Nixon Library Has Yet to Reach Its Attendance Goal : Tourism: Its target of 1,000 visitors a day is still unmet, but it surpassed all other presidential institutions in paid attendance last year.

The Richard Nixon Library & Birthplace has yet to reach its goal of 1,000 visitors a day, but it surpassed all other presidential libraries in paid attendance last year, officials say.

John H. Taylor, the library’s executive director, said Tuesday that an average of 612 people a day visited the institution during its first five months of operation in 1990. Those attendance figures include children, who are admitted free, and senior citizens, who are given a discount.

Tax information filed with the California Registry of Charitable Trusts indicates that ticket sales for the final five months of 1990--the library opened its doors that July--brought in $246,155. Taylor said paid attendance grew in 1991, the library’s first full year of operation, but declined to say by how much. He added, however, that the Nixon library surpassed the John F. Kennedy Library and Museum’s 127,300 paid visitors last year.

In its first two months of operation, the new Ronald Reagan Presdential Library received more than 100,000 paying visitors, officials there said.

The Lyndon Baines Johnson Library in Austin, Tex., attracts more visitors than any other presidential library but it charges no admission. Roughly 308,000 people visit that library every year.

The Nixon library has yet to even approach those figures, but officials say they are pleased by the early and growing popularity of their center.

“We’re delighted by our attendance figures,” Taylor said. “I never thought we would be at 1,000 per day this soon. . . . We have a growth-oriented mentality here, and we’re still building attendance.”

Although Taylor and other library officials decline to release current attendance figures, tax information filed with the state for 1990 indicates that in its opening months the library generated the bulk of its revenue through memberships, contributions, gifts and other bequests--not ticket sales.

The library reported $4.2 million in total public support, which includes grants, contributions and gifts. It also netted $31,458 in interest on its investments, but recorded a loss on its stock holdings. All told, the library reported total revenue of just over $5 million for 1990.

While ticket sales accounted for a relatively small portion of the library’s overall budget, officials said that comes as no surprise.

“The expansion and the energetic operations of this library will always depend on an endowment,” said attorney Hugh Hewitt, a former executive director of the library.

Hewitt and other library officials said they expect to launch an endowment drive in the coming year. That money, they said, will help pay for the facility’s operations and exhibits.

Meanwhile, officials say they expect to see attendance figures and ticket sales rise as the library becomes better known.

“Our repeat business is ramping up very nicely,” Hewitt said. “It’s a very, very excellent start-off, and the board is very pleased. It’ll take a while (to reach 1,000 visitors a day). You’ve got to let people know that you’re there.”