Photo: Rivers Langley; SaveRivers · CC BY-SA 3.0Buena Vista’s library is a branch of Chattahoochee Valley Libraries, which lends more per resident than 53% of systems its size
Buena Vista’s library is the Marion County Public Library, a branch of Chattahoochee Valley Libraries, which serves 223,782 people and lent 996K items last year.
What stands out about Marion County Public Library
Read from the library’s own yearly report. The page puts what stands out first.
What’s behind Buena Vista’s civic life grade
On community nonprofits and volunteering, Buena Vista is ahead of 10% of U.S. towns. Buena Vista is graded on two of the three inputs. Both inputs sit below most U.S. towns; Buena Vista’s count of community nonprofits comes closest to the middle.
Most U.S. towns with similar household incomes ($22K–$36K) 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 →
5 community nonprofits are registered in Buena Vista
3.0 per 1,000 residents, against a U.S. town median of 3.7. The largest group: human services.
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 (2 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town.
3.5%
3.5% of Buena Vista’s Facebook users aged 25–44 belong to a volunteering or activism group, against 4.9% in the typical Georgia 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 Buena Vista’s residents live; 2022.
Ahead of most similar-size libraries on 6 of 8 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving 100,000+ people across the U.S.
Chattahoochee Valley Libraries serves 223,782 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 100,000+.
Every hour the doors are open, about 52 items go out
Fiscal year 2024, for the whole Chattahoochee Valley Libraries system. The library’s own count.
More than half the print loans are kids’ books
996K loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
253,988 e-books, e-audiobooks and streams last year. Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.
About 29 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
Marion County Public Library, 123 East 5th Ave., Buena Vista.
No late fees. E-books and audiobooks from home. Loans renew on their own if no one’s waiting. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy. Good at every Chattahoochee Valley Libraries branch.
New in Buena Vista? 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 $1.75 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Buena Vista cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $36. Operating budget $8.6M.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $15M worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $8.6M 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 62,803 cardholders ÷ 12.
What this data can and can’t tell you
From the Public Libraries Survey, fiscal year 2024.
- System-wide. Marion County Public Library is one branch of Chattahoochee Valley Libraries, so the yearly numbers cover every branch and all 223,782 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 Buena Vista
Does Buena Vista have a public library?
Yes: Marion County Public Library, 123 East 5th Ave., is a branch of Chattahoochee Valley Libraries, which serves 223,782 people. The branch is open about 32 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Chattahoochee Valley Libraries fine-free? Does it lend e-books?
Yes to both: no late fees, and e-books, audiobooks and research databases with a card (the library’s 2024 survey report).
How busy is Buena Vista’s library?
It logged 2.2 visits and lent 4.4 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 2.1 visits for libraries serving 100,000+ people.
What is Buena Vista’s civic life grade?
D Buena Vista is ahead of 10% of U.S. towns on civic life. 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 Buena Vista.
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.