Photo: Bede735 · CC BY-SA 3.0Ouray’s library lends 9.7 print items per resident, against a typical 3.9 for libraries its size
Ouray Library District serves 1,806 people in and around Ouray. Last year it lent 20K books, movies and e-books and logged 9,607 visits.
What Ouray’s library is like
More library cards than residents
2,818 cards for 1,806 people. Cards held by people from outside the service area count too, so the total can pass the population. At the typical library serving under 2,500 people, it’s 54%. How it compares ↓
The branch is a National Register landmark
Ouray City Hall and Walsh Library has been on the National Register of Historic Places since 1975. Today’s library there has 2,400 square feet. The building ↓
Programs draw a crowd
5,347 people came to the system’s 271 programs last year: 3 per resident, against a typical 0.7, more than at 93% of similar-size libraries. Kids & programs ↓
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; Ouray Library District serves 1,806 people in and around Ouray, and its numbers cover all of them; in a town this small, one busy program or a few avid readers move the per-resident numbers.
What’s behind Ouray’s civic life grade
Ouray isn’t graded on civic life: TownRatings grades towns of 1,000 residents or more.
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 →
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
Ahead of most similar-size libraries on all 8 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving under 2,500 people across the U.S.
Ouray Library District serves 1,806 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving under 2,500.
Every hour the doors are open, about 11 items go out
Fiscal year 2024, for the whole Ouray Library District system. The library’s own count.
Mostly books and media off the shelf
20K loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
2,074 e-books, e-audiobooks and streams last year. Borrow from home with your card.
A National Register landmark since 1975
Ouray Library District, 320 6th Ave, Ouray.
No late fees. E-books and audiobooks from home. Loans renew on their own if no one’s waiting. Good at every Ouray Library District branch.
New in Ouray? The Handbook →Hours are the survey’s yearly average. Check the library’s own site for today’s hours.
Ouray City Hall and Walsh Library
Ouray City Hall and Walsh Library was added to the National Register of Historic Places on Apr 16, 1975. It is significant for its architecture at the local level. Its architecture is described as Roman and Greek and American Victorian.
The Ouray City Hall and Walsh Library are a pair of buildings in downtown Ouray, Colorado, United States. Located on 6th Avenue between 3rd and 4th Streets, they are together listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
More about the building →For every $1 it spends, the library lends about $2.23 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Ouray cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $54. Operating budget $159K.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $354K worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $159K 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 2,818 cardholders ÷ 12.
What this data can and can’t tell you
From the Public Libraries Survey, fiscal year 2024.
- System-wide. Ouray Library District serves 1,806 people in and around Ouray, so the yearly numbers cover all of them, not just Ouray.
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 Ouray
Does Ouray have a public library?
Yes. Ouray Library District, 320 6th Ave, serves 1,806 people in and around Ouray (the survey’s count) and is open about 36 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Ouray 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 Ouray’s library?
It logged 5.3 visits and lent 10.9 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 3.5 visits for libraries serving under 2,500 people.
What is Ouray’s civic life grade?
Ouray isn’t graded on civic life: TownRatings grades towns of 1,000 residents or more. How it works.
Book talk
Reading, story times and the library in Ouray.
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.