A Little About MY Library

The Alachua County Library District (ACLD) is the sole provider of public library services to approximately 250,000 citizens in Alachua County, an area of approximately 965 square miles in north central Florida.


ACLD has 11 branch locations throughout Alachua County, including: in Alachua, Archer, Hawthorne, High Springs, Micanopy, Newberry, Waldo, and four locations in Gainesville. The library also operates two bookmobiles, multiple deposit collections throughout the county, and provides library service to inmates of the Alachua County Jail through an interlocal agreement with the Alachua County Sheriff's department.


In 2007-08, 70% of the county population were registered borrowers of the library. In 2008-2009, visits by patrons district-wide totaled 1,404,869--accounting for a visit rate of 5.48 per capita, and borrowing rate of 11.34 items per capita.


The 2010 collection and materials account for a circulation figure of over 3 million items. At the headquarters branch alone, average monthly circulation is between 90,000 to 125,000, monthly reference questions are between 10,000 to 30,000, public programs or events range between 8-20 per week, and public computers range between 55 to 85.


The Library District offers borrowing privileges free of charge to any resident of the State of Florida. Through reciprocal borrowing agreements, Alachua County citizens may borrow from library systems in these surrounding counties: Baker, Bradford, Clay, Columbia, Dixie, Gilchrist, Lafayette, Levy, Marion, Putnam and Union. Additionally, Alachua County citizens may borrow materials from public libraries in Nassau, St. Johns, Flagler and Hendry counties, which also offer free borrowing privileges to Florida residents.


In addition to reciprocal borrowing agreements, the Library District has contracts with the Murphree Law Library, the Matheson Historical Center and the Civic Media Center which provide for the inclusion of the collections owned and maintained by these organizations to be listed in the District’s online catalog.


The ACLD is an independent special taxing district that derives nearly all its revenue for ongoing operations and capital development from one source…property taxes. In 2007-08, ACLD local funding support per capita was the highest of the top 10 Florida libraries, at $62.09. In 2009, the ACLD Technical Services department successfully administered a materials budget of slightly over 1.6 million dollars.


In 2010, the ACLD was named a Florida Library Association Florida Library of the Year. It also helped the city of Gainesville garner one of  America's Promise Alliance's “100 Best Communities in America for Young People” by being a key component of the award criteria.


In September 2010, ACLD's Library Partnership branch was recognized by Harvard’s Bright Ideas Program for providing services to the community through the coordination of multiple agencies at a one-stop center. Bright Ideas is an initiative of the Ash Center’s Innovations in Government Program, which spotlights exemplary models of government innovation based upon four criteria (Novelty, Effectiveness, Significance and Transferability) and advances efforts to address the nation’s most pressing public concerns. The Library Partnership was selected because of its innovative concept of offering centralized social services through a neighborhood resource center combined with a full-service public library branch. Agencies refer clients to library staff who assist with online applications for benefits and jobs, provide literacy and computer training and offer other ways to assist families in need.


In March 2011, it was reported to me that the ACLD benefited in 2010 from the service of 2,495 volunteers who provided over 22,314 hours of service to the library system, equal to that of 10.5 full-time staff positions.