Annual Reports
The State of the Library, 2025
Circulation
In 2025, the number of books, eBooks, audiobooks, large print books, etc. borrowed by our community grew by 6.3% to a total of 642,331 checkouts system-wide, including:
- Bookmobile & Outreach up 19.9%
- eMedia & Digital Content up 28.7%
Cardholders: 22,614
The library owns a collection of 163,676 items across locations.
All library locations cumulatively saw 159,462 total visitors (a 4% increase), with an average of 3,067 visitors per week.
Events
The library offered 1,140 programs and events over the course of 2025. These programs and events were attended by 36,667 people.
2025 Highlights
- WCDPL celebrated its 150th birthday throughout the year, highlighting our history with the community, innovations in library service, and lots of cake.
- Authors visiting WCDPL included:
- Arigon Starr, in partnership with BGSU's In the Round initiative.
- Margaret Peterson Haddix, in partnership with our local 1BookBG program with all of the schools in Bowling Green.
- Chris Grabenstein visited both BG and Walbridge, plus Northwood Elementary.
- The WCDPL Foundation Series hosted Paterson Joseph, Erik Larson, Kevin O'Connor from PBS' This Old House, as well as Sam Goodwin.
- Plus: Mina Javaherbin, Laura Numeroff, and Jennifer Coburn.
- The WCDPL Foundation's Novel Night benefit raised of $130,000 to be used solely to purchase new books in 2026.
- Over 1,500 children (an increase of 25% over 2024) participated in our Summer reading Program: Color Our World.
- Nearly 2,000 entries in our Winter Reads reading program.
- Celebrated the 25th birthday of the Kiwanis Castle in the Children's Place.
2025 Revenue
| Source: | Amount: | Percentage: |
|---|---|---|
| State Public Library Fund | $1,933,634 | 54.67% |
| Local Levy | $1,187,133 | 33.56% |
| Fees, Interest, Misc. | $190,995 | 5.40% |
| Foundation & Friends | $225,373 | 6.37% |
| Total | $3,537,135 |
2025 Expenditures
| Category: | Amount: | Percentage: |
|---|---|---|
| Personnel | $1,892,061 | 60.42% |
| Supplies | $54,345 | 1.74% |
| Services | $497,456 | 15.89% |
| New Materials | $618,291 | 19.74% |
| FFE & Technology | $55,369 | 1.77% |
| Other | $13,938 | 0.45% |
| Total General Fund | $3,131,460 | |
| Total Capital Fund | $151,322 | |
| Grand Total | $3,282,782 |
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- 0.8 mill, 5-year levy passed in November 2010 with 58% approval.
- Levy RENEWED for 6 years in November 2014 with 70% approval.
- Levy RENEWED for 6 years in November 2020 with 73% approval.
- The current levy will next be on the ballot in November 2026.
- State funding moved from 1.70% of General Revenue to a line item appropriation in July 2025, and was reduced by $24.9 million (state FY25 vs FY26).