The 2022 Quotable Facts details quick facts about Colorado’s public libraries. If you would like a printed booklet of this information please email lrs@lrs.org.
Click on the image to expand it. Click “Download Report” on the right to download a pdf. Look below to read how we calculated the numbers used in this report.
Resources and Notes for 2022 Colorado Public Libraries Quotable Facts
Here’s how we came up with the numbers for our booklet “2022 Colorado Public Libraries Quotable Facts.”
Library Locations
- 263 (PLAR 2022 data – “Total Central and Branches”)
- “Over” 263 because some libraries have no data
- 117 King Soopers (“Grocery Stores in Colorado” from King Soopers Website)
- 33 City Market grocery stores (ScrapeHero data “Number of City Market stores in the United States in 2023”)
- 103 Safeways (ScrapeHero data “Number of Safeway Inc stores in the United States in 2023”)
Physical items available for checkout
- 11,142,301 (PLAR 2022 data – “total physical items in collection”)
- Numbers found on JustWatch
- Netflix
- Hulu
- Prime Video
- Max
- Disney+
Programs offered
- 81,747 (PLAR 2022 data – “Total Programs”)
Library of Things collection items
Number of annual visits
- 17,766,143 (PLAR 2022 data – “visits”)
- Visitors to Rocky Mountain National Park: 4.3M (9News article “This national park in Colorado among most popular in US last year”)
- Visitors to Great Sand Dunes National Park: 493,428 (Alamosa News article “Colorado national and state park visitation drops in 2022”)
- Visitors to Black Canyon: 300,000 (Earth Trekkers article “How to Visit the Black Canyon of the Gunnison: North & South Rims”).
- Visitors to Mesa Verde National park: 499,790 (Colorado Politics article “Increases along ‘road less traveled,’ but mostly visitation drops at national parks in Colorado”)
- Total 5,593,218
Program attendance
- 1,670,923 (PLAR 2022 data – “Total Program Attendance”)
- Average cost of movie in Colorado: 10.80 (Frugal Answers article “Average Cost of a Movie Ticket Price (By Theater, By State, By Country))
- Total cost- 18,045,968
Items circulated annually
- 53,997,909 (PLAR 2022 – “Total Circulation”)
Reference questions
- 2,353,924 (PLAR 2022 data – “Reference Transactions”)
Staff
- 3,563 (PLAR 2022 data – “Total Staff (FTE)”)
- 66 of 109 reporting libraries had less than 10 staff members
Libraries that partner
- 93% (PLAR 2022 data – “Did your library partner with one or more organizations or groups in order to better serve your community?”)
- 86 of 92 reporting libraries answered “yes”
State park passes checkouts per week
One on one technology help
- 98 of 108 reporting libraries responded “yes” (PLAR 2022 data – “Technology Help”)
Internet computer usage
- 2,386,866 (PLAR 2022 data – “Uses of Internet Computers”)
Overdue fines
- 88 of 108 responding libraries answered “No” (PLAR 2022 data – “Overdue Fines All”)
Automatic Renewals
57 of 100 responding libraries answered “Yes” (PLAR 2022 data – “Automatic Renewals”)