Photo: Jeffrey Beall · CC BY-SA 3.0Berthoud’s library logs 2.3 visits per resident, against a typical 3.1 for libraries its size
Berthoud Community Library District serves 15,824 people in and around Berthoud. Last year it lent 64K print books and media and logged 36K visits.
What stands out about Berthoud Community Library District
Read from the library’s own yearly report. The page puts what stands out first.
What’s behind Berthoud’s civic life grade
On community nonprofits and volunteering, Berthoud is ahead of 82% of U.S. towns, #20 of 104 in Colorado. Berthoud is graded on two of the three inputs. Both inputs are above most U.S. towns; Berthoud’s count of community nonprofits ranks highest.
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 →
69 community nonprofits are registered in Berthoud
5.5 per 1,000 residents, against a U.S. town median of 3.7. The largest group: environment & animals.
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 (14 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town. 2 more name a national or statewide reach and are left out.
8.9%
8.9% of Berthoud’s Facebook users aged 25–44 belong to a volunteering or activism group, against 6.8% in the typical Colorado 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 Berthoud’s residents live; 2022.
Ahead of most similar-size libraries on 4 of 7 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving 10,000 to 25,000 people across the U.S.
Berthoud Community Library District serves 15,824 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 10,000 to 25,000.
Every hour the doors are open, about 25 items go out
Fiscal year 2024, for the whole Berthoud Community Library District system. The library’s own count.
More than half the print loans are kids’ books
64K print loans last year. The library didn’t report its e-book and e-audiobook loans.
Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.
About 3 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.
Find it
Berthoud Community Library District, 236 Welch Avenue, Berthoud.
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 Berthoud Community Library District branch.
New in Berthoud? 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 $1.13 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Berthoud cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $43. Operating budget $841K.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $951K worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $841K 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 11,332 cardholders ÷ 12.
Libraries next door
Who has a library of their own, and how much each town borrows. Tap a town to see its library.
| Town | Library | Loans per resident | Hours | Civic life |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Berthoud | Berthoud Community Library District fine-free | — | 50 | A− |
| Johnstown | Glenn A. Jones, M.D. Memorial Library fine-free | — | 53 | C− |
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.
- Digital loans not reported. The library didn’t report e-book loans, so borrowing here is print only.
- System-wide. Berthoud Community Library District serves 15,824 people in and around Berthoud, so the yearly numbers cover all of them, not just Berthoud.
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 Berthoud
Does Berthoud have a public library?
Yes. Berthoud Community Library District, 236 Welch Avenue, serves 15,824 people in and around Berthoud (the survey’s count) and is open about 50 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Berthoud Community Library District 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 Berthoud’s library?
It logged 2.3 visits and lent 4.1 print items per resident in 2024, against a typical 3.1 visits for libraries serving 10,000 to 25,000 people.
What is Berthoud’s civic life grade?
A− Berthoud is ahead of 82% of U.S. towns on civic life, #20 of 104 in Colorado. 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 Berthoud.
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.