Photo: Brandonrush · CC BY-SA 4.0Mountain View’s library logs 1.1 visits per resident, against a typical 2.6 for libraries its size
White River Regional Library serves 80,973 people in and around Mountain View from 2 locations. Last year it lent 137K books, movies and e-books and logged 89K visits.
What stands out about White River Regional Library
Read from the library’s own yearly report. The page puts what stands out first.
What’s behind Mountain View’s civic life grade
On community nonprofits and volunteering, Mountain View is ahead of 69% of U.S. towns, #22 of 114 in Arkansas. Mountain View 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 →
12 community nonprofits are registered in Mountain View
4.3 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 (5 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town.
8.8%
8.8% of Mountain View’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 Mountain View’s residents live; 2022.
Ahead of most similar-size libraries on 1 of 6 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000 people across the U.S.
White River Regional Library serves 80,973 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000.
Every hour the doors are open, about 6 items go out
Fiscal year 2024, for the whole White River Regional Library system. The library’s own count.
Almost half the print loans are kids’ books
137K loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
46,782 e-books, e-audiobooks and streams last year. Borrow from home with your card.
What kids borrow
Story times, clubs, classes and events, across the whole system, by who they’re for.
2 places to borrow in Mountain View
White River Regional Library, 503 West Main Street, Suite 3, Mountain View.
E-books and audiobooks from home. Good at every White River Regional Library branch.
New in Mountain View? The Handbook →Hours are the survey’s yearly average. Check the library’s own site for today’s hours.
Other White River Regional Library branches in Mountain View
For every $1 it spends, the library lends about $1.26 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Mountain View cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $40. Operating budget $1.6M.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $2M worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $1.6M 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 56,531 cardholders ÷ 12.
What this data can and can’t tell you
From the Public Libraries Survey, fiscal year 2024.
- System-wide. White River Regional Library serves 80,973 people in and around Mountain View, so the yearly numbers cover all of them, not just Mountain View.
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 Mountain View
Does Mountain View have a public library?
Yes. White River Regional Library, 503 West Main Street, Suite 3, serves 80,973 people in and around Mountain View (the survey’s count) and is open about 39 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is White River Regional 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 Mountain View’s library?
It logged 1.1 visits and lent 1.7 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 2.6 visits for libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000 people.
What is Mountain View’s civic life grade?
B+ Mountain View is ahead of 69% of U.S. towns on civic life, #22 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 Mountain View.
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.