Yolo Branch Library · Photo: Brian Wickstrom · CC BY-SA 3.0Yolo’s library lends 7.9 print items per resident, against a typical 3.2 for libraries its size
Yolo County Library serves 160,994 people in and around Yolo. Last year it lent 1.5M books, movies and e-books and logged 520K visits.
The short version on Yolo’s library
Open only about 16 hours a week
The Yolo branch keeps short hours: about 16 a week, averaged over the year, so check its schedule before you go. The building ↓
The branch is a National Register landmark
Yolo Branch Library has been on the National Register of Historic Places since 1990. Today’s library there has 3,924 square feet. The building ↓
A system of heavy borrowers
Yolo County Library lends 7.9 print items per resident, against a typical 3.2 for libraries serving 100,000+ people, more than 88% of similar-size libraries. 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; Yolo County Library serves 160,994 people in and around Yolo, and its numbers cover all of them.
What’s behind Yolo’s civic life grade
Yolo isn’t graded on civic life: TownRatings grades towns of 1,000 residents or more.
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 →
Mostly books and media off the shelf
1.5M loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
264,300 e-books, e-audiobooks and streams last year. Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.
Ahead of most similar-size libraries on 7 of 8 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving 100,000+ people across the U.S.
Yolo County Library serves 160,994 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 100,000+.
Every hour the doors are open, about 118 items go out
Fiscal year 2024, for the whole Yolo County Library system. The library’s own count.
About 20 kids’ programs a week
Story times, clubs, classes and events, across the whole system, by who they’re for.
Programs last year by age group
story times and programs a week for ages 0–5, on average.
A National Register landmark since 1990
Yolo Branch Library, 37750 Sacramento St., Yolo.
No late fees. E-books and audiobooks from home. Loans renew on their own if no one’s waiting. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy. Good at every Yolo County Library branch.
New in Yolo? The Handbook →Hours are the survey’s yearly average. Check the library’s own site for today’s hours.
Yolo Branch Library
Yolo Branch Library was added to the National Register of Historic Places on Dec 10, 1990. It is significant for its architecture and social history at the local level. Its architecture is described as Bungalow/Craftsman. It was listed as part of California Carnegie Libraries MPS.
The Yolo Branch Library is a library that serves the community of Yolo, California. The library, a Carnegie on the National Register of Historic Places, was designed by WH Weeks and built in 1918. It is one of the last Carnegie libraries that still serves as a library.
More about the building →For every $1 it spends, the library lends about $2.35 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Yolo cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $36. Operating budget $1M.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $24M worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $1M 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 52,149 cardholders ÷ 12.
What this data can and can’t tell you
From the Public Libraries Survey, fiscal year 2024.
- System-wide. Yolo County Library serves 160,994 people in and around Yolo, so the yearly numbers cover all of them, not just Yolo.
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 Yolo
Does Yolo have a public library?
Yes. Yolo County Library, 37750 Sacramento St., serves 160,994 people in and around Yolo (the survey’s count) and is open about 16 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Yolo 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 Yolo’s library?
It logged 3.2 visits and lent 9.6 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 2.1 visits for libraries serving 100,000+ people.
What is Yolo’s civic life grade?
Yolo isn’t graded on civic life: TownRatings grades towns of 1,000 residents or more. How it works.
Book talk
Reading, story times and the library in Yolo.
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.