Guest, Sign inJoin

Post to St. Johns

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
Isaacson BuildingIsaacson Building · Photo: Ammodramus · CC0
St. Johns Public Library · part of Apache County Library District Office

St. Johns’ library is a branch of Apache County Library District Office, which lends less per resident than 80% of systems its size

St. Johns’s library is the St. Johns Public Library, a branch of Apache County Library District Office, which serves 66,557 people and lent 100K items last year.

35 S 3rd W, St. Johns 85936 · about 41 hours a week
B+Civic lifeAhead of 67% of U.S. towns · #14 of 68 in Arizona. Nonprofits and volunteering.
Borrowed a year
100K
1.5 per resident
Visits a year
77K
1.2 per resident · Below typical (2.6)
Programs & events
574
about 11 a week · 11K attended
Cardholders
27%
17,796 cards
Open
41 hrs
a week at this branch

What stands out about St. Johns Public Library

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

Civic life grade

What’s behind St. Johns’ civic life grade

On community nonprofits and volunteering, St. Johns is ahead of 67% of U.S. towns, #14 of 68 in Arizona. St. Johns is graded on two of the three inputs. St. Johns’ 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 St. Johns’ overall grade.
All U.S. towns we grade (17,556)Ahead of 67%
FewerMore
Arizona towns we grade (68)Ahead of 81%
U.S. towns with similar incomes, $99K–$165K (3,360)Ahead of 70%

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. St. Johns is small (3,336 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

31 community nonprofits are registered in St. Johns

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

Community nonprofits, by kind

Arts & culture10.29 per 1,000 · U.S. towns 0.24
Youth, sports & recreation61.77 per 1,000 · U.S. towns 0.52
Civic groups, clubs & veterans20.59 per 1,000 · U.S. towns 0.74
Human services102.95 per 1,000 · U.S. towns 0.59
Education10.29 per 1,000 · U.S. towns 0.43
Health41.18 per 1,000 · U.S. towns 0.16
Environment & animals20.59 per 1,000 · U.S. towns 0.17
Other51.47 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 (7 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town.

Volunteering

6.1%

6.1% of St. Johns’ Facebook users aged 25–44 belong to a volunteering or activism group, against 6.0% in the typical Arizona 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 St. Johns’ residents live; 2022.

How it compares

Below most similar-size libraries on all 7 measures

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

Visits per resident 1.2 visits · typical 2.6Lower than 86%
Borrowing per resident 1.5 print items · typical 3.7Lower than 80%
Kids’ borrowing 0.5 kids’ items · typical 1.7Lower than 83%
Program attendance 0.2 attendees · typical 0.3Lower than 80%
Programs offered 8.6 per 1,000 residents · typical 14Lower than 75%
Cardholders 27% of residents · typical 39%Lower than 76%
Spending $29 per resident · typical $40Lower than 66%
Fewer per residentMore per resident
Size group

Apache County Library District Office serves 66,557 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000.

A year at the library

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

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

77K
visits
1.2 per resident
100K
loans, print + digital
1.5 per resident
574
programs & events
11K attended
18K
library cards
27% of people served
Every open hour10items borrowed
Every week206people at a program
Every day163Wi-Fi sessions
24 staff (full-time equivalent)98 public computers
What people borrow

Books and media off the shelf

100K print loans last year. The library didn’t report its e-book and e-audiobook loans.

100Kloans
Books & media (adults) 65%Kids’ books & media 35%
From your couch

Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.

Kids & programs

About 6 kids’ programs a week

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

Schools in St. Johns →

Programs last year by age group

Ages 0–5161
Ages 6–11169
Teens25
Adults85
All ages134
Little ones
3.1

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

35K
kids’ books & media borrowed
11K
people at programs
574
programs
The building

Find it

St. Johns Public Library, 35 S 3rd W, St. Johns.

41
hours open a week
10,149
square feet
With a card

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

New in St. Johns? The Handbook →

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

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 St. Johns 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
$29 per resident a year

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

Local taxes 93%State 1%Federal 3%Gifts & other 2%

Last year the library lent and hosted about $1.8M 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 17,796 cardholders ÷ 12.

How to read these numbers

What this data can and can’t tell you

From the Public Libraries Survey, fiscal year 2024.

  • Digital loans not reported. The library didn’t report e-book loans, so borrowing here is print only.
  • System-wide. St. Johns Public Library is one branch of Apache County Library District Office, so the yearly numbers cover every branch and all 66,557 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 St. Johns

Does St. Johns have a public library?

Yes: St. Johns Public Library, 35 S 3rd W, is a branch of Apache County Library District Office, which serves 66,557 people. The branch is open about 41 hours a week, averaged over the year.

Is Apache County Library District Office 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 St. Johns’ library?

It logged 1.2 visits and lent 1.5 print items per resident in 2024, against a typical 2.6 visits for libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000 people.

What is St. Johns’ civic life grade?

B+ St. Johns is ahead of 67% of U.S. towns on civic life, #14 of 68 in Arizona. 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 St. Johns.

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.