Photo: Ebyabe · CC BY-SA 3.0Darien’s library is a branch of Three Rivers Regional Library System, which lends less per resident than 87% of systems its size
Darien’s library is the Ida Hilton Public Library, a branch of Three Rivers Regional Library System, which serves 154,419 people and lent 256K items last year.
What Darien’s library is like
The Three Rivers Regional Library System is used less than most libraries its size
The Three Rivers Regional Library System records 1.3 visits per resident, against a typical 2.1 for libraries serving 100,000+ people. Borrowing is 1.4 print items per resident, against a typical 3.2. It also spends less than most: $20 per resident, against a typical $36. How it compares ↓
Georgia pays a big share
42% of the budget comes from the state, and 55% from local taxes. Nationally, most library money is local. What your card is worth ↓
This summary is written from the numbers on this page. Numbers are the library’s own report to the Public Libraries Survey, fiscal year 2024; Darien’s library is a branch of Three Rivers Regional Library System, so they cover the whole system (154,419 people), not just the Darien branch.
What’s behind Darien’s civic life grade
On community nonprofits and volunteering, Darien is ahead of 56% of U.S. towns. Darien is graded on two of the three inputs. Darien’s count of community nonprofits holds the grade up; the share of younger adults in volunteering groups pulls it down.
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 →
11 community nonprofits are registered in Darien
7.3 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 (3 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town.
5.5%
5.5% of Darien’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 Darien’s residents live; 2022.
Ahead of most similar-size libraries on 1 of 8 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving 100,000+ people across the U.S.
Three Rivers Regional Library System serves 154,419 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 100,000+.
Every hour the doors are open, about 16 items go out
Fiscal year 2024, for the whole Three Rivers Regional Library System system. The library’s own count.
More than half the print loans are kids’ books
256K loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
39,482 e-books, e-audiobooks and streams last year. Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.
About 17 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
Ida Hilton Public Library, 1105 Northway, Darien.
E-books and audiobooks from home. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy. Good at every Three Rivers Regional Library System branch.
New in Darien? 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 $1.33 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Darien cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $36. Operating budget $3.1M.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $4.2M worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $3.1M 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 41,766 cardholders ÷ 12.
What this data can and can’t tell you
From the Public Libraries Survey, fiscal year 2024.
- System-wide. Ida Hilton Public Library is one branch of Three Rivers Regional Library System, so the yearly numbers cover every branch and all 154,419 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 Darien
Does Darien have a public library?
Yes: Ida Hilton Public Library, 1105 Northway, is a branch of Three Rivers Regional Library System, which serves 154,419 people. The branch is open about 29 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Three Rivers Regional Library System 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 Darien’s library?
It logged 1.3 visits and lent 1.7 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 2.1 visits for libraries serving 100,000+ people.
What is Darien’s civic life grade?
B Darien is ahead of 56% 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 Darien.
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.