Wake County Public Libraries
Wake County Public Libraries is a county public library system based in Raleigh (Wake County), North Carolina, serving a legal service area of 1,194,900 residents through 24 library buildings. Among the 84 profiled systems in North Carolina, it leads on population served, total visits, number of library buildings and print volumes.
Of all 8,561 systems profiled nationwide, it ranks ninth for physical checkouts. Among profiled systems serving 1 million or more residents, it ranks first for weekly open hours per outlet, second for physical checkouts per resident and ninth for print volumes per resident and records the second-smallest decline in visits since FY 2019, but ranks third-lowest for public computers per resident and third-lowest for library floor space per resident.
Wake County against the 35 systems of its size class
Wake County, building by building
The 24 buildings cover 342,052 square feet in total, 0.29 square feet per resident against a median of 0.39 for the size class. The largest building is Oberlin Regional Library at 37,000 square feet; the smallest is Express Library Fayetteville Street at 2,400. The longest hours, 67.7 a week, are shared by 15 buildings.
| Building | Type | Town | Hours a week | Floor area, sq ft |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Athens Drive Community Library | Branch | Raleigh | 38.6 | 12,000 |
| Cary Regional Library | Branch | Cary | 67.7 | 23,750 |
| Duraleigh Road Community Library | Branch | Raleigh | 67.7 | 5,900 |
| East Regional Library | Branch | Knightdale | 67.7 | 20,519 |
| Eva Perry Regional Library | Branch | Apex | 67.1 | 22,900 |
| Express Library Fayetteville Street | Branch | Raleigh | 38 | 2,400 |
| Fuquay-Varina Community Library | Branch | Fuquay-Varina | 67.7 | 9,800 |
| Green Road Community Library | Branch | Raleigh | 67.7 | 8,100 |
| Holly Springs Community Library | Branch | Holly Springs | 67.6 | 6,814 |
| Leesville Community Library | Branch | Raleigh | 67.6 | 8,000 |
| Middle Creek Community Library | Branch | Apex | 67.7 | 8,800 |
| Morrisville Community Library | Branch | Morrisville | 67.7 | 8,800 |
| North Regional Library | Branch | Raleigh | 67.3 | 30,000 |
| Northeast Regional Library | Branch | Raleigh | 67.7 | 22,351 |
| Oberlin Regional Library | Branch | Raleigh | 67.7 | 37,000 |
| Olivia Raney Local History Library | Branch | Raleigh | 41.9 | 7,845 |
| Richard B. Harrison Community Library | Branch | Raleigh | 67.6 | 9,360 |
| Southeast Regional Library | Branch | Garner | 67.7 | 21,941 |
| Southgate Community Library | Branch | Raleigh | 67.7 | 5,400 |
| Wake County Public Libraries Administration | Branch | Raleigh | – | 21,998 |
| Wake Forest Community Library | Branch | Wake Forest | 67.7 | 9,000 |
| Wendell Community Library | Branch | Wendell | 67.7 | 4,724 |
| West Regional Library | Branch | Cary | 67.7 | 29,480 |
| Zebulon Community Library | Branch | Zebulon | 67.7 | 5,170 |
A dash marks a value not reported for FY 2024.
Wake County in numbers, FY 2024
- Visits
- 3,048,681
- Physical checkouts
- 8,913,500
- …of children's materials
- 6,086,979
- Electronic checkouts
- 2,950,564
- …of e-books
- 1,348,243
- …of e-audio
- 1,234,370
- Registered users
- 406,348
- Program sessions
- 10,552
- Program attendance
- 320,523
- Print volumes
- 1,733,774
- Audio items (physical)
- 10,011
- Video items (physical)
- 0
- Public computers
- 373
- Public service hours, all outlets
- 76,477
- Paid staff (full-time equivalent)
- 375.4
- Operating spending
- $35.4 million
- …on books and other materials
- $3.9 million
- Overdue fines on print items
- not charged
Where Wake County gets its operating money
Operating revenue came to $36.3 million, or $30.38 per resident. The local-government share sits 3 percentage points above the combined share for the 84 profiled systems in North Carolina. Federal money made up 5.4% of the total.
- Local government
- State
- Federal
- Other (fines, fees, gifts, grants)
Wake County since FY 2019
Visits were 11% below the FY 2019 count of 3.4 million (size-class median: −34%). Physical checkouts moved 22% down over the same span.
- Visits
- Physical checkouts
Who comes to Wake County programs
Programs for children up to age 11 drew 88% of all program attendance, and sessions averaged 30 people each.
County libraries of similar size in other states
Of these six systems, two record more visits per resident than this one. The highest checkout rate in the group belongs to Hennepin County Library in Minnesota.
| System | Based in | Residents | Visits per resident | Checkouts per resident | Spending per resident |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Riverside County Library System | Jurupa Valley, CA | 1,381,045 | 1.33 | 1.95 | $29.08 |
| Hennepin County Library | Minnetonka, MN | 1,297,847 | 3.69 | 8.86 | $57.68 |
| San Diego County Library | San Diego, CA | 1,111,527 | 2.50 | 5.26 | $61.63 |
| Fulton County Library System | Atlanta, GA | 1,094,693 | 2.13 | 2.10 | $27.24 |
| Montgomery County Public Libraries | Rockville, MD | 1,054,827 | 3.36 | 6.90 | $44.50 |
| Contra Costa County Library | Martinez, CA | 1,033,891 | 2.37 | 4.66 | $42.65 |
Nearest in size within North Carolina
- Charlotte Mecklenburg Library · Charlotte · 1,162,168 residents
- Greensboro Public Library · Greensboro · 435,509 residents
- Forsyth County Public Library · Winston-Salem · 392,839 residents
- Cumberland County Public Library · Fayetteville · 337,970 residents