readers borrowed 5,655 physical items 11,553 digital items A 36% increase!
reading room
In FY2024, our circulating library’s value continued to grow, as readers checked out 36% more items than in FY2023, or more than 17,000 physical and downloadable items. A total of 5,655 physical items and 11,553 digital items circulated among Athenæum members and partners. The number of items checked out to Athenæum members doubled this year from 5,373 in FY2023 to nearly 11,000 this past year.
avid readers
Our Reading Room remained busy this year as members enjoyed our renovated space with ample light, seating and connectivity. Writers, students, remote workers and serious readers found their third place on the second floor. Daily serious usage of the Reading Room averaged 9.83 users, while our librarians helped an average of 12 people per day at the circulation desk.
The library staff did more than help individuals find books. Jill, Lois and Brice assisted members and visitors with in-house use of a variety of materials including designed bindings, city directories, photographic negatives, rare books and items from the Rupp transportation collection.
Our partnerships with the University of Pennsylvania and the cloudLibrary consortium provided further opportunities for both our members and the patrons of other libraries to access more books. While our shareholders checked 544 items from the University of Pennsylvania’s circulating collection, University of Pennsylvania patrons borrowed 966 items from The Athenaeum. Similarly, Athenaeum eBooks and downloadable audiobooks circulated 5,297 times among cloudLibrary consortium members this past year.
This past year, our staff added 1,028 newly cataloged books to our shelves and 291 downloadable titles to cloudLibrary. Did you know that The Athenæum has more than 50 named book funds? These funds, gifted by members over the years in honor or memory of loved ones, allowed us to purchase 878 titles for our collection in FY2024.
Note: The Athenæum Annals provides regular updates on the work being done in our archives and Reading Room. Found as a header link on our home page, The Annals is where our staff share new book releases and stories about interesting documents in our special collections.
Membership Borrowing
Monthly figures during 2022-2024
No Data Found
circulation usage
Member & Partner during 2022-2024
No Data Found
most popular physical books
Our discerning readers gravitate toward literary and historical works that deepen their appreciation for the world around them. They read deeply and often. Besides the top books listed here, popular eBook and audiobook authors included Zadie Smith, Kai Bird, Abraham Verghese, Jhumpa Lahiri and Colson Whitehead. Also highly popular are the umbrellas and clear plastic totes from our Library of Things.
2023 LITERARY AWARD WINNERS
Established in 1950, The Athenæum Literary Award recognizes books of literary excellence by local authors and/or works that examine and reflect life in the greater Philadelphia area.
The award is given annually and includes a cash prize and an invitation to give a public lecture at The Athenæum that is supported by the Charles Wharton Stork endowment fund. The books under consideration must have been published during the calendar year. In FY2024, the Literary Awards Committee considered fifty books for the award. In February 2024, the committee announced their shortlist. Ultimately, the committee awarded the prize to David S. Barnes’ Lazaretto for non-fiction and David Amadio’s Rug Man for fiction. The awards were announced and given in person at the 2024 Annual Shareholders’ Meeting in April. Both Barnes and Amadio will present their public lectures in the fall.
Often, a day at The Athenæum begins with laptop on lap at the back of the Reading Room, sun pouring over my shoulder, and ends standing in front of the balcony doors in the Busch Room. The place buzzes with almost unbelievable vitality and range of pursuit. Literature, film, architecture, art, language, ideas all sewn in this particular place, rooted in history and, thrillingly, wide open to the future.