Photo: Photolitherland Chris Litherland · CC BY 3.0Walnut Ridge’s library lends 2 print items per resident, against a typical 3.9 for libraries its size
Lawrence County Library serves 16,318 people in and around Walnut Ridge. Last year it lent 60K books, movies and e-books and logged 33K visits.
What stands out about Lawrence County Library
Read from the library’s own yearly report. The page puts what stands out first.
What’s behind Walnut Ridge’s civic life grade
On community nonprofits and volunteering, Walnut Ridge is ahead of 55% of U.S. towns, #40 of 114 in Arkansas. Walnut Ridge is graded on two of the three inputs. Walnut Ridge’s count of community nonprofits holds the grade up; the share of younger adults in volunteering groups pulls it down.
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 →
24 community nonprofits are registered in Walnut Ridge
4.4 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 (4 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town.
7.3%
7.3% of Walnut Ridge’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 Walnut Ridge’s residents live; 2022.
Ahead of most similar-size libraries on 3 of 6 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving 10,000 to 25,000 people across the U.S.
Lawrence County Library serves 16,318 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 10,000 to 25,000.
Every hour the doors are open, about 12 items go out
Fiscal year 2024, for the whole Lawrence County Library system. The library’s own count.
46% of borrowing is digital
60K loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
27,117 e-books, e-audiobooks and streams last year. Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.
What kids borrow
Story times, clubs, classes and events, across the whole system, by who they’re for.
Find it
Lawrence County Library, 115 West Walnut St., Walnut Ridge.
No late fees. E-books and audiobooks from home. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy. Good at every Lawrence County Library branch.
New in Walnut Ridge? 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 $1.33 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Walnut Ridge cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $43. Operating budget $754K.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $1M worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $754K budget.
Fine-free. No late fees on books returned late.
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 9,976 cardholders ÷ 12.
Libraries next door
Who has a library of their own, and how much each town borrows. Tap a town to see its library.
| Town | Library | Loans per resident | Hours | Civic life |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Walnut Ridge | Lawrence County Library fine-free | — | 47 | B |
| Hoxie | None of its own | — | — | D |
Loans = print + digital items borrowed in the library’s fiscal year, per person it serves. — = no library of its own, a county or regional system (its numbers cover many towns), or no report. Civic life: — = not graded (unincorporated places, whose nonprofits can’t be placed by mailing address, or towns with fewer than two of the three inputs).
What this data can and can’t tell you
From the Public Libraries Survey, fiscal year 2024.
- System-wide. Lawrence County Library serves 16,318 people in and around Walnut Ridge, so the yearly numbers cover all of them, not just Walnut Ridge.
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 Walnut Ridge
Does Walnut Ridge have a public library?
Yes. Lawrence County Library, 115 West Walnut St., serves 16,318 people in and around Walnut Ridge (the survey’s count) and is open about 47 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Lawrence County Library fine-free? Does it lend e-books?
Yes to both: no late fees, and e-books, audiobooks and research databases with a card (the library’s 2024 survey report).
How busy is Walnut Ridge’s library?
It logged 2.0 visits and lent 3.6 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 3.1 visits for libraries serving 10,000 to 25,000 people.
What is Walnut Ridge’s civic life grade?
B Walnut Ridge is ahead of 55% of U.S. towns on civic life, #40 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 Walnut Ridge.
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.