Photo: PhotolitherlandChris Litherland · CC BY-SA 3.0Harrison’s library lends 1.4 print items per resident, against a typical 3.7 for libraries its size
Boone County Library serves 37,432 people in and around Harrison. Last year it lent 90K books, movies and e-books and logged 98K visits.
What stands out about Boone County Library
Read from the library’s own yearly report. The page puts what stands out first.
What’s behind Harrison’s civic life grade
On community nonprofits and volunteering, Harrison is ahead of 86% of U.S. towns, #7 of 114 in Arkansas. Harrison is graded on two of the three inputs. Both inputs are above most U.S. towns; Harrison’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 →
83 community nonprofits are registered in Harrison
6.2 per 1,000 residents, against a U.S. town median of 3.7. The largest group: human services.
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 (29 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town. 3 more name a national or statewide reach and are left out.
9.1%
9.1% of Harrison’s Facebook users aged 25–44 belong to a volunteering or activism group, against 7.2% in the typical Arkansas 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 Harrison’s residents live; 2022.
Ahead of most similar-size libraries on 2 of 8 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000 people across the U.S.
Boone County Library serves 37,432 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000.
Every hour the doors are open, about 35 items go out
Fiscal year 2024, for the whole Boone County Library system. The library’s own count.
41% of borrowing is digital
90K loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
36,739 e-books, e-audiobooks and streams last year. Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.
About 3 kids’ programs a week
Story times, clubs, classes and events, across the whole system, by who they’re for.
Programs last year by age group
story times and programs a week for ages 0–5, on average.
Find it
Boone County Library, 221 W. Stephenson Ave, Harrison.
E-books and audiobooks from home. Loans renew on their own if no one’s waiting. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy. Good at every Boone County Library branch.
New in Harrison? The Handbook →Hours are the survey’s yearly average. Check the library’s own site for today’s hours.
For every $1 it spends, the library lends about $2.03 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Harrison cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $40. Operating budget $740K.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $1.5M worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $740K 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 24,644 cardholders ÷ 12.
What this data can and can’t tell you
From the Public Libraries Survey, fiscal year 2024.
- System-wide. Boone County Library serves 37,432 people in and around Harrison, so the yearly numbers cover all of them, not just Harrison.
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 Harrison
Does Harrison have a public library?
Yes. Boone County Library, 221 W. Stephenson Ave, serves 37,432 people in and around Harrison (the survey’s count) and is open about 49 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Boone County 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 Harrison’s library?
It logged 2.6 visits and lent 2.4 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 2.6 visits for libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000 people.
What is Harrison’s civic life grade?
A Harrison is ahead of 86% of U.S. towns on civic life, #7 of 114 in Arkansas. 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 Harrison.
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.