Publication on FY23 Iowa Library Statistics Now Available
Jun 06, 2024
The State Library has published an updated document compiling statistics from the FY23 Public Library Annual Survey.
The “Big Stats Book” as it’s known in house contains information on income, expenditures, collections, circulation, programs, staff, and more. Each section is arranged by size code, then alphabetically by city. Totals, averages, and percentiles for each size code grouping are included immediately following the alphabetical listings.
Of the 544 public libraries in Iowa, 514 submitted an annual survey for FY23. Only those public libraries that submitted a verified annual survey are included in the report.
Public library statistics are used at the local, regional, state, and national levels. They are used to compare library performance, justify budget requests, track library data over time, assist in planning and evaluation, and provide valuable information for grants and other library programs. All 50 states collect information according to guidelines and definitions established by the Public Library Statistics Cooperative (PLSC).
Notable FY23 statistics from the report:
- Iowa has 544 public libraries and is ranked 4th in the nation behind New York, Illinois, and Texas for the number of independent public libraries.
- Public library cardholders totaled 1,821,707, that’s about 73 percent of Iowa’s population.
- People made nearly 12 million visits to Iowa public libraries during FY23.
- Iowa public libraries hold more than 82.6 million physical and digital items, including books, magazines, physical audio and video materials, ebooks, audiobooks, digital videos, and more.
- Iowa libraries circulated more than 16 million physical items and more than 4 million digital items. Physical items were shared between libraries via interlibrary loan over 400,000 times.
- More than 107,000 library programs were offered and attended by nearly 2 million people.
Access a link to the FY23 Iowa Public Library Statistics publication below.