Wilmette Public Library District
Wilmette Public Library District is a library district based in Wilmette (Cook County), Illinois, serving a legal service area of 28,180 residents from a single building. Among the 617 profiled systems in Illinois, it ranks first for physical checkouts per resident.
Among profiled systems serving 25,000 to 49,999 residents, it ranks third for paid staff per resident, third for library floor space per resident, fifth for operating spending per resident and seventh for print volumes per resident. Against the median system of its size class, it records 3.3 times the program attendance per resident and 3.1 times the visits per resident.
Wilmette against the 964 systems of its size class
Wilmette since FY 2019
Visits were 27% below the FY 2019 count of 330,446 (size-class median: −28%). Physical checkouts moved 10% down over the same span.
- Visits
- Physical checkouts
Who comes to Wilmette programs
Programs for children up to age 11 drew 76% of all program attendance, and sessions averaged 30 people each.
Wilmette in numbers, FY 2024
- Visits
- 242,730
- Physical checkouts
- 664,193
- Registered users
- 16,200
- Program sessions
- 1,112
- Program attendance
- 32,979
- Print volumes
- 180,887
- Audio items (physical)
- 23,338
- Video items (physical)
- 17,713
- Public computers
- 27
- Public service hours, all outlets
- 3,692
- Paid staff (full-time equivalent)
- 55.0
- Operating spending
- $6.7 million
- …on books and other materials
- $1.1 million
- Overdue fines on print items
- not charged
Where Wilmette gets its operating money
Operating revenue came to $6.5 million, or $231.12 per resident. The local-government share sits 6 percentage points above the combined share for the 617 profiled systems in Illinois. No federal operating revenue was reported.
- Local government
- State
- Federal
- Other (fines, fees, gifts, grants)
The Wilmette building
The single building covers 70,166 square feet, 2.49 square feet per resident against a median of 0.74 for the size class. It is open 71 hours a week.
| Building | Type | Town | Hours a week | Floor area, sq ft |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wilmette Public Library District | Central library | Wilmette | 71 | 70,166 |
Library districts of similar size in other states
None of these six systems 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Glen Cove Public Library | Glen Cove, NY | 28,365 | 3.99 | 2.36 | $115.30 |
| Saline District Library | Saline, MI | 28,291 | 5.20 | 9.27 | $80.92 |
| Dunklin County Library | Kennett, MO | 28,283 | 3.37 | 7.22 | $27.38 |
| Marion Public Library | Marion, IN | 28,101 | 4.97 | 5.32 | $59.48 |
| West Babylon Public Library | West Babylon, NY | 27,947 | 3.34 | 4.76 | $127.93 |
| Shelter Rock Public Library | Albertson, NY | 27,928 | 6.75 | 6.58 | $121.11 |
Nearest in size within Illinois
- Grayslake Area Public Library District · Grayslake · 27,919 residents
- Three Rivers Public Library District · Channahon · 28,751 residents
- Glen Ellyn Public Library · Glen Ellyn · 28,846 residents
- Chicago Heights Public Library · Chicago Heights · 27,480 residents