David and Goliath Libraries

By Michael Goldman, co-founder with Deborah Marks of Citizens for Sunnyvale Parks and Green Spaces

Deborah Marks is also leader of Sunnyvale Urban Forests Advocates
http://www.sunnyvaleurbanforestadvocates.org/

There are over 1100 libraries in California.  Here's a Tale of Three Libraries.
If you're a fan of David vs. Goliath stories you'll love this one.

Click on Photo to Enlarge

Here's beautiful downtown Fresno, population 520,000 - three and a half times Sunnyvale's 149,000.

Fresno Skyline - Click on Photo to Enlarge

Their main downtown library (below) is 82,700 square feet with 267,000 volumes and a circulation of 330,000.

Fresno Main Library - 82,700 sq. ft.  - Click on Photo to Enlarge

The very attractive Woodward Park neighborhood library (pictured below) has 22,000 sq. ft. (about one fourth the size of their main) and only about 90,000 volumes (about one third as many as the main library) but circulation is nearly Double at 610,000(!) the circulation of the much larger main library.

Woodward Park 22,000 Sq. Ft. about 1/4th the Main's  - Click on Photo to Enlarge

90,000 Volumes, 1/3rd the Main's - Click on Photo to Enlarge

Circulation 610,000 - Nearly Double the Main's! - Click on Photo to Enlarge

Square feet is clearly not a big deal at least in terms of getting books into people's hands.

But wait - it gets better!  The "Fig Garden Library" below is in rented space in a strip mall.  It TOO has much larger circulation than the main library downtown.  Fig Garden Branch circulates 405,000 books vs the 8X larger main's 310,000!!

Can you find the 10,000 sq. ft. library here?  (And Where's Waldo?)

Happy Librarians with 123% the Circulation of the Big Main Library 

 10,000 sq. ft. Branch Beats 82,000 Sq. Ft. Main

Here's the library - in front of the Ace Hardware store.  No (expensive) underground parking needed.

This little 10,000 sq. ft. library - one eighth(!) the size of Fresno Main - with one fourth the number of books (63,000) - hidden away in a strip mall, between an Italian restaurant and an Ace Hardware store - circulates over 20% more books than the main library downtown.

Name	Size	Volumes	Circulation
Fresno Main Library	82,000 Sq. Ft.	267,000	330,000
Woodward Park	22,000 Sq. Ft.	90,000	610,000
Fig Garden Branch	10,000 Sq. Ft.	63,000	405,000

In terms of library usage, the narrative is NOT "Let's all get in the family van and go to the library".  It is "You're going to Ace Hardware?  Could you pick up Mary, she walked there to work on a science project with Jennifer.  And get a Dr. Seuss book for Timmy's story time."

There are many, many more examples like this I will cover in another post.

In terms of serving the community, size doesn't count!

Source for library info:

https://ca.countingopinions.com/index.php?page_id=3