Photo: Billy Hathorn · CC BY-SA 3.0Magnolia’s library logs 1.3 visits per resident, against a typical 3.1 for libraries its size
Columbia County Library serves 22,024 people in and around Magnolia. Last year it lent 75K books, movies and e-books and logged 29K visits.
What’s behind Magnolia’s civic life grade
On community nonprofits and volunteering, Magnolia is among the top 1% of U.S. towns, #2 of 114 in Arkansas. Magnolia is graded on two of the three inputs. Both inputs are above most U.S. towns; the share of younger adults in volunteering groups 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 →
79 community nonprofits are registered in Magnolia
7.3 per 1,000 residents, against a U.S. town median of 3.7. The largest group: civic groups, clubs & veterans.
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 (21 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town. 1 more name a national or statewide reach and are left out.
17.9%
17.9% of Magnolia’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 Magnolia’s residents live; 2022.
Below most similar-size libraries on all 8 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving 10,000 to 25,000 people across the U.S.
Columbia County Library serves 22,024 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 10,000 to 25,000.
Every hour the doors are open, about 27 items go out
Fiscal year 2024, for the whole Columbia County Library system. The library’s own count.
Almost half the print loans are kids’ books
75K loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
17,267 e-books, e-audiobooks and streams last year. Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.
About 5 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
Columbia County Library, 2057 North Jackson, Magnolia.
E-books and audiobooks from home. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy. Good at every Columbia County Library branch.
New in Magnolia? 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 $2.67 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Magnolia cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $43. Operating budget $464K.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $1.2M worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $464K 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 7,583 cardholders ÷ 12.
What this data can and can’t tell you
From the Public Libraries Survey, fiscal year 2024.
- System-wide. Columbia County Library serves 22,024 people in and around Magnolia, so the yearly numbers cover all of them, not just Magnolia.
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 Magnolia
Does Magnolia have a public library?
Yes. Columbia County Library, 2057 North Jackson, serves 22,024 people in and around Magnolia (the survey’s count) and is open about 38 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Columbia 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 Magnolia’s library?
It logged 1.3 visits and lent 3.4 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 3.1 visits for libraries serving 10,000 to 25,000 people.
What is Magnolia’s civic life grade?
A+ Magnolia is among the top 1% of U.S. towns on civic life, #2 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 Magnolia.
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.