Photo: Brian Stansberry · CC BY 4.0Walnut Grove’s library logs 1.3 visits per resident, against a typical 3.5 for libraries its size
Walnut Grove - Westside Public Library serves Walnut Grove’s 775 residents. Last year it lent 278 books, movies and e-books and logged 985 visits.
What Walnut Grove’s library is like
More library cards than residents
1,502 cards for 775 people. Cards held by people from outside the service area count too, so the total can pass the population. At the typical library serving under 2,500 people, it’s 54%. How it compares ↓
Walnut Grove - Westside Public Library is used less than most libraries its size
Walnut Grove - Westside Public Library records 1.3 visits per resident, against a typical 3.5 for libraries serving under 2,500 people. Borrowing is 0.4 print items per resident, against a typical 3.9. It also spends less than most: $31 per resident, against a typical $54. How it compares ↓
A small-town library
Walnut Grove - Westside Public Library serves 775 residents with about one full-time staff, open about 25 hours a week. It’s compared only with libraries serving under 2,500 people, because per-person numbers always look big in a small town. A year at the library ↓
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; in a town this small, one busy program or a few avid readers move the per-resident numbers.
What’s behind Walnut Grove’s civic life grade
Walnut Grove isn’t graded on civic life: TownRatings grades towns of 1,000 residents or more.
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 →
Ahead of most similar-size libraries on 2 of 8 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving under 2,500 people across the U.S.
Walnut Grove - Westside Public Library serves 775 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving under 2,500.
A year at Walnut Grove - Westside Public Library
Fiscal year 2024. The library’s own count.
Mostly books and media off the shelf
278 loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
Each of the 14K books and other items on the shelves went out about 0 time last year, on average.
Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.
16 programs a year
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 Walnut Grove last year.
Find it
Walnut Grove - Westside Public Library, 5151 Walnut Grove Road, Altoona.
E-books and audiobooks from home. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy.
New in Walnut Grove? The Handbook →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 Walnut Grove cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $54. Operating budget $24K.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $15K worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $24K budget.
Late fines apply to some overdue items.
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 1,502 cardholders ÷ 12.
What this data can and can’t tell you
From the Public Libraries Survey, fiscal year 2024.
- Visits are a typical-week estimate. Walnut Grove - Westside Public Library counted one typical week and multiplied by 52, as the survey allows.
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 Walnut Grove
Does Walnut Grove have a public library?
Yes. Walnut Grove - Westside Public Library, 5151 Walnut Grove Road, serves Walnut Grove’s 775 residents (the survey’s count) and is open about 25 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Walnut Grove - Westside Public Library fine-free? Does it lend e-books?
It charges late fines on some overdue items, and it lends e-books and audiobooks with a card (the library’s 2024 survey report).
How busy is Walnut Grove’s library?
It logged 1.3 visits and lent 0.4 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 3.5 visits for libraries serving under 2,500 people.
What is Walnut Grove’s civic life grade?
Walnut Grove isn’t graded on civic life: TownRatings grades towns of 1,000 residents or more. How it works.
Book talk
Reading, story times and the library in Walnut Grove.
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.