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2022–2026
The system: The Allen County Public Library today is the 367,000-square-foot Main Library at 900 Library Plaza and thirteen branches — nine in Fort Wayne and four in other Allen County communities — serving a population of 385,410, with some 2,500,000 print books, 188,086 cardholders, about 305 employees and a budget of 31,165,237 dollars (Facilities Master Plan, 2022). Annual circulation stood at 10.3 million items in 2019, a typical year, against 3.15 million in the pandemic year 2020. In 2022 the library eliminated fines for patrons seventeen and younger. The library marked its 130th anniversary in 2025.
The next building era: The 2022 Facilities Master Plan recommended 112 to 118 million dollars of work across the system. Its first phase, approved in 2024 and under way from 2025, is financed by a 37,000,000-dollar bond together with more than 20,000,000 dollars of library reserves — the 2001 bond having been paid off in 2021 — and contemplates, among much renovation, a replacement Aboite branch and a possible new branch in Huntertown.
Leadership: Executive Director Susan P. Baier leads the system; Curt B. Witcher still heads the Genealogy Center as Director of Special Collections.
Sources:
- ACPL Facilities Master Plan, 7 April 2022, as carried in Wikipedia, "Allen County Public Library" — population, holdings, membership, staff and budget; the 2019 and 2020 circulation figures.
- Allen County Public Library — the 2022 fine change; the Facilities Master Plan Phase 1 financing (September 2024); the 130th anniversary (2025, via the Allen County Genealogical Society).
- US 93.3 (WBTU), 8 April 2022 — the Board's acceptance of the master plan at a cost range of 112 to 118 million dollars.