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Libraries · Dalhousie

At 12.7 loans per person served, Calgary Library lends more than 82% of Alberta’s town libraries

Calgary Library serves the whole of Calgary, so the library figures on this page are the city’s: 1,285,711 people, Dalhousie among them. It counted 3.8 in-person visits per person served in 2022. 2022 is the latest year in Alberta’s open library statistics, so the figures date from then.

BCivic life#85 of 474 in Alberta
Visits a year
4,909,275
3.8 per person served
Borrowed a year
16,347,892
12.7 per person served
Cardholders
58%
750,719 cards
Charities
1,993
1.2 per 1,000 residents
Civic life grade

Behind Dalhousie’s civic life grade

With a B, Dalhousie ranks #85 of 474 Alberta towns on civic life. A civic life grade combines library visits per resident, registered charities per 1,000 residents and the province’s volunteering rate, and all three exist for Dalhousie.

B
Civic lifeA character grade: shown, never part of Dalhousie’s overall grade.

Informal groups and mutual aid go uncounted.

Sources: provincial statistics, the CRA, Statistics Canada.

Places to belong

Calgary mailing addresses hold 1,993 registered charities

There is no count for Dalhousie on its own: the charities are those of all of Calgary. That is 1.2 per 1,000 residents, against 1.3 in the typical Alberta town and 1.4 across Canada. Charities are placed by mailing address, which flatters service towns whose post office serves a region and undercounts suburbs and rural municipalities.

Volunteering

37.1%

Formal volunteering is measured only for the province: 37.1% of Alberta’s people in 2023, give or take (35.1% to 39.2%), with the provinces between 25.2% and 40.3%.

Statistics Canada, table 45-10-0039.

How it compares

Ahead of most of Alberta’s town libraries on all 3 measures

Measured per person served against the 118 town libraries of Alberta’s 2022 statistics.

Visits per person served 3.8 visits · typical 3.6Higher than 54%
Loans per person served 12.7 items · typical 8.1Higher than 82%
Cardholders 58% of people served · typical 20%Top 10%
Fewer per personMore per person
Who is compared

Town libraries only; regional systems left out.

A year at the library

Some 13,450 visits on an average day

What Calgary Library counted in 2022, as the library reported it.

4,909,275
in-person visits
3.8 per person served
16,347,892
items borrowed
12.7 per person served
750,719
cardholders
58% of people served
Every week94,409visits
Every day44,789items borrowed
1,285,711 people served
Nearest libraries

The closest is 1.8 km from Dalhousie

Closest first, each distance a straight line from the centre of Dalhousie.

How to read these numbers

What this data can and can’t tell you

  • Library locations. OpenStreetMap and Statistics Canada’s list of cultural facilities (2020), merged; school, college, hospital and private libraries are left out.

Questions about the library and civic life in Dalhousie

Does Dalhousie have a public library?

None is mapped in Dalhousie; the nearest is Calgary Public Library - Nose Hill, in Brentwood.

How busy is Calgary Library?

For 2022 it reported 16,347,892 loans and 4,909,275 in-person visits.

Library statistics: Alberta public library statistics, 2022. Library locations: © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL) and Statistics Canada, Open Database of Cultural and Art Facilities (2020). Charities: Canada Revenue Agency, List of charities (2024), charitable organizations only.

Adapted from Statistics Canada (Census of Population 2021, population estimates 2025, 2021 census boundaries) under the Statistics Canada Open Licence; this does not constitute an endorsement by Statistics Canada. Neighbourhood names in some cities © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL).