numbers, FY 2024
- Visits
- 36,242
- Physical checkouts
- 64,138
- …of children's materials
- 30,456
- Electronic checkouts
- 18,210
- …of e-books
- 9,295
- …of e-audio
- 8,514
- Registered users
- 6,776
- Program sessions
- 244
- Program attendance
- 3,898
- Print volumes
- 23,799
- Audio items (physical)
- 973
- Video items (physical)
- 2,968
- Public computers
- 18
- Public service hours, all outlets
- 2,522
- Paid staff (full-time equivalent)
- 5.8
- Operating spending
- $470,626
- …on books and other materials
- $33,067
- Overdue fines on print items
- charged
Where Smyrna gets its operating money
Operating revenue came to $630,105, or $15.82 per resident. The local-government share is close to the combined share for the 21 profiled systems in Delaware. No federal operating revenue was reported.
- Local government
- State
- Federal
- Other (fines, fees, gifts, grants)
The Smyrna building
The single building covers 4,918 square feet, 0.12 square feet per resident against a median of 0.74 for the size class. It is open 48.5 hours a week.
| Building | Type | Town | Hours a week | Floor area, sq ft |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Smyrna Public Library | Central library | Smyrna | 48.5 | 4,918 |
Municipal 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 Park Ridge Public Library in Illinois.
| System | Based in | Residents | Visits per resident | Checkouts per resident | Spending per resident |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cedar City Public Library | Cedar City, UT | 39,942 | 5.55 | 5.04 | $21.17 |
| Carol Stream Public Library | Carol Stream, IL | 39,854 | 4.16 | 9.45 | $85.39 |
| Shrewsbury Free Public Library | Shrewsbury, MA | 39,805 | 9.02 | 9.08 | $52.66 |
| Hutchinson Public Library | Hutchinson, KS | 39,662 | 2.74 | 6.62 | $69.11 |
| Park Ridge Public Library | Park Ridge, IL | 39,656 | 7.14 | 15.27 | $108.28 |
| LA Vergne Public Library | LA Vergne, TN | 39,597 | 1.17 | 0.96 | $26.21 |