librarysystems

Toledo-Lucas County Public Library

Toledo, OhioLucas CountyCounty libraryLarge cityFiscal year January 2024 to December 2024

Toledo-Lucas County Public Library is a county public library system based in Toledo (Lucas County), Ohio, serving a legal service area of 428,505 residents through 20 library buildings and two bookmobiles. Among profiled systems serving 250,000 to 499,999 residents, it ranks third for library floor space per resident, sixth for visits per resident, seventh for print volumes per resident and seventh for public computers per resident, but ranks sixth-lowest for local government's share of operating revenue.

Among the 249 profiled systems in Ohio, it ranks fourth for total visits, fifth for population served, fifth for physical checkouts and fifth for operating spending. Against the median system of its size class, it records 2.9 times the operating spending per resident and 2.5 times the paid staff per resident.

Compare with similar-size systemsSystems serving 250,000 to 499,999

Toledo-Lucas County against the 122 systems of its size class

size-class median (50th percentile) · spine height = percentile within the class4.73Visitsper resident95th percentile7.25Checkoutsper resident84th percentile$104Spendingper resident93rd percentile2.78Print volumesper resident95th percentile270Program visitsper 1,000 people65th percentile15.7Computersper 10,000 people95th percentile57.5Open hoursper outlet a week84th percentile7.8Staff (FTE)per 10,000 people93rd percentile
Gold tick: size-class medianVisits per resident4.7395th pct.Checkouts per resident7.2584th pct.Spending per resident$10493rd pct.Print volumes per resident2.7895th pct.Program visits per 1,000 people27065th pct.Computers per 10,000 people15.795th pct.Open hours per outlet a week57.584th pct.Staff (FTE) per 10,000 people7.893rd pct.

How the measures and percentiles are calculated

Toledo-Lucas County, building by building

The 20 buildings cover 556,212 square feet in total, 1.30 square feet per resident against a median of 0.46 for the size class. The largest building is Toledo-Lucas County Public Library at 271,000 square feet; the smallest is Birmingham Branch at 6,752. The longest hours, 67 a week, are shared by four buildings.

BuildingTypeTownHours a weekFloor area, sq ft
Toledo-Lucas County Public LibraryCentral libraryToledo63271,000
Birmingham BranchBranchToledo48.56,752
Heatherdowns BranchBranchToledo6721,125
Holland BranchBranchHolland6312,645
Kent BranchBranchToledo6317,766
King Road BranchBranchToledo6322,239
Lagrange-Central BranchBranchToledo48.59,000
Locke BranchBranchToledo48.59,849
Maumee BranchBranchMaumee6320,220
Mott BranchBranchToledo6319,000
Oregon BranchBranchOregon6714,800
Point Place BranchBranchToledo48.512,000
Reynolds Corners BranchBranchToledo6317,758
Sanger BranchBranchToledo6719,200
South BranchBranchToledo48.58,010
Sylvania BranchBranchSylvania6722,260
Toledo Heights BranchBranchToledo48.510,453
Washington BranchBranchToledo6312,645
Waterville BranchBranchWaterville6311,618
West Toledo BranchBranchToledo6317,872
Toledo-Lucas County Public LibraryBookmobileToledo51
Toledo-Lucas County Public LibraryBookmobileToledo51

Toledo-Lucas County in numbers, FY 2024

Visits
2,028,520
Physical checkouts
3,105,392
…of children's materials
1,104,557
Electronic checkouts
1,835,137
…of e-books
804,511
…of e-audio
790,661
Registered users
261,087
Program sessions
5,638
Program attendance
115,724
Print volumes
1,190,282
Audio items (physical)
44,145
Video items (physical)
92,439
Public computers
673
Public service hours, all outlets
65,792
Paid staff (full-time equivalent)
335.6
Operating spending
$44.6 million
…on books and other materials
$4 million
Overdue fines on print items
not charged

Where Toledo-Lucas County gets its operating money

Operating revenue came to $48.7 million, or $113.69 per resident. The local-government share sits 10 percentage points above the combined share for the 248 profiled systems in Ohio. No federal operating revenue was reported.

This system57%39%All profiled systems in Ohio48%43%
This system57%39%All profiled systems in Ohio48%43%
  • Local government
  • State
  • Federal
  • Other (fines, fees, gifts, grants)

Toledo-Lucas County since FY 2019

Visits were 20% below the FY 2019 count of 2.5 million (size-class median: −30%). Physical checkouts moved 24% down over the same span.

FY 2019 = 10060708090100110FY 2019FY 2023FY 2024
FY 2019 = 10060708090100110FY 2019FY 2023FY 2024
  • Visits
  • Physical checkouts

Who comes to Toledo-Lucas County programs

Programs for children up to age 11 drew 60% of all program attendance, and sessions averaged 21 people each.

Children 0–1168,864Young adults 12–1813,841Adults 19+33,019
Children 0–1168,864Young adults 12–1813,841Adults 19+33,019

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 Loudoun County Public Library in Virginia.

SystemBased inResidentsVisits per residentCheckouts per residentSpending per resident
Jefferson Parish LibraryMetairie, LA427,2532.741.81$59.02
Loudoun County Public LibraryLeesburg, VA425,2044.038.66$57.12
Monmouth County LibraryManalapan, NJ425,1101.893.46$38.90
Richland County Public LibraryColumbia, SC416,1472.835.42$81.95
Marion County Public Library SystemOcala, FL413,9511.391.84$21.62
Collier County Public LibraryNaples, FL408,3632.082.98$22.35

Nearest in size within Ohio

All profiled systems in Ohio