Public Library Statistics

Quick Facts About Alberta Public Libraries

Library Boards and Service Points

• 225 municipal library boards responsible for serving Albertans.
• Seven regional library systems serving 209 library boards, 301 municipalities, and 261 library service points.
• 312 library service points across Alberta.

Municipalities

• 356 municipalities in Alberta, including Metis Settlements, Improvement Districts and Special Areas
• 316 (88.8%) municipalities provide access to municipal library service.
• 40 municipalities do not provide any level of public library service (many of these are Summer Villages)
• 3,529,054 Albertans have access to a public library: 99.6% of the total provincial population.
• Only 0.42% of the provincial population does not have access to public library service

Library Use

• 48% of adult Albertans have used a public library in the last twelve months.
• 67% of Albertan households reported having a member who had used a public library in the past twelve months

  Source: Banister Research & Consulting Inc., 2010

In 2009,

• Albertans had access to over 10 million books, CDs, DVDs, eBooks and other materials at Alberta public libraries (2.87 library items per capita).
• There were 1,358,987 library cardholders in Alberta, representing 38.6% of the population.
• Albertans borrowed over 39 million items from public libraries.
• Alberta libraries circulated 11.3 items per person.
• Albertans visited their libraries in person over 18 million times.
• Albertans visited their libraries virtually through their library’s website over 23 million times.
• Over 1.1 million people took part in one of the 63,823 programs offered by Alberta’s libraries.
• Albertans had access to wireless internet access at over 160 public library sites across the province.

Library Funding

In 2009,

• Provincial operating grants to public library boards (municipal and system) totaled $24,819,378, representing 15% of total library operating revenue.
• The province also expended $3,790,003 to support the provincial library network. This included funds for SuperNet connectivity for all public libraries, The Alberta Public Library Electronic Network (APLEN) and the resource sharing network.  Total provincial support for public library service amounted to $28,609,381 (an increase of 30% over 2008). 
• Municipal contributions (including in-kind support) to public library boards (municipal and system) amounted to $109,990,068. This represented 67% of total library operating revenue.
• Public libraries spent $10,120,012 on library materials ($2.89 per capita served).

In the five-year period between 2004 and 2009,

• Local support for public libraries increased by 48%
• Provincial grants to public library boards increased by 55%
• Population served by public libraries increased by 17%

Support for public library service in Alberta

Other Facts About Alberta's Public Libraries

In 2009,

• There were 1,733 (full-time equivalent) employees in public libraries. In addition, there were 163 full-time employees in library systems. In total, there were 1,896 full-time employees devoted to public library service in Alberta.
• Public libraries were open on average 33.61 hours per week.

  Source: Public Library Statistics 2009, Public Library Services Branch