Photo: Ebyabe · CC BY-SA 3.0Orange Park’s library is a branch of Clay County Public Library System, which lends less per resident than 78% of systems its size
Orange Park’s library is the Orange Park Branch Library, a branch of Clay County Public Library System, which serves 236,365 people and lent 438K items last year.
What stands out about Orange Park Branch Library
Read from the library’s own yearly report. The page puts what stands out first.
What’s behind Orange Park’s civic life grade
On community nonprofits and volunteering, Orange Park is ahead of 38% of U.S. towns, #89 of 273 in Florida. Its library’s 2024 visits weren’t reported, so Orange Park is graded on two of the three inputs. Orange Park’s count of community nonprofits holds the grade up; the share of younger adults in volunteering groups pulls it down.
The survey’s stand-in for Orange Park’s 2024 visits is its own estimate, so it is left out.
Most U.S. towns with similar household incomes ($58K–$96K) 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 →
39 community nonprofits are registered in Orange Park
4.3 per 1,000 residents, against a U.S. town median of 3.7. The largest group: civic groups, clubs & veterans.
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 (13 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town. 1 more name a national or statewide reach and are left out.
6.0%
6.0% of Orange Park’s Facebook users aged 25–44 belong to a volunteering or activism group, against 5.6% in the typical Florida 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 Orange Park’s residents live; 2022.
Ahead of most similar-size libraries on 1 of 5 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving 100,000+ people across the U.S.
Clay County Public Library System serves 236,365 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 100,000+.
Every hour the doors are open, about 33 items go out
Fiscal year 2024, for the whole Clay County Public Library System 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
438K 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 Orange Park’s library in 2024, so there’s no split between adults’ and kids’ borrowing.
About 20 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
Orange Park Branch Library, 2054 Plainfield Avenue, Orange Park.
Good at every Clay County Public Library System branch.
New in Orange Park? 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 $1.95 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Orange Park cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $36. Operating budget $4.2M.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $8.2M worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $4.2M 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 88,183 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Orange Park | Orange Park Branch Library | — | 53 | C+ |
| Fleming Island | Clay County Library Headquarters | — | 53 | — unincorporated |
| Jacksonville | Jacksonville Public Library - Main Library fine-free | — | 51 | C− |
| Lakeside | None of its own | — | — | — unincorporated |
| Bellair-Meadowbrook Terrace | None of its own | — | — | — unincorporated |
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.
- Not reported for 2024: visits. Clay County Public Library System didn’t report visits; the survey’s estimate is its own, 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. Orange Park Branch Library is one branch of Clay County Public Library System, so the yearly numbers cover every branch and all 236,365 people it serves.
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 Orange Park
Does Orange Park have a public library?
Yes: Orange Park Branch Library, 2054 Plainfield Avenue, is a branch of Clay County Public Library System, which serves 236,365 people. The branch is open about 53 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Clay County Public Library System fine-free?
It charges late fines on some overdue items (the library’s 2024 survey report).
How busy is Orange Park’s library?
It lent 1.9 items per resident in 2024 (print) and ran 1,814 programs that drew 50,733 people. Visits weren’t reported for 2024.
What is Orange Park’s civic life grade?
C+ Orange Park is ahead of 38% of U.S. towns on civic life, #89 of 273 in Florida. 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 Orange Park.
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.