Photo: Adam Paetow · CC BY-SA 4.0Penrose’s library lends 5 print items per resident, against a typical 3.8 for libraries its size
Penrose Community Library District serves 4,178 people in and around Penrose. Last year it lent 21K print books and media and drew 1,774 people to its programs.
What stands out about Penrose Community Library District
Read from the library’s own yearly report. The page puts what stands out first.
What’s behind Penrose’s civic life grade
Penrose isn’t graded on civic life: it’s unincorporated, so its nonprofits can’t be counted reliably (mailing addresses don’t follow its boundary) and its library is a branch of Penrose Community Library District, so there is no town figure for visits.
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 →
Volunteering in Penrose
Penrose is unincorporated, so its nonprofits aren’t counted: they file by mailing address, which doesn’t follow its boundary.
15.2%
15.2% of Penrose’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 Penrose’s residents live; 2022.
Ahead of most similar-size libraries on 4 of 5 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving 2,500 to 10,000 people across the U.S.
Penrose Community Library District serves 4,178 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 2,500 to 10,000.
Every hour the doors are open, about 10 items go out
Fiscal year 2024, for the whole Penrose Community Library District system. The library’s own count.
Not reported for 2024: visits. The survey fills a missing figure with its own estimate; we leave estimates out rather than show them as the library’s count.
Books and media off the shelf
21K print loans last year. The library didn’t report its e-book and e-audiobook loans.
The survey has no count of children’s loans for Penrose’s library in 2024, so there’s no split between adults’ and kids’ borrowing.
Borrow from home with your card.
About 2 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
Penrose Community Library District, 35 7th Avenue, Penrose.
No late fees. E-books and audiobooks from home. Good at every Penrose Community Library District branch.
New in Penrose? 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 $1.71 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Penrose cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $43. Operating budget $219K.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $374K worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $219K 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 2,453 cardholders ÷ 12.
What this data can and can’t tell you
From the Public Libraries Survey, fiscal year 2024.
- Not reported for 2024: visits. Penrose Community Library District didn’t report visits; the survey’s estimate carries forward its 2023 figure, so we leave it out and never rank it.
- Digital loans not reported. The library didn’t report e-book loans, so borrowing here is print only.
- System-wide. Penrose Community Library District serves 4,178 people in and around Penrose, so the yearly numbers cover all of them, not just Penrose.
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 Penrose
Does Penrose have a public library?
Yes. Penrose Community Library District, 35 7th Avenue, serves 4,178 people in and around Penrose (the survey’s count) and is open about 40 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Penrose Community 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 Penrose’s library?
It lent 5.0 items per resident in 2024 (print) and ran 160 programs that drew 1,774 people. Visits weren’t reported for 2024.
What is Penrose’s civic life grade?
Penrose isn’t graded on civic life: it’s unincorporated, so its nonprofits can’t be counted reliably (mailing addresses don’t follow its boundary) and its library is a branch of Penrose Community Library District, so there is no town figure for visits. How it works.
Book talk
Reading, story times and the library in Penrose.
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.