Photo: Billwhittaker at English Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 3.0Urbana’s library logs 0.2 visits per resident, against a typical 3.5 for libraries its size
Urbana Public Library serves Urbana’s 1,627 residents. Last year it lent 376 print books and media and logged 388 visits.
Urbana’s library, in brief
Urbana Public Library is used less than most libraries its size
Urbana Public Library records 0.2 visits per resident, against a typical 3.5 for libraries serving under 2,500 people. Borrowing is 0.2 print items per resident, against a typical 3.9. It also spends less than most: $28 per resident, against a typical $54. How it compares ↓
Open only about 8 hours a week
Urbana Public Library keeps short hours: about 8 a week, averaged over the year, so check its schedule before you go. The building ↓
Few programs for a library this size
Urbana Public Library offered 0 programs last year, 0 per 1,000 residents against a typical 60. Kids & programs ↓
A small-town library
Urbana Public Library serves 1,627 residents with about one full-time staff. It’s compared only with libraries serving under 2,500 people, because per-person numbers always look big in a small town. A year at the library ↓
Few residents carry a card
Only 8% of the people Urbana Public Library serves have a library card, against a typical 54% for its size. How it compares ↓
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; in a town this small, one busy program or a few avid readers move the per-resident numbers.
What’s behind Urbana’s civic life grade
On library visits, community nonprofits and volunteering, Urbana is ahead of 46% of U.S. towns. The share of younger adults in volunteering groups holds the grade up; library visits pull 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 →
8 community nonprofits are registered in Urbana
4.9 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 (1 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town.
9.7%
9.7% of Urbana’s Facebook users aged 25–44 belong to a volunteering or activism group, against 8.6% in the typical Iowa 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 Urbana’s residents live; 2022.
Below most similar-size libraries on all 7 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving under 2,500 people across the U.S.
Urbana Public Library serves 1,627 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving under 2,500.
Every hour the doors are open, about 4 items go out
Fiscal year 2024. The library’s own count.
Almost half the print loans are kids’ books
376 print loans last year. The library didn’t report its e-book and e-audiobook loans.
Each of the 7,783 books and other items on the shelves went out about 0 time last year, on average.
What kids borrow
Story times, clubs, classes and events, by who they’re for.
children’s books and media borrowed per child under 18 in Urbana last year.
Find it
Urbana Public Library, 351 Velvas St., Urbana.
Hours are the survey’s yearly average. Check the library’s own site for today’s hours.
What a library card is worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Urbana cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $54. Operating budget $45K.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $5,462 worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $45K 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 135 cardholders ÷ 12.
What this data can and can’t tell you
From the Public Libraries Survey, fiscal year 2024.
- Visits are a typical-week estimate. Urbana Public Library counted one typical week and multiplied by 52, as the survey allows.
- Digital loans not reported. The library didn’t report e-book loans, so borrowing here is print only.
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 Urbana
Does Urbana have a public library?
Yes. Urbana Public Library, 351 Velvas St., serves Urbana’s 1,627 residents (the survey’s count) and is open about 8 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Urbana Public Library fine-free?
Yes, no late fees (the library’s 2024 survey report).
How busy is Urbana’s library?
It logged 0.2 visits and lent 0.2 print items per resident in 2024, against a typical 3.5 visits for libraries serving under 2,500 people.
What is Urbana’s civic life grade?
B− Urbana is ahead of 46% 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 Urbana.
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.