Surprise Public Library launches public data dashboard and reports $11.3 million in annual patron savings

At the Library Advisory Commission meeting Oct. 9, Surprise Public Library staff unveiled a public-facing data dashboard that will publish 33 monthly performance metrics to the public and city leadership.

Library staff told commissioners the dashboard is intended to increase transparency, tie library work to the City Council strategic plan adopted in June 2025, and provide data staff will use when requesting future staffing and budget increases. "We have nothing to hide," the presenter said, describing the new tool as a way for the public to see how the system is performing.

Staff showed systemwide trends across six categories: key performance indicators (visitor counts and active cardholders), programs and outreach, collections and circulation (physical and digital), budget, community connections (outreach and volunteers) and technology access. The dashboard is publicly accessible via the library website under Resources > Data Dashboard and allows downloads of PNG images and CSV data for deeper review.

The presentation included these headline figures presented by staff: roughly 43,000 active library cardholders (a gain from about 27,000…