Fiscal Year 2020: A year of library service
All statistics are from July 1, 2019 to June 30, 2020, except where otherwise noted.
Download a PDF of these statistics.
Library Visitors
The Library welcomed 2.5 million visitors through its doors.
Library Members
By the end of Fiscal Year 2020, 358,878 people were active library cardholders, having used their account within the past two years.
Total Materials Borrowed
Library users borrowed 5,689,259 items.
Digital Materials Borrowed
The Library's digital formats were very popular with customers, who circulated 2,088,948 items.
Programs
The Library encouraged the love of reading and learning by offering 22,137 programs with a total attendance of 464,594.
Pre-Third-Grade Literacy Impact
The Library has made a commitment to partner with Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools to expand literacy programming for pre-third-grade students. Attendance for these library programs was 390,330 participants.
Volunteers
1,241 volunteers contributed 38,496 hours of service in libraries.
Job Help
Wi-Fi Usage
The Library's wireless internet was accessed 1,220,400 times.
Customer Reach
The Library shifted to virtual programming during its COVID-19 closure from March 17, 2020 to May 31, 2020. Virtual storytimes alone reached 206,030 people, including viewers from countries such as South Africa, South Korea, Spain and Sweden.
Essential Leader
The Library worked closely with Mecklenburg County to deliver critical information to the community about Census 2020. The Library also promoted COVID-19 safety information by sharing visual aids that dispelled myths and highlighted the importance of following guidelines established by the Center for Disease Control (CDC).
Summer Break: A fresh take on Summer Reading
The Library's Summer Break program engages participants with learning and literacy over the summer, when they’re most at risk of losing academic gains made throughout the school year. Summer Break encourages kids to participate in a variety of activities over the summer, in addition to reading.
- Total minutes read - 5.9 million (equivalent to 4,097 days or 11.2 years. It's also the amount of time needed for a child to reach sixth grade!)
- Summer Break program completers - 16,787