Photo: Jtvoyager · CC BY-SA 4.0Rockville’s library runs 18 programs per 1,000 residents, against a typical 14 for libraries its size
Rockville Public Library, Inc. serves 30,596 people in and around Rockville. Last year it lent 121K books, movies and e-books and logged 68K visits.
What’s behind Rockville’s civic life grade
Rockville 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 →
Ahead of most similar-size libraries on 1 of 8 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000 people across the U.S.
Rockville Public Library, Inc. serves 30,596 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000.
Every hour the doors are open, about 46 items go out
Fiscal year 2024. The library’s own count.
More than half the print loans are kids’ books
121K loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
Each of the 50K books and other items on the shelves went out about 1.9 times last year, on average.
24,318 e-books, e-audiobooks and streams last year. Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.
About 3 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.
Find it
Rockville Public Library, Inc, 52 Union St., Vernon.
E-books and audiobooks from home. Loans renew on their own if no one’s waiting. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy.
New in Rockville? 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 $2.29 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Rockville cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $40. Operating budget $838K.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $1.9M worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $838K budget.
Late fines apply to some overdue items.
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 7,300 cardholders ÷ 12.
Libraries next door
Rockville ranks 3rd of 4 for borrowing per resident. Tap a town to see its library.
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 Rockville
Does Rockville have a public library?
Yes. Rockville Public Library, Inc., 52 Union St., serves 30,596 people in and around Rockville (the survey’s count) and is open about 51 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Rockville Public Library, Inc. fine-free? Does it lend e-books?
It charges late fines on some overdue items, and it lends e-books and audiobooks with a card (the library’s 2024 survey report).
How busy is Rockville’s library?
It logged 2.2 visits and lent 3.9 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 2.6 visits for libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000 people.
What is Rockville’s civic life grade?
Rockville 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 Rockville.
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.