Guest, Sign inJoin

Post to Judsonia

We’ll email a one-tap link to publish your post. No password, and nothing is public until you click it.
Already a member? Sign in
Alfred W. Henson HouseAlfred W. Henson House · Photo: Wjhannah68 · CC BY-SA 4.0
Baldwin Memorial Library · part of White County Regional Library System

Judsonia’s library is a branch of White County Regional Library System, which lends less per resident than 57% of systems its size

Judsonia’s library is the Baldwin Memorial Library, a branch of White County Regional Library System, which serves 79,091 people and lent 410K items last year.

612 Van Buren, Judsonia 72081 · about 31 hours a week
C−Civic lifeAhead of 18% of U.S. towns. Nonprofits and volunteering.
Borrowed a year
410K
5.2 per resident
Visits a year
194K
2.5 per resident · Below typical (2.6)
Programs & events
1,546
about 30 a week · 29K attended
Cardholders
41%
32,528 cards
Open
31 hrs
a week at this branch

What stands out about Baldwin Memorial Library

Read from the library’s own yearly report. The page puts what stands out first.

Civic life grade

What’s behind Judsonia’s civic life grade

On community nonprofits and volunteering, Judsonia is ahead of 18% of U.S. towns. Judsonia is graded on two of the three inputs. Both inputs sit below most U.S. towns; the share of younger adults in volunteering groups comes closest to the middle.

C−
Civic lifeA character grade: shown, never part of Judsonia’s overall grade.
All U.S. towns we grade (17,556)Ahead of 18%
FewerMore
U.S. towns with similar incomes, $32K–$54K (2,881)Ahead of 23%

White County Regional Library System spends $24 per resident, against a typical $40 for libraries its size.

Most U.S. towns with similar household incomes ($32K–$54K) score higher, so income alone doesn’t account for it.

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.

How sure. Graded on two inputs, so a change in either one moves the letter more than it would with three. Judsonia is small (1,906 residents), so a few dozen organizations or visits move its per-resident figures; the volunteering share is a 2022 estimate from Facebook users aged 25–44.

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 →

Places to belong

3 community nonprofits are registered in Judsonia

1.4 per 1,000 residents, against a U.S. town median of 3.7. The largest group: human services.

Community nonprofits, by kind

Arts & culture00.10 per 1,000 · U.S. towns 0.24
Youth, sports & recreation00.24 per 1,000 · U.S. towns 0.52
Civic groups, clubs & veterans00.00 per 1,000 · U.S. towns 0.74
Human services10.34 per 1,000 · U.S. towns 0.59
Education00.10 per 1,000 · U.S. towns 0.43
Health00.10 per 1,000 · U.S. towns 0.16
Environment & animals10.34 per 1,000 · U.S. towns 0.17

Counted from the IRS list of tax-exempt organizations by mailing address (fractions where a ZIP code spans towns). Congregations are counted apart (2 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town.

Volunteering

7.3%

7.3% of Judsonia’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 Judsonia’s residents live; 2022.

How it compares

Ahead of most similar-size libraries on 4 of 8 measures

Per resident, against libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000 people across the U.S.

Visits per resident 2.5 visits · typical 2.6Lower than 53%
Borrowing per resident 3.2 print items · typical 3.7Lower than 57%
Digital borrowing 2 e-items · typical 1.2Higher than 73%
Kids’ borrowing 1.4 kids’ items · typical 1.7Lower than 56%
Program attendance 0.4 attendees · typical 0.3Higher than 57%
Programs offered 19.5 per 1,000 residents · typical 14Higher than 67%
Cardholders 41% of residents · typical 39%Higher than 54%
Spending $24 per resident · typical $40Lower than 76%
Fewer per residentMore per resident
Size group

White County Regional Library System serves 79,091 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000.

A year at the library

A year at White County Regional Library System

Fiscal year 2024, for the whole White County Regional Library System system. The library’s own count.

194K
visits
2.5 per resident
410K
loans, print + digital
5.2 per resident
1,546
programs & events
29K attended
33K
library cards
41% of people served
Every week558people at a program
Every day44Wi-Fi sessions
24 staff (full-time equivalent)50 public computers

Not reported for 2024: hours open. The survey fills a missing figure with its own estimate; we leave estimates out rather than show them as the library’s count.

What people borrow

Almost half the print loans are kids’ books

410K loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.

410Kloans
Books & media (adults) 34%Kids’ books & media 27%E-books, audio & streaming 39%
From your couch

160,077 e-books, e-audiobooks and streams last year. Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.

Kids & programs

About 17 kids’ programs a week

Story times, clubs, classes and events, across the whole system, by who they’re for.

Schools in Judsonia →

Programs last year by age group

Ages 0–5492
Ages 6–11402
Teens31
Adults237
All ages384
Little ones
9.5

story times and programs a week for ages 0–5, on average.

112K
kids’ books & media borrowed
29K
people at programs
1,546
programs
The building

Find it

Baldwin Memorial Library, 612 Van Buren, Judsonia.

31
hours open a week
3,600
square feet
With a card

E-books and audiobooks from home. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy. Good at every White County Regional Library System branch.

New in Judsonia? The Handbook →

Hours are the survey’s yearly average. Check the library’s own site for today’s hours.

What your card is worth

For every $1 it spends, the library lends about $3.45 worth

Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Judsonia cardholder borrows.

In a month I’d use…
Books$17 each
1
Kids’ books$12 each
0
E-books & audio$15 each
0
Movies & music$4 each
0
Programs & classes$10 a program
0
Computer & Wi-Fi$3 a session
0
Your card saves you about
$204
a year at retail prices · $17 a month

Who pays for it
$24 per resident a year

Typical for a library this size: $40. Operating budget $1.9M.

Local taxes 93%State 7%

Last year the library lent and hosted about $6.4M worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $1.9M 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 32,528 cardholders ÷ 12.

How to read these numbers

What this data can and can’t tell you

From the Public Libraries Survey, fiscal year 2024.

  • Not reported for 2024: hours open. The survey filled the figure with its own estimate, so it is left out.
  • System-wide. Baldwin Memorial Library is one branch of White County Regional Library System, so the yearly numbers cover every branch and all 79,091 people it serves.

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 Judsonia

Does Judsonia have a public library?

Yes: Baldwin Memorial Library, 612 Van Buren, is a branch of White County Regional Library System, which serves 79,091 people. The branch is open about 31 hours a week, averaged over the year.

Is White County Regional Library System 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 Judsonia’s library?

It logged 2.5 visits and lent 5.2 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 2.6 visits for libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000 people.

What is Judsonia’s civic life grade?

C− Judsonia is ahead of 18% 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 Judsonia.

Town Square →
Start a conversation

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.