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W.L. Wood HouseW.L. Wood House · Photo: Cid.williams · CC BY-SA 3.0
Conway County Library

Morrilton’s library lends 0.8 print items per resident, against a typical 3.9 for libraries its size

Conway County Library serves 20,846 people in and around Morrilton. Last year it lent 23K books, movies and e-books and logged 39K visits.

101 West Church Street, Morrilton 72110 · about 45 hours a week
B+Civic lifeAhead of 73% of U.S. towns · #20 of 114 in Arkansas. Nonprofits and volunteering.
Directions (501) 354-5204 What’s a card worth?
Borrowed a year
23K
1.1 per resident
Visits a year
39K
1.9 per resident · Below typical (3.1)
Cardholders
79%
16,553 cards
Open
45 hrs
a week at this branch
In brief

What Morrilton’s library is like

The branch is a National Register landmark

Conway County Library has been on the National Register of Historic Places since 1978. Today’s library there has 4,500 square feet. The building ↓

People visit, but borrow less than most

Conway County Library lends 0.8 print items per resident, against a typical 3.9 for libraries serving 10,000 to 25,000 people, fewer than 93% of similar-size libraries, though visits are closer to typical. What people borrow ↓

79% of the people it serves carry a library card

16,553 cards for 20,846 people, or 79%. At the typical library serving 10,000 to 25,000 people, it’s 40%. How it compares ↓

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; Conway County Library serves 20,846 people in and around Morrilton, and its numbers cover all of them.

Civic life grade

What’s behind Morrilton’s civic life grade

On community nonprofits and volunteering, Morrilton is ahead of 73% of U.S. towns, #20 of 114 in Arkansas. Morrilton is graded on two of the three inputs. Morrilton’s count of community nonprofits holds the grade up; the share of younger adults in volunteering groups pulls it down.

B+
Civic lifeA character grade: shown, never part of Morrilton’s overall grade.
–Library visitsServed by a county or regional system, so there is no town figureACommunity nonprofits9.6 per 1,000 residents · AR towns 3.4 · U.S. 3.7C+Volunteering6.6% of adults 25–44 · AR towns 7.2% · U.S. 7.5%
All U.S. towns we grade (17,556)Ahead of 73%
FewerMore
Arkansas towns we grade (114)Ahead of 83%
U.S. towns with similar incomes, $36K–$59K (4,140)Ahead of 72%

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. Morrilton is small (7,195 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

68 community nonprofits are registered in Morrilton

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

Community nonprofits, by kind

Arts & culture40.56 per 1,000 · U.S. towns 0.24
Youth, sports & recreation20.28 per 1,000 · U.S. towns 0.52
Civic groups, clubs & veterans152.12 per 1,000 · U.S. towns 0.74
Human services192.68 per 1,000 · U.S. towns 0.59
Education111.50 per 1,000 · U.S. towns 0.43
Health40.56 per 1,000 · U.S. towns 0.16
Environment & animals30.42 per 1,000 · U.S. towns 0.17
Other101.41 per 1,000 · U.S. towns 0.47

Counted from the IRS list of tax-exempt organizations by mailing address (fractions where a ZIP code spans towns). Congregations are counted apart (13 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town. 2 more name a national or statewide reach and are left out.

Volunteering

6.6%

6.6% of Morrilton’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 Morrilton’s residents live; 2022.

★ What stands out · How it compares

Ahead of most similar-size libraries on 1 of 6 measures

Per resident, against libraries serving 10,000 to 25,000 people across the U.S.

Visits per resident 1.9 visits · typical 3.1Lower than 72%
Borrowing per resident 0.8 print items · typical 3.9Bottom 10%
Digital borrowing 0.3 e-items · typical 1.1Lower than 87%
Kids’ borrowing 0.2 kids’ items · typical 1.8Bottom 10%
Cardholders 79% of residents · typical 40%Top 10%
Spending $26 per resident · typical $43Lower than 75%
Fewer per residentMore per resident
Size group

Conway County Library serves 20,846 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 10,000 to 25,000.

A year at the library

Every hour the doors are open, about 10 items go out

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

39K
visits
1.9 per resident
23K
loans, print + digital
1.1 per resident
17K
library cards
79% of people served
Every open hour10items borrowed
Every week754visits
7 staff (full-time equivalent)7 public computers
What people borrow

Mostly books and media off the shelf

23K loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.

23Kloans
Books & media (adults) 55%Kids’ books & media 21%E-books, audio & streaming 25%
From your couch

5,754 e-books, e-audiobooks and streams last year. Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.

Kids & programs

What kids borrow

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

Schools in Morrilton →
4,821
kids’ books & media borrowed
The building

A National Register landmark since 1978

Conway County Library, 101 West Church Street, Morrilton.

Directions(501) 354-5204
45
hours open a week
4,500
square feet
With a card

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

New in Morrilton? The Handbook →

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

Conway County Library
The building’s story

Conway County Library

Conway County Library was added to the National Register of Historic Places on Apr 15, 1978. It is significant for its architecture at the local level.

The Conway County Library is the public library system of Conway County, Arkansas. The main library is located at 101 West Church Street in downtown Morrilton, Arkansas, the county seat. The library is located in a Classical Revival brick building designed by Thomas Harding and funded in part by a grant from Andrew Carnegie. In 1916 the Pathfinder Club of Morrilton applied for the grant.

More about the building →
What your card is worth

What a library card is worth

Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Morrilton 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
$26 per resident a year

Typical for a library this size: $43. Operating budget $551K.

Local taxes 87%State 9%Gifts & other 4%

Last year the library lent and hosted about $360K worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $551K 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 16,553 cardholders ÷ 12.

How to read these numbers

What this data can and can’t tell you

From the Public Libraries Survey, fiscal year 2024.

  • System-wide. Conway County Library serves 20,846 people in and around Morrilton, so the yearly numbers cover all of them, not just Morrilton.

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 Morrilton

Does Morrilton have a public library?

Yes. Conway County Library, 101 West Church Street, serves 20,846 people in and around Morrilton (the survey’s count) and is open about 45 hours a week, averaged over the year.

Is Conway 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 Morrilton’s library?

It logged 1.9 visits and lent 1.1 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 3.1 visits for libraries serving 10,000 to 25,000 people.

What is Morrilton’s civic life grade?

B+ Morrilton is ahead of 73% of U.S. towns on civic life, #20 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 Morrilton.

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. Building history: National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places; photo via Wikimedia Commons. “What your card is worth” uses typical retail prices and is an estimate, not an official figure.