Photo: Billy Hathorn · CC BY-SA 3.0Las Animas’ library runs 79 programs per 1,000 residents, against a typical 34 for libraries its size
Las Animas-Bent County Library District serves 4,778 people in and around Las Animas. Last year it lent 11K books, movies and e-books and logged 12K visits.
What stands out about Las Animas-Bent County Library District
Read from the library’s own yearly report. The page puts what stands out first.
What’s behind Las Animas’ civic life grade
On community nonprofits and volunteering, Las Animas is ahead of 17% of U.S. towns. Las Animas is graded on two of the three inputs. Both inputs sit below most U.S. towns; Las Animas’ count of community nonprofits comes closest to the middle.
Most U.S. towns with similar household incomes ($39K–$65K) score higher, so income alone doesn’t account for it.
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 →
8 community nonprofits are registered in Las Animas
3.2 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 (1 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town.
5.1%
5.1% of Las Animas’ 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 Las Animas’ residents live; 2022.
About 4 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.
Ahead of most similar-size libraries on 2 of 8 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving 2,500 to 10,000 people across the U.S.
Las Animas-Bent County Library District serves 4,778 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 2,500 to 10,000.
Every hour the doors are open, about 5 items go out
Fiscal year 2024, for the whole Las Animas-Bent County Library District system. The library’s own count.
Mostly books and media off the shelf
11K loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
800 e-books, e-audiobooks and streams last year. Borrow from home with your card.
Find it
Las Animas-Bent County Library District, 306 5th Street, Las Animas.
No late fees. E-books and audiobooks from home. Good at every Las Animas-Bent County Library District branch.
New in Las Animas? 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 $1.28 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Las Animas cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $43. Operating budget $154K.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $198K worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $154K 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 2,304 cardholders ÷ 12.
What this data can and can’t tell you
From the Public Libraries Survey, fiscal year 2024.
- System-wide. Las Animas-Bent County Library District serves 4,778 people in and around Las Animas, so the yearly numbers cover all of them, not just Las Animas.
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 Las Animas
Does Las Animas have a public library?
Yes. Las Animas-Bent County Library District, 306 5th Street, serves 4,778 people in and around Las Animas (the survey’s count) and is open about 45 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Las Animas-Bent County Library District 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 Las Animas’ library?
It logged 2.5 visits and lent 2.3 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 3 visits for libraries serving 2,500 to 10,000 people.
What is Las Animas’ civic life grade?
C− Las Animas is ahead of 17% 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 Las Animas.
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.