Photo: Dicklyon · CC BY-SA 4.0Mountain View’s library lends 12 print items per resident, against a typical 3.7 for libraries its size
Mountain View Public Library serves Mountain View’s 86,535 residents. Last year it lent 1.4M books, movies and e-books and logged 345K visits.
The short version on Mountain View’s library
More than half the print loans are for kids
Children’s books and media are 61% of print loans, and kids’ borrowing per resident is higher than at 97% of similar-size libraries. That works out to about 38 items per child in Mountain View last year. Kids & programs ↓
Mountain View is a town of borrowers
Mountain View Public Library lends 12 print items per resident, against a typical 3.7 for libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000 people, more than 94% of similar-size libraries. Each item on the shelves went out about 4.1 times last year. What people borrow ↓
Big on e-books and audiobooks
Digital borrowing runs 3.9 e-items per resident, against a typical 1.2, higher than at 94% of similar-size libraries. It’s 25% of all loans. What people borrow ↓
The shelves work hard
Each of the 256,000 items on the shelves went out about 4.1 times last year, on average. What people borrow ↓
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.
What’s behind Mountain View’s civic life grade
On library visits, community nonprofits and volunteering, Mountain View is ahead of 37% of U.S. towns, #180 of 448 in California. Library visits hold the grade up; the share of younger adults in volunteering groups pulls it down.
Most U.S. towns with similar household incomes ($142K–$237K) score higher, so income alone doesn’t account for it.
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 →
298 community nonprofits are registered in Mountain View
3.6 per 1,000 residents, against a U.S. town median of 3.7. The largest group: education.
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 (62 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town. 16 more name a national or statewide reach and are left out.
5.7%
5.7% of Mountain View’s Facebook users aged 25–44 belong to a volunteering or activism group, against 5.9% in the typical California 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.
About 4 kids’ programs a week
Story times, clubs, classes and events, by who they’re for.
Programs last year by age group
story times and programs a week for ages 0–5, on average.
children’s books and media borrowed per child under 18 in Mountain View last year.
Ahead of most similar-size libraries on 6 of 8 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000 people across the U.S.
Mountain View Public Library serves 86,535 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000.
Every hour the doors are open, about 401 items go out
Fiscal year 2024. The library’s own count.
More than half the print loans are kids’ books
1.4M loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
Each of the 256K books and other items on the shelves went out about 4.1 times last year, on average.
339,720 e-books, e-audiobooks and streams last year. Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.
Find it
Mountain View Public Library, 585 Franklin St., Mountain View.
No late fees. E-books and audiobooks from home. Loans renew on their own if no one’s waiting. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy.
New in Mountain View? 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 $2.89 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 $6.9M.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $2M worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $6.9M 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 56,632 cardholders ÷ 12.
Libraries next door
Mountain View ranks 2nd of 3 for borrowing per resident. Tap a town to see its library.
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.
- The library’s own count. Libraries report their own visits, loans and programs. A library that didn’t respond keeps its address and hours here, with no numbers.
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. Mountain View Public Library, 585 Franklin St., serves Mountain View’s 86,535 residents (the survey’s count) and is open about 62 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Mountain View Public 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 Mountain View’s library?
It logged 4.0 visits and lent 16.0 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?
C+ Mountain View is ahead of 37% of U.S. towns on civic life, #180 of 448 in California. 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.