Photo: Forest Service Alaska Region, USDA · CC BY 2.0Cordova’s library logs 8 visits per resident, against a typical 3 for libraries its size
Cordova Public Library serves Cordova’s 2,540 residents. Last year it lent 16K books, movies and e-books and logged 20K visits.
What Cordova’s library is like
More library cards than residents
3,420 cards for 2,540 people. Cards held by people from outside the service area count too, so the total can pass the population. At the typical library serving 2,500 to 10,000 people, it’s 42%. How it compares ↓
People come to Cordova Public Library a lot
Cordova Public Library logs 8 visits per resident, against a typical 3 for libraries serving 2,500 to 10,000 people, more than 89% of similar-size libraries. Borrowing is above typical too, at 4.4 print items per resident. How it compares ↓
Cordova invests in its library
Cordova Public Library spends $149 per resident a year, about three times the typical $43 for a library its size. All of it comes from local taxes. What your card is worth ↓
A place to get online
Cordova Public Library logs about 42 Wi-Fi sessions a day and has 6 public computers. That’s 6 sessions per resident a year. A year at the library ↓
Programs lean toward adults
54% of the 142 programs last year were for adults: classes, talks, clubs and events. 58 were for children. Kids & programs ↓
This summary is written from the numbers on this page. Numbers are the library’s own report to the Public Libraries Survey, fiscal year 2024.
What’s behind Cordova’s civic life grade
On library visits, community nonprofits and volunteering, Cordova is ahead of 97% of U.S. towns. All three inputs are above most U.S. towns; Cordova’s count of community nonprofits ranks highest.
Civic life counts registered nonprofits, library visits and online volunteering groups, so it can miss civic life that runs through congregations, mutual aid or neighbors looking out for each other.
Library visits: IMLS Public Libraries Survey, FY2024. Nonprofits: IRS Exempt Organizations Business Master File, October 2026. Volunteering: Social Capital Atlas (Opportunity Insights), from data by Meta Platforms, Inc.; Chetty et al., Nature 2022. How TownRatings grades civic life →
35 community nonprofits are registered in Cordova
14.3 per 1,000 residents, against a U.S. town median of 3.7. The largest group: environment & animals.
Community nonprofits, by kind
Counted from the IRS list of tax-exempt organizations by mailing address (fractions where a ZIP code spans towns). Congregations are counted apart (5 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town.
10.0%
10.0% of Cordova’s Facebook users aged 25–44 belong to a volunteering or activism group, against 14.9% in the typical Alaska town and 7.5% nationally.
Volunteering: Social Capital Atlas (Opportunity Insights), from data by Meta Platforms, Inc.; Chetty et al., Nature 2022. ZIP-code figures, weighted by where Cordova’s residents live; 2022.
Ahead of most similar-size libraries on all 8 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving 2,500 to 10,000 people across the U.S.
Cordova Public Library serves 2,540 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 2,500 to 10,000.
Every hour the doors are open, about 8 items go out
Fiscal year 2024. The library’s own count.
More than half the print loans are kids’ books
16K loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
Each of the 29K books and other items on the shelves went out about 0.4 time last year, on average.
4,842 e-books, e-audiobooks and streams last year. Borrow from home with your card.
About 1 kids’ program a week
Story times, clubs, classes and events, by who they’re for.
Programs last year by age group
story times and programs a week for ages 0–5, on average.
children’s books and media borrowed per child under 18 in Cordova last year.
Find it
Cordova Public Library, 601 First Street, Cordova.
Hours are the survey’s yearly average. Check the library’s own site for today’s hours.
What a library card is worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Cordova cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $43. Operating budget $378K.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $300K worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $378K budget.
Fine-free. No late fees on books returned late.
Retail prices are typical, rounded down: a new book $17, a kids’ book $12, an e-book or e-audiobook $15, a movie rental $4, a class or program $10, a computer or Wi-Fi session $3. The average cardholder’s month = the library’s yearly loans, attendance and Wi-Fi sessions ÷ its 3,420 cardholders ÷ 12.
What this data can and can’t tell you
From the Public Libraries Survey, fiscal year 2024.
- The library’s own count. Libraries report their own visits, loans and programs. A library that didn’t respond keeps its address and hours here, with no numbers.
Hours are the survey’s yearly average; libraries are compared with others serving about as many people. How TownRatings uses library figures →
Questions about the library and civic life in Cordova
Does Cordova have a public library?
Yes. Cordova Public Library, 601 First Street, serves Cordova’s 2,540 residents (the survey’s count) and is open about 40 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Cordova Public Library fine-free? Does it lend e-books?
Yes to both: no late fees, and e-books, audiobooks with a card (the library’s 2024 survey report).
How busy is Cordova’s library?
It logged 8.0 visits and lent 6.3 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 3 visits for libraries serving 2,500 to 10,000 people.
What is Cordova’s civic life grade?
A+ Cordova is ahead of 97% of U.S. towns on civic life. The grade combines library visits per resident, community nonprofits per 1,000 residents and the share of adults 25–44 in volunteering groups. It’s a character grade, so it isn’t part of the overall grade. How it works.
Book talk
Reading, story times and the library in Cordova.
Libraries: Institute of Museum and Library Services, Public Libraries Survey, fiscal year 2024. Each library reports its own numbers. Distances are straight-line from the town center. “What your card is worth” uses typical retail prices and is an estimate, not an official figure.