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More than 1 million residents are registered to borrow books from Connecticut public libraries — a number that increased last year for the first time in five years.

In Connecticut, the percent of the population holding library cards increased from 31% to 32% in fiscal year 2025. This increase comes after an apparent drop from 2023 to 2024, and it is the first percentage increase since 2020.

Nearly 1.2 million people are registered borrowers with a Connecticut public library, according to the most recent data from the 2025 fiscal year. Barbara Ghilardi, the statewide data coordinator for Connecticut public libraries, said the number of registered borrowers has been steadily dropping for the past decade. She said the larger drop off in 2024 could be attributed to better data collection from libraries.

But in 2025, libraries saw an increase in borrowers for the first time in years. Ghilardi said that growth, along with a consistent increase in the number of total library visits, is an indicator that more people are utilizing libraries in the state.

Connecticut libraries saw 14.3 million visitors last fiscal year, which comes out to a per-capita visit rate of around 3.9 visits per resident. Circulation per capita is even higher, with slightly more than six books out per person per year, or more than 22.3 million books checked out in the 2025 fiscal year.

Last year, the legislature passed numerous pieces of legislation regarding Connecticut’s public libraries. Some strengthened protections against book banning, while other legislation created laws that allow libraries easier and less costly access to e-books and audio books.

This session, however, libraries aren’t a major topic of discussion in the legislature.

In Connecticut, while circulation and visits are up, libraries across the state are becoming more lenient with late borrowers. The number of libraries that have eliminated late fees for books and DVDs has increased significantly, from just 31 in 2020 to 133 in 2025.

Sasha is a data reporting fellow with The Connecticut Mirror. She graduated from the University of Maryland in May with a degree in journalism and a minor in creative writing. For the past year Sasha was working part time for the Herald-Mail, a newspaper based in Western Maryland. She was also a reporter and copy editor for Capital News Service, the university’s wire service where she covered the state legislature, the Baltimore Key Bridge collapse, school board elections, youth mental health and climate change. Earlier in her college career, Sasha also interned at the Baltimore Magazine and wrote for numerous student publications including the Diamondback, the university’s independent, student-run newspaper.