Photo: Billy Hathorn · CC BY-SA 3.0Longmont’s library lends 7.4 print items per resident, against a typical 3.7 for libraries its size
Longmont Public Library serves Longmont’s 98,285 residents. Last year it lent 998K books, movies and e-books and logged 340K visits.
The short version on Longmont’s library
More library cards than residents
109,306 cards for 98,285 people. Cards held by people from outside the service area count too, so the total can pass the population. At the typical library serving 25,000 to 100,000 people, it’s 39%. How it compares ↓
The library is a National Register landmark
Longmont Carnegie Library has been on the National Register of Historic Places since 1992. Today’s library there has 51,000 square feet. The building ↓
Open about 64 hours a week
Longmont Public Library is open about 64 hours a week, averaged over the year. Every hour the doors are open, about 312 items go out. The building ↓
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.
What’s behind Longmont’s civic life grade
On library visits, community nonprofits and volunteering, Longmont is ahead of 51% of U.S. towns, #52 of 104 in Colorado. Among the 385 U.S. cities over 100,000 we grade, it ranks #87. Longmont’s count of community nonprofits holds 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 →
441 community nonprofits are registered in Longmont
4.4 per 1,000 residents, against a U.S. town median of 3.7. The largest group: education.
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 (95 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town. 17 more name a national or statewide reach and are left out.
7.0%
7.0% of Longmont’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 Longmont’s residents live; 2022.
Ahead of most similar-size libraries on 6 of 8 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000 people across the U.S.
Longmont Public Library serves 98,285 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000.
Every hour the doors are open, about 312 items go out
Fiscal year 2024. The library’s own count.
Mostly books and media off the shelf
998K loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
Each of the 234K books and other items on the shelves went out about 3.1 times last year, on average.
267,138 e-books, e-audiobooks and streams last year. Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.
About 9 kids’ programs 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 Longmont last year.
A National Register landmark since 1992
Longmont Public Library, 409 4th Ave, Longmont.
No late fees. E-books and audiobooks from home. Loans renew on their own if no one’s waiting. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy.
New in Longmont? The Handbook →Hours are the survey’s yearly average. Check the library’s own site for today’s hours.
Longmont Carnegie Library
Longmont Carnegie Library was added to the National Register of Historic Places on Nov 3, 1992. It is significant for its architecture and social history at the local level. Its architecture is described as Renaissance Revival.
The Longmont Carnegie Library, at 457 Fourth Ave. in Longmont, Colorado, is a Carnegie library which was completed in 1913. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1992, and was included as a contributing building in the Downtown Longmont Historic District in 2017.
More about the building →For every $1 it spends, the library lends about $3.32 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Longmont cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $40. Operating budget $4.6M.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $15M worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $4.6M 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 109,306 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Longmont | Longmont Public Library fine-free | 10.2 | 64 | B− |
| Firestone | Carbon Valley Branch Library fine-free | — | 62 | D |
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.
- 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 Longmont
Does Longmont have a public library?
Yes. Longmont Public Library, 409 4th Ave, serves Longmont’s 98,285 residents (the survey’s count) and is open about 64 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Longmont Public Library 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 Longmont’s library?
It logged 3.5 visits and lent 10.2 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 2.6 visits for libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000 people.
What is Longmont’s civic life grade?
B− Longmont is ahead of 51% of U.S. towns on civic life, #52 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 Longmont.
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. Building history: National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places; photo via Wikimedia Commons. “What your card is worth” uses typical retail prices and is an estimate, not an official figure.