St. Lucie County Library System
St. Lucie County Library System is a county public library system based in Fort Pierce (St. Lucie County), Florida, serving a legal service area of 385,605 residents through seven library buildings. Among the 121 profiled systems serving 250,000 to 499,999 residents, it ranks sixth-lowest for program attendance per resident.
By population served it is the 19th-largest of the 62 profiled systems in Florida. Against the median system of its size class, it records only 42% of the physical checkouts per resident and only 48% of the operating spending per resident.
St. Lucie County against the 122 systems of its size class
Who comes to St. Lucie County programs
Programs for children up to age 11 drew 78% of all program attendance, and sessions averaged 16 people each.
Nearest in size within Florida
- Collier County Public Library · Naples · 408,363 residents
- Marion County Public Library System · Ocala · 413,951 residents
- PAL Public Library Cooperative · Bronson · 416,905 residents
- Lake County Library System · Tavares · 432,796 residents
St. Lucie County in numbers, FY 2024
- Visits
- 505,645
- Physical checkouts
- 569,111
- Registered users
- 134,687
- Program sessions
- 1,995
- Program attendance
- 32,815
- Print volumes
- 250,105
- Audio items (physical)
- 4,166
- Video items (physical)
- 13,962
- Public computers
- 155
- Public service hours, all outlets
- 16,490
- Paid staff (full-time equivalent)
- 70.5
- Operating spending
- $6.6 million
- …on books and other materials
- $758,321
- Overdue fines on print items
- not charged
Where St. Lucie County gets its operating money
Operating revenue came to $6.5 million, or $16.74 per resident. The local-government share sits 3 percentage points above the combined share for the 62 profiled systems in Florida. No federal operating revenue was reported.
- Local government
- State
- Federal
- Other (fines, fees, gifts, grants)
St. Lucie County, building by building
The seven buildings cover 111,900 square feet in total, 0.29 square feet per resident against a median of 0.46 for the size class. The largest building is Pruitt Campus Library at 25,000 square feet; the smallest is Port St. Lucie Branch Library at 4,400. The longest hours, 52.6 a week, are shared by two buildings.
| Building | Type | Town | Hours a week | Floor area, sq ft |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lakewood Park Branch Library | Branch | Fort Pierce | 43.5 | 10,000 |
| Morningside Branch Library | Branch | Port St. Lucie | 45.6 | 19,000 |
| Paula A. Lewis Branch | Branch | Port St. Lucie | 52.6 | 21,000 |
| Port St. Lucie Branch Library | Branch | Port St. Lucie | 43.2 | 4,400 |
| Pruitt Campus Library | Branch | Port St. Lucie | 38.4 | 25,000 |
| Susan Broom Kilmer Branch Library | Branch | Fort Pierce | 52.6 | 23,000 |
| Zora Neale Hurston Branch Library | Branch | Fort Pierce | 43.5 | 9,500 |
County 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 San Mateo County Libraries in California.
| System | Based in | Residents | Visits per resident | Checkouts per resident | Spending per resident |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| St. Tammany Parish Library | Covington, LA | 277,615 | 2.18 | 2.30 | $40.32 |
| Buncombe County Public Libraries | Asheville, NC | 277,047 | 2.67 | 4.43 | $28.99 |
| San Mateo County Libraries | San Mateo, CA | 273,370 | 6.20 | 8.78 | $159.85 |
| Brown County Library | Green Bay, WI | 273,297 | 2.31 | 4.70 | $26.67 |
| Weber County Library System | Roy, UT | 271,926 | 3.98 | 4.87 | $50.95 |
| Harford County Public Library | Belcamp, MD | 262,977 | 2.95 | 8.70 | $93.48 |