Photo: Jeffrey Beall · CC BY 4.0La Junta’s library logs 7.4 visits per resident, against a typical 3 for libraries its size
La Junta/Woodruff Memorial Library serves La Junta’s 7,010 residents. Last year it lent 68K books, movies and e-books and logged 52K visits.
What stands out about La Junta’s library
Read from the library’s own yearly report. The page puts what stands out first.
What’s behind La Junta’s civic life grade
On library visits, community nonprofits and volunteering, La Junta is ahead of 74% of U.S. towns, #28 of 104 in Colorado. Library visits hold the grade up; the share of younger adults in volunteering groups pulls it down.
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 →
49 community nonprofits are registered in La Junta
6.9 per 1,000 residents, against a U.S. town median of 3.7. The largest group: civic groups, clubs & veterans.
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 (15 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.
5.8%
5.8% of La Junta’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 La Junta’s residents live; 2022.
Ahead of most similar-size libraries on 6 of 8 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving 2,500 to 10,000 people across the U.S.
La Junta/Woodruff Memorial Library serves 7,010 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 2,500 to 10,000.
Every hour the doors are open, about 27 items go out
Fiscal year 2024. The library’s own count.
Mostly books and media off the shelf
68K loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
Each of the 52K books and other items on the shelves went out about 1 time last year, on average.
14,022 e-books, e-audiobooks and streams last year. Borrow from home with your card.
About 1 kids’ program 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 La Junta last year.
Find it
La Junta/Woodruff Memorial Library, 522 Colorado Ave, La Junta.
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 $1.95 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average La Junta cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $43. Operating budget $534K.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $1M worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $534K 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 3,702 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 La Junta
Does La Junta have a public library?
Yes. La Junta/Woodruff Memorial Library, 522 Colorado Ave, serves La Junta’s 7,010 residents (the survey’s count) and is open about 49 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is La Junta/Woodruff Memorial Library fine-free? Does it lend e-books?
Yes to both: no late fees, and e-books, audiobooks with a card (the library’s 2024 survey report).
How busy is La Junta’s library?
It logged 7.4 visits and lent 9.7 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 3 visits for libraries serving 2,500 to 10,000 people.
What is La Junta’s civic life grade?
B+ La Junta is ahead of 74% of U.S. towns on civic life, #28 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 La Junta.
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.