Crested Butte Denver and Rio Grande Railroad Depot · Photo: Int77345 · CC BY-SA 4.0Crested Butte’s library is a branch of Gunnison County Library District, which lends more per resident than 64% of systems its size
Crested Butte’s library is the Old Rock Community Branch Library, a branch of Gunnison County Library District, which serves 17,321 people and lent 137K items last year.
The short version on Crested Butte’s library
Visits are the system’s strong suit
The Gunnison County Library District system logs 11 visits per resident, against a typical 3.1 for libraries serving 10,000 to 25,000 people, more than 97% of similar-size libraries. Borrowing is above typical too, at 5.1 print items per resident. How it compares ↓
Nearly everyone the system serves has a card
16,585 cards for 17,321 people, or 96%. At the typical library serving 10,000 to 25,000 people, it’s 40%. How it compares ↓
Big on e-books and audiobooks
Digital borrowing runs 2.8 e-items per resident, against a typical 1.1, higher than at 86% of similar-size libraries. It’s 35% of all loans. What people borrow ↓
A well-funded system
The Gunnison County Library District system spends $87 per resident a year, about twice the typical $43 for a library its size. Almost all of it (98%) comes from local taxes. What your card is worth ↓
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; Crested Butte’s library is a branch of Gunnison County Library District, so they cover the whole system (17,321 people), not just the Crested Butte branch.
What’s behind Crested Butte’s civic life grade
On community nonprofits and volunteering, Crested Butte is among the top 1% of U.S. towns. Crested Butte is graded on two of the three inputs. Both inputs put Crested Butte near the top nationally; Crested Butte’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 →
22 community nonprofits are registered in Crested Butte
17.6 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 (2 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town. 1 more name a national or statewide reach and are left out.
15.1%
15.1% of Crested Butte’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 Crested Butte’s residents live; 2022.
Every hour the doors are open, about 24 items go out
Fiscal year 2024, for the whole Gunnison County Library District system. The library’s own count.
Ahead of most similar-size libraries on all 8 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving 10,000 to 25,000 people across the U.S.
Gunnison County Library District serves 17,321 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 10,000 to 25,000.
Almost half the print loans are kids’ books
137K loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
48,112 e-books, e-audiobooks and streams last year. Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.
About 5 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
Old Rock Community Branch Library, 507 Maroon, Crested Butte.
No late fees. E-books and audiobooks from home. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy. Good at every Gunnison County Library District branch.
New in Crested Butte? 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 $1.44 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Crested Butte cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $43. Operating budget $1.5M.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $2.2M worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $1.5M 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 16,585 cardholders ÷ 12.
What this data can and can’t tell you
From the Public Libraries Survey, fiscal year 2024.
- System-wide. Old Rock Community Branch Library is one branch of Gunnison County Library District, so the yearly numbers cover every branch and all 17,321 people it serves.
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 Crested Butte
Does Crested Butte have a public library?
Yes: Old Rock Community Branch Library, 507 Maroon, is a branch of Gunnison County Library District, which serves 17,321 people. The branch is open about 55 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Gunnison County 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 Crested Butte’s library?
It logged 10.6 visits and lent 7.9 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 3.1 visits for libraries serving 10,000 to 25,000 people.
What is Crested Butte’s civic life grade?
A+ Crested Butte is among the top 1% of U.S. towns on civic life. 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 Crested Butte.
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.