Topeka and Shawnee County Public Library
Topeka and Shawnee County Public Library is a multi-jurisdictional public library system based in Topeka (Shawnee County), Kansas, serving a legal service area of 173,973 residents from a single building and four bookmobiles. Among profiled systems in Kansas, it ranks first for program attendance, second for operating spending, second for electronic checkouts and first for bookmobiles in service, but ranks last for print volumes per resident.
Among the 360 profiled systems serving 100,000 to 249,999 residents, it ranks seventh for paid staff per resident and eighth for operating spending per resident. Against the median system of its size class, it records 2.3 times the public computers per resident and 2.0 times the physical checkouts per resident.
Topeka and Shawnee County against the 360 systems of its size class
Topeka and Shawnee County since FY 2019
Visits were 36% below the FY 2019 count of 715,507 (size-class median: −29%). Physical checkouts moved 40% down over the same span.
- Visits
- Physical checkouts
Who comes to Topeka and Shawnee County programs
Programs for children up to age 11 drew 64% of all program attendance, and sessions averaged 25 people each.
Topeka and Shawnee County in numbers, FY 2024
- Visits
- 455,449
- Physical checkouts
- 1,078,444
- …of children's materials
- 400,236
- Electronic checkouts
- 702,052
- …of e-books
- 312,457
- …of e-audio
- 359,289
- Registered users
- 135,740
- Program sessions
- 2,888
- Program attendance
- 73,642
- Print volumes
- 189,714
- Audio items (physical)
- 11,994
- Video items (physical)
- 58,364
- Public computers
- 223
- Public service hours, all outlets
- 7,976
- Paid staff (full-time equivalent)
- 182.5
- Operating spending
- $20.2 million
- …on books and other materials
- $2 million
- Overdue fines on print items
- not charged
Where Topeka and Shawnee County gets its operating money
Operating revenue came to $21.1 million, or $121.31 per resident. The local-government share sits 6 percentage points above the combined share for the 288 profiled systems in Kansas. No federal operating revenue was reported.
- Local government
- State
- Federal
- Other (fines, fees, gifts, grants)
Topeka and Shawnee County, building by building
The single building covers 178,600 square feet, 1.03 square feet per resident against a median of 0.51 for the size class. It is open 78 hours a week.
| Building | Type | Town | Hours a week | Floor area, sq ft |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Topeka and Shawnee County Public Library | Central library | Topeka | 78 | 178,600 |
| Topeka & Shawnee County Public Library | Bookmobile | Topeka | 25.5 | |
| Topeka & Shawnee County Public Library | Bookmobile | Topeka | 21.2 | |
| Topeka and Shawnee County Public Library | Bookmobile | Topeka | 25.5 | |
| Topeka and Shawnee County Public Library | Bookmobile | Topeka | 13.6 |
Multi-jurisdictional libraries of similar size in other states
Of these six systems, one 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Statesboro Regional Public Libraries | Statesboro, GA | 181,925 | 1.22 | 1.60 | $14.81 |
| Kitchigami Regional Library | Pine River, MN | 180,765 | 1.69 | 2.49 | $21.64 |
| Jackson-George Regional Library System | Pascagoula, MS | 172,008 | 1.82 | 2.10 | $26.82 |
| Sara Hightower Regional Library System | Rome, GA | 170,341 | 1.94 | 1.93 | $16.71 |
| Northwestern Regional Library | Elkin, NC | 166,502 | 1.57 | 2.64 | $17.21 |
| Southeast Oklahoma Library System | McAlester, OK | 164,633 | 2.64 | 2.15 | $44.41 |
Nearest in size within Kansas
- Kansas City, Kansas Public Library · Kansas City · 157,667 residents
- Olathe Public Library · Olathe · 147,461 residents
- Lawrence Public Library · Lawrence · 96,207 residents
- Wichita Public Library · Wichita · 396,119 residents