By the Numbers
Ten years of Orange County Public Library, from the numbers the library reports to the State Library of North Carolina each year. Pick a measure to see how it has changed, and how OCPL compares to the median North Carolina library system.
Three things the ten years of reports say, computed from the same figures as the chart, FY2016–FY2025.
Use
632,712
items borrowed in FY2025
The most in these ten years, and up four years in a row. 16,081 people came to 745 programs, the highest attendance in these ten years. Visits: 185,863, up four years running, still 17% below FY2019, the last pre-pandemic year.
FY2025
$3,569,540
operating income, +29% on FY2024
Staff 30.2 → 40.8 (+35%); public computers 43 → 71 (+65%); programs held 561 → 745 (+33%); program attendance 8,338 → 16,081 (+93%); visits 149,660 → 185,863 (+24%); items borrowed 513,512 → 632,712 (+23%). For staff and public computers those are the largest one-year changes of the decade.
The Southern Branch in Carrboro opened during the year, so FY2025 is the first with two buildings.
Against the rest of North Carolina
$38.83
operating income per resident, FY2025: 43% above the median NC system ($27.21)
Collection spending per resident $5.56, 2.9× the median NC system (#9 of 84). Per resident OCPL offers fewer programs than most NC systems (#64 of 84: 8.1 per 1,000 residents against a median 12.0), while attendance per program is above the median (21.6 against 19.6). People show up; there aren't yet enough programs.
Source: OCPL's annual reports to the State Library of North Carolina (Public Library Statistics), fiscal years 2016–2025 (each fiscal year runs July–June). “Median NC library” is the statewide median system as published by the state, available for most measures from 2018–2024. Percent change is measured from each line's first reported year. Per-resident figures divide by the service-area population for that year; counts that are very small per person (programs, staff, public computers) are shown per 1,000 residents, and the chart says which. Want a single-year comparison instead? See OCPL at a Glance.
