Photo: Don Woods · CC BY-SA 3.0Selbyville’s library runs 124 programs per 1,000 residents, against a typical 34 for libraries its size
Selbyville Public Library serves Selbyville’s 5,581 residents. Last year it lent 44K books, movies and e-books and logged 32K visits.
What stands out about Selbyville’s library
Read from the library’s own yearly report. The page puts what stands out first.
What’s behind Selbyville’s civic life grade
On community nonprofits and volunteering, Selbyville is ahead of 32% of U.S. towns, #11 of 22 in Delaware. Selbyville is graded on two of the three inputs. Both inputs sit below most U.S. towns; the share of younger adults in volunteering groups comes closest to the middle.
Most U.S. towns with similar household incomes ($57K–$94K) 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 →
9 community nonprofits are registered in Selbyville
2.9 per 1,000 residents, against a U.S. town median of 3.7. The largest group: arts & culture.
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 (3 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town.
7.3%
7.3% of Selbyville’s Facebook users aged 25–44 belong to a volunteering or activism group, against 5.6% in the typical Delaware 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 Selbyville’s residents live; 2022.
About 7 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 Selbyville last year.
Ahead of most similar-size libraries on all 8 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving 2,500 to 10,000 people across the U.S.
Selbyville Public Library serves 5,581 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 2,500 to 10,000.
Every hour the doors are open, about 19 items go out
Fiscal year 2024. The library’s own count.
Mostly books and media off the shelf
44K loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
Each of the 14K books and other items on the shelves went out about 2.4 times last year, on average.
10,228 e-books, e-audiobooks and streams last year. Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.
Find it
Selbyville Public Library, 11 Main & Mccabe Street, Selbyville.
E-books and audiobooks from home. Loans renew on their own if no one’s waiting. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy.
New in Selbyville? 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 $2.03 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Selbyville cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $43. Operating budget $384K.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $781K worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $384K 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 3,095 cardholders ÷ 12.
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 Selbyville
Does Selbyville have a public library?
Yes. Selbyville Public Library, 11 Main & Mccabe Street, serves Selbyville’s 5,581 residents (the survey’s count) and is open about 46 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Selbyville Public Library 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 Selbyville’s library?
It logged 5.7 visits and lent 8.0 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 3 visits for libraries serving 2,500 to 10,000 people.
What is Selbyville’s civic life grade?
C Selbyville is ahead of 32% of U.S. towns on civic life, #11 of 22 in Delaware. 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 Selbyville.
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.