Florida had nine multi-county library systems and 40 county systems in 2000. Circulation totaled 75,708,000. The largest public library systems are those of Miami–Dade County (3,886,852 volumes in 1999) and Jacksonville (2,351,104 volumes). The State Library in Tallahassee housed 661,849 volumes; the State Library also distributes federal aid to local libraries and provides other assistance. Total public library income totaled $355,388,000 in 2000. Federal aid to Florida public libraries totaled $3.6 million; state aid to public libraries was $33.1 million. The largest university library in the state is that of the University of Florida, with holdings of more than 3.4 million volumes in 1999. Other major university libraries are those of the University of Miami and Florida State University (2.2 million each).
Florida has about 278 museums, galleries, and historical sites, as well as numerous public gardens. One of the best-known museums is the John and Mabel Ringling Museum of Art (Sarasota), a state owned facility which houses the collection of the late circus entrepreneur, featuring Italian and North European Renaissance paintings. Also in Sarasota are the Ringling Museum of the Circus and the Circus Hall of Fame, and Ca'd'Zan, the Ringling mansion. The estates and homes of a number of prominent former Florida residents are now open as museums. The Villa Vizcaya Museum and Gardens in Miami, originally the estate of International Harvester founder James R. Deering, displays his collection of 15th–18th-century antiques. Railroad developer Henry Morrison Flagler's home in Palm Beach is now a museum in his name. The Society of the Four Arts is also in Palm Beach. On Key West, Ernest Hemingway's home is also a museum. The John James Audubon house in Key West and Thomas Edison's house in Ft. Myers are two of Florida's other great homes.
The Metrozoo-Miami, with an average annual attendance of 650,000, and the Jacksonville Zoological park, 522,000, are among the state's leading zoos. Both Busch Gardens (Tampa) and Sea World of Florida (Orlando) report average annual attendances of over 3,000,000.
The largest historic restoration in Florida is in St. Augustine, where several blocks of the downtown area have been restored to their 18th-century likeness under the auspices of the Historic St. Augustine Preservation Board, a state agency. Castillo de San Marcos, the 17th-century Spanish fort at St. Augustine, is now a national monument under the jurisdiction of the National Park Service and is open to the public. Other Florida cities having historic preservation boards are Pensacola, Tallahassee, and Tampa.