Walnut Street School · Photo: Epolk · CC0Woodland’s library logs 2.1 visits per resident, against a typical 2.6 for libraries its size
Woodland Public Library serves Woodland’s 60,672 residents. Last year it lent 224K books, movies and e-books and logged 126K visits.
What stands out about Woodland’s library
Read from the library’s own yearly report. The page puts what stands out first.
What’s behind Woodland’s civic life grade
On library visits, community nonprofits and volunteering, Woodland is ahead of 20% of U.S. towns, #238 of 448 in California. All three inputs sit below most U.S. towns; Woodland’s count of community nonprofits comes closest to the middle.
Most U.S. towns with similar household incomes ($68K–$113K) 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 →
219 community nonprofits are registered in Woodland
3.5 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 (45 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town. 8 more name a national or statewide reach and are left out.
5.1%
5.1% of Woodland’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 Woodland’s residents live; 2022.
A National Register landmark since 1981
Woodland Public Library, 250 First St., Woodland.
No late fees. E-books and audiobooks from home. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy.
New in Woodland? The Handbook →Hours are the survey’s yearly average. Check the library’s own site for today’s hours.
Woodland Public Library
Woodland Public Library was added to the National Register of Historic Places on Sep 28, 1981. It is significant for its landscape design, education and architecture at the local level. Its architecture is described as Mission Revival.
The Woodland Public Library is the oldest, and one of the last functioning Carnegie-funded libraries in California. It is on the National Register of Historic Places and is a contributing property of the Downtown Woodland Historic District.
More about the building →Other libraries in Woodland
Ahead of most similar-size libraries on 3 of 8 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000 people across the U.S.
Woodland Public Library serves 60,672 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000.
Every hour the doors are open, about 88 items go out
Fiscal year 2024. The library’s own count.
More than half the print loans are kids’ books
224K loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
Each of the 95K books and other items on the shelves went out about 1.9 times last year, on average.
41,596 e-books, e-audiobooks and streams last year. Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.
About 8 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 Woodland last year.
For every $1 it spends, the library lends about $1.20 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Woodland cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $40. Operating budget $3M.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $3.6M worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $3M 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 32,186 cardholders ÷ 12.
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 Woodland
Does Woodland have a public library?
Yes. Woodland Public Library, 250 First St., serves Woodland’s 60,672 residents (the survey’s count) and is open about 50 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Woodland 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 Woodland’s library?
It logged 2.1 visits and lent 3.7 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 2.6 visits for libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000 people.
What is Woodland’s civic life grade?
C− Woodland is ahead of 20% of U.S. towns on civic life, #238 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 Woodland.
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.