Happiness at Niobrara County Library! Wyoming’s 23 public libraries held more than 11,500 children’s programs in FY16.
Libraries are vital to Wyoming residents — and we have the numbers to prove it. The Wyoming State Library has just released FY16 public library data on its Wyoming Library Statistics page for the period from July 1, 2015, through June 30, 2016. A summary report, county rankings, and 5-year trends are available.
Among the report highlights:
- There were 3.53 million visits to public libraries in FY16 – 6 visits for every Wyoming resident.
- Public libraries were open for a combined total of 142,508 hours annually (almost 1,000 more hours than in FY15)..
- Circulation dropped slightly to just over 4.54 million, 7.8 items per capita (from 4.93 million and 8.4 items per capita in FY15).
- Public libraries held 2.7 million books and audio-visual materials in their collections, a decrease from FY15.
- All Wyoming public libraries offer free Wi-Fi. The 14 libraries that were able to provide this data reported, collectively, 237,321 Wi-Fi sessions in FY16 (37.5% increase over FY15.
- Public libraries employed 648 people for a total of 385.2 full-time equivalent positions.
Although these statistics allow for comparisons among libraries, caution should be exercised when interpreting them. Local needs, economies, geography and library policies differ, and that can be reflected in the numbers.
Questions about library statistics? Contact Thomas Ivie, WSL Research & Statistics Librarian at thomas.ivie@wyo.gov or (307) 777-6330.