Branch Statistics

While some branches lead in the absolute number of visitors and items circulated, the relative sizes and hours open of the branches tell a somewhat different story. For example, the Downtown Library receives only 37% as many visitors as the Main Library, but it is open for fewer hours and is much smaller. When adjusted for these factors, it actually has more than twice as many visitors! It also uses runs with only about 1/3 as much staff as the Main Library per hour, so it is much more efficient cost-wise.

Branch	Children's	College Terrace	Downtown	Main	Mitchell Park	Terman Park	Total
Annual Visits	132,865	62,713	101,482	270,619	318,832	18,737	905,248
Collection Size (# of titles)	39,218	21,506	16,160	117,088	72,790	9,981	276,743
Annual Circulation	297,891	81,964	49,155	377,860	418,253	14,976	1,240,099
Square Feet	3,360	2,392	7,964	26,313	9,478	3,980	53,487
Weekly Hours during Spring 2003	48	35	35	67	56	23	264
Visits per Hour	53	34	56	77	109	16
Circulations per Hour	119	45	27	108	143	12
Annual visits per 1000 sq. ft.	39,543	26,618	12,743	10,285	33,639	4,708
Annual circulations per 1000 sq. ft.	88,658	34,266	6,172	14,630	44,129	3,763
Open hours times 1000 sq. ft.	161	84	279	1,763	531	92
Visits per hour normalized by size	824	749	364	154	601	205
Circulations per hour normalized by size	1847	979	176	214	788	164
Circulations per title	7.6	3.8	3.0	3.2	5.7	1.5	4.5

Unless noted, all statistics are for the July 2002 to June 2003 fiscal year, which are the most recently available that are appropriate for comparison. Sources: Library statistics, the Palo Alto Library Plan: Status Report & Recommendations (draft July 15, 2003), and The New Library Plan (May 2000, page 20) regarding actual library space at the Downtown branch.